Veggie Cuisine Indian Style Masala Review

I didn't get a lot accomplished today, but I do feel more rested this evening. I still felt sort of tired when I got up, but not that bad. I really just felt sort of lazy, like my get up and go, got up and went, not like I needed to go back to bed. I went straight for the cereal bowl instead of the coffee maker. I had a bowl of cinnamon roll mini wheats, which I nearly forgot I had. 

I did not skip coffee, but I did take my time making it. I did make half caf. intending to get a few things done, but I just vegged out today, doing as little as possible. Hopefully I'll get some things done tomorrow.

I had a oven roasted tofurky sandwich for lunch with spinach, white American cheese, spicy ranch dip, and a jalapeno pickle on the side. I also thought about having green pepper and onion on my sandwich, but I just skipped that part. It would have probably been better that way, but lazy won out.

I did toast my bread lightly, but I couldn't let it brown. Store bought bread has gotten so thin, that if you let it brown, it turns into a cracker. Is it just me or have you noticed this too?

I made dessert for later and just had an orange for snack. DH picked up a bag at the grocery store for me, said they were navel oranges, but they weren't. These have seeds and no navel, but they were sweet & juicy.

I had a LC Veggie Cuisine frozen dinner. I tried their Indian Style Masala with Gardein Chick'n Strips in a creamy tomato curry sauce.

I've never had curry sauce or anything that I knew had curry in it, but I didn't taste anything I hadn't tasted before. It does have cauliflower in it, which, I don't care for, but only 4 small pieces. There was also peas & carrots with brown rice. The sauce really just tasted like tomato sauce to me. It was pretty good. I chopped the cauliflower up and mixed it in, hoping it wouldn't be noticeable since it doesn't have a lot of flavor on it's own, but the texture was noticeable. It was a little al dente, which is how I like most vegetables, but not the ones I'm trying to hide. This is how it looked straight out of the microwave. I'm barely giving this 4 stars, because of the whole cauliflower thing, other wise it would get an easy 4 stars.

For dessert I made Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding Cups. I love these. They are quick and easy to make, not to mention delicious. It is hard to eat just one, but I did it.

I'm going to work on getting better sleep and try snacking less, eating healthier than I have been lately. I've been doing a lot of late night off camera raisin munching. I know raisins are not bad, it's the late night eating that is. It's more like continuous grazing. It may mean fewer posts, until I can find a routine that works. Now I'm off to bed. Have a great night/day!!!

Yes It's Monday

This morning I was up around 7:30 getting ready for the girls to arrive. I really am not a morning person, as much as I would like to be. I slept pretty good for me. Those who die when their head touches a pillow might have been a little less satisfied. I grabbed a bowl of cinnamon roll mini wheats for breakfast. I passed on the coffee. I would have had a cup if someone would have made it for me, lol.  I guess I didn't want it bad enough.

I had a cup of lemon ginseng green tea today, but apparently I didn't get a photo of it. I'm not sure what happened. I think the fact that the girls were still here may have had something to do with it.  I had lunch after they went home. I had leftover yellow rice, sliced Roma tomato, and a MSF griller. I think another spinach omelet would have been better, but I'll have to get more spinach first. I can't wait for summer tomatoes. The gassed pink ones they have now, don't really have much flavor. It's like eating a green tomato. I should have rolled it in cornmeal and fried it first.

After lunch I found what was left of my cup of tea. I'd set it down and forgotten about it. I reheated it and had a few shortbread cookies with it.

I also had the last of the probiotic fruit & nut mix. I'm glad I mixed some other leftover snack mixes with it or it may not have lasted this long. 

I had a nap after my snack. I should have just had another cup of tea, but I knew I'd be up late and I always sleep so good when I take a nap. 

Dinner was Lean Cuisine Cheddar Potatoes & Broccoli with a side salad of butter lettuce, more broccoli, tomato, onion and light ranch dressing.

It was very good. The salad went well with the potatoes. The potatoes are one of my 4 star reviews. 

