I'm Not a Gourmet Cook, But I Try: Salsa Chicken Lunch Wrap

I didn't take a picture of this, but I thought it turned out well, so I'm documenting it here for future tries.

So, lunch time today. Didn't want to do the normal turkey sandwich or anything. Two days ago, I grilled up some chicken that needed to be used, so it's been sitting in the fridge without any use. Ok, so let's go with that. I love wraps, tortillas are just awesome to me. So, chicken wrap. I also love tomatoes, so I diced up a good sized slice to top the chicken with. While doing the tomato, I thought...hmmm, Salsa Chicken, that sounds like a good idea. And to top it off, let's make it a nice lunch wrap with some lettuce, cheese, and mayo. Unfortunately, I realized then that when I got lettuce on Sunday, I had never put it in the fridge. It was hiding in a bag of dry stuff I had never put away. ICK! So no lettuce, but the rest worked. So, here it is....

Salsa Chicken Lunch Wrap

4 oz grilled chicken breast
1 burrito sized flour tortilla
1 large slice of tomato
1/2 cup of shredded lettuce
1 slice of Alpine Lace 25% Provolone Cheese
1 tbsp Kraft Olive Oil Mayo
2 tbsp salsa

1. Cut up the chicken breast into small cubes
2. Put tortilla in the microwave, with chicken arranged on top of the tortilla in the center, and the cheese on top of the chicken
3. Heat for 20-25 seconds
4. Dice the tomato slice into small chunks and put on top of chicken and cheese. Sprinkle lettuce on top of the tomatoes
5. Spread mayo and salsa on top of the pile
6. Roll the tortilla up like a burrito

Per 1 wrap

455 calories
15 g fat
41 carbs
39 g protein

Notes

• After looking over the ingredients I used, realized if I'd only had some hot peppers around, I could've turned this into a Chicken Cheesesteak Wrap, for about the same nutritional value.


• I had to throw this together a bit since Darcy was playing on the floor. In hindsight, might be better to mix up the salsa and mayo together, and spread that on the tortilla before putting the chicken and cheese on.

Dieting Challenge: Red Robin

Something I'm realizing as I'm in month 4 of my diet...you know what, let's stop right there. Diet implies that this is temporary. I know that this way of eating will need to stay with me for life. Maybe not as restrictive, but the choices need to remain the same if I want to keep the weight off. So, let's call this month 4 of my new eating ways. Anyway, something I'm realizing more and more is that I can't always research the exact nutrition in a place we're going to eat out prior to the meal. That adds probably about 15-20 minutes to the wait before getting to the place to eat. And with 2 kids, waiting 15 minutes means waiting like 30-40 because then Darcy would want to eat, or Noah would start throwing a fit. So, I'm realizing I need to be able to figure these things out on the fly.

So due to Shannon's treatment today, we both ended up skipping lunch. It ended right in the middle of lunch, so instead of running out and getting something which we'd have to rush to eat before end of treatment, or instead of running and grabbing something after, we just skipped. Not to mention, breakfast was pretty minimal too, due to the time we get there. So, all I'd had to eat today was a Special K Protein Bar in the morning. Lots of calories, carbs, and fat needing to be used. But, since this was a rare case, the challenge will be modified a bit...

The challenge: Find a meal at RR for 800 calories or less, 25 grams of fat or less.

The choice: So, let's start with some eliminations...
1. Beef. Beef is great, it really is. But unless you KNOW you're getting 93/7 or 96/4 ground beef, avoid getting it. High in fat, and processed.
2. Ask for no mayo. This stings a bit, because I love mayo on sandwiches. But rarely do restaurants use light or healthy mayo.

So, with those in mind, RR has a HUGE chicken sandwich menu. The one I targeted for this occasion was the Whiskey River BBQ Chicken Sandwich. Asked for no mayo, left on cheese. Ate the fries as well, but if it was a "normal" day, I would've subbed a side salad with a low-fat dressing for the fries, no croutons.

