Grocery List

i try to keep a variety of different kinds & different calorie snacks in the house, it helps keep me out of things i shouldn't have. i like many that have been named already and 15 calorie fruit popsicles & 40 calorie fudgesicles.

my new discovery this year was last month, i saw joy bauer on the today show and she talked about roasted kale chips. i was intrigued and looked it up. it is really, really easy to make. and it totally satisfies the craving for potato chips; and is only 43 calories for a full cup (as opposed to 10 potato chips for 120 calories!!) also kale is a super green veg with lots of fiber, iron, vitamins A & C, etc. (good for you)

(by the way, good housekeeping had this recipe a couple of years ago) Anyway,
take a bunch of kale, remove the heavy stems
cut or tear into 2 inch size pieces
lay on a baking sheet
spray generously with an olive oil spray (like Pam olive oil)
sprinkle with salt (i like using sea salt or kosher salt - my husband likes using chipotle pepper seasoning, so it is spicy)
bake 400 degrees for 10 minutes

it will brown slightly. it is crispy, salty and just a hint of oil (which is why we want chips)
a cup full with a favorite diet soda and you will totally feel like you've indulged, honest.
-katie

I love hummus. I get the roasted garlic flavor as my body doesn't digest spicy anything very well. Usually I dip carrots or celery into it depending on my sugars for the day. When I run out of hummus or need the extra calories I use whipped cream cheese. YUMMMMY if I wasn't headed to bed I would raid the fridge for celery and hummus. I never tried mushrooms with it. Mental note to self buy a lot more mushrooms, they are my fave.

mini popcorn bags - 100 cal
extra gum!! - 5 cal
sugar free jello

this is a weird one - yogurt melts from gerber. it's my son's (9 months), but i tasted it and its delicious... offhand i think its about 30 cal for a dozen or more pieces. (they r freeze-dried yogurt bits and u know its healthy because its targeted for babies!)

Yogurt melts ROCK!!!!!! I ate more that my son did lol

I've noticed that Babybel or Laughing Cow light cheese is on a lot of lists but I can't figure out what kind of cheese it is! I don't care for cheddar or swiss cheese.
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Laughing cow is sold in round cartboard containers: it's cream cheese. mmmm

[To imagymrat] I never would have thought to freeze pudding pops. Nice tip, thanks! I can find those pretty cheapley too, so that's a plus.

[To Iorns78] I LOVE whole natural almonds (& used to gorge out on them when I was on Adkins a few years ago), so I'm glad you added it here.

Thanks to everyone posting these grocery staple tips. I can't think of anything right now to add (you've covered so much) but will keep this post as a help. Much appreciated.

1 Bell pepper contains as much Vit. C as - I think - a lb. of oranges, and I *think* it's way super high in A (betakerotene) as well. Dunno about cals - haven't checked yet.

Any suggestions for a hummus alternative? I'm not a hummus fan at all. Don't like tofu either. People *say* it absorbs the flavor of whatever you're cooking with - I have yet to find that to be the case no matter what. However, what I have discovered is super yummy seafood (crab, shrimp, clam, fish... ) are all FAR lower in cals than I would have ever guessed. I LOOOVVVEEEE scrimpies (hehehe), and my other half is the one that got me to eat fish, period. So, I think I'll be investigating those recipes far more actively.

I do a ton of experimental cooking and tonight, I'm going to attempt a home-made tomatoe based vegetable soup with wheat rotini. Contents: whole tomatoes (fresh) to get my base, water, spices (no idea what yet), red potatoes (few), carrots, lima beans (dry) split green and yellow peas (dry - beans are in a bean soup mix bag which we'll never use for a soup - but I'll be happy to ADD to another soup that I like better!), onion I'm iffy on, canned corn (too much of a pain to deal with fresh)... I think that's it. I may need a little bit of sugar to cut the acid level of the tomatos, but if I do, I generally cook with brown sugar, so its a *little* better - and I don't use alot - just enough to cut the bite.

If this works, I'll post a general recipe. I've heard alot of people mention sodium as a concern. I don't do ANYTHING with salt. If I have to use butter, I use real sweet cream unsalted. Generally, I try to stick with olive oil. But.. what I * am * really really really bad about is snacking.. I am a carb addict, I think. I have tried soooo hard to avoid major carbs today and I've done pretty darn well, generally, until about 4:30..... then broke down and had a 250 cal bagel with 90 cal cream cheese. DOH!!!!

I need a replacement!!!!!!!!!!!!! but I don't like hummus OR cottage cheese (love cream cheese and sour cream). :-( So.. any additional suggestions on that one??

Oh, almost forgot that if you like sour cream they have a low-fat version of that too, I really like the light sour cream. I can't tell the difference. I'm yet to try the completely fat free sour cream though.

Oooh - thank you for sharing that the light sour cream doesn't taste any different to you! My tastebuds are soooo picky - I generally avoid "light", "fat free" and fake sweeteners. I just don't dig artificial, much. Which is why I've been trying to avoid these kinds of things since I've started all this. I figure, once I get where I want to be, my overall habits and health will be ingrained enough that I can splurge a little more... but until then, I've got to keep myself in serious check. I gain 5 lbs driving by the bakery.... going in the opposite direction!!!!

So any TRUE "tastes just like the real thing" I'm all for. :-) Especially when it comes to the beloved high fat, high calorie heavy duty creamy yummy gooey sloppy droolie things that we all just don't really want to live without!!! LOL

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