7/19/2014 1 Comment Weekly Check InI don't really have any food pictures for you this week; I was vegan (with the exception of pizza at the movies last week--more on that in a bit) all week at home. I did go off the book menu wise, though, just because so many of the recipes in the book menu plan tend to be a bit too repetitious. I mentioned this before--if I have black beans and potatoes at lunch, I don't want black bean and potato soup for dinner that day.
I made use of the sausage I made last week in dinner for yesterday (and there's some left for another meal). Dani was on 24 hour call last night, so on Thursday I made two meals. We had the Sesame soy curls over brown basmati with broccoli on the side that night, and I cooked a batch of polenta in the oven and topped that with sauteed onions, peppers, mushrooms and tomatoes and sliced vegan Italian sausage. Other meals this week included a Chik patty (they were on sale at Aldi this week--they may only be veganish, but oh well) with corn and baked beans (from my Sunday cooking last week) and Tempeh fajitas. We also had Seitan Piccata this week, which is always a favorite around here. We're still eating a good bit of raw stuff, and I've decided watermelon is something I'm not tired of yet. Smoothies every day for breakfast, as well. So, the weigh in this week I was hoping for a pound off--I've been walking and working out most days of the week. I was only down 0.2 pounds, though. I suspect this was the result of (1) salty sesame soy curls for dinner the night before and (2) the pizza I ate at the movies Saturday--who knows how many calories were in that thing? So, I'm just going with the fact it went down, not up, and that our diet is cleaner than it has been of late. I did eat some whole wheat Ritz with some almond butter a minute ago, but that's about as "junky" as it gets around here. I'm also seeing some things in the mirror that aren't showing up on the scale, so onward!
1 Comment
7/13/2014 0 Comments Weekend ShenanigansSo, yesterday's workout was housekeeping. Sophie tends to fling mud all over the kitchen, and we let things pile up on the dining table and the kitchen counter throughout the week. It was time to declutter and do a full wipe-down. Dani took to the yard to get things in shape there while I started the wipe-down from the light fixtures downward (I noticed the top of the fridge was filthy while changing a light bulb, and it was on after that).
I'm still looking to Barnard for some ideas, and as I noted on DoV today, I used his BBQ sauce as a base for my own today. Also, we had his basic pancakes for breakfast yesterday with fresh watermelon on the side for breakfast. Above, you'll see one of our favorite desserts; tofu pudding. I've made this for years now, and decided to try cutting back the sugar and cocoa powder a bit. Here's the current recipe, which I think is better than before! Tofu Pudding 4 servings 1 box Mori Nu Lite Tofu (the shelf-stable kind) 4 Tablespoons of brown sugar (1/4 cup) 4 Tablespoons of cocoa powder (1/4 cup) splash of vanilla Use an immersion blender, food processor or regular blender. I tried using beaters but they don't get the pudding smooth. Top with fruit of your choice. This is under 100 calories a serving when you use the "lite" Mori Nu. I also snapped a picture of my plate the other day with the portobello burger and pesto roasted potatoes. Yesterday's lunch was a redo of that with vegan Bocca burger patties in for the mushrooms. The shenanigans part of the weekend was dinner last night was off the books. We went with Kelly and Megan to see Tammy (which we all agreed was better than we expected). Dinner was grabbed there, as the Alamo has a full dinner menu. We ate light for breakfast and lunch, so we didn't feel to bad about it. 7/10/2014 1 Comment Days 3 and 4So, I haven't fallen off the wagon here; I just was really busy the last couple of days with work. That made not having to decide what's for breakfast, lunch, and dinner a blessing for sure.
