Thursday, November 29, 2012

Trim Healthy Mama ~Why no posts?~

0 comments
If you have been following along with my Trim Healthy Mama challenge you will have noticed that there have been no updates in the last week. Why? Normal pregnancy stuff. The baby has gotten to the point where she is pressing on my stomach making eating harder and harder. I have zero interest in food right now, I don't want to eat it or think about it. A few bites and I am stuffed to the point of feeling sick. Since I have zero interest in eating or cooking right now kind of follows I have zero interest in writing about cooking or food right now.

As for the diet I have been sticking to the general principles and adding in more crossover meals to try and get more calories in since I am eating so little.

Tomorrow is the last day of the challenge and also happens to be my next checkup with my OB. I will be sure to check in with you all to let know know how following the plan for a month affected my weight gain and overall health.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Trim Healthy Mama ~Day 21~

1 comments
Breakfast 
Today I was blessed to be able to sleep in. Once I got up we had to hurry to get ready to go to our appointment at a local car dealership. Since I didn't have a ton of time and everyone else had already eaten I had a bowl of raisin bran cereal.

Lunch
Luckily the dealership had sandwiches available for us. I had a half a turkey sandwich and a bottle of water.

Dinner
Unfortunately we were STILL at the dealership. Longest day of my life! I had a half a buffalo chicken sandwich and a sprite.

The good news is that we were able to buy a 8 seat SUV to fit our growing family and I don't have to go back to a car dealership for a long long long time. So happy to have that over with!


Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Trim Healthy Mama ~Day 20~

0 comments
Breakfast
This morning I was rousted from bed by a maintenance worker who was here to install my new garbage disposal and kitchen tile floors.  Since I didn't want to be in his way I didn't get breakfast till 11am. I was way to hungry to deal with cooking much at that point. So I just made some cheesy eggs.

Lunch
Since I ate breakfast so late I didn't eat lunch today.

Dinner
Tonight for dinner I made this Unstuffed Cabbage skillet with whole grain macaroni instead of brown rice (just because my family prefers pasta over rice).

It was super simple to make and since I already had all but one of the ingredients on hand  it  was super cheap to make. I paid $0.89 for the pasta and I was good to go.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Trim Healthy Mama ~Day 19~

0 comments
Breakfast
Trim and Healthy pancakes....come on you know you wanna try them!

Lunch
I was exhausted and queasy at lunch time so I had a nausea pill, some crackers, and some laughing cow cheese and called it a meal.

Dinner
Tonight's dinner was a "empty out the pantry" meal. My husband's pay was short this pay period and cuts had to be made somewhere. That somewhere is most easily found in the grocery budget. Some meals in the next two weeks are going to be a bit odd. They will be using pantry items to make healthy meals, they just might be a bit odd.

Tonight we had a Mediterranean themed meal. I put several tilapia fillets from my freezer in my crockpot, still frozen. Added some frozen tomatoes from my garden, a jar of olives that have been in the door of my fridge for a while, and diced up an onion. I cooked it all on low till the frozen items were defrosted and the fish cooked.

Once everything was cooked I diced up some whole wheat bread that no one was going to eat (my family prefers white bread) and mixed it in.

Wham bam we have a healthy E meal on the fly.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Trim Healthy Mama ~Day 18~

0 comments
Breakfast
I wanted to make the cinnamon rolls from the book today.....I really did.....trouble was hubby let me sleep in because I was up a lot last night because of my hips hurting. When I woke up I was starving and couldn't wait to eat so I went with simple fried eggs.

Lunch
I had take out for lunch. I am so terrible!

Dinner
Leftover layered dinner for dinner tonight. Nothing too exciting as I spent most of the evening scrubbing the living room and the bedrooms/bathrooms.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Trim Healthy Mama ~Day 17~

0 comments
Breakfast
This morning my husband got up before me and made breakfast for everyone. Well he tried. The poor man is the worlds worst cook. I woke up to a house filled with smoke and the smell of burnt meat. I went in to the kitchen and he was frying up what looked like hockey pucks. They were beyond charred. I very wisely decided to back out of the room slowly. After a bit he ate one and started complaining to me that they were terrible. No flavor at all just terrible. Then he proceeded to ask me if I wanted to try one. Um...no. After the kitchen was empty I went in to clean up the mess and make myself something to eat. It was then that I noticed that he hadn't made sausage at all....he had mistaken ground beef for sausage. *sigh* So that was a whole pound of ground beef wasted.  I ended up making some scrambled eggs for the kids and myself since we were all hungry and no one was touching those burnt hamburger "sausages".

