Jitters

I’ve found myself pacing aimlessly several times over the past week. I’m turning the big 3-0 next Saturday and I’ve been having a mini breakdown. Aunt Flo showed up a couple days after Thanksgiving, so my hormones were raging and of course, holiday anxiety is contributing to my madness. We can’t do anything to stop the aging process; the best we can do is hope to age gracefully. I don’t feel that 30 is old, I’m just anxious about starting a new decade of life and saddened by leaving my 20s, even though it’s just a number. Truthfully, some days I feel like I’m 80 and other days I don’t feel a day over 12. *sigh*

So, yeah, it’s been an interesting week. Poor Dustin. Every time I started to do an update, I’d get sidetracked by daydreaming, procrastination or self-induced panic attacks instigated by one thing or another. December is our busiest month business-wise, combined with the holidays, it’s been rather hectic. We picked up our Christmas tree the other day from my Aunt Gina’s house. Her house was built on a Christmas tree farm, so she still has some trees, but they are getting big. We ended up with a blue spruce because the others wouldn’t have fit in the house lol. It’s prickly, but gorgeous. I’ll post pics of it in a few days, we have to buy a new tree top.

Revisiting Thanksgiving…

I left off on our Thanksgiving feast; inevitably, there were LOTS of leftovers! Could NOT wait for a “leftover sandwich”

Oh my GOODNESS! Turkey breast, gravy, stuffing, and cranberry sauce on a leftover dinner roll with a side of mashed potatoes with gravy and sweet potatoes. YUM!

Remember how I said our pumpkin pie fell? Well, mom made another the next day. This time with a graham cracker crust. I enjoyed a slice with some whipped cream:

I ate the filling and left the crust. I’m not crazy about graham cracker crust, usually only on cheesecake. Still just as yummy though!

We didn’t do any “Black Friday” shopping, but we did go out Saturday. Dustin wanted to do some shopping for my birthday, so he dropped me off at Mother Earth’s, my favorite “natural foods” store in the area. I found a bunch of great things, but I think my favorite is this:

No salt added mustard!!!!!!! YAY! Also, the jar of dill pickles has almost no sodium in them. But they were EXTREMELY expensive; $9 but I just HAD to because I love pickles but due to the sodium, the best I can do is bread & butter ones. I’ll ration them for sure. Maybe one slice at a time LOL.

After we shopped ’til we dropped, we picked up Panera Bread to take home with us. I got the chicken cobb salad, Dustin got a smoked turkey panini:

My salad was “ok,” nothing impressive to be honest. I ate less than half of it, but all of the baguette, which was totally delish.

Tired from shopping and turkey, I made my “go-to” meal of choice for dinner: Pasta!

I decided to use some leftover bread that I picked up at the bakery while picking up Thanksgiving goodies for garlic bread. I was too impatient to let it get really toasty.

Back to leftover turkey the next day in the form of turkey salad made my mommy:

I tossed a bed of mixed greens in EVOO + red wine vinegar, then topped it with ~1/2 cup turkey salad, grape tomatoes, red onions and 14g reduced fat blue cheese crumbles (40 cal)

I was getting a little tired of turkey by then lol, so I started having some vegetarian yumminess:

A homemade sodium-free bagel (~210 cal) with 2 slices Yves veggie bologna (40 cal), lettuce, and 1/2 TBSP Hellmann’s olive oil mayo (25 cal) with 1 cup apple cider

Later on my pre-workout snack was this little container of Apple Jacks that I picked up in Target for $1 while we were out shopping.

The nutritional facts and ingredients actually aren’t TOO bad; 150 calories, 190mg sodium. I think Aunt Flo was whispering in my ear when I picked this up. lol I had it with 1 cup skim milk (90 cal), so for just 240 calories, it’s a reasonable portion-controlled indulgence.

They taste just like Fruit Loops to me lol. Probably are almost the same recipe.

