Fruit and Nut Polenta

Polenta for breakfast? That is the same thing I thought but Oh I love polenta. It was almost like having cream of wheat I find it has the same consistency. You can't even seen the polenta in the picture since it was topped with delicious cherries and crushed hazelnuts and a drizzle of agave nectar. Love this one!! I just like the consistency of polenta could see this one again in the near future.
Well it is another gloomy rainy day. I am so tired of saying that. Where is the nice beautiful weather? Will we ever get any? SIGH...
Have strength training and cardio today at the gym. I did my seven mile walk outside yesterday . Have I said that seven miles is a damn long? But I was so proud of myself for pushing threw wanting to quite and finished it in one hour and 30 minutes. I look forward to just the 30 minutes of cardio today. Weight was good today and I am back to where I was last Friday. Sure feels good! I am looking forward to keeping it in control over the weekend and coming in on Monday down or at least the same. Would love to see what kind of weight loss I could get on this new program but I can't really judge it if I can't keep the cheating out. I will be on day four today of my fourteen day run I am attempting to do. I just have to get through the first weekend. I can do this!! It may be a little difficult because my parents are coming into town to see my niece and nephew in play at school. I am sure they will stop by here to visit. But I have all my meals planned for the rest of the week so I just need to follow the plan. I have two more exciting new meals to try today. I look forward to sharing them with you.

Yesterdays Eats

Yesterday for lunch I thought I would try to use up some of the little containers I have in the refrigerator of all kinds of beans I have been trying. I came across a recipe that called for a variety of beans so I thought it would be the perfect recipe to try. The recipe include 3/4 cup of a variety of beans, I used kidney, navy beans and white beans. It had a whole green pepper chopped and garlic. The recipe called for them raw but I cooked mine to make them soft. It also used ketchup, chili powder and maple syrup and served it on two tortillas. I liked it! The sweetness from the syrup and the spiciness from the chili powder made it a great combination.

Today snack I found quite interesting I made this ahead of time so all the flavor could soak in. I didn't put the almonds in until right before serving I wanted them to have a nice crunch and not be soggy. At first I wasn't sure of the combination but as I ate it started to grow on me. I will have to try it again just to be sure. The combination was red grapes, fresh mint, white balsamic vinegar and almonds. You will have to give it a try and let me know what you think.

Doesn't this dinner look yummy? It was quite hesitant on this one but lately I have been on a lot of things for no reason because everything truly has been quite good. Loving that! This was a sandwich which used butter beans as the protein source. I have never heard or eaten a butter beans. When I opened the can I started to have my doubts about this meal. But I kept myself open and am sure glad I did. This recipe was called Fried Beans and Garlic Greens. Along with the beans that I had never had I also was able to try Swiss Chard. This was another recipe that took very little time and was so darn tasty. Since I have left over butter beans and Swiss chard i can see this again in my near future. The adding touch to this sandwich was balsamic vinegar drizzled over the top of the beans and chard it was the perfect touch. If anyone is interested in the recipe let me know and I will forward.

Another wonderful day of eats!!

Dried Cherry and Pistachio Oatmeal

I had planned on having a Granola Berry Parfait for breakfast but I was really missing my oatmeal so I changed it to Dried Cherry and Pistachio Oatmeal. I love oatmeal. This one was just OK in my book. I don't think I would put it among my all time favorites. But it was feeling and hit the spot.

My son thought he would be funny and snap this picture of me in the kitchen after he got home from track. I look quite serious...

I have a great day on new eats to try today. I don't have Strength training today and if the weather holds out from rain I will do my seven mile walk for exercise today. I soaked some black beans last night and I have them cooking on the stove. If it works out well I will probably cook my own bean (cheaper) then buying individual cans.
I was happy getting on the scale this morning I am only up a pound from where I was last Friday so I am thrilled. I plan on trying to stay on course for 14 days (no cheats) and see what happens. So far so good. I am on day three today.

