Food Journaling

In order to assist me in my weight-loss goals, I have come to the conclusion that I MUST journal. I kinda suck at journaling, but I'm going to use technology to assist me. So, I might not always "write it before I bite it", but I can at least snap a pic of it, send it to my food journal blog and learn from my mistakes. :-) It's better than nothing and a step in the right direction.


My food journal blog is also on blogger, and can be found here: Divas Have to Eat Too. My first entry is today's brunch - PB & J Oatmeal, inspired by Kath.


I am going to start posting my Mindful Menu Challenge Weekly Menu plans over on that site too....keep it all food-related.


Now, back to my Saturday evening, already in progress! :-)

Mindful Menu: week of 14 March - 20 March

I think I need to start snapping my menu and loading via email upload from my phone to blogger so that I can get this up on Sunday nights - then revise/annotate when can after! lol.

Sunday:  to decode "F4Y" = "Fend for Yourself". Hubby took leftovers to work and I ended up grabbing a sandwich at a local joint with a friend. (Grilled Chicken, smidge of Miracle whip, lettuce, tomato, poppyseed challah roll. shared order of homemade curly fries)

Monday: Grilled Cheese and Apple didn't happen. I at Friday Night's sloppy Joe leftovers instead. (93% lean beef, 2 slices potato bread)

Tuesday: I made the meatloaf the other day, so i guess it's technically leftovers too. (93% lean, liberal dose of oatmeal, 2 eggs, ketchup and spices)

Wednesday: Happy St Pat's! got a corned beef brisket, a head of cabbage, a block of swiss and a loaf of pump! ;-) (just got a big bag of taters last week) (smidgen of beef, LOADS of cabbage and some taters and carrots)

Thursday: we'll probably still be eating on corned beef, unless we've shared it with friends. I'm not 100% sure what's happening Wednesday night, so it's a possibility.

Friday & Saturday: I'll be house-/animal-sitting for friends, so I'm not exactly sure what will happen these days for meals. They usually have quite a stockpile of foodstuffs in their place, so I'll prolly mooch and make it up as I go along. ;-) If they don't have anything that tickles my palate, I'll hit up the salad bar at the Price Chopper down the road.

Mindful Menu: week of March 7 - March 13 & a POST!!

So, again, I didn't get up the motivation to blog my menu last week- BUT I did plan it! :-) This week, I'm actually blogging my menu! :-) Here's my "old-skool" planning board:

Today, I made Chili - SO easy. I open a few varied cans of beans, a can or two of Ro-Tel toss in some Williams Original Chili Seasoning and simmer away. Today, I decided to add some extra zest to it - and I was kinda worried about how it would turn out at first!

I liberally shook in crushed Red Pepper flakes, garlic powder and black pepper. I added just the smallest dash of Chinese Five Spice. (Afterwards, I realised I didn't add my newest favorite secret ingredient - Sriracha!)

What worried me about the concoction is that as it simmered, I could smell the faintest trace of anise in the air. I really, Really, REALLY dislike anise. In fact, that is only the 2nd time I've ever used that overpriced jar of spice because the first time I used it, I discovered *just* how much I don't like anise: the other 4 spices couldn't help mask or tame it at all. (I prolly oughtta throw it out since it's a couple years old now...)

The good news, the flavors blended really nicely together in the finished product. There was just the slightest afternotes of cinnamon and cloves - and most people would probably never even notice it if they didn't know it was there. :-)

Tomorrow, I'm spending the day with my mom followed by trying out a Step class with a girlfriend and afterwards seeing Alice in Wonderland! (Hopefully in 3D!) I don't know what dinnertime will bring - but I'll be more than likely spending it with my momma. :-)

Wednesday's Orange Chicken is such a strange creature to me; sometimes I like it, and sometimes I really don't care for it. At my bridal shower, we played a "newlyweds" style game through which I learned that at that time (early 2003) this Orange Chicken was the hubby's favorite dish of my culinary repertoire! I wonder what he would say his favorite dish (of those I cook) is today!?

Saturday is a busy busy day! I am taking a PRAXIS exam from 7.30 - 9.30 that morning (to be on the way to being certified to teach High School English!), followed by visiting the Kansas City Gem and Mineral Show (Beads! glorious Beads!)

