A Day of Eats

If you follow me on My Fitness Pal, this post will likely be old news, as I'm going to rehash exactly what a "day in the life of the Farrell's nutritional plan" looks like for me.  Without further ado, let's analyze Sunday, April 7th:

I "slept in" until 7:00 when I had to wake up to take The Boy to the airport.  The lucky duck gets to spend a couple of days in Boston, a city that he loves and that I have never visited, for work.  When I got home, I decided that I couldn't fall back asleep and instead brewed some coffee and whipped up breakfast:

First, I know how disgusting this looks.  (Also, I spent a lot of yesterday learning how to take better photos with my point-and-shoot, so look forward to that.  Maybe.  If I decided to not be lazy.)  Second, this is a recipe from my mom's (and my) good friend Mary Lu.  Third, it did not look anything like the ones my mom has made.

Anyway, I made this "pancake" with oats, cottage cheese, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and just a splash of Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze so that it would blend in the Magic Bullet.  I know it doesn't look like it, but this was delicious, especially since I topped it with a tablespoon of sunflower butter and half a banana.

Here's the breakdown:

• Calories: 296
• Carbs: 30g
• Fat: 11g
• Protein: 16g

For my midmorning snack, I ate a green apple, a piece of string cheese, and a fourth cup of wasabi peas.  (I didn't take a photo because I was gobbling these down in the car, just like Bethenny advises not to do.)

Here's the breakdown:

• Calories: 252
• Carbs: 39g
• Fat: 7g
• Protein: 9g

Considering I'm supposed to be getting 33 grams of carbs and 14-18 grams of protein per meal, this one was kind of an oops.

For lunch, I had Orange Marmelade Glazed Tempeh, courtesy of Kath Eats atop spinach and carrots.  You guys: this meal was soooooo good and soooooo easy.

I had never had tempeh before, but I really like it and could see marinating it in a variety of different goodies: different jams, soy sauces and chili pastes, etc.  It has quite a high caloric content, but besides that, I'm in love with this food.

Here's the breakdown:

• Calories: 386
• Carbs: 37g
• Fat: 18g
• Protein: 22g

Again, this meal was a little "oops," as it was too high in both carbs and protein.  Oh well.  I feel like it was okay since it was too high in both categories.  :)

For my afternoon snack, I munched on carrots, two mini Babybel cheeses, edamame crackers, and two tablespoons of hummus.  I'm not going to lie: initially I had planned on a half cup of pistachios, but those things are a PAIN to shell.  I got lazy and resorted to this.

Here's the breakdown:

• Calories: 280
• Carbs: 25g
• Fat: 8g
• Protein: 15g

I was a little low on carbs, but oh well.

I already told you all about my dinner -- the best crab cakes in the universe (with some roasted asparagus).  I truly hope y'all make those sometime soon, and please let me know how much you love 'em.

Here's the breakdown:

• Calories: 284
• Carbs: 28g
• Fat: 14g
• Protein: 14g

Again, I only had one of the crab cakes, topped with the salsa, and a side of asparagus.  I did not account for the oil on the asparagus (since I make it a little differently than BFF), but I was likely still within range nutritionally.

For my bedtime snack, I had the usual: a chocolate protein shake.

Here's the breakdown:

• Calories: 142
• Carbs: 2g
• Fat: 5g
• Protein: 23g 

I am not supposed to have carbs before bed, and while this is a little too much protein, it's the best I can do without carbs.  And this shake is goooooood.

Overall for the day, here are my totals:

• Calories: 1,640
• Carbs: 161g
• Fat: 63g
• Protein: 99g

While this is pretty darn good, I still have some work to do.  First, while Farrell's advises against counting calories, I would still like my daily intake to be less than 1,600, even with the crazy workouts that I do.  I didn't workout yesterday at all, so the 1,640 seems especially high to me.

Second, according to The Nutrition God (aka my brother), the ratio of carbs-fats-carbs should be 40%-30%-30%.  According to this handy-dandy pie (mmm, pie) chart from My Fitness Pal, I'm a little off base with the percentages.  I need to work on upping my protein intake and decreasing my fat intake.  While I'm not eating many "bad" fats, I still need to strive for lowering my saturated fats and decreasing fat intake altogether.

Please feel free to ask me any questions about this particular nutritional plan.  I truly believe in it whole-heartedly, as I do not feel deprived at all, and I feel like it is something super realistic that I can keep up for months and months and months.

(Remind me of that in a few weeks, mmkay?)

Crab Cakes with Mango-Avocado Salsa

As promised, here is a brand-new recipe to try for dinner tonight!

