Seared Tofu with Spinach, Peas, Walnuts, Plain Yogurt and Caraway over Brown Rice

SO glad to be back!! No more traveling for a while. I’m all decked out in sweats, listening to Christmas music with candles lit

Let me start by saying I have the BEST husband. He’s off at an event right now, but I came home to all the laundry done and folded and a clean house <3 (And a freezer full of homemade chicken stock in all of our little tupperwares…..strange)

Snack

We boarded the plane (delay free!) at 4:30. I was a little hungry and decided to finish my raisins and see how I felt. I love raisins! They took the edge off of my hunger for the flight. I can’t believe I didn’t need a more substantial afternoon snack, but perhaps the hot tea with skim milk contributed. I was getting pretty hungry toward the end of the flight, but I knew dinner was next, so I decided I’d rather wait and have a nice dinner than eat some bar at 6:00.

Dinner

My plan was to go to my favorite grocery store for a salad, but I really just wanted to go home, so I tried to think of things to make. I wanted shrimp, but I didn’t feel like peeling them and having cold hands, so I settled on tofu!

I had a virgin tonic + lime while I cooked

I pulled this dinner together in a flash using some of our quick staples: pantry tofu, microwaveable rice, and frozen peas.

This is my favorite kind of tofu - it comes in a nice carton that doesn’t need to be refrigerated, which is nice to always have some on hand. It’s 200 calories for the whole box (I had half). It’s also got that nice jiggly texture that I like in tofu. I don’t like it when it’s firm and grainy.

So first I wrapped it in paper towels to drain some of the moisture. I probably should have done it longer than 5 minutes, but I was inpatient!

Then I put it in a bowl and weighted it with pots:

Then I cut it in cubes and seared it in 1/2 a tsp of EVOO.

Success Rice has these new microwavable cups of rice. 170 calories for a portion. This was great in a pinch, but I’d give the flavor a C+. It was dry and tasted chemically. I much prefer my Lindberg Short Grain Brown!

After searing the tofu, I cooked the peas in some caraway seed and then wilted the baby spinach. It’s served over the rice and topped with plain yogurt and walnuts. The dish was on the bland side because I was too lazy to add seasonings and think about what I was in the mood for. Looking back, this would have been GREAT if I’d mixed the yogurt with some mustard and dill and made a dressing/sauce to toss it all in. Oh well!

And don’t forget dessert! I swiped this from the client’s today:

Dinner calories: ~500

My stomach doesn’t feel very satisfied, but I think I just ate too fast.

I’m off to soak in Epsom Salts (my shoulders and back are killing me after all this travel and carrying around my heavy computer).

Then I’m getting in bed. I’ve been up since 4 this morning – sleep is calling!

Kath

Sorry for the domain issues. I’m doing the best I can and am new to the hidden alleys of the internet! I hope to have it all sorted out this weekend. The domain is switching back to hear and KathEats.com should be active again sometime tomorrow.

Dinner tonight was great – but there were too many choices!!! Lots of good veggies, soup, and delicious looking pitas.

I’ll start with the whole spread:

A REALLY good pita that the thing said was 400 calories. I don’t believe it. I ate 60% of it. It was fabulous, but didn’t taste any different than the wheat pitas I get that are 200 calories for the whole thing. Hard to guess who is right here, but I settled for 175. I had two bites of the pasta on the side. It was bland.

Carrots:

Chili. I ate about 40% of this.

Okra and tomatoes:

Side salad with sunflower seeds, raisins, mushrooms, and broccoli.

And two bites of apple cobbler:

Total dinner calories: ~580

Off to Philly!

See you late tomorrow night.

Wild Mushroom Soup, Garnished with Walnuts

This recipe looks fancy but it was so easy. We invented it ourselves tonight The husband took the initiative to add 100 calories worth of butter, which I thought was rather pointless because I couldn’t even taste it. Oh well. The navy beans are also optional, but we added them for more protein and fiber (and because we needed to get rid of them!)

