Spinach and Pear Salad with Dijon Mustard Vinaigrette

(makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp water
  
  


• 1½ tbsp red wine vinegar
  
  


• 1 tbsp olive oil
  
  


• 1 tbsp honey
  
  


• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
  
  


• ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
  
  


• 2 Bosc pears (or Anjou), cored and thinly sliced
  
  


• 8 cups torn fresh spinach
  
  


• ¼ cup red onion, thinly sliced
  
  

Preparation:

• Combine water, vinegar, olive oil, honey, Dijon mustard, and black pepper in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk
  
  


• Combine pear slices and spinach in a large bowl.
  
  


• Drizzle vinaigrette over salad, and toss gently to coat.
  
  

Make 4 Servings:

Weight Loss Recipes Amount Per Serving(¼ of recipe (167 g)): 114 Calories, 2 g Protein, 20 g carbohydrates, 4 g Dietary Fiber, 4 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 80 mg sodium

Day 166: WTHeck is going on?

I LOVE donating blood.  I've been doing it for years and try to do it whenever I can.  I'm nearly to the two gallon mark--maybe I've passed it already? I need to remember to check so I can get my license plate holder saying, "I'm a 2 gallon donor."  Call me a weirdo, but I like having that on my car.

Needless to say, I've never had an issue when donating.  Actually, I take that back.  When I was in college, I had an incomplete donation.  Turns out, if it's hot and you are a little low on water before going in, your blood can be too thick and stop flowing...right in the middle of a donation.  Yeah, that happened once, but I've never been turned away...until today.

I sat down behind the private curtains with the lady and she checked all my vitals.  Blood pressure, heart rate, temperature, all normal, and then she pricked my finger.  Normally, the tech has to squeeze hard to get a big enough drop to fill up the glass vile.  Not this time.  I noticed she was sucking it up as the blood drop slid down my finger. That caught my attention, but I didn't think it was a big deal.

"Do you usually have a problem with this?" she asked, as the little ball of blood didn't sink in the blue liquid.

"Not usually, but it usually hovers for a sec until in falls to the bottom.  Why?"

She walked over to a machine that was out of my sight, I heard it whirl behind me as I waited.  Soon, it beeped and the tech came back and told me I couldn't donate today but that I could come back in three weeks and try again.

This has never happened to me before and I'm a little frustrated with my body right now as it's freaking out on me.  I have noticed that I've been extra tired lately, I just thought it was the heat and my hubby's snoring.  Guess it was something more.  I've also been a bit more stiff and sore than usual too, I need to research Fibromyalgia more thoroughly.  I'm SO grateful I have the habit of working out every day or who know how I'd be feeling like right now.

Now more than ever, I really need to be stepping it up.  I need to be more balanced in my eating and adding more to my exercise regimen.  It's a reminder to never get complacent.  Health is ongoing and how we take care of our body needs to adjust as our needs do.  It's my journey and I now have an unexpected detour. No worries though, it's all a lesson on adjusting to the unexpected.

Roasted Eggplant, Tomato and Arugula Salad

(makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:

• 2 medium eggplants, cut into ¾” slices
  
  


• 2 tbsp olive oil
  
  


• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
  
  


• 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped
  
  


• 1½ cups red cherry tomatoes (or yellow), halved
  
  


• 1 tsp sugar
  
  


• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  
  


• 4 tbsp feta cheese, crumbled
  
  


• 3 cups arugula
  
  


• 4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  
  

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to broil.
  
  


• Place eggplant on a foil-lined broiler pan and brush with 1 tbsp olive oil then drizzle lemon juice over slices.


• Broil eggplant for about 8 to 10 minutes, turning once until golden and tender, then sprinkle with cilantro.
  
  


• Heat 1 tsp of the olive oil to medium-high heat in a medium skillet. Add tomatoes, sugar, garlic and sauté until softened but not mushy (about 1 to 2 minutes). Reduce heat to low.
  
  


• Arrange eggplant on salad plates. Divide feta cheese and mound on each plate on top of eggplant. Divide tomatoes and place on top of feta cheese then top with arugula leaves.
  
  


• In the skillet, under low heat, add the remaining oil and balsamic vinegar and heat through for about 30 seconds.


• Drizzle dressing over each salad.
  
  

Make 4 Servings:

Weight Loss Recipes Amount Per Serving(¼ of recipe (396 g)): 181 Calories, 5 g Protein, 23 g carbohydrates, 8 g Dietary Fiber, 10 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 8 mg cholesterol, 128 mg sodium

10,000 Neighbors! Time for Celebration

Our newest Neighbor, Lorri is our official 10,000th member of the LivingAfterWLS Neighborhood -- Welcome to the Neighborhood Lorri - You Have Arrived!!
Celebrate with Us

This is a wonderful milestone for the Neighborhood and a true reflection of the community we have here that is now 5 years old with a strong population of people from around the world doing our best with weight loss surgery!

Penne with Spring Vegetables

(makes 6 servings)

Ingredients:

• Non-fat cooking spray
  
  


• ½ cup onion, chopped
  
  


• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  
  


• 1 lb. fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into small pieces
  
  


• 2½ cups cherry tomatoes, halved
  
  


• 2 cups yellow squash, cubed
  
  


• ¾ cups low sodium chicken broth
  
  


• 1 (16 oz.) package of penne pasta (cook according to package instructions, drain)
  
  


• 6 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
  
  


• Salt and pepper, to taste (optional)
  
  

Preparation:

• Spray a large skillet with cooking spray then heat over medium heat.
  
