Entering the Realm of Food Blogging

In case you missed my rambling notes recently, I've decided to join the realm of food blogging. Why? Well, a couple of reasons. First, I keep reading articles about how food bloggers are more accountable, ergo more successful in their life journey. Second, I'm totally jealous of everyone else that does it, and third, it kinda looks fun!

Now, if only I can remember to TAKE pics of my food. Yesterday was the grand launch... which fizzled pretty good. Lunch was out, and I didn't have my camera with me (mental note, need bigger purse to carry camera in), and dinner I was so hungry I cooked and ate without even the THOUGHT of taking a pic. Sheesh! This food blogging thing is harder than I thought!

I think taking pictures of my food will help me to gain a level off appreciation for my fuel that was not there before. Presentation will become important to me, and with that level of love will come a newer appreciation for the food itself. How many times have I whipped a meal together then gulped it down without even looking at it? Mindful eating is something that is talked about a lot on WW, and I cannot truthfully say I'm a mindful eater. Maybe, with sprucing up the presentation, and taking a picture to share with the world, it will help me to appreciate my creations more.

Or not. I mean who knows, right? LOL Maybe I'm being too philisophical about the whole damn thing.

So, without further ado, I give you... My breakfast!

Breafast yesterday morning was my old standby. 1/3 cup of porridge, cooked in 1/3 cup of almond breeze and 1/3 cup of water with a half banana. On top is a tablespoon of PB2, reconstituted to "drizzle", a tablespoon of toasted almond slices and a teaspoon of dark chocolate chips. Served with my milk & vitamins. You are looking at 381 calories. (Look, I found my colouring capability again! Woot!)

Lunch was at the Superstore. I bought a Cali-Samuri Sushi Combo from Bento Nouveau. It came it at 270 calories. I didn't TAKE a picture of it, but I did STEAL one from their website!

Doesn't that look yummy?? (Sam, unwrinkle your nose!) Side note: I've never liked seaweed, so avoided the sushi style rolls. But something made me decide to try this, and it was GOOD! It's possible that my tastebuds have changed so much that I enjoy it now. I'll have to try it again to see. Although, I don't know which I prefer more, the sushi, or the flavour of the wasabi mixed with the soy sauce. That is seriously the best flavour in the WORLD to me.

Dinner was fanTASTic. I bought the Sea Quest seafood medley, wich has octopus, squid, cuttlefish, shrimp, clams and mussels in it. I sauteed that badboy with lemon, dill and at the end threw in a tablespoon of 95% fat free cream cheese. I served it over 2oz of baby greens, and had 10 grams of blue cheese and 5 grams of walnuts, and a tablespoon of Mediterranian Vinigrette, all for 202 calories!

"Hey, wait a minute" you say. "What do you MEAN grams? You've never measured in GRAMS before!" Well, thank you for noticing!!! You'll see a lot more of that with my...

NEW SCALE!!!

Isn't it PRETTY?? It measures nutrition, too, but I doubt if I will be using that feature, since I track on NutriMirror, which is only the best site ever. However, if you DON'T track your calories on a website, these scales that have the nutritional information in them is a rather fantastic invention. I think I blogged about this yesterday, but it bears repeating. I sourced out the best deal, and found them averaging between $50 and $70. This one was in the Real Canadian SuperStore for $29.99. With as much as I use a scale and measuring cups/spoons (every meal), to me this was a worthy investment. The most important feature to me is being able to zero out. So I can put my plate on it, zero it out. Add my veggies, zero it out. Add my whatever, zero it out. Add my meat. Record all the weights then run to the computer and track it all accurately in NutriMirror. I did pick up more cups and spoons, too. I constantly run out of table and tea spoon measures. So now I have a measuring cup just filled with those two items. MUCH more user friendly! (damn, shoulda taken a pic of my setup)

Did I mention yesterday that I had a date? Yep! I had a date with Crystal. A couch date to watch the Penguins of Madagascar. Turned out to be a short, not a feature film. It was cute but kinda disappointing. I love those penguins. I always use the *waving hands in air* "nothing to see here" line. After the penguins we watched Wall-E. Okay, I know I'm behind the times, but OMG, what a sweet show!!

I made my "fast becoming world famous" (okay, my world only, but whatever) PMS Popcorn. I made it UBER decadent. One and a half cups of kernels, popped. 1/3 of one of those half blocks of organic butter. Into the melted butter I threw a tablespoon of PB2, NOT reconstituted. Whisk it together. Drizzle over popcorn. Throw in 1/4 cup of dark chocolate chippits. Let the hot air popper blow on the bowl for a couple of minutes, then give the whole shebang a stir.

TAA DAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! PMS POPCORN!!!!!!!

Okay, not the greatest picture, but you HAVE to taste it! Seriously yummy. Serious trigger food! Luckily I'm not pms'ing so I'm all good.

Hmmm... I should let the PB2 folks know about my recipe. They like to hear what people do with their product.

Today is Day 6 of being OP. I am making it through the weekend!! Whooo HOOOO!!! I'm in on a challenge on the WW board of who can stay OP the longest. My competitive nature is kicking in.

Did I tell you I did my WI yesterday? Down .8 to 147.0lbs. Not fabulous, but not bad. The only reason I'm a little disgruntled with it is that during my PMS time I gained more than that, so I didn't lose as much as I wanted to. But, I'm still testing my calorie balance, having mucked with my numbers a little bit on NutriMirror. Trying to find the healthy balance of protein/carb/fat and how many calories I can eat both on days I excercise and days I don't, and lose more than .6 a week. It's still a learning experience, and I don't think it will ever stop being one. But I'm good with that. It keeps me on my toes. :)

Okay, that's the end of my first food blog. S'okay? You like? One thing I've learned is to upload all pics FIRST, then write around them. When you write and then insert a pic, it fucks everything up and you have to go back and fix spacing and such, which is a HUGE pain in the ass. The last two pics, I finally figured it out. But hey, at least I did, right? Yesssssss!

Have a great Sunday, folks!

Thanks for listening,

Dee