Blue Apron - Cornmeal-Crusted Catfish

I've seen blogs that had posts about Blue Apron but I never tried it until recently.  My sister ordered her first shipment a couple of months ago and raved about it.  She sent photos of her food and it looked tasty.  After receiving a couple of shipments, she got three free shipments to send to friends or family who might be interested.  I was the recipient of a free box.

You can choose a 2-person plan or a family plan.  I chose the 2-person plan and got three meals for two people (six meals total).  Each box costs about $60 and that includes shipping and nearly everything you need to make the meal.  The only items not included are olive oil, salt, and pepper.

The first meal I prepared was cornmeal-crusted catfish.

This photo shows how the food arrives.  Each meal includes a bag of "knick knacks."  For this meal, the knick knacks were vinegar, mayonnaise, mustard, pickle relish, and cornmeal.

The recipe card includes step-by-step instructions and photos.  I appreciate that the recipes tell you to prep everything before beginning.  This is how I cook even when I'm not using the Blue Apron recipes.

The recipes take about thirty or thirty-five minutes to prepare and are around 600 to 700 calories each.  This is a little high, but the food is fresh and doesn't have preservatives, so I can overlook the slightly high calories.

One of my favorite parts of the meal prep is actually plating the food.  I've never really made an effort to make my plate pretty, but I do when I'm cooking the Blue Apron meals.

These two photos show the recipe cards.

Because I'm only cooking for myself I have enough food for two meals each time I prepare something.  I had the catfish on Sunday night a couple of weeks ago and ate leftovers the next night.  It's kind of fun to prepare two meals at once and then be able to eat a decent meal that isn't fast food two nights in a row.

I've been pretty pleased with the food this far.  There are a few meals I enjoyed more than others, but overall, everything has been quite tasty.

I post photos of my meals to Instagram and tag them with #blueapron.  It's so much fun to see all of the other photos of the same meal to see how yours looks when compared to others.  Pretty plating makes a big difference!

Nutrisystem - Weeks 5, 6, and 7

This coming Sunday, I'll finish my seventh week on Nutrisystem.  I lost three and a half pounds during week five, a pound and a half during week six, and two and a half pounds during week 7.  That's a total of seven and a half pounds.  So far, I'm down twenty-three and a half pounds!

I've got about sixty-six pounds left to go.  I'm just over a quarter of the way there.  If I continue at this rate, I'll be at my goal weight by the second week of December.

I've cheated a few times over the last few weeks.  I feel bad afterward, but I know it's ok.  I don't go terribly overboard and I make sure I behave afterward.  I'm noticing fatty foods make me nauseous.  That's encouragement enough to not cheat.

I know the weight loss will likely slow down in a few weeks.  I'm still currently obese, so the weight is probably coming off more quickly because I have so much extra.  I've continued going to the gym, but I'm not going as frequently as I'd like.  This is our busy time at work, so I don't foresee that getting any better in the coming months.

Overall, I'm pleased with the results.  It hasn't been easy, but I'm sticking with it.  The hard work is worth it when I put on clothes and they fit.  Prior to starting Nutrisystem, my clothes were too snug.  I couldn't even button some of my jeans.  I figure I'll need some new pants after I lose about ten more pounds.  Maybe I can make my current ones work until I drop two pants sizes.  I don't want to have to buy clothes I'll wear a month or two before getting rid of them.

Nutrisystem - Weeks 3 and 4

Last Sunday, I finished my fourth week of Nutrisystem.  I lost eleven pounds those first two weeks combined, so I hoped that would continue through weeks three and four.  It didn't.  I dropped four pounds over the last two weeks.  The program says you should expect to lose one to two pounds each week after your first week, so my four pounds over two weeks is expected.  I cheated several times over the last two weeks.  When I say I cheated, I mean I really cheated.

My sister's birthday party was August 2 (Happy Birthday, Carrie!) and Justin and I went to the party at her house in South Georgia.  I had one Skinny Girl cocktail, so alcohol didn't really cause me a lot of problems.  It was the food.  I love party food and there was a plethora of party food.  I restrained myself, but I strayed from the program.  Later that night, Justin and I went out to eat with our parents, and I cheated again.  I had another cocktail (full calorie) and some additional high-calorie food.  Shame, shame.

I got back on track the next week, but cheated again on Saturday, August 9.  A friend had a birthday and we went to Loco's for dinner and drinks.  I had more than my share of cocktails.  I also had a cheeseburger with fries and some chicken wings.  That was in addition to the nachos and fried pickles on the table that I munched on.  Overall, I consumed around 2,500 calories in that one meal.  That was 2,500 calories!