Lunch
Lunch today was leftover Layered dinner from the other night.

Dinner
Well tonight's dinner was supposed to be beef and black bean nacho's but you already know what happened to the ground beef. Instead I made "Mexican black beans" with taco seasoning. The kids had nacho's with black beans, cheese, salsa, and Greek yogurt. I had blue corn chips, beans, and Greek yogurt. Hubby didn't even seem to mind that there was no meat.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Trim Healthy Mama ~Day 16~

1 comments
Breakfast
I was not in the mood for breakfast this morning. Just wasn't hungry at all...so I committed the ultimate diet sin and skipped eating this morning.

Lunch
In keeping with my diet sins I had a big ole cheeseburger for lunch  ***Shhhh! don't tell ;)

Dinner
I managed to get to the grocery store this afternoon so we have food in the house again :) I had a fuel pull dinner tonight: Roast chicken breast, mixed veggies, and a half a cup of strawberries. The original plan was to have some quinoa with it but I wasn't feeling it today.

Trim Healthy Mama ~Day 15~

0 comments
Breakfast
I had big plans for breakfast this morning. I was going to make the cinnamon rolls from the recipe in the book....then I realized I was out of truvia. Then I got the big idea to have some creamy eggs, only I was out of laughing cow cheese. I ended up settling for some fried eggs. Not very exciting but it was about the only thing in the house left to eat.

Lunch
Today's lunch was this Thin crust sweet thai chicken pizza. Actually I made the pizza back in May and stuck it in my freezer. It is super yummy and you should SO try it! I started to take a picture but I couldn't find my camera. You will just have to trust me that mine was just as pretty as the picture with the recipe ;)

Dinner

I really really need to go to the grocery store, but with my husband working till 7pm it isn't going to happen today. So I made a "layered dinner" recipe in my crockpot out of things in my fridge.

1/2 head of cabbage, sliced
handful of carrots, diced
1 bag of green beans from the freezer
1 lb ground beef, browned

Layer all of the above in your crockpot. Cabbage, carrots, green beans, ground beef ~repeat, ending with cabbage on top~

Brown up a few slices of bacon (I had 7 pieces in my fridge that needed to get used). Remove the bacon and chop. Add a few Tbsp of glucomannan to the bacon grease and stir till creamy. Add unsweetened almond milk till it thins out a big and begins to bubble. Once creamy dump over the top of your layers in your crockpot, top with bacon crumbles.

Cook on low for 5 hours.

This is the ONLY way my children (or I) will eat cooked cabbage. It is really good :)  Again I would have taken a picture but still no camera to be found.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Trim Healthy Mama ~Day 14~

0 comments
Day 14 here!

Breakfast 
I made the muffin in a mug recipe this morning. It was good, so good I didn't get to eat all of it. My children were more than happy to help me eat it! Probably because it was chocolate, they are chocolate obsessed. I did end up cooking it a bit longer than it called for because it was still soupy in the bottom, and it could have used a bit more turvia in my opinion, but then I like cake and would turn this into cake if given half a chance.

Lunch
I was starving before naptime but to lazy to actually make anything special so I went with two fried eggs.

Dinner
I am still feeling lazy tonight so I am making some chicken breasts in the crockpot which I intend to shred up and top with some cream cheese thinned with a bit of milk a sprinkle of garlic powder and some brewer's yeast. I will add in some quinoa for myself and some corn for my kids and we are good to go.

I should add this is a crossover meal. If you are looking to lose weight you would need to make the chicken without the quinoa.

Trim Healthy Mama ~Day 13~

0 comments
I saw my OB tonight and we talked about my weight loss up to this point. We both agree that based on how quickly the weight is coming off I am losing water weight at this point. She is comfortable waiting to see if the weight loss stabilizes over the next week or so. If it does not and I keep losing she would like me to add in more snacks.

Breakfast
Just plain old fried eggs this morning with lots of brewer's yeast. I love adding the brewer's yeast as it gives my eggs a nice crunchy effect, and is good for me so win win.

Lunch
Dh and I splurged this afternoon while I was out doing a quick grocery run. I got a grilled chicken sandwich on white bread and some fries. I know I am so bad!