I have always wanted to start a Personal Chef business and I have been kind of stuck moving forward because the first major step is to come up with a name. I am having a hard time with it. My daughter sat down with me yesterday and we attempted to brain storm a name, this is some of our ideas:

Kathi's Wholesome Cuisine

Healthy Done Right

Kathi's Wholesome Alternatives

Wholesome Meals from Kathi's kitchen

Kathi's Kooking Kreations

Kathi's Kooking Kuisine

I would love to hear from any of you who might have a catchy name for me. I so wanted to move forward with this. I know this is one of my passions and what a great idea being able to do something you love!!

A day filled with GREAT eats!!

As you can see by this picture it was steaming hot. This was really good and had a little kick to it. This one was called Beans and Rice with Red chili sauce. I had my daughter try it and she said it was quite good as well. I think my husband would like it minus the green peppers. He isn't a green pepper fan. This was another keeper and quick to prepare as well, got love that.

I had one package of tofu left so I thought I would cook it up for my daughter for lunch since she wasn't working today. She took a picture of the final product. Since I have already planned out my meals for the week I didn't have this one. She said it was great and we are adding it to the list of recipes that I need to get together for her to take off to college. (Note to self start getting this together). The tofu was seasoned with grated fresh ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil, canola oil . It was cooked in the oven. The salad had romaine, cucumber, sliced almonds, Chinese noodles and a lite ginger vinaigrette. I will definitely be having this after I get to my "Happy" weight.

Since I had strength training and cardio I brought a quick snack to have after. This was 1/4 cup of soy nuts and 1 TB raisins. It was actually quite good the sweetness of the raisin help with the dullness of the soy nuts. This a great on the go snack. After my ST and cardio I ran to Trader Joe's (love that store). I had to pick up some Whole Grain Tortilla chips for the new recipe I was trying for dinner and of course a few other things, what can I say I can't help myself.

Tonight dinner was out of this world. Really it was SO good. My husband said he was turned him by all the sounds that were coming from me as I ate it!! LOL! I will definitely have this one again and again. Did I say I loved it? I have to share this recipe with you because you HAVE to give it a try. I can't wait to have it again. This recipe is from The Flexitarian Diet book.

Black Bean Taco Salad

1 lime, juiced

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon cumin

1 clove garlic, minced

dash of salt

3/4 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained

3 cups shredded romaine lettuce

1 tomato, chopped

10 whole-grain tortilla chips, crushed

1/4 avocado, chopped

Whisk together lime juice, oil, cumin, garlic and salt. Toss all ingredients together.

495 calories, 27g fat, 4g saturated fat, 0mg cholesterol, 186mg sodium, 56g carbohydrates, 15g fiber, 15g protein.

I looked forward to some of you trying it and letting me know what you think. I SO loved it!!

Banana-Pecan Waffles

Good Tuesday Morning! It is a cold, rainy and gloomy day here today. Was hoping to do some outside walking today but doesn't look like that will happen. I strength train today at 2:30 so I will plan on doing maybe 45 minutes of cardio today. I was happy to see that the weight is coming back down. I love seeing this because it gives me reassurance for myself that I can regain myself after a slip up and move forward. I can do this!

I can not express how much I have grown the past year. I continue to learn so much about myself that is frightening. I am coming to realize for myself that I am capable of learning what works for me around food. I have always give that power away to others thinking that I am not capable to do it for myself. But I am beginning to learn that I can with the help of two great friends Gale and Micaela. I can't thank you both enough for opening my eyes to what I am capable of. Thank you! I feel like I am looking at another cross road on my ever winding road of my life and standing there trying to decided which way I will take. I feel as my confidence builds in myself that I will choose the road that will bring me great success and fulfillment in my life and that is pretty darn exciting. I am not quite sure if I am ready to take that first step but I know with the great support I have around me that I will take the step with confidence and pride knowing that anything is possible if you are willing to take the risk and possibility of failing. You must realize just because you fail at something does not mean you have not learned something valuable that will bring with a great awareness for yourself and possible opportunities for better things to come into your life. I am beginning to ask myself, Why NOT me? instead of good things can't come to me or won't come for me. Dare to Dream Big!!