Wild Mushroom Soup:

• 1 pound assorted mushrooms (cremini, button, oyster, skitaki)
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 1 large stalk celery, chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
• 1 can Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup, Low-Sodium
• 14 oz can beef broth, low-sodium
• 1/2 cup navy beans
• Butter (optional)
• Chopped walnuts for garnish

Cook chopped mushrooms, garlic and veggies in a large dutch oven until tender. You can cook it in butter for extra flavor, but it’s not necessary. Add broth and cream of mushroom. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. Puree with a stick blender, leaving some chunks. Or puree 3/4 of soup in food processor or stand blender. Garnish with walnuts.

Makes 2 servings. ~326 calories per serving when using 1 tbsp butter. 250 calories without butter!

It was fantastic and VERY filling!!!!!!! I loved the crunch of the walnuts.

Snacks

This afternoon I snacked on a new kind of raw fruit/nut bar: Think Organic. It was a lot like the LaraBar I had yesterday – actually almost exactly the same but a little smaller and a little less calories. I didn’t think it would tide my hunger very well, but I ate at 3:30 and still wasn’t hungry for dinner at 6 when I got home!

And I had a few Kashi crackers when I was packing my lunch, which, by the way, is going to be AWESOME tomorrow!

Yes, It’s Possible

And yes, it is possible to have just a half cup of ice cream and stop. Edy’s Slow-churned Egg Nog and Fiber One….

Gosh that stuff is amazing. Just like real egg nog!!! Who needs the drink when you can chew it for 1/4 the calories!?

Total Wednesday calories: ~ 1719

- 566 from workout and walk

= net of 1152.

Night!

P.S. I’m about to curse this computer screen out with all the formatting issues in this post!!!!!!!

Snowy Syracuse

I don’t know how people live there. The outdoors are simply off-limits when it’s snowy and windy! You have to live 100% indoors. That sucks!

Morning Snack

Lunch

Lunch was a disappointment. I started with a club sandwich with swiss, turkey and ham Also had a plate of fruit, a pickle and 2 bites of Christmas cookies!

When I opened the sandwich, however, I discovered it was COVERED in mayo (full fat, most likely). I thought I could just take off one slice of bread and eat it open faced. Then I discovered the ham was really salty. At that point I went back for a wrap to try to change directions! I kept the original turkey and tomato though, so I ate parts of that.

The new wrap was chicken, mushroom and Italian dressing, but luckily the dressing was only on one side. I ate pieces of the chicken and some of the mushrooms and about 2/3 of the tortilla (which I’m sure was not whole wheat despite it’s color and probably had trans-fats in it )

I ate all my fruit plus some more since I was still hungry and not feeling very satisfied. The second plate isn’t pictured.

The cookies were delicious and really hit the spot!

So I had two more bites, one pictured here.

My stomach was unhappy when our meetings resumed, but more significantly my brain was unsatisfied with the lunch. I should have just eaten the first sandwich without the ham, but oh well. I still felt hungry, but it calmed after 20 minutes or so so I guess I just had to catch up.

Snacks

I had a kashi bar at the airport – where I couldn’t get the WiFi to work :angry: Sorry, no photo.

I was starving when my flight took off at 4:45 and welcomed a 60-calorie pack of soy nuts, pretzels, and sesame sticks. And a seltzer.

Dinner

Had only 45 minutes to grab something to eat in Washington, but since I’d spent 5 hours there the day before I knew my options. I was craving a salad, so salad it was. The California Chicken with sun-dried tomatoes, soggy croutons, kalamata olives, and a garliky but good avocado dressing of which I had about a tsp. After starting to eat, I had to take dinner on the plane because we started to board – not quite the ideal dining experience!

Also grabbed more fresh fruit, which seems to be the world’s #1 grab and go healthy food. Some of my grapes were rotten though

The whole she-bang, including my LaraBar for dessert! Total calories ~ 631. I needed the fuel!

Dessert

I don’t eat bars that much, but they’re hard to beat when you’re on the go. I like LaraBars, but I don’t eat them often because they are on the high-cal side. But this seemed like the perfect dessert considering my dinner only totaled about 400 calories and I was pretty low over the day, all things considered. I ate this guy really slowly and he was great. Really hit the spot.

