Post Weight Loss Surgery Menus: A day in my pouch

A day in my pouch is a series of blog posts to show what a typical daily menu looks like in my post weight loss surgery world. My yesterday...

Breakfast: I made a batch of my homemade protein bar squares (cross between a protein bar and an oatmeal cookie) in the middle of the night when I woke up and could not make myself go back to sleep. When the sun came up I smeared one with some almond butter and took it on a quick walk around the block.

When I got back I pulled one of my make ahead smoothie bags out of the freezer. This is a huge time saver. Instead of having to pull all the ingredients, tubs of protein, cut up fruit, etc. all you have to do is dump the contents of the snack sized baggie in the blender, add milk and voila.

Be sure to label them or you may forget what's inside or you'll have to play guess the mystery shake. Today's was an Iced Coffee Banana Mocha-chino made with Chike High Protein Iced Coffee.

 

Eggface Protein Shakes on Pinterest

Lunch: I believe I am officially warming up to quinoa. It took me awhile but I have a few recipes now I really enjoy. I love this latest recipe because I always seem to have 1 leftover cup of quinoa when I make my favorite Quinoa Patties that sometimes goes a-begging. This is the perfect use for it.

These would be great for brunch with a fruit salad or Yogurt Bar. They have a breakfast vibe with eggs, cheese, ham. They would also be perfect to make on Sunday to make mid-week breakfasts easier. They heat up great, a few minutes in the toaster oven and they were just as tasty as the first day. I had them for lunch with a sliced tomato (sprinkle of oregano, salt and pepper)

Shelly's Ham and Cheese Quinoa Breakfast Bites

1 cup Cooked Quinoa (I prefer Red)
5 Eggs, beaten
2-3 Green Onions, diced
1/4 lb (about 4 slices) Low Sodium Ham, diced fine
1/4 cup Shredded Cheese (any you love)
2 Tablespoons Parmesan Cheese
1 Tablespoon Chives
1 teaspoon Oregano
1/4 teaspoon Salt
a few twists of Black Pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients together. Spoon into lightly greased (Pam non-stick spray works great for this) mini muffin tins.

Bake for 30 minutes at 350. Let them cool a few moments they pull away and pop right out. Makes 24.

More Eggface Egg Bites (aka crustless quiches) 

Dinner: I was gifted a sample of Progresso's new line of chili. You can find the chili in the soup aisle but it's not in a can, look for a pouch (with a clear bottom so you can spy on all the ingredients.) They have 2 flavors: Smokehouse Pork and Beef Chili with Beans: andouille sausage, beef, tomatoes, onions, green peppers, pinto and red kidney beans with a little spice kick (nothing to hot but hot enough you know you are eating chili) and Southwest Style White Chicken Chili with Beans: white meat chicken, white beans, green peppers, tomatillos and onions. I haven't tried my sample of that one yet. If you are looking for a quick and easy dinner grab one of these chili pouches when you spot them in your supermarket.

How's this for quick... I whizzed up some cauliflower florets in my mini food processor, dumped the cauliflower "rice" into a pan and sauteed it with a little drizzle of olive oil for about 8 minutes. I emptied the Progresso Chili pouch into a saucepan. It takes 5 1/2 minutes to heat. You can microwave it too.

When the cauliflower was done I put it in one of my vintage Pyrex casserole dishes, made a well in the center and spooned the Progresso Chili in the middle. I topped it with a dollop of Greek yogurt and a sprinkle of chopped green onion. About 10 minutes from nothing to nom nom nomming. Take that Rachael Ray. Who needs 30 minutes?! Not me ;)

A few years ago (long time blog readers will remember) I won a makeover in NYC from Progresso. I love their Split Pea with Bacon and Lentil soups, especially in the first few weeks after surgery, I was so sick of sweet things and those two became staples during the pureed and soft food stage. I shared that I loved those soups and a picture of myself in one leg of my pre-op pants and with a lot of votes from you guys I won. It was a blast. I took my Mum. Awesome memory.