Off to breakfast, I decided to try Banana-Pecan Waffles. I was worried that only 1 teaspoon of agave nectar was not going to be enough for two waffles. But with the sweetness of the banana and the crunch of the pecans it was perfect. It was so good! I loved every bite. The house is quiet and I am going to sit and make a list of things I want to accomplish today. Today is a great day for learning and growing and I am feel alive with the possibilities that lie with in me. Live for Today!!

Yesterday Recap

Well yesterday was a extremely busy day and I made sure I was prepared for the day. I had strength training at 10:30 and I knew I was going to do 30 minutes of cardio after and then do all the grocery shopping before heading home. So I packed my lunch to take with me. This is a new one I tried it is so nice because it is easy and quick to prepare and was quite good. I am really finding that I really love beans. This recipe was called : White Bean and Pesto Pita

3/4 cup canned Great Northern Beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 TB prepared pesto
1 whole grain pita pocket, split in half

I like my beans warmed so I headed it up in the microwave and put it in the pita. Mmm good!! It was quite filling and I it was able to get all my shopping done and home to have my mid afternoon snack.


I decided to attempt the Broiled Banana with Walnuts. It doesn't look the most appetizing but it is so quick and simple and by broiling it it brings out the sweetness in the banana and the walnuts give it a nice little crunch. It didn't keep me satisfied long but it did take the edge off so that I could make a delicious and filling dinner.

Tonight's dinner I decided on trying Italian Spaghetti Squash. I have had spaghetti squash in the past and love it so when I saw this recipe I knew that I needed to give it a try, I was not disappointed. It was good an filling and it was my first time cooking with a leek. Very good and it was a enough to get through the evening with out need anything else to eat, gotta love that. All in all I had a great day of eats and was able to get right back in my game after my fall yesterday.

Home Sweet Home

I wanted to make sure that I showed you the delicious pizza I had Friday night. I was a little hesitant to try it since I am not a big lover of black olives and never had goat cheese but it was really good. I plan on having it again this Friday.

I served it up with a bowl of Amy's Tomato Bisque soup, another first for me and it was so good I will be buying that again as well and have it on the grocery list for this week.

My snack on Friday night was a toast banana with walnuts. The banana I had was getting old so I don't think it was quite as good as it could have been. I am going to try it again this week with a fresh banana.

I was a little disappoint in myself yesterday but today is a new day and I am moving on. The scale was up about 5 pounds.. I did good this weekend but as soon as I got home I started eating and couldn't stop. I believe it was a combination of things and I am ready to put it behind me and have a great week of eats. So this morning I started of with french toast topped a fruit .

2 slices of EZ bread

1 whole egg and 2 egg whites

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp pumpkin spice

1/3 cup of frozen mixed berries, thawed

It was quite delicious and great way to start the day. I planned out my meals for the whole week so I am ready to have a successful week. I Strength train today and 10:30 and I will do my 30 minutes of cardio after that. I will pack my lunch have it after then I will head directly to grocery shop. Looks like a busy day for me.

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TGIF!

Happy Friday to Everyone! It is going to be a beautiful day and I am eager to get out and enjoy this day. I wanted to start off and show you what I had last night for a snack. It was apples, cranberries, maple syrup topped with toast oatmeal flakes. I think I browned the oatmeal too much but it was quite good and satisfied my sweet tooth.

This morning I tried a recipe that was made out of 1/2 small potato grated, 1/4 small onion chopped, 1 whole egg and 2 whites and Italian Seasonings along with a small orange. I thought I might want put ketchup on it but I decided not to, trying to keep with the clean eating. It was good and very filling. Another great recipe out of the book.

I came up with a new walking route last night and it should be a long one. There is a website that you can put in your route and it will tell the miles. SO COOL! Here is the link if you want to check it out http://www.mapmyrun.com/ I am enjoy using it. The new route I came up with is seven miles. The new one that I had been doing came out to be five miles. So I could add another two miles today. It is going to be such a nice day I should go out and enjoy it and do something great for my body at the same time. I would much rather do that than go to the gym and do a boring treadmill. Plus it does help to change things up.

