Healthy Dinner Club-Weekly Event

A small gathering has been occurring in my home ever since my luxurious week off from work – it is Healthy Dinner Night.  So my love for entertaining has melded with my love for nutrition.  I gather meal ideas from various sources.  Last week I turned a high calorie comfort food meat loaf into a lean entrée by using lean ground turkey and vegetables to add flavor.  Packaged gravy (I have yet to experiment with some homemade dry mixes but that will come soon.), “caramelized” onions and healthier whipped potatoes rounded out the meal.  A mixed green salad has been a staple to our dinners for the extra vegetables.  Last week we had the additional item of a dessert which isn’t our normal course but was very welcome.  The truly dedicated to the healthful lifestyle changes opted to skip on the whipped potatoes in order to enjoy a dessert.  These evenings are about enjoying a healthful meal by trying some new healthful recipes, updating household favorites to be more nutritious and practicing portion control with all our foods.  As an old hat at practicing portion control, it’s definitely easier to enjoy abundance when the meal is healthful as the ingredients lend themselves to providing a more satisfying meal.

 Today's culinary treat is a Carrot Ginger Soup as it is something that will sit well before my evening workout.  A mixed green salad topped with homemade egg salad and a glass of milk will serve as my post-workout meal.  I'm already feeling the calorie burn from the anticipated run tonight.

Tomorrow, I will be trying a new recipe that I found on Pinterest- Sweet and Spicy Salmon Kabobs with a chickpea salad recipe from Cooking Light.  The fresh herbs from the garden have not only made this meal economical (saving the $ splurge for the salmon purchase) but also provide improved flavors. 

 

Menu

Sweet and Spicy Salmon Kabobs

Chickpea and Olive Salad

Mixed Green Salad

Wine (Optional)

 

Mission skinny gourmand is going excellently well on all fronts.  I finally feel over the virus that accompanied me from Las Vegas so it’s day two of resuming physical activity. 

Why Skip? Working Out is the Thing to Do!

Studies have shown that moderate levels of physical activity can alleviate mild to moderate levels of depression. Even with squeezing in a workout into my day yesterday, I could feel the difference.  Yesterday was a day of nausea, headaches and a back to back schedule that started before 8 am and would last beyond 10 in the evening.  So there was that brief time while I was sweating away on the elliptical that I felt pretty good considering what I was battling.  I’ve heard the reports that it’s better to rest than exercise at times.  I am a firm believer in giving my body rest when it needs it but yesterday was a day when my body obviously needed the physical exertion more than a nap.  When I start my day with a great workout, everything feels better. 

 

My Benefits from Physical Activity

More Energy

Positive Body Image

Positive Outlook

Weight Loss

Improved Strength, Balance and Flexibility

Better Quality of Sleep

 

So as more travel plans approach and I will be working on making healthful food choices while away from home, I have the next few days to log in as many workouts as I can manage.  I’m looking forward to reporting back on the opportunities for healthful eating during travel.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Carbs

I am surrounded by what has been declared enemy number one - carbs. And even though I'm surrounded by friends whom have sworn off bread, I simply refuse. I am not physically or psychologically satisfied by a meal without some form of carbohydrate. Carbohydrates fuel my workouts. I've tried some modifications with increasing protein and decreasing carbs to the detriment of my performance so I'm standing firm- I won't give these up. With that in mind, I do focus on the healthier choices such as unsweetened fruits, whole grains, legumes/beans and unprocessed foods. It's become very important to me that my meals are beautifully presented to appeal to feeding my soul as much as appealing to my health goals.

This week -

Turkey Green Chili Stew with Beans and a side of Corn Tortillas (I use the Las Cruces brand which are thinner than some other brands)

Fish Tacos (baked shells) with tomatillo salsa, Spinach Salad

Baked Chicken, Homemade Mashed Potatoes, and Mushrooms with Gravy (the gravy is loaded with more mushrooms than gravy and makes a great way to top the potatoes)

Next Week

Carrot Ginger Soup topped with Spicy Scallops and a side of Spinach Salad with Fresh Berries

Spring Rolls with Salmon and a side salad of Carrot Cucumber Sesame Salad

I'm already looking forward to the beautiful plates ahead.

Scarrrrrry Deadlines - Halloween Approaches

Weight competition deadline looms. I have six (6) weeks until the final weigh-in to make a difference. Social activities are dominating my schedule and derailing my well laid plans. Today's focus is planning ahead for those activities. Today, I will be squeezing in my 500 kcal workout into my day. A full workday is followed by a neighborhood meeting and then a social activity. Instead of giving up on my workout (nausea and a headache kept me from completing a morning workout), I'm getting to the gym immediately after my 3 pm meeting but before my 5:30 commitment.

 

What it took to make this work?

1) I packed up a change of clothes, water, gym ID to take with me to work.

2) I took a snack (carrot juice) to drink while at my meeting so that I could fuel my workout.

3) I have leftovers at home ready for a quick dinner before my evening commitments. This ensures that I don't counteract my workout with unhealthful eating.