The result:
Let's start with the side -
Side salad w/o dressing is 85 calories, 5 g fat. Dressings listed on the website are all high in fat, but I'd be suprised if they had no low-fat/low-cal options. So let's round up to 150 calories, 9 g fat.

Sandwich-
734 calories, 27 g fat. Huh. I thought removing the mayo would be enough, but RR puts TWO slices of cheese on their sandwiches by default. Also, the onion straws add 122 calories and 6 g fat.

So, assuming those two, our meal would be 884 calories, 32 g fat. So this challenge is a FAIL.

Ways I could've done it:
1. Sticking w/ sandwich, take the cheese down to 1 slice of cheddar and remove onion straws. This takes the sandwich down to 527 calories, 14 g fat. That's 200 calories and 13 g fat lower, which would easily put us inside of our ranges. Or, removing cheese and mayo, but leaving onion straws...559 calories, 13 g fat.
2. Don't eat a side. I've done this before with fast food. Just get the sandwich and leave the sides. It's a tradeoff, you get a full flavor sandwich but you may find yourself hungry still.
3. Healthier sandwich: Simply Grilled Chicken Sandwich, starts at 420 calories, 8 g fat. Doing this sandwich, you can add on fries to get 854 calories, 26 g fat. Not great, but close enough to be decent. And if you sub a healthier side...

Twelve Years of Rust: I've Finally Reached the OVER-DIET Problem

I'm pretty certain this is the furthest I've gone on any diet. Four months in, and still doing it. I think it's a nice thing to look at a typical meal plan in my old ways and a meal plan today and notice the huge difference...I've figured out what things are heavy in fat and calories so I should avoid, what things are good for me (Pretzel Sticks are the best snack food. 28 pretzel sticks are 110 calories, 2 grams fat. Lots of carbs too).

But I'm noticing that I've finally gotten TOO far on the diet. I'm having trouble eating up to 40 grams of fat a day now. It's easy to see the problem if you look in my fridge. Fat Free might as well be on the outside of the fridge. I've got fat free mayo, fat free shredded cheese, fat free meats, fat free bread, fat free yogurt, fat free ice cream. Cutting out fats is a good thing, but I'm cutting out so much, it's actually getting bad on my nutrition. This was reflected in my bloodwork. I'm really low on HDL Cholesterol. The tips to raise this level are exercise, diet, give up smoking and drinking, and add in more oils, peanut butter, etc to your foods. Except the last one, I've already done all those. And if I add in those oils/peanut butter, my fat jumps WAY up and then I struggle to stay under my daily limit.

So, here's my plan of action. Now, the doctor didn't mention HDL to me at all. I'm thinking he knew I was exercising and dieting, so he ignored it for now. But I would bet that number won't come up much with more diet and exercise. So, for one thing, I started taking a multi-vitamin. Niacin is known to help raise HDL, although I'm taking it in a small dose in the multi-vitamin. My dad mentioned someone he knew went on heavy dose of Niacin and got hives all over, so let's stick to the multi vitamin for now. I'm also SLOWLY adding the reduced fat things back into the diet over fat free. Tonight, I used just 93/7 turkey instead of 99/1. I'm also trying to add in real eggs when I make egg beaters for breakfast. We're getting "farm fresh" eggs from my in-laws now (Thank you btw, they are delicious!), and I know eggs have good fat in them, so if I add one and then use 2 egg beaters, that adds in some fat while not going crazy.

I just find it funny/somewhat proud that i've done so well, I've now got to ADD fat into my diet. Like tonight, eating a cup of pudding after dinner because I was under on all my totals. Oh woe is me, I have to eat some awesome pudding. :)

I'm Not a Gourmet Cook, But I Try...: Pan-Fried Fish, Mashed Potatoes, and Grilled Veggies

I usually blog about a particular dish I make, but since the fish and the veggies were both a bit of "advanced" cooking, and the mashed potatoes are great for my diet, I decided to do a whole meal.

