Louisiana Gumbo 391 Calories

Louisiana Gumbo 391 Calories

Here in Louisiana chicken and sausage gumbo is a staple item.  Especially in the winter time.  But in my house it's an all year dish.  We make a roux with flour and butter (equal parts), a couple of diced up onions, one pound of Cajun sausage, 6 chicken thighs and little bit of browning and seasoning sauce to make the juice brown with 10 cups of water.  Season to taste.  This recipe should make 10 full bowl servings (1 3/4 cups) at 391 calories.  If you do rice don't have more than 1/4 cup.  A have a little less gumbo in your bowl.  Keep your calories right around 400.  A crucial part of everyone's diet is will power.  Second is portion control with good choices.  Third is physical exercise.

It's how southern women diet!
Happy Eating
Angell

Chicken Vegetable Soup

Monday October 3, 2016 MENU

 Well my day started with some leftover breakfast from Saturday.  I had a sausage patty, eggs with one slice of toast.  Logging my meal on Saturday I didn't realize that just the sausage alone was 200 calories.  Dang that is a lot.  But too late I already ate it at before I entered into my food diary.  I was careful the rest of the day.  I was not hungry for a snack.  Around 11:00 I was a little hungry.  Option was to eat a snack or go ahead and eat lunch.  I picked lunch.  I ate a bowl of my low calorie white bean soup.  Since I ate early I was hungry for a snack.  I finished up the leftover cool whip cake since I had a few extra calories to allow for it.  I got home to do my 20 minutes of cardio and weight training.  When I got home my mother had made crock pot chicken vegetable soup.  I so forgot to take a picture of my meals.  But I think the vegetable chicken soup was just as good at beef vegetable.  I had some calories left, oh heck I had 379 calories left.  So I had what was left of the cornbread the other day with some butter.  I finished the day with a total of 1104 calories for the day.  I was still under my calories by 226.   If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.
It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating
Angell

Pringles grab & Go Stack Dissapointment

Friday September 30, 2016 MENU

My day started with me taking about 6 bites of my daughters homemade cheese grits.  Yummy,  I would have eaten more but I was on a mission to do some early morning shopping to miss the first of the month shoppers.  I was hungry before lunch and grazed on some yogurt.  Lunch I had one leftover item in the refrigerator, which was my veggies with the pork patty.  I had to go to the post office and I felt like I needed a chip snack.  I stopped at the dollar store and looked at the many options.  There were these small bags of Frito's and such with 150 calories and I saw this Pringles Grab & Go pack for 150 calories.  I was like wow!  I could eat half for only 75 calories.  So I bought the Pringles and sat in my truck and opened up the food diary on My Fitness Pal.  I scanned the barcode.  It came up as 23g.  I'm like I don't know what is 23g.  So I changed the measurement to the package and was going to put 1/2 serving.  When I put it on the package it said there was like 380 calories.  I'm like what? This must have scanned wrong.  Then I checked the details.  Yep it's the right one.  Then I looked harder at the nutritional label.  Crap I forgot to look at serving sizes per container.  This damn can had almost 3 servings.  So I did the math and portioned out 9 chips instead of 15 ugh,.... Those damn 9 chips were still 125 calories.  Anything less than 9 chips is not worthy.  So I stuck with the 9.  That was a real big disappointment for me.  I got off work and went did my exercise of 20 minutes of cardio and the rest weight training.  For supper we scoured the fridge for leftovers.  I found another pizza my daughter came home with this week.  So I sat down with the food diary to figure out how much pizza I could have.  I did 2 slices, nope to much.  I did 1 1/2 slices.  Yay I had 3 calories left.  I reheated me 1 1/2 slices and I was ready for the night.  I finished the day with a total of 1327 calories for the day.  I was under my calories by 3.   If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.


