Swiftie

Hey y'all! I managed to lose half a pound when I weighed on Saturday despite my sketchy week.  I ate way too much this weekend so I'm working hard this week to make sure the payback isn't too severe when I weigh in this week.

I am almost out of groceries so I didn't really cook last week but I thought I'd share a couple things I threw together.  Inspired by the grilled cheese breakfast sandwich at Hardee's (which is delicious but around 640 calories for the sausage version and 480 for the bacon one).  I used spray Pam instead of butter and grilled up a sandwich with light bread, one piece of 45 calorie thinly sliced cheddar, one piece of 40 calorie thinly sliced baby Swiss, 1/4 cup part-skim mozzarella and a few tablespoons of egg substitute.  This sandwich was cheesy and delicious and only 245 calories.

I also brought the hash browns out this week and whipped up a skillet full of hash browns, broccoli and chicken strips.  I also added some Flavor God seasoning! The Everything Spicy is tasty and the perfect amount of kick. This filled my belly up, tasted delicious and was less than 300 calories! You really can't lose with the hash browns!

I posted some pictures below from the weekend that include food I ate, concert pictures and a picture of the stadium because we drove back and made it to the game in Tuscaloosa Saturday afternoon.  Bama has a HUGE, tough game coming up this weekend.  They are playing Georgia.  Roll Tide y'all! Also, thanks again to my Dad for dinner and T-Swift tickets...it was an amazing weekend!

Football Season is the Devil

I will jump right in today.  First, I will say that my weight stayed about the same as the week before.  I had two great weeks in a row then after the random 3 pound weight gain, I'm feeling all depressed again.  I ate too much this weekend but I'm back on today.  A lot of my clothes are tight and I can't seem to stay motivated.  It's hard because I am currently exercising in some capacity 7 days a week and other than a bit of a spiral yesterday, I'm doing my best to keep the food intake low.  At this point, I can barely maintain, let alone lose.  I know it's my fault and I'm trying not to beat myself up but that's usually the reaction I had.  I am lending partial blame to the heartbreaking loss Alabama had on Saturday.  I woke up Sunday wanting to drown my sorrows in food.

I don't have much today because I haven't been cooking the past week because I need to go grocery shopping.  I did want to share one of the snacks I got from Fresh Market that I forgot to mention.  These are sweet potato skinny sticks.  A couple things: 1) if you don't like sweet potatoes, you won't like these, 2) If you are sensitive to what some might call a "diet taste," you also won't like these.  Now that I've made them sound amazing, I will say that I like them as a quick snack, especially on a long day on campus.  I can grab them quickly because they are easy to count and stuff in a bag.  They've got a nice, salty taste and I usually eat about 13 for 70 calories.  I bought two bags because they were buy one get one free so it may take me awhile to get through them.  At some point, I'd like to try dipping them in some yogurt or something for a more sweet/salty vibe.

The other thing I wanted to do is remind you how much I love shredded hash browns.  I'd actually forgotten this myself but going through my old blogs one day, I noticed that I used to eat them all the time.  I know they aren't "clean" but you can have a cup of shredded hash browns for 70 calories and when you are looking to fill up your belly, it's nice to know that you can indulge with some potatoes with your breakfast without spending a lot of calories.  I either heat them up in a skillet or throw them on a pan under the broiler.  I use Pam so they won't stick and add salt and pepper.  This week, I mixed them with a ham steak and added two pieces of toast (sadly no butter), and some egg beaters and the whole breakfast was around 300 calories.  I don't usually spend that much on breakfast but I've been trying to get a few more carbs in my before heading out to game day so I won't feel hungry.  It was a delicious combination.  It felt like a "real" breakfast.

Hopefully Alabama will be able to relax and bounce back this week as they play La Monroe.  Roll Tide Always!

Also, Happy Early Birthday to my brother's girlfriend, Lisa!

Finally, Dad and I are going to see Taylor Swift on Friday night in Nashville and to say I'm excited would be a massive understatement! Can't wait! Thanks for the tickets Dad! Until next week y'all.

Carbless Casserole

Hi Everyone! Roll Tide! Tuscaloosa had its first game day of the season and it was a bit too much fun.  The bad news is that I gained 3 pounds last week and I have no idea why. I did eat my cheat meal the night before I weighed but 3 pounds seems like a hefty punishment, especially since I didn't stuff my face with my cheat meal like usual.  I even saved half for later.  I was perfect Monday-Saturday last week.  Yesterday, I wouldn't say I was perfect but I helped Ian's mom move for hours and burned about a million calories so I would say I was pushing perfect the whole week.  I have been working so hard and eating right so that 3 pounds was a disappointment but I didn't spiral like normal.  I took it in stride, even making it through game day without cheating.  I'd say that's progress.  I'm going to work hard again this week and hopefully the numbers will be nicer this time.

