What I Ate Today

If you’ve ever been to a weight loss meeting or been to any message board everybody wants to know what to eat and what to make because the same three diet foods sure get boring in a hurry.

And then you fall off the wagon.

And then you stay fat.

So let’s have some tasty food, still stick to our diets, and lose weight so we can all wear our skinny jeans and look good in our swimsuits!

Well, I’m a busy person and don’t have time to make fancy, elaborate recipes all the time, so I thought you’d enjoy riding along with me for the day and I’ll show you (in pictures taken on my trusty Droid) what I ate and if I made it myself, I’ll even give you the recipe so you can try it yourself

Banana

Started the day off with a banana and had a delicious non-fat mocha latte sans the whipped cream (hello caffeine, my dear friend!) mid-morning. Yes, it’s kind of a cop-out that all you get to see is a picture of the cup. That’s because, being the airhead that I sometimes am, I forgot it was “taking pictures of everything I ate day” and guzzled the whole thing and was about to toss the cup in the garbage can before I remembered to haul out my phone and snap a picture. That’s why it’s a picture of the cup plunked on top on my vehicle rather than the delicious latte itself.

Latte From Local Coffee Shop

Bowl of Soup

Lunchtime was a bowl of homemade chicken with rice soup that I made on the weekend (scroll to the bottom of the article for the recipe) and a container of super scrumptious fresh raspberries with a little bit of lightened up homemade fruit dip (easy-peasy dip to make–recipe at end of article).

Raspberries and Fruit Dip - YUM!!!

In the afternoon I grabbed a bag of sugar snap peas, ate them raw straight from the bag, and was sad when the bag was empty.

I LOVE Sugar Snap Peas!

Dinner/supper was a quick stop at my favorite Chinese restaurant on my way to swimming with my friend and her Mom at the awesome indoor pool at her Mom’s apartment complex (the three of us have dinner together once a week and then hit the pool 30 minutes later).

Real "American" Chinese Food

Yeah, I’ve become well aware of how the food in the American/Chinese restaurants is light years away from people in China actually eat every day and how a single entrée can contain more calories, fat, and sodium than a person should have in an entire day!

Keeping in mind that I didn’t want to have to swim for 5 hours to work off my meal, I ordered 2 entrees for us to share; sweet/sour chicken that my friend’s Mom requested, and chicken with broccoli. My plate, as you can see, contained rice and some of the chicken with broccoli. I managed to avoid the deep fried sweet sour chicken.

The portions the restaurant gave seem to get more gigantic every time! We had enough leftovers for my friend’s and her husband’s lunch the next day, her Mom’s lunch the next day, and lunch for myself and my husband the next day. That was 8 meals from 2 Chinese restaurant entrees and nobody got skimpy portions!

I did okay until I plunked down in front of the television after getting home. Then the munchies hit and all I could think about was the bag of homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies my friend’s Mom had made and sent home with me. When I couldn’t resist the siren call of the cookies any longer, I ate one and then brushed my teeth and went to bed to keep myself from heading back into the kitchen, polishing off the rest of the bag and licking the crumbs off the counter.

Tempted By The Fruit Of A Cookie

Oops – almost forgot the rest of my beverages for the day. It was nothing too exciting – 4 bottles of water; one with a raspberry flavored mix-in.

Gotta Stay Hydrated

CREAM OF CHICKEN AND WILD RICE SOUP RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 3 T butter
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 4 large carrots, sliced
• ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon flour
• 7 cups chicken stock
• 1 chicken bouillon cube or 1 tsp granules
• ½ to ¾ teaspoon sea salt
• Fresh ground black pepper to taste
• ½ teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 3 sprigs fresh flat leaf parsley
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 fresh bay leaves
• ½ cup whipping cream or half and half
• 2 cups cooked chicken, diced or shredded
• 2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
• 2 cups cooked wild rice

Melt butter in large pot over medium heat. Add onion, celery and carrots. Cook over medium heat for 5-10 minutes, until vegetables have softened.

Add flour. Cook and stir constantly for about 2 minutes so the soup doesn’t have a raw flour taste.

Whisk in chicken stock. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Add chicken bouillon, salt, pepper, and chopped thyme leaves.

Tie parsley sprigs, thyme sprigs, and bag leaves together with a piece of kitchen twine. Lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Remove herb bundle. Stir in heavy cream, chicken, rice, and chopped parsley. Simmer for 5-10 minutes or until chicken is heated through.

FRUIT DIP RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 1 jar marshmallow crème (7 ounce jar)
• 1 eight ounce package, reduced fat cream cheese, softened
• 2 teaspoons grenadine (turns the dip a pretty pink color and adds a touch of sweetness)

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together. Chill. Serve with fresh fruit.

Note: Look for grenadine in liquor section of your store in the non-alcoholic “mixer” section.