I got back on track on Monday and am trying to behave this week.  I cheated a little on Tuesday (two cocktails, three chicken wings, part of a soft pretzel, and a few fried green beans).  I was invited to happy hour again tonight, but I declined and kept my appointment at the gym.

Regarding the gym, I really need to commit to going more frequently.  I went on Monday and tonight this week, which is a lot different than the zero times I went last week.  I'm noticing my recovery time is getting quicker.  That's a good thing.  The goal at OTF is to spend about thirty-five minutes in the green zone and no more than ten to twelve minutes in the orange and red zones combined.  The remainder of the time should be in the blue zone.  I always spend too much time in the orange and red zones (usually thirty-five or more minutes in those zones).  The image below is my report from tonight's workout.  I spent more time in the green zone than I usually do, so that means my body is getting more fit.  I don't normally run at the gym (I'm considered a power walker and use incline on the treadmill to push myself), but I did tonight.  I didn't feel completely exhausted when class ended tonight. 

I'm excited to see these changes.  I recorded my measurements the day before I started the program.  I measured my upper arm, chest, waist, hips, and thigh.  With the exception of my arm measurement, everything dropped by one to two inches.  We've done a lot of upper body strength training at the gym, so the arm measurement doesn't shock me.

Overall, I've lost sixteen and a half pounds, which includes a couple of pounds from this current week.  That's an average of about four pounds per week.  I'll take it!

Nutrisystem - Weeks 1 and 2

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned I was beginning the Nutrisystem program.  At that time, I had completed day 1.  I continued with the program that week and this past week.  The first week was rough.  It was rough.  I kicked-off my weight loss with Nutrisystem's Fast 5 program.  That program is designed to help you lose at least five pounds that week.  Monday through Friday, I followed the program pretty much as designed.  I was hungry for the first few days.  I was not a pleasant person for the first few days.

The Fast 5 program gives you meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  You also get two shakes - an energy shake and a craving eliminating shake.  The energy shake doesn't taste all that great.  The craving shake was actually pretty tasty.  I was also allowed to include non-starchy vegetables during that first week.

The breakfast muffins are good.  I had the banana nut muffin on day 1 and it was very good.  The cinnamon streusel muffin on day two was also very good.  They're not very large, but I think that's the point.  =)

The shakes are pretty easy to prepare.  I bought a shaker bottle since I think I may include the shakes in some capacity ongoing.  This is the energy shake.  It has a funky aftertaste that's a little odd.  They're definitely drinkable, but not something I really looked forward to.

The loaded baked potato lunch was tasty.  Again, I could have eaten four of these.  I had this entrée again yesterday and it wasn't as good.  I don't think I added enough water the second time.

This is the craving eliminating shake.  It's actually pretty good.  I enjoy this shake.

Dinner that second night was a chicken pot pie.  Something I find interesting about the dinner entrees is that they're not frozen.  They look exactly like frozen food in the package, but they're stored at room temperature.  This makes heating take no time!  Some of the entrees require you to build them.  The chicken pot pie included the veggies in the tray and the topping/pie in a separate packet.  You heat the veggies and then top with the pie piece.  As you can see, the pie was very flaky.

Justin is being supportive by eating a bagel with cream cheese in front of me.

He's so proud.  =)  He has actually been supportive.  He had a moment of weakness here.

Here is the blueberry muffin.  It is good.  I had one again this morning.  Yum.

I had chili with beans and beef one night.  It was very tasty.  I could have eaten twice this much!

More support from my hubby.  =)

The kung pao noodles lunch entrée was good.  I love pasta so the noodles were plentiful and made me happy.

The Italian flatbread pizza was tasty.  It was one I had to build.  The crust was in one package, the sauce was in a pouch, and the cheese was in another pouch.  You assemble and heat for about a minute.  The crust was a little chewy, which I like.

The lasagna didn't look terribly appetizing, but it was good.  I don't really remember if it had cheese, though.  It was very good.

I love spaghetti, so I was hoping the spaghetti with meat sauce would be delightful.  It wasn't.  It had an odd flavor.  I think it was a spice, but I'm not sure.  I could eat this again, but I likely won't order it.

Last night's dinner was macaroni and cheese with beef.  This was a lot like Hamburger Helper's Cheeseburger Macaroni.  It was yummy.  You add boiling water and let it sit for about ten minutes.  That was hard because I was hungry.  This is one I'll eat again and look forward to.

