PB2 and Veggie Fritters

On Tuesday my order of PB2 arrived!! I am so excited about it. I have been reading about this stuff on all kinds of US-based blogs and recipe sites. So happy that I finally have some! And it's yum! I made up a serve and it tastes so much like regular peanut butter. Mind you - I haven't eaten real peanut butter in over 3 months. But, I reckon it's close enough anyway!

 
A serving size according to the label is 2 tbsp (45cals, 1.5g fat, 5g protein, 5g carbs). But I've found that 1tbsp is plenty for my needs. I have been putting it in my chocolate shakes! It's so delicious, and I've found that the added protein makes the shakes overall much more filling. I can't wait to try it on some veggie sticks!
 
Also - It's going to be great for making health bars for my boyfriend's work snacks. Can't wait to trying making all the cool things with it!

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Last night I whipped up some veggie fritters with eggs, a little low-fat cheese, some carrots and some capsicums. Yum! I had them for lunch today with a side of veggie sticks and it was really satisfying.
 
Veggie Fritters
3 x eggs
3 x egg whites
1 medium carrot, grated
1/2 medium red capsicum, diced finely
1/2 medium green capsicum, diced finely
30g Kraft Live Free cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp Italian Herbs mix
 
I whisked it all together, then greased a hot frying pan with olive oil spray, then cooking til they were golden brown. I used a 1/4 cup to measure them out and it made 6 fritters.
 
Each fritter worked out to be 81 calories, 4.3g fat, 7.5g protein and 2.8g carbs. Nice! The boyfriend thought they looked really good and swiped one last night! So, I divided mine up into two serves of 2.5 and that worked out to just over 200 calories. Not bad at all.

Most of the recipes I've seen like this use zucchini instead of capsicum - but I just used what I had on hand. I reckon it would work with most veggies. Onion might be a nice one to try. Or broccoli. Yummm!

Salad Jars

I found out about these little beauties from this article, but it appears that the trend has been all over the net, particularly Pinterst for some time. I bought some jars at Red Dot over the weekend for about $3 each and had my first go at making one last night.

I made up a dressing of:
- 1 tsp Olive Oil (my daily oil allowance)
- 1 tsp Balsamic Vinegar
- a shake of pepper, salt and garlic powder.

So, that went into the bottom, then some chopped mushies in on top of that to soak up the flavour. I wasn't how to order the layers of the rest of the veg. But, I knew the spinach/lettuce was supposed to go on top. Keeping the leafy stuff out of the dressing is what helps it keep fresh/unsoggy for up to 10 days in the fridge.

Anyway, mine only got to sit overnight because I took it to work for lunch today. The mushrooms had really soaked up the dresing and it was honestly bl**dy delicious!! I reckon I could make up 5 at the start of a work week and take one for lunch every day. The ones towards the end of the week would probably taste even better!

I think the idea that your meat (or mushrooms in my case) get a chance to marinate a bit in the dressing without making the whole thing go soggy is really wonderful. Then, of course, when I emptied it all out, the flavours got nice and mixed in with the whole salad.

I just love looking at it and all the pretty colours. I totally eat with my eyes. It is rather faddy, I agree, but it's just very fun and whimsical and really a cool way to get excited about salads!

Can't wait to be able to put a bit of chicken and/or cheese in there come Transition!

 



Marcie and Fyfe

In other news, the new cats are settling in pretty well. They are getting more confident around us every day. I am trying to be patient, but I really can't wait until they come and sit on our laps and give cuddles!

 

I'm feeling generally more positive this week. I've decided to just take it fairly easy on the exercise front and just stick to my walking plus a very light session of weights on Mon-Wed-Fri. I can slightly feel it in my butt today (from squats/lunges), so even a small session must be worth something!

Blood tests are on Friday morning, which I have been dreading. But, that should give the doc a good idea of how I'm doing and he should be able to recommend how I should proceed from here. Whether I do a couple of weeks of Transition and come back to Intensive or whether I just go Transition from now on. We shall see!

Mushroom Soup

I tried the mushroom soup from the Optifast website this week and boy is it delicious! I think I have a new staple!

The recipe below is adapted from the Optifast Intensive phase Mushroom Soup. 

Mushroom Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp of oil
- 8 cloves of crushed garlic
- 1 brown onion, roughly chopped
- 2 medium leeks, roughly chopped
- 1kg of mushrooms, roughly chopped
- 6 cups of chicken stock- 1 large cauliflower, cut into floreats
- Pepper to taste

Method
Add oil, garlic, onion, leeks and mushrooms to a large saucepan. Cook and stir until softened.
Add stock and cauliflower and bring to boil, then simmered for about 25-30mins.
Remove from heat and use a stick blender to puree smooth.

Add pepper to serve!


With the addition of the cauliflower, it's so creamy and delicious!! I'm absolutely going to make again. I'm sure the salt in the chicken stock made it extra delicious, but I will try to buy the pre-made salt-reduced stuff next time.

It makes 8 serves (or more) depending on the size of your veggies. I find that a small serve is enough to fill me up!