Total Tuesday calories: ~ 1665

- 444 through morning workout. I’m sure I burned more through airport walking and lugging my bags around, but I have no way of guessing. Maybe add 100?

=net of 1221 ish.

Man, I am in a real BLIZZARD here!!

Yikes – dinner was good! Well, dinner was OK, but dessert was REALLY good!! I am somewhat of a dessert connoisseur and make a quick judgment of whether something is “worth it” or not. This dessert was worth it! More later…

First off, I apologize for the horrible photos. I was at a nice function and had to make do with a quick photo from a camera in my lap. So the photos are blurry and poor quality!

Snack

Arrived at the airport around 4:15 and had half a Kashi Cinnamon Coffee Cake bar. I wasn’t particularly impressed but it did the job of tiding hunger. Sorry, no photo – I was in a shuttle!

Cocktail Hour

Had three plates of raw veggies and a club soda. I could have started in on the wine, but I figured I wouldn’t miss it much if I had something to drink in my hand. I was right! I had THREE plates of raw veggies, but they were yummy!

Dinner

When I sat down they poured a tiny glass of red wine. I had about 2 oz more than this, probably about 5 oz total? I’m kind of tipsy and am not really sure why, as this wasn’t that much wine!

The rolls were those good take-and-bake kind. I had about 1/3 of one. Yum! Then I asked her to take the plate away.

Salad was just mixed greens with balsamic dressing, cuc, and tomato. I ate most of this but left the pieces with the most dressing.

I ordered the salmon, which was quite good. It came with a red pepper-cheese sauce on the side, which I had about 1/3 a tbsp of. The veggies were drenched in butter, but were good enough. It also came with smashed potatoes (kind of hidden) but only a very small portion, so I ate them and they were good. I ate 3/4 of the salmon, purposefully leaving some on my plate.

Dessert

Oh my gosh….Apple Tart a la Mode

Like I said, this fell into the “yes, it’s worth it” category. I usually am not tempted by tarts. I would never buy one in a store – they’re not that appealing to me. But this thing was GOOD. It was caramelized and of course the ice cream on the top was delicious. I logged it at 400 calories based on Cosi’s tart. But know knows!?

Also had a cup of decaf coffee.

Total dinner calories? Around 1000. As always, it could’ve been a lot worse!!

Only exercise today was walking around the airport, which I actually did a lot of, especially with my heavy bags. Who knows on the calorie burn, but I’m not really counting today.

Total Monday calories: ~2050.

I’ve got plans to hit the hotel gym in the morning (it’s 9:10 and I should be able to easily get up early). I found out through strategically placed questions that breakfast is pastries and bagels – not exactly the best whole grain way to start the day. I’m not sure if I’m better off making my oatmeal and banana here or at the office. I brought a bowl, but I have no coffee maker for hot water. But if I wait until I’m at the office, I might not have time. I might just call room service for some hot water? Not sure yet! Lunch is sandwiches and a fruit tray; dinner is at the Washington airport – or tuna in a packet and nuts in an emergency!

See you all tomorrow!

Panko Parmesan Baked Tilapia

with Sauteed Butternut Squash and Broccoli and Brown Rice

I had a great afternoon, despite the fact that I spent way too much money on groceries! We’re really trying to watch how much we spend, and I went to Trader Joe’s for cheap walnuts and came home with $70 worth of kashi crackers, cheap cereal, pistachios, walnuts, almonds, and frozen salmon! Yikes! Then I went to Harris Teeter for the regular groceries and spent another $100….I have no idea how (well, I did buy his/hers vitamins and a big frozen turkey breast and lots of canned tuna/salmon). I told the husband with the exception of bread, milk, bananas, and handful of fresh fruit/veggies, these groceries have to last us 2 weeks at least!!

I got home from the grocery store at 4:45 and we had to turn around and go back out to get our Christmas tree before the lot closed (although it might have been open all night – but we didn’t want to risk it!) I was pretty hungry at this point but I knew we’d be back soon. The salmon casserole held me over quite well!

