I’m a shopping cart judger.

I’m a shopping cart judger, yep thats right I am, not exactly one of my finest moment but it happens.  As I walked through the store picking up ingredients for Shrimp Jambalaya and a few other things, I found myself judging the items in this girls shopping cart; tv dinners, frozen meals, etc.  I thought who in their right mind would feed that crap to their family?! This was as I was reluctantly pursuing the kielbasa products (if you know me, you know I’m not a fan of meat by products and I usually avoid cooking with them) because the jambalaya  required kielbasa.  I’ll get to that later.

Anyhow, freezer dinners – listen to me being the judger as I carried around my basket with fresh fish, veggies and yogurt.  Here’s the thing I’ve been guilty of buying those not so great but easy to heat in a pinch freezer dinners.  But the thing is they are NOT so great for you.  Processed food in general is something one should try to avoid, their packed full of sodium, saturated fats (the bad kind) and other not so great crud.  Then I realized not everybody realizes it’s easy to cook healthy stuff quickly or in large quantities. Sure that freezer dinner is easy to pull out when your completely exhausted from working all day, running around, or chasing your kid around.  BUT you can just as easily pull a meal out of the freezer that you’ve cooked yourself, portioned and full of healthy good stuff.

Growing up Italian you don’t learn how to cook in small amounts, couple that with spending half my life in the restaurant industry and I’ve been equipped with the tools needed to easily cook for the masses.  If you’ve read any of my past posts, you already know I don’t cook dinner nightly – who in their right mind wants to do that after working all day, hitting the gym etc.  What I do – do is prep a lot of things at once (even if I don’t cook them then) and make extra and freeze it.

Let’s take the shrimp jambalaya for example – this was super quick, chop chop chop, throw it in the crockpot and bam 4 hours later I’ve got 5 portioned containers full of a meal.  Fresh, healthy, and tasty – put that in the freezer and you’ve got something to pull and microwave in a flash.  See recipe below.

The “TV dinner” AKA Frozen Meal, Let’s break a few down….

• The Lean Cuisine.. First let me start by saying, I ate these, sort of a lot at first when I started my fitness/health journey.  They were of course convenient and because if it says ‘lean’ in the name its got to be healthy right? But as my nutritionist advised me, and I will pass on to you, use them as a starting point only if you need too.  Because they are high in sodium, and like any prepackaged meal – they’re PROCESSED.  Plus, let’s be real who is actually full after eating a lean cuisine? I never was – I kept a few in my freezer here and there for utmost emergencies.
• Smart Ones – let’s analyze the ‘vegetable fried rice’ meal at 280 calories.  In reality what you would pay for 2 of these, you can probably make 10 hearty servings for yourself. Boil some whole grain minute rice, throw it in a skillet with  a couple eggs, and a bag of frozen peas,carrots, corn mixture or mix in fresh (even better).   I actually cook brown rice off in batches and leave it in the fridge, along with cooked off chicken and make myself pseudo stir fry quickly.
• Continuing on.. Stouffers makes a Shrimp pasta as well.  300 calories per serving and there are only 2 servings in the bag – not exactly going to feed a ravenous family of 5, the sodium in this is a whopping 40% of your daily value.  Hope you don’t have high BP.  My make your own crockpot meal is looking even better at this point!

Moving on..

I’m just promoting the Shrimp Jambalaya because I saw it on Facebook the other day, made it and it was good.  Anything you can stick in a crockpot works, just avoid making like 10lbs of turkey chili and sticking it in the fridge hott, or you will explode it like my husband did ( I opened the door and then closed it and pretended like I didn’t see it).  My all time favorite is Chicken Taco Chili from SkinnyTaste.com – I”ve mentioned that on here before, plus you can use LOW SODIUM taco seasoning.

Yesterday (Sunday) I cooked up some green beans and 2 crab cakes and put them into containers for meals.  The extra cooked off beans i’ll eat with something else as a side this week – the point is THEY’RE ALREADY CLEANED, COOKED, and SEASONED!  Sometimes I just cut the tips off and leave them in the fridge ready to steam.  I also diced up a lot of tomatoes a friend dropped off, portioned them and put them into the freezer, so when I go to make chili i’ll just pull them defrost and drop them in the crockpot!

