For the second time, hot dogs have filled every craving in my body. I am NOT a big hot dog person at all, so I don’t really know why but these are so. good. The “hot dog” is a AmyLu Apple Gouda Chicken Sausage. Check out the first time we had them for more info. I actually froze the leftovers from last time’s meal in a ziplock bag and thawed them out overnight and they froze very well – good to know! The Food for Life bun, however, did not freeze well. It was rather tough tonight.
We also made the butternut squash fries again too. LOVE these. I prep the squash, microwave for 7-10 minutes (depending on how much you have) and then grill as a finish. You want it to be edible after microwaving so the purpose of the grill is just for char/crisp/flavor. Or you could broil them after microwaving. I find that baking fries just doesn’t produce a good fry, but maybe I just haven’t found the right method.
Lastly, we had kale chips made from a different variety of kale we bought at the farmer’s market. I was skeptical it would make good chips, and I was right. It crisped some, but mostly just wilted. Not bad though, just not crispy. I also just used cooking spray this time – which may be why they didn’t crisp. It wasn’t a fair experiment with two variables!
And a pickle!
I sipped on the remaining 4-5 oz of wine from our cookout while we grilled. The bottle was on its last leg and had to be consumed immediately!
From above, not including wine, this dinner was about 475 kcal, 13 grams fiber and 23 grams protein. It was so delicious, took a long time to eat, had lots of chew and was very filling.
When the husband got home at 6:30 we decided to go for a walk, since neither of us was that hungry. But before we left we prepped everything for dinner: cut fries, washed and trimmed kale, got things all set up. It was fun to work up an appetite walking and have things all ready to go when we returned 🙂
Tomorrow is the end of General Chemistry I!!! I have my lab skills exam and my final lecture test. I haven’t done much studying today, but I think I’ve put it off because I’m pretty confident in the material. But it means tomorrow I must have my act together and study before each test, so you might not see much of me until Thursday, as we’re going out to dinner with the husband’s mom and grandmother tomorrow night! I’ll do my best to get everything up on time tomorrow, but if for some reason lunch is delayed, I’ll have it up before I hit the sack tomorrow night!
Nick says
Oooh, I love sweet potato fries, but butternut squash fries? They sound great.
I’ve been looking for low fat Chicken Sausages for ever. I found them once where they were made with chicken breast and they were incredible, but I haven’t been able to find them since. Otherwise, most companies use dark meat which is usually lower in fat than pork sausage but not significantly lower.
– The Peanut Butter Boy
Jessie says
Hey Kath + readers,
Has anyone every tried any of the products form the fit and fresh line? I just stumbled accross them and i am interested, wondered if any of you could give me some advice before i buy anything!!?!
oh also, does anyone know of any free online fitness trackers? Im not counting calories or trying to lose weight so i don’t like most of the ones online, actually just one that i could print out and fill in with a pen would be great, one that included weights and cardio?
Thanks!
VeggieGirl says
butternut squash fries + kale chips = drool-worthy side dishes, for sure. yum!
good thinking, prepping the meal components ahead of time – I need to start doing that! I always wait to prepare meals RIGHT when I’m hungry, and then my meals are delayed…
good luck with General Chemistry I, your lab skills exam and your final lecture test tomorrow !!!!
ChocolateCoveredVegan says
Butternut squash fries are so amazingly awesome! I had some today too :o).
Molly says
Kath/readers-
What is the “rule” for expiration of opened wine.. I just assumed it was fine?! I never refrig red wine, do I need to do this if I’m saving it?
Thanks!
Heather says
“I also just used cooking spray this time – which may be why they didn’t crisp. It wasn’t a fair experiment with two variables!”
Has stats gotten to you, Kath? haha!
I want to try some kale chips!!!
Jenn says
I LOVE AmyLu hot dogs! The andouille sausage ones are really good too!
Best of luck on your tests tomorrow. I am SO jealous – we don’t get out until June! We start in late September – but I think I’d rather have it your way 🙂
Kate says
Ooh, yum! I love anything I can eat with ketchup, and eating hotdogs reminds me of being little in the summertime!
Molly, I’m no wine afficionado, but I just drink wine until it starts to taste bad (which doesn’t happen too often–I usually finish it off quickly enough!). I don’t think wine can go bad except for turning to vinegar, and you’d know if that happened.
Jules says
You gave me such a craving for chicken sausage!
Did you literally just put the sausage in the freezer bag or wrap it in serene wrap or something first- it seems it would get icy?
Also, how long did you freeze it for. I am a single person, so freezing these is great to know!
CourtneyS says
Molly, you can keep wine in the fridge for up to a week and it will be fine (longer if you cork it properly.) Let red wine come back up to room temp on the counter. If you’re going to drink red within a few days, you don’t have to refrigerate it and it’s fine to keep it in a cool spot instead. I have some favorite bottles that are better a day or two after we’ve opened them.