Both days we had smoothies for breakfast. I bought a big bag of kale because it was there and we've been adding some to our smoothies of late. I think the added fiber helps the smoothie last a bit longer. Lunch was leftover grilled vegetables in a wrap and artichoke & tomato salad on the side with watermelon to follow yesterday. Dinner last night was my version of red beans and rice with collards on the side, and that was lunch today, as well. Tonight, I think we're having a portobello burger on a sandwich thin as the bun and roasted potatoes tossed in pesto. This NutritionMD.org pesto recipe is quite tasty! For dessert, I'm whipping up some chocolate pudding with lite Mori-nu tofu (1 block of tofu + 4 Tablespoons of brown sugar, 4 Tablespoons of cocoa powder and a dash of vanilla) to serve with fresh strawberries. I'm loving the amount of raw fruit and vegetables we're eating this week, and I'm also realizing that a lot of crap (dairy and processed things like crackers) had snuck into our daily diet. Granted, those were healthier versions of crap, but we weren't saving them for treats. I took yesterday off from Step (in part because I just didn't have the hour to spare), but I got back to it today, and it was a well-appreciated reward and break from sitting in front of a computer. And, of course, every day the dogs and I take a stroll. 7/8/2014 0 Comments Day 2I don't really have many pictures today; the smoothie was the standard with some raw kale thrown in, so that was green. Lunch was the leftover pasta.
Round about three pm, my normal time to go on a rampage through the kitchen (must be my stomach memory of getting home from school, or maybe just that lunch is gone), I had to eat something else. I snagged a fruit and nut bar (mango and cashew) out of the snack drawer. Before dinner, I butchered a watermelon as Dani and I were both pretty hungry. Dinner was supposed to be the tomato soup and a salad. I opted to grill the zucchini for tomorrow's lunch sandwiches and had some yellow squash so I just grilled it all. We had sandwiches with the soup (which I put white kidney beans in because I had two cups cooked and tomorrow's dinner is red beans and rice). I also assume he uses white rice (really?) in the soup because it cooks in 25 minutes, so I cooked brown rice separately and used that. I also snuck in some of my no chicken broth powder instead of just regular salt. The soup was ugly, but it was pretty tasty (it would have been prettier with red beans). We ate about 1/2 of it, even though there were supposed to be two servings total. So, in Day 2, I liked the food fine. The sandwiches are yummy with the white bean and roasted pepper spread (I put in two cloves of garlic and some seasoned salt) and with the veggies grilled. I put some garlic powder in the balsamic vinegar rub and grilled some onion and roasted another pepper to put on the sandwiches. Grand total for the day is around 1366 calories give or take for some estimates given that I didn't eat 1/2 of the soup serving and I didn't really measure how much watermelon I ate, so I guessed. I'm under 15% of those from fat, so I'm hoping that helps budge the extra pounds. So, the new recipe find today is the white bean spread for the sandwiches. With the grilled vegetables it was quite tasty--not surprising, as it's basically white kidney bean roasted pepper hummus :) In the book, some of his daily meals combos are a bit weird. The web version of day 5 has no lunch--in the book, the lunch is a baked potato topped with black beans and salsa, which would be fine if dinner that day were not black bean and potato soup. Day 4's dinner is black bean chili. Since I'm cooking my own beans, I guess I can kind of see why he does this as it means you could go through a batch of beans without having to eat the same thing over and over. But, I can cook beans easily in the pressure cooker and freeze them in portions needed for specific recipes, so that's where some of the alteration comes in. If I'm eating beans twice a day daily I want some bean variety. I also can't guarantee that I'm following his recipe for red beans and rice--I make a pretty darn good version already that is vegan and low fat, so we'll see. I'm not sure I'm ok with stirring the greens into the beans. So, today is my first day doing a somewhat modified 21 day Kickstart. The day started with my normal smoothie. Basic Smoothie Recipe (makes 2) 1 banana 2 cups frozen berries, mixed fruit 1 cup soymilk 1 cup of orange juice 2 Tablespoons of Bob's Red Mill Soy Protein This comes in at under 300 calories for a big smoothie. I have to confess, I had