Chicken …. BUY THE BIG PACKAGE WHEN ITS ON SALE!  clean it, butterfly it, and portion it into vacuum sealed bags (if you have them) or ziplock bags – only use these if you plan to use it up quickly.  I usually put 2 breasts together with or without marinade in the freeze, so I can grab them and let them defrost during the day to cook for dinner. Otherwise, i cook off a few pounds of chicken, grilling lately – with different types of seasoning and marinades and leave it cooked off in the fridge to grab from all week!

My point in all of this is, don’t opt for the frozen ‘meal’ because it’s convenient.  Make life easier and keep the staples precooked, or prepared and ready to go for your week. You can make your own convenient meals at home and freeze them, or have them waiting in your fridge!

Sincerely – the girl judging your shopping cart!

Slow Cooker Jambalaya
Recipe by George Stella / StellaStyle.com

Prep Time 10 min / Cook Time 6 hrs / Serves 8

SHOPPING LIST
2 cups chopped cooked kielbasa sausage, may use any cooked sausage
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 cup chopped white or yellow onion
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with juice
2 cloves minced garlic
1⁄2 teaspoon Tobasco hot sauce
1 tablespoon cumin
1⁄2 teaspoon kosher salt
1⁄4 teaspoon black pepper
1 pound medium-sized peeled and deveined shrimp
2 cups raw cauliflower

1. Place all of the ingredients, except the shrimp, and cauliflower into a slow cooker set to low and stir to combine.

2. Cook on low for 4 to 6 hours (depending on when you are ready to eat).

3. Using the large holes of a cheese grater, grate the raw cauliflower into small, rice-like pieces.

4. Add the shrimp and cauliflower to the cooker and cook for just another 20 to 30 minutes before serving.

HELPFUL HINTS
Jambalaya is traditionally made with Andouille sausage instead of kielbasa, but that may be hard to find in your local grocery store.

Calories:190|Fat: 8.5g |Protein: 19.5g|Fiber: 2.5g|Net Carbs: 6g
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Another meal plan…

Thanksgiving is coming – let’s use up the extra turkey. The idea is shred your extra turkey, and any recipes on the last that require ground turkey sub it in. Also cook, portion, and pack so you’re done.

 

I added some new recipes to the breakfast list, but the snack list is pretty much the same as the last plan.

Breakfast list:

• Quiche
• Banana French Toast Sushi 
• Breakfast Casserole
• Cup Greek yogurt, Serving Granola & Fresh Berries
• 3 scr eggs w/ green peppers, mushrooms, ¼ cup skim cheese
• Serving of oatmeal w/ serving fruit
• Cereal (portioned) with almond milk or skim (portioned). Buy a cereal made with whole grains and isn’t loaded with sugar. Add some fruit

 

Snack List:

• Fresh fruit
• Fresh Veggies (Carrots, celery, peppers, edamame, etc)
• Hard boiled egg (3)
• Popcorn (100 cal packs or light butter)
• 100 Calorie packs
• Fiber bars
• Almonds (portion size 24 pcs)
• Trail Mix – keep it clean & portioned
• Yogurt
• Rice cakes
• Edy’s ice cream (small mini container ½ the fat)
• Skinnycow snacks

Lunch & Dinner RecipesL

• Chick pea stew (sub shredded fresh turkey for ground):
• Santa Fe Lettuce Wraps (you can put the mix over an entire salad instead of wrap, or put in burrito and add calories for it):
• Turkey Salad
• Cheesy Pasta 
• Peach Mango Salsa
• Black Bean Salad
• Brushchetta Chicken
• Minestrone Soup
• Chicken DrumSticks
• Broccoli Potato Skins

I like cake.