Sidi says
You’ll be a great mom. Planning your days the way you do, thinking about us missing you for lunch. God bless you!
Ruby Red Vegan says
You have good taste buds – kale and butternut squash are two of my most favorite vegetables and it would be heavenly to have them in the same meal!
Thanks for the microwave tip for the butternut fries – I’ve found baked fries are really mushy for me so I’d love to try this!
And you sound like me. On Thursday I have my gen chem lab exam and my lecture exam six hours later. Fun fun! But unlike you, these are not my final chem exams. You are so lucky!!!
Yvonne says
hypothetical question about something i am curious about for anyone who wants to chime in-
say someone is slender, but not overly so – say, like, 5’6″ and 120 lbs., and they eat and exercise about the same amount as Kath. if they were to then cut their calorie intake to around 1,200-1,400 a day (not a dangerously low, starvation type of thing basically, kind of like an average diet) and up their exercise to 1-2 hours a day, would they continue to lose weight?
I hear of people who are very skinny and are this way because they starve themselves on an apple a day or whatever. But say that 5’6″ person loses 10-15 lbs. and weighs 105-110 lbs. now by eating said 1,200-1,400 calories and exercising 1-2 hrs – again, not crazy crash diet behavior, just behaviors of someone wanting to lose weight the “healthy” way and then keeping going until they reach an UNhealthy, too-thin weight.
basically, is that even possible? because the rule for weight loss is the same – less calories in, more calories out. if someone keeps doing this for an extended period of time, even if the calorie loss is small, will their body just keep on dropping weight if they don’t start eating more??
Justy2003 says
I despise hot dogs (too processed and I don’t really know what’s in most of them), but this sausage looks yummy! Maybe I’ll give a “chicken hot dog” a try soon…
Congrats on almost being done with chemistry! It was never my favorite in college! I’m sure you have more of it coming up though…
caitlin (in FL) says
kath i just showed the hubby the banana brulee oatmeal pictures and told him i was making it for breakfast and we both got OH SO EXCITED!
caitlin (in FL) says
yvonne, the issue is that as you lose weight, you need even less calories to maintain that weight. so in hypothetical situation you described above, the person would lose weight to a point, but you couldnt keep losing forever unless you started to eat less and less and exercise more and more.
and also, because im not really positive this is hypothetical situation, if you are a normal weight, exercising 1 to 2 hours a day and eating only 1,200 – 1,400 calories would qualify as “crazy crash diet” behavior, NOT healthy at all. it would put you somewhere around like 700 net calories a day, which would be WAY too low!
Yaz says
Hey Kath/readers, where do you get your Food for Life bun? I’ve looked everywhere (WF & TJ) and can’t find it. How frustrating…
creatingadiva says
chiming in on the hypothetical…I think that you would lose weight only upto a point…while the calories in and calories out method is still true, the body is programmed to maintain a weight range for survival…after that point, you’d be wasting away at your muscles and I guess you would continue to drop weight but eventually your body would just shut down and not give you the energy you need to function. The body needs fat to metabolize and muscles to keep you standing up straight so beyond a point, instead of dropping weight by burning these, I would think you would just get sick and end up in some sort of unconscious state? If you continue to eat 1200 calories and exercise 2 hours a day, your body would get used to you doing that and that would slow your weight down b/c your body is learning to store energy to adapt to your lifestyle.
basically, I don’t think you can go below a certain range in weight no matter how much you follow the healthy weight loss rules b/c the body’s survival mechanism kicks in…
kath, great food! yummy and double yay for chem being over!!
creatingadiva says
….” your body would get used to you doing that and would slow your WEIGHT LOSS DOWN!”
They need to make an edit comments tab for my typos!
Yvonne says
interesting… I didn’t know that metabolic rate lowers so much when you lose weight. I was just curious, because the past couple months I’ve been trying to eat healthier and exercise more (not necessarily to lose weight, I’m pretty happy at 5’7″ and 130 lbs) and along the way I learned more about what is required to burn off pounds. I was just curious if someone could reach a very slender weight (like a 17 BMI or so) by taking a “get-healthy” approach too far – not by necessarily hard core restricting themselves (like under 1,000 calories and hours of exercise), just eating a little less than what is required to maintain your weight and burning a bit extra each day.
but I guess your body is smart enough to stop it from entering an overly thin zone on its own! 🙂
koootz says
can i come live with you for a week and you can make me delicious meals 3 times a day? I can’t wait until I graduate and can cook for myself. I find myself eating the weirdest food combinations at school like using marinara for salad dressing and mixing cottage cheese and yogurt and spreading it on graham crackers. I sound pregnant.
