Day 7 - My coworker vaccumed me today at work. That's special.

I just want to start todays entry by assuring you that all of these crazy shenanigans that I tell you happen to me are true and are not made up.  I think it is important to know that.

So today I wanted to replace the staples in our Ricoh Copier/Printer/Fax.  I opened where I thought the staples were...and saw that there was a bit of toner on the plastic piece so I blew a big gust of air at it to clean it and POOF!  Magenta, Cyan and Yellow all over me.  It looked like a unicorn farted on me.  My poor coworker was on her way out for the day and had to stop and drop everything to literally vacuum me.  Skirt. Blouse. Skin. Everything therein.  See for yourself:

SIGH....

Also, I voted today!!!! And it was my first time!!  I was so excited to finally have a say in where my money goes and who gets to take it!  I was also happy to have a say in local candidates for judges and mayors... It was just awesome to have a voice.  Even if it isn't heard.  I tried.  I did my part. :)

So let's get to it.

BREAKFAST - 340 Calories

You are probably tired of reading this.  I had the same ol' same ol' McD's Egg White & Turkey Sausage Breakfast Bowl with a tall iced coffee sweetened and with extra soy.  They got my order right today, and thank goodness because as my app warned me, PMS season is here and I want to eat everything.  So I NEEDED some more calories up in this diet beyotch.  

LUNCH - 374 Calories

Lunch could not have come soon enough.  It even came early since my coworker left for the day at 1pm.  I was able to go at 12pm.  I went straight to Von's to pick up more veggies.  I am afraid to run out and end up eating whatever is in my cupboards.  Chances are, cupboard food is no good.  So I picked up that salad I had last week, the Arugala one with Goat cheese.  There was only one left!  And I added avocado again because...it tastes good.

I was still hungry (surprise surprise) so I ate 14 pretzel thins.  Then I realized I was not supposed to eat wheat... but I have been eating it this whole time with these darn pretzels!!??  See, this is part of the journey, getting out of the intentional carelessness when it comes to food.  There is nothing wrong with eating these pretzels, but how did I forget that they were a bread?? lol... Sigh... So I moved on to dried apples instead.  These snacks accounted for 155 calories of my 1,360 budget.

DINNER - 167 Calories

I know, I just saw this and also said, WHAT THE HELL?  167 Calories?? Was it lettuce??

NOPE.  It was a ton of veggies:

I chopped the tips and about 3" of the stems from 12 asparagus, I chopped the top of about 8 broccolette and I diced 2 yellow squash, threw in some chive blossoms (which I read contain vitamin C, iron and sulfur, and have traditionally been used to help support healthy blood pressure levels...cool!) I used 1tbsp of Black Bean Sauce that I purchased from 99 Ranch.  While it provided flavor, I honestly think my fancy salts and pepper would have been better.  I tossed out the remainder of the sauce package.  I did buy a huge package of ground turkey so I will be getting more creative with that for the next couple of days.  And I definitely want to make Ka Prao again cause that was damn good.

Today I am having REALLY bad cravings for chocolate.  I know people joke about women wanting chocolate around that time, but guys... you don't understand what I would do for a Hershey's bar right now.  I would do jail time next week for ONE BAR if it had no calorie side effects.  I've already committed this much time to this so I might as well suffer more.  Right?...right?....Guys?

Day 6 - 66

Hello my friends!

It's another work week here and I did my usual run to Starbucks and McDonald's for breakast.  If you are wondering why I go through the trouble of going to both, you should know that it isn't much trouble.  As you can see, they are directly across from each other,  4 minutes away from my office:

BREAKFAST - 340 370 Calories

Starbucks didn't have their caffiene yet as they gave me a grande when I ordered a tall.  I was a little disappointed because I knew this meant 30 extra calories for me.  Now I know what you are probably thinking, "But Caresse, you do not have to drink the whole thing.  Why don't you drink the same amount as a tall?"  BECAUSE IT IS WASTEFUL and I have no willpower.  I had the Turkey and Egg White Breakfast bowl again and it was delicious as always.

LUNCH - 204 Calories

For lunch, I made a sandwich...protein style.  So I layed out an outer leaf of lettuce and put in Delifresh Cracked Black Pepper Turkey Breast (56g), 1/2tbsp of Best Foods Light Mayo with Olive Oil, 2 thin slices of a hot house tomato and half of an avocado.  I sprinkled a little salt and pepper on it and presto!  A delicious and quick low calorie lunch.  I had this with Jasmine Blueberry Iced Tea.  I am one of those weirdo people lucky enough to like unsweetened tea.  Because it was so low in calories I had 14 Rold Gold Original Pretzel Thins.  Now, I waited to log lunch til I only had about 5 minutes to get back to work and that's when I realized the pretzels brought my total calories for the day to 666 calories. GASP! OH NO!