Snacks: Too much coffee and a handful of raspberries.

More Days in my Pouch

Other places to find me...
Eggface on Twitter  - I tweet A LOT. Articles, tips, resources, deals I hear about. I tweet about events. I take part in several health-related tweet chats a week.
Eggface on Pinterest - Some of my favorite recipes from the blog. Beware Pinterest is a time sucking vortex. You can lose many hours over there looking at the pretty pictures.
Eggface on Facebook - Blog announcements and other random stuff.

P.S. I have something fun coming up on the blog. You might want to be sure to stop by sometime on Sunday.

Baked Scotch Eggs

The other day a blog reader asked if I had a healthier version of Scotch Eggs. It was a bizarre coincidence because literally the day before I had been brainstorming with my Mum how I might slim down the traditional United Kingdom belly bombs. Scotch eggs are a traditional pub fair and picnic food in the UK. They consist of a hard-boiled egg wrapped in sausage meat, encrusted in flour and bread crumbs and then deep-fried till golden. Breaded, fatty and fried is not an option in my post weight loss surgery world so here is my healthier, low carb, baked and I think more delicious version. Oh and my British Mum has given it two thumbs up. I hope my blog reader, Sue enjoys them too.

Shelly's Baked Scotch Eggs

4 Hard Cooked Eggs, peeled
1/2 pound Sweet Italian Sausage, bulk
1 oz. (about 28 almonds) Blue Diamond Honey Roasted Chipotle Almonds
1/8 cup Almond Meal

Hard boil the eggs, allow to cool, peel and set aside. In a mini food processor, grind Honey Roasted Chipotle Almonds (can't find these almonds, another savory seasoned almond would work fine) till just ground. Pour ground seasoned almonds out onto shallow plate and mix with almond meal till thoroughly combined.

Divide the sausage meat into 4 equal portions. I used pork sausage but for an even lighter version you could use chicken sausage. Form each portion into a flat pancake large enough to fit around the egg. Work the sausage meat around the egg as evenly as possible.

Roll your sausage covered egg into the almond crumbs. Pat them a bit to be sure they are stuck and completely coated. Place on a non-stick baking pan.

I used my mini meatloaf pan so they didn't roll around. It worked out perfectly. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, flip and bake 10 minutes more. Allow to cool slightly and serve plain or with my Mustard Yogurt Dip.

 

Shelly's Mustard Yogurt Dipping Sauce

1/2 cup Greek Yogurt (I used plain, 2%)
2 Tablespoons Grainy (or whatever you like) Mustard
dash of Kosher Salt
a few twists of Black Pepper

Mix together till well blended.

These are soooo good and really are a complete meal on there own but a simple green salad would go nicely with them too and would be perfect for an end of the summer picnic.

More Eggceptional (sorry couldn't resist) Eggface Egg dishes

Eggface Healthy Salads and Cold Eats Pinterest Page

Check out my Healthy Salads and Cold Eats Pinterest Page for oodles of no-cook (or minimal cooking) cold salads and other protein-packed recipes for when the summer heat is blazing or as part of a weight loss or post weight loss surgery diet.

and visit my other Pinterest Boards...

Blue Diamond Almonds Honey Roasted Party Snacks

I recently was given the opportunity to try a couple of new flavors of Blue Diamond Almonds and share my thoughts on their new honey roasted line. Honey + Almonds. Yum and yes! We all know how awesome almonds are health-wise and these new honey flavored almonds though jazzed up a bit are still a great choice that can be incorporated into my day. 1 oz. about 28 nuts (and that's a lot of nuts) is 160 cals and gives you 5 grams of protein. I love almonds. In fact, rarely do I not have a little snack sized baggie with some almonds in my purse or carry-on bag when traveling.

Honey and almonds are really a perfect combo. Did you know? Honey bees pollinate almond trees as well as 1/3 of the world’s food supply. Almonds are the only crop that is 100% dependent on honey bees for the pollination of its crops, every spring more than a million colonies of honey bees are placed in California almond orchards.

