Greek yogurt

Pun intended!

Anywayyyyy… you probably know that I am borderline obsessed with cheese, even though I may even be lactose intolerant, lol. I really don’t know yet. I have a lot of digestive woes that seem to be triggered by everything and anything without any rhyme or reason. But until I have an endoscopy, I decided not to do any type of elimination diets as to not skew the results. I could eat a few cherries or an egg, and bam! A firestorm all over the tummy minutes later, along with several other uncomfortable symptoms. Sometimes, even a lot of water all at once gives me terrible discomfort, or many times when I haven’t eaten anything at all for several hours the burning and bloating sensation in my actual stomach comes out of virtually nowhere. All of the preliminary tests, including 5 Celiac antibody tests and a sonogram, have been normal, except for my elevated SED rate. So, I don’t know. Right now I just live with and manage the symptoms, which I can’t do forever. I’m hoping to get more thorough testing next month, I just need to make some time to tend to my health and take this head on. Whenever test results come back normal or negative, I find myself getting complacent and saying to myself, “Oh, well this and that test can wait then.” And that’s just not good, because inevitably I find myself feeling awful a few days later and wishing I knew what was going on.

Some possibilities I have talked about with my doctors and researched myself: too much or too little acidity in stomach, Crohn’s disease, Celiac, gluten/wheat intolerance (not Celiac), other food allergies or intolerances, ulcers, gallbladder problem, hormonal imbalances, general IBS or IBD, overproduction of bacteria, stress-related digestive disorder, colitis, or a combination of any of these lovely ailments. It does seem like fruits and vegetables cause the most flareups, which sucks because I LOVE fruit + veggies and eat salads anticipating pains in the near future. Perhaps that’s why I’m so reluctant to really find out what’s going on. I’d be very sad if I had to give up raw salads or tomatoes due to something like colitis. Nonetheless, I’ll have to find out. I’m hoping whatever it is it’s easily fixable. It hasn’t always been like this, though. The symptoms slowly escalated over the past few years and got much worse when I started eating more healthfully. See the picture I’m painting? Fruits, veggies, whole grains (fiber) = triggers. Seems like when I ate a very unhealthy diet I was more “normal” and felt better, but I always had episodes that would come and go now that I look back. Ah well, all of this speculating just stresses me out more. I won’t know until I have the appropriate tests done. In the meantime, I have been scouting out gluten-free alternatives and learning a lot about health and medicine for the past 3 years. So I’m prepared for whatever. I think, lol.

See, I told you this would be a cheesy post… in more ways than one! I eat a lot of cheese, I’m not afraid of saturated fat. It’s in nature and it’s wholesome, it’s just about achieving the right balance. Too much of ANYTHING can be bad, even carrots. I often opt for reduced fat cheeses for a few reasons: 1-) Fewer calories — twice as much for half the calories? Sold! 2-) High in protein (dairy is my #1 meat-free protein source) and 3-) Most of it tastes just as good as the full-fat version. I have the equivalent of 1-2 servings of full-fat cheese a day, usually most days of the week. Many of the reduced fat cheeses I eat are 50-60 calories per serving, so while it seems like a lot of volume when you have 2 servings at once, the calories are about the same as one serving of regular, but the protein goes up and the fat is about the same as or less than full-fat servings.

My main issue with cheese is that many of them are high in sodium, but through label-scouring I have discovered that the following cheeses are naturally lower in sodium - or - have less salt added during the making of it: Swiss cheese, fresh mozzarella cheese, goat cheese, no salt added farmer’s cheese, ricotta cheese, no salt added cottage cheese, Danish blue extra creamy blue cheese, no salt added ricotta cheese, and Sargento’s new line of reduced sodium cheeses.

How have I enjoyed cheese over the past few days? *French accent* Oh, ho! de plusieurs manieres, mesdames et messieurs!

“Fake baked ziti” with string bean salad

• 2oz penne pasta (210 cal) mixed with 1/2 serving Franceso Rinaldi no salt added tomato sauce (35 cal), 1/2 cup Friendship 2% whipped cottage cheese (90 cal), and then topped with 1 slice Sargento reduced fat provolone cheese (50 cal), then melted in the microwave for a few seconds
• Half a bag of frozen string beans (40 cal) tossed in red wine vinegar (10 cal) and 1 TBSP Bragg healthy vinaigrette (45 cal)

Calories: 480 calories, 30g protein

This was DELICIOUS! My mom bought whipped cottage cheese and I don’t really care for the texture (too airy), so I decided to use it in pasta instead of ricotta and it ended up tasting just like it. It was SO yummy!

