I was HONGRY for breakfast, but impatient, so I went with fast:
BREAKFAST
2 whole wheat tortillas, wrapped around
2 oz cheddar cheese and
1 slice of ham (divided, obviously)
The tasting at the caterer was at 2 PM; essentially my lunch, but this was a tasting, not a meal, so I was feeling a bit ... er, peckish by the time I got home.
TASTING
raw snow peas, cauliflower (I can't actually remember eating any other of the crudites. Didn't want to use the creamy dip they had, and I really wasn't feeling the love for the raw veggies.)
1 slice of chicken breast with corn/tomato salsa (that was actually my favorite thing!)
about 1/4 c. penne pasta with veggies in tomato sauce
a few spears of asparagus and carrot slices -- no idea what they were cooked in, but tasty
mixed green salad with walnuts and gorgonzola (?) cheese, and balsamic vinaigrette
SNACK (when I got home)
1 hard-boiled egg
a few bites of the boiled chicken for today's soup
SUPPER
3 corn tortillas, brushed with oil and heated in a pan until lightly browned (sorry Sarah... not even close to being as tasty as fried in a puddle of oil -- I couldn't get them crispy at all, they just stayed limp), and lightly salted
DESSERT
1 oz chocolate
do you have any beans? cans of beans are cheap, good for you and last forever, probably a good idea to stock up them - then you can turn three corn tortillas into some kind of meal..
ReplyDeleteI know you had some cheese from that platter at the tasting! lol we'll never know which kind..
you should mention how virtuous you were in avoiding the ginger chicken bacon bites, and the phyllo wrapped almond/pear/brie thingies!
Haha, I forgot about the cheese! See? I told you I should have written stuff down while I was there! I think I had two slices, one from each variety that I THOUGHT was there (turns out there were, like, 5).
ReplyDeleteGood idea on the beans. I also need to get (or make -- unlikely) some salsa.
And yes, I managed to decline the offer of half-cooked bacon wrapped around something (turned out to be chicken). LOL, wasn't difficult. They phyllo-wrapped almond/pear/brie thingies were another story. THAT was not easy to resist, but I did manage to do so. :)
Well, clearly you're not doing it right :) Mine come out crispy so maybe you're just not cooking long enough? Good job resisting at the tasting. I concur with Rachel on the beans. 3 corn tortillas with salt is not a meal. Try mixing beans with corn and maybe some cubed (cooked) sweet potato. Its cheap, easy, delish, and actually contains some nutrients :)
ReplyDeleteSarah, around what level of heat do you cook the tortillas? I probably did not cook them long enough, but the pan was kind of smoking, which scares me in a non-stick... I always wonder what chemicals are being leached out into my food. :( I think I will try my iron skillet next time -- it can take the heat better.
ReplyDeleteInteresting idea with the sweet potato... I never would have thought of that, but in my opinion, it is right up there with the avocado in the Perfect Food department. For some reason, I always think of beans as starchy (are they?), so mixing beans and sweet potatoes seems like carb-loading, but I bow to your knowledge and experience. :)
I think I'm just getting sick of having to think of stuff to fix. This is dangerous territory for me, because my usual fall-back when this happens is pasta with butter and parmesan... and lots of it. Must Resist the Pasta Overdose. What I need to do, I know, is to take a page from your book, and spend one of my days off cooking so that I have a week's worth of nutritious meals without having to sweat it every day. See? I'm getting pretty good at anticipating your suggestions, huh? :)
beans and sweet potatoes are both mostly carbs (though beans are also high in protein) but they also both have pretty low "glycemic loads" (lower impact on blood sugar and good for other reasons I can't remember), they're high in fiber and packed with nutrients. I would go with something green in that mix rather than corn, if you're worried about starch.
