blackberries – Fervent Foodie

Taco salad does the trick

June 16, 2010 4 Comments

This morning started off on the right foot: Trader Joe’s coffee for the road as I headed to a breakfast meeting for Akron’s Knowledgeable Network of Women.

Check this guy out, he thinks he lives at my house:

I also have a stray cat who calls my side porch home. I’ll take these guys over the possum who had a brief stint in my backyard :-/ Ugh, possums are so creepy!

On my way to the breakfast meeting, I started to recall the days where I loved breakfast/lunch work meetings. The more the better! Bring on the free food! Pass the rolls! Dessert? I’ll take one of each, thank you! Nowadays I dread them. It’s so hard to make healthy choices when you have no idea what the restaurant is actually putting in the food. Unless I’m at a chain restaurant that posts the nutritional data online, I have thee hardest time picking out the healthy choices on the menu. It can be downright frustrating!

Today’s meeting was at a small locally owned restaurant, so I was left to fight the battle on my own. I went with a plain english muffin (no butter, thanks) with blackberry preserves and a bowl of fruit. What I REALLY WANTED was the strawberry stuffed french toast… Maybe I’ll attempt a healthified version this weekend 🙂

Check out the KNOW by clicking here. I always encourage people to get involved and do something that is outside their comfort zone. That’s exactly why I joined the KNOW a few years back. I HATED networking events and always felt uncomfortable entering a room full of unknowns. I’ve made drastic improvements since then.

For breakfast #2 I decided to go with my newly declared indulgence: Dannon Vanilla Greek Yogurt, blackberries, and 1/2 a serving of Bear Naked Maple Pecan granola.

Stats of B#2: 190 calories, 31g carbs, 2g fat, 15g protein, 3g fiber

Lunch

I really didn’t have a plan of attack for lunches this week. While scrounging around in the freezer looking for hidden treasures, I found some frozen lean ground beef I had cooked up with taco seasoning a while back. So I decided to make a taco salad using romaine lettuce, tomato, onion, banana peppers, and black beans (STILL trying to use these up from the stuffed peppers I made last week!). Topped it all off with some hot sauce and some fat free breakstones sour cream.

The best part of eating salads for lunch is you can consume an enormous amount of food and still feel good 😀

Stats for the taco salad: 326 calories, 32g carbs, 10g fat, 29g protein, 9g fiber

What I ate

(good) Case of the Monday’s

June 14, 2010 1 Comment

It’s Monday, and I am surprisingly cheery today! Even despite the gray and dreary weather we’ve got going on outside.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — nice and gray outside

Maybe my good mood is due to the delicious Trader Joe’s coffee I had this morning on the way to work… That Trader Joe… Sure knows how to put a smile on my face 🙂

Almond butter sounded good this morning, so I went with a toasted Pepperidge Farm Deli Flat (that I had leftover from the turkey burgers) with Trader Joe’s crunchy almond butter and a little smear of Smucker’s Blackberry preserves (my favorite! love the seeds!).

Motivational poster I drew for the BF:

For breakfast #2 I went with a barley breakfast bowl again, which consisted of Stoneyfield Farms Greek Yogurt, Barley, and Red Raspberries:

I still have some leftover barley, so I think I’ll try and incorporate that into dinner somehow…

Today for lunch I had a very special treat 😀

Jarrod made me a GINORMOUS salad with romaine, grilled chicken, black beans, tomato, onion, cucumber, and carrots:

He has an uncanny ability for chopping things into perfect shapes 😉

As I’m eating my lovely salad, I realize that I haven’t really planned anything out for lunches this week. Do you ever fall into sack-lunch-doldrums? I know I do. I’ll have to do some brainstorming and see if I can spice things up this week.

What I ate

Hump day crackalacking

June 9, 2010 No Comments

Happy Hump Day! 😀

Seems like the past few days I have been entirely devoted to preparing for the Jewelry Party! Well today’s the day friends! Those of you who know me well know that I L-O-V-E hosting parties. I tend to over dedicate myself to them — but I really enjoy the whole preparation process. Slightly weird, I know, but I’m ok with it.

Since this fervent foodie has to leave work early today to get ready for the ladies to come over for the Jewelry Party tonight, my meals for the day needed to be quick and light.

Breakfast #1

: 3 Egg Whites, 12 Grain Bread with Sunflower Seeds, Broccoli, Squirt o’ ketchup

Breakfast #1 Stats: 173 Calories, 23g Carbs, 2g Fat, 17g Protein, 2g Fiber

Breakfast 2: Oikos Greek Honey Yogurt, Blackberries, and some Bear Naked Maple Pecan Granola

Breakfast #2 Stats: 200 Calories, 32g Carbs, 2g Fat, 16g Protein, 3g Fiber

Lunch: Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wrap! broccoli (meh..) carrots and Trader Joe’s Jalapeno Cilantro Hummus (A-MAY-ZING).

Lunch Stats: 283 Calories, 24g Carbs, 6g Fat, 33g Protein, 8g Fiber

Looking forward to trying out some new recipes tomorrow and this weekend!!!

Countdown til food and Bling: T-minus 6 hours 😀

What I ate

B#1, B#2, L

June 8, 2010 2 Comments

I’ve never really tried to make an omelet before, but this morning it sounded like just what my belly was craving! I’m sure there is a technique behind omelet making, but I decided to just throw everything in the pan and see what turned up.

Breakfast #1 Omelet: 1 egg, 3 egg whites, splash skim milk, 1/2 cup broccoli, 1/4 chopped spinach, 1/8 cup salsa, Frank’s Red Hot

Pleasantly surprised by how tasty the omelet was. I was worried the top/inside wouldn’t cook through, so I ended up covering the pan with a lid for most of the cooking time. This worked perfectly–the eggs were fluffy but not underdone. Think I’ll pick up some canadian bacon at the grocery store to throw into my next omelet creation!

Breakfast #1 Stats: 153 calories, 9g carbs, 5g fat, 20g protein, 2g fiber

Dessert Breakfast #2 – I’ve been wanting to try a Luna bar for quite some time. I usually eat breakfast/granola bars as snacks rather than meal replacements, and these bars are kind of high-calorie in my opinion (well they are if you eat the whole thing). Several times over the past couple months I’ve picked up a Luna bar in the store, looked over the package, placed it in the cart, then subsequently put it back on the shelf and walked away as quickly as possible. Yesterday, I happened to see them at a discount store so I grabbed a few. I’m a sucker for a good deal 😀

When I unwrapped the Caramel Nut Brownie Luna Bar I was presently surprised. It looked and smelled like a big fat candy bar.

So today’s dessert breakfast #2 consisted of 1/2 a Caramel Nut Brownie Luna Bar on top of some Dannon vanilla greek yogurt along with some blackberries.

Stats for B#2: 215 calories, 34g carbs, 3g fat, 17g protein, 4g fiber

Lunch

Lunch today is a repeat of yesterday (boring, yet tasty) with some steamed broccoli. Lettuce wrap in action:

I also brought some carrot sticks and Trader Joe’s Jalapeno Cilantro hummus. The hummus is so freaking good! I can’t wait to try out some of the other hummus flavors they sell.

I literally licked the container clean. This is why it is good I sit by myself at work 😀

Trader Joe is my homeboy 🙂

On the agenda this evening:

Mow my crazy overgrown backyard
Finish cleaning for the Jewelry Partayyyy (which is tomorrow evening)
Start Prepping food for party… menu selections to be posted this evening.