I like cake, and chocolate and vanilla ice cream with sprinkles, and cookies, and donuts, and all the other good stuff that goes right to my ass. I’m currently in weight loss mode because I have a bridesmaid dress I need to squeeze my ass into by October, and it’s 3 sizes to small.  So realistically I won’t be choking back Krispy Kreme donuts any time in the near future.  So let’s look at some healthier versions of the ooey gooey bad stuff.

100 calorie packs are glorious, but they look like their the portion size enough for a 4 year old, but clearly I shouldn’t be eating a bag of Chips Ahoy anyhow.  I’m partial to the Cookies N Cream thin crisps they get the job done in a PMS pinch.  I bought the skinny cow pouches a few times but wasn’t overly impressed so instead of spending a lot on them, a couple milky way bites have the same effect and close to the same calories.. The problem is limiting yourself  – just do it.

These Sinless Cookies ( See recipe below).  I found them on Facebook and figured ok let’s try this, because I’m a sucker for banana bread. My friend always drops an entire loaf off when she makes it and I eat it in about 2 days.  I won’t ever even attempt to log the amount of calories consumed.  So the Sinless Cookies are good if you like banana bread and oatmeal cookies.  There best warm, and do not sit well for a few days – if you plan on having them around a while refrigerate or cut the banana portion in half.  They get gooey.  They come out to about 60 calories per cookie. Not to shabby. 

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Muffins with Greek Yogurt!  
These are great and if you’re lucky you can find them in the grocery store, using the Yogurt cuts out a lot of the calories.   If you can’t find them in the bakery section try this recipe here Double Chocolate Chip Muffins.

Edy’s 1/2 the fat Ice Cream

So you can eat yogurt instead of ice cream, but personally it’s just not the same for me.  I found Edy’s in the freezer section, and they come in little miniature containers, there is one serving size in each and about 160 -190 calories depending on the flavor.  I find these helpful because then you’re done after that. You don’t have to open a big tub of ice cream, stare at it longingly and say i want to scoop half of the tub into my bowl, or just eat out of it with a spoon.  Check your freezer isle and see if they have them.  Click here for nutrition info:  Edy’s Slow Churned 1/2 the Fat

SkinnyTaste.Com is my food bible…. They have a dessert section check it out.. How about:  No Bake Cheesecake

Wing Sauce & Weightloss

In a perfect world everything would be drenched in buffalo wing sauce, and I would forever remain a size 4.  Unfortunately I’ve never been a size 4, and just looking at wing sauce adds 5lbs to my ass. On the bright side Franks Red Hott doesn’t have any calories, but it’s loaded with sodium much like all dinners my Noni cooks.  Still tho, I cover egg whites in Franks when I need a boost, or there’s a great recipe for skinny buffalo cauliflower here:  Buffalo Cauliflower Recipe

Weight loss is all about calorie consumption – calorie in, calorie out.  For me during weightloss mode, I consume around 1600 calories per day, on more active days or if I’m hungry I consume around 1800.  For me ‘Volumetrics’ is key, it’s based on 4-6oz of protein and filling the rest of my plate with veggies and less calorie dense foods.  They key is to fill up on the low cal stuff (eating clean).  Don’t be afraid of carbs either, but we need to consume the healthy ones, whole grains please- they’re also harder for the digestive system to process so your body has to work to break it down (but be prepared to poop!).  I stay away from “whole grain” breads that have high fructose corn syrup on the label.   Ezekial bread is very good and can be found at Wegman’s (it spoils quickly).  My husband was buying an Arnold brand bread from Redner’s and left it on top of the refrigerator for 2 weeks and there was no mold. This was extremely disturbing and made me wonder what preservatives are in that, that it hasn’t begun to mold at all.