Snack

Once back with our tree, I had a clementine and some soy nuts I found from last year when I was cleaning out the pantry!! Sounds gross, but they were quite delicious. Made me want to buy them again, but I guess if they were a year old they must not be one of my regulars

Christmas Tree

We spent the next hour decorating the house! Here’s our tree - it’s the same size as me!

And some funky ornaments I hung in the kitchen:

And a centerpiece I made from the tree clippings and holiday nuts, plus the cute husband!

I gave myself an extra 100 calories today because of all the movement shopping, decorating, cleaning and packing for my trip.

Dinner

We got a late start on dinner and were pretty hungry when we finally sat down. I don’t think we ate until 8:00! This dinner was FABULOUS!!!!! And we just kind of put it together on a whim. We decided to have fish last night and thawed out some frozen tilapia, then we had a butternut squash to use up and I wanted to try sauteeing it. I got some broccoli at the store for something green. Since I was pretty hungry, we decided to add brown rice too! It was a lot of food but I had the room tonight.

Panko-Parmesan Tilapia

We pressed the panko bread crumbs (1/4 a cup between the two of us) and about 2 tbsp (12 grams) of grated parmesan cheese onto the fish, sprayed with cooking spray and then baked it for 15 minutes. It didn’t need any fat and was DELICIOUS!!!

Sauteed butternut squash and broccoli, seasoned with lemon juice and dill. We did use a little EVOO on the veggies. And salt and pepper.

And short grain brown rice with a dollop of plain yogurt (which is great on rice! It holds it together and makes is creamy.)

Total dinner calories: 550. Like I said, it was high, but I had more than enough room. On a normal night I would have had a half serving of rice and reduced the amount of squash to pull it back to about 400 calories.

Total Sunday calories: 1515.

-526 through run and activity

=net of 990. Yikes that’s low. I would love some pumpkin pie dessert, but I HAVE to get to bed and still have unanswered questions. I might have a small glass of milk – I’ll let you know in the AM!

Edited to add that I had a glass of milk – add 100 calories to everything!

Travel

One last thing – I’m headed to Syracuse tomorrow for work (our company is headquartered there and we’re having our annual PR retreat). My flight leaves at 8 a.m. so I’m getting up at 5 (normal time!). I’m all packed and organized and ready to go. I should be able to get all three meals posted and will definitely take my camera I will not be able to workout tomorrow and we have a fancy dinner planned for the evening. I’m planning on a club soda during cocktail hour and wine with dinner (1 glass). I did get to choose my entree tomorrow night – salmon - so I know it’ll be somewhat healthy. Lunch is catered sandwiches, so that should be OK too. We have an hour break and I am going to try hard to get some walking around the hotel, if it looks safe.

I do have all my workout gear packed and plan on getting up at 5:30 or 5 on Tuesday to workout in the hotel gym before we have to be ready at 7:45 or so. Although breakfast is catered, I would rather eat my favorite oatmeal than risk it just being bagels and pasteries, so I’m bringing a banana, walnuts and plain instant oatmeal to make with hot water in my room. I have a whole array of snacks packed too! You just never know what will be available! So that’s my strategy of tackling the real world, real food style!

See you all tomorrow!

I’ve been working hard on this all week (hence being so busy!) I hope you guys like the content, photos, and expanded information. And of course, the old blog is all here! Let me know if you have any suggestions!

Now here’s the bad news……….

For the first time in 3 months of blogging, I accidentally deleted all of my photos for the day. I’m seriously on the verge of tears because I had so many great photos to share tonight!!

I’ll give a quick recap of my day, but I know it’s not the same without photos!

Here’s the ONLY photo that made it!!! Me on the lightrail platform in my college outfit

The Game

Duke won, but only by a few points! While there I had an acid water (Diet Coke) and 2 sips of the husbands beer (insert good picture here!).

Lunch

We got home around 2:30 and I was pretty hungry. We made chicken, avocado, spinach and tomato sandwiches and had apple slices. I had a great photo!

