Lissa's Better Eating Journal

[bethy]

I can't believe how much food prepping you did in one night and I can not EVEN believe they killed off my LEXIE! I'd heard someone was going to die but I didn't even Consider HER. Shonda is dead to me.

kitten fostering

[DCLissa17]

I know, right? LEXIE? I seriously cannot even quite believe its true and am holding out some hope of trickery. Although Grey's isn't usually into trickery such as that....that's more a Vampire Diaries thing. BUT LEXIE. AND MARK. It's TOO CRUEL. The rage is overwhelming. I mean Denny was horrible and Rebecca being crazy sucked and the completely uncharacteristic cop-out for Lizze to get Katie Heigl off the show was awful. But LEXIE DEAD? Unforgivable in a whole new level.

K. Onto happier things. I talked to the HR manager today and it is now official! As of July I will only be working 2 shifts/week! Woot woot. Summer in the Pacific NW doesn't start til after 4th of July so this is perfect! A leisurely summer while I promote and organize my business and I'll be in a great place come the fall. I am SO excited that I'm still in shock and it seems like a surreal fantasy still. What a great 30th birthday present!

Food is great now that I'm back in the workweek so I'll actually tell you about it.

B: Up early - roasted asparagus, chipotle sweet potato fries, chipotle pinto beans
S: coffee
L: apricot/almond/spring mix salad, mushroom/veggie stirfry over brown rice, coffee
S: peach, one lonely Jolly rancher
D: salad + leftover linguine w/ chicken/mushroom/veggies + 2 glasses white wine in celebration!
S: pear - soooo good. Maybe some peanuts, I feel snacky (that's the wine talking!)

[DCLissa17]

Another good day at work Was actually really chill so that was nice. Talked way too much (probably super-annoying to other people) about how great it will be going to part-time. Coworkers probably hate me now. Ahh.....jealousy feels so GOOD. Also, bringing food I got for free to work where people are So Excited for it is super-fun. Last night was Twizzlers in the candy drawer and cantalope in the fridge. Yesterday was Hot Tamales and pico de gallo + tortilla chips.

B: 2 fried eggs w/ spinach on WW toast, V8 fusion - coffee @ work
L: green salad + veggie/mushroom stirfry on brown rice, coffee
S: small light yogurt + coffee (I tried to hold out on that last cup of coffee because I think it's making it harder to sleep but it was so slow I knew there was no way I'd make it otherwise)
a few pistachios on the drive home...maybe 10?
D: green salad + linguine/chicken/mushroom/veggie leftovers + 2 glasses white wine (i've done well rationing this bottle. I'll have just over a glass for after work tomorrow morning)
S: strawberries, almonds

Only one more day this week! Very excited to not have any more extra shifts scheduled. Vacation in 3 weeks and probably start my new part-time schedule a week after that (1st week in July) Perfect timing for the real start of summer here!

[DCLissa17]

Lol rereading my last couple of posts...it's nice to feel so HAPPY for a change! This week at work finished out nice and calm and the weekend has started out great. It's awfully nice to go INTO the weekend with the house clean and meals ready to go. Here's yesterday:

B: leftovers! brown rice w/ chipotle pinto beans and cheddar cheese bowl - coffee at work
L: green salad + veggie/mushroom stirfry over brown rice, coffee
S: 1/2 pear, string cheese, coffee
S: scoop of cherry garcia ice cream - it was a quiet night! ....also about 10 mini Tootsie rolls...
D: pork chop, roasted asparagus, sweet corn, chipotle sweet potato fries - yum! last glass of white wine
S: strawberries

Totally zonked out shortly after breakfast. I picked up a bag of produce from the local grocery - 10 ears corn, 9 heads of lettuce (seriously gonna give some to neighbors...I already have a fridge full from the bagged salads I got for free the last 2 weeks at Safeway), 3lbs strawberries. Sadly it was really nice outside today and when I got up at 7pm it was too late to get out to the park and take advantage of it. So it's a lazy evening and I'm gonna head to bed soon so that I can be on a day-ish schedule for the rest of my weekend. Just rewatching Roswell on netflix, and enjoy some great food! Also made a list of things to do this summer since I'll only be working part-time and I even started writing the book I've been pondering for like 5 years. It's a great start to the weekend!

Meal: Large green salad w/ garbanzo beans + bowl of African peanut soup
S: Lucky Charms.....ah well....
Meal-ish: ~2cups of asparagus, carrot, pepper, and celery sticks w/ spinach artichoke cream cheese dip - yum!
S: strawberries and banana slices w/ choc/PB dipping sauce
..soo full right now.....