It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating
Angell

Sam's Club Rotisserie Chicken and Portion Container

Thursday September 29, 2016 MENU

Breakfast time I felt I needed whole grains in my system.  I had a serving of oatmeal.  I don't like my oatmeal with water and like it made with milk.  A coworker had brought some skim milk to work.  It was going to expire over the weekend and was going to throw it down the drain.  I took it from him and we had a couple of these 1/2 cup measures.  I put them in the freezer for me to use in my oatmeal.  I don't like skim milk but I can't tell the difference when mixed with other foods like the oatmeal.  I had recently bought me some 1/2 cup portion containers to use next time he does this.  I saved 21 calories and 2 fat's when compared to 2% milk.  When your on a calorie restricted diet you can use those saved calories.  For lunch I had some leftover black eye pea soup.  Then later around 2pm I was hungry so I measured out 2 tablespoons of pimento cheese to snack on.  I used a teaspoon to eat a little at a time.  Basically every time I felt a huger coming on I ate a little bite, till it was gone.  I went do 40 minutes of cardio when I got home from work.  Then I had some Sam's Club rotisserie chicken with some cornbread and butter.  Now look at this, how can you go wrong.  A huge already cooked chicken for only $ 4.97.  We ate some for supper and I will be using the rest to make some kind of quick meal this weekend.  Probably chicken and cheese quesadilla.  I finished the day with a total of 1238 calories for the day.  I was under my calories by 92.   If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.


It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating
Angell

Shrimp Steak Chicken Fajita's

Tuesday September 20, 2016 Menu

Well this day was not so good.  I started off great having just a slice of bread with one breakfast sausage on it.  Then I went to work and meet with a store owner to review records at Shipley Donuts.  Well of course he tortured me with a donuts and I ate one.  Then by the time I finished a friend was driving through from Shreveport and wanted to eat out for lunch.  Well I  thought I was eating light picking the combination fajita's.  That meal was estimated to be almost 800 calories.  We didn't eat the chips and dip. Ugh......  I pretty much didn't have any calories left for supper.  I sure wish I had my bean soup with me.  I brought it to work for a leftover meal.  Ugh.... So I ate a quarter of a potato and a slice of the leftover meatloaf.  I didn't have time to exercise too.  Ugh.... I finished the day with a total of 1571calories for the day.  I was over 361 calories or more.  There was a couple of things I just didn't get to enter like the beans.    Well I guess this is my treat/cheat day!  If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity. 

It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating
Angell

 

Crock Pot Chicken Rice & Gravy

Tuesday September 6, 2016 Menu

My day started off great, I knew what was for breakfast and lunch.  I entered those meals in the My Fitness Pal.  I had plenty of calories left for the day.  For breakfast I tried this oatmeal with flax seed.  I have to say it held me pretty well.  I was not hungry for a morning snack.  If you are like me and really don't like oatmeal use milk instead of the water to make it.  It tastes sooo much better.  I had my leftover fish for lunch.  I was not sure what was for supper.  I did my 45 minutes of cardio when I got home from work.  My mom had made a crock pot chicken gravy, rice and some steamed broccoli and cauliflower.  I can say it was amazing.  She said it only consisted of chicken, mushrooms, bell peppers and onions.  Amazingly I still had almost 200 calories to spare.  So I treated myself to leftover cake for desert.   Only 1/2 a serving of cake.  I finished the day with a total of 1338 calories for the day.   That is over by 8 calories.    I have to say that is pretty darn good.  I got comfort food of rice and gravy and desert!  If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.

