Friday and Saturday

Not much to report. On Friday I waited around after work for Winter to finish at art class, so I brought both lunch and dinner with me. The Free Friday Download item was a Russell Stover filled chocolate egg. Winter picked out a caramel one and ate it on the way back. I love the dark chocolate raspberry ones myself. No money was spent on food.

Breakfast: homemade granola with chopped dates and almond milk
Lunch: tuna salad sandwich with lettuce on GF bread, last of the egg drop soup
Dinner: leftover GF spaghetti with chicken sausage sauce and parm-Romano blend, two clementines
Snacks/desserts: none
Beverages: water


Saturday I learned a lesson about not eating enough for breakfast. Now that I'm used to eating more in the mornings, I'm finding that if I don't eat enough it's hard to get through the work day. Duly noted. I had a lot of snacks when I got home.

We spent $4 on a bag of reduced apples, a tub of reduced fat sour cream, and an avocado at QFC. We made chicken and bell pepper tacos for dinner, with corn tortillas browned in a little olive oil. For the chicken and peppers, we cooked it with a jar of green salsa and reduced it down. Winter and Jeremy used sour cream, and I made guacamole for mine.

Breakfast: last banana nut muffin and a small apple
Lunch: tuna salad sandwich with lettuce on GF bread, leftover navy bean and red pepper soup
Dinner: three salsa verde chicken and pepper tacos with guacamole
Snacks/desserts: clementine, 1/3 dark chocolate bar, celery with spicy pepper hummus
Beverages: water

Last big trip to Grocery Outlet on Wednesday

On Wednesdays I work a short morning shift and am home by the early afternoon. Jeremy and I took the bus up to Grocery Outlet after I got home. We spent $41 and got the following:

8 chicken burger patties
Protein granola
Gluten free sour cream and wasabi crackers
Gluten free white bread
4 bottles of Mio
2 lbs frozen strawberries
2 lbs clementines
1 lb brown rice
3 Galazo SF energy drinks
Huge bottle of dried minced onion
6 whole wheat bagels
6 pack chicken Ramen
Blueberry fruit crisps
Pretzel M&M's
Zucchini
3 bell peppers
2 lb organic celery hearts
Large jar low sugar apricot preserves
2 packs of cheese filled cheese sandwich crackers
7 oz can tomato sauce
Large tub spicy pepper hummus
12 oz honey
Can of sliced black olives
2 hardboiled eggs
18 corn tortillas
Organic unsweetened almond milk

For dinner I made gluten free spaghetti, and made sauce with a 28 oz can of diced tomatoes, the zucchini, two organic chicken sausages, olive oil, red wine, garlic, dried onion, and Italian seasoning. I also made salad with the rest of the lettuce and the other half of the cucumber.

After dinner Winter and I made homemade pop tarts and pie crust cookies with the last few tablespoons of various kinds of jam from the fridge and two frozen pie crusts. We made glaze out of powdered sugar, water, and a drop of red food coloring, and added rainbow sprinkles.

Breakfast: homemade granola with almond milk and a sliced banana
Lunch: two hardboiled eggs and chive and onion crackers with spicy pepper hummus (late lunch after shopping)
Dinner: gluten free spaghetti with chicken sausage sauce and parm-Romano blend, and salad with balsamic vinaigrette
Snacks/desserts: dark chocolate avocado pie
Beverages: water, cocoa mint coconut milk


Thursday Jeremy and I went to QFC and spent $4 on pickle relish and a head of lettuce. We had leftovers for dinner. Winter had bought half price Valentine's candy with her own money and saved me a couple pieces of dark chocolate.

Breakfast: banana, banana nut muffin
Lunch: navy bean and red pepper soup, peanut butter honey sandwich on gluten free bread
Dinner: egg drop soup, turkey and spicy pepper hummus sandwich with lettuce on GF bread
Snacks/desserts: last of the dark chocolate avocado pie, two pieces of dark chocolate
Beverages: water

Haircut and other stuff

Yesterday I was feeling much better, though I was glad to still have a day off. I wasn't quite ready to go back to work. And I was actually wanting to eat again.

I got my hair cut, went to acupuncture, and went to Goodwill and Value Village looking for things for Winter and I to use for our Comic Con costumes. Comic Con is at the end of March. I also picked up an almost full quart of chalkboard paint from the Buy Nothing group.

I made navy bean and roasted red pepper soup in the crock pot, which I blended smooth with our new stick blender. It also had chicken bouillon, carrots, a Yukon gold potato, chili powder, mustard powder, dried onion, garlic, and cilantro.

I also made granola after dinner with a couple kinds of oats, teff, quinoa, cinnamon, nutmeg, orange zest, coconut oil, honey, an egg, and pecans and almonds. It made six cups.

Breakfast: banana, banana nut muffin
Lunch: gluten free onion and chive crackers, spicy pepper hummus, clementines, dark chocolate avocado pie
Dinner: navy bean and red pepper soup
Snacks/desserts: 1/4 bar dark chocolate
Beverages: water

Not hungry

I don't know if it was the two extra strength horse-pill sized Sudafed I took yesterday or what, but I have zero appetite. Even now it is 8:00 am Tuesday, and I have no desire to eat anything.

