It's been awhile!

So, I took a little hiatus from this blog. I'm really not sure how it happened except that life with two energetic boys is BUSY! :) But here we are at the beginning of a new year and I'm trying lots of new recipes again. This week I've been inspired by a "diet" we are doing. I put that in quotes because it is part of an Herbal Cleanse (by Advocare) that we are hoping to survive and there are a few BIG restrictions on what we can eat for the 10 days of the cleanse. We are on day 4 and the hardest restrictions to work around are the "no dairy" (including cheese) and "no vinegar" restrictions. The no vinegar thing rules out salad dressings and I just am not a bare salad kind of girl. There's also no white foods (pasta, rice, bread, etc), no mushrooms, no fatty foods, no fast foods, no fried foods, no processed foods, etc. :) I bet you're wondering what we CAN eat. Yeah, me too. We're on day 4 and I'm still trying to figure that out.

I was told we CAN have "TONS" of fresh fruits and veggies, soy milk and cheese, whole grain rice and pasta, 100% whole wheat bread, chicken, fish, and lots of water (among other things...I am going with the assumption that if it doesn't fall into any of the categories described in the NO list that its also free game).

So, this has forced me to get creative with our meals. Tonight I'm sharing our omelet dinner recipe, which was actually pretty good. Not SO-GREAT-WE'LL-BE-EATING-THIS-TWICE-A-WEEK, but pretty good nonetheless.

It was Omelet with Summer Vegetables served with a side of berries (I LOVE berries).

YUM - 3 1/2 stars - It was very yummy but I usually like my omelets with lots of greasy meats. :) The berries get 5 stars even though they were expensively out of season.

EASE - 4 stars - A little chopping involved and you have to separate eggs, but that is the worst of it.

HEALTH - 5 stars - May be one of the healthiest meals I've posted on here.


Ingredients

* Cooking spray
* 2/3 cup frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed
* 1/2 cup chopped zucchini
* 3 tablespoons chopped green onions
* 1/4 teaspoon salt, divided
* 2 tablespoons water
* 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
* 3 large egg whites
* 1 large egg
* 2 tablespoons shredded smoked Gouda cheese (I used soy Veggie Shreds)

Preparation

Heat a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add corn, zucchini, onions, and 1/8 teaspoon salt to pan; sauté 4 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Remove from heat.

Heat a 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Combine 1/8 teaspoon salt, water, pepper, egg whites, and egg, stirring well with a whisk. Coat pan with cooking spray. Pour egg mixture into pan; cook until edges begin to set (about 2 minutes). Gently lift the edges of omelet with a spatula, tilting pan to allow uncooked egg mixture to come in contact with pan. Spoon corn mixture onto half of omelet; sprinkle corn mixture with cheese. Loosen omelet with a spatula, and fold in half over corn mixture. Cook 2 minutes or until the cheese melts. Carefully slide omelet onto a plate.

Nutritional Information

Calories:
281 (33% from fat)
Fat:
10.3g (sat 4.3g,mono 3.4g,poly 1.4g)
Protein:
24.8g
Carbohydrate:
25.3g
Fiber:
4.2g
Cholesterol:
229mg
Iron:
2.1mg
Sodium:
947mg
Calcium:
162mg

Karen Levin, Cooking Light, JULY 2004

I must say I'm looking forward to our date night after this 10 days is over. We'll still be "good" but just not THAT good. :)

Hopefully there is more to come soon....