Working Girl Cooks!

I just spend an hour browsing through Foodgawker and Tastespotting. Not a good idea! All those cakes and brownies…mmmm….I want chocolate! So far, five days into my mission, I have been good about sticking to smaller portions and avoiding sugar (although I did have a piece of Ghirardelli chocolate with peanut butter yesterday).  Yesterday was Saturday. I have decided to make Saturday’s my no computer day. It is so easy to waste time on the computer and I feel like I need at least one day a week where I do not touch a computer and am forced to turn to other activities such as getting outside, or reading a book! Hence, the reason for no post yesterday and the double post today!

Friday was a fairly easy day for me. I feel like I am getting into a routine and am becoming more prepared by having healthy and easy meal ideas at my disposal. Breakfast was a whole wheat English muffin with a slice of provolone cheese and a smothering of my sautéed Mediterranean eggplant spread. Snacks include apples and carrots dipped in hummus (my favorite!) For lunch I had some of the turkey and white bean soup I had made the night before. I added a dollop of plain yogurt and a sprinkling of red pepper flakes and served it with a few pita chips on the side. It was delicious! I have included the recipe below.

Friday night TDH and I had plans to have dinner with our friends Liz and Vee who had just bought a house in Half Moon Bay. This was going to be a challenge for me because Liz and Vee do not get home until 8:30pm at night, which meant by the time they got home and cooked, we were going to be eating late. I knew we were going to have a late dinner so I had a snack after my workout at around 4pm and when Eddie got home we busied ourselves by doing some errands. We got on the road at 8pm to go to Half Moon Bay and I realized I had not even thought about food! I was very hungry by the time we got to Liz and Vee’s house and they had some cheese and crackers out to snack on. I knew we were going to have grilled seafood for dinner and because I love seafood so much it was easy for me to decide to wait to eat and not indulge in the cheese and cracker appetizer so I could enjoy my dinner that much more. I was also handed a glass of white wine as soon as I walked in the door and since I only wanted to have two glasses of wine this evening: one with dinner, one for dessert, I made it a point to also ask for a glass of water. I drank my glass of white wine slowly, enjoying it throughout dinner. For dessert there was angel food cake, strawberries, and ice cream. TDH and I had also brought an El Dorado Nior dessert wine from Ferarri Carrano Wineries with some chocolate covered dried fruit. I was really looking forward to the dessert wine and was so busy enjoying it that before I knew it the rest of the dessert items were being taken away and all I had was three small pieces of chocolate covered dried berries. It was a great night. I really enjoyed the food and the wine and did not feel guilty or deprived at all the entire night!

Yesterday TDH and I woke up to an absolutely beautiful day. We had booked Zipcar to go down to Half Moon Bay and decided to keep in for 24 hours to get some errands done and such. TDH had to get up early to go into work for about an hour and when he got home we got back into bed and talked about what we wanted to do to enjoy this gorgeous day. We decided to go to Chestnut street for brunch and ended up at the Grove where we sat outside and I ordered an ice tea and the smoked salmon plate. We sat there for over an hour enjoying our food, the weather, and each other. After brunch we walked along Chestnut Street and peaked into all the cute shops. TDH told me he had never driven down Lombard Street and so of course that was our next stop. We drove to the top of the hill and then slowly down the windy brick street. At the bottom we decided to head over the Ghirardelli Square to check out the renovations since we had not been over there since they started remodeling. We wandered through the chocolate shops and sampled their chocolate and then wandered into the Wattle Creek Tasting room. It was $10 for a tasting of five wines and we decide why not, we have nothing we need to do today! We started with a light and refreshing Voigner, then moved on to the Rose, then to the bold and flavorful double gold medal Cabernet. By the time we got to the sweet but light Muscat Canelli dessert wine our savvy wine attendant had talked us into joining the wine club. He even let us try some of the wines that are offered to “Wine club members only” including an unusual sparkling shiraz which I loved and TDH thought tasted like rotten grapes (I prefer the term “earthy”).

For dinner that night I had no desire to cook and was craving something substantial and yummy. We decided to order Indian food from our favorite restaurant, Mehfil. This was a dangerous choice for someone on a diet. I always seem to completely stuff myself when I order Indian food. But I had a plan this time:

1. I ordered a vegetarian dish. Although the chicken korma is my all-time favorite, I decided to go with the punjabi channa paneer (spiced chickpeas with Indian cheese cubes), which is also very good but a much lighter dish. I was okay with this decision because I decided once I am at my goal weight and no longer trying to lose weight I will get the chicken korma again.

2. We ordered in instead of going out.

3. I used a small bowl instead of a big plate to serve myself in.

4. I steamed some fresh broccoli and added a little basmati rice, a little of the punjabi channa paneer and mixed it all together. That way I got to enjoy the Indian flavors of the rice and spiced chickpeas but filled myself up on low calorie and healthy broccoli.

5. I had some frozen unsweetened fruit for dessert. By deciding to have dessert later I was not tempted to reach for seconds when I had cleaned my bowl.