ReplyDeletean awesome meal is black beans (seasoned however you like), over a small pile of brown rice, topped off with a fried egg, salsa and some cheese - BAM.
but really I have to stress again that you don't have to worry so much about "carb loading" as long as it's not white pasta or white rice or white bread, or regular potatoes. Carbs are not your enemy, just empty bleached leached obliterated carbs are. You do want to have meals that are as balanced as possible, but every meal isn't going to be perfectly balanced.
if you're really dying for an easy pasta meal, go for it! really the only dangerous part is the "Overdose." Go with whole wheat, only cook up enough for one reasonable serving so you're not tempted to eat more, use a little olive oil instead of butter, just a little parmesan and lots of pepper and other lo- or no-calorie seasonings. and if you have annyyy kind of vegetable or bean or protein source lying around, eat some of that with it. but a meal of just pasta every once in a while is not going to be your undoing.
do you still have white pasta and rice and stuff or have you worked through that supply?
Yes, I would agree with the Sisters, in that even eating the occasional rich food (such as a sample size of brie wrapped pear, or whatever that was) will not be detrimental, unless you are worried about the 'slippery slope' effect of wanting to overdo it once you have a little. My advice on that is to do a mental/emotional check to determine your well-being at the given moment of 'temptation'. Are you craving a particular ingredient flavor and feel able to have just a small amount and then eat something else to feel full? Are you feeling self-destructive and just want to eat something to punish yourself or someone else? Are you starving and feel unable to stop eating said tempting food once you start? Are you celebrating something or someone and feel ok having a small treat in honor of the occasion (and haven't had ten "small treats" already in the same week?) Etc. On any given day you may be able to eat something that you didn't feel right about eating the day before or vice versa. I think the key is to not be strict for the sake of strictness but for the sake of your health and well-being. If eating a particular food, in a particular place and time (rather than in general) will not negatively impact either of those in the long run then go for it.
ReplyDeleteMan, how did you guys get so smart??
ReplyDeleteRachel, I no longer have white pasta or white rice in the house... I have a few tiny white potatoes, but I've had them for awhile, and if I wait just a few more days, they will be inedible anyway. LOL. I love the beans, rice, egg dinner suggestion. Sounds fabulous!
Marnie, those questions are excellent, and exactly what need to be addressed in these situations. In fact, that is (with a little editing) what I went through yesterday during my battle with myself. The other variable is hormonal fluctuations, apparently. I just read that certain cravings (chocolate) are common in menopausal women... great, like we don't have enough crap to deal with already!
And, for the record, I didn't not eat the pear thing because of dietary concerns (although I might still have avoided it for that reason), but because the caterer had neglected to remember that I was going to be at the tasting, and only put out two. Obviously, the bride and groom needed to do the tasting. If I had heard the word, "brie" in the description, though, I might have wrestled Rachel for it! :)
I offered to share mine with you!! anyway now you have something to look forward to at the wedding. :)
ReplyDeleteHuh. I don't technically remember the offer, but thank you in retrospect! :) Yes, I do look forward to the wedding... tasty food there is just a bonus! :P
ReplyDeleteJust to add my two cents in again, Rachel's right that you shouldn't worry about carb loading so long as you avoid empty carbs. I also agree 100% with what Marnie said.
ReplyDeleteAlso, even though I agree that something green in the mix would be good, the reason I suggested corn is because that is a good flavor combination (imho), and it doesn't add much carb wise. To put things into perspective 2 corn tortialls with 100 g of an equal mix of black beans, corn, and sweet potatoes has about 42 g of carbs (24 from tortillas, 18 from veggies). One serving of whole wheat pasta (195 g) has 45 g of carbs. So, not really carb loading at all.
Probably more info than you need/want, but that is my favorite veggie combination so I felt the need to defend it :)
Well, it IS good to know that information, Sarah... thank you. I am a huge fan of corn and black beans together, and I LOVE sweet potatoes, so it sounds like a winning combination to me!
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty glad to know about the good carbs, anyway, because I don't like trying to leave them out of my diet. I don't miss the white stuff at all, and if I can still enjoy my favorite foods guilt-free, hell yeah, I'm a happy girl.