Lunch calories: 369

Wine Tasting

We went to a wine tasting with my college roommate and her boyfriend (insert another cute picture here!) As predicted, I drank too much. But not too-too much! I’m guessing I had about 2 glasses. The wines were all high-quality and I just couldn’t resist when I tried one Pinot and the person suggested I try the contrasting region’s version. You can tell, wine tastings are a weakness of mine! Anyways, I tried about 20-25 wines, but I did pour some out and they do only pour about 1/3 an oz-1/2 an oz per taste. I was more than a little tipsy when we got home, and didn’t really want to be, but it passed soon enough.

At the tasting I had 2 flatbread triangles, a bunch of grapes, a bite of brie and an orange slice.

Tasting calories: ~400. Yikes!

Dinner

Husband and I made salmon casserole. Sadly, the beautiful photos are gone and I don’t have the heart to explain the recipe. We basically used the one on the back of the Cream of Celery soup can but bulked it up with mushrooms and peppers. I do have leftovers, so you’ll get to see those tomorrow.

And I had hot tea after dinner….

Dinner calories: 350

We were going to walk to the movie rental store to rent Waitress but I just had to finish this new blog tonight so to the computer it was! But sadly, I missed my afternoon walk
Total Saturday calories: 1672

-465 through morning workout

= net of 1207.

I’m sorry to say too many calories came from wine today. Tomorrow I’ll focus on getting some fresh, healthy meals!

Mac and Cheese
with Mushrooms, Broccoli, Zucchini and Roasted Red Peppers
Topped with Bleu Cheese Crumbles

Egg Nog Ice Cream
My two loves in the same photo

Rode the lightrail home from work! It was fun again and flew by with my novel in hand. Once home, the husband and I went on a 20-minute walk to the grocery store for dinner vegetables and bread for tomorrow’s lunch. We live right around the corner from a Harris Teeter, so it’s very convenient to make ourselves walk. Of course we brought our reusable BHappy Bags along for the ride! While we were there, I spotted Edy’s Slow Churned EGG NOG Ice Cream. Mmmmmm. Now I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stopped in the ice cream aisle and almost bought it. I LOVE egg nog and get one carton of this every year. I knew I had room for it today, so we splurged!

Volumetrics:

So as many of you know, I’m a volume eater. Which means I just like to eat good food, and lots of it!! You’ve probably also heard of Barbara Rolls, the infamous author of Volumetrics. Here’s a passage from her book that TOTALLY makes sense:

Research shows that over a day or two, a person will eat about the same weight of food. Obviously, there is some variability – on days that someone eats out, for example, she may eat more food. But in general, when scientists have looked at what people report they eat, or when food intake has been measured in the lab, the weight of food a person eats is more similar from day to day than the number of calories consumed. It seems that we have learned how much food it takes to satisfy our hunger, and that is what we choose to eat…..

My takeaway message from these studies is that by choosing foods that have fewer calories in your usual weight of food you will end up eating fewer calories. And you won’t feel any hungrier! -The Volumetrics Eating Plan, p. 8

So Barbara says it best: if you want to be healthy and keep your calories in check, choose foods that are low in energy density, namely, lots of vegetables!

I didn’t use to like many vegetables when I was growing up. I ate broccoli, corn, potatoes. That was about it. But in my adult life, I’ve experimented with SO many kinds of veggies – particularly the cooking style – and found that I just LOVE them!! I love that I can eat a lot of them and that they’re not going to derail my diet.

So volumetrics is the concept behind my vegetable mac and cheese, although I really shouldn’t say “my” mac and cheese because this is probably the most well-known thing to do to mac and cheese to lower the calorie density!!

Dinner:
I really like the Annie’s brand mac and cheese’s – I’ve tried both whole wheat kinds. I have to say I like the Wisconsin Cheddar one better (it has the same nutritional information but it makes 3.5 servings instead of 2.5, so we have to pull one out instead of just splitting the box). But this one was good!

Add to it whatever veggies you like – sautée them first in a pan with whatever seasonings you might want to add. Mushrooms, broccoli, zucchini and roasted red pepper from a can:

And voila! A yummy dinner! Topped with just a few crumbles of bleu cheese.