The scale was great this morning. I am almost back to what I was before having the surgery. I am feeling great and I think people are curious about this new diet I am trying. I have to say again I am really enjoying and it has been fun experimenting with new foods and so far everything in the book has been quite tasty. I am very excited about the plans I have for eating today and can't wait to share with you.

A day filled with New delicious eats!!

Does this lunch look beautiful? And I have to admit it was so delicious and I am not a big lover of tomatoes but I love roasting them in a little olive oil and brown sugar. They turn out so sweet and delicious. This wonderful lunch was roast tomatoes, fresh basil, 1 ounce of fresh mozzarella, pine nuts (which I forgot) and 2 TB of vinaigrette dressing put inside of a whole wheat ezikiel pita. I was hesitant to try this put I really enjoyed it.

I decided to take a quick and easy snack to take with me to have after my Strength training session. I packed an ounce of pistachios. I was afraid that it wasn't going to keep my full but I did OK and was ready to eat dinner when I got home. I did 30 minutes of cardio after my strength training and then stop on the store for milk and a few things before heading home. I was looking forward to my dinner meal.

I was very excited about trying tonights dinner. It was Polenta Pizza bake. You have to remember all the recipes in the Flexitarian Diet is for one person. So the the above picture is for one person. I was very excited about having to eat that whole thing. I love that you get plenty of food.

Polenta Pizza Bake

2 cups of water

1/2 cup polenta (medium-grind whole-grain cornmeal)

dash of salt and black pepper

cooking spray

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

1/2 cup vegetarian sausage-style crumbles (in frozen or produce department)

2 teaspoon olive oil

1 cup canned no-salt-added crushed tomatoes(not drained)

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons grated part-skim mozzarella cheese

Bring water to a boil, and slowly sprinkle in polenta, salt and black pepper while whisking. Simmer and stir for about 15 minutes (until water is absorbed). Spray an 8-inch casserole dish with cooking spray; then spread polenta evenly on the bottom. Saute garlic, Italian seasoning, and vegetarian crumbles in oil for 3 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and vinegar, and bring to boil. Spoon tomato mixture on polenta, top with cheese. Broil until cheese is golden.

Some people might not like this because the polenta has the consistency of cream of wheat. I love that texture so I fully enjoyed it.

If I am hungry later I plan on trying Apple and Cranberry Skillet Crisp. If I don't get a chance to post a picture tonight I will do it tomorrow morning when I show you breakfast.

I had a great day of eats and am so proud of myself for bouncing right back from my episode yesterday. Now that is what I call progress. I was able to get in quite a bit of exercise today as well.

Vanilla -Date Oatmeal

Good Morning!! It is going to be another beautiful day and I am looking forward to getting out and having a nice walk this morning.

I am feeling good about getting back on track today and started my morning off with a wonderful bowl of oatmeal, which I love!! This morning I decided to try Vanilla-Date Oatmeal. Mmmm!! Love this one but I love dates!!

Vanilla-Date Oatmeal

1 cup of skim milk or soy milk (I used Almond Breeze)

1/2 cup oats

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp honey

2 dates chopped

This tasted much sweeter to me maybe it is because of the dates. Cooking the oats in the milk instead of water it much creamier and delicious.

As I was sitting here catching up on some blogs (Abby's) something occurred to me that I want to start looking into. Although I have made great progress with my eating this past week, by entering not only variety into my diet but also complex carbs I still find myself very rigid and structured. I do feel like I had to be that way when I had SO much weight to lose but I am at a different place now. I can begin to start truly listening to my body and figuring out what it is that it wants and do that in a healthy controlled way. As I reflect back on what occurred yesterday with the binging episode I am wondering if I would have truly listened to what I was wanting could the result been different. Instead of having the thinking that I planned on having the pita chips and nothing else and worry about the calorie totals for the day could I have said I am craving something sweet or I want cereal or I want fruit. Just letting myself have a small portion and be OK with it. I do know that I am an all or nothing person but I also now that I am a strong, independent, strong willed person that is capable of conquering this. I am excited about the challenge and I will not let it defeat me. What a different outlook even from yesterday. Now that is growth!! I have to admit I am excited about this journey of discovery.