I love, love, love seafood, and one of my favorite things are crab cakes.  However, after making them on my own, I rarely order them in restaurants, even when I'm sitting on the ocean.  Restaurant crab cakes seem way too greasy and unhealthy, and who needs that when you can eat these?  :)

So, here's what you need for the crab cakes (adapted from Cooking Light):

• Old Bay seasoning
• Red onion
• Parsley
• Egg whites
• Worcestershire sauce
• Panko
• 1 lb crab
• Plain Greek yogurt
• Grey Poupon

I'm sure Cooking Light has specific measurements for all of these things, but I seriously just eyeball it.  For instance, I really like Grey Poupon, so I put more than necessary in.  I like things to be super-seasoned, so I dump the Old Bay fairly liberally.  Measuring red onion?  Ain't nobody got time for dat.

So anyway, dump all of those ingredients together and mix well.  Then, cover and put in the fridge while you make the salsa.

Here's what you'll need for that (adapted from Gwyneth Paltrow and Bon Appetit):

 

• Olive oil
• Cherry tomatoes
• Avocado (usually only one -- I was making extra for additional people)
• Mango
• Limes

Chop the avocado, mango, and cherry tomatoes, then douse with the juice of one (or two) limes and a splash of olive oil.  Mix well and refrigerate.

After about 30 minutes of chilling in the fridge, remove the crab mixture and separate into eight sections.  Form each of those sections into a crabby patty and coat with Panko prior to plopping in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.  Let them get nice and crispy.  (If they're not crisping up like they should, stick 'em in the oven for about 10 minutes; that should do the trick.)

Serve two patties per person (unless you're watching protein/carb intake like me and just take one) and top with the salsa.  These are especially delicious when paired with roasted veggies.

Let me know how you like 'em!

Hy-Vee Haul

Last week I spent nearly $150 on groceries, and I knew that that needed to not happen again.  So, prior to meal-planning for the week, I took a mental inventory of what we had left in the fridge: lots of avocados (apparently I overestimated that we'd need eight of them last week), a box of cherry tomatoes, frozen fish and chicken, and a few miscellaneous items.  I also noted the things that we definitely needed to stockpile: string cheese, UVAB, eggs, mozzarella, and lots o' apples.

Once I jotted down our "do-not-buy" and our "we-need-more" lists, I started meal planning.  I realized that when I talked about meal planning last week, it may have sounded like it was a quick process.  That's totally not the case.  In fact, it takes me at least a couple of hours to figure out what kind of meals we want, how to break them down so that they fit into my allotted carb/protein ratio, how to get the most bang for our buck (i.e. use the same produce more than once), etc.

It involves a lot of math, a lot of moving food items around, a lot of changing quantities, etc.  It's a lot of work, but like I said before, it is most definitely worth it.  After all, I'd be lost without a plan.

This week, I was able to get out of Hy-Vee for a grand total of...

...$72.51.  I was certainly pleased that it was such a significant decrease in what I paid last week, and I know that the only reason it was so "much" at all was because of the amount of cheese I bought.  Seriously, why does Laughing Cow/Babybel have to be so darn expensive?!

But I digress.

Let's look at the load:

For produce, I picked up some carrots (and have nearly demolished them already), sweet potatoes, spinach, apples, green beans, and tomatoes.

For refrigerated items, I grabbed fresh mozzarella, cottage cheese, UVAB, skim milk, hummus, Laughing Cow, eggs, egg beaters, shredded cheese, and two packs of Babybel.

For pantry items, I bought corn muffin mix, sunflower seed butter, whole wheat hamburger buns, green chiles, creamed corn, enchilada sauce, and (an impulse buy) Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter.

Not pictured: volumizing mousse.

Not yet purchased (because I don't want it to go bad before I use it on Friday): lean ground beef.

The dinner plan for the week is as follows:

• Monday: Palmer's salad (since I will be at Palmer's Deli having dinner with my Spanish-class peeps)
• Tuesday: tofu + green beans + rice (since I have an event to attend with a friend, and this is a fast dinner)
• Wednesday: chicken tamale casserole + veggies (since it's easy to take with us to bowling)
• Thursday: Trader Joe's Vera Cruz fish + sweet potato + veggies
• Friday: Ab's Diet burgers + veggies

So there you have it: yet another meal plan is in the books.

Stay tuned for a blog post tomorrow morning -- I'm going to hook you up with a recipe for the best crab cakes ever.

Charlie and I say, "G'night, y'all!"

I'm Freeeeeeeee!

I have already talked about the meal plan that I am currently following: I eat six meals per day, and at each meal, I try to get 33 grams of carbs (except for the last meal) and 14-18 grams of protein.  While it's not part of the plan per se, I try to limit saturated fats, sugars, and sodium.  (Although, I should probably be paying closer attention to that last one -- I love me some sodium.)