started using Hemp Hearts as my protein supplement in my morning smoothies. They are so creamy and make the smoothie have a lot more body. However, at 180 calories and 15 grams of fat, they are too much of a splurge for every day. So, I'm going back to Bob's soy powder with 20 calories and 0 grams of fat. At a savings of 160 calories per smoothie, assuming I have smoothies 5 days a week all year, that's 33K calories and a load of fat calories gone. Translation: I suspect my beloved Hemp Hearts may be partially responsible for the gain of late. I forgot to take a picture until I drained it, but here's the evidence. Lunch was my version of the blue corn chip salad. Our store only had regular baked chips (no blue ones), so that's why the salad isn't blue :) The recipe calls for 16 ounces of black beans rinsed. He has to mean a 16 ounce can opened and rinsed (thus not 16 ounces of beans). A can has approximately 1.5-2 cups of beans, so I just gave us each a cup of cooked beans per person. The recipe also calls for three roasted peppers for two people. I roasted a yellow bell and split it between us. This I will do again. What's not to love about taco salad? Dinner was the pasta with grilled asparagus, lemon, and peas and the glazed pear salad. To the pasta I added an extra lemon's worth of juice to and I confess, just a drop or two of truffle oil (literally no more than a 1/4 teaspoon). I made a double batch of the pasta so we can have it for lunch tomorrow. I know the truffle oil is not on the chart below and it's oil so I'm not supposed to, but the pasta is a bit bland. Some of the balsamic glaze on there worked too. So, I came in under budget enough that I can get away with a glass of old vine garnacha in the new glasses we bought today. I not only walked the dogs this morning, but got in a Jenny Ford Malibu Step before lunch.
7/6/2014 0 Comments Long time, no blogRenee and I have been super busy working on our individual blogs, writing (patterns, short stories, novels), work, and even a family vacation (first one in about 40 years). So, that's where we've been hiding.
This past week, I had to go in to the doctor for a routine physical. It turned out it was a good thing, as I fell on a run the day before, so it was nice to have that checked out. My surprise came when I got on the scale--I weighed in at a good 11 pounds more than I thought I weigh. Now, my clothes fit fine, even my suits that get drug out every couple of months; but, I do know that there has been way too much "ish" in my veganish diet of late, and I'm aware of where those extra pounds came from. So, I decided to revive 2FS. I talked to Renee, and she decided to join me. What I'm doing starting tomorrow is blogging about my version of Dr. Neal Barnard's 21-Day Weightloss Kickstart. Renee is also adapting it to her needs as well. Why this version rather than doing my own thing? Well, as my Nutella adventures show, I can't always be trusted lately. I've also been on a cracker binge of late, as well as using olive oil a bit too freely. And as I was looking to put a meal plan together for this coming week, I said, gee, I wish someone would do this for me. Neal Barnard did. I have one of his other cookbooks and have enjoyed the approach, so I figured a little discipline can't hurt. OK, so why are you altering his plan at all? I hate oatmeal unless it is in granola or it is in a cookie (or part of a lentil loaf, etc). I also just prefer smoothies for breakfast 6/7 days of the week. I do plan on trying some of his other breakfast recipes on weekends, but smoothies are one alteration I'm making. Renee is gluten-sensitive, so she'll be skipping the pancakes. She's really into smoothies as well. The only other real alteration I see making in week 1 is that a couple of the lunches just don't look like they would pack well. Those might get swapped for another of his recipes. Also, I'm shooting for no more than 1500 calories a day, so that fancy fruit salad on day 3 is not happening. We'll have an open watermelon that needs eating, so that'll be a fruit option. What else are you doing? I have also returned to using Fitday.com to track intake and activities and I'll be walking the dogs daily (per usual--they won't let me out of it), as well as doing alternating yoga and step aerobics/cardio days. |
The Two Fat SistersRenee and Angel welcome you to their blog. Hopefully we can change our name some time. In the meantime, watch as we try to get there. Archives
March 2018
CategoriesAll All Change Cholesterol Cookbooks Cooking Diet Eating Food Healthy Ldl Lifestyle Links Recipe Travel Vegan Weight Weight Loss |