Jenn's Menu & Lifestyle Blog

My first day of staying under 1500mg of sodium was a success! I stayed pretty low on calories, too. I didn’t exercise but I started cleaning the kitchen and throwing things out in anticipation of packing everything up in the next week, so I’m sure that burned a few extra calories.

I started the day off with a lovely bowl of yumminess. No, not cereal or oats; pasta of course! 2oz whole wheat penne pasta (210 cal) on top of ~1 cup of steamed string beans (30 cal) and topped with: 1/2 cup Franceso Rinaldi no salt added tomato sauce (70 cal) and 4 Quorn meatless meatballs (90 cal) with a little tomato salad (30 cal?) and a small bowl of fruit salad (60 cal?) for dessert…

Mom cut up fresh peaches, nectarines and plums the night before. I love when fruit salad is already prepared in the fridge! She also made tomato salad. It’s always nice to find a bunch of healthy deliciousness in the fridge when you wake up.

Mmmm! This was a fantastically filling meal for just around 490 calories. You would think starting the day off with Quorn meatballs would set the standard for a high sodium day, but being everything else in this meal was virtually sodium free with the exception of a few mg of natural sodium, I managed to keep the entire meal around 430mg sodium. WOO HOO! I found a “happy tummy” sweet spot in this meal because it kept me full for almost 6 hours! Must be all that wonderful fiber.

After a frustrating morning of phone tag, work and cleaning, I wanted to get out of the house. So, we went out for ice cream. Not the healthiest lunch option, but at least it was low in sodium LOL. I had a cone of mint chocolate chip, a childhood favorite. Of course, nothing comes close to the homemade gelato that we used to sell at our ice cream stand, but there have been some pretty good contenders through the years. I imagine the “small” cone still packed around 500 calories, but I don’t really know. I forgot my camera, so just imagine an ice cream cone with a big scoop of green ice cream on top.

The ice cream actually made me overfull to the point that I didn’t even want to eat dinner, but I knew I probably shouldn’t end the day under 1000 calories because I’d wake up ravenous or chewing on Dustin’s elbow while I slept. We were really tired at this point, so I decided to use up some freezer and pantry stuff, being we are trying to minimize this week anyway.

I popped a Kashi Mayan Harvest Bake frozen meal (340 cal, 380mg sodium) in the microwave while I heated a can of Health Valley no salt added lentil soup (140 cal, 30mg sodium per serving) on the stove. I’ve had the Mayan Harvest Bake meal before and remember how much I liked it, but then again, I have liked every Kashi product I’ve ever tried. hehe This is the product description:

“Plantains with roasted sweet potato, black beans and kale. Spicy ancho sauce with pumpkin seed garnish served over Kashi seven whole grain polenta, plus amaranth.” It’s delicious!! It has an eclectic mixture of sweet, spicy!!!!, savory, and chewy mixed with a lot of great textures. It’s also relatively low in sodium compared to most other frozen dinners. Loved it!

I transferred it from its little black plastic tray to a plate, so it’s not very attractive but the taste more than makes up for its sloppy appearance.

OMG! YUM! It has a TON of ingredients (all wholesome), none of which I’d ever think of to put together LOL. It inspires me to broaden my cooking horizons though. The Fall is right around the corner, so I’ll definitely experiment with some new exotic dishes.

This is actually a little less soup than the serving size. As I was measuring it on the scale, I was worried it was going to overflow in the tiny bowl, so I held back on about 10% of it. This might be too bland for most people, but I love it. I really need to eat lentils more often, they are so yummy and SO GOOD for you!!

The Mayan Harvest Bake and soup comes to just 480 calories and 410mg sodium!! Nice!

I’m digging this “lower sodium” challenge. It really makes me put more brain power into my food (most of the time! lol). *yawn* Time to go BACK to bed, I woke up to tinkle and decided to do an update.