Dinner
Okay let me just start this by saying my husband is not much of a cook. He has trouble with a frozen pizza. I however needed to go to my OB appointment right in the middle of dinner time and would be gone for 3 hours. I mixed up this Tomato and Artichoke Chicken dish and had some cooked quinoa on hand in the fridge. I told my husband to cook the chicken  dish for 30-45 min until the chicken was cooked through. He however only cooked it for 30min and then realized the chicken in the middle was not fully cooked. Instead of putting it back in the oven to finish cooking he chose to serve himself and the children the chicken from around the edges that he felt was cooked. He then put the under cooked chicken back into the COLD oven and left it there for several hours till I got home.

Where to start? There are so many safe food handling violations here I don't know where to begin. Needless to say I threw the undercooked chicken away and had a sandwich instead. I also have no review for how the dish tasted since my husband was not very talkative on the subject.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Trim Healthy Mama ~Day 12~

0 comments
Breakfast
Okay I was tired of eggs and feeling ambitious so I decided to try the pancake recipe from the book. It was the oddest recipe I have ever seen. Oatmeal, cottage cheese, egg whites....just odd. They were a bit hard to flip even though I went with the medium sized pancakes. I think next time I would try making them in my waffle maker just for the ease of getting them done. Once they were finished I was ready to dig in. They were...um....different. Definitely tasted like oatmeal, but didn't have me running to the bathroom gagging like the bowl of oatmeal did last week so that was good. Over all these were not like any pancakes I had ever had in my life but they did fill me up and satisfied my craving for carbs. I will probably make these again.

Lunch
Just boring old leftover for me today. Nothing exciting to report

Dinner
We were out an running errands this evening and I splurged on take out from Arby's I got a roast beef sandwich and while I know white bread is a no no it was good :)

**Just a quick update we are 12 days in and I have lost 2 lbs. I am not trying to lose weight but it is happening regardless. Going to speak to my OB tomorrow night at my appointment and see how they feel about weight loss at this point in my pregnancy. We are at 29 weeks and 8lbs gained**

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Trim Healthy Mama ~Day 11~

0 comments
Breakfast
Yes more eggs. This morning I went with fried with some brewer's yeast added. I did however hit up amazon yesterday and ordered the almond flour, oat flour and ground flax seed. So I should be able to start baking some of their yummy E meals the first of the week.

Lunch
Okay I admit it I had dumplings again! Those things are so good!

Dinner
Tonight for dinner I made this Healthy Zucchini and Black Bean Skillet.

I made a few changes so that it met the requirements of the plan.  I changed out the vegetable oil for coconut oil, the rice for quinoa, added some chopped chicken for protein, and cut the amount of cheese down to just a bit of a sprinkle.

I wasn't hungry at dinner time so the picture is of the leftovers as I got ready to put them in the fridge. I have since had a bowl and it was really good. I did think it was a bit bland but a touch of sea salt helped that out.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Trim Healthy Mama ~Day 10~

0 comments
Breakfast
Eggs again. I am tried of eggs! Gonna hit up amazon tonight and look at the different flours they have to offer. I know I need almond four, oat flour, and ground flax seed so we shall see how many I can get on our current budget.

Lunch
I was bad today for lunch. My kids have had sore throats so I made them their favorite soft dinner last night of chicken and dumplings. Of course it is also MY favorite dinner. So what do I see when I looked in the fridge today at lunch time? My favorite food staring at me....yeah I had a bowl. However I stopped at ONE bowl that should count as something right?!

Dinner
The kids had leftovers for dinner tonight (yeah more dumplings) and I was being good having splurged already today. I made myself a tilapia salad with homemade "tarter sauce" dressing. It sounds a bit odd but it was good.

The salad consisted of romaine lettuce and tomatoes. I cooked the tilapia in a few spoonfuls of coconut oil till cooked through, and added it to the top of the salad. For the dressing I combined a few spoonfuls of lite mayo with a diced dill pickle spear (I would normally have used capers but I am out at the moment) and then thinned it out with a bit of milk till it was more dressing consistency.

This is an S meal for sure. Even though the mayo was "lite" it was still 20% of my fat intake for the day!

Trim Healthy Mama ~Day 9~

0 comments
Nothing overly exciting to report today, but here it goes!

