Wednesday, 22 May 2013

BREAKFAST

First, apologies but today is a very busy day so there will be no photos. On the plus side I'll be eating things I've eaten recently so you've seen it all before!

Breakfast was a bowl of granola with fresh blueberries, dollop of plain soy yogurt and a drizzle of maple syrup (photo on post 2 days back). Cup of coffee. 

293 calories.

LUNCH

My 3 Bean Salad with a Lemon Dill Vinaigrette in romaine leaves (photo on yesterday's post). I was able to get 3 rolls today using the smaller inside leaves. It wrapped ok but not great, really wish they did though as that bean salad in the leaves is stunning!! Later on I had a cup of coffee.

302 calories.

DINNER

I got home late-ish from another hospital appointment. Before I left I got some tofu marinating so I could whip up my tofu scramble once I got home. Had it with the usual slice of wholemeal toast with sunflower spread and a "non-fat" grilled portabello mushroom (photo on almost every day for the past week and a half, lol)

266 calories.

EVENING

I finished off those chili cornrolls from last night, again dipped into some reduced fat houmous (photo on yesterday's post).
260 calories.

Calories for the Day = 1121

Tuesday, 21 May 2013

BREAKFAST

Same as yesterday: bowl of granola with fresh blueberries, plain soy yogurt and a drizzle of maple syrup with a cup of coffee.
299 calories.

Today I tried Tesco's new plain soy yogurt - I usually use Alpro, Provamel or Soyjade (basically whatever I can find) and this is right up there with them. It's thick and creamy BUT not as smooth as the others, no matter how much I stirred there was little tiny bumps but these were not felt while eating. 

I love that it's completely unsweetened as I prefer to sweeten plain soy yogurt myself with some maple syrup and that makes this perfect for savoury dishes like my curried potato salad. I really thought this was going to taste all beany but it doesn't, it's just like the others. Altogether very happy with it, further props for it being fortified with calcium :-)

LUNCH

Ok, ok a break from the tofu scrambles, lol - I had half a tin of flageolet beans leftover from dinner last night and was thinking I haven't made my 3 bean salad with lemon dill vinaigrette in AGES! This is usually because I almost never have green beans in the house, but I did today!

 I also had some nice large romaine leaves in so thought I would give this the curried potato salad treatment and wrap it up in the leaf. 

My first one wrapped up fine and is in the background there, but the second one wouldn't wrap up. These leaves were quite mature/thick and thus not happy to be rolled up - it kept breaking. 
Still, the first one rolled up and this salad is absolutely gorgeous wrapped up in lettuce!! The dressing just went perfectly with it and it was surprisingly easy to eat, I thought all the little beans would fall out but they didn't. The second one I just ate open faced style with a knife and fork and it was equally good.
292 calories. 

AFTERNOON

Small slice of dairy free brown soda bread spread with peanut butter. Cup of coffee.
147 calories.

DINNER

lol - I promise there was a lot more kale in this, hidden underneath! Looks like I added just 2 tiny leaves, haha - food styling fail.
Udon noodles, Portabella mushrooms and Kale in a Miso Broth - a slight variation of the one in Veganomicon that calls for shiitake. Love this, another one I haven't had in ages!
321 calories.

EVENING

 We picked up these organic and gluten free Amaizin Chili Cornrolls at the Quay Co-op on the weekend and I felt like something crunchy/savoury/snacky so gave them a go. 

I had mine with some reduced fat houmous to dip into, a little unconventional perhaps but they went well together. I really liked them but it seems I'm the only one in the house who does - neither my husband or son were too keen. Nice crunchy corn with a good spiced chili, almost slightly curry like I think. Anyway, I like 'em!
221 calories.

Calories for the Day = 1280

Monday, 20 May 2013

BREAKFAST

Bowl of granola with fresh blueberries, plain soy yogurt and a drizzle of maple syrup. Cup of coffee.

The granola I've used here is Kellogg's new Crunchy Nut Glorious Oat Granola with mixed fruits, hazelnuts and almonds. I don't have official word that it is vegan as it's so new it's not on their website but there is nothing questionable in the ingredients - no honey, no vitamin D, no milk or egg listed in the allergy section (not even "may contain") and it's labelled suitable for vegetarians. So, it all seems fine to me...and it's very, very good - one of the better store bought granola I've had.
 (Probably because it's sweet which suits my tastes more!) 
Oh, and the blueberries went perfectly with it - essential even :-)

290 calories.

