I actually used a tube of sausage - Jason likes that better. I did saute it until it was all cooked and crumbly and slightly crispy. After I removed it from the pan, I drained nearly all the grease and sauteed my veggies in what was left. Yum!

How funny, a very similar soup is on my menu for tonight. I love that soup! And I usually use kale now, too...holds up better than the spinach.

B - 1 egg, 3 egg white, scrambled with spinach and half an ounce of RF cheddar, 1 slice wheat toast, 1 sliced kiwi
S - Yogurt w/ blueberries, whole grain cereal
L - WW Spaghetti with tomato sauce and lean beef meatballs, side salad
S - Apple w/ cheddar
S - Protein Shake
D - Cranberry bean, sausage, and kale soup (our farmer's market has a stall that has dried cranberry beans, so I picked up a bag of those - otherwise, it's just about the same recipe).
S - NSA Ice Cream

E - 75 min incline trainer, 45 min yoga, dog walk.

How do cranberry beans taste?

A lot like white beans, but with a more toothsome sort of texture and a slightly nuttier taste. They come out firmer after cooking and are slightly larger. They're also known as Borlotti beans.

Hmm. Thanks, Amanda. I know borlotti beans and, I agree, they do go well with good sausage and kale. I find I don't want to eat too many of them, though, which is probably good.

Thanks all, the soup is definitely on the docket for Sunday. I've only seen pictures of how pretty cranberry beans are, never seen them IRL. I have < 2 cups of Bob's red mill 15 (13?) bean soup mix left, and will top off the 2 c with dried chickpeas. I'm trying to use up odds and ends I already have - as I said the venison sausage was gifted to me and has been sitting in the freezer for a while, waiting for me to figure out what to do with it, and kale is in the garden ready for harvest.

Back OP yesterday, and the scale that went up has come back down.

Friday plan:
B - 1/3 c oatmeal, cinnamon, 1/2 small banana, 1 T. dark chocolate pb, 1 c skim milk, coffee w 1 T h&h
L - 1.5 c chili, 2/3 c. frozen vegetable mix
D - pita pizza, salad w 1 T light dressing
S's - orange, 6 oz lf yogurt, homemade larabar, tea, dark chocolate vitatop
E - walked the a little over an hour, somewhere between 3-3.5 miles I'd guess

Attempt to account for my business trip:

Wednesday:
B - little bit of oatmeal, some melon, small raisin bran w/skim milk
L - chicken breast w/some kind of fajita spice, veggies, little bit of rice
S - some kind of peanut butter chocolate cheesecake (yummy, but decadent -- I should have eaten more lunch so I wasn't hungry!)
D - work banquet - 1 beer, 1 glass of wine; 1 beef wellington bite, 1 chicken pastry bite, 2 bacon-wrapped shrimp bites; salad w/cucumber, beets, tomato, balsamic, roll, small piece of salmon, small piece of chicken w/mushrooms, little bit of mashed potatoes, little bit of orzo
E - 25 min wog, 20 min 3:2 run:walk

Thursday:
B - three blueberry scones, a little bit of fruit
L - grilled chicken w/lettuce and tomato on wheat roll, potato chips
D - @airport - salad w/jerk chicken and candied walnuts
E - none

Friday (back home!):
B - oatmeal, flaxseed, apple, walnuts, skim milk
L - I don't remember, it was some variety of leftovers
D - meatloaf, baked sweet potato, broccoli
S - cake
E - wog, dog walk

Thursday
B - Chobani 2% mango yogurt

L - big salad with green leaf lettuce/red leaf lettuce, left over chicken parmesan, grape tomatoes, carrots, crispy onions, a little lite ceasar dressing

no snack, very long dentist appointment

D - bowl of bean, kale, sausage soup

Friday
B - 2 scrambled eggs, salsa, sliced grape tomatoes, kale

L - big salad with green leaf lettuce/red leaf lettuce, left over chicken parmesan, grape tomatoes, carrots, crispy onions, a little lite ceasar dressing

S - pinata apple

D - going to my friend Amanda's. She said she is making dinner, I told her I am watching what I eat! So...will just plan on NOT DRINKING and eating a small portion of whatever she makes. I'm sure it will be fine.

Ended up doing pretty well for dinner, which is good because I have a tendency to go crazy in social situations. We made home made pizza on whole wheat boboli crust. Pizza sauce, onions, black olives, sun dried tomato (in oil), a little low fat mozarella. I had 3 pieces. We also had veggies/dip with lite sour cream/lipton onion soup mix. We watched Paranormal Activity 3 and split a bag of microwave popcorn (was not the lite kind, didn't look at calories, not going to sweat it).

I will try posting here as I need to cut the amount of food down. Whilst making the tea is the danger time.