  


• Add garlic and onion then cook for about 3 minutes, stirring often.
  
  


• Add asparagus and cook an additional 3 minutes.
  
  


• Stir in the tomatoes and squash and cook for about 3 minutes.
  
  


• Add the broth and reduce heat to medium low and simmer, uncovered for about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper, to taste.
  
  


• Toss pasta with the vegetable mixture and basil then serve.
  
  

Make 6 Servings:

Weight Loss Recipes Amount Per Serving(1/6 of recipe (296 g)): 330 Calories, 13 g Protein, 66 g carbohydrates, 5 g Dietary Fiber, 2 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 23 mg sodium

Blue Monday

 Why a blue Monday you ask? Well...

1. My eating was a off this weekend. I felt like I was starving all weekend and overindulged in healthy foods. I gained almost two pounds. 189.2 this morning. Ugh!

2. After an awesome workout Saturday and a lazy day afterwards, I had a ton of chores to catch up on yesterday. I ended the day with some sort of hay fever attack (probably from all the dust as I cleaned like a maniac).

3. Because of the hay fever, which I couldn't get under control with Allegra, I took Benadryl (aka knockout drug). When I woke up this morning after a fitful night of nightmares, which included a continuing saga of dead and live mice, I woke up exhausted at 4:45am (my normal get up and get to the gym time). I skipped the gym this morning (shame one me).

4. The battle with the slugs continued yesterday. My two hanging baskets by the front door (purchased at Costco), look pretty good. The two I made myself that were pretty when I first hung them actually looked hideous. The flowers were getting smaller instead of larger. I took them down, had a look and they had slugs! Slugs in hanging baskets? I guess I planted slugs with the flowers unless they climbed up the side of the house and jumped into the baskets. Somehow, I don't think so. I replaced several of the flowers (after a trip to the nursery) and right now they're gorgeous again. I also added a dose of the organic slug bait, just in case. The flower beds look good, although I noticed the slug bait has what looks like fuzzy mold growing on it.

5. It's Monday and even though I'm not really dreading work, I have a ton of stuff on my plate. I'm just sort of dreading how busy it's going to be today. I'm exhausted from the Benadryl hangover and would really rather go back to bed.

6. I want to eat my egg/Canadian bacon/2% sharp cheddar cheese combo on a sandwich thin. I'm going to have a 300 calorie green monster instead. The life of a fat girl I guess.

7. It's 52 degrees right now and it's 7:30am. Seriously, I'm so freaking sick of this weather I could scream. The sky is dark gray and of course, we have the promise of "precipitation" today. I want to move back to San Diego. Yes, we have pretty mountains and it's gorgeous green in the Northwest. When the sun shines, it's the prettiest place you've ever seen.  WHEN the sun shines, like almost NEVER.

8. I credit the above ranting about the weather and this looney tunes post to the Benadryl. It makes me tired and sad, but it stops the allergies when they go into overdrive like they did last night. I think I need a different drug for hayfever, which I'll ask about at my annual physical in July (which is about five months late).

9. Speaking of physical, this isn't going to be fun. I have to have my third mammogram in a year in a half (every six months whether I need it or not due to something they found almost two years ago). I have to have another ultrasound of my thyroid because of the nodules they found a year ago. My blood pressure is up because of my weight so I suspect they'll want to put me back on blood pressure medicine. It's been running around 149/90. Yes, I know, that's terrible. Lastly, I know I'm going to get talked to about my weight. I have a wonderful doctor but she doesn't mince words. Which I actually appreciate that she doesn't pretend the weight is okay, like a lot of doctors do. She'll say something.

10. I need to put a smile on my face and get over this feeling. None of this stuff is life threatening (although that blood pressure might kill me). Trying to think happy thoughts. :)

Pear, Walnut and Roquefort Cheese Salad

(makes 6 servings)

Ingredients for vinaigrette:

• ½ cup canned whole-berry cranberry sauce
  
  


• ¼ cup fresh-squeezed orange juice
  
  


• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  
  


• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  
  


• 1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
  
  


• ¼ tsp salt
  
  

Ingredients for salad:

• 4 cups salad greens
  
  


• 2 ripe pears, cored and sliced
  
  


• 2 tbsp fresh-squeezed orange juice
  
  


• 1 small red onion, sliced
  
  


• ⅓ cup Roquefort cheese, crumbled
  
  


• 2 tbsp walnuts, coarsely chopped
  
  

Preparation:

• Whisk together all vinaigrette ingredients In a medium-size bowl.
  
  


• Arrange salad greens on six plates. Toss pear slices with the 2 tbsp of orange juice then divide pears and onion slices among the salad plates on top of greens.
  
  


• Top each serving evenly with crumbled Roquefort cheese and walnuts.
  
  


• Drizzle each plate with vinaigrette to desired amount.
  
  

Make 6 Servings:

Weight Loss Recipes Amount Per Serving(1/6 of recipe (113 g)): 158 Calories, 6 g Protein, 17 g carbohydrates, 3 g Dietary Fiber, 9 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 44 mg sodium