LUNCH

Yup! I'm back on the tofu scrambles, lol, sorry if it's getting boring seeing the same lunch over and over. I just really can't get enough of it! 

Still, I'm not really helping the cliché that vegans live off tofu scrambles am I?? Well, when they taste this good, who cares!! haha :-) 

Once again, I doubled the amount of tofu in my recipe as I'm using a softer tofu these days, omitted the spinach and added some chopped fresh basil and I had  a slice of wholemeal toast with sunflower spread and a "non-fat grilled" portabella mushroom with it.

266 calories.

AFTERNOON SNACK

Big bowl of fresh cherries and a cup of coffee. So happy to see these at Tesco - I LOVE cherries :-)

113 calories.

DINNER

I made the Kale and Flageolet Bean Stew served with some fresh from the oven par baked baguette with sunflower spread. Lovely! Had an espresso afterwards as well.
345 calories.

EVENING

A slice of dairy free brown soda bread spread with peanut butter and a cup of peppermint tea.
135 calories.

Calories for the Day = 1149

Sunday, 19 May 2013

BREAKFAST

 We had some pancakes leftover from yesterday so I had just 1 heated up with strawberries, raspberries, pineapple and maple syrup. Cup of coffee.

221 calories.

MORNING SNACK

We were heading out for a 4 mile forest walk this morning and I felt my tiny breakfast wouldn't really cut it, so I had a banana and a pot of Tesco Lemon Soy Yogurt.

163 calories.

It's a great place nearby, almost magical! Finn loved the forest teepee and you can just see me walking on the mossy stone hedge there. Hopefully this will become a Sunday tradition (weather pending!)

LUNCH

Got home just in time for lunch and was quite hungry! Made the Mediterranean Couscous Wrap (actually using a wrap today, but a small one instead) with avocado, black olives, lettuce and basil but I didn't grill it and I used the chilli sauce instead of the balsamic glaze. A lovely variation - and there is no picture as I was too hungry!! Also had a cup of coffee.

294 calories.

AFTERNOON SNACK

Small bowl of fresh cherries.
32 calories.

DINNER

Jacket potato, Batchelor's brand curried baked beans, grilled portabella mushroom and broccoli - nice and easy! We've been having variations of this dinner so much lately as my son has gone jacket potato mad! This is the first time I've tried the curried baked beans and they went really well with the potato, better than regular baked beans I think as they are less sweet, think we'll always use them in a jacket potato from now on. Had an espresso afterwards.

320 calories.

EVENING SNACK

Slice of dairy free brown soda bread spread with peanut butter. Cup of peppermint tea.
123 calories.

Calories for the Day = 1153

Saturday, 18 May 2013

BREAKFAST

 Even dieting I'm going to have a Saturday morning pancake breakast! Kept it a bit lighter by adding some fresh fruit and using about half the amount of maple syrup I would normally use :-)

I had 2 pancakes with sunflower spread, fresh strawberries, raspberries and pineapple and the maple syrup. Cup of coffee.

380 calories.

LUNCH

 Ok. These photos are not doing these any justice but they were absolutely delicious! I fancied my Mediterranean Couscous Wraps but thought I would reduce the calories by wrapping them in romaine leaves instead. So there is mashed avocado, cooled couscous, fresh basil and black olives in there. I wrapped them up as best I could but the romaine leaves I had left were tiny!! I then had them with Blue Dragon's Chilli and Garlic sauce instead of the balsamic glaze (like I use in the Couscous Salad Wraps)
Again, they were incredible but absolutely tiny and that plate above was only 101 calories.

So I went back for more but this time the leaves really were too small to wrap so I just had them open face style - both ways are good but I can't wait to try these again with some good sized romaine leaves!! Also had a cup of coffee afterwards.
223 calories for the whole lunch.

AFTERNOON

We were out shopping in Cork and had to pop into the Quay Co-op for some essentials. I was actually finding today very warm and was so happy to see they have started stocking the individual size takeaway portions of Booja Booja Hunky Punky Chocolate Ice Cream again....best vegan chocolate ice cream ever. It even comes with a little spoon so you can stuff your face in the car!
How do they do this with only 4 ingredients? Water, raw agave syrup, cashew nuts and cocoa powder - that's it!! AND I find it tastes a lot like fudgesicles which I used to love as child and their ingredients are: nonfat milk, sugar, corn syrup, whey, high fructose corn syrup, water, palm oil, cocoa processed with alkali, tricalcium phosphate, mono and diglycerides, cellulose gum, guar gum, malt powder, salt, polysorbate 80, polysorbate 65, carrageenan - YIKES!! I know what I would prefer to eat. 
(For the record, it tastes miles better than fudgesicles, there's just a memory link there for me.)
162 calories for the 110ml tub.