I also made some great progress yesterday in the job avenue. I finished my resume yesterday with my husbands help and applied for two job yesterday evening. I have mixed emotions about the whole process and that is OK. I need to move and grow and that doesn't happen sitting in self doubt. The great thing is that I can try anything and if I don't like I don't have to continue to do it. I can say that is not for me and move on. Will look into more job opportunities today.

Have my training session at 2:30. Although initial I was afraid of what the scale was going to say this morning. I was up about two pounds and I can truly except that and move on. In the past I would have felt like a failure and worried about what Dick would say but not now not today. Did I have bump in the road? Yes but it isn't the end of the road it is just and obstacle that I must over come to grow and learn. I am so damn proud of myself these days. I am feeling good about my life!!

Another bump in the road!

Yesterday for lunch I decided to try pinto bean tacos. They may not look to appealing but they were quite good. What I like is that they are so quick and easy. Not much thought and time is involved.

I did end up going for my new walking route yesterday. I haven't yet clocked it to see how much more miles I added. I was disappointed because I thought it would take me a little longer than it did. With the additional route it only took me an additional 10 minutes. But I had a nice sweat when I got back and I knew that I had did something great for my body.

I had a slip up in the eating yesterday afternoon. I have to admit I was so disappointed in myself and I wanted to feel sorry for myself and give up in defeat. But as I thought about it that evening I decided that I was going to be a warrior, I was not going to let this defeat me. I was going to move forward learn what I can from the slip up and ended up having a wonderful whole wheat pasta with lemon, garlic, light butter, whole wheat pasta, spinach and pine nuts. It was quite delicious and I wouldn't mind having that one again.

I decided that some times in the late afternoon I have difficult with my eating. Not sure why but I guess it doesn't really matter I just need to figure out how I want to handle it. So I decided that I would have a nice big salad in the late afternoon. Not only will this be filling bitut it will be low in calorie as long as I am careful what I put on it. But how could I go wrong with a big plate of wonderful green veggies. I have to admit I am very proud of myself for coming up with a solution. This is truly progress in my eyes and something I should be proud of for thinking about and actually coming up with a idea to prevent it from occurring today. I am growing!!

Pumpkin-Spice Oatmeal with Hazelnuts

Good Morning! It is nice to see the sun out today and I think we are suppose to be in for some warmer nicer weather today! Finally! I was thinking about heading to the gym this morning but if it is nice enough maybe I will try my new walking route I want to try instead. Well this morning I tried a recipe for Pumpkin-Spice Oatmeal with Hazelnuts.

I nice big bowl of oatmeal something I truly love and it seems to keep me full for quite a while. So the recipe was:

1/2 cup skim milk or soy milk (I used almond breeze)
1/2 cup water
1/2 rolled oats
1/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon pie spice(apple or pumpkin)
1 tablespoon chopped hazlenuts
2 teaspoons agave nectar

It was pretty good. I am still adjusting to not wanting to add more sweetness but I am hoping with time it will get easier. Have all my meals planned out for the day and I am eager to try some of the new things I have planned for today.
The scale was quite nice to me this morning and it gives me some reassurance with adding all the carbs to my diet. I do think my trainer, Dick is interested also to see how this works out for me. He is so old school when it comes to the diet. He was giving me a hard time about it yesterday but I am going to stick my ground and see how this works for me. So far so good and I am truly enjoying it. I also think this will be good if I ever take on more clients that are vegetarian. If I have actually walked in there shoes what a true blessing for them and myself. I am keeping myself open to all kinds of possibilities.

Yesterday Eats!!

