Sunday, July 31, 2011

Day 358

Breakfast/lunch (1030): Tofu Stirfry (300) with extra spinach, tomato and almond (40)

Alcohol... ummm... 700?

Dinner - piece of bread with a slice of cheese (150), tri tip (200) and few tortilla chips (150) and water.

Daily Total: 1540  Not a healthy day, in many ways.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Day 357

BReakfast: Ham Cheese strata (415) with extra tomato (off my plant!) and spinach

Lunch Eggplant pepper chicken (330) with a few almonds (30) and spinach

Ice Cream 120

Corn ont he cob 100

Salmon BLT with french fries... only ate one half of the bun and a bit of the aioli.  basically just salmon with a slice of bacon on bread.  Oh, and french fries.  (700?)

1 beer, 1 vodka tonic, 2 short shot drinks (500?)

Daily Total: 2195

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Day 356

Intended to go to gym tonight, but got invite for dinner.  So, I intended to get up pretty early (like 8, ha! that's early int he summer) and jog outside before it got hot.  Haven't been out on streets in quite awhile.  BUT, I didn't manage to pulll my butt out of bed until 9 and it was 9:43 before I set out.  And it was hot.  :(  Props to those of you who run outside in the heat all the time!  I was gonna walk over to the HS and use the track so I could pace myself better against the distance, but I wanted shade trees instead.  BTW, I highly recommend NOT jogging residential streets on trash day.  ick.

Breakfast: Hate to eat a lot before jogging... Had 7 almonds (50) and an ear of corn (100)

Jog (943 - 1031):  Total, 4 miles in 48 minutes -- that's an average 12 minute mile.  Warmed up for half a mile walking.  Paused to try some modified pull ups (aside:  I couldn't do a pull up to save my life.  BUT 5 months ago I couldn't even imagine how ppl did it.  I just hung there.  In fact, I could barely do that!  This time, I could pull myself up like a cm.  SO, my modification was to use the short bar and pull as much weight as I could.  My feet never left the ground, but I don't see any other way to train those muscles.  Me just hanging there isn't gonna do anything.  Okay, back to the jog...)  I jog/walked with more walking than I would have liked the next 3.25 miles in 36 min.  That's an 11 minute mile and gives me a potential 5k time of 34:30.  An improvement over my official April 5k time of 37:45.  Plus, I know I push harder during the acutal race, so it would probably be lower.  Might be time to sign up for another...

Lunch (1200): Taco Salad: Lettuce, tomato, cuke, red pepper (50), 3 oz of chicken breast (100), 2 oz of FF/reg sour cream (80), toasted tortilla (55), started out with avocado, but picked it out later as it had gone bad... :(  Total: 300ish

(100pm): Ice Cream (120)

Dinner (630): Dinner @ Pasta Pomodoro... The ONE place I can honestly say that the item I WANT to order is one of the very best for you!  I always get this roasted veggie dish with chicken, even before I started losing.  It does not have pasta.  It's mushroom, brussel sprouts, broccoli, zucchini, sundried tomatoes, spinach and asparagus in a garlic olive oil.  It's 450 cal!  :)  I asked them to go easy on the oil, but I'm not gonna try to deduct calories...  I vowed not to devour the bread they put out with this amazing basil herb oil.  I avoided it early on, but ended up eating half a piece with my meal, but no dipping oil. (70).  We also shared a fav app -- butternut squash ravioli in brown sugar sage butter sauce.  SO good, 225 cal for half the app.  Though in retrospect, if I thinkabout it as 225cal for 3 freaking ravioli, I might have said no.  Might.  Had small dessert, an affogato.  Hot espresso poured over a small scoop of vanilla gelato. (70)



Late: Half a cookie from fav cookie store. (150)  Though they sadly did NOT have my favorite Coconut Cinnamon Choco Chip Cookie... :(

Daily Total: 1535  Not too shabby!

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Day 355

Breakfast (800): half an english muffin (75) with half an oz of PB (85) and a bit of low-sugar strawberry jam (big shout out to smucker's, that stuff is amazing!) (15)  Eating light because we're doing brunch at 11.  More like lunch for me.  Wish I could find nutrition info for this place.  They have an amazing burger... but I'd order a crepe if I knew for sure the calories were much less.  Sometimes it can be deceiving!