My breakfast on Tuesday: A shiny Red Delicious apple, 2oz baby Swiss cheese, and chocolate milk

• 2oz Cracker Barrel Baby Swiss (220 cal)
• One Red Delicious apple that left a chunky core (~80 cal)
• 1 cup Valio lactose-free nonfat milk (80 cal) mixed with 16g Nesquik chocolate powder (60 cal)

Calories: 440 calories

Simple and satisfying on a warm summer morning (afternoon in my case). I almost always obey my cravings (within reason), so when I want cheese + chocolate milk for breakfast, I’ll have it. It covers all of the bases: fruit, protein, fat, crunchy, creamy, sweet, naughty. There’s more than one way to reach your balance. Or, as they say, “There’s more than one way to simmer and saute.”

Tuesday night dinner: George Foreman grill paninis + soup

I decided to polish off the ole George Foreman grill that I haven’t used since we lived in our last house. OMG, WHY? Why haven’t I used it?!?!?! It’s SO awesome! It made one of the best sandwiches EVER. Ever. Seriously. Ever.

• The panini: 2 slices Alvarado Street Bakery flax seed bread (100 cal), 2 slices Sargento reduced fat Swiss cheese (120 cal), 1 TBSP Sabra original hummus (35 cal) spread on both sides of the bread, plum tomato slices (10 cal), sprinkle of AlsoSalt, and 1.5 strip Lightlife tempeh Fakin’ Bacon (50 cal) grilled on my George Foreman grill until the cheese was oozing out and the bread had grill marks
• 1 can Health Valley no salt added vegetable soup (180 cal)

Calories: 495, 315 just for the panini

This. was. so. GOOD! If you have a George Foreman, MAKE THIS! NOW! Or, at least a variation of it if you don’t have the exact ingredients. Yum x 98238723872837238723 It was smoky, super cheeeeeeeeesy, TASTY and FILLING. Why didn’t I ever use my George Foreman grill for a panini? It works perfectly! Expect to see a lot of paninis in the future.

This morning’s breakfast: Egg sandwich, yogurt, and fruit

Ok, this sandwich involves “processed organic American cheese.” But the ingredients are the same as you would find in regular cheese, it’s just exxxxxtra processed, lol. This is that same one that I bought in Mother Earth’s awhile back and the nutritional info appeals to me: 50 calories per slice, 5g protein, 210mg sodium. Not bad at all and tastes amazing, in a way that only American PROCESSED cheese can taste amazing, lol. I like it. hehe

“Judge if you want. We’re all going to die. I intend to deserve it.”

White nectarine that I was forced to cut up last night when I innocently peeled the sticker off of it and the skin came with it. *sigh* So, I cut it up and put it in the fridge for the next day being I didn’t want to eat it at the moment. It oxidized a bit, but still tasted delish.

• 2 large cage-free hard boiled eggs (150 cal) with 1 slice organic American highly processed cheese (50 cal) on an Arnold’s 100% whole wheat long sandwich thin (they’re called Fill ‘Ems )
• One 0% raspberry Chobani yogurt (120 cal) topped with about 1/4 cup fresh blueberries (25 cal) and a light drizzle of agave nectar (15 cal)
• White nectarine (~60 cal)

Calories: 520

The egg sandwich was soooo deeeeeeeeeelish! You can see how long those sandwich things are by how many egg slices I jammed in there. Loved the Chobani raspberry yogurt, too! It was like eating a decadent dessert. Yogurtlicious.

I overcooked a crock pot of pinto beans overnight, boooo! So now I have to re-plan dinner. The beans still taste good, but they are too mushy to hold up to tossing with anything, so I’m thinking I might make a HUGE batch of “refried beans” with them, but I’ll probably end up eating them anyway. I have to make a new batch because baked beans are calling my name. I love beans. And cheese.

What’s your favorite cheese? I know, it’s hard to pick just one! What are ALL of your favorites?

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Tagged as: agave nectar, blueberries, Bragg healthy vinaigrette, cheese, Chobani, Chobani raspberry yogurt, Dave's Gourmet hot sauce, easy meals, fake baked ziti, Friendship cottage cheese, George Foreman grill, Greek yogurt, hard boiled eggs, Healthy Valley no salt added vegetable soup, Nesquik, panini, provolone, sandwiches, Sargento cheese, string beans, Swiss cheese, vegetarian, white nectarine

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