FOOD!

I love food and I love to cook so watching what I eat is super tough for me. If I'm going to eat something, healthy or not, I want it to taste good! So, what am I eating?? Here is a list of what I normally eat. Of course it changes occasionally but this is typically it.


Breakfast:
Cereal w/ 1% milk & orange juice
1/2 egg & cheese sandwich & OJ
Coffee with my new International Delight Skinny Caramel Macchiato creamer. (click here to save $0.55 on any flavor creamer)

Lunch:
1/2 sandwich (ham/turkey/grilled cheese) & salad
Chicken Chunks w/ salad
Leftovers

Snacks:
Reduced Fat Cheez Its
Kellogg's Fiber Bars (WalMart brand fiber bars are also good too. I get which ever is cheaper)
Fruit
Carrots w/ light dressing
Light Popcorn

Like I said before, dinners are normal. I just watch my portion size and try to 'cut back' on the calories and fat. For instance, when I'm making anything that calls for 1 lb of ground beef, I only use half. This, of course, only works in things like soups and chili's and some casseroles. If ground beef is the main ingredients, as in meatloaf, this doesn't work! Not only does this save fat and calories, it saves money too! I don't buy reduced fat cheeses because we get WIC and it's not allowed. I do occasionally have to buy extra cheese when needed, but I buy what's on sale and it's usually not the reduced fat cheese. So, if you're in a situation like me where you're budget is tight just be careful with how much you use. I made baked ziti Monday night and only used 1/2 lb ground beef in the sauce and then for the cheese on top I only used 1/2 c Mozzarella and 2 T Parmesan. I also only used six cups of cooked noodles instead of the eight that the box makes. When I calculated the calories (out of curiosity), one serving equaled about 350 calories.


I haven't been 'counting calories'.. not exactly anyway. I am just kind of adding them up in my head as I go. I know this can get dangerous if you're not careful. But counting them exactly is just too bothersome for me. I try to get around 1800 calories a day, which along with exercise, will help me lose the weight at a good pace and not starve! I try to stick to 300 calorie breakfast 400-500 calorie lunch, 350 calorie snacks (2-3 a day) & 600-700 calorie dinners. It only takes a few weeks of learning about how many calories is in the foods that you normally eat to learn what you can eat and how much. Occasionally I'll go over to Spark People and enter in my daily food intake to see if I'm on track or I'll go to Spark Recipes to enter in a recipe and see how many calories are in a serving. That is what I used to figure out my baked ziti recipe. I've used SparkPeople in the past but I just don't have the time to enter everything, everyday. So now I just use my account to do things occasionally. It does have some good tools though and it's free.



This week I did buy one of the new DiGiorno 200 Calorie Pizza's. We had pizza night last week so I picked me up a package (each pack comes with 2-200 cal pizzas) when I picked up the guys their pizza. They were on sale so I thought I'd try one. I got the Chicken, Onion and Pepper and it was good... tiny, but good! I had it with a salad and I have another for lunch one day. I also picked up a Michelina's Lean Chicken Club Flatbread. They were on sale too (regular $1.22, got it for $1) even though they are pretty cheap anyway. I haven't tried it yet so I'm not sure how good it is. I use to get Lean Cuisines/Smart Ones a lot but our budget just doesn't allow for that. I figure that I can pick up a few frozen meals if I find them on sales for every once in a while.

Ok, I've rambled enough. I'll leave you with a few links of some recipes that I plan on trying on my next menu. They are all from Cooking Light on the myrecipes.com website.

Beef Stroganoff (crock pot)

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Southwestern Chicken and White Bean Soup

Sloppy Joes or Super Sloppy Joes