Fruit Cake and Lesson Learned

 Remember the family fruit cake recipe I shared awhile back? I finally opened it. A month after receiving it. It's still very juicy from brandy. So delicious.

And I learned that salads are not for playing around with. If you want to stay full for longer than an hour after eating a salad, then eat a bigger salad to begin with. Otherwise you'll find yourself eating a spoonful of peanut butter at 2 pm because your stomach is eating itself. I also added more peanuts; maybe the protein will keep me full longer?

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Lunch Salad

Mama Pea is featured in today's lunch again. Well not Mama Pea herself, but one of her salads: Bliss Salad.

I followed the recipe (almost!!) exactly, except:
1. I replaced the green onions with a homegrown leek that was still leftover from harvesting in Springfield.
2. I used about 10 baby carrots instead of 2 regular carrots.
3. Instead of one big bell pepper, Mom gave me some of these mini sweet peppers:

 
The dressing on this is fantastic!

I'm a little weird when I eat my salads. I know the greens are good for me. But I really like the toppings. I know if I eat the toppings as I go, then I'll end up with all these greens at the end with no toppings. So I force myself to eat the greens first so I have fun toppings to eat at the end. (This is also the way I eat tortellini from Pasta House; I eat the pasta first so I can enjoy the peas, proscuitto and mushrooms at the end!)

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A Notable Lunch

You know I'm not usually one to document in photographs everything I eat all day. I appreciate others that do because it gives me inspiration. (If I get some positive feedback from posting my lunches, I'll do it more often. *hint, hint*)

This is what about 600 calories looks like

I do, however, keep track of my food and exercise in an app from Loseit.com. (I used to use sparkpeople.com, but find I like the simplicity of Lose It more.) I've tracked my food on and off for the last five years.  I'm shocked how little food a body requires to survive, but at the same time find it incredibly difficult to feel satisfied on a 1500 calorie diet. I find that if I aim for 1500 calories, I keep my weight steady. When I start eating closer to 2000 calories a day, even when exercising regularly, I gain weight.

Today's lunch was so delicious that I'm sharing it with you:

Arnold 8-grain pocket with chicken salad and mixed greens
Mama Pea's Black Eyed Pea Salad with Corn and Peppers
Clementines (for morning and afternoon snacks)
Red grapes
Farmhouse white cheddar (not the bulk processed crap, but a cheese that tells you the name of the farm and how long it's aged. And it's white so it doesn't have that fake yellow color in it.)

I find it really hard to consume the recommended amount of fruits (2-4 servings) and vegetables (3-5 servings) each day, so I have to sneak them into other dishes. Tracking my food opened my eyes to the amount of calories that come from meat. Meat is a very calorie dense food. Example: 4 oz. of lean ground beef has about 170 calories, or you could eat 4.5 bell peppers for about 170 calories.


Chicken Salad (4 servings)
12.5 oz can chicken, drained
1 stalk celery, diced
1 apple, cored and diced
1 Tbsp parsley (I only used this because I had it on hand)
2 Tbsp Miracle Whip (I know, unhealthy, but I can't stand jarred mayo!)

I made a few modifications to Mama Pea's dressing for the veggie salad. I didn't have rice vinegar on hand (I thought I did and then got home and realized it was sesame oil. Not the same!) Follow her recipe except:

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar (reduced the amount)
4 Tbsp white vinegar (instead of rice vinegar)
2 tsp sugar (added because vinegar is a little too tart for me!)

and I used an entire can of drained corn instead of just 1 cup.

Enjoy!

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