I don't know why, but I got into the habit of transferring the food from the Nutrisystem container to actual plates and bowls.  I think maybe it makes the food seem more like home cooked food that way.

Overall, I'm satisfied with the program.  I've cheated a little, but have stuck with the program for the most part.  I did cheat badly Thursday night.  I've avoided alcohol since beginning a couple of weeks ago.  I gave in on Thursday night.  I went to happy hour with some coworkers.  I did drink vodka sodas instead of my usual cosmopolitans.  The cosmos have a lot of sugar/fruit juice.  The soda water has a lot less calories.  I also ate some questionable food.  I got a chicken BLT without the bread.  That was a massive piece of chicken.  It was grilled, but still too much meat.  I ate the gouda cheese and bacon, too.  Bad, bad, bad.  I should also mention I blew off the gym to do this, too.

The first week, I went to the gym (Orange Theory Fitness) twice.  The first visit was rough.  The second one was easier.  I went once this week and was supposed to go a second time.  I'm signed up for a class on Sunday morning and another one on Monday evening.  My goal is to go at least three times per week.  More is better, but three is good.  Each class is an hour long and my heart monitor shows I burn about 600 calories each class.  I don't know how accurate that is, but I work hard, so it might be correct.

What are the results?  The Fast 5 program guarantees you'll drop five pounds.  Even with a little cheating, I dropped nine pounds that first week.  When I last weighed on Thursday morning, I am down twelve pounds total.  I've avoided weighing since then due to my cheating on Thursday.  I stuck to the program on Friday and so far today.  I'm hoping that will help make up for Thursday.

I've got seventy-eight pounds to go.  Let's do this!

Nutrisystem

I've posted in the past that I struggle with my weight.  That hasn't changed.  My current weight and BMI have me in the obese category.  There's no sugarcoating it.  I'm obese.  That statement reminds me of a Dr. Phil photo I saw a few years ago:

It's certainly not funny, but I would rather laugh about it instead of crying about it.

On the Fourth of July, I was watching television and it hit me that I have to do something about my weight.  It's out of control!  I've tried dieting before and knew that just doesn't work for me because I won't stick with it.  I knew I needed something that tells me what to eat.

A coworker had a lot of success with Medifast.  I almost signed up for it but decided I wanted to try Nutrisystem instead.  I ordered the starter kit on July 4 and eagerly waited for it arrive.  The starter kit included food for twenty-eight days plus the Fast 5 kit.  The Fast 5 kit is your first week's food and it's designed to help you drop five pounds that first week to get you motivated.

Forty pounds of food arrived in a big box on July 10:

I unpacked the box that evening and decided to begin the program on July 14.  I knew I had an event to go to on July 12 and decided starting before that date would not be wise.  I'm not going to lie - I enjoyed as much food as possible before starting on July 14.  I hit some of my favorite restaurants and enjoyed some of my favorite food.  That was probably not the best decision I've ever made, but I did it.

I've been dreading July 14, but it arrived and proceeded with my plan.  The day before, Justin and I hit the grocery store so I could grab some items to supplement the Nutrisystem meals.  Yes, that is allowed.  The night before July 14, I grabbed my meals and put them with my work bag so I could remember to take the food with me.

Breakfast was a banana nut muffin:

It was good.  I could have eaten two or three, but that wasn't an option.

Mid-morning, I had a hunger quencher shake:

It's part of the Fast 5 kit.  It was pretty good.  It had a funky aftertaste after the first few sips, but it wasn't terrible.

Lunch was a small cup of cheese tortellini with tomato sauce.  I forgot to take a photo, but it was pretty good.  Again, I could have eaten three servings.  I supplemented lunch with a salad from the cafeteria downstairs from my office.  It was basically a pile of lettuce with a few cucumber slices and tomato slices.  I topped it with a tiny cup of salsa.  I'm supposed to supplement the Fast 5 week with vegetables, so a salad seemed pretty easy.  I'm not allowed to have dressing right now but salsa is ok.  It wasn't terrible, but actual dressing is much better.

I had an energizing shake around 4:00 p.m.  It looked and tasted a lot like the shake from the morning.  Not super tasty, but not inedible either.

I was starving when I left work at 6:30 p.m.  Dinner was chicken alfredo.  I needed to incorporate more veggies, so I heated some frozen broccoli and tossed it into the entree contents.

The entree was pretty good.  The broccoli was a nice addition.  When I eat this entree in the future, I'll likely add broccoli again.  Justin even tasted a small bite and said it was good.

