All Done with Holiday Feasting!

December 27th, 2012 | Posted by Nicole in Eats of the Week - (0 Comments)

This particular Christmas, I went to three different dinners over the course of 3 days. Lots of calories were eaten, and there were plentiful white carbohydrates and some unhealthy fats and sugars. Yikes!

It only happens a few times per year, so I don’t worry and neither should you ;-)

Day 1: Southern cooking for lunch (I had roast turkey with gravy, beans/peas, and turnip greens. A quick Starbuck’s stop for some jet fuel black coffee with a dash of cream. For dinner was a creamy seafood soup, half a turkey sandwich, and cranberry cookie pie.
Day 2: Christmas Eve with my family: Fruit, followed by a workout in the morning, then some spicy black beans for a mid-morning snack/early lunch. Snacked on nuts and baked goodies (cookies, biscotti) at my family’s house. I had to hurry up and make an apple pie for the next day. More jet fuel black coffee. Dinner was a delicious lasagna, small salad, and a meatball! More cookies for dessert.
lasagna and meatballDay 3: Woke up and had some black coffee, a banana that I shared with Nala (the dog), and a biscotti. Opened presents, then ate some of the delicious and healthier egg and vegetable casserole that my Dad made.
vegetable egg casseroleCan you see that apple cake in the background? Psycho Holiday Baker made it of course, and it is a traditional apple cake my Italian grandmother used to make. 2 pieces of that were eaten later…

Also had some fresh fruit, and then we were on the way to North Georgia for another feast!

Dinner: Roast turkey, spoonful of mac ‘n cheese, spoonful of dressing, green bean casserole, cranberry salad, steamed vegetables, deviled egg, and wine. Dessert was the apple pie I made, and some more cookies.

Later on we got hungry again and had some snacks: Pimento cheese and wheat thins and some raw veggies with a spinach dip. Probably got so hungry because of our expert Taboo game we had going on. Brain fuel. Final score was 73 to 80.
high taboo score

Day 4: In the morning I had a small cinnamon roll and some All Bran. More jet fuel. For lunch, I shared a small portion of Mr Cyclist’s turkey sandwich, ate a few bites of veggies, and 2 deviled eggs. For a snack, I had some homemade Chex Mix which is super tasty. Sometime later on I had another cookie.

For dinner that night, I made a detoxifying kale dish to get in some veggies for the day. Munched on a few nuts a little later.

kale and artichoke bake

In general, my normal diet is much higher in fruits and vegetables, so I noticed the lack of them in my diet for the past 3-4 days. Less energy overall. And it is mostly just the added sugars that I am not used to in high quantities.

I did my best to eat as well as I could and still enjoy the foods and eat the foods I don’t usually get a chance to eat! That is what it is all about–portion control, eat slowly, enjoy your food, think about the taste of your food, and remember to eat your 5-9 fruits and vegetables on the non-Holiday occasions. :)

baked kale with onion and feta

This kale recipe was made from frozen kale, sauteed onions, spinach, spoonful of cream cheese, garlic, small amount of feta, marinated artichokes, and some spices.

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Sam’s Spinach

December 12th, 2012 | Posted by Nicole in Recipes - (0 Comments)

“I ate a pound of spinach”… said no one ever. Until now.

Mr. Cyclists aka Chef Sam cooked a creamed spinach dish. He started with a 2.5 pound bag of fresh spinach from Costco. And yes, at meal time he ate quite a bit of spinach. I don’t really know if it was a whole pound!

Anyway, he based his recipe off of this Food Wishes YouTube site:

Don’t freak out. We did not use all this butter. Sam reduced it to a total of 2 tablespoons (or slightly less) in this recipe. He also used whole milk instead of cream, and added some extra fresh chopped garlic. Everything else was pretty much the same!

And, it turned out delicious!

We ate it with some homemade salmon croquettes.

Look at those chunks of garlic. Mmm.

What we realized is that the spinach to sauce ratio is fairly healthy. You are able to eat a lot of healthy greens, and much less creamy sauce.

