A Green Evening

We had a green evening meal tonight:

I have not been giving enough attention to the Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites cookbook that somehow got lost amongst my cookbook collection. I dusted it off, and made Penne with Creamy Walnut Sauce for dinner.

Included in the creamy walnut sauce recipe is:

• steamed spinach
• toasted walnuts
• low-fat cottage cheese (I used 1% whipped)
• garlic
• parmesan cheese
• fresh basil
• s&p

Upon tasting the sauce straight from the food processor, I was really impressed at how creamy, light & fresh it was. However, the taste was sort of lost once I mixed it into the cooked penne and broccolini. Perhaps this is why the recipe calls for the sauce to be served on top of the pasta rather than mixed into it. Next time I make this sauce, I think I’ll add in some red pepper flakes to kick the heat up a bit.

My serving was light on pasta and heavy on broccolini.

On the side, I added a few handfuls of baby romaine topped with some dried cherries. I actually served my meal on a salad plate. This renowned tip really does make a portion of food look larger than if it was served on a dinner plate, and we all know that we eat with our eyes before our stomachs!

The green theme continued over into dessert, which was a smoothie including:

• about 1/8 of a honeydew melon, seeded and cut off the rind
• 1/2 of a mango, cut into chunks and frozen overnight
• 1/2 of a banana, cut into slices and frozen overnight
• about 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• a few drops of pure coconut extract

The coconut extract lent a lovely tropical flavor without any added fat, sugar, or calories. There was no need for an added sweetener, because all of these fruits are naturally sweet at the height of their ripeness. The consistency was super thick and creamy, thanks mostly to the frozen banana; I’d say that is the essential element in a milkshake-like smoothie!

Rewind

Crisis averted!

I strapped Addie (the baby I nanny) into her new sleek stroller and made the hour-long trek to & from Newton Centre to purchase a camera memory card reader.

I rewarded my diligent blogger efforts and quenched my thirst appeased my inner caffeine glutton by treating myself to a small unsweetened iced coffee from none other than Dunkin’ Donuts – the preeminent coffee choice of Bostonians.

Now that I can access the pics of breakfast, allow me to rewind to this morning.

As mentioned in my previous post, this delicious & filling breakfast was comprised of:

• about 6 oz Chobani nonfat plain greek yogurt
• 1 banana sliced
• 1 Tbsp ground flaxseed
• 1 Tbsp Naturally Nutty White Chocolate Coconut peanut butter
• 1/4 cup Nature’s Path Agave Plus granola

I’ve found that greek yogurt is the only breakfast food to rival oats in terms of satiety power.  It’s been over 5 hours since I ate this delicious yogurt bowl, and I’m just beginning to feel the first twinges of hunger. Greek yogurt is one of the foods that I just won’t give up – economic recession or not!

Camera Lows & Sugar Highs

I have some [relatively] frustrating news, folks: the connection between my camera’s digital output and the cable that connects to the computer has become too loose, thus rendering the upload process impossible. I will commence a search for a CF card adapter as well as look into how much it would cost to fix the problem.

I am still able to take photographs, so I’ll continue to document my meals – it just might be a little while until I’m able to upload the pictures to my computer.

I did eat breakfast this morning:

• about 6 oz Chobani nonfat plain greek yogurt
• a sliced banana
• 1 Tbsp ground flaxseed
• 1 Tbsp Naturally Nutty White Chocolate Coconut peanut butter
• 1/4 cup Nature’s Path Agave Plus granola
• a cup of coffee with skim milk.

Luckily, I snapped some pics of today’s packed lunch & snack after I prepared it yesterday. A preview:

Wrap:

• TJ’s whole wheat + flax tortilla
• baby spinach
• Tribe 40 Spices Hummus
• 1/4 of an avocado

I just love the rich flavor & creamy texture of avocado and hummus together; two thumbs up for healthy fats!

Undressed Salad:

• mixed greens & spinach
• pecan pieces
• goat cheese
• apple juice-sweetened dried cranberries

Slightly reminiscent of the salad I ordered last night, no?

For a pre-workout afternoon snack, I packed carrots, grape tomatoes, and a generous 1/2 cup of Friendship 1% Whipped Cottage Cheese.

The whole shebang:

I’ll leave you with this:

My friend Jess sent me the link to an interesting webpage that discusses the amount of sugar in a variety of snack foods – some of which are junk foods & some of which are so-called “health” foods. Next to a photograph of each snack is a tower of sugar cubes depicting the amount of sugar in that food. Just something to think about…

Power Bar, Chocolate Peanut Butter

1 bar (65g)

Sugars, total: 23g

Calories, total: 240

Calories from sugar: 92