This week I made creamy taco soup.  I've made taco soup before but this version had cream cheese and half and half in it.  It added calories but made for a nice touch.  I also used ground chicken instead of beef.  I totally forgot to take a picture but wanted to post it anyway so found a random pic on the internet that looked similar.  Ian really enjoyed it and added Fritos.  Next time I will probably leave the creamy factors out just to save calories but a heaping cup of the creamy taco soup was about 200 calories and it was delicious.

I also made broccoli ham casserole.  This couldn't have been easier and it was pretty tasty.  All I did was take chopped ham, broccoli, a bit of low fat mozzarella and throw it in a casserole dish.  I covered it all in egg beaters and baked it.  It was essentially a crustless quiche.  I threw on some of Flavor God's Everything seasoning and the Himalayan Pink Salt.  I served it with a side of hash browns (which are only 70 calories for a whole cup) that I topped with my Thai Peanut sauce.  It was delicious! I have to say making both the taco soup and casserole this week came in handy because I had a ready made lunch and dinner for school on Tuesday and Thursday saving me time and money!

Since I was trying my best to be good on game day, I made lunch before I went.  I took my zucchini "pasta," threw it in a skillet with some chicken strips, chili garlic sauce, peanut sauce and soy sauce.  Once it was sautéed, I stuffed half of it in a low carb wrap and put the other half on the side.  I made sure to eat the whole plate so I would be full and not tempted by tailgate food.  It was delicious, filling, healthy and I didn't go near the food at the tailgate.  I made it through one football game day in Tuscaloosa, only 6 more to go!

I want to give my Oma an early birthday shout out! Happy Birthday!

Until next week, y'all! Alabama plays Ole Miss Saturday and it's going to be a big game so ROLL TIDE!

Feelin' Fresh

Well, Roll Tide y'all! Not only did Alabama win their first game of the season, I was down 2.4 pounds this week. This was the motivation I needed! It's been WAY TOO LONG since I saw that kind of drop on the scale.  Other than me stretching the limits of a "cheat snack" during the game on Saturday, I had a perfect week.  It's also been quite awhile since I could say that.  I worked hard last week and it paid off.  My goal is to continue that trend this week though it will be tough since it will be the first game of the season but I think I'm ready.  I know I won't see loss like that every week but I want to keep on keeping on no matter what the numbers say.

Ian and I took a step up in our relationship because we bought a Sam's Club Membership last week. For me, this is a huge deal.  I've been wanting a membership for years and now, I have the privilege of buying a whole pallet of popcorn.  Sam's is like a wonderland to me and I can't wait to save money on gas.  Not only did we become members of Sam's, we have visited Tuscaloosa's brand new Fresh Market a few times.  I am completely obsessed with this place.  I have to watch myself in there because my budget can't handle all of my desires.  The first place I went to was the sushi cooler.  Sushi is something I NEVER thought that I would eat but over the past couple years, I've become more and more fond of it.  I'm not too adventurous with super fishy and/or raw sushi but it's something I enjoy.  I was excited to have this sushi because I was able to scan it and get the calories which is rare with sushi.  The whole tray was 290 calories so I gobbled it right up and it was delicious.

I also bought some low carb wraps.  These wraps are only 60 calories each and I've already eaten all of them.  I made pizza and buffalo chicken wraps out of them and they were great.  I would recommend making sure that you add plenty of flavor to low carb wraps because while they are great vessels, they are essentially flavorless.

One thing I'm not sure about was the chocolate wine I purchased.  I love wine and chocolate so I thought this was a no brainer.  Honestly, it was a bit weird.  It tasted like I took chocolate syrup and just poured it into the bottom of the glass.  It was very rich and I prefer my wine a bit light and fruitier.  I'm sure at some point, I will choke it down but I won't be getting it again.

I had heard a lot about cotton candy grapes so I got some.  I guess I am just not so into fruit that I'd rather use 100 calories on grapes than some other snack.  They were good in that there weren't any sour grapes in the bag but saying they taste like "cotton candy" is a bit of a stretch.  I like grapes OK but they've never been my favorite.  I ate all of these so I didn't waste them but I probably won't get them again. They weren't bad but they weren't amazing either.

As I've mentioned before, I'm really into Asian flavors right now.  I found this chili garlic sauce at Fresh Market.  I combined it with some peanut sauce I got from Target and my zucchini "pasta" to make a quick "Lo Mein."  The chili garlic sauce is great because it adds a lot of flavor and it's calorie free but go easy on it because it has quite a kick.  I loved this combination of flavors and plan to use it for many other recipes.

The last thing I wanted to show is the Jalepeno Black Bean Hummus and Pecan Nut-Thins I bought.  The hummus is flavorful and low calorie.  The Nut-Thins are cool as long as you are dipping but definitely have a diet vibe so they probably aren't great by themselves.  You get a lot for the amount of calories you are using so they are great for that.

I am certain that I will be going to Fresh Market a lot because I love trying new, different groceries.  They have an overwhelming amount of food to choose from.  I hope you all have a wonderful week!