Sunday, June 14, 2009

A good dinner

This is a bonus post for today!

After all my miles today, and since I had only eaten breakfast and then some deli turkey and string cheese (and a latte) after my run, I had so much equity in my calorie allotment for today that I could really eat anything I wanted for dinner.

But I decided to be "good," and eat a healthy dinner. Just lots of it! Here's what I had.

A salmon sandwich--two openfaced sandwiches with the halves of an Oroweat sandwich thin, spread with Best Foods olive oil mayonnaise,* 5 ounces of Copper River salmon divided (a little more than a normal portion, because of the run, you know), thin slices of Vidalia onion, sliced cucumber, and topped with a big romaine lettuce leaf. That's pretty hearty in itself, but wait, there's more!

A small amount of coleslaw I made for a work potluck on Friday (using the olive oil mayonnaise, buttermilk, and cider vinegar in the dressing), mixed with a lot of plain grated cabbage. Plus about half a cup (plus) of cucumber and black-eyed pea salad.**

ALSO (yes, there's an also), about half an artichoke (leaves only) with a tasty eggplant spread I created. I love eggplant, and it's delicious and low in calories when it's not made with a lot of oil. Here's the three incarnations of my eggplant.

1. Roasted eggplant. Dice up one or two eggplants (I leave the peel on, but you can peel it), and put it on a foil covered baking sheet. Spray generously with olive oil spray and roast at 400-450 degrees until browned and very soft and creamy. You can stir halfway through if you want. This is delicious on salads, in a pasta sauce, or just on its own!

2. Eggplant spread. Take a cup or more of the cooled roasted eggplant (or leftover from the fridge) (I used as much as I could get into the bowl of my Oskar mini-food processor) and blend with about a tablespoon of olive oil mayo and chopped garlic. It would be even better with roasted garlic, if you thought to roast some when you did the eggplant. (I didn't.) I used this as a sandwich spread, but it is also a good, sturdy dip.

3. Eggplant dip (e.g. for artichoke leaves). Take whatever eggplant spread you have left and mix it with nonfat Greek yoghurt, some grated lemon rind, and a good squeeze of lemon (to taste). You might want to add a little salt either to this version or the earlier version. So yummy!

That was my grand meal. I still had hundreds of calories left for the day, so I am having a bedtime snack of frozen blueberries, strawberries, light & fit yoghurt, some Fiber One cereal, and sliced almonds That should get me through the night!



*My favorite, half the calories of regular mayo (50 per tablespoon) and a delicious flavor!

** Here's the recipe.

Cucumber and Black-Eyed Pea Salad
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice (or more)
2 teaspoons fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried
Ground pepper
4 cups peeled and diced English cucumber
1 14-oz. can black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
2/3 cup diced red bell pepper (or more)
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (I used a 4 oz package, which might be more)
1/4 cup slivered or chopped red onion
2 tablespoons chopped black olives (I used kalamata)

Whisk oil, lemon juice, and oregano in a large bowl. Add remaining agreements and toss to coat. I also added chopped tomatoes to my leftover version and they add a nice Greek salad tone.

1 comment:

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