  So naturally, I ran to the cupboard and grabbed 4 Mexican Hot Chocolate Almonds and ate them.  PHEW... 688 calories...  CRISIS AVERTED.

DINNER - 220 Calories

It has been five days since I started this journey out of junk food nation (heaven) and into low calorie hell but I will give it this, I come home feeling ok.  Now 'ok' is kind of a big deal at this point because when I was eating whatever I wanted whenever I wanted, come the time I was getting home from work I was ravenous for food.  I was mean to my sweetheart and that is just sad.  It was a feed me or feel the wrath of a hungry and angry scorned woman situation.  But today I got home and took a shower.  Perused pinterest recipes..and ultimately gave up because Pinterest couldn't help me when it came to what was in my fridge.  I finally just went in there and pulled a few things out that I thought would go together which is how I came up with this beautiful dish below.  

I don't know what to call it... Spring Vegetable Medley?  It is 2 leaves of Swiss Chard, 5oz of Baby Bella Mushrooms, 1 Cup of Yellow squash (all chopped), 5 Chive Blossoms and 1/2 cup of Bertolli Italian Sausage, Garlic & Romano Tomato Sauce.  I sauteed 1 minced clove of garlic in water and then threw in the chopped veggies, added a little more water to keep them from burning and shriveling, tossed in the chive flowers and once the veggies were cooked I poured over the tomato sauce.  When the sauce was warm I plated it in a bowl and sprinkled a dash of parmesan and topped it with 2 fresh chive blossoms.  It was DELICIOUS.  And I cannot believe it is only 220 calories.  That is insane.  

If you are wondering why I am eating flowers now, let me correct you, these are imposter flowers.  They taste like straight up onion.  My breath still stinks of onion as I type this.  In fact this would be great to eat before you go out with someone you would like to offend with your breath.  I picked these chive blossoms up at the Farmer's Market on Sunday, so I was excited to finally cook with them.  The reason I gave up on Pinterest was due to the lack of pin diversity for Chive Blossoms.  I just saw a bunch of fried crap recipes.  So, if you have a recipe for these that would fit my current journey, you tell me about it.

I might do a few teeny strawberries and almonds for dessert...we shall see.  I still have 427 calories left out of my 1360 calorie budget so I probably should.  I was thinking of going somewhere to walk but then I remembered that I am this type of person:

So I will stay here, lift my 3 pound weights and play some games before I go to bed.  I bought those new sheets so I am looking forward to cuddling up to my pillows in them.  And then thrashing.  That is how I get my exercise.  We all have our thing.  Here is this little guys thing:

Work for it baby...work for it.  We'll get it.

Til tomorrow! <3

Day 4 - Learning to Cook Thai

This morning I woke up at 9:00am.  That was me sleeping in.

I was craving my most favorite breakfast burrito from Eat At Joe's.  Which is terrible because it is in Redondo Beach.  I sure miss living in Torrance.  So I figured, I have everything I need to make it... I'll just make my own version of it!  So that is what this is, minus the tortilla:

BREAKFAST - 418 Calories

This is what I call the Ground Turkey Breakfast Anti-Burrito.  I cooked 4 ozs of ground turkey in a saute pan and added a little water to keep it from burning.  Once it was cooked I set it aside and in the same saute pan, I added 1/4 cup of diced orange bell pepper, and 1/4 cup of sweet onion.  I took half an avocado and cut it into cubes.  Once the veggies were cooked I tossed the turkey back in and added 1 cup of egg whites and scrambled it.  Then I added the avocado to mix it in.  Put it in the bowl and sprinkled a tablespoon of cheddar cheese.  It was delicious!  ALMOST comparable to Eat At Joe's burrito.  But I did forget to put in the tomatoes.  But it was still very filling and tasty.

LUNCH - 501 Calories

For lunch, I came home from shopping all over the place.  So I wanted something quick.  So I made Atlantic Salmon Sushi Flowers.  I thought I was over salmon... but then I passed it at 99 Ranch and it was almost like a reflex.  It just magically appeared in my cart.  I also bought a few things to make for dinner but I will make it with ground turkey :)  This was filling and if you love salmon, super fresh and delicious.  I had this with jasmine tea.