 

My gym is located closer to the location of my afternoon meeting so having my gym pack ready means that I’m not wasting time driving when I could be exercising.  This has the added advantage that I will be exercising during the busiest driving times in my neighborhood.  Avoiding rush hour traffic is a stress reduction activity all on its own.  The carrot juice (giving half the calories of fruit juices but satisfyingly sweet) means I’m not digesting solids when I’m ready to get going on my workout.  The biggest accomplishment today was not ordering a deliciously calorie laden beverage during our coffee run at the office.  Most chain coffee houses provide their nutrition facts which help us all make better choices when away from home.  I’ll definitely be tested this evening at the theater – I’m hoping that the popcorn smells awful to help with my resistance.  Either way, I’ll be filling up on water flavored with ginger and lemon.

Someone Put SPINACH in my Smoothie!

I have several nutrition student, dietetic interns and clients who will all be so very proud that there was spinach in my smoothie this morning.  The reason for there being spinach was quite simple - smoothie was my breakfast plan and yesturday I purchased a large container of organic spinach.  Verdict - not bad.

Smoothie

1 cup Whole Strawberries
3/4 cup Unsweetened Almond Milk
6 fl oz Homemade Yogurt
1 cup Fresh Spinach
Ice

I threw everything into my Vitamix and minutes later, breakast was ready to enjoy.  I served it over ice as I had been forwarned that the spinach would not be as pleasant if the beverage was warm or not consumed fairly quickly.  Truth be told, I couldn't taste the spinach so my hesitation while drinking it was mostly psychological.  This recipe now represents one more way for me to get more vegetables into my day.

Happy Labor Day

Labor day - while more representative of idle than labor- has been a wonderful day from a culinary standpoint. First, I was thrilled at the sale on potatoes as it inspired the day's culinary recreation. For less than $1, I have made a pot of Potage Parmentier (a glorious name which means Leek or Onion and Potato Soup). Potatoes were on sale for less than a dollar for 10 pounds. Chicken quarters were also on sale for less than $.40 per pound. So lunch was comprised of a luxurious potato soup topped with fresh chives from the garden and roasted chicken. I was amazed at how something so simple could taste so wonderful and it was a prime example of taking advantage of sales to inspire new recipes for the home. The main trade off was time - the selected recipe was low calorie (less than 200 calories for a generous serving topped with roasted chicken), economical and full of great flavor but it did take almost an hour to prepare from start to finish. While there was only about 10-15 minutes of hands on time, the aroma's gracing my kitchen for the 45-55 minutes of chicken quarters baking and soup simmering prompted a low growl from my stomach.

I waited for the final results and let me tell you that it was completely worth the wait.

Pictured above are the results of today's shopping trip. I had a few splurges such as the extra firm organic tofu, organic fresh baby spinach and bok choy. The splurges were balanced by the cost savings on the chicken, potatoes, onions and garden harvested goodies. This recipe will definitely make it into my low cost meal collection as well as the Skinny Gourmand meal plan.

 

Healthful Dinner Club

It was a great night for the healthful dinner club.

Menu:

Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas

Calabacitas

Water and Assorted Drink Options

This was our second weekly dinner night. Unlike many gatherings that include food, this evening is geared towards awakening the palate with foods that are good for us both in terms of nutrition as well as flavor.

Rules for Healthful Meal Preparation:

1) Start with portion control

2) Make your favorite recipes more healthful

3) Enjoy your meals

I'm not the biggest fan of following recipes but recipes are a great tool for beginning cooks. My strategy is to control the ingredients being utilized from the onset of meal preparation. For example, if the meal is intended for 4 servings (be that for 4 people or for 2 people with 2 servings planned as leftovers) I make sure that the amount of protein being added stays within recommended portions. So if a palm sized portion is recommended per person, which equals 1 pound of protein for the meal when serving 4 portions. When you start with portion control, you will have an easier time controlling your portions when meal time arrives.

For myself, I have some no fail meals that I love to prepare. It's chili harvesting time here in New Mexico thus the Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas. Enchiladas are notoriously high in fat due to the frying of the tortillas, the high fat cheese in large portions and the possible smothering of sour cream and/or cream soups used in the preparation. The changes that made this dish a healthful meal included, not frying the tortilla, no cream soups added (traditional enchiladas don’t' have the cream soups so this made the dish more authentic) and lean chicken used as the protein. I topped the enchiladas with mozzarella cheese so as to get the best advantage of the cheese flavor.

The company meant a divided focus on eating and conversation. I slow down my eating when in good company so this is a great strategy for me. Some people eat more with company so you have to know yourself and what environments trigger overeating for you.

I am looking forward to many more healthful recipes, all of which are making it into the Healthful Dinner Club Recipe Collection. Next week, I'm trying out a Chickpea salad with Provencal Herbs and Olives which I discovered on Cooking Light's web site as a side dish. The main entree will be my own recipe for Ginger Beef Sticks. Stay tuned for more ideas for making healthful eating a true culinary experience. I loved the name the Skinny Gourmet but that was taken. If you have some other ideas for our theme meals, let me know.