Satisfying and Energizing Meals

Let's talk about food, shall we?  I can't say enough about how much I love this new Trim Healthy lifestyle.  I mean, don't get me wrong, it has it's ups and downs just like anything else, but by far, this is the easiest plan I've ever followed.  It's also very forgiving.  If you mess up - whether purposefully or accidentally - you can start over 3 hours later.  Isn't that AWESOME?!?!

I'm more of a purposeful messer-upper than accidental though.  Most times it's that stupid $5 deal at you-know-where.  So easy, so cheap.  Well, now... that's a whole other discussion now isn't it?

ANYWAY!!  Food today...

Breakfast was interesting.  I decided to try some pancakes, but put the batter in the waffle iron.  Have I mentioned that, until yesterday, I didn't own a waffle iron?  The horror!  I know.  But I always thought, "why bother with waffles at home when there are places like Waffle House?"

Well, I know now of course, but in years past, I'd call it a cheat day and press on.  So today was an experimental day to say the least.  I had not made this pancake batter before nor had I used the brand spankin' new waffle iron chillin' on my kitchen counter.  Last night, I read all the waffle iron instructions and it didn't seem too complicated.  I washed the little grill plates or whatever they're called and then prepped the batter.  I learned that the batter could be made ahead and stored in the fridge overnight.  Sweet!  I cannot be expected to mix together more than 3 ingredients in the morning hours.  Let me give you examples:  1) coffee / sweetener / cream  2) tortilla / breakfast meat / cheese  3) cereal / sweetener / milk and so on… Therefore, a make-ahead breakfast meal is ideal.  Ingredients include:
8oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese, 6 eggs, 6 TBS oat fiber, 2 Tsp glucomannan 1 TBS cinnamon, 1tsp vanilla extract, 6 packets of Truvia.  I got the recipe from Erika @ AbidinginHimDaily on YouTube. 

I was surprised at the outcome.  These were not bad at all.  I expected eggy - I immensely dislike eggy. These weren't.  And the best part was adding bacon as the side!!  Oh yeah, I had bacon!  Oh and did I mention butter?  Butter on the waffles - yup - on plan.  See?  This plan is amazing!  

And thanks to Erika for posting the video!  I heart YouTube vids.  It's so cool to be able to watch what needs to happen instead of just reading about it.  That said, I am planning on doing some videos as I come across recipes that don't have them.  I'll post links as soon as I have them.  I'm in the prep phase now.  Kind of wondering about setting up lighting and whatnot.  I'm a photographer (hobby), not videographer (new hobby), so we'll see how that goes.  

Now on to the rest… For lunch, it was simple… Tuna Rollup.  One package of Tuna mixed with a half tablespoon mayo and a squirt of mustard on a Joesph's Lavash wrap.  Very satisfying with a glass of water.  I don't know what it is about tuna and water that it just tastes right together.  Oh wait, tuna… water… I get it now.  <giggle>

For dinner, I had some leftover pressure-cooked chicken breast that needed to be used, so I went for an "E" meal.  "E" stands for "Energizing" and that means I needed less than 5g of fat and no more than 45g of carbs per serving.  Since I'm only two months into the plan, I have to calculate stuff like this because I want to be sure I'm getting it right.  Some folks don't do that, and I'm not even sure it's necessary to calculate exact amounts, but I'm a perfectionist and it makes me happy to figure it out - like a puzzle.  Ok, I'm weird, I know.  

Andddd… we're… back on topic… So, I combined the shredded chicken (1.5 cups) with a can of low sodium black beans, one cup steamed corn (from frozen), 1/3 cup Pace Hot Picante Sauce, 1/3 cup of chicken broth.  Let that simmer on the stove for a bit then topped it with a half ounce (yes, measured) of freshly-grated 2% cheddar cheese.  This was a perfect amount for the 3 of us.  Just the right zing in the spice department too!  Normally, I use ground turkey for this meal, but I think the chicken actually works better.  The per serving nutrition worked out to be:  5g Fat, 35g carbs and 31g protein - right where I want to be.  Got a thumbs up all around.    

Finally, 3 hours later, we had dessert.  Since dinner was an E and dessert an S, you wait 3 hours so that one fuel source is expended and you eat a new fuel source - mixing fuel sources like fats and carbs can and usually does lead to weight gain.  "S" is stands for Satisfying and it does indeed do that.  Fat is no issue when making an "S" meal.  I have a sweet tooth like you wouldn't believe and I love to try all the dessert recipes out there that are low carb.  I found this one through a blog - I saw "Paleo" in the title and figured it would be low carb and sugar free - sure enough it was.  It's called "Pumpkin Pie in 2 minutes flat" and <<<<<<click that link if you want to check it out, from The Paleo Mama.  This was one of the absolute best microwaved desserts we have tried - and believe me, we've tried a bunch.  I split the pumpkin mixture in half and made two ramekins of the "crust".  The crust was decent, though not really "crust-like" in my opinion.  It wasn't bad though.  The pie filling oooohhh - that was AMAZING!!  The texture was more bread-like than pumpkin pie, but that didn't detract from it at all.  We put a little Reddi-Whip on top and thought it was Thanksgiving all over again!  Glad to have found a good recipe that was quick and easy.

OK, wow, I seriously did not know this post was going to be this long - whew!  Time for bed already.  See ya next time!  Until then, this movie quote has been going over and over in my head tonight.  Sure I had pumpkin pie for dessert, but I thought about adding pecans.  And that lead to…

"Waiter, there is too much pepper on my paprikash… but I would be proud to partake of your pecan pie… Peeee cahn Piiiiiii"  Name that movie lol!