More vegetarian cuisine on the menu: black bean tempeh chili:

I made it the same way I make regular chili, only instead of meat, I substituted a package of multi-grain tempeh that I crumbled up.

Black Bean Tempeh Chili

• 3 cans Del Monte no salt added diced tomatoes
• 2 medium red onions, diced
• 1 TBSP EVOO
• 1 block multi-grain tempeh
• ~3 cups cooked black beans
• Chili powder to taste
• Cumin to taste
• Black pepper
• Garlic powder

1. Add onions into pot with EVOO; cook down a bit
2. Add in tempeh (crumble it up); stir together; add some spices and stir again
3. Pour in diced tomatoes, more spices; stir
4. Add in beans; stir and let simmer for 45-60 minutes; stir periodically

Servings vary

On the side: Half of a corn muffin I bought at Mother Earth’s…

…and on my chili: 14g shredded Shop Rite no salt added Swiss cheese (50 cal), 56g Fage Total 0% plain yogurt (35 cal) and more diced red onion. It was DELICIOUS, but very filling, so I ended up eating only half of my bowl. We couldn’t even really tell that it was meatless. After I added in a few splashes of Tabasco, it tasted just like regular chili. Dustin loved it, too. Win win!

Santa Claus is coming to town!!!!!!

I started using my Christmas dishes on December 1st. YAY! Sant loves cookies and milk, but I hear he also loves spaghetti and meatballs? Can anyone confirm this? LOL My mom made homemade sauce and meatballs (with raisins in them, YUM!!), so what better way to break the festive plates in with than with an old favorite.

It even snowed on my salad for the occasion! hehe (grated pecorino romano cheese)

Heavenly!

This was breakfast the other day…

1 large cage free egg (75 cal) cooked in 1/2 teaspoon EVOO (20 cal) and placed on a Martin’s 100% whole wheat potato roll (100 cal) with 1 slice Sargento reduced fat Swiss cheese (60 cal) and an orange on the side for around 355 calories total.

You would think I’d be sick to death of turkey, but I returned to it again after my workout the other day lol. This time it as a 4oz ground turkey breats burger (120 cal) on 1 Pepperidge Farms’ 100% whole wheat deli thins (100 cal) with no salt added ketchup, red onion, no salt added mustard and no salt added bread & butter pickles (I had a low-sodium theme going lol).

This was my post-workout meal, so I went heavy on the protein. I picked up this chocolate protein powder at Mother Earth’s the other day:

I decided to try 14g of it (49 cal) with a 6oz Fage Total 0% plain yogurt (90 cal). Fage is very thick and sour, so when I tasted it after mixing it in, I thought it was a little too bland, sooo I added on some toppings. 6g Cascadian Farms dark chocolate granola (25 cal), 7g white chocolate chips (40 cal) and 10g Gefen raspberry syrup (20 cal). It was SO GOOD, but I’m sure it would have been better with a thinner yogurt and/or more protein powder. It mixed REALLY well though, not chalky or clumpy at all.

My burger was YUMMY! I really like the deli thins, the ingredients list is fairly decent. For 100 calories, they are in the same league as my beloved Martin’s whole wheat buns, so I’ll definitely buy these again.

By now you probably figured out that I bought a ton of “meatless meat” when I was out shopping the other day LOL. I love it so much, it’s just really high in sodium. I need to figure out how to make it from scratch so I can control the sodium. For now I’m just trying to practice moderation. I picked up a package of It’s All Good gardein BBQ skewers. They have 19g protein, 140 calories and 480mg sodium per 2 skewer serving, so I tried just 1 (70 cal, 240mg sodium) on top of my salad the other day:

There are little holes in the middle because they actually come on a skewer lol. It’s cute. They taste just like the “chicken” version to me, which isn’t too surprising, but I liked them a lot. My salad was mixed leafy greens, tossed with 1oz shredded Shop Rite no salt added Swiss cheese (100 cal), 1 teaspoon EVOO (40 cal), red wine vinegar (10 cal) and red onions. Along with my salad, I had 1 can of Health Valley no salt added chicken soup (160 cal) with 1 whole wheat unsalted matzo cracker (110 cal)

Every time I see a new Health Valley no salt added soup, I just have to try it. It was alright, nothing special and definitely NOT worth buying again for $3.49 a can! Their no salt added tomato soup is still my favorite.