It's funny, just realized that I have had a vegetarian day so far. Weird. I know I'm not hungry, or thirsty right now. But I definitely feel like I want SOMETHING...just haven't pinpointed the exact craving. Maybe when I do I can put it away easier. K, talk to you later!

[bethy]

Oh yeah, you totally have time to write a book. I can see you swotting away at the kitchen table with huge mounds of corn and lettuce piled up around you.

[DCLissa17]

Sorry I've been so absent lately! Seriously, can't believe it's been since the beginning of the weekend! All is well in Lissa-land, trooping along. Weekend was good, on a bit of an off schedule so I didn't do much, just hung around the apartment. Didn't even do ANY grocery shopping, just picked up another produce box on Tuesday. Another great selection, I am having so much FUN with this whole adventure! Here's the score:

10 cucumbers (salads and raw veggies)
2 eggplants (eggplant lasagna! with free homemade tomato sauce! yay!)
4 zucchini (zucchini bread - take to work to share)
1lb broccoli (for chicken/brocc/alfredo pasta)
1/2 lb carrots (raw veggies)
2 orange bell pepper (raw veggies)
~1.5lbs apricots (some for salads, most in an apricot crisp that I took to work
~5oz raspberry/blackberries (eat!)
~2lbs red grapes (eat!)
1 pear (eat!)
2 bunches parsley (1/2 dried, 1/2 fresh for salads/pasta)

This weekend I mostly ate from leftovers and continued this workweek. Seriously, the African peanut soup makes a lot of servings, especially if you have it as a cup w/ a salad! Also plenty of English muffin "pizzas" as snacks/breakfast/light lunch w/ other adds.

Yest:
B: 1/2 cucumber, WW english muffin "pizza" with hamburger/mushroom + mozzarella, coffee - slice of zucchini bread at work
S: starbust pieces x 4, mini tootsie rolls x 3
L: green salad w/ roasted garbanzos, bowl African peanut soup, slice of zucchini bread, coffee
S: zucchini bread - so what?
D: turkey hot dog in WW bread slice "bun", raw veggies w/ spinach/artichoke dip, pomegranate juice/vodka cocktail
S: strawberries/grapes, peanuts

Tomorrow I have the last of the soup + a salad w/ apricots for lunch @ work and then I really need a plan for the weekend! Def making eggplantlasagna.....maybe some sort of veggie soup or a layered enchilada like dish......hmmmm.

At least I have plenty of entertainment! Saturday night is a going away party for a coworker, Sunday night is square dancing, and Sunday day I will probably go to the waterfront festival in the local downtown. Here's hoping it doesn't rain!

Oh yeah. And its doublers weekend for Albertson's and I need to plant some veggies on the balcony and wasn't there something about writing a book? HAHAHAH. Big plans.

[DCLissa17]

So. sleepy.

Tonight I was just NOT invested in the world when I got to work. Wanted so badly to turn around and go back home. Was a giant cluster of chaos and everyone stressed out. Not Feeling It. Trying to figure out what's what and I checked in right away with the other tech. She gave me a list of 5 (FIVE! ) procedure-y things that needed to get done. That was at 7pm. I finished those 5 things (and ONLY those 5 things - seriously didn't lay hands on any other patients in the meantime) at about 3am. Yeah. Rest of the night went quick and pretty easy all things considered and I was even able to finish cleaning and packing up surgery stuff and get the hell OUT of the hospital only 1/2 hour past my shift. So I'm calling it a success. Nice thing about immersing myself into procedure-y tech-y projects? It's single focus, uses my skills to their best, and doesn't require me to freak out about how everything is going to manage to get done.

Food? Not so much. Breaks are a luxury that doesn't exist on nights like these.

B: English muffin "pizza", 1/2 cucumber, coffee
S: few tootsie rolls, couple smarties
L: coffee, slice zucchini bread....around 2am?
S: Starbucks refresher, slice zucchini bread, a few more tootsie rolls
D: small portion stroganoff WW hamburger helper, 2c. roasted veggies, 1/2c. corn, rum & diet root beer (that's right, at 9:30a. It's the END of my day!)
S: strawberries. maybe a bit more hamburger helper

Did pick up a box of reclaimed produce this morning. 5 ears corn, about 12 Roma tomatoes, 4lbs strawberries, 2 containers blueberries, and 4 hearts of romaine. Just ate the last of the strawberries a day or two ago so this is perfect! Next week gonna take more pico de gallo and a big salad to work for the coworkers.

Now - sleep!

[bethy]

sigh. your posts usually cheer me up but today they just make me feel extra worthless. while you were square dancing and doing procedure-y stuff I was immersing myself in swedish murder mysteries and inhaling giant chocolate bars. I'm blaming it on delayed Lexie grief.