After dinner I fooled around on the internet getting sidetracked, wasting time, nothing but reruns on televison. I munched on raisins while uploading photos. Here I am late as usual getting my post done. I still have no idea of a title for this post. It was a typical Monday, plenty of chaos & confussion. This introvert will recoup tomorrow. Have a great night/day!!!

Lean Cuisine Butternut Squash Ravioli Review

Well this was suppose to be posted Monday night and here it is Wednesday night, but it's been a long tiring first of the week. I've been keeping the grand babies a few days a week for the last while and the days and hours sometimes change. Sometimes they change and I don't realize it until the last minute. Lindsay has baby brain and I just don't have one, which can make things difficult.

Monday was an expected day, but Tuesday was not. It was not only an unexpected day, but a very early one at that, which meant staying up late blogging was not a good idea. It would also be a long day. 

Monday started off pretty good. I actually got my baby proofing done, coffee made and breakfast eaten before the girls arrived. Go me!!!

I had a large cup of half caf. with raw sugar and non-dairy creamer along with one of Lynda's cinnamon rolls from Sunday.

BTW These were very good, even cold. I didn't take the time to heat it. It was perfect with my coffee. I was thinking I should have brought home two for myself instead of just one.

I had a veggie patch veggie dog on a bun with vegetarian chili, mustard, and slaw, along with a bit of potato salad and baked beans.

My dog seemed so much sloppier the second day, but it was still pretty good.

I new better than to eat anything else for a while after eating my lunch. I decided to let things digest a bit before indulging in my sweet snack, a Russell Stover Coconut Cream Egg covered in dark chocolate.

It was also slightly smaller than the cinnamon roll, I scarfed down after lunch on Sunday. I was miserably full after eating all that plus a cinnamon roll.

I had a Lean Cuisine meal for dinner. I tried their Butternut Squash Ravioli. Some of you may know that normally, I am not a squash person. I usually do not care for squash. I am not sure exactly why, but sometimes it's the taste and sometimes it's the texture. I had never tried butternut squash. My DH who is not a big vegetable eater (btw), convinced me that I should try it, because, he said it was not like other squash and that it had more of a sweet potato type texture and taste. He also tried to convince me once that I liked egg plant, but that didn't work out, so lets just say, I was skeptical.

Nutritional Information
Serving Size: 1 (9.9 ounces)
Servings Per Package: 1

Amount Per Serving:

Calories 260
Calories From Fat 60

%Daily Value*
Total Fat (g)     7     11 %         Cholesterol (mg)     20     7 %
 Saturated Fat (g)     2     0         Sodium (mg)     550     23 %
 Trans Fat (g)     0             Potassium (mg)     420     12 %
 Polyunsaturated Fat (g)     3             Total Carbohydrate (g)     40     13 %
 Monounsaturated Fat (g)     1             Dietary Fiber (g)     5     20 %
 Protein (g)     9             Sugars (g)     11    

Diet Exchanges 2 1/2 Starch,2 Vegetable,1/2 Skim Milk,1 Fat

*
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

    Calories:     2,000     2,500
Total Fat     Less Than     65g     80g
Sat Fat     Less Than     20g     25g
Cholesterol     Less Than     300mg     300mg
Sodium     Less Than     2,400mg     2,400mg
Potassium     Less Than     3,500mg     3,500mg
Total Carbohydrate     300g     375g
Dietary Fiber     25g     30g

Vegetable Servings** 2
**The USDA Food Guide Pyramid suggest 3-5 one-half cup servings of vegtables a day.
Weight Watchers® PointsPlus™ *** 7
***Not endorsed by Weight Watchers®. PointsPlus™ calculated by Nestlé.

I was surprised to find that I liked it, but I did feel the need to add a little salt and I also preferred the bites of ravioli with a few of the vegetables. Luckily they had included enough vegetables that I could have a few with every bite.

I am giving this dish 4 stars since I am not very fond of squash and even I found it fairly enjoyable. I also really liked the selection of vegetables that they included and especially the walnuts.