Do you have any favorite cooked spinach recipes?

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Male vs. Female Portions

December 7th, 2012 | Posted by Nicole in Dietitian | Healthy Living - (2 Comments)

I often come across female patients who attribute their weight gain to matching the portions of their significant other. We simply don’t need to eat that much! I always recommend using smaller plates, and thinking about eating 50-75% of what your man is eating. This all depends on your size, his size, and both of your activity levels.

For example, I sit at a desk all day, and get in about 30-60 minutes of exercise most days. Mr. Cyclist also tends to be at a desk a good part of the day, but when he goes to exercise he does about 60-150 minutes!

So, our portions end up looking something like this:

His:

Pasta, turkey meatballs, lots of brussels sprouts!

Mine:

I always try to put a small amount of food on my plate, and then go back and get more after I see how I feel. And I did. Got another bite of turkey meatball and a few more bites of veggies :)

Another thing I am working on is eating more during the day, so that I don’t feel the need to eat a larger portion for dinner.

PS- This is a great time for brussels sprouts to be in season!

Do you have any tips or tricks for your portion control?

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Sunday Eats: Tasty Coffee Cake & Dinner on the Grill

October 22nd, 2012 | Posted by Nicole in Eats of the Week | Recipes - (4 Comments)

Spent Sunday with my family per usual. When I went over to their house, I discovered that Psycho Holiday Baker made some of the best apple coffee cake on the planet:

You can find the recipe here. However, she created a layer of apples in the middle, and she used a 9×13 pan to bake it in.

  • So, follow the recipe, but slice about 1.5-2 cups of apples thin and toss them with brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
  • Then, add one layer of cake mix, add a layer of apples, then another layer of cake mix.
  • Bake about 40-45 minutes. DO NOT overbake. Check at about the 35 minutes mark to be safe. She made a light sugar icing for the top as well.

Of course, this is not health food. But, I am going to use this recipe as a base to turn into a healthier one like I did with my own apple coffee cake that was a hit last year. I will try using a little more Greek yogurt, and use more egg, and perhaps a little bit of canned pumpkin or apple sauce.

Take the unhealthy and turn it into tasty healthy food!

We had visitors in town: Smart Art and Tommy. So, my Dad made them a steak dinner and I ate a chickpea/spinach patty.

My Dad also made some tasty asparagus on the grill that were marinated in some kind of dressing (seemed like an Italian style dressing marinade).

Yum. The chickpea and spinach patty was just so-so. I wouldn’t buy it for myself because it only had 5 grams of protein and wasn’t amazing.

After dinner, I went for a short little run. The weather is perfect right now. Then, had dessert and watched the Walking Dead with the family!

Time to plan meal ideas for this week…

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Fall Foodie Weekend

October 14th, 2012 | Posted by Nicole in Eats of the Week - (2 Comments)

Met up with the family this weekend for a little hike and a drive to the apple orchards!

We started off the morning with a breakfast casserole made by my Dad:

Not super healthy… Not my favorite anyway because of the sausage and cheese everywhere. So, this is what my plate looked like:

And then ate more nuts, and a slice of bread.

We drove to our hiking spot, and let Nala play in the water!

Stopped in town after our hike, and a few of us (not me!) got some sugary sodas. Not so good. A quote from my sister, “I never drink soda”. Except for when you do! Haha.

Stopped at the apple orchard to pick up some fresh apples. Apple season always is amazing because the rest of the year you forget how fresh apples can taste.

Picked up some winesap and cameo apples. I haven’t had many winesap apples before, but I like them for their mildly sweet and sour flavor and good crunch.

After our scenic drive home, we had family salmon dinner per usual that was delicious.

And of course, some sinfully rich brownies (from Barefoot Contessa recipe) made by Psycho Holiday Baker:

And some apple pies (blackberry, lemon, and coconut too!) that we got from the apple orchard:

And then, and arm wrestle for good measure.

Relaxing fall weekend! As always, it’s about learning how to deal with eating in moderation and what that truly means ;)

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