Breakfast
Scrambled cheesy eggs again. I want to make some of the cinnamon rolls or the muffin in a mug recipe from the book but I don't have the special flours needed. I will need to order them online first, so until they get here it will be eggs for a while.

Lunch
Um.......okay I forgot to eat lunch again. I had a string cheese when I gave the little ones a snack before nap time. Then had a few crackers with some laughing cow cheese when I gave them their snack after nap time.

Dinner
All 5 of my kids are sick or recovering from being sick so I made their favorite dinner tonight....Chicken and Dumplings. The only problem with that is that I couldn't eat it. It contains massive amounts of white flour and milk....both of which are on my no no list.

 Instead I turned the leftovers from last night's spicy shrimp lettuce bowls into a salad. Same tastes as the lettuce bowls but much less messy!

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Trim Healthy Mama ~Day 8~

0 comments
 Breakfast
This morning I had my all time favorite breakfast. It seriously rocks!

2 organic, cage free, Omega 3 eggs
1 wedge laughing cow light cheese
2 Tbsp Cream Cheese
2-3 Tbsp green onions
1 Tbsp Brewer's Yeast -or- Nutritional Yeast
A dash of sea salt

Just scramble it all up and make like a normal scrambled egg. Oh my! So good!

My husband wanted bacon this morning so I made up a half a pound of bacon and some homemade waffles for everyone else....okay you know I snatched a few pieces of bacon for myself. I did however manage to restrain myself from eating any of the waffles.

Snack
At the 4 hour mark after breakfast I was still not hungry so I decided to have a few ritz crackers and 2 wedges of laughing cow light cheese before I took a nap. Not 100% on the plan as the crackers were not the "approved" crackers but they were what I had on hand so I went with it.

Lunch
After laying down for an hour and having my phone ring 5 times in that time period (I am not kidding) I finally gave up on my nap and got up. I decided I was hungry after all and made myself a E salad. Okay I know you are looking at the salad and thinking....Um....there are no carbs in there. Well think again. I made the salad with romaine, 1/2 roasted chicken breast, a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, and some fat free ranch dressing. Where are the carbs? In my fat free dressing! It doesn't have any fat but it has 6 grams of carbs.

I added in a cup of berries with a packet of truvia sprinkled on top and a big glass of water and I am stuffed.

Dinner
My kids are quite excited that we are having shrimp for dinner tonight! Usually shrimp for 7 people is just too expensive. However I found this recipe which is mostly vegetables and rice noodles with a few shrimp thrown on top. Win win!


So we are having Spicy Asian Shrimp Lettuce Cups for dinner. Don't I sound all fancy? lol. I had never had sriracha sauce or rice noodles before tonight so this was something new for all of us.

It was pretty spicy but man it was good. The recipe was correct when it says to keep your napkin handy. It was super messy but well worth it! I wish I wasn't so full so I could have another one!


Evening Snack
In the effort to give you a fair view of the recipes in the book I decided to have cake and ice cream for my evening snack......okay that isn't true I really wanted cake and ice cream!

The taste was just slightly off from the truvia instead of sugar but it was still good. It hit the right bells and whistles and satisfied my craving for sugar.

Works for me! 

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Trim Healthy Mama ~Day 7~

0 comments

So far so good back on track for today :)

Breakfast
 I went simple.....mostly because today is grocery shop day and I needed to get to the store before the snow falling outside got any worse. I had 2 fried eggs and a few pieces of bacon before I left. I managed to get all my grocery shopping done without splurging on a sugary drink at the checkout, and I even drove past the fast food places without even being tempted to stop. It is 4 hours later as I type this and I am not hungry at all yet. Since I am all alone (the little ones are napping and the big girls are at school) I have no need to make lunch till I am ready so that is good :)

Lunch
Okay don't throw anything at me but I am having cake for lunch. It had been 5 hours since breakfast and I wasn't actually hungry. I think it is a bit of a hangover from yesterday's carb loading,  I was however starting to get a headache so I decided to eat something. Trouble is I didn't actually want to eat anything food related. I have a friend who told me how much she liked the Cake in a Mug recipe from the book so I decided to give it a go with some milk. I was a bit hesitant since it doesn't have any flour in it. I mean what kind of a cake are you gonna make with no flour?  Yeah never mind it is good! Mine was a bit bitter since I went on the low end of the recommended amount of truvia. After the first few bites though I was good to go. It was so good I couldn't stop thinking about how good it would be with some ice cream..........you know they have an ice cream recipe in the book as well ;) You also know that as soon as the glucomannan powder that I ordered gets here I will be eating the ice cream :)

Dinner
We are going "off book" for dinner this week. Since it is snowing like crazy outside I decided to go tropical for our dinner. Cause you know that is how my brain works ;) 

We went with the Baja-style Chicken Bowl
I am classifying this as a E meal since it has very little fat and contains carbs.

