For breakfast today, I had a delicious bowl of oatmeal. I used to hate eating oatmeal, but now that I've discovered Quaker Oats Instant Oatmeal packets at Costco, I have discovered that a little sugar can go a long way to making it taste much better!!! I think tomorrow I will cut my oatmeal in half, or use 1-minute oats (150 calories for 1/2 cup is better than 260 calories for 2 packets) to reduce my total calories down to about 400.
2 packets Quaker Oats Instant Oatmeal (I love the Apples & Cinnamon one!)
1 cup vanilla soymilk or ricemilk
Handful fresh blueberries
12 hazelnuts
1 apple, chunks
Wheatgerm
Bring milk to the boil, add packets of oatmeal, stir and take off the heat. Pour the oatmeal into a pasta bowl so it will cool down quicker. Sprinkle the blueberries, hazelnuts, wheatgerm and apples on top. Enjoy!
Calories ~ 575
Monday, February 22, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Filling Up On Premium
Okey dokes, went shopping today and spent way more than I needed to. I seriously don't know how to shop for just one person! But I came home with all kinds of goodies, including
The plan is to wake up early enough that I can eat oatmeal for breakfast, with tons of fruit, vegetables and a grain for lunch, and a soup for supper. We shall see how it goes this week! I have a huge basket overflowing with tons of fruit (bananas, mango, kiwi, oranges, apples, honeydew melon, grapefruit and clementines) and I'm looking forward to tomorrow when I get to start my healthy meal plan!!!
- Fresh shelled edamame
- Fat-free feta cheese and blue cheese crumbles
- Organic arugula (of course!)
- Fresh stuffed grape leaves (Costco, 20 for $9.99)
- A mango
- Mediterranean hummus
- Avocadoes
- Fresh blueberries
- Whole wheat flour and corn tortillas
- Aloe vera juice
- Quick oats
- Extra firm tofu
The plan is to wake up early enough that I can eat oatmeal for breakfast, with tons of fruit, vegetables and a grain for lunch, and a soup for supper. We shall see how it goes this week! I have a huge basket overflowing with tons of fruit (bananas, mango, kiwi, oranges, apples, honeydew melon, grapefruit and clementines) and I'm looking forward to tomorrow when I get to start my healthy meal plan!!!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Recipe: Let Us Rap
Okay, so I've tried this only once before, but making lettuce wraps really is fun! I knew I had to eat some salad veggies for lunch today, and lacked creativity to throw a salad together, so I decided to wash the lettuce and chop the bell peppers and see where it led me. This recipe is really messy so keep plenty of paper towels nearby!
4 lettuce leaves, washed
Bell pepper, green and yellow or red, cut in chunky strips
Cucumber, slices
Pickle relish (I like Bubbies' relish)
Tofutti Sour Supreme
Salt to taste
Place a lettuce leaf on your plate, smear some sour cream on top of about half the leaf, put about 1/2 a tsp of relish on top of that, add two cucumber slices (more or less, depending on the size of your lettuce leaf), lay a strip of bell pepper on top, and salt to taste. You can either roll the leaf up like a burrito or you can fold it in half and roll it like a spring roll. Toppings can vary, I like the combination of crunchy, sweet, salty and sour.
Calories ~ minimal, maybe 15 per wrap. (the only real calories are in the tofutti)
4 lettuce leaves, washed
Bell pepper, green and yellow or red, cut in chunky strips
Cucumber, slices
Pickle relish (I like Bubbies' relish)
Tofutti Sour Supreme
Salt to taste
Place a lettuce leaf on your plate, smear some sour cream on top of about half the leaf, put about 1/2 a tsp of relish on top of that, add two cucumber slices (more or less, depending on the size of your lettuce leaf), lay a strip of bell pepper on top, and salt to taste. You can either roll the leaf up like a burrito or you can fold it in half and roll it like a spring roll. Toppings can vary, I like the combination of crunchy, sweet, salty and sour.
Calories ~ minimal, maybe 15 per wrap. (the only real calories are in the tofutti)
Losin' the Wait
Okay, so this coming week the plan is to try a more natural food plan. Whole foods, fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains. I'm not going to go raw all the way, but I am going to try eating as many unprocessed foods as I can. Been getting too lazy about the whole "counting calories" aspect of things, even though I've been pretty faithful about my exercise, and I think I've been more in a maintain mode than a weight-loss mode. Hopefully this will help me kick-start the loss, because I need to get serious about it!