Lunch (1130): Ordered a crepe with spinach, eggplant, tomato, mushroom -- came with onion and cheddar automatically.  Wish I'd remembered to ask for half the cheese and I even thought of it like 5 min before we ordered!  And for future reference, I didn't need the eggplant -- didn't add much flavor or texture wise.  Came with a side of potatoes.  Slightly fried/oily.  No idea on calories, though I asked and the guy gave me a look like I was the crazy one.  Guessing... 700 - 800?  Ate half now.

I swear, there are veggies inside!

LunchII (230): Finished other half of crepe, with extra spinach, broccoli and tomatoes. 

Snack (345): 60 cal slice of cheddar.  Yeah, just what I needed, more cheese!

Snack (530): Carrots and hummus (80)

Walked/jogged 2 miles to store and back to drop off DVD.  Didn't work super hard, took about 25 minutes.  Would have jogged more, but I was having wardrobe malfunctions.  Can't jog in a deep v-neck -- inappropriate!  Duh.

Dinner (900): Tofu Stir Fry (300) Delish!  Will post recipe tomorrow.  Sorta just made it up -- and loved it! :D

Snack: Almonds (90) and Cherries (30)

Late: More almonds (100) and a graham cracker with chocolate frosting :|  oops.  (200)

Daily Total: 1800

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Day 354

Breakfast (830):  Coconut Apricot French Toast Bake (310) with a turkey sausage (60)

1100AM - Cherries (50)

Lunch(230): Salad: Lettuce, tomato, cuke, radish (50), chicken breast (100), avocado (60), cheddar cheese (120), toasted tortilla (55), sour cream mixed with FF sour cream (50)

Ice Cream (400PM): (120)

Dinner(830): Turkey Tamale Pie with green beans (330) with lettuce tomato and mixed sour cream (50)

Peach (60), Cherries (50), small bit of PB with chocochips (60)

Daily Total: 1525

Monday, July 25, 2011

Coconut-Apricot French Toast Bake

I actually created this recipe using a couple of Cooking Light recipes as inspiration, but it's completely different from either one.  #1   #2  I decided to add the preserves instead of fresh fruit because I didn't think it would freeze and reheat well.  I intended to use pineapple, but my store only had apricot-pinapple and didn't have anything low-sugar with pineapple.  I couldn't decided between the apricot or an orange marmalade.  Might try the orange next time, but I did like the apricot.
16oz loaf of French bread, cubed   (I used only 13oz, should have used the full loaf -- but I'd eaten two slices already!)
1 can (~1.5cups) of lite coconut milk
¼ cup of sugar
4 eggs
80g sweetened shredded coconut, split into two batches
170g (10 Tbs) low sugar- apricot preserves
¼ cup toasted pecans
Cube the bread and place in a large bowl.  Lightly beat the coconut milk, sugar, eggs and half the shredded coconut.  Add the egg mixture to the bread.  Gently turn until all pieces are coated.  Add the preserves to the bowl and turn just a few times to distribute the preserves, but not completely mix them in.  Pour into a greased 9x13.  Sprinkle the top with the other 40g of flaked coconut.  Bake at 350 for approx. 20 minutes, until top is browned and mix is set.  Garnish with chopped toasted pecans. 
Serves 8.  Approx 335 cal per servings with 45g of carbs per serving.  I took the time to calculate the carbs because this is basically bread and sugar here... :)  I served with one 60-80cal turkey or veggie sausage. 
This smells AMAZING.  And the flavor is great – I wasn’t sure about the apricot with the coconut, but it was great.  The pecans are a good touch – could probably cut back there though.  Using only an eighth of a cup would shave 15 cal off each serving. Still needs a bit of tweaking… perhaps another egg?  Some skim milk?  I think it would be good at given ratios if eaten fresh, but reheats only okay.  Gets a bit dry.  Perhaps I microwaved too long?  Will have to experiment.  Could def cut back on flaked coconut to make calorie space for another egg.  Could swap out some of the coconut milk for a higher quantity of skim milk.

Edit: THis doesn't reheat from frozen perfectly.  It's still good and nice to have a different flavor.  But it does get a teensy bit tough.  Maybe I'm just cooking it too long. 

