How was everybody’s weekend? Mine was fabulous – we had the most gorgeous weather here in Boston. I was able to wear a long sleeve shirt with a thin sweater and that’s it! No jacket!!! I know some of you from the warmer climates are probably chuckling at this, but this is amazing for this time of year in the North East. Everybody seemed to be in a fantastic mood all weekend. My husband actually de-winterized his motorcycle and went for 2 rides. Good stuff all around.

So yesterday was one of the happiest days I’ve had in a long time. I couldn’t really explain this pure bliss I was in. It was like this overwhelming feeling of happiness took over me and the only thing I could do was keep repeating how happy I was over and over. I felt like I was going to explode. It was wonderful! What was not wonderful is how hungry I kept on getting despite feeding myself what seemed to be like typical portions (if not more). I had no time to count calories so I just tried to listen to my body (I totaled it all up this morning so you can find the totals at the end). Let’s see where that got me…

BREAKFAST

2 ww waffles with Barney Butter, cherry preserves, fresh blueberries and plain oikos with coffee

I made the waffles by following this recipe from Food for Living. I added some slices bananas to the batter as well because I love the extra natural sweetness they add. This breakfast was delicious. The waffle recipe is a good one – these were nice and moist!

[485 calories]

After breakfast, Adam and I got to some major spring cleaning. This was our first time really cleaning our place since the kitchen remodel was completed. Adam scrubbed the bathrooms and everything in the kitchen while I made sure the rest of our place looked great. Around 1pm I got hungry but had no time to make lunch just yet, so I grabbed a peanut butter chocolate chip “granola bar.”

I did not sit down for this but I did try to savor it slowly and really eat it mindfully.

Per your request, here is the recipe:

Grease a 9×13 pan with shortening
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1/2 c melted butter or margarine

3 cups oats

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup coconut

2/3 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds

1/2 cup honey

1 cup choc chips

2t vanilla extract

1/3 cup wheat germ

2T sesame seeds

Combine butter, brown sugar, peanut butter, honey and vanilla in a large bowl.
Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into pan and pat down using a fork.

Cook @13-18 minutes just until edges are golden brown.
Score into squares and leave in pan until fully cooled.
Freezes well in Ziploc.

Note from Melissa: You may cut down on sugar and honey if too sweet. (I used 3/4 cup brown sugar and a little less honey) However, I wouldn’t recommend cutting out any of the butter–I’ve tried it and they don’t hold together as well! ENJOY!!!

Here is the kitchen, post a good scrub with a few added personal touches.

Check out the new fancy toaster oven (in the left corner) my parents got us as a gift. This thing is so crazy awesome. Thanks guys – we love it!!

The place was spotless and our neighbors (who are about to start their own kitchen remodel) were really impressed with how well we did. They have the same ugly kitchen (and bathrooms) we had so they knew exactly how far we’ve come. Anyways, the marathon cleaning sesh made lunch taste extra good!

LUNCH

Ww toast with sardines, avocado, S&P and lemon juice – such a creamy topping over the crunchy toast. Yum!

Simple salad: mixed greens, shredded carrots, cucumber

[307 calories]

After my quick lunch, Adam and I decided to go out and finally enjoy the beautiful weather. I got a strong craving for papaya salad and Adam never had lunch, so we ended up at the Island Hopper for a snack (?) for me and a super late lunch for him.

Green papaya salad – (from the menu) choice of the Thai lady, green papaya, carrots, long string beans, and tomatoes mixed in lime juice and Thai spicy sauce, topped with crushed peanuts

[300 calories?]

It looked beautiful but it was a little too sweet for me. I ate most of it because I was craving this dish but didn’t love it. At some point I realized I was eating food I wasn’t really enjoying so I stopped. It was also around the same time that Adam suggested with finish our meal with some froyo from Red Mango. You don’t have to ask me twice to eat dessert!

Small froyo (1/2 original, 1/2 cocoa) with raspberries and sliced almonds

Red mango sweetens their froyo with stevia and I found it to be a lot sweeter than Berryline’s. Still delicious, though, and although I prefer Berryline, Red Mango is closer so I’m probably going to end up there more often. I don’t discriminate against froyo joints too much.

[~170 calories]

Eventually it was time for dinner (hours later, don’t worry!)…

DINNER

Adam was out with his friends and I wanted something super simple. We were basically out of all fresh veggies and proteins so I was pretty happy with how my dinner turned out with such limited resources. Some cooked wild rice and fresh basil on its last leg were the inspiration for dinner.

I followed this recipe from EatingRD (blogs came to the rescue today!) to make some pesto out of the basil, then mixed it with wild rice, shrimp (defrosted, already cooked), cauliflower and peas (all defrosted). Topped with a little extra freshly shaven parmesan cheese.

This was a wonderful combo together!! PS – I used the 2T pine nuts and 2T EVOO, 1/3 cup parm and about 1T water to thin it. The pesto was fabulous. Can’t wait to make a gorgeous sandwich with the leftovers.

Dessert – another pb choc chip “granola bar”

I wanted to keep eating these (they are SOOOO good) but remembered that I already had froyo earlier in the day and this was my second bar. I popped some gum in my mouth, drank some water, and cuddled up with a blanket on the couch and tuned into the Biggest Loser. I was super proud of my will power!

Here is the kicker. This morning I calculated the nutritional facts for these “granola bars” and realized they are 485 calories EACH!!!!!!! I knew these tasted rich but I had no idea how rich they were. I ate 970 calories worth of “granola bars” in one day. Ugh!!!!! This brought the day’s total to 2,700 calories. I wanted to die the second I saw this number because I really thought I handled myself well throughout the day. I really thought I ate intuitively and mostly healthy. WRONG! This is where the conflicting thoughts in my brain kicked in. I felt so defeated after seeing this total but at the same time felt I didn’t do anything wrong. The only mistake I made was to not calculate the nutritional info for these bars earlier. Of course if I knew how truly indulgent they were, I would have treated them as such. Perhaps I would have cut them in half or at the least would have stopped at just one. This kind of reconfirms my belief that calorie counting is important. I did listen to my body and it told me to eat 2,700 calories and not because it needed them but because I distributed them poorly. If I ate that amount of calories every day, I would (not so) slowly but surely gain weight! I tried not to cry over spilled milk, as they say, but I did feel uneasy. This was supposed to be a healthy day after my night out on Friday, with another planned treat for Sunday afternoon, and it clearly did not work out this way. I’ve had the whole day to think this over and I am much more calm about it but I did feel a little rough for a few hours. Any thoughts on the subject? Does this show you the power of calorie counting or proves why you hate it?