Can You Have Just a Half Cup Of Ice Cream?

 

 

 

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!!!!!!!

 

 

 

SuperFoods Today

SuperFoods:

• Oats
• Cinnamon
• Apple
• Walnut
• Honey
• Cinnamon again
• Pomegranate
• Spinach
• Plain yogurt
• Pumpkin
• Orange
• Tea
• Mushrooms
• Garlic
• Walnut again

Sidekicks:

• Squash
• Whole grain bread
• Natural peanut butter (= peanuts)

Should-Be SuperFoods:

• Skim milk
• Banana
• Carrot
• Celery

How many SuperFoods have YOU had today?

Finally, A Balanced Lunch

So glad to have 100% foods I like and want to be eating! Eating out is fun if you have good options, but not when you have to settle for things that aren’t quality.

Had the BEST PB + Banana sandwich today!!!

Plus a spinach salad with pom and spaghetti squash and a touch of Newman’s Own Dijon Dressing

Plus a clementine

And finally, plain yogurt with pumpkin and cinnamon stirred in!

Lunch calories: 540.

Got in a nice 25-minute walk afterwards. It’s great to be back in chilly, as opposed to freezing, weather!

On the menu tonight for dinner: Wild Mushroom Soup with Turkey!

**** Edited to add: I’m hoping to get to all these questions this afternoon! I’ve got lots to do after returning from my trip, but I’ve got a list of them in my email inbox to tackle ASAP!*****

Back to the Grind!

Got to bed just 30 minutes late so we slept in a bit. I’ll get to work when I get there!

Pre-workout Toast

Toast with jam:

Workout

30 minutes stairmaster, 11 ET, and 15 lifting = 475 calories burned. It was a high-HR day because of my travels, I suspect.

Breakfast

Apple Cinnamon Walnut Oatmeal with PB 

with coffee

Breakfast calories: ~530.

Off to work!

Glad to be Home!

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.

No Time!!

Gotta get in bed! Will post full report tomorrow. Long day, good presentation, unsatisfying lunch, starving afternoon, good dinner, no airport delays!, healthy day, glad to be home!

K

“Gourmet” Hotel Oatmeal

Workout

Got up at 5:30 and hit the hotel gym. 2.6 miles running on treadmill and 20 minutes on the ET. Plus some pushups. Great way to start the day! 444 calories burned. (My heart rate was higher than normal today – probably dehydration from flying?)

Had 2 bites of banana before I left….

Breakfast

Hotel Oatmeal (you all want the recipe for this, right!?!?)

• 2 packets plain instant oatmeal
• 1 banana
• 10 grams walnuts
• 1 cup hot water

Instructions: Mix together. Eat.

That’s my beat up bowl from home!

375 calories.  

Too bad the volume is so small on instant oatmeal. I decided to leave out the raisins and have them for a mid-morning snack.

Gotta run!

K

Dessert? Worth it? Yes!

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!

Stuck In The Airport

My flight out of Charlotte was delayed 45 minutes, so of course I missed my connection and am now stuck in the Washington airport for 5 hours. I was very annoyed to find out I had to pay for WiFi, but I’m an internet nerd and decided it was worth $9.99 to have internet for 5 hours I’m missing the whole first day of our PR retreat – and my presentation – but there is nothing I can do. I’m happy enough sitting at a table with my laptop and at least they have healthy food at this airport!

…..which brings me to lunch! Well before I get to lunch, I got settled at a table at 11 a.m. and was starving, so I had a Clementine (from home), a few almonds and pistachios, and hot tea! I debated a latte (I don’t drink them often but love them) but thought I didn’t need it since lunch was looming on the horizon.

But before I settled down, I scoped out all of my lunch options (I know better than to set up camp and then I have to pack up to leave for 10 minutes and come back since I have no one to watch my stuff.)

There’s a little booth called Cibo Gourmet Express with lots of exciting things: sandwiches, fresh fruit, diced fruit, a good looking chef salad, Larabars, Perrier, dried fruit and nuts, and some other stuff. There’s also a place with these good looking panini things on pita bread that lots of people are eating, but I know better I wanted a black forest ham and brie sandwich and the turkey and cheddar but they all had mayonnaise and were large with cheese so I figured I’d have more fun with a smaller sandwich and more sides. There was also a really good looking vegan veggie sandwich, but it has onions on it and I couldn’t tell if they were chopped finely (bad) or big and easy to pick off (good) but I decided not to risk it.

I ended up with the boring turkey, lettuce, tomato and mustard on what looks like whole grain bread. It was a LOT of bread. I logged it as 2 slices at 110 calories each, but hard to tell. I guess lugging my heavy bags around the airport can cancel it out.

Although the bread was good, it actually wasn’t that great of a sandwich on the inside….

On the side I got fresh berries

And a Colombo yogurt from another vendor. (Which I noticed after the fact has HFCS it it! Ug. I’ll eat this on occasion). It was no plain yogurt + cran….

Drink:

I looked all over for a small salad, but I all I could find was a hefty $10 one and an iceburg one, so I’m veggie-less today.

Lunch calories: ~475.

I also swiped a Nectar bar to try at some point this week. And a little dark chocolate, which I didn’t end up eating because it was 11 grams = 60 calories!! Not worth it for something that small, at least right now it’s not

I hate that I’m not going to be able to workout today and am eating my normal amounts of food, but I guess this is a good example of “you gain some, you lose some.” (I updated the FAQs with this concept, by the way.) I’m just going to keep my focus on making the healthiest choices and we’ll see where this evening takes me. My plan now is 1 glass of wine and 2 bites of dessert, but we’ll see!

So long for now!

Early Morning!

Morning everyone! I’m just finishing up my big bowl of oats before I leave for the airport. I love one night business trips – I pack all my stuff in a backpack and big tote bag and don’t have to bother checking bags or anything. And I hate packing 2 or 3 or 4 of everything, so one night suites me fine

Had a big bowl of banana-walnut-PB oatmeal with cinnamon stirred in.

And Madascar Vanilla Tea…..

Breakfast calories: 389.

I’m going to try not to eat a snack until I get to work around noon, but I may need some nuts or something. Or perhaps a coffee at the Washington airport on my layover.

Back late this afternoon!