DINNER

I had a bag of sugar snap peas lurking in the fridge so opted for a simple stir fry with jasmine rice, shallots, sugar snap peas and chickpeas. Flavoured with garlic and soy sauce. Nice and simple!
330 calories.

EVENING

Well, it's Eurovision night!!! I love it and usually like to go all out but my current highly restrictive calorie controlled diet wouldn't allow it :-( Like last year we drew countries - I got Russia, husband got Malta and my son Azerbaijan but I didn't make snacks and drinks for each country.
Still, I had 500ml of Leffe ale and a bag of those Cofresh Creamy Dill Chips I love so much.
....and my son won! Azerbajian got second and so he was the top winner in the house. We all put 10 euro into the pot so he won 30 euro - a really fun night!

428 calories - see what drinking does to your diet kids?!?! lol

Calories for the Day = 1523
Sure, it's over my current limits but to end up at only that on Eurovision night is an epic win for me!! haha..

Foto Friday, 17 May 2013

BREAKFAST

Another lovely fruit salad :-) Fresh pineapple, banana, strawberries, kiwi, blueberries, oranges and raspberries with a dollop of plain soy yogurt and a drizzle of maple syrup. Cup of coffee.

204 calories.

LUNCH

I was craving avocado big time and thankfully we had some perfectly ripe ones ready to go. I was debating whether or not to have 2 slices of wholemeal toast but decided as it was the avocado I really wanted that I would just have 1 slice and LOAD it with avocado. 
I spread the toast with sunflower spread and sprinkled a little smoked sea salt and freshly ground black pepper on top of the avocado. Gorgeous! I also had a glass of orange juice with it.

270 calories.

DINNER

Well, I found some corn on the cob I purchased a while back, now past it's best before date. I don't pay much attention to those but felt they probably should be eaten! 

I also had a bit of cabbage left from the last time I made coleslaw so I made another batch of it. My husband LOVES this coleslaw by the way, says he could eat nothing but bowls of the stuff :-) It really is very good. 

I did think of adding some vegan sausages or something of the like to this but opted instead to save the calories for more of the coleslaw which is in no way a low calorie version - the dressing is made entirely from full fat vegan mayo. It's what makes it so good :-) It was still a satisfying meal and of course I also slathered the corn with sunflower spread and a good sprinkling of salt. Essential. I also had a cup of coffee afterwards.
310 calories.

EVENING

A 125ml glass of red wine with a couple tea sandwiches (1/2 a regular sandwich) with one of my favourite sandwich fillers: houmous, finely chopped spring onion and sun-dried tomatoes on white bread with sunflower spread. 
Also in the photo there is a bag of sweet chilli Sun-Bites but I only ended up eating half of that.
Later on I had another 125ml glass of red wine.
394 calories.

Calories for the Day = 1178

....AND I can say that after my first week of lower calorie eating and my attempt to lose 2 pounds a week I have indeed lost......2.5 pounds this week! 
I am aiming for eating around 1200 cal/day and walking off 200 calories a day. I'm feeling great and already much fitter, yay! Just 8 more pounds to go before holidays :-)

Thursday, 16 May 2013

BREAKFAST

I had a toasted red onion and chive bagel with sunflower spread. Been awhile since I had bread for breakfast and it felt decadent!

Cup of coffee.

334 calories.

LUNCH

Last of the tofu! Remember, I'm the only one in the house who likes tofu so when I open a pack I've got to eat it all. Not that I'm complaining....I'm clearly loving this scramble lately! 

Like yesterday I had the scramble with asparagus, a big flat mushroom and a slice of wholemeal toast with sunflower spread. (Photo on yesterday's post.)
Cup of coffee.

267 calories.

AFTERNOON

A bowl of fresh pineapple and blueberries with plain soy yogurt and a drizzle of maple syrup.

Cup of coffee.
131 calories.

DINNER

Large jacket potato with baked beans and some broccoli on the side.
355 calories.

EVENING

A large slice of French bread with sunflower spread and houmous. Glass of red wine.
260 calories.

Calories for the Day = 1347