Week In Review

Since my schedule doesn't seem to allow me to blog daily, I haven't been keeping myself as accountable (which was part of the goal of blogging in the first place). I've decided to post a recap of what I have done or haven't done towards reaching my goals each week. Yes, I want to share my nutrition knowledge and I want to inspire others...but my priority right now is getting myself healthy and I want my posts to reflect that.

Vegetarian week in review:

Feelings: I was extremely tired all week. I don't know if this was diet related or something else, but my energy levels were very low. I have had a lot of allergy symptoms, which could also be contributing to the fatigue. I still don't miss meat. In fact, the thought of it makes me feel queasy at times. I've received a lot of good feedback from comments about books and other advice about vegetarianism. I really appreciate it and plan to look into the suggestions!

Obstacles: My brother's birthday dinner with the family (he requested rotisserie chicken) and lunch out with my co-workers. That's all. Not bad I'd say. I ended up bringing an Amy's California Burger to the birthday dinner, eating the veggie sides and enjoying the time with my family. (I may or may not have jokingly mentioned they were eating decaying animal carcass).  My co-workers graciously agreed to a restaurant with vegetarian options and we all had a good meal. Not once this week did I feel deprived of anything, which surprised me a little.

New things tried: I tried a beet. I don't think I've ever had one before. I didn't hate it...It was sweet and kinda crunchy.  I put one little piece in my salad at Whole Foods. It's a good way to try knew things. I also tried nutritional yeast for the first time. It's tasty. Speaking of the salad bar at Whole Foods, I love it! Its not new to me, necessarily, but in the past I would compose a salad of all the things I liked. I didn't give much consideration to whether the components would actually taste good together. With a little forthought, its become an excellent "fast food" option.

Mmm...box o' goodness!!

Calorie King:

I logged my foods on the Calorie King website one full day this week, which is unacceptable. I know myself pretty well and if I do not keep track of my calories at this point in my weight loss journey, I go over the limit. By not logging my calories I am blatantly avoiding facing up to what I am eating.  I was very hungry this week and had a little bit of trouble controlling myself.

Exercise:

This week was actually pretty laughable considering my day didn't used to feel complete without exercise. I went to two Zumba classes and took two 20 minute walks on my lunch break in total this week. It's better than nothing, but I know from experience I feel better and am more successful with weight loss when I exercise consistently.

New Recipe:

This weekend, I spent some time in the kitchen. I whipped up a few things and I will be posting them throughout this week.

First up, I have been anxious to try my hand at homemade hummus for awhile. I've always liked hummus, but I'm picky about the texture. I recently discover that hummus is amazing on sandwiches, wraps and even salads. This stuff rocks!

I started off with plain hummus because I've never made it before. Now that I know the basics, I can start playing around with the recipe and perfect it for my tastes.

Here's what you need to get started:

Put it all in the food processor and....well, process it.

Presto! You've got fresh hummus made with quality ingredients and no additives.  

Garnished it with some fresh parsley and pine nuts and served it up with a Dr Kracker Klassic 3 Seed Flatbread (I love those things). It was very tasty, and so easy!

Basic Hummus

(from Simply Recipes)

Ingredients:
4 garlic cloves, minced and then mashed
2 15-oz cans of garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained and rinsed
2/3 cup of tahini (roasted, not raw)
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of salt
Pine nuts (toasted) and parsley (chopped) for garnish

Directions:
1. In a food processor, combine the mashed garlic, garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon juice, 1/2 cup water, and olive oil. Process until smooth. Add salt, starting at a half a teaspoon, to taste.

2. Spoon into serving dish and sprinkle with toasted pine nuts and chopped parsley.

3. Serve with crackers, raw vegetables such as carrots or celery, or with pita bread.

Makes about 3 cups.