Tomato and Olive Salad

1 quart assorted Tomatoes (I like an heirloom variety, or whatever's handy in my garden)
1 cup sliced Olives (the Greek mix at Wegman's is great, or use kalamata, black and green olives)
1 cup crumbled Feta Cheese
1/4 cup Pine Nuts
1/2 Tbsp whole Coriander
1/2 Tbsp whole Cumin
1 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
2 Tbsp Olive Oil

Chop tomatoes.  If using grape or cherry tomatoes, cut them in half so dressing and spices can get inside.  Drop in medium mixing bowl.

Slice olives, if they didn't come that way and add to tomatoes.  Add cheese.

Gently toast pine nuts, coriander and cumin in a dry pan over medium heat until pine nuts are golden.  Allow to cool and add to tomatoes.

Drizzle vinegar and olive oil into bowl and stir gently until mixture is even.

Summer Spinach Salad

1 packet Good Seasons Italian Dressing

Pomegranate infused vinegar (Basalmic or red wine)

vegetable oil

Fresh Spinach

about 12 Chopped Fresh Strawberries

1/2 cup Roasted Salted Sunflower Kernels

1/2 cup shredded or crumbled Colby cheese

Prepare dressing according to package instructions with pomegranate vinegar and vegetable oil.

Toss all ingredients except the dressing in a large bowl. Drizzle with dressing and Enjoy!

(since I have to eat almost entirely Dairy-Free, I'm going to try this with a few cheeses that are a little friendly to my system and post my results)

Check-In, Sunday.

Sausage biscuit for breakfast.

Trail Mix for my midmorning snack.

Almonds when it got way to late for me to not eat, but I couldn't take my lunch yet. Busy day at work with a huge sale and almost no overlap in my department. Went in at 7, got lunch at 1:10.

Salad with homemade corn salsa for lunch. Almond milk when I got home.

Dinner remains a mystery at this point because we're heading up to my dad's.

However, I did bring trail mix with so I didn't end of snacking on something I shouldn't have.

***Dinner at Dad's was pork barbeque, Dutchy-style (no sauce) with pickled cabbage. I had a glass of water and managed to completely avoid the potato chips that Gramma put out. I did however cave and had a cupcake.

***Tofu for an evening snack. However, at this point, I've apparently been up enough hours that my body thinks it needs another snack. I'm having a sausage biscuit.

I did the 15 minute Breath and Body Segment on my Yoga DVD tonight. Would have loved to to more, but my knee was finished before I was.

***10:20, still frickin' hungry. One slice of peanut butter bread.

Saturday Check-In

Sausage biscuit for breakfast. Again, almond milk, but I did actually bother with a glass today.

No mid-morning snack, that's gonna be hit or miss on Saturdays that I work.

Lunch was more of the Fajita Topped Salad from last night, and some almonds. I was also a little extra hungry because I missed my snack, so I also had about 1/2 a portion of my homemade trail mix.

Finished the partial bag of trail mix on the way home from work. Decided to join my mom for a walk, so I had a second bag of trail mix because dinner was going to be late compared to lunch.

Mom's making dinner now, steak and salad with strawberries!


I WALKED 2.5 MILES TODAY!!!

***Lucky me, dinner also included Fresh Pineapple!! For snack I had the last two of the goodies from my mother-in-law. (I did mention they're bite-sized, right?)

Food Check-In

Breakfast, a sausage sandwich one the way out the door and a couple swallows of Vanilla flavored Almond Milk. Right the carton. Yeah, I'm like that.

Mid morning Snack, more almonds.

Lunch, leftover Asian salad from last night, and because I got my lunch pretty late, I ate the trail mix I intended for my afternoon snack because I was still hungry.

No afternoon snack, because I ate it early.

Dinner/Supper/the meal I'm trying not to drop on the laptop, spicy, Fajita-style grilled chicken and bell peppers over spring mix with chopped tomatoes, tortilla chips and a small sprinkle of shredded cheese. For dressing, I used the Spicy Chipotle Vinagrette we made last night. Hubby had seconds, I am going to have a glass of Almond Milk instead.

So far, I feel like I'm doing pretty good.

***Evening snack time. Will raid the baked goods from Mom-in-law again. Only having two cookie/bear claw thingies.***

Awesome Asian-Inspired Salad

For the dressing, you'll need:

Good Seasons Italian Dressing Packet

Sesame Oil (a flavorful one, like Kadoya)

Unseasoned Rice Vinegar

Soy Sauce

Make Dressing according to package instructions, add soy sauce to taste. I like a lot, but some of you might not enjoy the sodium.

For the salad, you'll need:

More Sesame Oil

McCormick Perfect Pinch Roasted Garlic and Red Pepper

Roasted Sesame Seeds

Sea Salt

Chicken (whatever cut you prefer, about 10 oz.)

Baby Spinach, Spring Mix or whatever greens you like best.

8 oz. can Sliced Water Chestnuts

15 oz. can Mandarin Oranges in Light Syrup

Crispy noodles.

Grill the Chicken in Sesame Oil. I usually cut it into small pieces before cooking to get more seasoning onto it. Season with Sea Salt and Perfect Pinch to taste. Throw in a generous amount of Sesame Seeds. When the Chicken is almost fully cooked, add the Water Chestnuts to warm them up and coat them with seasonings.

Serve the Chicken and Water Chestnuts over the greens and top with mandarin oranges and crispy noodles. Drizzle with your Sesame Vinagrette and Enjoy.

Greens in the bowl first

Holding myself accountable. Get Healthy Check-in.

So, I had breakfast at home today. Two ounce sausage patty on a biscuit.

For a morning snack I had whole almonds. They had donuts at the meeting, and I did have one, but I took a smallish one with very little frosting and no filling.

For lunch, I ate pretty lousy, 2 slices of pepperoni pizza, but I skipped the cookies and soda and went for fruit juice and the Cherry Almond Trail mix I packed.

I had more almonds for a snack on the way home.

For dinner, we are having an Asian inspired salad! Spring Mix, Mandarin oranges, chicken, water chestnuts, and crispy noodles with an awesome sesame vinagrette. I'm still a bit hungry, so I'm going to have a bit of my Sesame Marinated Tofu.

For a snack later, I'm going to try to get away with a tall glass of Vanilla flavored Almond Breeze.

***edit*** my snack ended up being a few strips of bell pepper to try out an awesome new dressing recipe i whipped up, and Mom-in-law goodies with my almond milk. If love is an ingredient, do the calories still count?***

By the way, I felt really guilty about the pizza and it didn't sit all that well. That'll teach me, I guess.