Aaaand Here We Go!

Here I am at the first day of this healthy eating challenge. I could have started two days ago when I first made this blog, but those past two days were spent eating out since we headed up to Ft Campbell to say our good-byes to hubby as he deploys to Afghanistan. I try to eat healthy when eating out, but my portion control is totally out the window. Not to mention, hubby’s a bit of a junk food junkie, so we ended up at McD’s and BK more times than I’d normally like. But I won’t complain too much in this case since these were his last American meals for quite awhile. I did get to hit up my absolutely favorite sushi restaurant in the area, Kohana, for lunch on the way home, though. Ohhh….the Tropical Paradise Roll was heavenly! Weekend breakfasts are usually my time to experiment and try new things. Today I tried an egg mug. I don’t know if Hungry Girl, Lisa Lillien invented these, but she sure made them popular. I don’t like everything she does, but these are a quick, easy and filling breakfast. Just throw some egg sustitute (or whipped real eggs) into a mug, nuke for 30 seconds, stir in whatever add-ins you want (today it was Laughing Cow swiss cheese and turkey bacon with a sprinkle of Emeril’s Original Essence), nuke another 45-60 seconds and stir. Yum! The only thing missing from this for me was some avocado. That would’ve made it perfect. I’ll have to remember to snag some from the store. Vanessa, my 6-year-old daughter, opted for Schwan’s Apple Cinnamon French Toast Sticks. Schwan’s has some delicious stuff, but they’re another company guilty of loading their food down way too much with the bad stuff (HFCS, artificial flavorings and colorings, PHVO, sodium, etc). I’m going to try to find a way to make these from scratch. Maybe mix applesauce into the egg dip….or use apple-cinnamon bread. Hmmm…

Fixed another HG recipe for a late lunch this afternoon, the Chicken Pot Pockets. I used all-natural egg roll wrappers by Nasoya, Campbell’s Heart Healthy Cream of Celery soup, Food City brand frozen veggies, and Tyson All-Natural frozen chicken breasts. They turned out…okay. Like the Awesome Apple Pie-Lets I attempted to make about a month ago, the pockets turned out crispy, but a bit hard, around the edges, and soft in the middle. The filling was tasty, though a bit heavy on celery flavor…maybe use less than a full can of the soup next time. Even Vanessa liked them, though she avoided the edges.

Started exercising today too after a long hiatus. Vanessa got a Wii for a b-day present, so I’m taking advantage of it myself as a workout tool. Got Just Dance 2 through GameFly in the mail today, so popped it in and boogied for about 20 minutes. Great way to work up a sweat and have fun.