Day 353

Breakfast (1030): wheat english muffin (120), Skippy natural Peanut butter (150), a slice of apple

Lunch (230): Woke up from nap and scarfed down a slice of french bread (80) with 2 oz of deli turkey (70) and a TBS of shedd's spread (60)  Didn't intend for it to be lunch, but as it's now 5pm... I just wait for dinner.

Walked over to parents house to get bike, then rode to grocery and home.  Got stuff to make a coconut/fruit baked french toast.  Drank an icy cold san pellegrino limon when I got home (150).  Worth every calorie!

Dinner: Broccoli Slaw Spaghetti (300). added quinoa (60) and spinach.  Also had a slice of bread (80) with shedds(30).

Dessert: Cherries and a peach (120)

Tasted as I cooked/created recipe for coconut apricot french toast bake. (100?)

Half oz slice of cheese (60)

Daily Total: 1400

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Day 352

Breakfast (930): Piece of pizza (340) -- intended to eat something better, but ran out of time.

Lunch (130):  Chicken breast, hashbrown casserole, green beans (415)

Snack(200): went over to parents where they were just eating lunch.  Made myself a chicken tace with beans and sour cream.  Took one bite and thought 'What the heck are you doing? You already ate.  You aren't even hungry." So I put it away for dinner.  I did still have a few chips with refired beans though.  (200)

Dinner: Chicken taco (275), chips (150), beans (80), rice (80), salad, sour cream (80)  Lemon cake (150)

Late:  Piece of pizza (340) and ice cream (120)  No idea.  what that was about... wasn't hungry, just caved to late night munchies.

Daily Total: 2230  :(

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Day 351

Saturday weighin: 211.5lb ?!!?  I lost like 6.5lb this week... Some of it may come back a bit -- I've had 8 drinks over the last two nights.  Could be a little dehydrated., though I have drunk a ton of water too.  So... ?
Breakfast (1030):  Piece of combo pizza from Mountain Mikes (340)

Snack (100): Half a piece of pizza (170), 5 tortilla chips (80)
Lunch (330):  Taco Salad - lettuce, tomato, green onion, avocado (50), ground turkey (100), FF Sour cream (25)

Dinner (630):  Hot dog (250), Hamburger patty (200), chips (80), corn (150), lettuce, tomato.

Snack (930): Another hamburger patty (although I would not have eaten that if I'd known the calories count a head of time... they seemed so small!) (200), tortilla chips (120), few bites of refried beans (100?)
Daily Total: 1865

dAY 350

Breakfast (1030): 70 cal of pizza, half a cupcake (60) and two bites of lemon cake (80)... what a way to start the day...

Lunch: One piece of pizza (340), 6 wheat thins (100?) and 1.33 oz of cheese (200)

Dinner: Wedding!  2 glasses champagne(160), 2 shots tequila(200), chicken breast(120), 1/4 cup baked beans(60), 1/3 cup mac cheese (100), half a rib(60), 2oz tritip(100). 

Later: 150 cal of pizza.

Daily total: 1800?

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Day 349

Weighed in this morning at 214!  We'll see where it's at by Saturday morning, post-wedding festivities...

Breakfast (930): Turkey, avocado, apple mffin (260)

Lunch (300): 1.5 slices of little cesars pepperoni pizza (420)

Dinner (730):  one flour tortilla (120), chicken breast (100?), carnitas (150?), rice (120), salad.  No dressing.  Salsa and sour cream (150??)  Two 12 oz coronas (300)  No dessert.

2 vodka tonics (250)

Daily Total: 1870... not bad, considering.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Day 348

Breakfast (900): Ham Cheese Strata with spinach/tomato 380

Lunch (100): Morrocan Beef with quinoa and green beans (360) with a bit of spinach, tomato and FF sour cream (30)

Snacks: Almonds (25), WW choc mint mini bar (50), applesauce (50)

Dinner (1000): Eggplant Chicken with brown rice (330)

Ice Cream 120

Daily Total: 1345

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Day 347

Breakfast (900): Ham/Cheese Strata (375) with a bit of spinach and a coupl tomatoes.