It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating
Angell

Southern Fried Chicken & Onion Rings

Sunday September 4, 2016 Menu

I forgot that this was payday week.  We usually go out to eat.  Last time it was the Katfish Kitchen.  This week is an after church meal of fried chicken and onion rings.  For breakfast I decided to eat a small bowl of cereal.  If you decide to eat cereal for breakfast, try not to eat more than 1 cup and 1/2 cup of milk.  For the fat and calories we are better off eating real food. I was digging on the counter and found this small bag of Golden Grahams that needed to be eaten.  I am the only one in the house that eats that.  Poof, now it's gone.  I will not be buying cereal for a while.  If I do I might just get some bran flakes, might.  Maybe I will get it again when I get the maintain my weight stage.  Right now we are in the loose weight stage.  At this stage the calorie intake is low at 1330 and the exercise is high at 5 days a week.  I entered in my food diary the breakfast and lunch.  I put the chicken at 1 1/2 pieces because it is always a big piece of meat as you see in the photo.  I only had 300 calories left for supper.  I put dibs on the leftover cabbage casserole.  I think I did awesome this day.  I even did several hours of weed eating the yard.  No I didn't put that in my exercise diary.  I don't know if that is exactly the calories burned as shown on My Fitness Pal.  See when I enter in my bicycle and elliptical calories that are on the machine it's always about 100 calories less than the website puts.  I just correct it.   I don't know how to tell how many calories I actually burned, so I don't enter it.  Well my awesomeness wore off when I went to church and the kids had youth group.  They were bragging at how good the Chips Ahoy fudge stuffed cookies were and got talked into trying one.   Ugh that one cookie was 70 calories and put me over my total by 57.    I finished the day with a total of 1387 calories for the day.   Had I not eaten the cookie I would have been under my calories for the day.  I am not going to stress over it because I did do several hours of yard work.  But need to not eat the cookie next time.  Will power, will power, I need to remember to use my will power.  If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.

It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating
Angell

Crock Pot Chicken & Mushroom Gravy with Pudding Pie

Tuesday August 30, 2016 Menu

When I was cleaning out the freezer this weekend I found a piece of sausage and garlic bread.  I decided that would be good for breakfast.  My mom didn't think so.  But oh well she didn't have to eat it. lol  During work I was inspecting some tank installations and I was feeling a little hungry and ate just half of my protein bar till I could figure out what I was eating the rest of the day.  I realized I forgot to bring my lunch.  But I had saved some of that delicious eggplant lasagna and ate a small serving of that.  I entered in all my meals in My Fitness Pal so far.  I had almost 600 calories left for the day.  I had a plan to eat a slice of that chocolate pudding pie my mom made Sunday.  We are having a busy week still helping out a friend.  My mom has chosen to cook crock pot dinners.  She had bought various meets on sale a while back.  She got a gallon Ziploc bag and premade some dinners and put in the freezer.  So all you have to do is take it out of the freezer and start cooking away!  Today's meal she cooked chicken with a homemade mushroom gravy.  It was hardly anything in it and it was just delish.  I had room for my pie.  How great that was.  I was able to save a few calories on the cool whip by doing the sugar free version.  There are some things I can do low fat and diet.  Only because you really can't tell the difference.  I finished with a total of 1297 calories for the day.   If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.

It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating
Angell

Chocolate Cake

Thursday August 18, 2016 Menu

This day I knew I was going to be eating heavy so for breakfast I had 1 scrambled egg.  I had a regional staff meeting in Monroe and had no idea what the menu was for lunch.  I had made a homemade chocolate cake from scratch to bring for the meeting.  It was something I have been wanting and figured if I shared I wouldn't be tempted to have to eat it all.  Because as you all know so far I hate for food to go to waste.   I entered in all my ingredients and determined if large slices were served that it would be cut into 12 pieces.  One slice of this 12 piece cake was 480 calories!  When lunch time came we had BBQ West delivered.  It was BBQ chicken, brisket, coleslaw, baked beans, potato salad and Texas garlic toast.  I didn't take a picture of my meal because my bosses were there and I didn't want them to see. lol  Also,  I was not able to determine ahead of time what I was going to eat and how much of it.  So this is an instance of how you can either under estimate or over estimate  your meal.  I choose one chicken thigh.  One small serving of brisket.  I had a Styrofoam plate that had the 3 divider in it.  I put like 1 level tablespoon of baked beans and potato salad into one section of the divider.  Then I finished it off with 1 garlic toast bread in the other divider and one serving of my chocolate cake.  I had estimated my lunch menu to be about 800-900 calories with the desert.  Well when it was all said and done I had 1,100 calories for lunch.  I probably would have been OK if I wouldn't have had the bread and chocolate cake.  I knew I shouldn't have it but I under estimated my calories for the main meal.  For supper I had half of a baked potato and had some southern white sausage gravy on top.   My friends and I had an emergency and didn't get to exercise.   But we did get 3 hours of working exercise later in the evening.  I really enjoyed being able to share my homemade chocolate cake and not have any leftovers to be tempted with later.  With under estimating my lunch menu I went over my calories by 280 calories for a total of 1615 calories for the day.  On a positive note I put only one hour my working exercise in my food diary and the results said I should have been OK with my overage.  For my weight loss I would still like to keep my calories at the 1330 total with or without exercise.   If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity. 

