Day 7

Once again, my day is starting with lunch. I should get up earlier, I know...I even set an alarm clock. However, since I'm mostly unemployed and usually have nowhere I have to be, I turn it off and wind up sleeping until 10 or 11 a.m. In an effort to justify my late sleeping, I will tell you that I don't normally go to sleep until sometime between 12 a.m. and 3 a.m. Lets just say that getting up early is a strugle for me.

Lunch (11:30 a.m.)
Chicken Salad Sandwich
Chicken Salad Sandwich
    1 whole wheat English muffin
    1 c. homemade curried chicken salad
    A few spinach leaves
2 c. coffee
2 1/2 tbsp. International Coffees f.f. Hazelnut creamer
1 tangerine

Last week's chicken is now finally gone. God rest his tasty, productive soul. Let us remember his succulent contributions to chicken pot pie, lentil soup, and chicken salad. He was a part of 13 meals this week. If you're buying boneless skinless chicken breasts and sauteeing them one at a time, you're paying too much per serving. Cook a whole chicken, pick it apart and boil down the carcass for chicken stock.

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts usually cost $4-6 per pound. A package of 3 typically costs $6-7 and most people eat 1 breast piece as a serving for a total of 3 servings per package. Whole chicken is usually $1.50-$2 per pound, but sometimes you can find it on sale for $0.99 per pound (which is what last week's bird cost). For about $5 I bought a whole chicken. Considering that chicken was part of 13 servings...it cost about $0.38 per serving. The chicken breasts cost about $2 per serving. Take some time, work with whole foods and save money.

Dinner (5:15 p.m.):
1 c. homemade pasta
4 oz roast beef
1/4 c. gravy w/mushrooms and onions
1/2 cup raw spinach (cooked down into the gravy)
1/2 c. f.f., no sugar added peach yogurt

Lets just say the homemade pasta was a disaster, starting with me miscalculating the Ratio of flour to egg. I'll eat a big snack/second dinner when I get back from the Kansas Equality Coalition meeting. I'm usually pretty good in the kitchen, but occasionally I FAIL. Today I FAILed miserably. (Seriously. It was so inedible I threw out 3/4s of what I made).

And now a photo depicting how I feel, thanks to Failblog.org, part of the Cheezburger Network.



After the KEC meeting, I went to dinner with a couple of the guys. We went to Lonestar. This was my first dinner out since I started this project. I wasn't super hungry, but I did need to eat something, so I had:

Dinner (8:30 p.m.):
3 tablespoons spinach artichoke dip
6 tortilla chips
1 small dinner roll
1/2 teaspoon butter
2.5 c. chicken tortilla soup

Total calorie intake today is 1904 calories. I need a snack to boost that a bit...

Snack (10:45 p.m.):
1 small apple
1.5 tablespoons peanut butter (Smart Balance - no added sugar or sodium)
1.5 c. skim milk

Now I'm up to a healthier 2228 calories.