A Case of the Snacks

Thursday was a little consumed with snacks. I just had snacking on the brain for some reason. I had a lot of work to do, which meant sitting in front of my computer for much of the afternoon. You know how it goes, you brain wanders sometimes and you think of something good to eat. Anyhow, I kept it healthy.

The morning kicked off with some more Cybros multi-grain flatbread and banana, as I wanted to make good use of the banana before they went bad. I paired that up with some cantaloupe and strawberries and an iced coffee.

Later in the morning, I had some errands to run, so I hopped on my bike. It was nice to be outside, in the sun, before the heat kicked in. After stopping by our friend Dayn's to pick up the White Sox/Tigers (GO TIGERS!) tickets, I headed to the post office to mail off some packages. My workout actually worked out to 45 minutes. WOO!

Lunch, once again, saw some more of our Four-cheese Macaroni. I think I am ready to put this to bed for a while. I need something else. It was fabulous while it lasted, though. Ryan and I shared a pear with lunch as well.

The majority of my afternoon swallowed up by interview transcriptions and my brain sort of went into overdrive on the snack front. I had a string cheese, a pickle, and some veggies with a tablespoon of Athenos' Roasted-Red Pepper hummus. This was all spread throughout the day.

I was a little anxious I suppose for our date at Lincoln Hall, where Sound Opinions was showing the movie "Once". I've been a massive fan of Glen's band, The Frames, for years, so being able to be a part of such an intimate gig with only 200 people in attendance was great. This was also a fab early birthday present for me. So come dinner time, I had some quick leftovers of Salmon Cakes with Sesame-Ginger Sauce and we were out the door.

Here are some snapshots from the show. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova of The Swell Season were also on hand for a short question and answer session and performance. The evening was so lovely! The Frames will be doing a 20th anniversary tour this fall, which makes me sooooooo excited! If you're new to the Frames, check out their Set List album. Phenomenal live stuff!

And with the show running late, I did run over my calories by just a little. Promise to post more on-track data on Friday. Cheers!

Fighting Fat

I really hate going over in my fat calories. It truly bugs me, like it did on Monday. I had to do some reorganizing with today's menus in order to avoid any repeat of that. Having a cup of Cranberry and Almond Granola for breakfast at 524 calories ... I don't know. Across the blogosphere, granola seems to be celebrated and championed as a something healthy for breakfast. Is it really? Today, I'm totally to blame since I had a full cup instead of a half cup serving. I ended up skipping the banana.

I split up my late morning workout with a 45-minute power walk outside and 30 minutes on the elliptical. I spend A LOT of time inside, with various freelance projects, blogging, and job hunting. I just had the urge to take a break and get outside yesterday. Plus I was able to complete an errand, too.

For lunch, Ryan prepared Ellie Krieger's Four-Cheese Macaroni the night before. This mixture makes enough to fill an entire casserole dish, so we always have more than enough to last us throughout the week. We like to add broccoli to the squash-cheese base, giving a little more umph to the veggie goodness. Ryan added some salami to his portion as well. While it sounds super good and tasty, I'll won't be indulging in that section of the dish. Haha.

I spent the remainder of the afternoon wrapping up loose ends and preparing for other deadlines happening later in the week. For dinner, I turned to Ellie Krieger again for her Salmon Cakes with Sesame-Ginger Sauce. This is another dish that yields several helpings, and we end up putting half of it in the freezer for a later date.

For the ingredients, we used six five-ounce cans of Chicken of the Sea's pink salmon, six pieces of Brownberry's Healthy Multi-Grain Bread, half a can of water chestnuts from Dynasty, one Egg Beater, five fresh scallions, ground black pepper, and a fourth-cup of fresh cilantro from my herb garden. Cilantro makes everything better! I love me some cilantro!

Really good and so easy to make! It has a nice Asian flair with the water chestnuts and the Ginger-Sesame Sauce. The Sesame-Ginger Sauce includes drained non-fat plain yogurt from Green Valley Organics (lactose-free for the hubs), some soy sauce and fresh ginger. I paired mine up with an herby green salad with some cherries tomatoes and a bit of BelGioioso Parmesan Cheese.

Since I kept my calories in check today, I also had some No Pudge brownie. YUM!

Back to the grind tomorrow. Interview transcriptions and then some. Cheers!

Calorie goal 1,210-1,560: 1,461
Carbohydrates goal 164-237: 173
Fat goal 32-57: 53
Protein goal 60-128: 78