I’m not a big sanGwich (not sandwich it’s sanGwich, with a G) person, but if I do need to eat one, I use bagel things, tortillas, pita shells etc.  I’m not a super mucho huge fan of the bread slice, it’s friggen boring.  Pita’s are great because you can shove some tuna salad, or chicken salad in them and spring mix.  Or mix it up with some rilled chicken, rice, beans and corn and have a southwest wrap.   Here’s a pita recipe:  Chicken Salad Pita

I get sidetracked easily so back to the my daily calorie consumption. ….  Log, log log your food – when I don’t log I get off track and gain weight. I’m not one of those lucky skinny girls who eats 20 tastykakes and doesn’t gain a pound.  I look at a tasty Kake and I gain 5lbs, if I don’t log my food and eat crap for 2 weeks, I gain weight – it’s simple science.  If you can’t log food (don’t be lazy, you probably can),  at least plan and pack snacks and lunch/breakfast so you know what your consciously consuming and don’t stop and grab something quickly that could be a less healthier option.  (if that’s the case I stop at Subway and get a salad with spinach, tuna salad, peppers, olives & red wine vinegar around 400 calroies, Mcdonald’s Southwest Chicken salad with dressing and grilled chicken is around 400 calories as well).  I understand completely it’s not humanly possible to pack all of your food all of the time. But you can always be consciously aware of what you’re putting in your mouth.

I do breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, and I don’t eat super late at night, unless I workout late and still need to eat dinner. I’ve read articles that say not eating after 7pm is a myth – I don’t know if it is or isn’t, but I’m not about to swallow a pound of pasta or entire pizza and then go to bed in an hour, your metabolism slows down during sleep, and plus that craps sitting like a rock in your stomach (i could do without nightmares).

I like to keep things in my fridge, freezer etc that I can whip up quickly without effort for dinner, I work full time, go to grad school and teach at the gym, I am not about to come home from work and whip up some Martha Stewart style 5 course meal, folded napkins and all. I live in reality and my floor isn’t vacuumed daily, and my laundry sits on the spare bed unfolded for a week.  Let’s get real here, real people don’t always have time to put Emeril to shame in the kitchen. And some nights I opt for the less healthier version and order take out (pizza is ok in moderation but I’m not wolfing down an entire tray every day).   That being said frozen wild caught tilapia filets defrost quickly.  You can throw some lemon and Cajun seasoning on them, steam some veggies and a salad and you have dinner.  Stir fry is quick and easy too  (recipe here: Stir Fry   OR  Chicken & Asparagus Stir Fry).  If you’re going the stir fry route – again use whole grains which means BROWN RICE!  White starches are bleached.

There’s a calorie calculator here: Calorie Calculator  this by no means is a substitute for professional advice, so if you’re really serious I always tell people to consult with a nutritionist or dietitian, I did in the beginning. It’s imperative that you consume enough calories daily so you don’t starve yourself, you’re body NEEDS food, food is fuel.  I merely write what works for me – and by no means is professional advice, or a guide to which everyone should follow, it’s what I do…

P.S.  get a buddy – they will keep you in check.   Add friends on My Fitness Pal, they’ll support you when you’re on a roll, and slap you when you take 1 too many food binders.  Make friends that like to work out, it’s ok to have gym friends and go out friends.  You need buddies that share in your desire to be healthy and want to burn some calories.  Not everyone is a gym rat, or runner, but you’ll have a lot more support in what you’re doing if you make some that are.  Join a running club, make a buddy at the gym who enjoys the same group fitness class as you and make a pact to go weekly.

What do you mean no butter?

I stopped cooking with butter and all that other fun stuff….

Ok so my weight loss journey a few years ago started with a health scare at 26 – high blood pressure, triglycerides, all that fun stuff.  As a 26 year old hypochondriac I thought for sure I was going to die, I diagnosed myself with at least 7 diseases from WebMD and so forth.   This was the end let me tell ya!  Everyone needs a slap in the face sometime (that should be a song), I was never obese, I was active throughout high school and early parts of college, but the freshmen 15 turned into the freshmen 30, and then well more..

Calorie consumption and exercise was clearly what I was worrying about but in order to eat properly you need to be able to read food labels, and cook healthy.  I’ll save food labels for another day when it’s not so early and I have a thesaurus and dictionary at hand.

The butter..

