Food Stamp Diet: Post #2

I'm at the end of day 1. Here's my progress report.

Day 1
Breakfast: 1 c. yogurt with one half banana, honey, cinnamon and nutmeg
Lunch: Two peanut-butter-and-apple sandwiches on oatmeal bread
Dinner: Roasted chicken thigh, whole-wheat couscous* with pan drippings, steamed fiddlehead ferns; roast tomorrow's beets with the chicken to save energy.
Snacks: Homemade kettle corn, carrots

Breakfast: I was almost afraid to eat this morning, because doing so meant that I'd be getting hungry that much sooner. I managed to hold off until 10:30, then ate a peanut butter sandwich...my yogurt didn't sound that appetizing.  The inexpensive organic peanut butter was so thin, that I couldn't make a decent layer of the stuff, so it was mostly a bread sandwich. I also ate an apple.

Lunch: When I got hungry again, I ate my cup o' yogurt. I was supposed to get 1/2 banana, but we'd didn't have any in the house (the ones I'd gotten for the project got eaten early). So, I subbed a few dried cranberries I had kicking around the office. Also ate my second sandwich, but used hummus instead of peanut butter. I'd opened the container last week, and didn't want it to go bad. Has fewer calories than peanut butter, so I don't feel like I was cheating, just being frugal.

Snacks: I had a carrot around 4:00. I put my chicken in to roast around 5:40, and by 6:30, was ravenous and grouchy. Made kettle corn...soooo good. My mood improved drastically.

Dinner: Yay chicken! I'd forgotten to assign the wings to any of my meals, and so ate a wing and part of a thigh, saving the rest of the thigh for tomorrow. Plus, I ate all the skin from my half of the chicken, cause it's only good on the first day. Poured pan drippings all over the couscous -- kind of gross, but tasty. The fiddleheads weren't the best, maybe because I foraged for them a few days ago.  It's now 10 p.m. and I'm feeling perfectly sated and happy. I think the popcorn helped a lot...

Kettle Corn

1/2 c. popcorn kernels
2 T. oil
2 T. sugar
salt to taste

Heat the oil. Add the kernels when oil is hot. Sprinkle in the sugar. Shake the pot over the heat as the popcorn pops. Continue until the popping slows significantly. Add salt to taste.

Comments

[Molly]

"So, I subbed a few dried cranberries I had kicking around the office."

This really brought to mind an image of you on your hands and knees picking dust-bunny covered cranberries out from under a desk. I hope the reality was less desperate.

[don]

i prefer my air popper to the stovetop variety. i'm always afraid i'll burn it. plus, i am forever nostalgic about making popcorn with my dad in his air popper. it was probably the first thing that i was allowed to "cook." i can't understand why people use the microwave kind. it can't be for convenience, b/c the air popper is actually faster! i don't trust what they put into those bags. i'd rather butter and season for myself. sometimes i'll splurge and add some fresh parmesiano reggiano, black pepper is good too. i've read in a few fitness magazines that popcorn is a very healthy snack if you don't lay on too much butter or salt -- and it's filling!

[Suzanne]

Molly -- Thanks for making me laugh! Your brain seems to work kind of like mine. When I had an office job, I'd often crack myself up during meetings when I'd hear something that was meant to be figurative and imagine it literally.

BTW, these cranberries were in the fridge. I'm saving the dusty ones under my desk...

[Suzanne]

Hi Don. I don't like the microwave kind either. Plus, the fake butter is evil stuff.

When I was growing up, we used an air popper and didn't own a microwave, so there's a nostalgia factor for me, too. I used to mix brown sugar with butter and pour it onto the popped kernels. I would also sprinkle on (o.k. pour on) parmesan -- my mom got the kind in the green can back then. These days, I'm with you on the Parmigiano Reggiano. If you like things a little spicy, cayenne butter and shredded cheddar is a good combo, too.

I do think the stovetop makes for a somewhat better texture, although it's more of a pain. Air-popped popcorn can sometimes be a bit chewy...or maybe it's just the kind of popper my mom has.