So a good way to get in protein and healthy fats is fish. I love seafood. Granted, I usually love it when I can't cook it (Steamed Crabs, Grilled Shrimp although I'm sure I could do that, Crab Cakes, etc), but it's great. Brain food. We try to cook fish now and again, and more than just fish sticks, which are easy, but incredibly unhealthy. Pan frying is the easiest way I know how to do it. I know I could broil, or grill, or straight up fry it, but I haven't done those yet and I don't feel like screwing around, so I just stick with pan frying.

You can do fish with a lot of good sides, but recently, we'd done pan fried catfish with mashed potatoes and fried squash. That was yummy, so I stuck with those sides. Mashed potatoes, and GRILLED squash. Added in mushrooms too.

So, without further ado. A full meal for fish consumption.





Pan Fried Fish with Mashed Potatoes and Roasted Squash and Mushrooms

1 lb of fish fillets, divided up into 4 equal sections
2 cups white cornmeal
salt, pepper, old bay, Cajun seasoning (No specific amounts needed, just enough to season to your taste)
1 cup egg whites
1/4 cup water

2 medium to large summer squash
1 package sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
seasoning salt (We used Tastefully Simple, you can use whatever you want)

1 package Idahoan mashed potatoes
2 cups water


Pan Fried Fish
1. In a bowl, combine egg whites and water
2. In a seperate bowl, put cornmeal in. Add seasonings and stir to your liking. You should put enough in that you can start to see some particles in the cornmeal when well mixed
3. For each fish filet/piece, dip in egg white bowl several times, then transfer to cornmeal bowl and coat well with cornmeal mixture, so that entire filet/piece is covered. Repeat for all fish
4. Spray a large skillet with cooking spray, place on medium-low heat, and arrange fish inside.
5. Turn fish every few minutes until both sides are crispy and browned

Roasted Squash and Mushrooms
1. Cut squash into slices and open package of mushrooms
2. Pre-heat grill on Medium-Low heat for 3 minutes
3. Sprinkle seasoning salt on one side of veggies and place this side face up on the grill
4. Baste all vegetables on tops with extra virgin olive oil
5. Heat for a few minutes, then turn all veggies
6. Sprinkle with more seasoning salt, then baste with more extra virgin olive oil
7. Turn as needed until vegetables are softened and at desired char levels

Mashed Potatoes
1. Boil 2 cups of water
2. Remove from heat and add whole package of Idahoan Mashed Potatoes
3. Stir flaked until all are moistened
4. Let stand for 1 minute, then stir with a fork to fluff potatoes


Per 4 oz fish, 1/2 cup Mashed Potatoes, 1 cup of mushrooms and squash

490 Calories
20 grams fat (14 g comes from the estimated 1 tbsp of ev olive oil that is in the vegetables)
49 carbs
31 grams protein


Notes

• For the fish, your discretion on which kind. We like catfish because it's naturally tastier, but Giant was all out when we did our shopping. I went with Tilapia, which is low fat, but still had some. The hard part with those lower fat fish are they are naturally bland, so you need to find some way to spice/season them up.


• A good way to add some flavor to the blander fish is to spoon 1 tbsp of salsa on top of the fish when serving


• Idahoan Mashed Potatoes rock. 1/2 cup is 110 calories, 2 grams of fat. And they make flavored, like Roasted Garlic, Four Cheese, etc


• 2 summer squash and 1 package of mushrooms made enough to feed 3 people. I would reccomend going with more if you can

I'm Not a Gourmet Cook, But I Try...: Spinach Lasanga Rolls

This post should've gone up over a week ago, but I got lazy. These things got some pretty high marks from Shannon, my Father-In-Law (a former chef, so that's saying something!), and my parents. Plus, Noah ripped through them too.