I had some time on my hands yesterday morning so I had the perfect opportunity to do what I love, create with food. What can I say I LOVE it! I had some cauliflower in the refrigerator that was going to go bad so I searched for a recipe that I use it in. I came across a recipe for Cauliflower Fritters. It interested me so I thought I would give it a try. The batter was a mix of cauliflower, garlic, wheat flour and eggs. Then you cooked it in a little olive oil. Since I have no idea what fritters are suppose to look like not sure if they turned out or not. But these are how mine turned out below.

They were quite tasty and I thought they kind of resembled a hash brown. So I froze the rest and thought I would pull them out and serve them as a side with my eggs some morning. Hubby and daughter tried them too and said they were good. Not sure if they were just saying that to make me happy or if they truly like them. Guess it doesn't matter. I will enjoy them.

So instead of the apple I was going to have along with my Boca burger I decided to have one of the fritters. I love the Boca burgers it hit the spot. I put it on top of Arnolds Select Thin and topped it with cheese and shredded cabbage that I added a little plain low fat yogurt and Dijon mustard. I nice satisfying lunch. I had a great training session in the afternoon and packed along a protein muffin. I will have to remember to take a picture next time I have it. It is quite good and a nice snack to throw in my gym bag or purse for a quick snack.

Tonight's dinner I decided to experiment with a grain called, Millet. I had never heard of it before and I was curious about giving it a try. According to the Flexitarian Diet book, Millet is a tiny delicate grain that easily takes on the flavor of what it is cooked with. It can have two distinct textures: if millet is just left alone and not stirred during simmering, the grain will be separate like rice, but if you stir it while it is cooking, it will become creamy - almost like mashed potatoes. How cool is that? I am excited about doing some stuff with this grain. Tonight I made it like rice as you can see above.

I topped it off with a mixture of garlic, cumin, various colored diced bell peppers, onion, black beans, lime juice and chopped cilantro. It was quite delicious and so filling. What is nice about this diet it that you get quite a bit of food and it is so darn filling. Loving that. I am excited about what tomorrow eats will be. Stay tuned for more Flexitarian ideas!!

Good Morning!!

Good Tuesday morning to everyone! Another cold gloomy day here today. When is it going to be nice? I think it is suppose to begin warming up tomorrow. I am looking forward to nicer weather so I can get to taking my long walks outside. I have a new route I would like to take maybe I can attempt it tomorrow or Thursday.

Today I thought I would try brown rice for breakfast. I saw this recipe and I thought it might be quite interesting to try brown rice instead of oats for breakfast. It was quite delicious. I made a big batch of brown rice yesterday so all I had to do was measure out my portion and put it in the microwave. I really enjoyed it.

The breakfast included:

3/4 cup brown rice
3 dried apricot chopped
2 tablespoons sliced almonds (all I had was slivered)
1 teaspoon maple syrup

It was quite tasty the sweetness from the syrup and the apricots along with the crunch from the almond was quite good.

I have all my meals planned out for the day and I will try millet tonight for dinner, which I am excited about.

Yesterday on my food shopping outing I pick up a lot of different type of grains that I would like to try. It was quite nice at Whole Foods you could buy them by the pound so I was able to get a little of each one I want to try for quite cheap they range about 50 cents for each one. Note: that is just enough for myself and not my family. Not sure how open my 18 year old son would be to this type of eating. Hubby would be game so might have more fun experimenting with food when the kids are both of to college in the fall. Isn't my hubby lucky? I hope he is ready.

Have strength training and my cardio session this afternoon. Think I will make the turkey meatball this morning for the boys dinner tonight. They will be having meatball subs for dinner. My son should be happy with that and last time I made them with turkey he really enjoyed them. Maybe I can convert him some day! :) I hate to think what he will be eating once he heads off to college. SIGH...

Yesterday Eats

Yesterday I had a busy day of Strength training, cardio and then some food shopping with my girlfriend Gale. So I had some leftover Summer Kale Salad and Balsamic Tofu and threw that in a container for a quick and easy lunch. It had been sitting in the refrigerator and I as worried about how it would be, it was fabulous. Love it!!

