Friday started off okay: breakfast was oatmeal (regular Quaker 1-minute oats, not steel-cut), with a glass of milk and a sliced banana. (Use your powers of visualization.) I did 20 minutes on the treadmill followed by 10 minutes on the bike. I know you're supposed to eat protein within 20 minutes of a workout, so I ate a hard-boiled egg.
Lunch was an Abs Diet Belly Busting Berry Smoothie: 1 scoop low-fat vanilla ice cream; 1/4 cup each frozen blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries; 1/2 cup skim milk; 1 tablespoon vanilla whey powder; and 3 ice cubes. Ice cream for lunch? Don't mind if I do! As with most of the smoothies I've made from the Abs Diet books, I had to add a little water so it blends well. Maybe it would work better in my Magic Bullet instead of the big blender - something to try...
While delicious, I got pretty hungry while running errands. So much so that after stocking up at Sam's Club, I ripped into a little treat that I picked up: Planters nuts single serving cashews at 160 calories per pack. We usually buy the big containers of mixed nuts or (my fave) Pistachio Lover's Mix and I just aliquot them out in small tins and keep them in my purse. These little portion-controlled snacks are perfect. After Sam's, I was on a mission to get some crumpets that my friend Jamie told me about. She found them at HyVee in the refrigerated section, and so did I:
While I usually try to go for the whole grains, I had to try these based on her recommendation. And OMG - pretty delicious for 60 calories! Thanks, Jamie! Just look at all the nooks and crannies, waiting for the peanut butter to melt into:
I didn't actually put peanut butter on it this time; just ate it plain. For some reason I was hungry AGAIN!!!
Dinner was pretty delicious. I made roasted kale chips for the first time, after reading how much everyone loves them. Now I know why the rave reviews. We are converts. Srsly (are you picturing that scholarly golden retriever?) If you have kale on hand, you will never need potato chips again!
We also had roasted cauliflower (we are big on roasting vegetables around here) and a 4 ounce filet. Since there were only four of us for Christmas dinner (*sniff*), I cooked half the beef tenderloin that I had bought, and sliced and froze the remainder into filets. I cooked them as my friend taught me: First, preheat your oven to 425. Then heat a cast iron skillet to HOT and add a layer of olive oil. Coat one side of the steak LIBERALLY with kosher salt and pepper. Put the steaks salt side down in the hot skillet for 2 1/2 minutes (for a one-inch thick steak), flip over, and immediately put the pan in a preheated 425 degree oven for 10 minutes. Take out and enjoy. The salt crust seals in the juices, but we learned you really need to scrape off the crust, otherwise you'll be consuming mass quantities of water. (Our youngest termed these "salt steaks.")
Okay, that is a pretty horrible picture for a delicious dinner. I've been reading about how to take good photos of food, and apparently taking pictures on your iPhone and then emailing them to yourself is not the preferred method to create "food porn", as I've seen it described. I promise I will be practicing.
We spent the night camped out catching up on our DVR'd shows and then watching the series finale of "Chuck." We've watched that show from the very beginning, but it was getting just so ridiculous that we almost stopped watching this season, except that we knew it would be ending and wanted to see how they wrapped it up. (Kind of like hitting your head against the wall because it feels so good when you stop.) Of course, being it was Friday night, a little cocktail was called for: my new favorite vodka, Tall Blond over ice. Imported from Estonia. Yes, Estonia.
So even with all that, Friday was not too bad: 1465 food/beveragecalories; factor in 183 exercise calories, and the net was 1282 - just 82 over.
Saturday was another story. It started out well:
Look familiar? Well, I did pick up some beautiful fruit that went great with the peanut butter bagel thin!
Lunch was a wonderful salad with blue cheese crumbles, craisins, and 2.5 ounces of leftover steak sliced on top of mixed greens with my new favorite dressing: a spritz of olive oil and several shakes of balsamic vinegar.
Snack: not too bad. A few Triscuits and some string cheese.
Dinner was where it fell apart. We went to Maru, our neighborhood sushi/Korean restaurant. If you live here, you really need to go. The sushi is really good, but we hardly order it any more. The Korean is so wonderful I can't even describe it. The dishes are served with three sides: kimchi (almost makes my nose run thinking about it!), spicy cold potatoes, and spicy broccoli. I had what I usually order: the pork bibimbap. It's rice mixed with vegetables and spicy pork, topped with a fried egg and all served in a sizzling stone bowl, so that the rice continues to cook and gets crusty and even more delicious. (It should be, at a whopping 643 calories.) And did I mention the two- not one but TWO - spinoza martinis? I am a weak person: these had vodka, elderflower liquer, and two other liquors that I can't remember but must be amazing to make something so delicious. The drink tasted just like a lemon drop - the candy you had as a kid, not the lemon drop martini that I really don't like.
So anyway, the whole day was 1935 calories, with no exercise to offset the intake. When I post everything in My Fitness Pal at the end of every day, there is always a "If every day was like today, in five weeks you would weigh _____" Well, if I ate like that every day, in five weeks I would weight MORE. Thank goodness I don't. Anymore.
This morning started out with a good breakfast: 6 ounces of plain, nonfat Greek yogurt, a cup of mixed berries (love!) and 1/4 cup raw oats. And look how pretty this bowl is. How can you not smile?!
Lunch will be something small and healthy, since we're going to Pitch for dinner (another favorite restaurant) with some good friends who have been out of town for the past few weeks. I bought a LivingSocial deal for Pitch, which should just about cover the wine Dwight and Steve will be drinking. I will be having water. (waa-waa)
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