Lunch (130): BMD Calif Wrap with artichokes (400) added avocado (60), lettuce and tomato.

Ran into a scheduling problem... supposed to go to the gym today.  But I hate doing that on a full stomach... in fact I can't really do it.  So, I can't eat dinner now at 7.  Waited to long to eat/snack.  Now have to eat something that will lcarry me through a workout, but not make me sooo full.   Had a tortilla (55) with some turkey (40), a few almonds (40) and half an apple (35)

Gym (845):  Strength exercise.  Used 15lb for both sets of hammer curls.  Used the 18lb bar for tricep extensions.  Push ups okay and situps okay.  Elliptical:  30minutes at slightly higher rpm, 2.33mi.  It was easy peasy tonight.  Wasn't constantly looking at time wondering how much longer I could handle it.  Could have gone further!  Read book on kindle -- might have helped, but I've read before and it wasn't like this!  Treadmill:  Tougher tonight... but managed to jog a full 2.25miles in 25mintes with no walking breaks!  That's an 11 minute mile.  Cooldown with a 0.5 walk.  Phew!

Dinner(1100):  Not super hungry post gym.  Had a 4 bites of plum crumble at Mom's house (150?)  Got home and decided on a serving of potluck potatoes (215) with broccoli (45) and tomatoes.  Had 5 almonds while heating up. (35)


Daily Total: 1450

Monday, July 18, 2011

Ham, Mushroom, and Gruyère Strata

Originally from Cooking Light -- here's a link to the unmodified recipe.
YIELD: 8 servings

Ingredients
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped (330g)
• 16oz presliced button mushrooms, broken into halves
• Thick-cut slice of deli ham, chopped (6.5oz)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 15oz sourdough/French bread chopped or torn
• Cooking spray
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Gruyère or other Swiss cheese
• 2 cups fat-free milk
• 6 eggs
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp whole grain mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1-2 oz of shredded Parmesean cheese
• Garnish with chopped green onion

Preparation
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onions; sauté 3 minutes or until translucent. Remove to bowl. Add mushrooms to pan, and sauté 7 minutes or until mushrooms release moisture. Allow moisture to cook off some. Cool slightly, add to onions. Add ham and parsley.

Lightly beat eggs with milk, mustard, salt and pepper. Add grated cheese and stir. Add to cooled mushroom mixture. Stir gently.

Add bread cubes and stir to coat. Pour into a 9x13 sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle the top with 1-2 oz of Parmesean cheese

Cover with foil, refrigerate for 8 hours. (I did 1 hour!) 
Preheat oven to 350º.  Remove strata from refrigerator, and let stand at room temperature 15 minutes. Bake strata, covered, at 350º for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 20 minutes or until set and golden brown. Sprinkle with chives, if desired.

8servings, each is 375 calories.  Good with steamed spinach and cherry tomatoes.  Also good for breakfast, lunch, or dinner!  I reallllllly liked this.  The flavor of the ham, cheese, mushroom was so good.  The mustard added a savory flavor that didn't taste like mustard.  Same for the parsley -- added flavor without screaming parsley.  I used brown sugar ham fromt he deli and the slight sweetness was good too.  Loved it!


Day 346

Breakfast (900):  Tofu/Chesse Crepe Blintzes from TJ.  (280) with berries (20) and a veggie sausage (80).  Not as good as BMD, but decent.  And cheaper! :D

Lunch(130): Kashi Mayan Harvest Bake with spinach and tomatoes (350) 10 cherries (30)

Snack(500): Ice Cream (120) and almonds (70)

Dinner(800): New recipe.  I made a Ham, Gruyere, Mushroom Strata to package for breakfast, but it looked and smelled sooo good that I ate a serving for dinner.  And it was good, really good.  It totals 375cal per serving and a also had some steamed spinach, cherry tomatoes and a bit of green onion.  Let's call it 400 even.