DINNER - 298 Calories

Since I was at 99 Ranch and I had ground turkey at home, I remembered one of my favorite Thai dishes that my sister-in-law's pops introduced me to.  So this made me happy and I wanted to try and make it for myself.  So I purchased a few ingredients based on a simple recipe I found and it came out PERFECT.  Now, usually it is served with Jasmine rice and a fried egg... but I felt like the flavors in this didn't need anything else.  I did learn something from making this dish and that is that you should ALWAYS wash your hands IMMEDIATELY after handling Thai chili peppers.  Because if you do not, you will feel as though the devil has sneezed in your eyes and sprayed pepper spray down your throat.  Seriously... WASH YOUR HANDS IMMEDIATELY after handling these tiny peppers from mordor.  Anyways, I highly recommend the recipe above.

I am getting very full on much smaller meals now.  I don't even have cravings for sweets which is really surprising.  I made a batch of jasmine iced tea and that helps too.  When I do feel like I am hungry, I drink it and it helps put off the hunger so that I am eating 3 times a day.  It also helps when I go to bed early so that I am not hungry and I am more rested in the morning.  

I'm excited for tomorrow!  I'm going to the Farmer's Market here in San Diego with my gal pal Brenda whom I have not seen in some time as she has been in school lockdown.  So it should be lots of fun.  I like the farmers market because they have veggies I can't find at Von's by me which is the only other store here besides Pancho Villa's Farmers Market (Mexican Grocery Store with a fancy name).  The variety of veggies reminds me of when I would get that Farm Fresh To You box every two weeks and it forced me to be more creative with cooking.  Plus I like learning what is in season and all that... I am not going because I want to know the veggies origins...and I will never ask for my chickens name.  I don't care.  I will eat Jims, Bobs, Trevors, Helens, Marys and even Lucys. lol...  I WANT THEM ALL.  Mostly cause I hate birds.  Anyways, til tomorrow!

1 is the Loneliest Number. So let us add the number 400.

I just love that song.

So, I have relocated to San Diego and am adjusting to living alone again.  It's always been a challenge for me to cook for 1 person so I decided to face that challenge and start a line of recipes for 1.  

In addition to this, my dear friend Brenda is an excellent inspiration as she loves food and is very pro health.  She has her own blog called eatwhatiwant.com where you can find a wealth of information to also inspire you.  Yes, it was Brenda that inspired me to make each of these recipes also be less than 400 calories each!  So please join me on this delicious health challenge!

To start, I decided to do a yummy Tilapia Veggie Salad for dinner.

Tilapia Veggie Salad | (385 Calories) 

Ingredients for 1 person: 

3/4 cup Brown Baby Bell Crimini Mushrooms (Diced)

3/4 cup Red Bell Pepper (Diced)

1/2 cup Sweet Onion (Diced)

1/4 of a Hass Avocado (sliced)

4oz Fresh Tilapia Fillet

1 Teaspoon All Purpose Greek Seasoning

1 Tbsp Water

1 Tbsp Italian Four Cheese Blend (shredded)

1 Cup Romaine (Chopped)

After you prep all your veggies, preheat a 10" Skillet over medium high heat.  While your skillet heats up, season your tilapia with the greek seasoning.  You want to evenly distribute 1 teaspoon of seasoning over the tilapia.  When the skillet is hot, toss in your onions with 1 tbsp water.  Stir them so that the water is absorbed by them.  It happens fairly quickly, so keep moving the onions around to avoid burning them.  Now place your tilapia in (seasoned side down).  Keep moving those onions!  Now drop in the bell pepper and mushrooms.  Stir them in but keep them on the side of the tilapia. 

Now you want to season the top side of the fish with your remaining seasoning.  The bottom side should be browned so flip the fish!  Does it look like below?

If not, turn it back over and let it brown (be careful not to burn it!)  If it does look like above, good job!  After about a minute of searing, you want to stir those veggies around again and lower the heat to just above medium.  Cover the skillet.  Wait 5 minutes.

While you are waiting, shred the lettuce into your bowl, add 1 tbsp of rice vinegar.

If you don't trust your timing, listen to this video 6 times.

All done!  Now place your tilapia on top of your salad, cover it with the veggies, avocado slices and sprinkle on your cheese!  

Good job on staying healthy you sexy beast. ;D