The next photo was suppose to be part of my dinner. I'd gotten a fresh butternut squash and had planned to cook it for DH and also give it a try myself. It would have never gotten this far if it had not been for DH. I absolutely could not cut this thing in half. I tried using my sharpest knife and that didn't work. I tried using my electric knife and that didn't work. I nearly burnt the motor up trying to cut it. Lucas gave it a try and he couldn't manage to cut it either. Finally Dale came and he was able to do it. I am not sure how, but it was not easy. I thought we would have to bring in the chainsaw. This alone has turned me against eating butternut squash that I have to prepare.

It took an hour and a half for it to bake in the oven at a suggested temp of 350 degrees. DH had suggested I season it with the same seasoning I use for my spicy sweet potatoes, and so I did. I am not sure what the difference is between this squash and the squash in the ravioli, other than the seasoning, but I did not care for the baked squash. I suppose I may prefer a more savory version, with other vegetables, but at least it looked good. I will have to say I also wasn't happy with the mess it made of my pan.

I am open to suggestions. What is your favorite way to eat butternut squash? Any tips on cutting these things? I think maybe cutting the seedless portion into slices might have made cook time shorter, but I'm not sure it would have been any easier to cut.

Well, that's it for tonight. I'll try to get in another post sometime tomorrow. Have a great night/day!!!

Lunch At Panera's

I had a lot planned for today, but when I woke up the skies were gray and it looked so dreary. I wasn't really feeling the enthusiasm, I'd felt when I was making my plans. I'd fixed myself a bowl of cereal with yogurt. I used some Kellogg's fiber plus yogurt berry crunch, Cheerios, cornflakes & Dannon strawberry yogurt.

It would have been better with some real strawberries or even some apple chunks, but I'd eat my last apple with girls the other day and I need to restock my fruit supply. It was still pretty good.

After breakfast I got a call from Lynda & Mom inviting me for another GDO and of course, since I wasn't feeling too enthused with house cleaning, I said yes without giving it a thought. I probably should have stayed at home and not neglected my plans, but which would you have picked, cleaning or shopping?

I grabbed a pack of Lance crackers for a snack to tide me over until lunch. I had the sharp cheddar cheese on Lance's whole grain crackers. These were so much better than the store brand, we'd gotten at Food Lion before. Well, duh, right? The FL brand has a bit of a sweet taste to their crackers. They are fine in a pinch. It's not like they're bad, but they don't have the saltiness that the Lance brand has. That may be a good thing nutritionally. I haven't compared the labels, but either way, I prefer the Lance.

The first place we went was too Panera's to pick up bagels, then on to Starbucks which was right there in the same shopping center. I had a White Chocolate Mocha frappuccino. It was pretty sweet for me, but it was very good. I probably should have went with decaf, but I didn't. I did have half caf. however. We asked for light (no whip topping), but it was on there. Oh, well. 

We also went to Ollies and then back to Panera for lunch. I had half of a Mediterranean Veggie sandwich with zesty peppadew peppers and a bowl of their creamy tomato soup. I got an apple on the side instead of chips and a bottled water for my drink.

I love the sweet spiciness of the sandwich, which also has cilantro hummus and feta cheese on it. Stacked with lots of veggies, it's very much like a sandwich I would fix for myself. I saved my apple for later. The soup and sandwich were plenty. It was a super yummy lunch. I do wish they had a few more vegetarian options, but love that they tell you which soups are vegetarian.

Well headed to Walmart and picked up a few things, then home so that I could get to Zumba class. I had a Lean Cuisine dinner before going. It was small, quick to fix, and I wasn't all that hungry. I'd had this a long time ago. I'd nearly forgotten. I had sort of rated it. It was not bad, but not great. It just didn't have the flavor I had hoped for. I would give it 3 stars. 

It doesn't look nearly as good as it does on the package, but we all know that's not unusual for food products.

It would be kind of hard to sell with a picture like this on the package, huh? Actually it doesn't look that bad. I've seen worse. I just wish it tasted better.

