First non-high cal day in the can

This weekend was the first weekend of no restaurants allowed high cal days.  Friday night I ate my last sugar free pudding.  :-(

I've been wanting to cut out artificial sweeteners in certain things and since these not only have that and partially hydrogenated such and such, they had to go.  Last week I also cut out my beloved apple dip and have been subbing PB2 Powdered Peanut Butter (affiliate link)  or PB2 With Chocolate (affiliate link)  to dip my apples in.  I'll be honest, I SERIOUSLY miss the caramel but I'm trying to cut back on sugar in some areas (NOT going sugar free, it would be bad for everyone)

I'll be honest, Saturday was hard.  I forgot to take pics of breakfast both days but here's my eats.

Cereal and toast with light butter and apple jelly.  Lunch was the Trader Joe's Bambino Pizza Formaggio's and a spinach salad with 1 1/2 tbsp Catalina French dressing.  If you should get the pizzas, cook them for an extra minute or two, 12-13 minutes, they suffer from lack of crispiness otherwise.  Our sweet for the day was chocolate chip cookies.  We were allowed 3.  We felt gypped because they were really small.  I'm thinking we were actually allowed more than that but I froze the dough so they weren't portioned out.  I used Trader Joe's semi-sweet chocolate chips and they were really good but yeah, we both wanted more and I felt resentful most of the day.

About mid afternoon, I seriously wanted to eat my hand.  I got us some of the leftover cantaloupe and pineapple we had so I didn't try to gnaw the granite counters. Dinner was mexican food.  Three small cheese and onion enchiladas, 6 oz guava BBQ chicken breast and a serving of chipotle jalapeno refried beans.  Nighttime snack was a tropical push pop.  Total calories for the day:  2477.  A "typical" high cal day?  Easily 1000-1500 more than that.

I knew what was in store for the next day and I knew that the Mr would be happy.  Breakfast was cereal with chia seeds and peanut butter and jelly english muffins.  It thankfully held us for a while.  We worked out in the late morning with a free weights session and I burned 655 calories.  I took a quick shower then went to making lunch.  Spicy chicken and pancakes...recipe coming this week!  The Mr was a HAPPY boy!  That chicken was some flavorful stuff, I can't wait to make it again.  I need to tweak the pancake recipe a bit but it shouldn't be too much.  Dinner was meatloaf "cupcakes."  96% lean ground beef made into meatloaf cooked in muffin pans, caramelized onions on top and 3 oz of mashed potatoes as the "frosting" and a dash of pink Hawaiian salt as the "sprinkles" with a side of brussels.

I didn't focus on making them picture perfect obviously but the presentation was good enough for us.  The Mr asked why I don't have my own restaurant.  Then he said no, he didn't want me to open a restaurant because then I'd never be home to cook for him.  HA!  Nighttime snack was a tropical push pop. Total calories for the day:  2100.

We did our produce re-stock for the week and TJ's was out of bread so I decided to make my own with a recipe I found.  How'd it turn out?  Well I'd take a picture in my trash can but it was dark.  I cut the salt in half on it and you could tell.  Hey, sue me, I didn't want that much sodium per slice.  Plus I don't think my water was warm enough because it didn't raise much in the oven.  #breadfail   I shant let it discourage me but the Mr is out buying 'real' bread as I type.  I have to say though, I really wish he'd tell me when something is bad instead of saying "mmm!"  I took one bite and spit it out it was so gross.  I'd rather have truth than nice when it comes to my cooking.  They can't all be home runs and I know it.

So we made it through the weekend without killing each other.  We came to the decision that a side trip to this really amazing restaurant we love a few states over would be a bad idea next weekend.  We're going to a recital and will be within an hour of the Grand Traverse Pie Company.  While I would kill for the Manitou combo with a slice of apple crumb cake, a look at their nutritional info showed it would be about the total of our whole day Saturday for one meal and this close to our vacation, we don't want to risk it.  Of course as soon as this decision was made, some freak Michigan vacation commercial popped on that we've never seen.  Are you serious?  Rub it in why don't you?  We're going to have to be strong.  Now I need to start planning next weekends meals since the whole week is planned...every bite.

What did you do this weekend?  Ever try to make your own bread and tank?

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