I ate a bowl of egg drop soup around 1:00pm, a small slice of chocolate pie around 3:00pm, a Clementine around 5:00pm, and nothing else. I had planned to at least have another bowl of soup and a green salad, but I was too exhausted to make the effort while not hungry.

I sent Jeremy to QFC, and he spent $5 on a dozen eggs, five or six large bananas, and a low carb yogurt. Winter is on vacation from school until Wednesday and she ate a bunch of leftovers. Jeremy made some hideous egg white and chicken meatball scramble with BBQ sauce.

Maybe I won't die from this

Maybe. Yesterday was brutal. I am so glad I took a couple of days off work. There is no way I could have worked in this condition. I was sneezing so violently yesterday that I messed up my pecs somehow and now every time I sneeze I get a sharp pain across my upper chest.

Today I feel much better, but still in no condition to go to work. And I shouldn't be touching people anyway. Plus I got four hours a of actual sleep last night. My throat isn't hurting and I am much less stuffed up now. My nose runs nearly constantly though, and occasionally I have coughing fits as random bits of whatever come dislodged from my sinuses. Ok, sorry for the TMI.

Yesterday my plan was to make a special Valentine's dinner since I worked a ton on Saturday. I made chicken breast with a cranberry white wine reduction (Exact same thing as the chicken with cranberry white wine glaze I made a couple weeks ago, but it sounds fancier, huh? And I do have to reduce the sauce, so there.), gluten free cornbread stuffing, and green salad with cucumbers. I sent Winter to the store for a cucumber and she spent $3 on an English cucumber. Yes, that is exactly what I meant. Grr. It is delicious at least.

For dessert I made a chocolate cream pie using the gluten free chocolate crumb style pie crust, and avocados and dark chocolate. I roughly followed this recipe for the filling, but used coconut milk instead of almond, and 1/3 cup honey instead of the agave nectar. I let it set in the fridge for a few hours. It's quite dense and rich, but not overly sweet. The texture is nice. You'd never guess it's avocado. The avocados I used were very ripe brown, and it didn't affect the outcome. I probably overdid it a little on the dark chocolate yesterday, but that's ok.

Breakfast: Alpha Bits cereal with nut milk
Lunch: egg flower soup
Dinner: chicken in a cranberry white wine reduction, gluten free cornbread stuffing, green salad with ginger sesame dressing
Snacks/desserts: 1/4 bar of dark chocolate, dark chocolate avocado pie, dates, walnuts, cherry Lara Bar
Beverages: half a can of Blue Sky Zero ginger ale, lots and lots ofnwater

Uggggghhhh

I have finally succumbed to the family cold. Horrible. It hit me about halfway through work today. I am taking tomorrow and Monday off. Tuesday I have off anyway. Hopefully I am better by Wednesday. I don't get sick pay, so missing work is not good. At least Sunday is not a normal work day for me, so I'm only going to miss one full day. Depending on how I feel on Wednesday I might extend my hours a bit to help make up for it.

Yesterday I made egg flower soup for dinner. I used sodium free chicken bouillon, garlic, dried onion, lots of ginger, some corn starch, and a bit of salt for the broth. I also put the rest of the spinach, the rest of the broccoli, and a carrot into it and three eggs. It really needed sesame oil too but I forgot to add that until after we ate some. There were 8 cups of leftovers.

I bought a bag of dark chocolate chips, and spent about $3. I have plans for them tomorrow.

Breakfast: black cherry Silk yogurt, banana nut muffin
Lunch: tuna salad sandwich on brown rice bread with lettuce, two clementines
Dinner: egg flower soup
Snacks/desserts: none
Beverages: cocoa mint coconut milk, water


Jeremy went to the store today and spent $16 on broccoli, a bag of frozen chicken breast, a box of Tofutti Cuties (They were on sale cheap and he thought I could have them but forgot they have wheat in them, so Winter is happily eating them). On the way home we went to Menchie's and spent $9.

Jeremy made dinner. He made chicken Stir fry with carrots, broccoli, yellow bell pepper, brown rice, and a spicy apricot glaze. We got a hand blender the other day with a food processor attachment (I had some reward $ to spend on Wayfair.com) and he used it to chop all the veggies. The carrots looked like something out of Fargo, and the broccoli was totally pulverized. He tried though, bless his heart. At least it tasted good. That which I was able to taste anyway. Damn this cold.

Jeremy gave me some fancy dark chocolate bars for Valentine's Day, and I gave him some white chocolate raspberry Quest bars. Winter got some Red Velvet Oreos and a small box of chocolates.

Breakfast: banana nut muffin
Lunch: leftover egg flower soup, tuna sandwich with lettuce
Dinner: chicken and veggie stir fry with brown rice and spicy apricot glaze
Snacks/desserts: 1/3 of a dark chocolate bar with ginger, pomegranate raspberry sorbet with strawberries and blackberries
Beverages: water