I made some alterations to the dish. I substituted coconut oil for the vegetable oil and left the corn out of my portion (since corn is carb heavy and I wanted some rice with mine). I added some 0% greek yogurt on top for a nice "sour cream" flavor. I should have used quinoa instead of the rice but I was pressed for time and didn't feel like making two pots of carbs for one dinner.

It was a big hit. My husband was a bit concerned that I had snuck something weird into the meal (like tofu or something). Once I convinced him it was normal foods he dug in and had seconds. My son was keeping right up with him and went back for 4ths. I thought it was really good and the recipe has earned a spot in my recipe binder.

1 week into the challenge :)

0 comments
Well today is the 7th day of the Trim Healthy Mama challenge so I thought  I would share how it is going over here.

I took a peak at the scale this morning and not only has my 2lb a week weight gain stopped I actually lost a few ounces this week. The swelling in my hands has gone down (I am sure thanks to switching to sea salt over table salt) and I was able to get my wedding rings on this morning.

I went to the grocery store this morning and got stocked up for another week. This week my husband will be out of town so there will be no red meat in the line up. I am NOT a fan of red meat normally and especially not a fan during pregnancy. Lots of chicken, shrimp, and fish this week.

I also am changing up the meal planning process. I don't like planning all the meals for the entire day. I am not that well organized. Instead I have planned out the dinners and bought the staples needed for breakfasts and lunches. I like the more "fly by the seat of my pants" approach when it comes to those two meals. Also the dinners this week will be for the most part based off of recipes from websites and blogs. When these meals are in the rotation I will give you the link so you can check them out as well.

Ready for week 2?!

Trim Healthy Mama ~Day 6~

0 comments
Um.....day 6 was a bust for me. It started with some non-whole grain high carb waffles and went downhill from there. Take out for lunch (tons of carbs) and then I didn't get dinner till after 10pm thanks to a set of sick twins who needed to be taken to the after hours clinic. Needless to say that late at night I ate take out again on our way home.

Anyways the day is over and done and I am ready to move on to a fresh start for day 7!

Monday, November 5, 2012

Trim Healthy Mama ~Day 5~

0 comments
Breakfast
I went with a super simple breakfast of 2 fried eggs this morning. I didn't have the energy to chop up veggies to go with it, so just the eggs and some milk. Pretty simple.

Lunch
 I decided to get a bit more adventurous with lunch today. I sauted a salmon fillet in butter and seasoned with sea salt. I then placed it on a salad with romaine and tomatoes. I used toasted sesame and ginger dressing and a bit of Parmesan cheese on top.

It was really good and I felt like a foodie while eating it. Super simple and yummy!
 Dinner
 Yet another chicken dish tonight...I know you are shocked, right? We had the yogurt bake chicken with green beans and quinoa. Now my husband is not a fan of yogurt....not in the least. I send him to the store for a container of plain yogurt and he comes home with frozen yogurt instead. The only reason I tried this recipe was because it called for 0% Greek yogurt which to me tastes like sour cream.

This dinner was good. The yogurt on the chicken had a hint of garlic to it and was yummy.


Trim Heatlhy Mama ~Day 4~

0 comments
Sorry this post is a bit late. I spent most of the day yesterday working on my sewing projects and ran out of time to get everything done.

Breakfast
For breakfast we had oatmeal with frozen berries. I want to like oatmeal I really do. I know it is good for me and very filling but I just can't do it. I managed 3 bites before I had to go take my nausea meds. My pregnant stomach was just not up for it.

My son however had 2 large cups and loved it. My twins were happy to pick out all the fruit and actually ate the oatmeal that was surrounding the berries. My oldest however tried it and said it needed some flavor so she put a few spoonfuls of real sugar on hers.