[DCLissa17]

Don't feel bad, bethy. Stages of grief are numerous and take time to work through. I managed to not go to my coworkers going-away thingy (was sleeping and just didn't care enough. I'm not really close to her anyways). Also managed to sleep through the day on Sunday and missed the waterfront festival (and it's the only day in the next god knows how many days that is was actually sunny). DID manage to get my ass out of bed and go dancing on Sunday night. I've stayed on a graveyard sleep schedule all weekend which is really annoying me as I actually had stuff I wanted to do during daytime hours. Such as get my haircut, do some shopping, and oh yeah....I have to be at work on Wednesday at like 7am for a STUPID leadership seminar thingy. So being on an overnight schedule is going to kick my ass if I don't turn it around somehow today.

Just sitting like a lump on a log on my chair all weekend. Drinking root beer & rums, snacking (good snacks at least), not really making more than one real meal a day, accomplishing nothing chore-wise.

Sigh.

My plan for tomorrow includes a stop at Albertson's, Rite Aid, pick up a box of produce from the co-op store, laundry, house chores, plant at LEAST my strawberry and pea plant I got at work over a month ago and that have managed to survive in their sad little starter pots, make a pot of chicken noodle soup and a batch of eggplant lasagna, make some devilled eggs, and deal with whatever produce I acquire.

It's a lot to do. I really should have done some of it through this weekend. Oh well, what's new?

[DCLissa17]

Well the night is nearly over and I am into the wind-down before bed phase. Phew!

My plan for tomorrow includes a stop at Albertson's, Rite Aid, pick up a box of produce from the co-op store, laundry, house chores, plant at LEAST my strawberry and pea plant I got at work over a month ago and that have managed to survive in their sad little starter pots, make a pot of chicken noodle soup and a batch of eggplant lasagna, make some devilled eggs, and deal with whatever produce I acquire.

So nearly all of that is done though I STILL haven't planted those poor plants. At this point I really really plan to go next week and pick up a few more plants to set along with them. The peas are growing nicely and the strawberry plant is hanging in there.

Produce box:

13 chili & jalapeno peppers - using one in pico de gallo and a couple for salad fixings. Rest will be dehydrated for later use
1 pablano pepper - hmmm stuffed pepper?
1 really big leek - made Leek Au Gratin
2 bunches broccoli raab - see the following recipe: Chickpeas with Broccoli Raab & Bacon - aMAYzing!
1 head lettuce - for salad to work
3 cucumbers - for salad to work
handful snap peas - used in chicken noodle soup
2" piece of ginger
2 oranges
1 peach

I have mostly been busy with food prep tonight. Had some veggies in the box I've never used before and had to spend some time online looking for good recipes. Sliced/prepped/roasted eggplant that I will freeze to make lasagna with next week after I pick up some mozzarella (couldn't find ANY in the freezer- eek!). Also browned some ground turkey + mushrooms/onions and mixed with homemade tomato sauce and stuck in the freezer for the lasagna. It'll be super easy prep for that once I have the cheese! Made a batch of chickpeas/broccoli raab. Made Leek Au Gratin. Boiled a dozen eggs. Made a batch of pico de gallo and cut up all the salad fixings that I'm gonna take to work tomorrow to help get rid of some of this lettuce and cucumbers and tomatoes and peppers! Here's that recipe....it is P1-friendly, easy, and FANTASTIC! You can substitute broccolini or broccoli for the raab:

Chickpeas with Broccoli Raab & Bacon

1 pound broccoli raab, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 slices turkey bacon, chopped
1 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon fresh oregano
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
5 garlic cloves, sliced thin
1 {15-ounce} can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 ounces Parmesan cheese

1. Cook broccoli raab in a large pot of boiling water 2 minutes or until crisp-tender; drain and set aside.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat {I used a stir fry pan}. Add oil, then bacon; sauté 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in onion, fresh oregano, and red pepper; sauté 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic; sauté 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add chickpeas; sauté 1 minute. Stir in broccoli raab, salt, and black pepper; cook 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated, tossing to combine. Serve with Parmesan cheese sprinkled over the top.

Enjoy!
~Lissa

[bethy]

Hey! Quit acccomplishing so much. All this productivity is making me need to lie down and read novels. I procrastinated on my little pots too. I ripped open a new bag of dirt and sat the little pots on top of it and they were happy until I got around to them. Did have kind of a complicated root/plastic situation after a month but at least they lived.

[DCLissa17]

Well the weekend is almost over - sad! It was my birthday on Sunday (the big 3-0 ) and I have been having a spoil-myself kinda weekend. You know as opposed to the rest of my weekends where I do nothing but feel guilty about it.

