Ramblings – Page 22 – Fervent Foodie

Ramblings

Confession

June 15, 2010 6 Comments

So, I have a confession to make.

…

Before we get into that matter, let’s recap lunch and dinner:

As posted earlier, I was ill-fated this morning so I decided some pizza for lunch would help me come around.

Lean cuisine cheese pizza with leftover gionino’s hot sauce… Pretty darn close to the real thing:

If you haven’t tried hot sauce on your pizza, I am begging you to give it a try!!! Soooo good!

On to dinner. Things just keep getting better! I don’t mean to brag, but hot damn my dinner was good! (said with midwest hillbilly accent while simultaneously throwing in an arm jab)

I had a leftover turkey burger from the weekend I wanted to use up, but I wasn’t feeling the typical ketchup and mustard fixins. So I decided to make a quesadilla burger — and let me tell you it was glorious!

Here’s what went into the quesadilla burger:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — quesadilla burg fixin's

The sauces I used were 1 tbsp fat free breakstone’s sour cream, 1 tsp (AKA all I could scrape from the container) of Trader Joe’s Jalapeno Cilantro Hummus, and some Frank’s red hot. I threw it all in between a Mama Lupe’s Low Carb tortilla I had ordered from Netrition.

I also decided to take a second stab at turnip fries. This time, I cut them into larger wedges and cooked them at 450 degrees for 35 minutes.

I threw the quesadilla burger on the waffle iron (that’s right, waffle iron) to crisp up the tortilla and heat everything through. Why dirty the george foreman when the waffle iron was just sittin there begging to be used?

All together on the plate:

Not the most appealing photo, but trust me this quesadilla burger was awe-inspiring.

The turnip fries still didn’t have the fry texture I was shooting for. Crunchy? No. Tasty? Yes. I actually preferred the smaller skinny fries we made last time over these. Could be because the larger fries reminded me of the rooty texture of you know what.

Dinner Stats: 298 calories, 23g carbs, 9g fat, 36g protein, 9g fiber

On to what you are all really here for: the confession.

About a week ago, I discovered what may be the most amazing cereal on planet earth. I have secretly been enjoying sporadic handfuls of this glorious cereal since then, yet I have not posted anything about my discovery on my blog!

Well here it is.

Barbara’s Peanut Butter Puffins.

Lets take a few moments and discuss why this cereal is utterly amazing.

First the limited list of ingredients (which is pretty darn good for a cereal).

Second, one serving is only 110 calories, 23 carbs, 2g fiber, 6g of sugar, 3g of protein!

Third, the taste is pure peanut butter amazingness.

Fourth, the puffins are shockingly large. For comparison purposes:

Go. Buy. Now.

Ramblings

Eggplant makes me ralph

June 15, 2010 8 Comments

So I woke up this morning and was absolutely sick to my stomach. Ralphing was involved.

While laying on couch trying to fall back asleep, it dawned on me that my body was rejecting the eggplant I ate yesterday!!! Even typing the word makes me queasy. 🙁

For you purple veggie lovers out there, definitely give yesterday’s recipe a try. For all you sane people out there, such as myself, try the recipe again using lasagna noodles.

I don’t know about you, but when I’m feeling sick I crave processed carbohydrates. Pizza, mac and cheese, PB&J… mmmmmm……

So when I finally felt stable enough to try and eat something, I decided to make some healthified bisquick waffles. I mixed up the following:

1/3 cup bisquick
1/2 cup almond breeze unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 egg white

I poured the batter onto my little waffle maker ($8 at Target, boo ya). The waffles seemed to take longer to crisp up than normal unhealthified waffles. I topped them off with 1/8 cup sugar free smucker’s syrup and some strawberries I had sliced up yesterday.

It was d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s. And it seems to be agreeing with my belly, so I’m heading into work shortly. Not sure what to do about lunch. Seriously contemplating a stop at Wendy’s….. Hopefully my brain wins this war over my belly!

