Review: Lean Cuisine Cheese Lasagna with Chicken Breast Scaloppini

I'm a bit disappointed by my latest foray into the world of frozen diet dinners. It's the first one in a long time that has actually tasted like diet food, and I ended up not finishing it.

It wasn't horrible. The lasagna was okay, although it consisted of two layers of noodles, with some cheese in between. The sauce tasted good, but was a bit runny. The chicken, on the other hand, made me consider revisiting my vegetarian side. I wasn't sure it was chicken until I checked the ingredients. Even now, I'm not positive.

My lunch wasn't horrible, and it'll keep me from starving, but it definitely wasn't worth spending 6 Points on.

The high cost of McDonalds (even when your meal is actually free because you have a gift card)

Tonight I decided that, having followed my diet faithfully for several days, I could spare a few points and use my birthday McDonalds gift card at the same time. Saving money and enjoying some tasty chicken McNuggets...what could go wrong?

Well, I pulled up to the drive-thru, and placed my order: a McNugget Mighty Kids Meal, with Diet Coke, and a hot fudge sundae. Oh, and I opted for the Girl toy. I figured this would be relatively low points, right? I mean, it's a kid's meal.

After getting home and consuming my meal, which did NOT come with the girl's toy...I'm sad to report that I got some weird Star Wars/Transformery toy...I headed to the computer to log my dinner. Things did not go so well.

First I searched for a six piece McNugget Points value. It turns out that each McNugget is worth a point. Holy Crap! Sweet N Sour sauce turned out to be one point per serving, but fortunately, I only used half! My small french fries cost me five points, which I've decided totally wasn't worth it. I don't even like french fries! And then my desert, a slightly melted hot fudge sundae, was seven points. I haven't decided if the spoonful of ice cream I gave Henry lessened that Points value, but regardless, that's a crapload of points for a crappy little sundae!

Grand total for my "evening out:" 18.5 points. I've decided that McDonalds is a little too rich for my taste. (But I think the McNuggets were totally worth the "cost.")

Hawaii Diet

Apparently my recent mention of my Hawaii diet has intrigued/confused some people. So I will elaborate. The Hawaii diet is not a diet plan. It is merely an incentive for me to stay on track. I am making myself lose weight because I am going to Hawaii in November and I want to be able to learn to surf. My balance is poor at the best of times, so I figure the more weight I lose, the easier it will be for me to surf. Plus, I won't be quite so self-concious on the beach!

So far the Hawaii diet seems to be working...I'm actually doing Points on Weight Watchers, but now I have a real reason to follow it to the letter, with no cheating! I'd advise everyone to find a "diet" that inspires them! (I actually was inspired to start my Hawaii diet when my friend Courtney noted that she was dieting in preparation to go to Aruba...she did the Aruba diet, I'm doing the Hawaii diet.)

McDonalds Sweet Tea

Since my latest medical malady (a kidney stone) I have sworn off all beverages that have phosphoric acid in them, which means pretty much any soda that I like (which is Diet Pepsi and it's many variations) is suddenly off limits. It is agony. You see, I am not a morning person, and I generally require a little caffeine in order to interact with my patients in a pleasant manner. And I hate coffee. Which leaves me with tea. So imagine my excitement when McDonalds came out with their new Sweet Tea! I resolved at once to try this, as my keystone tech, who hails from the glorious state of Texas, is well studied in the subject of sweet tea, and appreciated what McDonalds had brought to the table.

Now, when I saw McDonalds advertising the sweet tea at only $1 for a large, I figured the large size would be similar to the large you get when you order an orange juice there. In other words, more like a small. So I was suprised and delighted when a large turned out to be quite large and refreshing. It was truly delightful, nice and sweet and chilled it it's foam cup. I wish I could drink sweet tea every day! Alas, the one downfall of the sweet tea is that it is, well, sweet. 230 calories of sweet, with no fiber or fat, so it comes in at 5 Points if you're on Weight Watchers. Needless to say, I'm not sure I'll be enjoying much sweet tea on my Hawaii diet. Then again, I do get 35 Points every week to spend on whatever I want. That's one sweet tea every day! Oh, yeah!

Review: Healthy Choice Four Cheese Manicotti

I think that the Healthy Choice Four Cheese Manicotti may be my new favorite frozen meal. Not only do you get 2 delicious cheesy manicotti, but broccoli and a dessert of caramel apple crisp to boot! All around, it was good. According to Healthy Choice, this meal is equivalent to 7 Points, which seems like a lot, but take into consideration that you're getting a full meal here - main course, veggie side dish, and a dessert! Per serving, according to the box, you are getting a full vegetable, but I was surprised that it doesn't count as a serving of dairy as well. Not that I have a problem getting any of my dairy in, but I know some people do. Overall, this is definitely going to be a repeat, since the 3 dishes made me think I was getting a real dinner, not just a diet dinner, so I felt quite satisfied afterwards!

