Splendid Saturday + Comfort Food Dinner

Had a great day and managed to stay within my calories with only walking!

Got up before the sun and did some reading in bed. Husband always BEGS me to read in bed on Saturdays and not desert him to my computer, so I thought he’d be pleased. But the second I turned on the lamp he was grumpily muttering “What the heck are you doing getting up so early on a Saturday turn off that light!” So of course I was like “I’m reading in bed like you always want!” and I made him put on a sleeping mask. Silly guy!

Breakfast:

I was amazed at how quickly I got hungry. I’m one of those who is starving most mornings and I HAVE to eat a little something before I can function. After about 30 minutes of reading I went down for coffee and oatmeal:

Breakfast calories: 400

I don’t know if I’ll ever go back to other breakfasts!! Cooking the oats on the stove top with half milk half water makes them soooooo creamy. And the toasted almonds are just divine and add the perfect texture. What a PERFECT 400 calorie breakfast!! (That is including a nice sized fruit like pear, apple or banana).

After husband joined me and we pittered around watching the Food Network, we argued over the meal plan for the week and then made our way to the Charlotte Farmer’s Market. I am NOT a fan of this market. It’s in a pretty inconvenient location and doesn’t have that organic glow that you hope to find. We bought some of the things we needed (butternut squash, mustard greens, bell pepper only to find out that we weren’t even in the “local” section and that the people we were buying from most likely drive to a warehouse in South Carolina once a week, buy a bunch of stuff wholesale, put it in crates, and sell it on the weekends, which means it sits out all week. Uggggg!!! We obviously couldn’t return our stuff, but I’m glad we were informed by a nice woman (I asked how much was local).

We did buy some freshly made LOCAL goat’s cheese and a loaf of homemade multigrain bread that I was disappointed in. We tasted the whole wheat, which was delicious, but husband wanted the “nuttier” one so we got it instead without tasting first. It’s fine, don’t get me wrong, but it’s just not nearly as nice of a texture and flavor as the whole wheat.

At the Farmer’s Market I sampled:

• 4 wheat thins dipped in cream cheese/hot pepper jelly type dips
• About an 3/4 an oz of bread samples
• A tbsp’s worth of cheese spread
• 3 small tortilla chip pieces in salsa
• A piece of cheesecake the size of a dice

Wish I hadn’t had the samples, but I did tide my hunger over for a 2pm lunch, so it was OK as a snack. I tried to log all of this as best I could and it came in around 225 calories. Eeeks!

We then crossed town to go to Trader Joe’s for salmon patties and nuts, and a few other things.

Lunch:

At 2p.m. I made a delicious salad with our newly purchased goods:

• Homemade lemon-tahini dressing (8 grams tahini, 1/2 a lemon’s juice, 1 tsp brown mustard, 3 grams honey)
• 1.5 cups of salad greens
• Char-grilled bell pepper, zucchini and squash (got the husband to grill them for me!)
• 1/2 cup leftover red lentils
• 20 grams fresh goat’s cheese
• 20 grams pomegranate seeds

And I had a side of our new bread with a little Smart Balance:

Lunch calories: 380

I really wanted to make a sandwich, but I just started making vegetables by default so it turned into a salad instead. Probably a good choice!

Cooking:

Throughout the afternoon we cooked, as we are always working on the next meal! Husband simmered a huge pot of stock with all his leftover frozen poultry items and vegetables, which he added after this photo was taken. It’s the leftovers of turkey, chicken and Cornish hen. Ewww!

And you have GOT to see these giant garlic cloves he bought. This is a normal sized orange – look how big they are in comparison!

Snacks:

This afternoon I nibbled on 3 pretzel nuggets and 1 pita chip! Photo for accountability:

Snack calories: 38

We also went for a 50-minute walk, which felt great.

Dinner:

For dinner we made the most amazing comfort food dish!!! First we baked a 2 lb butternut squash, 1/2 a pound of okra and 10 oz of mushrooms in a little olive oil:

We then topped the veggies over risotto, which we simmered and added homemade stock to for about 30-40 minutes. It was smooth and creamy – with no butter or added fat!

I added CINNAMON to my dinner – perfect spice!

And lastly, here’s my sainted husband weighing out the veggies on our food scale to get correct nutritional information and even portions <3

Total dinner calories: 430

Surprisingly, I never got that hungry for dinner. I did have some diet tonic and lime, so perhaps I was just full of liquid. However, I’m almost ALWAYS hungry after dinner. I have no idea why, because this mean should have filled me up for a long time. But I feel hunger returning now almost 2 hours later….

Total Saturday calories: ~1500.

-185 for our walk
-130 for 80 minutes strolling at farmer’s market and grocery store

=net 1161. Amazing!

I might have a small snack later….we’ll see.