It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating
Angell

Busy Work Week Chicken Fajita's

Monday August 22, 2016 Menu

This is going to be a really long work week.  Meals are going to be tough to maintain.  But I will try my best to get it within my limits.  See I work for LDEQ in Louisiana and we just had a record flood from Avoyelles, St. Landry area all the way to Lafayette and Baton Rouge parishes.  We had to wait for the governor to say that the search and rescue phase was over for us to begin our oversight and disaster help for businesses to recover.  We had our assignments given to us over the weekend.  My assignment was a landfill inspection and the rest of the week I will be doing facility assessments.  That means I will be working out of the office all week.  Breakfast I ate a piece of leftover BBQ chicken from Sunday.  I like to eat meat for breakfast as it keeps me fuller longer.  Which worked out well and I was not hungry till lunch.  I packed me a ham and cheese sandwich with 1/2 a cup of grapes.  I did my 1 hour of exercise, which included 20 minutes of cardio and the rest of the time weight training.  For supper was my treat.  I had sautéed onions, bell peppers and mushrooms in a little butter.  I used carb balance tortilla wraps, cheese, light sour cream and pieces of rotisserie chicken from Sam's. I put so much onions and chicken that you can not tell that the wraps and sour cream are low calorie.  As  you see I ate some great meals for the day.  I ate 1349 calories for the day.   That put me only 19 calories over my goal.   If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.

It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating
Angell

Lyla's 13th Birthday BBQ Chicken & Sausage Cheat Day

Sunday August 21, 2016 Menu

Today is my daughters 13th birthday.  So I went all out on my cheat day.  For breakfast I had some banana bread with my coffee.  Then for lunch I made a grand meal of BBQ chicken and sausage, with garlic bread.  I also made a caprese salad.   The caprese salad was a combination of eggplant, tomato, fresh motzerella cheese, basil with a non dairy homemade pesto.  The oil mixture I used was a marinated homemade concoction of olive oil, garlic, and rosemary.  I use this quite often in my recipes to lightly oil my pan.  You ought to try it.

For the main dish I had BBQ leg quarters, some Savois sausage and garlic bread.  The chicken got a light coating of Pig Stand BBQ sauce.  I am sure on the My Fitness Pal I over estimated that.  Here in the south we love our BBQ.  My BBQ is to die for.  I would recommend that BBQ be placed on that cheat day if you will be doing the garlic bread, sausage, rice dressing and potato salad, which are the usual staples at this sort of meal.  But as  you see in the picture down below of my lunch plate I did not over do my portions.  For my desert we had a chocolate chip cookie, Klondie bar and washed it all down with one glass of coffee. I was a little hungry for supper and I ate 1 leftover chicken leg.

 

As you see for my cheat day I ate what I wanted but did not go over board on my servings.  I saved a few calories by eating very light for supper.  I had a great cheat day meals for a total of 1768 calories for the day.  That is 438 calories over my budget.   Remember this cheat meal could have been a lot worse if I would have went back for seconds or even eaten heavier for breakfast and supper.   So enjoy your cheat day and don't over do it too bad.  If you like my meal ideas just check out my diary for a list of ingredients for that meal.  And yes! I measured and weighed everything.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.

It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating
Angell