Lunch
Okay I am going to be real here. After not eating breakfast, sewing all afternoon, and being constantly buzzed by search and rescue helicopters flying up to the coast to help with hurricane Sandy relief I broke. I ended up going to Arby's for a roast beef sandwich. Since I ended up with a fat and a carb in the same meal we will call it a crossover meal and call it a day. Crossover meals are good for those who are trying to maintain their weight or those who are pregnant and not gaining weight correctly. So no big deal as I am not trying to lose weight just to maintain.

Dinner
Tonight's dinner was a roasted chicken (I altered the recipe to cook in my crockpot) and zucchini fries. I was a little unsure of the recipe for the chicken as it called for zigzagging prepared mustard on top before cooking. Um....mustard? I re-read that part several times trying to convince myself that was actually what they meant. I was willing to give it a go even though I was not sure. Turned out really good. The mustard changed flavors as it cooked. It wasn't sharp and in your face anymore. It really was pretty good and no one complained! *When you are feeding 7 that is a big deal!*

The zucchini fries were fun for my oldest daughter to make. She liked getting to prepare them herself. Once they were fried though they were pretty much just regular old zucchini since most of the coating stuck to the bottom of my pan. Need to see if I can fix that next time.

Over all dinner was a hit and everyone ate well. I put the bones and the juices in my crockpot to make my homemade broth, so win win.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Trim Healthy Mama ~Day 3~

0 comments
 Breakfast
Alright this morning we are speaking my language. A 2 egg omelet cooked in butter with zucchini and two different types of cheese. Seriously.....yummy :) And kept me full for hours and hours.


Lunch
Today's lunch was leftovers from yesterday's dinner.  Nothing overly exciting to report on this front today.

Dinner
Tonight's dinner was meatloaf with mashed cauliflower. Dinner started out with my husband saying "It looks good" and ended with him having nothing but complaints. The meatloaf was too tough. The cauliflower was nasty. Of course as soon as he started complaining the older kids followed suit. The only ones that actually ate their dinner (besides me) was the youngest two toddlers. They both really liked the cauliflower and my son liked the meatloaf. Guess you can't win them all. Unfortunatly we won't be repeating tonight's dinner and I apparently will be staying away from cauliflower in the future as my husband was very specific that he does NOT like it. Even after 13yrs I am still learning things about the man. 

Sorry no pic of dinner tonight. I completely forgot until after we had eaten.

Friday, November 2, 2012

Trim Healthy Mama ~Day 2~

0 comments
Breakfast
This morning I had a 4 egg white omelet....okay my pan was too small and it turned into a frittata instead. Close enough! I decided to go with tomato, bell pepper, and spring onions for my veggies. That plus the light cheese and the touch of parmesan cheese were a pretty good combination.

To make this an E meal (carbs and no fat) I decided on a half a small apple as my side (little people ate the other half right off my plate).  I would have preferred a banana but those are pretty high in sugar and on my "no no" list these days.

For my drink I went with water this morning since I woke up with a sore throat this morning. I think the heat is drying me out so I am pushing the water today.

Snack
About 2 hours after eating breakfast I was hungry again. Since I had a E breakfast I needed a E snack to go with it. I ended up going with two slices of "extra thin" whole wheat bread, with a wedge of light cheese smeared on top. I didn't actually get to eat it all since little people swarmed as soon as they saw me eating. I did get a piece though and some almond milk to wash it all down. I should be good to go till lunch.

Lunch

My original plan was to have yesterday's leftovers for lunch today. Unfortunately (or fortunately however you look at it) there were no leftovers last night. Instead I was on my own for lunch today. Since today's lunch was an S meal (fat and no carbs) I decided to go have the leftover cheesy broccoli and some leftover mini smokies. There was a string cheese as well, but it didn't make it to the picture since I was starving and ate it while the rest of the food was heating up. Doesn't look like overly much but it was enough to fill me up till dinner.

Dinner
Tonight's dinner is another E meal (carbs and no fats). I decided to go with the Italian chicken. I threw it all in the crockpot this morning....most of it still frozen.... I love my crockpot!  By dinner time tonight it was smelling yummy. I didn't have enough room in my crockpot to cook the quinoa with the chicken as the recipe called for (my very large crockpot was overflowing!) so I made the quinoa on the stove right before dinner time.