I ate about two hours ago and am hungry.  I've consumed less than 1,000 calories today, which is probably why I'm hungry.  I'm used to eating close to 2,000 each day.  I tried to sign up for a class at the gym this evening, but it was full.  That was a blessing in disguise.  I probably would have dropped had I tried to workout today.  I did schedule a class for Tuesday and Thursday so hopefully I'll feel up to it both days.

My goal is to lose eighty-two pounds.  That will get my BMI and weight at healthy levels.  Hopefully I can stick with this.  I've struggled today, but know I can do this.

New York - Daniel (preview)

I'm writing this post as a preview to my post on Daniel.  I want to make sure I have Justin nearby when I write about Daniel since I'm not completely sure what he ordered.

 

Daniel is the first restaurant we dined at in NY.  Justin and I ate at Daniel in December 2004 when we visited NY.  The service at Daniel is impeccable.  It is unbelievable!

New York - The Jeffrey

After getting settled on Monday afternoon, Justin and I headed out to have a drink before dinner.  Justin relies on Yelp reviews to guide him when selecting places to eat and drink.  I believe he found The Jeffrey on Yelp.

We got there just before 5:00 p.m. so they weren't very busy, yet.  We easily got a couple of seats at the bar and ordered drinks.  I settled on a Diet Coke and Justin ordered a beer.  We ordered a couple of snacks since we hadn't eaten in several hours.

We ordered the deviled eggs and a pretzel.

The eggs are flavored and colored with red beets.  The filling is mustard, chive, and dill Sriracha.  They are quite lovely and very tasty.  I don't like beets, but the eggs didn't have the flavor of beets.

The pretzel was very soft and chewy.  It was served with a cheese sauce and mustard sauce.

The staff at The Jeffrey was super friendly and the atmosphere was laid back.  I can certainly see myself hanging out here.  We went back to The Jeffrey on Wednesday for drinks.

After eating the eggs and pretzel, we finished our drinks and briskly walked back to the hotel.  We had to get ready for our 6:15 p.m. dinner reservation.

Shrimp Burritos

A few years ago, Justin found a recipe on Allrecipes for shrimp burritos.  I love shrimp and I love burritos.  Honestly, I don't think we've ever made the recipe as it is written, but we've tailored it to our tastes.  It's close, but not exactly the same.

I start cooking by gathering all of my ingredients. I also like to measure out everything before I begin.  This makes the cooking/mixing process so much easier.

While chopping onions, I usually wear gloves.  I do not like for my hands to smell like food, and it's also just a good habit for cleanliness.

I didn't measure the oil this time, which was a mistake.  I had too much oil in the pan and had to remove some after I put the onions in there.  I essentially deep fried the onions because I had so much oil in the pan.

Once I got the onions sautéed, I added the rice, garlic salt, and cumin.

 

I then added the diced tomatoes and chicken broth. 

Annabelle is my little taste tester.

 

 Pete just hangs out on her bed near the fireplace, looking confused.

This is where I begin making changes to the recipe.  Instead of using refried beans, I use black beans.  They're a little lighter than refried beans and I actually prefer them.  I pour the can's contents into a pot and add the garlic salt and pepper.

After I stir everything together, I cover and let the beans simmer while I finish everything else.

Justin is way more artistic than me when it comes to photography.

I occasionally stir the rice mixture while it simmers.

I also love listening to music while I cook.  Yay 80s on Pandora!

We use frozen shrimp in this recipe, which I thaw in warm water.  I then remove the tails.

Once the shrimp are thawed and de-tailed, I begin heating them in the pan with garlic.

They're already cooked, so all I'm doing in this step is heating the shrimp.

My favorite part of the recipe is the sauce.  Whoever thought to combine these ingredients is a genius.  This is also another step where I don't exactly follow the recipe.  I use Greek yogurt instead of regular yogurt.  I also add more of the adobo sauce than the recipe calls for.

Cute Pete.

The recipe calls for flour tortillas.  The first few times we cooked this, we used tortillas.  To reduce the calories, we skip the tortillas and just mix everything in a bowl.

I start with the rice mixture.

I then add some beans.

Then the shrimp.

Next comes the shredded cheese.  The recipe doesn't say, but we use reduced fat cheese instead of full fat cheese.  We bought the Mexican blend this time.  We shared the cheese with the pups.  They love cheese!

I top everything with the adobo sauce mixture.

We enjoy this meal.  It's not terribly complicated, but it takes a few minutes to gather everything and prepare the meal.  It also requires several pots, pans, and bowls, so we have nearly a full dishwasher of dirty dishes afterward.  Still worth it, though!