Day 4 - Sushi-ish Issues

I've been craving sushi. Not seafood sushi, veggie roll style.

When I was pregnant with my last little one (that cute munchkin over there ------>) I went out for sushi with a bunch of friends. Even if I liked seafood, I wouldn't have been able to eat it raw, so I ordered some veggie rolls to "fit in", hoping that I would be able to stomach them. You know- just being social.

I ordered sweet potato rolls and peanut-avocado rolls. O.M.G. I never knew I liked Asian cuisine this much!


So I got a hankering for it today walking through my local and beloved Wegman's*. I picked up some sweet potato sushi made fresh by their in-house sushi chefs. Also, I've convinced myself that my culinary background has given me enough backbone to try to make it myself... So tomorrow I'll be making the peanut-avocado. I'll post pics. It'll be epic. Either epic great, or epic fail. I'll let you know : )

These are my rolls that I bought. But they're the same thing. This I found on Tastespotting.com

*Don't know what Wegman's is? Check out this awesome video of Alec Baldwin talking about his mom refusing to leave her home due to Wegman's : )   It's a funny clip, but long. Watch from 2:15-3:45ish. It's so funny! He actually did a series of commercials for them after this... And I've included those here too! LOL

Day 148 - Feeling Under the Weather

I'm getting a little bit run down. This happens every year at this time--actually anytime the seasons change my body has a little temper-tantrum about it. All I want to do right now is stuff my face with comfort foods and lay in bed watching Pirates of the Carribean (still haven't gotten through them all; this could take a while).

I do realize that this would only fix me temporarily and soon after would lead me to feeling worse about sabotaging my own efforts for a few moments of indulgence. Instead I need to find some other way to satisfy my need for 'comforting'.

I have discovered that writing creatively can completely consume me to the point that I think baout little else. Even in the unfriendly face of writers' block, I still am able to step ouot of my world for a brief time. So, to thi send, I think I will endulge you with some of my food musings on a new page on my blog. Some of the boardies over at Weight Watcher's refer to it as food pron (middle two letters intentionally inverted), but I may just give it a less racey name. Check back this weekend to see what my fingers occupy themselves with instead of popping food into my mouth.

Day 140 - 3 Foods I Can't Live Without

Clearly, I'm a girl who knows food. That conclusion can be made based on my career choice (Baking and Pastry) or by looking at my backside, or my hips, or my "Excuse me, I am NOT pregnant" belly. So I know a thing or two about yummy food. I love to make mostly anything I can from scratch-- but I do have a few go-to items that are always in my pantry or icebox. These things are daily/weekly staples in my eating plan right now, so you need not wonder if these foods are weight loss friendly... They are! Would you like to meet them? Great!

Cookwell & Company's Escabeche style salsa. It's not your traditional tomato paste-y, large chunk vegetables with little to no seasoning Americanized variety... This stuff is it! This is an authentic salsa that begins with escabeche marinade including lime juice and carrots and roasted chiles.

What I do with it: Top egg whites cooked omlet style with tomatoes and green bell peppers; use it as the 'pizza sauce' on my Avocado Chicken pizza; and it's scoopably yum-o with Tostitos MultiGrain Scoops tortilla chips. (I love dipping foods!)

Reasons I love it: 0 PP for Weight Watchers buddies, and packed with flavor.

Franks Marinara Sauce is hard to find. They are originally an Italian restaurant (go figure!) in Hartford, C.T. They have quite a list of famous names that have patronized them and their sauce is a little bit famous. My link will take you to their FaceBook page, but if you're near me, north of NYC or in the New England-ish area, I know you can find this at Hannaford Supermarkets.  Reasons I love it: 1 PP for 1/2 cup, versatile and light.                                                                                        

I'm a choosy mom, and I choose JIF. Mostly for myself. My boys and hubby would eat anything I placed before them, but I have discerning taste buds. JIF is the smoothest, most naturally peanutty of the big name brands and I have lots of fun uses for it!                                                                                                        What I do with it: Banana Sandwich... It's not what you think! Click to see why : ) ; a Tbsp. at the bottom of my morning bowl of steel-cut oats makes a yummy way to flavor your oats without the typical sugars or syrups; or I'll just drag my finger precariously through the tub and lick. Yes. I'm 31 years old. Don't judge.