So, this comes via another blog, which I'll steal the picture from and give credit for the idea: http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2011/04/spinach-lasagna-rolls.html. I did not deviate too much from the original recipe, just made sure to go fat free on whatever cheeses I could. Prep time on this takes a little while, since you need to boil the lasagna noodles, then DRY them before use. Can't use no-bake, HAS to be the full on boil noodles. It also took time for me to thaw out the spinach, but that was due to poor planning, not always going to be the case.

Spinach Lasagna Rolls

10 oz Chopped Spinach (If you use frozen, make sure it is thawed and drained before use. You DO NOT need to cook it before hand)
15 oz Fat Free Ricotta Cheese
.5 cup Grated Parmesean Cheese
1 egg
28 oz Pasta Sauce
0.5 cup Fat Free Shredded Mozzerella Cheese
9 Lasanga Noodles, the boil kind, Boiled and DRIED
Seasonings as desired for spinach/cheese mixture (The recipe called for oregano and italian seasonings, but I forgot about it until it was too late)

1. Boil 9 lasanga noodles until they are nice and soft. Drain them, then lay them out somewhere they can dry.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine spinach, ricotta cheese, parmesean cheese, egg, and any seasonings you like for the mixture (I only used salt and pepper, in hindsight I would've added oregano, thyme, maybe some garlic powder or garlic salt) and mix until they are nice and mixed
3. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
4. Make sure noodles are dry, then on a sheet of wax paper, lay out a noodle. Spread about 1/3 of the ricotta/spinach mixture on the noodle, then gently roll it up and place it seam down in a glass baking pan. Repeat this for each lasanga noodle
5. Pour the pasta sauce on top of the rolls so they are well covered
6. Sprinkle the mozzerella cheese on top of each roll so each has a small pile on top of it
7. Bake for 40 minutes

Per each roll:

218 calories
4 grams fat
31 carbs
14 grams protein

Notes:

• I wasn't thinking when I made this and made no vegetable alongside it. After two rolls, no one seemed to care.



• I had this for lunch at work 3 days later. Still tasted awesome

Twelve Years of Rust: 1st Checkpoint

So one of the hallmarks of the Spark Diet is setting goals for yourself. I suppose most weight loss programs do this, but Spark wants to get more general than weight goals, they like covering fitness, lifestyle, etc. Now, I'm doing Sparkdiet, but I'm not crazily into all the site, it's not bad stuff, but some of it is overkill to me. But I do like the goals idea, because instead of focusing on "I have to lose 100 pounds in a year" and looking at progress against the big number, you can chunk it up.

So originally, when I was dropping nearly 3 pounds a week, I'd targeted 225 by July 1st. But my weight loss settled out and I adjusted it to August 1st. In the week leading up, the scale continued to read 228. I knew I was still making progress, because I'd done good on my ranges, I've kept up my exercise, and the 228 number was more common on random weigh ins. My weigh in number changes from hour to hour, so I generally average them out to figure out my real weight, since so many little things can bump you up a pound or two here or there. So when I weighed in today, I was expecting to not hit my goal.

224.4

Yup, I got it. CHECKPOINT CLEARED! I'm going to celebrate with a Lean Pocket Turkey Sausage, Egg, and Cheese (Still good on my diet) and focus on my next checkpoints. I'm on track to be the lightest I've been since college in just a few weeks time.


8/1/2011 - 225 POUNDS - ACHIEVED
11/1/2011 - 200 POUNDS
11/5/2011 - D.C. Undy 5K
2/1/2012 - 175 POUNDS
4/1/2012 - 160 POUNDS
5/19-20-2012 - Warrior Dash MD

I'm Not a Gourmet Cook, But I Try... - Broccoli Chicken Cheese Braid

So, I'll confess, I got the original recipe/idea from this blog which Shannon found on pinterest, but I did it tonight with my own twists and used the Spark Recipe calculator to figure out the damage. This was one of the few broccoli recipes I liked when I was still living with my parents, and this was a kind've unique twist on it, so we gave it a try. It was "billed" as a quick recipe to make if you're running late from work, but the prep time for me was about 15 minutes, then about 30 minutes to bake, so it's still a bit of a hassle if you're running low on time, but it works well.