I’m Italian – NO BUTTER?? This is blasphemy! Now no one told me to cut without butter, I chose to – I mean think about that crap you’re ingesting.. gross.. Then there’s the light versions or ‘fake butter’, I”m sure those are fine and dandy but butter is butter, so I can’t really get into the fake version of it, I mean what are you putting in that to make it healthy & fake?  So I dropped the butter, this was probably the hardest thing to do because I literally cooked every single thing in butter. I mean eggs, ham, vegetables, hell – I think it was even in my pasta.  Growing up with my Noni, butter was and is a key ingredient of everything, so for me it was just normal.  Hell, she uses so much butter cooking vegetables they become completely unrecognizable. “Ashley that needs butter!! AND SALT” – Noni.

So let’s get over the butter fear – I have not cooked with it in 2 years, and frankly I don’t miss it.  I don’t even buy it.  I use PAM very minimally the whole cooking oil in a spray can is kind of odd when you analyze it.  My go to for non stick is OLIVE OIL, I have a bottle with a spout next to my stove and that’s what I use, rub some on your cookie sheet or frying pan and use that. The amount of calories you cut out by cutting butter is enormous and much healthier.  Saute veggies in fat free salad dressings, use marinades etc. There are tons of alternatives, you just need to get a little creative and open your cabinet.

See ya later SALT!

As I said I had high BP (I no longer do by the way) so I also kept an eye on my sodium intake. This is something I really never thought about, I no longer season anything with salt – I also buy the Mrs. Dash brand spices because they make sodium free. I will use salt if a recipe calls for it and it’s absolutely going to taste awful if I don’t but substitute it with sea salt if possible.  Sodium = water retention and can attribute to high BP.  But don’t tell Noni that, her food can put ocean water to shame some days.  I season everything – it makes boring healthy meals a little exciting, chicken, fish, beef, veggies, whatever.  Now don’t get me wrong a bottle of Mrs.Dash is probably around $5 but I’ve had 2 that lasted me about a year so the $10 investment was worth it.

Cream cheese…

Bagel & cream cheese please… I used to eat a bagel & CC for breakfast maybe everyday when I was younger, sure this is fine until your metabolism changes, and then you look at it and it goes right to your ass.  I cut cream cheese out – not completely, I just don’t make it a staple in my frig.  Let me fill you in, a “normal” sized bagel – let’s say from Dunkin – that is 4 servings of bread. You don’t need all that, especially not for one meal.  I buy those bagel thins (they’re 100 calories) and chose peanut butter as an alternative.  Cream cheese if necessary I choose fat free.  But think of it this way a bagel with cream cheese from dunkin has a ton of calories, a plain bagel alone is 310 calories (those fancy smothered ones are over 400), + 3oz of cream cheese is around 290 calories – (i’m sure they’re not measuring it correctly for you). So breakfast alone already is at 600+ calories (that’s my breakfast, & snacks for the day calorie wise).   How about this way, bagel thin, lite cream cheese and some slices of fruit? That’s if you need a bagel. I opt for greek yogurt and I mix in granola, and fresh fruit (everything is portioned). I used to buy yogurt with the fruit in but it’s less calories and sugar and you get more food if you mix your own.  Do the work and mix it yourself.

Salad dressings and marinades are your BIFF..

I learned to get creative with salad dressings and marinades to cook just about anything – just keep an eye on the sodium content and i’ll get into nutrition labels in another post. You also want to watch the saturated fat, and if there are any other crazy additives like high fructose corn syrup.  I buy Newman’s Own – Weiss carries them and they’re pricey but worth it.  I will cook just about any veg in a marinade or salad dressing, I’m not one for eating boring steamed vegetables every day.  Click here to check out Skinnytaste.com or Cooking Light – they will become your BIFFS as well.

Take what I said with a grain of salt (ahahaha), if I’m going to a cookie party and I need to make a batch of cookies that normal humans are eating, I clearly follow the recipe and put butter in it.  I understand there are people who will not cut butter, or salt our of their cabinets.  I’m just saying for me I nixed it and I don’t even miss it and neither does my skinny husband (i could probably cover everything he eats in butter and he’d loose 5 lbs).  Just be conscious of how much you’re using and when you’re using it.  Ya follow?