A 500 Calorie Meal

In January I joined Club Fitness with several of my girlfriends (Andrea, Cindy, Liz, Rhonda, Cassy, and Dawn). I have been going faithfully several times a week to Zumba and Pilates classes, and to meet with a trainer twice a week. So far I've lost 5 pounds; this makes me happy but it's much too slow. I know my biggest hurdle at this point is what I eat (and how much). While we really do eat quite healthy for the most part, I do have my downfalls. Interestingly, I had to work quite a bit extra this week and only got to the gym once - and still lost weight! I figure that's because I was so busy working I didn't have time to graze.

Nancy, a co-worker of mine, gave me a recipe for a Broccoli & Goat Cheese Souffle, which looks pretty good; she actually gave me the Eat Healthy magazine to look at (a magazine put out by The Commissary). In the magazine the recipe is part of an article on "Healthy Week: the un-diet diet: 500-calorie menus." I'll try the souffle sometime, but not this week.

Well, that got me surfing a bit to see what other 500-calorie meals are out there. Apparently this is a big push from Eating Well magazine. The souffle is on Eating Well's Web site too (I don't know which came first - the chicken or the egg, but I have my suspicions the recipe is originally from Eating Well). Anyway, I also came across this menu for Toasted Quinoa Salad with Scallops & Snow Peas served with Japanese Cucumber Salad and a glass of White Wine - that just sounds absolutely divine to me! So, that's what I plan to make. I needed to know before I go to Zumba this morning so I can stop by the grocery on my way home. When I get time, I'm going to browse through all five weeks of 500-calorie menus to see what other treats we might try.

Well, it's off to Zumba! I'll be sure to tell you all about Sunday dinner.