Broccoli Chicken Cheese Braid

1 3/4 cups of Perdue Short Cuts Carved Chicken Breast (any style)
1 3/4 cups of Kraft Natural Cheese Fat Free Cheddar Shredded Cheese
1 3/4 cups of cooked, chopped broccoli
1/2 cup of Kraft Olive Oil Mayonaisse
12 Reduced Fat Crescent Rolls (Dough, not cooked...The ones I got from Giant were 8 per container, so I used 1.5. Pillsbury might be 6 per container so if so, get those to avoid waste)
1/4 cup Egg Substitute
Rosemary

1. Steam the broccoli
2. While the broccoli is cooking, cut up the chicken into bite sized pieces
3. While the broccoli is cooking, combine the chicken, cheese, and mayonaisse in a mixing bowl
4. While the broccoli is still cooking, preheat oven to 375 degrees
5. On a paper lined cookie sheet, unroll all the dough rolls to form a large rectangle. Press or roll the edges together so it forms one continuous layer.
6. Chop up the cooked broccoli into fine pieces and add into the mixing bowl. Stir the mixture up well
7. Pour the mixture onto the dough sheet, forming a "log" in the center of the dough
8. Along the long dimension of the dough sheet, on the sides of the "log", cut the dough in strips 1 inch wide
9. Pull each strip up and cover the log, alternating sides of the log to form a braid
10. Brush the top of the braid with the egg substitute
11. Sprinkle rosemary on top
12. Bake for 30 minutes

Serves 5 2-inch wide slices

439 calories
17.5 g fat
39.5 g carbs
31 g protein

Notes:
-Ok, so this recipe is kind've high in fat, even with the olive oil mayo, the fat free cheddar cheese, and the reduced fat crescent rolls. But, for how tasty it is, that's pretty worth it. And 17.5 g is only 27% of the reccomended fat intake for a 2000 calorie diet, so that's not too bad
- I wonder if you can prepare the braid ahead of time, which would halve the time needed to make it.
- One way to speed up the recipe would be buying chopped frozen broccoli, so no chopping is needed. I only had broccoli florets here, so I had no other option

Twelve Years of Rust: Not Just a Diet, but a Lifestyle

I don't think I've used the term in this blog, but that's what I'm calling this recent kick I've been on....Twelve Years of Rust. Twelve years ago, I was 16, at a decent enough weight that my senior pictures looked good, actually able to FULLY run a mile without stopping to walk. The years after that have been a gradual relaxation of all health sense. Yes, in that time I did WW twice, I did Spark once, I even took a running/jogging class. But every time, I just did it for a bit and let it go. Not realizing where I'd end up. I started off losing weight at 260 pounds, and I'm down enough that people are noticing, and I like that. I'm around 228 now, which isn't even halfway to my goal weight of 160, but it's the lightest I've been in probably 5 years.

But, what this entry here is about, is not just the weight loss. Because, just losing the weight really isn't enough. I've done diets before, I've lost weight before. With Shannon's cancer battle going on, I've realized I need to get EVERYTHING about my health back on track. It's really scary when I can't recall the last time I saw a doctor. I mean, I know the WEIGHT I was at (190, wow :-/) and I know it was during college, but before senior year, so we're talking at least 6-7 years ago. But in any case, that's 6-7 years of no checking blood pressure, cholesterol, and other general health things I'm sure I need to be watching for. I'm glad to say at 2pm tomorrow, that will be remedied. I'm going for my first doctor visit with Dr. Ruzbarsky. I'm a little nervous but a little excited. Because I like telling people I'm losing weight. It makes me feel accomplished. I'm sure he'll talk about what I need to lose still, and I'll need blood work, but I know a lot of things are already improved. My blood pressure for instance, was 164 on the systolic when I had pneumonia this year. Now I'm sure pneumonia was part of that, but 164 is almost stage 2 hypertension. Now, I'm down to the 120s. Still a bit high, but way closer to normal.