Part of the meal plan is, however, to have one free day per week.  This is included for a number of reasons.  First, it is important for the body to not feel "deprived," to not feel "restricted."  Second, it helps with discipline: it is much easier to say no to fro-yo during the week if I know I can have it on my free day.  Finally, it helps to show what I used to feel like when I ate the "cheats" on a daily basis.

While we technically have an entire day to "cheat," I try to be relatively healthy nevertheless.  After all, I don't want to feel like poop (literally) the following day, and I don't want to undo all of the hard work that I put in the rest of the week.

In addition, Farrell's recommends taking the free day on Sunday: you don't have to exercise, and you don't have to follow the meal plan.  I, however, am choosing to take my free day on Saturday: I wake up early and work out, eat relatively healthfully during the day, and splurge on a nice dinner and a glass of wine (or two or three) without fearing feeling icky for an early morning workout.

So, without further ado, let's review my free day:

I woke up at 5:30 and went to resistance training at 6:00.  When I came home, I made some dessert oats before crashing on the couch for a couple of hours.  For my morning snack, I ate a leftover marshmallow Peep (didn't taste all that good, surprisingly), and approximately five jelly beans followed by my "real" snack of string cheese and an apple.

For lunch, BFF and I headed to the Drake Diner, and I had half a vegetarian omelet (with portobello mushrooms, spinach, tomatos, onion).  There was a heck of a lot of cheese on top, so I scraped a good portion off to make it a bit healthier.  Instead of hashbrowns, I paid extra for a fruit bowl (and only ate half of it), and sided the whole shebang with a piece of wheat toast and mixed berry jelly.  For going to a greasy diner for breakfast, I felt like I made a pretty darn good choice.

And really, that filled me up until dinner time.  For dinner, The Boy and I had "date night" and headed to Haiku for sushi.  To start, I had a squid salad and a glass of malbec, and The Boy had a cup of miso and a dirty martini:

For dinner, we ordered the rainbow roll, the Alaska roll, the Philadelphia roll, and a crab tempura roll:

This was seriously the best sushi that either of us has ever had.  It wasn't caked in tons of rice, and the flavors were absolutely amazing.  And, it was affordable!  The entire bill -- with appetizers, drinks, and tax included -- was only $50.  For a night of sushi, that is nothing.

When we got home from date night, The Boy and I put in The Invention of Lying, and I promptly fell asleep just after the opening credits.  This is not unusual for me and absolutely drives The Boy (a former film major) absolutely crazy.

Prior to crashing on the couch, though, I had a handful of Whoppers (I estimate about 15) and another small handful of jelly beans (around five or so).

Despite the not-so wonderful choices I made (and the 800-calorie dinner I enjoyed), I still did not do too horribly:

I was only 21 calories over what was allotted to me by My Fitness Pal (including calories that I am allowed because of the morning workout).  I do want to clarify, though, that while I did my best entering everything accurately, restaurant-made food is nearly impossible to record with 100% accuracy, as you never know how exactly it is prepared, what oils they use, etc.

Despite eating relatively decently on my cheat day, my stomach still wasn't super happy with me this morning, just proving yet again that healthy eating is the way to go.

Dessert Oats

I'm sitting in front of my computer screen at 7:45 a.m.  I woke up at 5:30, worked out at 6:00 (lower-body killer workout), showered, and made breakfast.  I had super grand plans of sipping on coffee, watching runners jog by my front window, and writing several posts.

And then I decided that I'm actually quite sleepy.

But, before I go crash on the couch, I wanted to give you a delicious breakfast recipe that I may or may not have enjoyed three times this week:  Dessert Oats.

Here's what you need:

• 1/4 cup oats (I use Bob's Red Mill)
• 1/2 cup water (not pictured -- but I bet you know what it looks like)
• 2 T sunflower butter (my new favorite thing -- I'm planning a whole post devoted to it)
• 1/8 cup granola (I use Bear Naked Peak: Flax Granola)
• 1/4 cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze

Cook the oats in the water until they're done.  (Don't you just love how specific my recipes are?)  Plop in the sunflower butter, dump in the granola, and make all of the above swim in the UVAB.

It seriously tastes like dessert.

And check out the stats:

• Calories: 370
• Carbs: 35 grams
• Fat: 21 grams
• Protein: 13 grams
• Sugar: 8 grams

It's pretty much the perfect meal.  SO, if you have not yet made breakfast, make it happen.  :)

Have a fabulous morning, y'all!

Bookends

When I initially restarted the blog, I did not anticipate simply bookending the work week with blog posts.  I honestly thought that I would be able to wake up early and work out, go to work, come home, blog, cook, hang out with The Boy, and go to sleep.

Unfortunately (and obviously), that has not been the case.

Cracking me up!