After getting home from my day I had a snack of Wasa Cracker and a slice of 2% Swiss Cheese. It wasn't quite enough food and I found that I was still hungry. Not sure if the salad wasn't quite enough food for lunch or what. At first I panicked and was going to try to hold off for dinner. Afraid of what might happen if I did that I decided on a piece of string cheese and two clementines. That seems to feed the hungry beast in me and I was able to make in until dinner. I was very proud of how I handled that situation and it gave me some confidence that I am capable of handling a situation like that again in the future.

Dinner last night was a Black, tomato omelet. I was a little nervous about having an omelet with these types of ingredients but I was so pleasantly surprised. It was quite tasty and I was able to attempt to get rid of some stuff in the refrigerator. I would definitely have this again.

I had my book group last night so I brought a mixture of Greek yogurt, cocoa powder and agave nectar for my evening snack. It was OK but wouldn't say it was my favorite.

All in all I had a great day and am feeling great. I decided that I am not going to have any meat for 7 days so I have three days to go. I am so enjoying this journey of discovery for myself.

Gloomy Monday Morning

Well it is a very Gloomy Monday Morning and it is day that I would like just sit around in my PJ's and read a good book.

But I am up and ready to start the day. Decided to start of the day with a bowl of oatmeal. I put 2 TB of raisins and 1 TB of my homemade almond butter on top. It was quite good and I didn't seem to miss the sweetness in the oatmeal like I did the other day.

I have my Strength Training Session today at 10:30 and then I will do my 30 minutes of cardio.

Gale is going to meet me at the gym and we are going to run to Costco. She isn't a member and I am so she wants to pick up a few things. If I have time I want to run over to Whole Foods, LOVE that store.

I have to admit I was SO disappointed when I got on the scale this morning. The scale was up two pound since yesterday. I have to keep telling myself it is OK. I feel great and I don't want to sabotage my great gains that I have made the last few days. I decided that I would reflect on my weight from a week ago. Last Monday I weighed 157 and today I was 154 so all is good.

Recap from Sunday

I didn't get to finish posting yesterday eats so thought I would do that before I move on to today's plan. For lunch yesterday I start off with two La Tortilla small tortillas. These are great and only 50 calories per tortilla and loaded with fiber

I then proceeded to add 3/4 cup of black beans mushed with quarter avocado and 1/4 cup of salsa and 1/2 tsp cumin.

Spread the mixture in the two tortillas!!

They were quite delicious and so filling!! What I liked about it is the fact that it was very quick and easy. Will definitely have this one again. And I didn't even miss the cheese and sour cream.

We proceeded to go grocery shopping after lunch in the miserable rainy day. Got some delicious eat and was home in time to have a nice afternoon snack.

Snack today was Fage 0% Greek yogurt with 1 TB of 100% whole maple syrup and a couple of spiced pecans on top. This was SO good. It was creamy and delicious. Just hit the spot.

For dinner decided to try a recipe out of the Flexitarian diet. It was a chili. I could not believe how much it made. What is nice about the recipes in the book is that they are all one serving. This bowl was HUGE!! It was so filling and SO spicy. I definitely was able to get my water in today after eating that.

Snack tonight was 5 dates filled each with one almond. Oh was this delicious. I don't think I have eaten dates. It was so sweet and I think now that I know that I love them it will be great to have when the sweet tooth is upon me.

It was a great day of eating and I had no problems what so every. I went all weekend with out eating meat. I am surprised that is had not been that difficult and I have been so satisfied.

Sunday

What starts the day of right ? A nice bowl of oatmeal. Something I truly enjoy and have missed deeply since I did the low carb diet this past year. This morning it was oatmeal blended with a half of banana and topped with walnuts!

It tasted very similar to a banana muffin with less calories and sugar. I have admit I think I am still detoxing from sugar. Although the oatmeal was good I am so use to filling it will sugar (brown). But I am continuing to focus on natural and no processed garbage in my body.

Looks like it is going to be a gloomy day so as soon as I am done blogging I am going to start working on getting the graduation announcements done. I have been putting it off WAY to long and it is next month for goodness sakes. So that is my number one project today. I also want to get all the floors mopped.

Will check back in later with pics from lunch.