Another big piece of this is the exercise. I didn't do that any of the other times. I'm actually getting excited to run and try races and think down the road. I'm already planning the 5K in November and the Warrior Dash in 2012. Once that's done and I can really hit the ground with running, I'm torn on whether to go for 10K/Half-Marathons, or maybe start trying to train for a Triathlon. I know Ironman is out...EVER! And I don't really want to do the Tough Mudder...EVER! But apart from those two, I want to try these fun crazy runs like "Run For Your Lives" Zombie 5K. I loved when I went to do my 5 min run on Monday and despite thinking I was never going to make it, I pushed through and did it. Goal setting, goal smashing.

I'm Not a Gourmet Cook, But I Try... - Cheesy Sausage and Eggs, The Lean Way

Starting to fall behind on my posting goal, but two of the things I really enjoy lately are cooking and getting healthy. More on the getting healthy in a later post, but I want to start putting up some good diet recipes which I find helps me stay in my diet goals while not eating "health foods". Basically, a way to get some good comfort food while not busting your gut.


I love breakfast. Eggs are awesome, Sausage is f-in awesome, and Cheese is always gold. Combine the 3, and you have one glorious pile...of fat! 2 oz of Jimmy Dean Sausage is 22 grams of fat. Cheese is 8 grams of fat for 1/4 cup, and eggs, while they are nutritious... 4.5 grams of fat PER EGG. So, if you wanted to make some scrambled eggs, let's say 3 eggs, with cheese and 2 oz of sausage... almost 44 grams of fat. In one meal. No sir! And calories? 520 for 3 eggs, 1/4 cup of cheese, and 2 oz of sausage. So on a diet, I guess you can't eat this right?


Cheesy Eggs and Sausage, the Lean Way



1/2 cup of egg beaters, yellow
1/4 cup of egg beaters, whites
2/3 cup of Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage Crumbles
1/4 cup of 2% Shredded Mexican Cheese
2 tbsp of 2% Milk (Just to fluff the eggs a bit, this is optional)

1. Put a skillet on the stove with cooking spray on low-medium heat (3 or 4 out of 10)
2. Mix the egg beaters and milk in a cup
3. Once your skillet is heated, pour the egg and milk mixture in the skillet
4. Allow it to cook untouched until you can see bubbles forming where the bottom is cooked
5. Pour in the turkey sausage crumbles and wait 2 minutes
6. Start scrambling it all up, continue cooking until all liquid is gone and the mixture is good and cooked
7. In a bowl, put 1/8 cup of cheese on the bottom
8. Once the eggs and sausage are finished cooking, spoon it into the bowl, then add 1/8 cup of cheese on top
9. Allow to sit for a minute or two, then stir so that the cheese is mixed well into the sausage and eggs
10. Go to town!

265 calories
10 grams of fat
36 grams of protein
5 carbs

For my diet, the only problem here is the lack of carbs, as I need to eat about 220 a day. But eating some toast with this would help that out, and if I use my *plug* Giant Lite Italian Bread, 50 calories per slice, 0.5 grams of fat, 12 carbs per slice...That brings our meal totals to 365 calories, 11 grams of fat, 29 carbs, 42 grams of protein.

Notes:
*Eggs aren't a bad thing to cut out, so feel free to take out the egg substitute and use real eggs, just remember that if you are counting grams of fat, that's 15 grams of fat compared to 0 in egg beaters.
*You can use fat free shredded cheese, which I found at Giant, but the last time I tried that, it tasted weird to me
*Turkey Sausage Crumbles are awesome. Sometimes, I just eat those alone to help get in some protein at breakfast. To me, the taste difference between beef/pork and turkey is minimal.