Recap Photos!

Here’s a recap of Tuesday’s dinner and Wednesday’s breakfast. I’ve got my camera again………still working on getting the computer internet working. Husband spend 5+ hours on the phone yesterday and still no solution. We are re-installing Windows this morning with our fingers crossed. My IT guy at work said that is the problem – you can’t get a new motherboard/processor and not re-install Windows. I hope I can go home to a working computer – and put together living room – tonight!

Tuesday’s Dinner: Robin Miller’s Wild Mushroom Soup

Wild Mushroom Soup

1 tablespoon butter, plus 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 pound assorted wild mushrooms (chanterelle, oyster, shiitake, crimini, portobello, etc.), stemmed and sliced
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced or 2 teaspoons jarred, minced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
6 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 cup dry white wine
1/2 chopped fresh parsley leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup lowfat milk
1 cup andouille sausage
1 cup chopped arugula
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Melt butter in a large stock pot over medium heat. Add mushrooms, onion and garlic and cook 5 minutes. Add thyme and cook 1 minute. Add chicken broth and wine and bring to a simmer, about 1 minute. Simmer 5 minutes.

Remove soup from the heat and, using an immersion or stand blender, puree until smooth. Return the soup to low heat, add milk and andouille sausage and simmer 1 minute to heat through.

We halved the recipe, used ham instead of sausage (although I didn’t have any) and added in 1/2 a cup of lentils. We also added red pepper flakes. It was delicious!!!! The walnuts, which I added on a whim, really made the recipe.

Had a side of leftover cornbread:

And here’s my Fall set-up complete with Banana Brulee candle and mini pumpkin!

Wednesday’s Breakfast: Banana Oatmeal

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/2 cup skim
• 1/2 cup water
• 4 oz banana
• 10 grams toasted sliced almonds
• 7 grams maple syrup
• Cinnamon + Nutmeg + Vanilla extract

YUM!! And it held me until 11ish.

Plus coffee – amaretto and French vanilla!

Wednesday Dinner: Just Fresh Event

So dinner last night was supposed to be olive tapenade chicken with spinach and rice. I went to an opening for a new Just Fresh restaurant for work (it’s a new concept that has an AMAZING healthy menu with things like salmon, turkey burgers, and sweet potato fries). Kind of a cross between Panera and a nice restaurant. They had all these delicious looking appetizers to try, plus wine and beer, so I decided to call that dinner. I had roughly 700 calories left to LOSE weight, so I had some of everything – THREE TIMES!! Everything I ate was mostly healthy:

• Sesame salad with salmon and soy nuts (3 servings = 1/3 a cocktail plate each)
• Artichoke dip with whole wheat crackers (2 large cracker sheets, 1/3 cup dip)
• Pimento cheese on cranberry bread (2 mini sandwiches)
• Shrimp and grits (2 shrimp, 2 tbsp grits)
• Seared tuna with wasabi hummus on rice crackers (2)
• Steak on a crostini with a blue cheese schmear (1)

I think I did pretty well having VERY small portions. But I did have 3 little plates. I had too much artichoke dip and 1 glass of wine, that I could have done without. But I ate a lot of salad. I estimated that I had about 800 calories total when I got home. Thank goodness there was no dessert! All in all, I did OK, but in a way I wish I’d had the dinner I was looking forward to all along instead!