Posted on March 5, 2010 - by Ashley Jackson

Long Live Lazy Fridays!

I fell off the blogging wagon again…though in truth it was because I didn’t want to bore you with my meals, because I ate the same thing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Yogurt and a Pure bar or Larabar, leftover soup, tacos. And lots of chocolate peanut butter cups. It was good times, but boring on the food front.

Thursdays have become my weigh-in day, and I was a little uncertain about how things would pan out, because I ate more than I had planned this week. But I feel like if I’m hungry, I should eat, so I did. And my weight came in at 151.0 lbs–only a 0.2 lb drop from last week, but given how little I exercised and how much extra I ate here and there, I’ll take that. I’m very excited about the prospect of seeing the 140s again!

I work 9-hour days so that I can take every other Friday off, and today was one of those lazy Fridays. I did set my alarm for 9AM or so, but I got up a little while before that and set to work making a grocery list. Then it was off to Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, where I spent more money than I meant to, but a lot of it was on things that will last for a while. I need to go back to Whole Foods sometime soon, though–I didn’t realize that the Liberte yogurts were on sale for $1 each (usually they’re $1.25 or so) and since they’re something that I eat almost every day, I’d like to go ahead and buy some more. I only bought $12 today–the store was so crowded that I just  grabbed them and ran to hide in the wine section to regroup without looking at the prices.

(By the way, I don’t drink alcohol, but I’ve found that if you need a quiet place to hide for a few moments in a store so that you can check your grocery list without being trampled or having to move, you should go to the wine section. Trader Joe’s is the only place I’ve found so far where this is not a good strategy, because the stores are so small to begin with.)

I decided to continue my wheat-free experiment by picking up some wheat-free version of common foods. And I personally would like to thank Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods for clearly labeling their gluten-free items!

I bought a bag of pecan cookies, a loaf of brown rice bread (it is hard–I feel this may not be an enjoyable dining experience…!), a four-pack of lemon poppyseed muffins, a bag of brown rice pasta, and a gluten-free pizza. I almost didn’t buy the pizza because it was $12, and then I realized that was silly–I’ll pay $16+ to have a Papa John’s pizza delivered, a pizza loaded with crap and bad calories, but I won’t pay $12 for a nice, healthful pizza? I discovered when I was reading the package that the company that makes the pizza (Bella Monica) is based here in Raleigh and they have an Italian restaurant with a gluten-free menu! Isn’t that cool?

Since the pizza had already defrosted sufficiently by the time I drove home, I threw it in the oven and let it cook while I was unpacking groceries.

Another slightly pricey buy was this 3.5 lbs of boneless skinless chicken thighs…

…but they came from Amish Country! And check out the awesome packaging!

I pulled off one of the packs and threw it in the fridge, then put the other two in the freezer. That’s handy right there!

Soon enough the pizza was done…

I had the three slices shown below, then went back for another one, since I’d had no breakfast apart from a couple of chocolate-covered almonds.

Now, this did not by any stretch of the imagination taste like the pizza you get from Papa John’s or Pizza Hut. That is not necessarily a bad thing. It tasted, as I described to my mom, like “fru-fru pizza.” It was the mushroom and herb kind, with Asiago cheese, and it filled my house with the smell of Italian herbs. Mmm. And if you hadn’t told me that it was wheat-free, I’d've had no idea. Even if I go back to eating wheat after my little experiment is done, I might still buy this brand of pizza ’cause it tastes so good.

After lunch and some quick straightening up of the living room and dining room, I took a nice long nap. So when I got up, it was time to eat again. Sometimes I feel like all I do is eat.

I threw two chicken thighs on the George Foreman grill (one for dinner and one for lunch or something tomorrow) and covered them with Galena Street rub, started the brown rice pasta on the stove, and then cut  up some cherry tomatoes, onion, and pepper. When the pasta and the chicken were done, I cut up the chicken and then threw everything together into a pasta salad, with some mayo, salt, and pepper.

I’m no great fan of pasta to begin with–I usually have a bag or box of it in the pantry for that time every month or two when I decide I want to eat it–so taste-wise, I didn’t notice a difference. Texture-wise, I noticed a few bites felt a little chewy, in the way that brown rice is chewier than white rice. I didn’t notice this with every  bite, so it could be that I didn’t cook the pasta long enough (though I thought I cooked it longer than it said on the package, because I hate al dente pasta). But it was a good dinner just the same and satisfied my desire for something like macaroni salad.

Sometime after dinner, I decided to break into the lemon poppyseed muffins. I defrosted one in the microwave until it was a little bit warm…

Again, if you hadn’t told me this was a wheat-free muffin, I wouldn’t have noticed the difference. It tasted goooood.

For a bedtime snack, I munched on a few of the gluten-free pecan cookies.

These weren’t anything exciting. They were a bit too squishy for my taste, but otherwise they were fine.

[I will point out, in the interest of full disclosure, that the muffins and the cookies both contained potato flour and/or potato starch. However, I do not consider this to be a violation of my potato-free-for-three-months vow, because the potato flour/starch is just one of several flour-based components in each item and the items are not potato-based in terms of flavor--the intent is to not make them taste like potatoes. This is actually something I considered before I started this little potato challenge and I decided I'd cross each bridge as I came to it based on the situation. Potato bread? Definitely out. Gluten-free lemon muffin that contains potato flour as one of several flour components? That seems okay in my book. It's my challenge; I make the rules. Bwhaha.]