Pre-Valentine's party

Back when I was still doing Weight Watchers, I noticed that Ezekiel cereals (the ones without raisins or almonds) are considered "Simpy Filling" foods, so I decided to try one out this week.  I just got the plain kind in the orange box.  This morning we were in a big hurry what with the maids coming at 8:30 and having to get to Emily's preschool early to help set up for the party, so it was a perfect morning for cereal.

My quick breakfast:

Scrambled eggs with tobasco, 1/2 cup Ezekiel cereal with skim milk, strawberries, and a sprinkle of erythritol

The cereal was quite good...it tasted just like grape nuts!  I used to eat an entire full bowl of those things covered in sugar when I was a kid, then congratulate myself on eating "adult" cereal.  Looking back and knowing what I know now about the calorie density of that stuff I wouldn't be surprised if my giant bowls of grape nuts had over 600 calories!  It's always pretty frightening (and disappointing) when you discover something you thought was "healthy" is actually awful for you.

I kept it to a reasonable 1/2 cup this morning, and ate it while running around the kitchen.

Eventually we headed to Emily's school for her Valentine's Day party.  Charlotte got to hang with the big kids for about an hour before my mom came to pick her up.

Ready to party

Charlotte doing crafts with the big kids

Somewhere in between all the crafts and games I had a handful of almonds and a Babybel light cheese wheel.

12 "Dibby" almonds

 The kids did not eat nearly so healthy :-(  The planning meeting for this party was held while we were in Disney World, so I was not able to put forth the suggestion that we do "foods that are naturally red" again like we did last year.  The menu was about what I figured it would be.

Cookies.

AND cupcakes.  Covered in candy.

Plus white bread PB&J's, a cheese stick and a bit of fruit.  Oh, and juice boxes, which are apparently as good as real fruit...I heard one mother tell a kid he couldn't have more grapes or strawberries because he had already had a juice box.

After party time was over and I had collected all my girls I headed home to find that the maids were still there.  I was STARVING (I guess I need a more substantial breakfast) so I headed to the Starbucks drivethrough to kill time.  I noticed they have skinny mochas now, so I had to try one!

Grande skinny mocha

 It was very yummy.  Probably my favorite sugar-free flavor they have!

Once we arrived home I threw together pretty much the same salad as yesterday.

Greens, sprouts, green peppers, cucumbers, 1/8 cup dried cranberries, 1 oz Keswick blue suede moo, 4 pecans, 1 tsp olive oil, balsamic vinegar

I had an issue with my salad today though, or more specifically with the cheese.  This stuff is pretty strong, and while I could stand it yesterday the stuff I put in my salad today was closer to the rind which was grey and pretty horrible-looking.  It tasted super-earthy and I just couldn't stomach it so I picked out my remaining cheese, weighed it, and replaced it with an equal amount of maytag blue cheese.  Aaaah, much better!

I was still hungry after the salad, so I had a nice, filling snack.

1/2 banana with 1 Tbsp peanut butter

Except that it didn't really fill me up :-(  So about an hour later I used the other half of the banana to make another snack.

1 container juice-sweetened blueberry yogurt, 1/2 banana, pretzel legs

Since I missed my Bodypump class this morning in order to be at Emily's party I did some at-home Bodypump instead.  Emily was quite patient and helpful with pausing and un-pausing the videos for me between tracks!

After my lifting I felt like I needed a little bit of food to tide me over until dinner, so I finished up our leftover veggie soup from last night.

Carrot top soup

Dinner was something I've had on our menu plan for over a week so I was pleased that the stars/ingredients aligned for me to finally make it tonight.  Ginger Pork Stir Fry from Food With Kid Appeal (which I usually make with ground beef instead) is a meal I make fairly often because it's tasty and the kids both scarf it down.  When I came across Skinnytaste's recipe for Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps, which is very similar, I decided to try it out while carrying over some features of my old standby recipe (like the ginger and the purple cabbage).  It was fantastic! Filled with veggies too, which makes me happy, especially when my kids will happily eat it.

Ginger/Purple Cabbage/ Ground chicken/lettuce, brown rice etc.

 I wanted a little something sweet after dinner.

I actually had a whole orange, but didn't remember to take a picture until it was already half gone

We had dinner around 5 so that Will could eat and make it to his beer club meeting tonight, so I got hungry later in the evening and ended up making myself my favorite dessert.  Technically my mocha from earlier today should've counted as my dessert for the day but I had this anyway.

2 Tbsp sunspire grain-sweetened chocolate chips, 2 Tbs peanuts, 2 Tbsp raisins 

And the problem with this dessert is that it always makes me want a glass of milk afterward.

Skim milk

I plan to make pancakes tomorrow morning, so I am going to go get the flour soaking.  Hopefully these pancakes will stick with me a bit longer than my measly 1/2 cup of cereal did this morning!