I went online and Googled some lists of raw foods, then created my own in Excel. I have a list of fresh & frozen fruit, fresh & frozen & tinned vegetables, beans, nuts & seeds, grains, and then miscellaneous items like yogurt, peanut butter (healthy, not the Jiffy kind), honey, hummus, olive oil, soymilk, seaweed, dried fruit, aloe vera juice, and date sugar. That's all I can think of right now!
Tomorrow I'm going in to town and plan to take my list and stock up on foods on my list. My fridge is pretty empty right now, so it's the perfect time to do this. I'm already thinking about making a salad with veggies, artichoke hearts or palm hearts, sunflower or roasted pumpkin seeds, extra virgin olive oil, and lemon juice. Ummmmm!
My goals for this week are to:
1. Enjoy a good balance of food groups
2. Eat enough so I am not starving in between meals (snack on nuts? drink more water?)
3. Lose 2 pounds
4. Keep exercising every evening (or morning if I can manage it)
5. Have fun and be creative with my meals, enjoying what I'm eating
6. Encourage positive thoughts so I can stick it out for a week
7. Feel like I have more energy than usual
So here's to an exciting new week!
I went online and Googled some lists of raw foods, then created my own in Excel. I have a list of fresh & frozen fruit, fresh & frozen & tinned vegetables, beans, nuts & seeds, grains, and then miscellaneous items like yogurt, peanut butter (healthy, not the Jiffy kind), honey, hummus, olive oil, soymilk, seaweed, dried fruit, aloe vera juice, and date sugar. That's all I can think of right now!
Tomorrow I'm going in to town and plan to take my list and stock up on foods on my list. My fridge is pretty empty right now, so it's the perfect time to do this. I'm already thinking about making a salad with veggies, artichoke hearts or palm hearts, sunflower or roasted pumpkin seeds, extra virgin olive oil, and lemon juice. Ummmmm!
My goals for this week are to:
1. Enjoy a good balance of food groups
2. Eat enough so I am not starving in between meals (snack on nuts? drink more water?)
3. Lose 2 pounds
4. Keep exercising every evening (or morning if I can manage it)
5. Have fun and be creative with my meals, enjoying what I'm eating
6. Encourage positive thoughts so I can stick it out for a week
7. Feel like I have more energy than usual
So here's to an exciting new week!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Recipe: Breadless Sandwiches
1 extra-firm block of tofu, sliced
Olive oil to fry
Nutritional yeast
Seasoning salt
Fry slices of tofu in olive oil. Shake nutritional yeast and seasoning salt on one side of each slice, turn over and fry, add yeast and salt to the other side, and keep turning until both sides are golden brown.
English cucumber, slices
Green and yellow bell pepper, thick chunks
Vegenaise, optional
Salt to taste
Lay slices of seasoned, fried tofu on a breakfast plate. Dab a bit of vegenaise on each slice and top with cucumber slices. Arrange chunks of bell pepper around the breadless sandwiches and salt to taste.
Calories ~ 150 - 200 (for 1/4 of the block of tofu, depending on how much olive oil you use to fry with)
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
It's All About The Title
Bother. I'm flying to Europe in three months and I have to lose at least 15 pounds. About 30 would be nice :) Why? Because I'm going to see my Oma (grandmother in Dutch) and I told her a couple of months ago that my goal was to lose 30 pounds in 30 weeks for my 30th birthday. Of course, life happened, and while I have managed to lose 4 pounds since I started, it's still not going as fast as I would like!
I've changed my goals now, though. My constant goal is to figure out how to do the whole weight-loss thing while still living life. I've realized, as I said before, that life is not going to sit on its hands for six months while I work on losing weight. Life is going to keep on happening and things are going to keep on hitting me out of nowhere and I'm still going to feel stressed out. It's all about learning how to manage that stress and everything life offers while still eating healthy and working out.
I'm proud of myself, though :) I was sitting at work today and suddenly realized it was 6 pm and I had enough to keep me busy for another three hours, but instead I told myself rather firmly, "Maria, it's time to go home and exercise now." So, obediently, I packed up and went off to do my two miles. It really is becoming a habit and I'm pleased with that.
