madermouse's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4/10/02 I have 3 words for you... Veggie Power Salad from Macheezmo Mouse. I don�t know if many of you have Macheezmo mouse in your area, I think it�s a Pacific Northwest/California thing. They are a Mexican Food chain promoting �healthy, fast, & fresh� Mexican food. I think, like most places, you can still find high-calorie, fat-laden food there...it depends on what you order. But the veggie power salad breaks down like this: a bed of crunchy romaine lettuce topped with: � cup of black beans � cup of nutty brown rice � cup of fresh corn, zucchini, carrot & kidney bean salad a big scoop of pico de gallo (chunky fresh salsa) and the best part: 4 spears of tender/crunchy steamed broccoli To this I add some of their pineapple Habanero salsa (a little) and a couple spoonfuls of their �Boss� sauce. So I say to anyone in the pacific northwest - go to Macheezmo Mouse and get their veggie power salad. It kicks ass! It has at least 2 servings of vegetables, beans & rice which forms a complete protein, and tons of fiber. ok - that�s my infomercial for today. Oh - wait! Actually, I do have another infomercial. Again, this is probably another Pacific Northwest thing though, but I�m including a link if you are interested in the product. I�m telling you, I think this is partly what has allowed me to give up my nightly dessert the past couple of weeks. Its called Oregon Chai, and it comes concentrated in a box with a flip-top lid. Its basically a black tea brewed with spices (think pumpkin-pie spices) and honey. They have caffieine-free version that I drink at night, right after my dinner. I mix a half a cup of chai, and a half a cup of soy milk or skim milk, then heat it in the microwave until steaming hot. In the summer, you can throw the two in a blender with an ice cube and have a cool �shake�. Its like having dessert for about 125 calories. It totally satisfies that craving for something sweet after dinner. And - an added bonus - if you happen to have a Trader Joes store in your area, they sell the quart size for only $2.99 - about 2 bucks less than anywhere else I�ve seen. Do you ever miss that really �full� feeling you used to get when you ate whatever you wanted? I�m not talking about that sickly-nauseated -omigod-I-ate-the-whole-large-pizza- feeling. I�m talking about that feeling when you eat enough that you really don�t want another bite of food. That the thought of eating more food doesn�t even seem appealing? I really crave that feeling sometimes. Because now when I eat, I almost never feel really full like that. A lot of times this leads me to eat more later on, because I feel deprived. Drinking this hot tea mixture about 10 minutes after I eat dinner gives me that really full feeling. And it keeps me from going back to the kitchen to snack at 9pm. This has really, really helped me replace some of the crap I was eating after dinner. While I�m at it, there�s one more product I�d like to toot today. This product proves that its not impossible to eat healthy and well out of the freezer isle. While I�ll admit they are more expensive than other brands of frozen dinners, Amy�s Organics are worth every single penny. When I wasn�t dieting, I indulged in the broccoli pot-pie, the mac n�cheese and some of their other products. But now that I�m watching what I eat so closely, I�m going to give you the low-down on my favorite, healthy favorites. Click on the Amy�s �product� link on the top of her home page to get a closer look of any of her frozen foods as well as a breakdown of nutritional information. 1st runner up - Amy�s Black Bean Vegan Enchilada dinner. This is my absolute darling of a lunch. I�d eat this for lunch every single day if I could afford it...and when I could afford it - I did!! These enchiladas are filled with roasted veggies, bits of tofu, and organic black beans. And the enchilada sauce is like nothing you�ve ever tasted....rich and creamy and mildly spicy. Scared of tofu? Don�t worry, you won�t believe its vegetarian. I was scared of tofu for the longest time - and this is one of the dishes that changed my thinking on the stuff. This has 260 calories in it and 4 grams of fat. 2nd runner up - Amy�s Vegetable Lasagna! Yum!! Its soo good you�d never guess it only has 280 calories. If you�re a fat gram watcher - you might not choose this one. But if you pair it with a piece of fruit & slice of italian bread, it all evens out to 30% of calories from fat. 3rd runner up - Amy�s Veggie loaf whole meal. This is like a vegetarian�s comfort food dream. It has a slice of �veggie� meatloaf made of grains, veggies, and legumes and then smothered with a rich brown gravy. Its served with organic mashed potatoes and peas & corn on the side. The whole thing is only 260 calories and 5 grams of fat. You eat this & you feel like you�ve been treated to something special. I want to reiterate that I�m not a vegetarian. But good food is good food - and any of her products I�d recommend to a carnivore! :) Stay tuned tomorrow for an overview of my favorite step aerobic tapes..... 2:05 p.m. - 4/10/02 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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