I had a pretty good Zumba class as usual. I wasn't feeling terribly energetic, so I skipped the weights tonight. We barely made it home before the rain poured down. We had just gotten in the door when the bottom fell out. Since it was dark, we never even realized the rain was coming. 

I had the last piece of leftover carrot cake for my after Zumba snack. It wasn't the best thing to have, but since I hadn't frozen it and I didn't want it to go to waste, I ate it.

As badly as I hate it, I suppose I'm off to bed without reading. The end of my book(The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest) is getting very close. I hate that I'm so tired. You can see my Goodreads Updates on the right. I also post updates on Twitter. Feel free to follow or subscribe to the blog. Your comments are also welcome. I suppose that all for now. Have a great night/day!!!

Veggie Cuisine Roasted Red Pepper Fettuccini Review

Another nightly post before a busy morning. I sitting listening to rain and keeping an eye on the weather. There have already been some tornado warnings in the nearby areas. Hopefully we will dodge the bullet. 

Anyway, since I have morning plans, I'll tell you about my day now. I started off the day with half a French toast bagel. I let Tom have a peep at it.

I'd planned to have light cream cheese with it, but I'd forgotten I'd eaten the last of it already, so I went with peanut butter and then I sprinkled it with some of the sunflower and pumpkin seeds from the Men's Omega 3 Energy Mix. I also topped it with some dried cranberries.

Lunch was a repeat of last night's dinner. In fact, the photo is also a repeat. Somehow I completely forgot to take a picture. It was pretty much the same anyway.

I had some Chex Muddy Buddy mix as a snack. It's the store bought version and not the homemade. I do believe the homemade version is better. While it's not as evenly coated, it has a thicker layer of the coating. Tom agrees.

I finally got to finish up my trip to the grocery store today. I'd been trying to go for several days, but one thing or the other got in the way. 

I already had my dinner in the freezer. I usually fix something quick after going to the grocery store, of course most of my meals are pretty quick. What can I say, I'm impatient when it comes to food. I had Lean Cuisine's Veggie Cuisine Roasted Red Pepper Fettuccini. This was full of squash ( Zucchini & Yellow), which I don't really care for. I picked it out. The sauce was very good. It was a little spicy, which I like, but not very spicy. I sort of wish they'd used some other vegetable in it. It also had Gardein's chick'n strips which I love. My personal rating, because of the squash, would have to be 3 stars, but with the right vegetables, it could have easily gotten 5, so if you like squash, this dish deserves a taste. 

Nutritional Information

Serving Size: 1 (9.0 ounces)

Servings Per Package: 1

 

Amount Per Serving:

 

Calories 280

Calories From Fat 70

 

%Daily Value*

Total Fat (g)	8	13%		Cholesterol (mg)	5	1%
Saturated Fat (g)	2	0		Sodium (mg)	700	29%
Trans Fat (g)	0			Potassium (mg)	540	15%
Polyunsaturated Fat (g)	3			Total Carbohydrate (g)	34	11%
Monounsaturated Fat (g)	3			Dietary Fiber (g)	4	15%
Protein (g)	17			Sugars (g)	6
Diet Exchanges 1 ½ Lean Meat 1 ½ Starch 2 Vegetable 1 Fat
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

	Calories:	2,000	2,500
Total Fat	Less Than	65g	80g
Sat Fat	Less Than	20g	25g
Cholesterol	Less Than	300mg	300mg
Sodium	Less Than	2,400mg	2,400mg
Potassium	Less Than	3,500mg	3,500mg
Total Carbohydrate		300g	375g
Dietary Fiber		25g	30g

Vegetable Servings** 2

**The USDA Food Guide Pyramid suggest 3-5 one-half cup servings of vegtables a day.

Weight Watchers® PointsPlus® *** 7

***Not endorsed by Weight Watchers®. PointsPlus® calculated by Nestlé.

Nutritional information is subject to change. Please see label of product on store shelves for the most current information.

I also liked the wide flat noodles.