Stats on the waffles: 216 calories, 35g carbs, 6g fat, 7g protein, 2g fiber

Ramblings, What I ate

Saturday = QT with the yard

June 12, 2010 1 Comment

Happy Saturday!

Early this morning I got a call from my dad saying he was on his way over to help me trim my trees in my backyard. So I quickly dove into the breakfast cookie I made yesterday. I think if you approach eating a breakfast cookie with the expectation that it will have the texture of an actual cookie you will be disappointed. I took two bites and put it back in the fridge–the moist texture just wasn’t doing it for me.

I quickly threw together an eggwich (1 egg (yolk poked), multi grain english muffin, squirt o’ ketchup). As the eggwich was wrapping up, I decided to give the breakfast cookie a second go. I cleared my head of thoughts of chocolately cookies and approached it with an open mind. This actually worked! The breakfast cookie is moist and slightly chewy–and I think you could really play around with the things you mix in to make it an A+ breakfast. I think I might actually pop the rest of the cookie into the oven later — just to see if it would get me the texture of an actual cookie 😉

Breakfast sammy:

Eggwich Stats:185 calories, 29g carbs, 6g fat, 10g protein, 5g fiber

Breakfast cookie stats (stats are for whole cookie — I only ate 1/3): 303 calories, 31g carbs, 12g fat, 22g protien 8g fiber

Back to the yard — I don’t know what happened this year, but my yard hit a major growth spurt. It seemed over the course of one weekend all the plants and trees in my yard just exploded with new growth. The trees in the backyard were so overgrown that they were actually laying on the house. I couldn’t even see out the kitchen window! Slowly but surely, I’m getting the yard into shape for cookout season.

After a couple of hours of work in the yard I was famished. My doctor tells me I am hypoglycemic, which basically means I have low blood sugar. There really isn’t anything you can do for low blood sugar–other than regulate your food intake and make sure you eat frequent nutritious meals.

Up until this year, I never really took the time to plan out my meals and snacks for the day. I would hardly eat anything in the mornings so that I could over indulge at lunch. If I hit a lull where my blood sugar bottomed out, I’d chug a can of coke to get it to spike back up quickly. Obviously, this is not the right approach and it was not good for my body.

Now I make sure to take the time to plan out what I am going to eat each day. I usually sit down the night before and enter everything into MyFitnessPal to make sure I’m not over or underdoing anything. Though I don’t always stick to the plan to a T, I at least have healthy foods on hand to keep me energized and my blood sugar stable throughout the day.

I don’t always do as good of a job eating regularly on the weekends. When I’m out and about, food sometimes gets pushed to the wayside. This is especially true when I am working on the yard.

By the time I stopped to eat today I was shaking so bad I could barely hold the camera! I quickly threw together a wrap using some leftover turkey and ham, tomato, onion, banana peppers, hot sauce, and 1/2 a Joseph’s lavash bread.

Yes, I even had to take a bite before taking the picture!

I think I’ll try out the turkey burger recipe I posted earlier in the week for dinner. I’m really craving a big juicy burger and some fries right now. We’ll see what I can whip up 🙂

Ramblings

Who doesn’t love a big package?

June 10, 2010 No Comments

Netrition order arrived!!! Yay for flat-rate UPS shipping!!!

Breakdown of the goods:

Mama Lupe’s Low-Carb Tortillas
Dixie Diner Carb Counters Soy Rocks plus Flax Bars (1 Crunchy Apple, 1 Crunchy Caramel Chocolate, 1 Crunchy Chocolate)
Nutritious Living Hi-Lo Cereal, Maple Pecan
Joseph’s Middle East Bakery Reduced Carb/Flax, Oat Bran & Whole Wheat Pita Bread
Joseph’s Middle East Bakery Reduced Carb/Flax, Oat Bran & Whole Wheat Lavash Bread
Bell Plantation Chocolate PB2 Powdered Peanut Butter

Can’t wait to try out all these goodies!