Leena says
From my experience, everyone tends to have a set weight. If you go too far under this weight, your body reacts by slowing your metabolism and giving you the urge to binge. When our bodies are food deprived on a constant basis, food becomes an obsession, which then forces us to eat more (though binging for example). Sure you could get thin by doing that, but your body could only take it for so long. Thats why many people binge on diets- it is their body responding to a chronic calorie debt. Of course it could be from other factors (like stress), but that is one of them anyways.
Susan says
Any bread freezing tips. I froze some english muffins in the freezer after placing them in their plastic package and then a freezer bag and they still got icy. Do you wrap your bread first in some other item? I know you like to freeze a lot.
Also, have you ever tried applegate? If so, how do they compare?
Teddy says
Good luck on your final 🙂
I usually stick with sweet potato fries b/c I’m already addicted to those, not sure my tummy could survive a new addictions lol jk- those sound great, i have some squash in the fridge now but I think I’ll make summer soup b/c I’ve been craving it…
see ya later
teddy
Kath says
Jules ,
I just wrapped them back into their own package and put that in a freezer-safe ziplock and pulled all the air out. I am NOT very good at freezing things – all of our stuff always gets freezer burned! But I found if you don’t put it on the door it’s better. They were frozen for a few weeks? Since whenever we had them last.
Thanks for the metabolism advice guys 🙂
Yaz,
I get them at EarthFare. I don’t think they’re very widespread because one of my EF’s has them and the other doesn’t. 🙁
Kath
Laura says
Jessie,
I’m a little late to the party here, but I love my Fit&Fresh stuff! I have the salad keeper, which is a little small, but it keeps the salad and dressing nice and cold. I also have the veggie and dip to-go container and use it almost every day. I’m on the road for my job all day and it’s great to have a healthy snack of veggies and hummus instead of heading to the drive thru!
Kelly L. says
Justy2003- I am totally with you on the hot dog thing. I used to love those FF Oscar Meyer Hotdogs until I started looking at what exactly was in them. YIKES! Now I eat the all natural un cured chicken hot dogs by Applegate Farms. You get them at Whole Foods. The ingredients are 100% Chicken. The same with bologna. Call me crazy but I love the stuff. So, now I eat the soy bologna but Yves. So good and it’s not crazy ingredients .
Brittany says
Yum! The Butternut squash fries look amazing. I have made sweet potato fries before but I’ve never tried butternut squash. I have roasted it in little squares though.. probably tastes pretty similar. I love it!!
Tara says
Jessie,
I really do NOT like the Fit and Fresh line. I have the cereal one…which seems good at first, but it’s really cheap plastic so the lid doesn’t close on the”milk container.” Also, the serving area is too small to add a decent amount of fruit. Apple slices wouldn’t even fit! There’s something about it limiting the number of VEGGIES and FRUITS I put in that is frustrating. I also have the sandwich container….which doesn’t work because once you put in the smaller compartment, it squishes the sandwich completely. I also have the smoothie one. Although that seems AWESOME in theory, I dropped it one day (only a 2 foot drop!) and it totally cracked. I would expect them to be more durable. So anyway, for a bulky plastic container, I found that it was cheap plastic and there was little room to fit my veggies. The options such as the veggie and dip tray might have a different thing….but the others are more of a pill. Packing my breakfast and lunch took MUCH longer because I was trying to SQUISH my veggies in there.
Not that I have an opinion on this or anything (-;
KimPossible says
Kath – Great blog! I get so many ideas from you! Can you post the recipe for the Kale chips? I searched your site and can’t seem to find it. Thx!
Tara says
Here’s the recipe:Rough Recipe:
* Preheat oven to about 375*
* Use about 1 OXO salad spinner’s worth of kale (which was a stuffed grocery store veggie bag). Trim off stems and cut into bite size pieces. Spread out on cookie sheets.
* Drizzle with about 2 tsp of olive oil
* Sprinkle with Parmesan, Asiago or your seasonings of choice.
* Bake for about 15 minutes, until edges are brown and kale is crispy when moved in pan.
If you ever are looking for a recipe, there is a search engine in the top right of her blog that works like a charm! I use it all the time!
Kath says
KimPossible ,
Cute name! The recipe is on the right sidebar in the long list of recipes. And here’s a link:
https://www.katheats.com/?page_id=2544
Enjoy!
Kath
KimPossible says
thanks for the recipe guys!! I’m going to try them this weekend!
BTW – On the name, my husband calls me “KimPatient” which is really a comment on my total LACK of patience!
MizFit says
ok. I have to ask.
DO YOU REALLY MAKE THAT STUFF YOURSELF?
my food is such an aesthetic mess!
Im quite impressed,
M.