Day 8

The trial today was a fake turkey slice sandwich. I tried Yves Veggie Cuisine’s Veggie Turkey. The label promised “Great New Taste!” I would hate to know what the last version tasted like. I tried it with my usual bread, raspberry mustard and smoked gouda. I sort-of choked it down, half because I was starving and half because I thought perhaps it would grow on me. It did, in fact, not. I’m not sure what I’ll do with the rest of the package.

On the upside, I also made a pasta bake for dinner that turned out to be a ‘7” on the scale of George. FriChik is a canned chicken substitute made by Worthington Foods, which is a division of the Kellogg’s company. They have some promising vegetarian substitutes, and now that I’ve found a place to purchase them close to me I’ll probably have to load up on one of everything and see how that goes. As a child, I used to eat their cold cut substitutes in sandwiches. I’d forgotten about them, and now I’m curious how they’ll hold up to my memory of them. Although I do recall the turkey being somewhat fuzzy in texture. Doesn’t sound appetizing. But the FriChik went over well. Here’s the recipe I used.

Worthington FriChik Pasta Bake
2 cans low-fat condensed mushroom soup
1 bag of noodles
1 can of Worthington FriChik (learn where to buy it at www.worthingtonfoods.com)
1/2 c. milk
3-4 handfuls of crushed potato chips

Boil noodles according to package directions until they lose their crunch, but are not completely soft, very al dente. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a deep baking dish with cooking spray. Drain gravy from the can of FriChik into a small bowl. In the same bowl, mix the two cans of mushroom soup with the gravy, 1/2 cup of milk and one can-ful of water. Stir until smooth. (If you like, at this point you can also add sautéed onions and garlic or additional mushrooms to add depth to the sauce. I personally like sautéed mushrooms with a shallot here.) Dice the Frichik and stir into the soup mixture. When noodles are done, drain the water and mix the soup into them, coating evenly. Pour the entire mixture into the baking dish. Crush your handfuls of chips and spread them over the top as a crispy crust. Bake for 40 minutes, until hot and bubbly at the sides. Serves 6 with a green salad and steamed broccoli.

Not only did George have two large servings tonight, he’s also taking it for his lunch at work tomorrow. Now that’s a true hit!

What I ate today. . .
1/2 c. granola with whole milk, 3/4 of a double short white mocha with 1p peppermint & whip, a grande chai, string cheese, a yogurt, veggie turkey sandwich, 10 tater tots, two servings of the noodle casserole with green salad, a chai tea misto.


I’m noticing that I’ve been overcompensating for the reduction in protein by gorging myself on fatty proteins like whole milk. While it’s easy to do, since I work at Starbucks, it’s not good on this belly fat. I need to run to the Great Harvest to load up on some quality carbs to tide me over before my shifts, which are typically over a meal and cause me to skip one and binge on drinks and sugar. Also, I haven’t been running like I did in summer, so my general squishy-ness is back to ick status. Pilates definitely helps with toning and core strength, but it’s doing nothing for my bulging shell. Something else to work on, of course. . . .

Workouts. . .
60 minutes of pilates which made my legs shake visibly.