 I'll be wrapping up the day with a Football Game! My brother (#52) plays for the Missouri Mustangs which is part of the Central Plains Football League and the owner of the team is a friend of Hubby's. We go to games whenever we can - and this year we have season tickets!  We're not big into sports, really, but we're big into supporting family and friends. :-D

Now, on to prepare myself for the week! Check back with ya later! :-)

Mindful Menu: week of February 28 - March 6

Mindful Menu 21 February - 27 February

Sunday: Biscuits & Gravy

Monday: Potato Soup (from the freezer)

Tuesday: cheese and onion enchiladas
(I don't slip the tortillas through hot oil like my mom and grandma always have, I slip mine through hot FF chicken broth instead.)

Wednesday: Veggie Stir Fry w/ brown rice

Thursday: pork chops with oven-roasted green beans (my favorite way to eat green beans now!)

Friday: scallopy pasta (didn't get around to it last week)

Saturday: have a late lunch planned at Red Robin, so will prolly be just snackies at night if either of us get hungry.

Mindful Menu: week of February 14 - 20

I skipped a week posting my menu here- but I DID do my menu and posted it on a dry erase board in the kitchen. ;-)

This week's menu:

Sunday - chili. (I didn't get to eat it last week, cos someone took all the crackers to work with him)
Monday - Burgers & sweet potato fries.
Tuesday - Homemade Chicken Pot Pie (love this recipe!)
Wednesday - Parma Rosa Pasta w/ Scallops
Thursday - Meatloaf
Friday - Soup & Sandwiches
Saturday - TBD. I think I'll be eating at my mom's - hubby works.

as I get a little more inspired and a little better at this meal planning thing, I'm going to start uploading more info about my recipes - such as pics and nut. stats. until then, it's gonna be just bare bones posting! :-)

bon appetit!

Black Chickpean Burger Cakes.

I'm not staying very committed to my blog here now, am I? I think my problem is that I'm over-thinking it and feeling "tied" to it - totally not my original intent when I started it! I need to let it be fun and non-judgmental again. ;-)

With that having been said (i so love ablative absolutes!), I hereby BREAK my commitment to my blog and engage to only have some fun! :-D

Now, for some fun - well, I kind of had fun doing it! I decided to attempt to be creative in the kitchen tonight. I didn't have anything thawed and I was just preparing a meal for myself, so I didn't want anything that was too much work, either.

Without using any sort of recipe, rather utilizing things I've learned in cooking other things, I decided to try my hand at creating bean/veggie burger things. I'm not exactly sure what these might be called - perhaps black chickpean burgercakes?

I started with 2 cans of beans: 1 can of Black Beans (from Aldi) and 1 can of Chickpeas (on sale at Price Chopper).

I drained them, rinsed them and threw them in the food processor. The draining and rinsing was good, but I don't think I should have put them in the food processor - they ended up looking like this:

Total Mush. (the color was because I used my phone to take the picture - I was charging the batteries for the camera) Next time, I'll probably just lightly smoosh the beans - cos I'm not going for refried bean texture here.

To my mush, I added:

• 2 egg whites & 1 whole egg (I had the whites leftover from another dish)
• a handful of chopped fresh spinach
• 4 white mushrooms, finely chopped
• probably about 1 cup of breadcrumbs, give or take. (I didn't measure)
• 1 whole green onion, finely chopped
• about 1 Tbsp of prepared horseradish
• garlic salt - liberal dose
• ground black pepper
• Italian Seasoning blend

I then formed them into patties and started to grill them with some organic EVOO.

I was kind of afraid of them not being cooked through, so I put a couple on a cookie sheet and threw them in the oven with the Rosemary-Garlic potatoes was I was roasting. 

About ten minutes later, I deemed the potatoes and the cake done and plated them up.

that ugly pinkish stuff in the little bowl is a mixture of horseradish, Smart Balance Omega 3, and ketchup. I slathered it on the patty.

Overall, this was OK. I think had I actually eaten it like a burger, it could've been pretty good. I'm going to freeze the rest of them individually, so I can make quick meals for myself in the future.

P.S. (from the future) I ate one like a burger for dinner Monday night, and the texture was awful. hopefully it was the fault of not having been cooked well. I have a few more to experiment with...