We were watching The Golden Girls yesterday, one of my all time favorite shows, and there was a scene where Blanche was sitting down to breakfast, she said, “There’s nothing like starting the day off with a great big ole pile of eggs and cinnamon toast.” (paraphrased) I concur, Blanche!!! So for breakfast today I made exactly what she described because it sounded SO good, and OMG! It WAS!!

I spared no calorie expense with this meal. I scrambled 7 large cage free eggs, then cooked them in a nonstick pan with 1 TBSP butter (100 cal). I split them 3 ways with Dustin and my mom. Then I had 2 slices Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted grain cinnamon raisin bread (160 cal) with 1 TBSP butter (100 cal) and 2 clementines (~60 cal) on the side.

I estimate my portion of the eggs to be around 200 calories, 260 for my toast with butter, and around 60 for the clementines: ~520 calories. Not bad for a hearty breakfast. It was FANTASTIC!!

Breakfast held me over for awhile, but when we started getting hungry again, I ambitiously headed to the kitchen to experiment with flavors outside of my usual comfort zone. I absolutely LOVE Amy’s Light in Sodium Mattar Paneer frozen dinner, so while I was at Mother Earth’s I bought a bunch of ingredients that I planned to use in my own version of Mattar Paneer. Now, I’m not familiar with Indian cuisine other than frozen dinners and the limited prepared foods I have had, so I just winged this, but I was pleased with the results.

This creation was inspired by spotting this block of paneer in the dairy aisle:

I love this stuff!! It’s 100 calories, 50mg sodium per serving, and while it doesn’t have much flavor on its own, it absorbs the flavors that you cook with it. Just like tofu does, but it’s a dairy product.

I had this bottle of Mr. Spice Indian Curry in my cabinet forever, so I figured this is the best time to use it.

Sodium free and only 15 calories per TBSP. In a small saucepan, I added in: 1/2 cup Eden organic no salt added chickpeas (130 cal), 1/2 cup frozen peas (70 cal), 1oz paneer (100 cal) and 3 TBSP Mr. Spice sodium free Indian Curry (45 cal). I let it cook on slow, stirring it occasionally. Then I steamed string beans in the microwave while I boiled a small Chinese eggplant that I cut up into large chunks. When the eggplant was done, I drained it, then combined it with the string beans and tossed it in an Asian-flavored sauce that I made with: 2 teaspoons sesame oil (80 cal), 1 tsp Braggs aminos, 1 minced garlic clove (50 cal), 1 TBSP rice vinegar (5 cal), 2 TBSP Ken’s Steakhouse sodium free Sesame Ginger marinade (60 cal).

I also heated up a can of Eden organic curried brown rice & lentils (130 cal/serving):

The result:

DELICIOUS!! I wasn’t crazy about the curried rice and beans, but I ate it anyway. The chickpeas/peas/paneer with curry sauce was great and the veggies with Asian sauce were AMAZING!! I definitely have to make more Indian and Asian dishes, so flavorful!!

Ugh, I am exhausted. I can barely keep my eyes open. I’ve been typing this update for over 2 hours!! I’m being extra good with my sodium, exercise and calories this past week and plan to continue all week until my birthday. Well, until the day before actually. We have a lot of plans and I’m going to have more frequent updates this week (everyday, cross your fingers!!!). I think I’m over my craziness… for the moment. LOL Seriously though, we have a lot of fun things planned this week/month, so I’m definitely going to have A TON to blog about. I can’t wait!!

---