Pasta Jessica

June 20, 2008 at 12:51 pm (Dieting, Food I make, Not so bad.) (, , , , , , )

This is my new favorite thing.  It came about after I had made spaghetti with meat sauce the other night using whole wheat thin spaghetti and ground turkey.  As I was packing up the leftovers for lunch the next day, I ended up spooning all of the sauce over the husband’s portion.  So for my portion, I just had pasta.  Now, I usually don’t mind because I’m a pasta whore and all I need is a little garlic and olive oil to make me happy.  But I got to talking with my friend Jessica about my pile of leftover pasta and she asked me what other ingredients I had on hand.  I’m trying to clean out my pantry, so I listed a bunch of canned goods: artichoke hearts, asparagus, beans of all kinds.  This is the genius idea Jessica inspired:

  • 1 can Progresso artichoke hearts, coarsely chopped
  • 1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 shallot, diced
  • 2 galic cloves, minced
  • 2 cups cooked whole wheat thin spaghetti
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
  • 2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
  • 2 Tbsp reduced fat grated parmesan cheese

Sautee the garlic and shallots in 1 Tbsp olive oil.  Add the artichokes and beans.  Toss with hot pasta, drizzle with olive oil and then top with cheese and basil.

Serves 4 at about 6 WW points each.

*picture coming later today

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Official Start

June 20, 2008 at 7:28 am (Dieting, Not so bad.) (, , , , , , , , , , )

This is today’s pre-planned food journal.  I’ve got a few calories to add to it somewhere.

Here’s the WW Points breakdown:

Breakfast (2):

  • Omelet – 1
  • Grapefruit – 1

Lunch (4):

Dinner (6):

  • Salmon – 3
  • Casserole – 3

Snacks (7):

  • Strawberries – 0
  • Orange – 1
  • Protien smoothie – 6

At my official start weight of 152.4 lbs, I get 22 points everyday.  That meal plan is only using 19.  I didn’t realize how few points the breakfast and lunch were going to be.  There really is a lot of food.  It’s all core except the cheese in the casserole and the protein smoothie, though, so that’s gotta be a good thing.

 

Yay for a great start!  And 3 points of extra treats!  The nice thing is, according to Sparkpeople, my extra calories need to come from fat and carbs.  I’m thinking frozen yogurt….

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Oh pre-planning, how I love thee.

June 19, 2008 at 10:25 pm (Dieting, Not so bad.) (, , , , , , , , , , , , )

Pre-planning out my food really puts me in the mood to get back on track.  Tomorrow I have no excuse to run by McDonald’s for a Deluxe Evil Breakfast.  I have everything all ready to go!

Here’s the booty:

Breakfast:

  • Egg white omelet with scallions, spinach, celery, green bell pepper and cilantro (easily 1c. of veggies in here)
  • Half a grapefruit with a Splenda packet if it’s too tart

Lunch:

  • 1/4c. cooked whole wheat thin spaghetti with 1/4c. kidney beans, 1/4c. of artichoke, 1 Tbsp reduced fat parmesan cheese and 1 tsp olive oil
  • 2c. romaine salad mix with 2 Tbsp Kraft Light Balsamic Vinaigrette

Snacks:

  • 1 whole orange
  • 6 large (and I mean VERY large) strawberries

Dinner:

That leaves a bit of extra calories.  I’ll track it all formally tomorrow with points values and nutrition info to find out exactly how many.  Maybe I’ll have a protein smoothie with my Lean Dessert Whipped Vanilla Cream protein powder made with soy milk and a banana to round out the calorie necessity.

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Broiled Tilapia with Thai Coconut-Curry Sauce

June 16, 2008 at 6:22 pm (Dieting, Food I make, Not so bad.) (, , , , )

Ingredients

1 teaspoon dark sesame oil, divided
2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1 cup chopped green onions
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 teaspoons red curry paste
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
4 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1 (14-ounce) can light coconut milk
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
4 (6-ounce) tilapia fillets
Cooking spray
3 cups hot cooked basmati rice
4 lime wedges

Preparation

Preheat broiler.Heat 1/2 teaspoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add ginger and garlic; cook 1 minute. Add pepper and onions; cook 1 minute. Stir in curry powder, curry paste, and cumin; cook 1 minute. Add soy sauce, sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and coconut milk; bring to a simmer (do not boil). Remove from heat; stir in cilantro.

Brush fish with 1/2 teaspoon oil; sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Place fish on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Broil 7 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Serve fish with sauce, rice, and lime wedges.

Yield

4 servings (serving size: 1 fillet, 1/2 cup sauce, 3/4 cup rice, and 1 lime wedge)

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 506(30% from fat); FAT 17.1g (sat 5.9g,mono 6g,poly 2.5g); IRON 2.7mg; CHOLESTEROL 82mg; CALCIUM 47mg; CARBOHYDRATE 56.6g; SODIUM 616mg; PROTEIN 29g; FIBER 3.1g

Cooking Light, SEPTEMBER 2002
Shown with: Grilled Corn with Lime Butter

Ingredients

1 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon grated lime rind
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
8 ears shucked corn
Cooking spray

Preparation

Prepare grill or broiler.Combine butter, rind, juice, salt, and pepper in a small bowl.

Place corn on grill rack or broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Cook 10 minutes, turning frequently. Remove from heat; brush corn with butter mixture.

Yield

8 servings

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 103(28% from fat); FAT 3.2g (sat 1.5g,mono 0.9g,poly 0.6g); IRON 0.5mg; CHOLESTEROL 6mg; CALCIUM 3mg; CARBOHYDRATE 19.6g; SODIUM 108mg; PROTEIN 2.6g; FIBER 2.2g

Cooking Light, JULY 2002

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Back to work

June 16, 2008 at 8:16 am (Dieting, Not so bad.) (, , , , , , , )

Everybody’s favorite time is here!  Monday morning!!  *fail*

 

I didn’t sleep at all last night.  I cleaned all day, did all the laundry and vaccuumed and changed the sheets.  I took a nice cold shower (I’m weird in the fact that I like cold showers…) and hopped into bed at about 8.  I didn’t fall asleep until at least 4 hours later.  Bah.  I’m still so sleepy!

And I screwed up and stopped for breakfast this morning instead of relying on my low cal staples in the drawer here.  I got some scrambled eggs and potatoes and 2 flour tortillas.  And 2 strips of bacon.  Ick.  I didn’t even finish it all, but I feel soooo gross right now…I could just puke.  I’ve chugged 2 bottles of water just to get the ick factor to go away.

We have a real estate guy coming to the house tonight to tell us our options for what to do with the homestead when we go to espana.  It’d be awesome to rent it out so someone else can pay the note, but then we’d still have to pay for storage and deal with the creeps when we get back after strangers had been living in the house.  I think we should just let it sit there.  Our parents can check on it.  Selling doesn’t seem likely, because we may not get much for it…IDK.

I am planning on making tilapia, corn on the cob (fresh) and baby potatoes for dinner tonight.  I’m not sure of the preparation, so I’ll have to look something up.  Maybe a marinade, but I don’t really want to stop at the store…I guess I have to though, because I don’t have any lemons or anything.  I’ll post the recipe here and take a pic if it’s good.

Today’s to do list:

  • Find recipe for dinner marinade
  • Go tanning
  • Stop at grocery store
  • Dinner
  • Clean up
  • Talk to realator

And just because this is funny:

http://graphjam.com/2008/06/14/song-chart-memes-in-soviet-russia/

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