Remember when you were in school, and there was always that one kid who brought a "weird" lunch? Either their parents were old hippies, or in my case, since I lived in middle of nowhere Pennsylvania, they were old farmers.

There was one girl who used to bring her lunch on homemade bread, and instead of a hostess cake, she always had some weird muffin her mother made. Looking back on it now, I wish my lunch had been on homemade bread and not store bought white... I wish I would have had a delicious homemade muffin instead of a twinkie... but I guess as kids, you don't think about that. Of course, I wasn't always the kid with the cool lunch either. My mom used to pack me a thermos with cream of mushroom soup in it... apparently, cream of mushroom isn't as cool as chicken noodle...

Anyway, now that I am older, I find myself being the kid with the weird lunch. I take my lunch to work in little containers, in a nifty little box.



This is my "lunch" - Actually, it is my lunch, dinner and snack... I work a 12 hour shift, so, I eat 2 meals a day at my desk.

This is what I had yesterday and will have tomorrow. Tonight, we are "ordering out". Since I have been released to my final stage on my diet, I am DYING for a chicken salad. We are ordering from a mom and pop pizza shop, and I know the owner very well. He will prepare my food to my specifications. I also figure his small salad will be enough to last me for several meals. He will also make me a special dressing out of red wine vinegar. He makes mine extra tart because he knows that is how I prefer it.

Anyway, the magic lunch box contains...

1oz of shredded chicken w/ 1/2 of an egg white and 1 tablespoon of light mayo
1 serving of whole wheat crackers (last time I only ate 3, but I take an entire serving in case. If I don't eat them, I give them to my desk buddy)

1/2 cup of chicken corn chowder (Healthy Request - low fat. My little pouch LOVES soup. My little pouch wants soup all of the time!)

1 tablespoon of Greek Ranch Dip (made w/nonfat greek yogurt and ranch seasoning)
baby carrots

Then my yummy cottage cheese fluff. Basically, I blended cottage cheese, fruit and sugar free jello powder. Viola... It is high in protein, has a nice desert feel, and helps me get in a serving of fruit.
If anyone who reads this wants the recipe, drop me a line!

Like I said, I have been cleared to eat "anything I want" - but we all know what that means... of course it isn't anything I want, but I can have things like salad, and raw veggies, and most importantly... fruit. I had 1/2 of a banana this morning w/ 1 tablespoon of peanut butter and it was heaven!! I also bought some apples, which I am going to use as snacks as well. She also told me I could have whole wheat pretzels (must be paired w/ a protein) and air popped popcorn. I am also allowed things like almonds, which I am a little leery of since they are so high in calories and fat... I know if it good fats, but still. She said the main focus is of course protein, but she said that she wants me to have some balance in there. She also said whole wheat crackers w/ a protein would be great.

I am very excited to get back to "normal"

I think that is all for now