Lunch is Served, Ma'dam...

(In an old English butler tone) Lunch is served, ma'dam...

If only I had someone to make my meals. Sure it's easy for the celebrities to eat healthy, they have the funds to pay someone else to do it. Hell, they usually pay someone else to watch their children! I don't have the funds and it does take time. But the real myth buster? It's cheaper to eat at home. I have to go grocery shopping more often but I'm spending less. Why? Because I'm buying foods that are less processed too. Think about it...the more people (distribution), and the more processing (equipment), that touches your food, not only makes it more expensive, it takes the good bits out that your body needs. That's not to say that I don't eat anything processed. Otherwise, I couldn't have cottage cheese :). Here is today's lunch:

Strawberry and Cottage Cheese Salad

Approx 1 C Organic Baby Spring Mix (45g) cal 10

1/2 C Land O Lakes cottage cheese 113g cal 90

5-6 Strawberries 140g cal 45

2 Tbs Kraft Light Balsamic Vinaigrette (31g) cal 30

Spring mix in bottom of a nice size pasta bowl. Scoop cottage cheese in middle. Chop strawberries. Drizzle with dressing. 

Serves 1

Cal 175

protein 14

carbs 22

fiber 4

fat 4

sugar 15

Just another salad??? NO WAY! Roasted Asparagus & Sweet Potato Salad

Welcome to Meatless Monday...only it is Wednesday. WHAT??? Yeah, I'm a rule breaker.  

With the meal planning, comes searching recipes upon recipes online. I came across this website Deliciously Ella and did my version of her Asparagus, New Potato & Avocado Salad. Sounded delish, but I didn't need it to be strict vegan. I couldn't find new ptoatoes and I didn't need the pumpkin seeds. With roasting the veggies, I also didn't need to dress the salad with more evoo and vinegar. Here is my version. 

Roasted Asparagus & Sweet Potato Salad

Asparagus 403gr (about 15-16 stalks) cal 456

Sweet Potato 527gr (2 small) cal 80

Grape Tomatoes 291gr (1 container) cal 90

Avocado medium cal 240

EVOO 1 Tbs cal 180

Organic Spring Mix 4 cups cal 40

Peel sweet potato and chop. Chop asparagus. Drizzle with EVOO and sea salt & pepper. Roast in the oven at 400 for approx 30-40 min depending on how well you like your veggies roasted. 

Remove from oven and cool to room temp.

While veggies are roasting, halve grape tomatoes. 

Prep plate with approx 2 cups of spring mix, toss asparagus, sweet potato, and tomato together. Top with half an avocado diced on each plate. Sea salt & pepper to taste. 

Grams were calculated after peeling and chopping. 

Serves 2.

Nutrition info per serving based on quantities above:

Cal       513

Protein   13

Carb      82

Fiber      21

Fat        18

Sugar     23

Pretty Tasty! EGGS on TOAST

EGGS on TOAST! Yeah, TOAST!

Ok, I turned a very English thing and made it delicious! (Hey, the BF is English. Don't judge me!) 

Sandwich Thin 100 cal

2 eggs 140-160 cal

1 Avocado 240 cal

Toast the Sandwich Thin. Mash the avocado with a little salt. Spread on toasted bread. Cook eggs in your preferred method. I scrambled with a little butter for flavor. 

Top on the avocado. 

EAT!

Spinach Power Salad

I like Panera. How can one not like Panera? They have a great menu. Not exactly Paleo friendly but if you know what is going to be in your food, you can have them leave it out since they make it all fresh. 

So the BB and I went to Panera for dinner on Sunday. Surprisingly it was busy since it was Mother's Day. I got the Strawberry Poppy Seed and Chicken Salad. It was delicious and HUGE! But I ate it all. Only 350 calories and 13g fat. The BB got the Spinach Power Salad minus the frizzled onions...frizzled what? Yeah, those are the french fried onions from a can, I'm sure. That salad is 460 calories and 25g of fat! Whoa! And his portion was small. I couldn't believe how tiny his salad was. He's 6'3 people. He needs a little more than the average bear...

So I replicated the salad tonight for dinner. Here's how it went:

Spinach from the farmers market, chopped

6 hard boiled eggs, chopped

4 strips of bacon, all the fat removed

10 oz baby bella mushrooms, quartered

vidalia onion, chunks

I had some vidalia onion dressing

Roast the mushrooms and onions with a little sea salt together for 20 - 25 minutes. (I also used a little Fustini's Sage and Wild Mushroom Olive Oil).Let cool. Make the hard boiled eggs ahead of time so they can cool after they are peeled. If you have issues with making eggs, like my mother :), google it. This is what I did here.

Here is the cost breakdown:

Spinach $3.00

6 eggs $.50

4 strips of bacon $.60

Baby bella mushrooms $1.99

vidalia onion $.50

approx $6.59

You don't need a lot of dressing so I didn't calculate that. I will be finding a Paleo friendly vidalia vinaigrette to make next time. This fed 2. There is still some spinach (my lunch tmrw) and egg. I'll have to make more bacon tmrw. Ah...bacon! ♥

BB says this is a keepa'!