Cherries (70), a WW minibar (50) and a few almonds (30)

Ice cream (120) Unnecessary...
Daily Total: 1620

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Day 345

Breakfast (930): Berry Crepes with extra berries (350)

Lunch (230): Lentils with chicken, green beans, spinach, tomatoes. (350)

Handful of cherries (70)

Gym (530 - 700): Strength exercises - Hammer curls at 15lb were tough, but I'm ready to move up a bar for tricep extensions t0 18lb.  And that wasn't even tough... might try the next one up.  Elliptical = 1.5miles in 20 minutes.  Treadmill = 3 miles in 36miles.  Ran 2.5 miles at 5.6 - 6.0mph with two eigth-mile walk breaks.  Walked the cool-down too.  MUCH better than Friday, but still not up to pre-break levels.

5 almonds (35)

Dinner (745): Turkey Tamale Pie with green beans (330) with lettuce tomato avocado and FF sourcream (70)

Dessert (1000): Ice Cream (120) and 10 almonds (70)

Daily Total:  1395
Geez, if only every day could be like this!  Not really that hungry AND some times of the month I crave that "empty" feeling, while other times I just want to eat and eat and eat.  I'm much more predictable now.  I wonder if I was ever like this before and I just didn't pay attention.  Or maybe I really am more fixed now.  ?

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Day 344

Weighed in at 218lb today.  Down 3 lb just in the last 3 days -- starting to burn off the extra 6-8lb I put on over the last two weeks.  Not sure since I never weighed first thing in morning.  Should be back down to 214 by the end of the week. 

Breakfast (1000):  Cinnamon Sweet POtato Pancakes with blueberries/raspberries (320+30)

Lunch (200): Turkey patty (120), 1 red skin potato (112g = 100cal), 4 cherry tomato (16), spinach (15) and green beans (30)  Total = 285cal  And I'm soo full.  No butter or sour cream on the potato either and I didn't really even miss it.

Dinner: Lemongrass Chicken Breast with lettuce, bean sprout, cucumber and rice noodles (400) Plus a spring roll (120) and a vietnamese coffee, only mixed in part of the condensed milk (150)

Party: couple pieces of cheese (120), couple of crackers (50) and 2 bites of chicken enchilada (50)  PLus a glass of sangria (130?)  Piece of chocolate cake, minus the frosting (150)

Bar: Margarita (200)

Daily Total: 2005
Not great, but not terrible for a night out.  Should not have eaten the cake -- wasn't that tasty, but felt rude to turn down someone's birthday cake.  And didn't need the extra margarita... but had a good time hanging with a friend in the bar...

Friday, July 15, 2011

Day 343

Brunch with friends (1000) - Got a tofu scramble with tomato, spinach, broccoli and goat cheese.  Came with a side of potatoes.  I've never gotten a tofu scramble before and I liked it a lot.  I'm not a huge fan of eggs, and I do like tofu, so this really worked for me. There was virtually no oil in the scramble and very little oil/browning on the potatoes.  So, while there was too much goat cheese (should have asked for it on the side) and too much potato, it was still pretty wholesome.  I'd guess the potatoes at 350 and the scramble at 250?  Also had a crumpet (80) with jam (30), but I forgot to ask for it dry (add 50).  I can NEVER remember to do that -- mainly because it's rare that I order out breakfast and it usually doesnt come with toast.  Not great and I shouldn't have eaten all the potatoes, but not terrible and it counts for breakfast and lunch. 


Snack (400): Carrots and hummus (100)

Snack (530): Choc covered almonds (100)

Dinner (630): Chicken breast with onion casserole and broccoli (380)  I really like the onion casserole!  Little bit of rice and the flavor goes really well with the chicken.

Why oh why did I stop going to the gym?!?  It was brutal tonight!  Had to switch to lighter weights for hammer curls for the second set (though to be fair the 15lb were a bit heavy before too).  Pushups were still decent since I did those a few times over the two weeks,  The cardio though?  Sheesh.  I went from jogging two miles straight to barely being able to do a half mile.  Though I did just break for like 20 seconds then jogged a full mile - sorta in the zone.  And the elliptical?  I did 30 minutes last time, but thought I'd die after 5 tonight, though I forced myself through 16:30.  Ugh.  Should come back pretty quick though.  I don't feel dead after.  I just need to remember this the next time I start feeling lazy and tired of being on track all the time.  It's not worth the set-back.  Lost effort in the gym and gained weight from poor eating.  I didn't completely fall apart -- no fast food, nothing really bad.  No soda even though it's all over my parents house.  More crackers, bread, cheese and chips than necessary though.  And bigger quantities of everything.  Reverted to grazing without really eating "meals".  No good.   Plus, I felt sluggish and icky during too.  Why do I have to learn everything the hard way and how do I learn to remember it for next time???

