White Beans and Sausage Soup 380 Calories

White Beans and Sausage Soup 380 Calories

This meal is super duper easy and serves 6 people.  Soak 1 pound of white beans for 8 to 12 hours.  Brown 1 large onion and one pound of smoked sausage in a large stock pot or your pressure cooker.  Then add 8 cups of water and the beans to the pot.  Cook on the stove top for 2 Hrs or in the pressure cooker for 25 minutes.  If I were you, I would invest in the pressure cooker.  See, you can put your beans to soak before you leave home for work.  When you get home, you can spend about 10 minutes prepping and 25 minutes to cook this meal.  If you eat with rice, don't serve yourself more than 1/4 cup and a little less beans.  I stay away form starches and do not eat my beans with rice.  Just remember to 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

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

Taco Soup 285 Calories

Taco Soup 285 Calories

No time, no problem, I got you covered with this super quick and easy meal.  There are several ways to cook this one.  One way is cook on the stove in a large stock pot for 45 minutes.  The other is to cook in a pressure cooker for 15 minute's.  To make this dish brown 1 pound of ground meat with one large diced up onion.  Empty one can of whole kernel corn, one can of pinto beans, one can of ranch style beans, one can of red beans, one can of black beans, two cans of diced tomatoes, one can of rotel tomato, one packet of ranch dressing mix and one packet of taco seasoning to your pot.  Makes 10 servings.  That's all and talk about easy.  This dish weighs in at an amazing 285 calories.  You can eat really low in calories by eating it plain, or you can embellish your bowl with sour cream, cheese or some chips.  Just remember to keep your meal at around 400 calories.  A crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power.  Second is portion control with good choices.  Third is physical exercise.

It's how southern women diet!
Happy Eating
Angell

Taco Soup

Friday December 16, 2016

 I am still doing great on my dieting.  I only lost 1 pound in the past week.  It is still good because I am still eating healthy.   On that note a real easy low calorie food is the Weight Watchers taco soup.  You pour a can of this, a can of that and some taco seasoning with ground meat.  In 30 minutes its ready to eat.  Now where this soup can go wrong is if you add too many fixings to it.  Say away from adding cheese, chips and sour cream.  It tastes wonderful just on it's own.  A whole cup is only 239 calories.  If you have the time you could make it a little less calories by using a leaner ground meat or use fresh dried beans instead of canned ones.  The only issue I have with the canned vegetables is that it has way to much salt in it.  This one cup serving has 470mg of salt.  So try you some today.  It is very filling soup with lots and lots of protein.  

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 Eatting

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

White Bean Smoked Ham Bone Soup

Tuesday September 27, 2016 Menu

Well my day started by going to Sam's Club at 7am.  I had not had breakfast.  I went there to exchange an item and pick up some milk.   I passed near the meat section on the way to the milk.  I glanced at the already cooked rotisserie chicken.  I backed my buggy up and said "Hum, I haven't had breakfast yet.  Hot chicken would be good!"  Yep I put in in the buggy and ate some when I got to work.  Sure was better than the oatmeal I was planning on eating.  I went out for work that morning and made it back in time for lunch.  I had a healthy serving of the leftover baby Lima bean soup.  Then on the way home from work at 4pm I grazed on some chewy oatmeal bites I've been wanting to try.   I thought they were OK but I don't think I would be going out of my way to buy them. I had some things to do when I got home and I only got to do 20 minutes of bike exercise.  Which is better than no exercise at all.  For supper my sister had cooked a smoked ham and had the leftover bone with some meat still on it she gave to my mom to use.  This is how us southern people reuse something that should be thrown away.  We used it to season the beans, of course!  What happens is the meat eventually falls off and the flavor's melt in the pot.  Then you just pull out the bone as you see in the photo.  The meat is distributed in the pot.   I ate some leftover Italian bread and butter and called it a day.  I finished the day with a total of 1167 calories for the day.  I was under by 163 calories.  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

Braided Italian Bread with Black Eye Pea Soup and Taco's

Sunday September 25, 2016 Menu

I have a lot to talk about in this diary.  From last Saturday I haven't been making good choices.  I ate out a little too much.  I had too much junk food for snacks .  Since Thursday I ate some healthier option snacks the last couple of days.  I have been busy a lot this week and I haven't lost any weight.  I actually gained 2 pounds according to Wednesday's weigh in.  I think it's because I have not been eating a snack when I was hungry.  Since Thursday I ate snacks when I felt hungry.    I use a scale at home that is 2 pounds heavier than the hospital scale.  According to my home scale I lost the 2 pounds I had gained and it appears I lost 2 more for a total of 4 pounds since Thursday.  I will do an official weigh in on Monday to let you know if this appears to be true. 