My New Vegan Breakfast

I recently read the book Skinny Bitch, and have since decided to become a vegetarian, with the ultimate goal of being a vegan. Now, I've put veganism in my 10 year plan, as I'm figuring it will be a really long time before I can give up a toasted Velveeta sandwich, or skip a cool glass of milk with my grandma's awesome chocolate chip cookies. So for the time being, it's regular vegetarian for me. I've lasted 3 days so far (normally, my veggie stints are about 17 hours before I cave) and it's going fairly well.

But the idea of being a vegan is just fascinating to me, because if you think about it, everything has animal products in it. Cookies and cakes have milk and eggs, mozzarella sticks are cheese, even Bush's Baked Beans have bacon in them. So on my last trip to the grocery section of Wal-Mart, I decided to peruse the aisles for vegan fare. I didn't get very far, as Wal-Mart doesn't even stock veggie burgers, but they do have Silk. Now, Silk is a soy-milk product that I've always been terrified to try, since my unfortunate introduction to soy via a nasty tofu burger. But I resolved to try it, and picked out the vanilla flavor, which I thought would go nicely with my favorite granola, Cascadian Farms Oats and Honey. Tonight I tried a little as a desert, and let me tell you, if I hadn't poured the Silk onto the cereal myself, I would have thought it was regular milk. Awesome! Now, if only the soy cheese is as good...

Bottom line:

+ = YUMM!!!

Review: Lean Cuisine Lasagna with Meat Sauce

I'll admit it, I tried the Lean Cuisine Lasagna with Meat Sauce mainly because I also bought the equivalent Smart One and wanted to compare. And I was a little disappointed with this one. While it wasn't bad, the Lean Cuisine option (at least mine) seemed to have way less cheese and sauce, and way thicker noodles. Now, the lack of sauce I really don't mind, since some of the Smart Ones really heap it on in lieu of other ingredients, but the lack of cheese annoyed me. This one tasted like lasagna noodles with sauce, so I ended up adding a pile of parmesean cheese to the dish in order to make it more palatable. Now, straight out of the package, both the Lean Cuisine and Smart Ones lasagnas are 6 points. However, I was able to eat the Smart One without any additional cheese, which I think ended up costing me about 4 points. (I'll admit it, I added alot of extra cheese!) So stick with the Smart Ones for this meal!

Review: Lean Cuisine Chicken Club Panini

The Lean Cuisine Chicken Club Panini isn't too bad, but don't believe that what you're eating for dinner is going to look like the picture! Basically, it's a frozen sandwich that comes with a nifty little grilling thing, that should "grill" the bread while in the microwave. When these first came out, the grilling tray worked really well, and you could have a little sandwich. Recently, the grilling tray has been redesigned, and my sandwich ended up sticking to it. I was forced to use a spatula to remove it, which I feel defeats the purpose of a frozen dinner: to not have to do any dishes! Anyhow, it was very tasty, with cheese, chicken, bacon and tomatoes all mixed in. It is also very filling, so the 7 Points that it "costs" you to eat are worth it. The biggest problem, for me at least, is that it doesn't have even one serving of vegetables, so you do have to prepare some extra sides,. Baby carrots go well with it, I like their crunchiness to contrast with the chewy sandwich. Bottom line: for 7 Points, it's definitely worth a try, especially when you can find it at WalMart on sale for $2. And on an additional note, if you don't put the two pieces together to make a sandwich and instead have it openfaced, you feel that you're getting even more bang for your Point!

Review: Smart Ones Traditional Lasagna with Meat Sauce

Smart Ones Traditional Lasagna with Meat Sauce
Points Value: 6

This was a very tasty lasagna for a frozen dinner, and only 6 points, too! Anyone who knows me is aware that I hate boxed dinners, but if they were all like this, I would probably eat them more often. It didn't take long to cook, and was delicious enough to be considered "regular" lasagna. While my homemade is a bit better, this was quick and easy to make, and tasty. I had a side of green beans with it to add to my veggie count for the day, and rounded it out with a glass of milk. Total points for the yummy meal? 7! That leaves some leeway for desert tonight, but I'm actually kind of full from dinner!

It's Not a Diet, It's a Change of Habits!!!

Welcome to Sarah and Woody's Fit Pharmiechick Challenge!

Well, we've already discussed Woody's failed diet and exercise regime. What I didn't mention, because I didn't want to hurt his feelings too bad, is that since I got the puppies I've lost 10 pounds. Of course, this really isn't much in the grand scheme of things, but it's something. So I've decided that in light of my mild success and poor Woody's further weight gain, we are going to get serious. We'll diet, we'll exercise, and we'll blog every step of the way! And please, feel free to join us on our Cruise to Lose!

Sarah's Goal: 135 pounds, size 12
Woody's Goal: 22 pounds, size small (dog clothing, of course)

Since I have absolutely no intention of posting my true weight at the present on any website, we're going to track ourselves based on percent of goal. Right now, we are both at zero, but that is soon to change!