We had never had quinoa before and I had a lot of  the "what did you say?" faces when I told them what it was.  I went with the "it tastes like pasta" line since my kids love pasta. That was enough to get my older two who are picky to try it. In reality I don't think it tastes like anything. I guess I would say it is like rice. Really just no flavor at all when made with water.

Dinner was a hit tonight as well. I learned from last night and doubled the amount of chicken this time and it is a good thing I did or we would have been without leftovers again. The most popular part of the meal though was the green beans and tomatoes. I actually had to limit the amount of veggies my younger three ate because they were eating just the veggies and not their chicken.  The quinoa was very filling, a lot more filling than I was expecting. My husband and I were both very full with just a half a cup of the quinoa.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Trim Healthy Mama ~Day 1~

3 comments
Alright today is day 1 of the Trim Healthy Mama Diet. I am ready to hit the ground running this morning and started off my day by weighing myself. I don't usually weigh myself while pregnant, but in the name of science (lol!) I gave it a go this morning. I am just starting my 7th month of pregnancy and have gained 10lbs. That wouldn't be so bad except I have been gaining 2lbs a week for the last 5 weeks. That is crazy! My goal for this new diet is to slow my weight gain back to the recommended amount of 0-2lbs for the month. I will weigh myself at the end of the 30 days and see how I did.

Breakfast
We started off this morning with fried eggs, sauteed zucchini and almond milk.  Okay lets just stop right here and say I have never had a fried egg or almond milk in my life. We are talking major "trying new things" this morning. I am giving this my all though so I went into it with an open mind. I even followed the suggestion to add nutritional yeast to the egg and zucchini. *Well I don't HAVE nutritional yeast but I do have Brewer's yeast so we went with that. It is still full of B vitamins and I can't taste any bitterness when it is on food.*

The eggs and the zucchini were both really good. My oldest daughter loves to cook and wanted to try a fried egg as well....I was skeptical at how she would handle the runny center but she loved it and ate the center out of the egg before she touched the white.

The almond milk was really a lot different from cow's milk (Cow's milk is off limits during the plan as it is a liquid carb and spikes blood sugar). It was like drinking a melted milk shake, with just a hint of a nutty flavor at the end. With more calcium than cow's milk and a sweetness to it I don't see any problem with making the switch.

The other switch we made was going from "normal eggs" to organic, cage free, omega 3 eggs. These puppies are more than double the price at $3.99 a dozen. Talk about a moment of sticker shock. The more I think about it though it really isn't THAT bad. I mean I could spend $3.99 on a cut of meat or a bag of chips and not think twice about it. Why is it when I spend that much on eggs it bothers me? Honestly just looking at these eggs makes me feel healthier. They are all brown and spotted with thicker shells. They also had the most omega 3's of any of the eggs in the store. Since I am building a little brain, and feeding 5 little growing brains I figure it is worth the extra few dollars for a dozen eggs.


Lunch
Okay today's lunch is the Waldorf cottage cheese salad.

This salad was huge and had a bit of everything in it. Sweet, salty, crunchy, soft. My jaw was actually tired of chewing by the time I got to the end of the bowl.

I am really a "can take it or leave it" type of person when it comes to salad and unfortunately this was no different for me. It was sort of middle of the road for me. I wouldn't kill my mother to eat it again but I didn't have to force myself to eat it either. As of typing this it is three hours later and I am still full so it did it's job.

Dinner
For tonight's dinner we had the creamy chicken with steamed broccoli.

The chicken was a serious hit. I only made 1lb because that is all my family normally eats. Bad calculation on my part, they cleaned the platter and I was lucky there wasn't a riot when it was gone. Trouble is I was counting on some of that chicken to be leftover for my lunch tomorrow. So I will be scrambling to find something else for lunch for myself tomorrow.

I just have to say I don't like broccoli. It has no appeal to me at all. This broccoli? Yeah I take it back, this broccoli is killer. I mean come on...I get to cover it in butter and Parmesan cheese? I am so there!

The entire meal felt crazy decadent when in reality there was only 3 Tbsp of butter for an entire bag of broccoli, a cup-ish of Parmesan cheese, and a block of fat free cream cheese for the chicken. It is amazing how when you have been denied something like butter and cheese for so long it can feel so decadent to add it back in.


 

One Mama's Journey Copyright 2008 All Rights Reserved Baby Blog Designed by Ipiet | All Image Presented by Tadpole's Notez