I had way to many morning chores like feeding the animals, cleaning the fish tank, watering the plants and garden.  I picked a super quick meal of cool whip cake.  Yea I just hate for it to go to waste.   Also, I figured I would be getting real hot and hot food may not be what I needed this morning.  For lunch I had homemade black eye pea soup.  Remember in the past I made bacon in the oven and saved the grease for later cooking's.  Yep my black eye pea soup is made with some of that leftover bacon grease.  We use the grease to sauté the onions in.  We ate that with some homemade braided Italian bread.  Yep bread, I love bread, bread with butter and warm.  Ugh....... I love bread.  After lunch I spent a couple of hours spring cleaning one of my rooms in the house.  When we were done my daughter made us some coffee for an evening snack.   I had just one cup.  Then later I went to church and someone at church said they specifically made US some coffee.  So not to be rude I had another cup of coffee.  For supper we had taco night.  As you see I did not skimp on the meat nor the toppings.  Before the sun went down I went and cut a little grass.

I want to talk about those taco's.  My mom made it with ground turkey.  I put all those ingredients in my diary.  Through conversation my mom wanted to know how much fat and calories the turkey saved me.  I said let's see.  So I entered the usual ground meat I buy from Sam's which is the 90/10 grade.  Well look at what I see.  The turkey is 173 calories and 13g of fat.  The 90/10 ground meat has 150 calories and 8g of fat.  Then later I also compared the 80/20 ground meat and it had 210 calories and 18g of fat.  We were surprised to see that the low fat ground meat we usually get was actually a little more heathier than the turkey.  We also saw that the turkey and the low fat ground meat was healthier than the higher fat ground meat.  So depending on what you have money for either get the turkey or the 90/10 grade of ground meat. 

I finished the day with a total of 1438 calories for the day.  I was over by 108 calories.  I am hoping all that work I did today off set those extra calories.   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

Biscuits and Southern Sausage White Gravy

Thursday September 22, 2016 Menu

 

My mother made us a wonderful breakfast.  Homemade biscuits and made some from scratch sausage white gravy.  Ooh la la la la.  I really could have hurt myself eating this.  But I only got 1 3" biscuit, spit it in half and put just 1/4 cup of gravy on top.  I also decided to get some mini moo's creamers to save 5 calories on my morning coffee.  I have been looking for the Domino Stevia blend to replace my sugar.  In case you missed that one, I went to a family members house that had it and it tasted just like sugar.  Can't find it at Wal-Mart nor Albertsons.   But at least I will be saving 5 calories for now.  Some days those few extra saved calories count.  I was a little hungry before lunch and I had a yogurt drink for a snack.  Then for lunch I finished up the leftover baked potato and meatloaf.  I went exercise for 40 minutes doing cardio.  For supper my mom surprised me with a fresh pot of baby Lima bean soup.  This is so tasty and so low calorie.  It was only 121 calories for the whole bowl.  I had so many extra calories left that I got me a slice of the leftover cool whip cake.  I finished the day with a total of 1031 calories for the day.  That put me under by 299 calories.  I am trying to stay real low because I gained 2 pounds from eating out and going over this week.   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

Monday Leftovers

Monday September 12, 2016 Menu

If you haven't noticed just about every Monday is a left over kind of day.  So basically I sat at my computer that morning and figured out what leftovers I had and put those calculations in the My Fitness Pal.  I ended up settling on finishing up my daughters pizza for breakfast.  Then for lunch, crawfish ettoufee and fish.  I had a bunch of extra calories and after lunch I just wanted something sweet so for a snack.   I had a mini serving of a rice crispy treat.  For supper I had a big bowl of baby Lima bean soup, with a slice of cornbread.  I finished the day with a total of 1298 calories for the day.  Wow, I was 32 under my calorie goal.    Another great 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

 

Baby Lima Bean Soup

Sunday September 11, 2016 Menu

For breakfast I had an egg over easy with one of my moms whole grain slices of bread.  That was one big slice of bread.   Amazingly it was only 20 calories more than a white slice of bread.  Wasn't dry and quite tasty.  It was pretty filling and I did not have to eat a snack.  For lunch a friend gave us a plate lunch from the local fair.  It was roast beef, rice dressing, yams and coleslaw.  I forgot to take a picture.  But the helping was so large I only ate half of my plate.  Even though I ate half it weighed in at 651calories.  Sure was glad I didn't eat the whole plate.  I have enough for a leftover meal this week. If it's still there I will take a picture of the remaining portion, which is still a lot of food.  My mom wanted to have an afternoon snack.  She has been dying for us to try this chocolate coffee energy drink.  We did the recipe counter and a whole drink was almost 300 calories.  Yea that would almost be a meal replacement drink.  We each got 1 little juice glass to taste.  It was quite good, with coffee, peanut butter and cocoa powder.   Luckily we planned a somewhat light supper.   We had soaked some baby Lima beans for a simple soup.  OMG a whole bowl was only 78 calories!  My mother cooked a cornbread to go with it.  Of course I couldn't resist.  I allowed myself at least 1 slice.  Remember if you use canned beans you will not have the same low calorie results.  I finished the day with a total of 1395 calories for the day.   That is only 65 calories over my goal.   I think it went pretty well, considering.  I am thinking of making some more extra low calorie soups to make in advance and freeze for some more extra low calorie meals, without the cornbread of course.   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