Day 16: Spat

Steph and I got into a rather large argument this morning which resulted in her packing up all of her things and claiming that she was moving back to CT. The root of the fight is irrelevant but I will keep it vague and say that it involved some confronting about sneaking food (by both parties) and some nagging by one party for the other party to get their ass up to the gym. One party thinks that they gave the other party plenty of time (1 hour) to get up there and get to work and the other party refused. One party claims that the other party does not trust her and is skeptical of her eating and exercise claims. Third party (a relative of the two parties) intervened and tried to mediate from CT. I could practically see the third party rolling her eyes via text message.

Anywho, we both took some time to cool off and the stubborn party eventually got her act together and the naggy party apologized...via handwritten note and text message. And yes, we still live in the same house.

I dealt with this argument by buying a massive amount of groceries. Since Rich and I are off, we eat at home a LOT more often so food keeps disappearing. One thing you learn when you cut restaurants out of your life and you eat at home is that you go through TONS of groceries. Last week we went through FOUR loaves of bread, THREE dozen eggs, THREE pounds of turkey breast, 1 pound of cheese, FOUR pounds of chicken breast, and TWO watermelons, just to name some basics. Holy crap, that's a lot of food!

Our food regimen has been as follows:

Breakfast: 1 slice reduced-calorie whole wheat bread with 1 egg and a half slice of cheese

Lunch: Either turkey breast sandwiches or salads

Dinner: Lean protein (such as turkey burgers, boca burgers, low fat hot dogs, chicken or pork) and veggies on the grill with a carb on the side such as corn on the cob or sweet potato

Snacks: fruit, 100-calorie packs, popcorn, and WW ice cream bars

I noticed that Steph really loves the salad bar at Sweetbay. Many of my friends have voiced the same frustration about salads; that it's not worth buying and preparing all the items that make it worth eating. They have a point. I spent $30 and about an hour of prep time on salad materials today so that I could put together a marvelous salad bar for the week. I'll admit that part of my motive for this was to suck up to Steph after our little spat. I probably won't put in this effort every week, but it will be nice for a few days to liven lunch up. My inspiration for the salad bar springs from Panera Bread's new Strawberry Popyseed and Chicken Salad (above). Yum!

Here are my ingredients:

-Pre-cut salad bags (I really can't be bothered to wash and cut lettuce up into teeny tiny pieces. I just won't do it and the lettuce will end up rotting in the fridge and then I'll end up hiding it from Rich so he doesn't yell at me, etc. etc.)

-Bag of spinach leaves (for iron and more green!)

-bag of dried cranberries

-sliced almonds (no more than 1 tbsp! There are 17 in just one ounce of these suckers!)

-Walnuts (again, watch it! 19 grams of fat per ounce! I mash these up before opening the bag so that there are tinier crumbles.)

-black and kidney beans (rinse these babies off to get rid of all the high fructose corn syrup they are packed in almost undoing the nutritional value of the beans themselves! Then store them in a tupperware for easy access)

-canned corn (packed in water)

-deli turkey breast (I asked the counter lady to slice the sale turkey breast into cubes rather than slices and she obliged!)

-strawberries (wash, cut, and store)

-blueberries (fine as are)

-your favorite light dressing (I am obsessed with Ken's Lite Asian Sesame dressing. It's amazing as a marinade, dressing or base for stir fry)

-an assortment of veggies (only buy what you know you will wash and pre-cut, otherwise they will just rot. Peppers, tomatoes, and red onion are good choices)

I'll post pics of our gorgeous salad creations tomorrow! Steph gets a prize from the Prize Bucket in the morning! For now, Steph can use your supportive emails, texts, Facebook posts, blog comments and phone calls! Go Steph!


-R-

Many have asked how they can contribute to the Prize Bucket, etc. You can support Steph's efforts by donating! Thank you!