The Jewelry Party went really well! I always feel really happy and empowered when I get together with a group of women. Through my job, I get the opportunity to work with Akron’s Knowledgeable Network of Women, but outside of work I don’t have a ton of women-only time these days. While the Jewelry party was fun, I wish there was something I could do to get a group of women together without the enticement of having to buy a product.

Here’s some pics of the grub:

Separately, it may sound odd but I felt kinda guilty for getting free jewelry based on my friends’ purchases. Yes it offset the cost of the food and drinks, but that’s the sort of thing I like doing for friends without expecting anything in return. Maybe I’m just weird — but regardless I don’t think I’ll have any sort of jewelry/tupperware/purse/candle etc parties in the future, but I’ll definitely have to think of another type of get together for my lady friends.

I was so exhausted from the party that I didn’t spend a ton of time on my meals today. At least I’m going to get to try out a new recipe for dinner tonight 😀

B1 – After my success with the Luna Bar earlier this week, I was pumped to try a new breakfast bar so I decided to go with the Dixie Diner Carb Counters Soy Rocks plus Flax Bars in Crunchy Chocolate….

I took approximately 1.5 bites before tossing the rest in the trash! I felt like I was eating a chocolate scented tire.

🙁 Two thumbs down Dixie Diner… Two thumbs down.

B2 = Oats and fruits!

L: I decided to use up some of the party leftovers and make a lavash sandwich with the new lavash bread I ordered from netrition– a lavawich if you will 😉 . You may be asking, what the heck is lavash? Well my friends, It’s basically a really thin flat bread. I loaded it up with some turkey/ham, and a ton of sprouts, tomatoes, onions, and half a laughing cow french onion wedge.

Check out the height on this sucker:

The bread doesn’t have much taste to it (which is actually good–most low carb products have a funky after taste). I think what I like most about this bread is the sheer size of it. My sandwich was on half of the lavash–but I think I’ll try making a monster flat bread pizza with it this weekend.

Stats on the Lavash: 1/2 of one lavash has 50 calories, 7g carbs, 3g dietary fiber, 5g protein

Man… can’t wait for the weekend to get here! Goal this weekend is to not spend any money — which is good because I could really use a low-key R&R couple of days!

Dinner plan this evening is to try out the stuffed peppers I posted earlier in the week and make some roasted broccoli. I’m really getting sick of frozen steamed veggies, that is for darn sure!

Ramblings

Fervent Foodie – Golden Rule

June 8, 2010 1 Comment

Dinner tonight needed to be super quick because I have a crap ton to get done before the party tomorrow! I bought the new MorningStar Lasagna with Sausage Style Crumbles a while back, and it’s just been chillin in the freezer since then (get it? 😉 )

The Lasgana was pretty good – but when I flipped the box over and saw the crazy long list of ingredients I was shocked! The ingredients list is extreme. Had I checked out the back of the box before buying, I would have put this frozen entre back on the shelf.

Jewelry Party

All week I have hemmed and hawed over what to make for the jewelry party I am hosting. Usually at these types of get togethers, the host sets out tons of tempting goodies that would not typically fit into my work-week diet. Don’t get me wrong — I love to partake in all the indulging, but I always feel a little guilty afterward for eating 3 pounds of cheese and sampling every dessert on the spread.

Since I am hosting this particular get together, not only would I be indulging at the actual party but I’d also be left with tons of scrumptious goodies tempting me throughout the rest of the week. Ughhhh….

So with all this in mind, I decided to go with the Golden Rule methodology. Do unto others as you would have done unto you… or in Fervent Foodie language: feed others what you would like to be fed. So, the plan is to keep my menu for the party as simple and healthy as possible. Things that I would eat on a normal day, and that I would not feel guilty about eating as leftovers for the rest of the week.

Here’s what’s on the agenda:

Mini sandwiches (whole grain bread, turkey or ham, cheese, lots of veggies)
Carrots, tri-color peppers, light veggie dip, hummus
Cucumbers Provencal
Strawberries & Cream (dang I hope mine look this good!)

Hope my guests aren’t disappointed by this healthy(er) menu–I know I won’t be 😀