This was actually a HUGE portion (we have big bowls ) About half way through it didn’t even look like I’d made a dent!

Dinner calories: ~415.

Dessert:
Husband and I settled on the couch to watch March of the Penguins (cute movie – I can’t believe how long they go without food!!). And for dessert we had our egg nog ice cream!! I had a full cup (I had the room) and got in my holiday egg nog fix. I have to say, for 110 calories a cup, this is better than the real stuff!!

I try to avoid processed foods and “fake” things, but I thought for ice cream this one had pretty good stats, particularly for a once-in-a-while treat.

INGREDIENTS: milk, skim milk, cream, corn syrup, sugar, egg yolks, whey protein, tapioca maltodextrin, natural flavor, nutmeg, cellulose gum, annatto color, mono and diglycerides, turmeric color, guar gum, carrageenan, dextrose, vitamin A palmitate

I also had hot tea to balance out the coldness!! It’s not exactly the season for ice cream

Dessert calories: 220.

This afternoon I also snacked on a mini box of raisins, as my banana didn’t do very well to fill me up I didn’t want anything filling since dinner was looming, and these were perfect to tide hunger.

Total Friday calories: 1901

-661 through workout and 2 walks

= net of 1241. Just over my daily goal of 1226, and no biggie since I was under a few days this week. And I did get lots of exercise today!

Tomorrow we’re getting up to hit the gym before we head into town to watch our alma mater, Davidson College, play Duke. I’m not sure which team I’m routing for, as I was a huge Duke fan growing up (and still am…). May the best team win!

No time to type!!!! Here’s a photo recap. The dining hall was closed so my mother in law raved this place with homemade soups only for us to get there and find it out it was a smoky bar with pub food. Ewwww.

I had vegetarian black bean chili, which I guessed was 200 calories. 100 for 1/2 cup of beans and 100 for the rest of the cup (all veggies, cooked). I ate the 2 saltines it came with.

Also had a salad of iceburg lettuce, bell peppers, homemade croutons, and raspberry dressing (which I think was low-cal because it was really runny).

Also had two sips of husband’s beer!

I think I did a great job making the best of a bad situation. I ordered my salad without cheese or creamy dressing and the healthiest soup I could find. But the bad part was it only added up to about 300 calories, including saltines and beer sips, so I was pretty hungry when I got home.

Had some toast with jam:

Dinner 1 + Dinner 2 (toast) Calories: 405.

I also ate the other half of my Kashi bar during class, but that was already accounted for!

AND, I got in about 15 minutes more walking across the campus.

Afternoon Snack:

Total Thursday calories: 1616 (man, this has been a low week!)

- 571 thru walks and workout

= net of 1045. Geez. I’ll eat a little more tomorrow!

Night!!

Tropical Shrimp + Beans over Brown Rice

Another great dinner!! The husband and I thought this one up a few days ago and I couldn’t wait to try it out! We ended up not having black beans, so we used white navy beans instead. I had lots of calories left so I added in some toasted walnuts - which went beautifully with the coconut!

Ingredients:

• Frozen shrimp (about 20) thawed and peeled
• 1 cup navy beans, drained
• 7 oz canned pineapple (about 1/5 a cup)
• 1/2 a bag of green beans (about 6 oz)
• 1 oz toasted coconut
• 20 grams toasted walnuts
• Cinnamon and cumin to taste
• Brown rice on the side

And it was supposed to have avocado but we forgot!!

It was excellent, but I would recommend adding some of the canned pineapple juice, as it was a little bit dry.

Short Grain Brown Rice on the side:

Total dinner calories: ~500

Hot tea for dessert:

My delicious lunch held me all afternoon, but I had my apple out of hand around 3:45. I was busy at work and wanted another snack around 4:30, but I decided that I could wait until dinner. The lightrail was much more crowded on the way home – I couldn’t even get a seat for the first 4 stops! But once I was reading my magazine, all was good

Here’s my apple with the Charlotte skyline as the backdrop:

Total Wednesday calories: 1590

-472 from workout and lunch walk

= net of 1117

Guess I should have had another snack! Off to red in bed and get all cozy next to the husband