I received 2 of the 4 new flavors to try: Honey Roasted, Honey Roasted Vanilla, Honey Roasted Cinnamon, Honey Roasted Chipotle. I sampled the Honey Roasted Vanilla and the Honey Roasted Chipotle. These new honey roasted nuts are delicious. Both. Awesome. I was a little nervous about trying the Honey Roasted Chipotle worried they might be too spicy for me (I'm not into heat) but they are perfect. It's a smoky sweet subtle heat. I LOVED them, many cans will be purchased in my future. I enjoyed snacking on some right from the can but you know I had to experiment in the kitchen with a few. I made a couple of super easy party appetizers.

Stone fruits are crazy good right now at my Farmer's Market (another thank you to those honey bees doing their thing.) I picked up some apricots on Saturday and they were perfect for this 3 ingredient appetizer.

Blue Diamond Honey Roasted Vanilla Almond and Goat Cheese Stuffed Apricots

1 oz. (about 28 nuts) Blue Diamond Honey Roasted Vanilla Almonds
2 oz. Goat Cheese (Chevre)
8 Fresh Apricots, halved

Wash your fruit. Run your paring knife along the natural seam to cut the apricots in half, remove the pit (if they are ripe they pop right out) and arrange skin side down on a baking sheet.

Place a little dollop of goat cheese in each half. I placed 1 oz. of Blue Diamond Honey Vanilla Almonds in a snack sized baggie and gave them a few whacks with a meat mallet/pounder (don't have a meat mallet, a bottle works great too.)

Sprinkle some of the crushed almonds on top of the goat cheese and place under the oven broiler (toaster oven would work too) for about 5 minutes till the cheese is bubbly, apricots are warm and you begin to smell the nuts toasting.

These would be great at a party. I love party snacks that are about 2 bites with no mess and taste great even after they cool a bit. Also these are perfect if you have some vegetarian party guests.

Here's one for your meat eating friends...

Blue Diamond Honey Roasted Chipotle Almond Mini Turkey Muffins

1 1/4 lb (average weight package) Ground Turkey
1 Yellow Onion, chopped
1 1/2 oz. Blue Diamond Honey Roasted Chipotle Almonds
1 Egg, beaten
2 Tablespoons Milk
1/2 teaspoon Salt
a few twists of Black Pepper

Saute onion till golden. Set aside to cool. Whiz almonds in a mini food processor till ground.

In a large bowl mix turkey, cooled onions, ground Blue Diamond Honey Roasted Chipotle Almonds and remaining ingredients till just combined.

Scoop into a 24 cup mini muffin tin that has been sprayed with a little non-stick cooking spray.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Place under the oven's broiler for a few minutes more till golden. They pop right out. I placed a party pick in each and served them with a Greek Yogurt Cumin Lime Dip. I can't wait to have these little suckers again. So yummy and oodles of protein too!

Greek Yogurt Cumin Lime Dip

1/2 cup Greek Yogurt, plain
zest and juice of 1/2 a Lime
1/2 teaspoon Ground Cumin

Mix together. Use for dipping these Mini Turkey Muffins, veggies, or as a salad dressing.

To find these new products in your area use the Blue Diamond product locator. You'll be glad you did. Oh and yay each can of nuts purchased donates some $$ to bee health research that looks at science-based solutions to honey bee challenges. "Bee" sure to check out all four honey flavors: Honey Roasted, Honey Roasted Vanilla, Honey Roasted Cinnamon, Honey Roasted Chipotle.

This post is sponsored by Blue Diamond Almonds. All of the opinions are mine. For the purposes of this post and recipe development Blue Diamond Almonds provided me with products used. Thanks for the yummy nuts. Want to learn more about all of Blue Diamond Almonds great products LIKE their Facebook page and tell them The World According to Eggface told you to stop by. Hope you give one of these recipes a try at your next shindig.