Monday, February 16, 2009

New Recipe - Veggie Quiche

Weekends are the devil. I always seem to go way off track when Saturday comes. This weekend was no different, but I'm not going to beat myself up about it.

Instead, I'll share a successful recipe. I found a quiche recipe on Safeway's website and it turned out pretty well. Easy recipe, but even with all of the calorie cutting, it still isn't exactly lowfat.

However, it is high in protein and vegetables. Aside from the ease in preparation, I like this recipe because it can be easily altered. The base is just the milk, eggs, and mayo, but the accesories are limitless - like pizza! For example a local cafe has many different types of appealing quiches - feta and spinach, bacon and gruyere, pear and cheese, chorizo and pepperjack, I'm sure I can recreate all of this at home.

In this recipe I forgot to add the second cup of cheese, so I threw it on top; therefore, the quiche looks a little burnt, but it was tasty. Today I had it for breakfast with a veggie sausage patty (80 cal / 3g fat / 1g fib / 10g protein) and apple slices (70 cal / 0g fat / 3 g fiber / 0 prot).

Ingredients
1/2 cup light mayonnaise
1/2 cup 2% milk
4 "eggs", (use egg substitute)
8 ounces shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 cup chopped bell pepper
1 (9 inch) unbaked deep dish frozen pie shell

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Line a cookie sheet with foil.
In a large bowl, whisk together mayonnaise and milk until smooth. Whisk in eggs. Season at your discretion.
Layer spinach, cheese, and peppers in pie shell, making several layers of each.
Pour in egg mixture.
Place quiche on prepared cookie sheet.
Cover quiche with foil.
Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes.
Remove cover, and bake 10 to 15 minutes, or until top is golden brown and filling is set.

Nutritional Content - SparkRecipes analyzed the content for me. I don't know why the fiber is so low since it is a veggie quiche, but I will take their word for it. I am strongly considering making it crustless or finding a lowfat / whole wheat crust. The crust accounts for most of the calories and fat.

Per Slice (8 slices) -
Calories - 250.5
Total Fat - 15.3 g
Saturated Fat - 6.2 g
Poly/monounsaturated Fat - 0.0 g
Cholesterol - 14.0 mg
Sodium - 409.9 mg
Potassium - 94.1 mg
Total Carbohydrate - 18.4 g
Dietary Fiber - 0.5 g
Sugars - 3.5 g
Protein - 9.5 g
Calcium - 22.4 %

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Confession

Can I just admit that part of my drive for losing weight is to attract better looking men? I mean, not that I think Michael Ealy is gonna come knocking on my door once I hit my goal weight, but...men and women can't tell me that doesn't run across their mind when getting fit. Just saying...

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Reworking the Plan

After not seeing the scale move, actually watching it go up a couple of pounds. I had to be honest with myself: exercise alone was NOT going to cut it. Some of you may be saying, "No sh*t!" But it is amazing what you can convince yourself of when you are determined to do something, or NOT to do something. Although I know it works, I viewed calorie counting as restrictive, confining, not living, and I am a FREEDOM loving person in every sense of the word. However, as the amount clothes I am able to fit slowly decreases, I decided my weight was more important. So I decided to rework the plan...
  • No alcohol during the week - Giving up the daily glass of wine (200 cals a day for an 8 oz glass = 1,000 a week. No wonder I gained!) wasn't as hard once I replaced it with a gourmet tea.
  • Record food at Spark - My new favorite thing
  • Keep calories under 1700

After two weeks of calorie counting I lost 3 pounds! Calorie counting isn't new to me, but it always amazes me just how many calories a person can consume in a day without realizing it.