I will continue rummaging through my pantry for your entertainment another day. Can't give away all my secrets at once ; )  I think I may make this a regularly appearing topic...

(Apparently, I also have an affinity for things that come with screw top lids...But I digress.)

This week: Quotes of wisdom and hilarity from my Weight Watcher's Boardies! I can't wait! It's gonna be so much fun...

Day 132 - A New Beginning

After a not-so-surprising gain of 1.4 lbs. last week I'm getting myself refocused by planning out my meals for the entire week. Here's what I'll be eating each day, from first bite to last crumb:

Breakfast:

• Corn Chex with 1 cup skim milk (or one container of yogurt)
• 3 egg whites cooked in EVOO or safflower oil, topped with fresh sliced tomato
• 1 large nectarine, 1 cup of grapes or 1 medium apple
• Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. With 1/2 cup of fat free milk. 

AM Snack:

• 1 large banana slice lengthwise (like for a banana split)
• 32 grams of peanut butter sandwiched between

Lunch:

• Extra-lean ham sandwich; made with 2 slices whole wheat bread, 3 oz. lean ham, 1 slice American cheese, yellow mustard
• String cheese
• 1/2 cup sliced cucumber or green bell pepper
• 2 Tbsp. tomato and basil hummus

Dinner (all tossed together):

• 4 oz. chicken breast sauteed in 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1/2 cup grilled zucchini 
• 10 grams shredded parmesan cheese
• 1 oz shredded mozzarella (full fat)

PM Snack: 1/2 cup Sugar free/fat free Jell-O pudding or Sugar free Jell-O

My Declaration of Eating. I will:

• Not eat after 7:30 pm
• abstain from Snickers and all related products (at least for now)
• drink all of my water
• get in all of my GHGs
• give my relationship with carbs a timeout

Coming this week: Some of my favorite foods. And perhaps a few recipes. Photos, of what I'm not sure. : )  And we're working on the mans perspective.

Day 87

Ah, one more day of classes to go and then I get to decompress for 4 GLORIOUS weeks!!! It will be good to not be tempted by the food at school. I will be going on vacation to Virginia Beach and then back home to Buffalo and these things always turn into eating fests. I think I've got my plan for Virginia down. Buffalo is a hard one- growing up there we do 3 things really well: eat, drink (the grown up type) and deal with large amounts of snow. REAL chicken wings, roast beef on 'weck, Theodore's Red Hots, and loganberry!!! Mmmmm. Yeah, Virginia's set- Buffalo I may indulge : ) I miss the flavors of home!

Days 80 & 81

Getting back on track- taking food with me to school instead of eating there, food's just too heavy there... And if you're a new visitor to my blog I'm a student at The Culinary Institute of America. And despite the fact that we are there solely for food, it's hard to get a FIT meal. There are healthy options, but not necessarily friendly for people trying to lose weight.

I am actually one of 3 students in my graduating class that was significantly overweight (no thanks to our chosen degree field!) who have independently decided to attack weight loss head on. Each of us has succeeded to a very significant degree and it has been wonderful to have good company : )

I need to get active again; my weight loss hasn't slowed down, but I don't want it to. So moving more again will help.

Day 75

Today was my son's birthday party (yay Antonio! 4 years old, wow!) and of course I did all of the cooking... And I made:

• Rainbow cake and cupcakes (and about 3 times too many)
• Gazpacho served in cucumber shooters
• Home made guacamole
• Roasted red pepper and veggie wraps
• Roast beef and cheddar on caramelized onion rolls
• Turkey and Swiss one ciabatta rolls
• Ham and cheddar with tomato, lettuce, onion on multigrain
• Jello Mousse (house specialty)  : )
• Caprese salad skewers with fresh mozzarella
• Old fashioned Coke in glass bottles
• Macaroni salad and cole slaw
• Toasted ravioli with marinara dipping sauce

And I managed to eat only my daily allotment of points!!! I was so good! I enjoyed myself and am in good shape (I think) for the scale tomorrow morning.

Did I mention my new trick?  Bending over forward and not getting winded? Love that one!