See, this week has been quite the adjustment.  I have been absolutely exhausted as soon as I come home from school -- and actually, the exhaustion really sets in immediately after lunch.  I really need an afternoon pick-me-up, so if anyone has any suggestions, I'd greatly appreciate it.  When I get home, I relax for all of 30 minutes prior to cooking dinner, and by the time The Boy and I have eaten and cleaned up, I am absolutely pooped and, if I stay awake, kind of just want to chill with my boyfriend.

I'm hoping that the coming week is much less busy so that I can blog more regularly, but if I find it is, in fact, exhausting me like this past week was, I am going to have some spare posts written this weekend and ready to go.

You can thank me later.

Before signing off for this evening (yes, I still have to wake up before the crack of dawn on Saturdays), I'm going to leave you with a few highlights from the week:

• The Boy and I prepared a couple of delicious meals: Balsamic-Glazed Skirt Steak and Avocado-Mozzarella-Bruschetta Chicken.  Look for recipes to come soon.
• I went to every single workout and kicked major butt with my meal plan.  Today was really tough for some reason (I just want some bad-for-you carbs!), but I have yet to stray at all this week.  And despite tomorrow being my free day, I'm planning on eating relatively healthfully, at least until The Boy and I go on date night and I make him buy me fro-yo.
• Not only did The Boy and I go for a hike on Sunday, but I also went for a walk with one of my grad-school girls, and The Boy and I headed out on a four-mile, super-hilly bike ride this evening.
• Last night I attended the first annual teen poetry slam in Des Moines, and it was pretty freakin' awesome.  One of my all-time favorite students was one of the top six selected to compete in Brave New Voices in Chicago, so that was pretty darn cool.

See you tomorrow with a recap of how Farrell's has been going and whatever else comes to mind between now and then.  :)

Don't forget to like my page on Facebook, follow my fitness and food boards on Pinterest, and be my friend on My Fitness Pal (by searching for emmy815 with the email address of embolism815@gmail.com).

G'night!

Blackened Tilapia Baja Tacos

Rather than going through the mundane details of the past two days, I thought I'd share a recipe with y'all.  You can thank me later.

First, though, I am going to tell you a few highlights of this weekend:

On Saturday afternoon, BFF and I headed out west for shopping and errands.  We hit up Old Navy, where I picked up my new favorite workout jacket and a super cute sundress that will be too big for me in approximately five days.  Good thing a.) it was only $25, and b.) my mom can maybe make it smaller.  (Right, Mama?)  We then headed to Trader Joe's and Hy-Vee, which you can read about it my meal-planning and grocery-shopping post.

On Saturday evening, BFF and I went to dinner at Dos Rios, one of my favorite restaurants in Des Moines.  The Boy met us out, as did A&E, and the five of us chilled at a neighborhood dive for a couple of years.

The Boy had Sunday off of work for the first time in forever, and we had a blast.  I made us OMG pancakes, and yes, they were OMG.  We bummed around for a while and then headed to Browns Woods for a two-mile hike.  It was beautiful -- and quite a good little workout.  I think we're going to try to head there much more often.

Sunday evening, we had Friend Easter.  BFF made the most delicious dinner of pork tenderloin stuffed with blue cheese and figs, smashed fingerling potatoes with a gremolata, and green beans.  A&E brought scotch-a-roos minus the chocolate, and The Boy and I made Easter Bunny cupcakes (white cupcakes, white frosting, coconut, jelly beans, and Peeps).  Talk about a free day...

But anyway, onto the real post.

For dinner this evening, I adapted Cooking Light's Blackened Tilapia Baja Tacos.

Here's what you'll need (for exact measurements, head on over to Cooking Light):

• Onion
• Jalapeno
• Plain Greek yogurt
• Cilantro
• Lime juice
• Onion
• Paprika
• Brown sugar
• Oregano
• Garlic powder
• Salt
• Cumin
• Red pepper
• Tilapia
• Canola oil
• Avocado
• Tortillas (unless you're me and want to save carbs)
• Limes

First, mix the first four ingredients in a food processor and pour over the onion:

Then, mix all of the spices together in a cute little mini bowl:

Oh for cute.

Now, spread that mixture all over the fish filets and plop them in the cast-iron skillet that has been getting steamy on medium-high heat:

While the fish is cooking, chop up an avocado:

When the fish is done cooking (and if you're not sure if it's done or not, just let The Boy figure it out for you), throw it on a plate, top it with the slaw and sliced avocado, and accompany with a smidge of brown rice and a mound of seasoned Brussels sprouts:

And voila!  You have dinner.

The recipe makes four servings, but I divided my serving into two so that I could a.) maintain my carb/protein requirements for my meal, and b.) have a delicious lunch tomorrow.

Let me know how much you love it!

Again, please like my page on Facebook, follow my fitness and food boards on Pinterest, and be my friend on My Fitness Pal (by searching for emmy815 with the email address of embolism815@gmail.com).