Fruit tea to wake up with. Multi-vitamin. Anti-histamine. Joint mumbo jumbo pill.

B - 4 tbsp muesli, tbsp low fat cottage cheese, large pinch of wheatgerm, tbsp berries, skimmed milk. Coffee w full fat milk. NB wondering about cutting down to 3 tbsp muesli.

S - apple, few prawns, cc

L - salad, tin of mackerel, 3 oatcakes

S - apple, pnb NB I should measure this pnb if I'm going to have it.

S - 2 saffron buns. ERROR ERROR

T - small portion salmon and spinach lasagne.

Rather a fishy day and it will help my brain. See you tomorrow.

Chew gum while cooking. Really helps me!

Thanks, Glory. I tried that for a while but my dentist told me not to use gum as it encourages my mouth to be working. I could put in my night guard (against grinding damage) though. Thanks. Talking it over really helps!

I came back to say (1) there were a couple of SF hot chocolates in there and (2) I might swap my L for my afternoon S on the nights when I'm in charge of food. Don't know. I'll think about it.

Glad you've joined us, silver! I usually post my plan for the day, which sometimes is pretty set and other times a little less (like my dinner tonight), and the next day I go back to edit what really happened. Not that you must follow my example.

Saturday plan:
B - coffee w 1 T h&h, egg sandwich = light English muffin + large egg with a bit of spinach scrambled in
L - veggie burger on ww bun, frozen veggies or carrots
S - grapefruit, yogurt
D - Dinner at a friend's. I will let this be my "indulgent meal + 1 day I get to drink alcohol of the week", but I must stay under 2000 cals for the day and drink no more than 2 beers or 2 beverages.
Edit: Dinner included 2 beers, 1/2 slice Italian herb bread, 4 coconut shrimp, 2 bacon-wrapped shrimp, 8 scampi shrimp w 1/2 c spaghetti, 1/2 c very cheesy cheese grits, salad and 1 T Ken's Greek dressing
I guestimated with Fitday's help that this was 1100 calories with the beer. Hmm... hoped to not eat quite so much but since I didn't eat much earlier I came in at 1780 cals for the day. What is weird is that it was a lot of food, but I didn't feel anywhere near stuffed, barely registered as "full". Makes me think about my perceptions of "full" which I realize have always been skewed. I can't always trust my body in this respect.
E - 50 minutes elliptical, walked dog ~3 miles

Megan - If the household gets up a head of steam we'll have a weekly plan in place. Otherwise I'll be building the plan and my post on the BlackBerry as I go through the day. And then I'll post about the time I roll into bed.

Saturday

0630 Fruit tea to wake up with. Multi-vitamin. Anti-histamine. Joint mumbo jumbo pill.

0730 B - 3 tbsp muesli, tbsp low fat cottage cheese, tsp wheatgerm, tbsp berries, skimmed milk. Coffee w full fat milk.

1030 S - 2 dsp berries, 2 tbsp 2% Total yoghurt (Fage)

1300 L - left-over salmon & spinach lasagne, watercress, carrot

1330 SF hot chocolate

1600 S - small berries smoothie, 4 small brazil nuts. (I looked at the last two nuts in the jar and left them for someone else. Such a good feeling!)

1730 Cut up some veg for the SO who is in charge of tea but is currently involved in a friendly shoving match with the DB on the lawn in the twilight. I put in my mouth guard and I did not nibble. Another good feeling.

1800 T - king prawn & ginger stir fry (carrot, celery, onion, yellow pepper) with soba. I added soy sauce.

That's it now. Another fishy day (followed by a The Blue Planet dvd, Megan!) See you tomorrow.

B - 2 scrambled eggs, salsa, sliced grape tomatoes, kale

L - went to Luke's. Ordered off the 500 calorie menu - char grilled tri tip, green beans, started with a little house salad, fat free ceasar on the side

S - tall non fat latte

S - pinata apple

D - Applebee's Garlic Sirloin, spinach, oven potatoes (450 calories), cup of tomato bisque. The oven potatoes were pretty blah and yucky, so didn't eat them. Apparently, the soup had 260 calories (for tomato soup, really?) so I didn't do as well today as I had hoped.

Sunday plan:
B - coffee w 1 T h&h, egg sandwich = light English muffin + large egg with a bit of spinach scrambled in, plus 1 T. grated parmesan (delicious addition!)
L - veggie burger on ww bun, salad w 1 T light dressing
S - hm larabar
D - sausage, kale, and bean soup, orange for dessert
E - about 5 mile walk w the dog
ETA: Woke up at 3 am unable to sleep, and hungry (though that's not why I couldn't sleep). Ate a Dr. Kracker cracker, 2 T. hm hummus, and a small apple, read for a while, went back to sleep.