Christmas Day!

Breakfast
Today is Christmas, which means that my meals are being planned by someone else. This is bittersweet, of course, because I have little control over meeting my nutritional requirements-but the food is FREE so it’s hard to complain. I did get to choose my own breakfast, however. I had a 6 oz cup of yogurt mixed with ½ cup of granola cereal and ¼ cup of dried berries with an 8 oz. glass of orange juice. I definitely wanted to get some fruit and milk in, because I suspected that there wouldn’t be much of these offered today. I knew the main entrée I would be having at both stops, but I didn’t pry any further as to what the rest of the meal would include. I figure I’ll just do my best and try to make the smartest choices and out of what is available.

All together, this meal provided:
Grains: 1 oz whole (granola cereal)
Fruits: 1 ½ cups (OJ and dried fruit)
Vegetables: 0
Milk: ¾ cup (yogurt)
Meats & beans: 0
Oils: 0
The cost of this meal was approximately: 1.59

Lunch

My first stop was my Mom’s house, for a late lunch. She served smoked salmon with rice, asparagus, and a salad of mixed greens, fruit (grapes, cranberries, apples, and tangerines) and nuts with light raspberry vinaigrette dressing. I was quite impressed with the spread and the healthiness of it, although it is not surprising as Mom is relatively conscious of that type of thing. The portions were very easy to estimate as well, since none of the dishes were mixed and everything was pretty straightforward. I had about a 5 ounce piece of salmon (I wanted to have a large portion since I didn’t think there would be meat available at the next stop), ½ cup of rice, ½ cup of asparagus, 2 cups of salad greens (counts as 1 cup of vegetables), and about ¼ cup of fruit and ½ ounce of nuts in the salad.

All together, this meal provided:
Grains: 1 oz (white rice)
Fruits: ½ cup (fruit in salad)
Vegetables: 1 ½ cups (mixed salad greens and asparagus)
Milk: 0
Meats & beans: 6 oz (salmon and nuts in salad)
Oils: 2 tsp (nuts and salad dressing)
The cost of this meal was approximately: 0.00

Dinner

Our last stop of the evening was Matt’s parents’ house. We had fettuccine alfredo as our main dish, with a salad (lettuce, onions, and artichokes with vinegar & oil dressing) on the side. The cream sauce wasn’t too heavy, as was my concern. It was light and garlicky…very good. I had about a 1 ½ cup portion of the pasta and 2 cups of salad. I was very happy to have another “non traditional” holiday meal! I can remember years past when I had 2 or 3 stops to make throughout the day and practically the same food was served at each one. I always welcome variety and new things, so these meals were very impressive to me. I also couldn’t resist having a few cookies for dessert (if there’s no picture, it didn’t happen-right?).

All together, this meal provided:
Grains: 3 oz (pasta)
Fruits: 0
Vegetables: 1 cup (salad)
Milk: 0
Meats & beans: 0
Oils: 2 tsp (salad dressing)
The cost of this meal was approximately: 0.00

How did I do today?
Grains: 5 oz out of 6 oz (one was whole)
Fruits: 2 cups out of 2 cups
Vegetables: 2 ½ cups out of 2 ½ cups
Milk: 1 ¼ cups out of 3 cups
Meats & beans: 6 oz out of 5 ½ oz
Oils: 4 tsp out of 6 tspTotal cost for the day: $1.59

Not bad, considering the lack of control I had over what was served. I was very happy overall with the choices available, although I could have used more milk products. It was a very nice and relaxing day, because I didn't have to do any of the cooking. Thanks Mom(s)!