Late night cleaning:  Cherries (100)

Hummus taco (100)

Choc covered almonds (100)  I never know when to stop... :(

Daily Total (1640)

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Day 342

Breakfast (800): Berry Crepes with extra berries (385)

Half of a sugar cookie (100)

Lunch (1200):  Ground turkey patty (4oz, 120) with a serving of the squash-rice casserole (140) and green beans, tomatoes, and spinach.  (310 total)   Lots of veggies -- pretty full still by 2pm.  Cleaning house today... long overdue!


Snack (400): two tortillas toasted into chips (110) and salsa (50)

DInner (800):  Italian Baked veggies with a 1/4 of pasta, broccoli and spinach (380)

(930) - dessert (100)

(1030) - carrots and hummus (100) with almonds (50)

Cleaning late - hungry - ate slice of cheese on a tortilla (120)


Daily Total: 1705

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Day I'll-Figure-It-Out-Later

Back on the wagon... It's been a rough 10 days food-wise that I'll detail more when I have time to process what the hell happened.  At this point, I just need to get back into my normal habits...

Breakfast (1000): English Muffin, Ham, Cheese, Apple (250) + 3 bites of turkey/cheese (50)

Tasted dessert for tonight (100) and had some chocolate covered almonds (200?)  Ridiculously good start, no?

Lunch (300):  Meatloaf with Cauliflower Puree and broccoli.  Added 35 cal of quinoa to the cauliflower.  (350 total)  And ketchup (30)

Back to house, had more dessert :( (150)

Plum (30)

Dinner:  Tofu Curry with a bit of quinoa, lots of spinach and a few cherry tomatoes (350)

Cherries (100) and almonds (50)

Daily Total:  1660

Oh, and it's Day 341.  It's been 2 weeks since I posted! :(  Though I did keep track of food on my phone for the first week.  Worse, it's been two weeks since I went to the gym.  :( :(  Today was better, not great, but better.  Moved back home... that should help.  I always eat poorly when I dog-sit at my parents.  Totally psychological - I regress to bad habits.  Plus, my sleep patterns got off -- I have a tendency to overeat late at night.  AND it was the week before TOM.  Always a bad week.  PLUS, it was a holiday BBQ weekend and a bachelorette party weekend -- ugh.  Back on it now...

Friday, July 8, 2011

Side Dishes

I typically look for recipes that are main dishes.  I decided today to roast off some chicken breasts and find a great side dish (around 200cal) to package it with.  I found these two recipes at CookingLight.  I cooked chicken breast in the oven in a casserole dish covered with foil... keeps them moister.  Then portioned it into 4oz portions (170cal)


Potluck Potato Casserole
Classic hashbrown casserole lightened up.   Here’s a link to the original recipe from Cooking Light.

“The crunchy topping on this side-dish casserole gives way to a cheesy interior, resulting in a comfort food winner. A bonus with this dish is that you can make the casserole ahead--assemble and refrigerate it until time to bake. Sprinkle the cornflakes over the casserole just before baking.”
· YIELD: 10 servings
·         1 1/2 cups fat-free sour cream
·         1 1/4 cups (5 ounces) finely shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese
·         1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
·         2 tablespoons minced fresh onion
·         5 teaspoons butter, melted
·         1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
·         1/4 teaspoon salt
·         1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
·         1 (30-ounce) package frozen hash browns, thawed 
·         1 (10.75-ounce) can reduced-fat cream of chicken soup
·         Cooking spray
·         1 cup coarsely crushed cornflakes
·         2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Preheat oven to 350°.  Combine first 10 ingredients in a large bowl; spread evenly into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle cornflakes over potato mixture.  Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until bubbly. Sprinkle with fresh parsley.

Lenna Watson, Cooking Light
NOVEMBER 2005
I made a few minor modifications.  I forgot to get reduced-fat cheese, but I also find it hard to find reduced-fat sharp cheddar.  I added a pinch of red pepper flakes instead of the ground red pepper.  I used rf cream of mushroom soup because I like it better.  And I used a combo of panko and crushed fried onion strips instead of cornflakes.  My calculations come out to 215 cal per serving at 10servings.