X-hausted Saturday - slept from 2p til 3a Sunday morning. Then took the dog out and went back to bed til about 9a. Leisurely day - did some housecleaning since I was having a friend stay over after bday-ness - laid in the park for 2 hours, got ready to go out. Went out to dinner and drinks. Dinner was a Ceasar salad (good) and gourmet mac-n-cheese (not sb-good) + lots of drinks. Lots.

Monday got up-up around 1p, went to park and read in the sunshine for 3+ hours, then sat on my balcony for a bit and took the dog for a long walk around the neighborhood. Gotta soak up the Vitamin D whilst you can in the Pacific NW. After all of that sun exposure I was pretty wiped and ended up in bed around 8p.

Today woke up around 8a, read in bed for a couple hours, then sat in the recliner for awhile, did some coupon shopping listing. Out of the house @ 2:30p to get a massage and do shopping. Home @ 7:30p. Phew! Long day out in the drizzle. Ignored 2 phone calls from work trying to call me in. Seriously didn't even call them back cuz I don't want to give in. Really can't. I've been up all day long, don't have the energy to be up overnight right now (which would kickstart my week crappily). Home and played with produce, made some eggplant lasagna and drank some wine to safeguard against going into work despite my best intentions.

So for this week I have eggplant lasagna + salads for lunches/dinners. Probably will throw a hot dog w/ green beans and corn and sweet potato fries in there somewhere to spice it up. Or maybe I'll get around to making the layered chicken/black bean enchilada casserole before I head to work tomorrow. Depends on how early I wake up.

Shopping was great this week! Produce box remains a fun part of the week:

6lbs strawberries (a friend is giving me an ice cream maker – homemade sorbet!!!) + like all you can eat strawberries
8oz raspberries
handful blackberries
4 Roma tomatoes - ovendried for salads
6 ears corn - for casserole + freeze some
3 heads lettuce
2lbs green beans - yum! fresh green beans. Some will be frozen though
1 potato
1 carrot
1 bunch parsley - dried
1 cantalope - work? smoothies? we'll see

Oh just for fun, here's the day........

B: almonds (while reading in bed before I really got up)
B/L: leftover small portion of mac-n-cheese, 1c. of Leeks Au Gratin, strawberries dipped in plain greek yogurt
S: 1/2 WW bagel w/ cream cheese, a few strawberries
S2: cheesestick
D: green side salad, eggplant lasagna, chardonnay
S: strawberries + blackberries

Hmm. Even when it feels like a not great SB day, it's not so bad after all. Interesting.

[DCLissa17]

Wow can't believe it's been almost a week since my last posting. Stayed pretty busy at work last week and now I'm on VaCaTioN! Woot woot! What am I doing? NOTHING. So far just feels like my weekend but I imagine that'll wear off later this week. And then poof it will be over. But after that, only 2 weeks and I am onto part-time. Which in my crazy world = only 2 shifts a week for 2/3 time. So every week is nearly vacation.

Food is ok. I feel like in general I have a really good handhold on SB this time around. I am now 5 months into this tour of duty and all of the principles are sticking with me. I know when I am cheating, I enjoy it, and I move on. I am not getting drug down into spirals of chaos. Of course, all of the free produce boxes are helping out immensely. When there is all you can eat lettuce and strawberries around (as well as all the other rotating veggies/fruits), it is easier to stay on track.

Met a guy last night. My personal life is essentially non-existent right now so this is Very Exciting. I was out square dancing (yeah, I know, so lame. But so much fun!) and he was a new face. Turns out he is from a bit south from me, just graduated from lessons, his first weekend out. I very shyly asked him to dance and then a bit later he obviously very shyly approached me to invite me to a dance on Saturday. Even though I have some plans then, I will cut out early and go to the dance, cuz....duh! Seriously, he seems like a sweet guy....A couple years older than me, with a good professional job, and lowkey.

Ok, so I'm on vacation and not working tooo hard to limit myself. At the same time, SB is ingrained enough that I'm not being too bad either! Since this is a Stay-cation, I am giving myself leave to eat, drink, and do whatever I feel like.

Today:
chicken/black bean/corn/layered enchilada, side romaine hearts
raspberries
Lucky Charms
Rum & diet cokes, vanilla ice cream, strawberries w/ choc/PB dipping sauce, more enchilada casserole
probably some veggies with hummus
we'll see

[bethy]

a Feller! A shy square dancing feller with a good job!
We want to know Everything.

[bethy]

Start primping! Shave those legs! What are you wearing to the dance?