The chick'n strips seem to have some green flecks in them??, I'm not sure what that's about, but they are very good.

Since the fettuccini wasn't as filling as it would have been with the squash. I also had some egg noodles a little later, as well as an off camera orange.

Well, that was my day. Now I'm sitting here listening to the rain, watching Letterman talk about Downy Unstopables, you know, the laundry scent booster. Now, I'm off to get ready for bed, and then check the weather to see that this storm has planned. Have a great night/day!!! While you're here, feel free to subscribe to the blog and/or follow me on Twitter if you haven't already. I can always use more subscribers. Thanks for stopping by.

Lean Cuisine Margherita Pizza Review

Another early post. I'll be busy tomorrow morning, so I'm getting this out of the way tonight. I'm very late getting started this evening. I tend to procrastinate too much, so I'll get right to point. 

This is my Thursday morning breakfast, another half a cranberry bagel with light cream cheese, raisins, walnuts and white chocolate chips.

Mid morning, I had a gingerbread man for a snack. It was the last one. I'd forgotten there was one left. He was a little broken, but still very tasty. He would have been great with a gingerbread latte. I actually had the cookie while I was fixing lunch. I waited a bit too long to get started on it and was very hungry.

I decided to fix a Lean Cuisine Wood Fire Style Margherita Pizza.

Nutritional Information

Serving Size: 1 (6.0 ounces)

Servings Per Package: 1

Amount Per Serving:

Calories 310

Calories From Fat 60

  %Daily Value*

Total Fat (g)	7	11%		Cholesterol (mg)	15	4%
Saturated Fat (g)	3	0		Sodium (mg)	460	19%
Trans Fat (g)	0			Potassium (mg)	320	9 %
Polyunsaturated Fat (g)	2			Total Carbohydrate(g)	46	15%
Monounsaturated Fat (g)	2			Dietary Fiber(g)	3	12%
Protein (g)	16			Sugars (g)	7
Diet Exchanges 1 Medium Fat Meat,2 1/2 Starch,1/2 Fat
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

	Calories:	2,000	2,500
Total Fat	Less Than	65g	80g
Sat Fat	Less Than	20g	25g
Cholesterol	Less Than	300mg	300mg
Sodium	Less Than	2,400mg	2,400mg
Potassium	Less Than	3,500mg	3,500mg
Total Carbohydrate		300g	375g
Dietary Fiber		25g	30g

Vegetable Servings** 2

**The USDA Food Guide Pyramid suggest 3-5 one-half cup servings of vegtables a day.

Weight Watchers® PointsPlus® *** 8

***Not endorsed by Weight Watchers®. PointsPlus® calculated by Nestlé.

This is how it looks straight out of the box.

I went for the crispier crust. They suggest increasing the cook time by 15 seconds for a crispier crust, but depending on your microwave it gets a little tougher as it cools, still not bad. It was warm all the way through and had a good flavor.

It might not be the best pizza you've ever eaten, but it fills the void and it definitely wasn't the worst. I liked the chunks of tomato. The cheese didn't have a lot of flavor though, luckily the tomatoes did.

I cut it with a pizza wheel into fourths and then cut a bite off using my fork. It was just slightly tough to cut. I decided to just pick up the pieces and eat it without the fork. I'd thought about adding some Parmesan in case it needed some extra flavor, but it wasn't necessary. I gave this pizza 4 stars, but just barely. I prefer oven baked pizza crust of course. This is great in a pinch though.

This is sort of a snack/dinner meal. I had leftover garbanzo beans, which I used to make a little hummus. I didn't really go by my hummus recipe because, I didn't have quite enough beans. I just improvised. I used tahini, lemon juice, garlic, onion powder, marjoram, and paprika, blended with my hand blender.

I ate carrot sticks and cucumber slices with the hummus. It turned out pretty good. 

The second half of dinner was a few onion rings with spicy ranch dressing for dipping.

Now I'm calling it a night. It's late and I will need to be up early tomorrow. I am certainly a glutton for punishment. Have a great night/ day!!!