I liked this recipe a lot.  Good texture and it should freeze well.  I think it would be great with some canned green chilis mixed in.  The topping wasn’t great.  It’s good and it’s growing on me, but wasn’t GREAT, or as crispy as  I expected.  Packaged with a broasted chicken breast and frozen green beans or broccoli.  Totaled 415 cal.


Sweet Onion Casserole


Pulled this out of the magazine when I read it… Here’s alink to the original @ CookingLight.
YIELD: 6 servings (serving size: about 2/3 cup)
·         1 tablespoon canola oil
·         4 cups chopped sweet onion (about 1 3/4 pounds)
·         1/2 cup uncooked long-grain rice
·         2/3 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
·         1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Gruyère cheese
·         1/4 teaspoon salt
·         1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
·         1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
·         Cooking spray
·         1/3 cup (1 1/3 ounces) grated Parmesan cheese
·         2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (optional)
       Preheat oven to 325°. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil; swirl to coat. Add onion; sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Place onion in a large bowl. Cook rice in a large pot of boiling water 5 minutes. Drain.  Stir rice and next 5 ingredients (through allspice) into onions. Spoon onion mixture into an 8-inch square glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with Parmesan cheese. Cover and bake at 325° for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 5 minutes. Top with parsley, if desired.
Irene Lilja, Corvallis, Oregon, Cooking Light
MAY 2011
Followed pretty closely.  Used only ½ TBS of olive oil.  Cooked the onions longer than 5 minutes, closer to 12.  Used a bit extra rice and a bit extra milk (closer to ¾ cup) and a that milk was a mix of skim with a TBS of whipping cream.  Omitted allspice.  I thought this was really good.  My calculations come out to 213 cal per serving at 6 servings.  But that was a HUGE serving.  I got 8 servings out @ 160cal per serving.  It should freeze well.  I packaged it with a roasted chicken breast and frozen green beans or broccoli.  Totaled 360 cal.







Chicken with Eggplant and Basil

(From a magazine at the check stand)

¼ cup (1/3oz) coarsely chopped fresh basil
2 TBS chopped fresh mint (or cilantro)
¾ cup (6 fl oz) chicken broth
3 green onions, including greens, 2 coarsely chopped and 1 thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic
1 TBS peeled chopped fresh ginger
2 TBS olive oil
1 yellow onion, coarsely chopped
2 bell pepper (red or yellow), seeded and julienned
1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into strips 0.5” x 2”
2 TBS low-sodium soy sauce

In blender or food processor, combine the basil, mint, ¼ cup of stock, the shopped green onions, garlic and ginger. Pulse until minced but not pureed. Set aside.
In large non-stick frying pan, heat 1 TBS of oil over medium-high heat. Add the eggplant, onion, peppers, and sauté until just tender, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
Add remaining oil to pan. Add basil mixture and sauté for 1 minute, stirring. Add the chicken and soy and sauté until chicken in almost opaque throughout, 2 minutes. Add remaining ½ cup of stock and bring to a boil. Return veggies to pan and stir until heated, about 3 minutes. Transfer to serving dish and garnish with sliced green onion.

I liked this very much. I made a few modifications... I did not add garlic or ginger. I may have added a little powdered garlic. I didn't have any mint or cilantro -- I think it would have added to the flavor. It lacked a bitterness/herbiness/tangyness... not sure how to describe what I was missing. It was still good, but I wish it had one of those other herbs. And I used one yellow and one orange pepper. Would use one red in the future as the color would have looked nice.
Other than those items, I followed the recipe and liked it very much. Caution: it is a LARGE quantity of raw veggies to process. I had to cook in shifts as it wouldn't all fit in the pan at once.
This recipe makes a large serving. At 4 servings, it came out to 285calories and at 6 servings it came out to 195cal. I did 6 servings and added a half serving of rice or quinoa, for an extra 75 calories. I think I would do 4 servings next time.   I at one serving and froze the other 5.
An interesting process, would be adaptable to other veggies/proteins/herbs.