If it takes me a year, or if it takes two years, it doesn't matter, my goal is to lose the weight for good. I'm going to keep working on it, while still enjoying the food I eat. Sure wish there was a magic wand I could wave, though, and drop the pounds just like that! But it's okay. It's All About The Journey and one day I will reach my goal.
:)
I've changed my goals now, though. My constant goal is to figure out how to do the whole weight-loss thing while still living life. I've realized, as I said before, that life is not going to sit on its hands for six months while I work on losing weight. Life is going to keep on happening and things are going to keep on hitting me out of nowhere and I'm still going to feel stressed out. It's all about learning how to manage that stress and everything life offers while still eating healthy and working out.
I'm proud of myself, though :) I was sitting at work today and suddenly realized it was 6 pm and I had enough to keep me busy for another three hours, but instead I told myself rather firmly, "Maria, it's time to go home and exercise now." So, obediently, I packed up and went off to do my two miles. It really is becoming a habit and I'm pleased with that.
If it takes me a year, or if it takes two years, it doesn't matter, my goal is to lose the weight for good. I'm going to keep working on it, while still enjoying the food I eat. Sure wish there was a magic wand I could wave, though, and drop the pounds just like that! But it's okay. It's All About The Journey and one day I will reach my goal.
:)
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Recipe: Vegan Shnickerdoodles
Adapted from a recipe found at http://www.joyofbaking.com/Snickerdoodles.html, this is a vegan version that uses simple ingredients and is fun to make and fun to eat!
2 3/4 cups unbleached white flour
2 teaspoons baking powder (I use aluminum-free Rumford)
Salt to taste
Whisk above ingredients together. Set aside.
1 cup Earth Balance Original Whipped Organic Buttery Spread (or vegan margarine at room temperature)
1 1/2 cups cane sugar
2 heaping Tbsp of cornstarch and soy flour mixed with some water into a medium paste
1 Tsp - 1 Tbsp vanilla soymilk, if necessary
With a hand mixer or in an electric mixer, beat the margarine and cane sugar till smooth. Add the cornstarch/soy flour paste and blend until smooth. Add soymilk if necessary to bind the cookie dough into a smooth ball that can be rolled easily. Knead with your hands to get the right cookie dough texture.
Preheat oven to 400 F. Line baking tray with parchment paper (do NOT use wax paper; it will start a fire) or spray with baking spray (works just as well).
1/4 cup cane sugar
1 1/2 Tsp cinnamon
Coloured sprinkles (optional)
Mix ingredients together in a pasta bowl. Roll pinches of the dough into 1-inch balls then roll in the mixture and coat well. Place cookie balls on the baking trap 2 inches apart. Flatten cookie balls with a glass to approximately 1/2 inch thick. Bake for 8-10 minutes, depending on the temperature of your oven, until golden brown. Cookies will still be soft. Use a spatula to flip the cookies upside down onto a plate and let cool.
Calories ~ 66 per cookie. Makes between 55 and 72 cookies.
2 3/4 cups unbleached white flour
2 teaspoons baking powder (I use aluminum-free Rumford)
Salt to taste
Whisk above ingredients together. Set aside.
1 cup Earth Balance Original Whipped Organic Buttery Spread (or vegan margarine at room temperature)
1 1/2 cups cane sugar
2 heaping Tbsp of cornstarch and soy flour mixed with some water into a medium paste
1 Tsp - 1 Tbsp vanilla soymilk, if necessary
With a hand mixer or in an electric mixer, beat the margarine and cane sugar till smooth. Add the cornstarch/soy flour paste and blend until smooth. Add soymilk if necessary to bind the cookie dough into a smooth ball that can be rolled easily. Knead with your hands to get the right cookie dough texture.
Preheat oven to 400 F. Line baking tray with parchment paper (do NOT use wax paper; it will start a fire) or spray with baking spray (works just as well).
1/4 cup cane sugar
1 1/2 Tsp cinnamon
Coloured sprinkles (optional)
Mix ingredients together in a pasta bowl. Roll pinches of the dough into 1-inch balls then roll in the mixture and coat well. Place cookie balls on the baking trap 2 inches apart. Flatten cookie balls with a glass to approximately 1/2 inch thick. Bake for 8-10 minutes, depending on the temperature of your oven, until golden brown. Cookies will still be soft. Use a spatula to flip the cookies upside down onto a plate and let cool.
Calories ~ 66 per cookie. Makes between 55 and 72 cookies.
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