Summer Plans

I’ve been extra busy (and stressed) the past couple of days, so that’s why my updates are lagging. Our lease is up in this house, so instead of signing another lease, we decided to move into the house next door to my mom’s cousin while we decide on the house that we want to buy in Orange or Ulster county and then begin going through the motions that that requires. So, needless to say, there’s going to be a lot of craziness around here for the next few weeks or months for that matter. We’re really excited about all of this! I can’t say that the cats are especially thrilled though.

Our eating patterns have been erratic over the past few days; my calorie cycles have been ranging from maintenance to waaaaaaay under and my sodium intake has been rather high, BUT the good news is that the scale is still going down. WOO HOO! Unfortunately, my triumph over water retention is smack dab in the middle of Aunt Flo’s arrival yesterday, so I’m hoping this isn’t a short-lived victory. We’ll see though. I feel like my body is finally adjusting and releasing my excess fluid stores. Hopefully this trend continues.

I’ve been seeing pesto on many blogs in the past few weeks, so I decided to give it a try myself. I’ve never made it before, but from what I’ve seen, there are unlimited variations of it. I made mine with:

• Fresh basil from my AeroGarden
• About a cup of fresh baby spinach
• 1 chopped garlic clove
• 1/4 cup grated pecorino romano cheese
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1-) Add basil, spinach, garlic and grated cheese to food processor; chop
2-) Drizzle in EVOO through top while it’s chopping

I served mine with leftover grilled chicken breast and penne pasta:

When the pasta was done and the chicken was reheated, I mixed the pasta, chicken and pesto together

It was yummy, but honestly, it could have used some salt or other flavoring because it was a little on the bland side. So, if you can tolerate a little sea salt, I recommend using some in yours.

We ate lunch out yesterday, just a (SALTY!!) deli sandwich and after a long day, I wanted to keep dinner simple. I’ve been meaning to make this for awhile and finally saw the opportunity to do so last night when I noticed an avocado on the counter about to expire.

Swiss cheese and fresh avocado quesadilla with Trader Joe’s no salt added salsa and Fage Total 0% plain yogurt as my sour cream substitute:

For the quesadilla I used:

- 1 La Tortilla Factory low carb, high fiber wrap (80 cal)
- 1oz Shop Rite no salt added Swiss cheese (100 cal)
- 55g fresh Haas avocado (91 cal)
- Pam olive oil cooking spray (20 cal)

1 serving, 291 calories

1.) Spray nonstick frying pan with cooking spray; preheat on medium heat
2.) Lay tortilla down in pan, add toppings
3.) When cheese is melted and tortilla is browned, flip 1 side of tortilla over to create a half-circle shape

With the salsa and yogurt, I’d estimate this to be around 330-340 calories and about 20g protein.

I’d like to say that this is an original idea, but it’s actually on the appetizer menu at Ruby Tuesday lol. It’s SOOOO good though and I’m sure this version is MUCH healthier!

Another rainy day around here and we have lots of things to do, like finding a house! Hopefully Aunt Flo isn’t going to be a nuisance, but I won’t count on being THAT lucky. hehe