New Foods

My food today...

2oz soy milk + Gerber Baby Oatmeal with PB2.

(Think I'll skip the PB2 next time and maybe add a sprinkle of cinnamon!)

1/4c instant mashed potatoes.  (This made me happy!)

I had potatoes again for dinner, but thinned the left over potatoes with a beefy mushroom soup that tasted like gravy.  I was very happy then!

What I've not been posting are the protein shakes I've been drinking.  I've been making sure to get in all my protein by super-packing the 4oz of protein shakes (26g each).  My thought process is that until I can add more protein-rich foods (fish/chicken/etc) that I can at least be sure I'm getting the requirements by making the shakes powerful!

What's On The Menu Post-Surgery?

I tried to drink this when I got home on Friday (5/11), but just couldn't quite get past the grainy texture and vitamin smell... this is Nectar Cherry protien mixed with water and crystal light lemonade.  About 3 oz is all managed.

Breakfast on Saturday (5/12) was an egg!  Oh yeah!

 

 Lunch on Saturday (5/12) was 2 oz of low-fat cottage cheese.

Summer Saute

Tonight's meal is a fast, family favorite - compliments of eMeals.com.  I'm not necessarily endorsing the eMeals program (though Dave Ramsey does!), but it's been a great thing for our family.  Our menu changes weekly and the site even prepares the grocery list!  There's only one meal that we actually could not stomach - threw it in the trash even - but most importantly, we are cooking more at home and saving a LOT of money.  (Let's just say that a week's worth of dinners can be prepared for the same amount CME and I spent for one meal out for date night!)

Summer Saute:  kielbasa, zucchini, onions, tomatoes, garlic salt, oregano and pepper...sauteed and served over rice.  Yum!

Date Night

I just blogged about my date night with CME.  Here's the food that was consumed (though I didn't get pictures of the Frickles!)  It was delicious but... 

Blackened fish (with aioli on the side) and teriyaki broccoli

Classic piña colada

Signature piña colada

Tuesday, April 10

I skipped breakfast today...unless you count my coffee.  (I know!  BAD thing to do!)  Lunch was 6" grilled artichoke sandwich from Penn Station along with a few fresh cut fries split with CME and a Diet Pepsi.

Dinner tonight was a thin-cut balsamic pork chop, 1/2 cup instant mashed potatoes (made with skim milk and 2T margarine), brown sugar and dill steamed carrots and Appletini Crystal Light. 

Easter Fare

I didn't take a picture of all that I ate on Easter...but I must say that it was WAY less than even I had anticipated.  I had one chicken kabob (below) about 1/2 c of broccoli slaw, 2 deviled eggs (1 whole egg) and a tablespoon of cabbage au gratin just to taste something new.  I refrained from the potato salad and hash brown casserole and corn casserole.  And I completely avoided any kind of dessert.  Sweets are my downfall a lot of the time and I was afraid if I started, I'd never stop.  All in all, I eating Easter lunch/dinner a success!

What's Cookin'?

With the surgery rapidly approaching, I better get some pictures posted of things we've been eating recently.  I realize that the days of my Diet Cokes (even these small mini-ones) are about to be a thing of the past too...

Friday night (3/30) - Homemade Ranch Chicken Salad, mini croissant and fresh pineapple.  I determined that this one can be modified to make it healthier by replacing the mayo with Greek yogurt.  Otherwise, not bad at all health-wise.

And yes...those are the small plates and there's STILL room on it.  :)

No, I didn't cook this one, but yum!  Saturday (3/31) - Vegetarian Platter from Manna Mediterranean Restaurant.  Kudos to the owners, Amjad and Kristi, for an awesome place to get authentic Mediterranean food! 

Never in a million years did I think I'd ever stand over the sink peeling shrimp to cook!  But tonight (4/3), I did.  A yummy coconut shrimp bake over brown rice and sauteed asparagus.  I love that our boys eat a variety of food that includes shrimp and asparagus.  The picture might be a bit deceiving because I did have a couple pieces of asparagus as it was cooking - you know, to make sure it was seasoned well and done.  This one is a "do again" according the the family.  If I eat this post-surgery, I'll need to figure out a way to replace the vegetable oil that was used and look at the calories and sugar in the white cooking wine.  Regardless, I'm pretty darn proud that I even made something like this!  

Dinner time...

Something I've started to notice as I'm not eating as large (or multiple) of portions is that we tend to have more leftovers than before.  Tuesday we had "cheater calzones" and Caesar salad and grape crystal light.  We fixed the recipe the way it was written and had enough for 2 meals!  Before, I might would have eaten two of the calzones. 

Tonight we had crockpot chicken over egg noodles, peas and biscuits.  Again...LOTS of chicken leftovers that CME will take for lunch tomorrow.  I didn't go back for seconds.  Well, I did - on the peas - but even after I put them on my plate and started to eat them, I realized that I wasn't even hungry, so I didn't eat them.  Novel concept, huh???  As far as chicken goes...I cannot stand touching raw chicken - it really grosses me out.  I am super-thankful that CME doesn't mind cooking!  The crockpot chicken was a whole chicken that had to be cleaned (and that extra stuff inside removed).  Cooking with whole chickens is so economical!  It really is...but if it wasn't for CME, I'm not sure I'd EVER do it!

Weekend Fare

Looking at what I ate just for supper this weekend, I realize that very soon the amount of food I ate is probably enough food for an entire week immediately after surgery.  Wow.  Just...wow.

Saturday

Pork Roast 

Green Beans in Fat Free Cream of Mushroom Soup

Scalloped Potatoes

Crystal Light

Sunday

Homemade Sweet & Sour Meatballs (93% Lean Ground Beef)

Oriental Stir Fry Veggies

Egg Roll

Diet Coke 

Monday's Meals

Breakfast at work for me usually consists of instant oatmeal.  However, a co-worker decided to make a breakfast casserole this morning and convinced me that the protein would be good for me. (It wasn't a hard sell.)

Lunch included a salad with spinach leaves, carrots, broccoli, zucchini, egg, a little bit of cheese, black beans, sunflower seeds all topped with salsa finished off with a banana.

For dinner, I made southwest turkey burgers (ground turkey plus salsa), with avocado spread (avocado, mayo and garlic) a tomato and a slice of pepper jack cheese.  One serving (11) tortilla chips with salsa and about 1T of the avocado spread.  Peach crystal light to wash it down.  

Oh...and check out our other new, smaller, plates.  

There's a good idea...

CME had a pretty good idea (he has lots of them, really).  He suggested that I start taking pictures of what I'm eating and posting them.  I like the idea for two reasons.  First, it will keep me even more accountable for what I'm eating pre-op, but it will also show the contrast in portion and such post-op.  I don't have a picture of breakfast since I did the "no-no" and skipped it.  I just had coffee.  But for "linner" (lunch/dinner) I made gumbo with kielbasa and shrimp.  So here is my one "serving" of gumbo...which was a heaping ladle full (the equivalent of just over one cup) and small crescent roll.  Plus I had about a cup and half of apple juice.

Oh...and here's a picture of the smaller plates that we bought sitting on top of the larger plates we were using.

  

I'm sure I won't be doing this for every single meal, but I do want to be able to see the difference...especially in the post-op times when regular foods are reintroduced.  We'll see how long I keep this up...but it's a start.