New Years Eve!

Breakfast
To recover from hosting last night, I decided to have a nice breakfast this morning. I scrambled ½ cup of Bettern’eggs with 1 cup of fresh spinach leaves and about ¼ cup of feta cheese. I also had a glass of orange juice (back to the Schnucks brand with added calcium) and a slice of banana bread. I love it when I can get something from every food group into a meal-especially breakfast, because incorporating vegetables there is a little tricky!

All together, this meal provided:
Grains: 1 oz whole (banana bread)
Fruits: 1 cup (OJ)
Vegetables: ½ cup (spinach)
Milk: ¾ cup (feta cheese)
Meats & beans: 2 oz (egg substitute)
Oils: 0

The cost of this meal was approximately: $1.84

Lunch
Today, I had leftovers from dinner last night for lunch. I had a ton of salad left, so I had about a 3 cup serving of that with 2 tablespoons of light raspberry vinaigrette dressing, along with 1 cup of pasta, ½ cup of sauce, 2 meatballs and 1 tablespoon of Parmesan cheese. I also had a small slice of whole wheat cheese garlic bread on the side. It was a pretty big lunch, and I still hardly made a dent in the leftovers!

All together, this meal provided:
Grains: 2 ½ oz (2 from pasta, 1/2 whole from bread)
Fruits: ½ cup (dried cranberries in salad)
Vegetables: 2 cups (spinach and marinara sauce)
Milk: 1 cup (cheese on pasta, garlic bread and feta in salad)
Meats & beans: 2 oz (meatballs)
Oils: 2 teaspoons (salad dressing and Smart Balance on garlic bread)

The cost of this meal was approximately: $2.78

Afternoon Snack-my first mocha!
It was going to be a late night tonight, so I decided to make a café mocha with my espresso machine. I steamed a cup of skim milk and added it to a double shot of espresso and 2 tablespoons of chocolate syrup. Yum!!

All together, this meal provided:
Milk: 1 cup (skim milk)
Kitty love: 100% daily value :) (That's Callie in the background)
The cost of this meal was approximately: $0.30

Dinner
Tonight is New Years Eve, and we were invited to a friend’s house for dinner and drinks before heading out to a party. Maggy served a lovely spread of baked chicken with asparagus, stir-fried vegetables, and brown rice. We also had whole wheat pita bread with hummus and a mixed greens salad with apples and goat cheese. I definitely partook in the pita bread with hummus before dinner (I had about 4 small triangles with 2 tablespoons of hummus). I also had two chicken skewers (about 1 ounce of chicken each), ½ cup of vegetables (including the asparagus), ½ cup of rice and 1 cup of salad with a tablespoon of dressing. I also had some drinks, but I’m not counting those for this project :)

All together, this meal provided:
Grains: 1 ½ oz whole (rice and pita bread)
Fruits: 0
Vegetables: 1 cup (salad and stir fry veggies)
Milk: ¼ cup (goat cheese on salad)
Meats & beans: 2 oz (chicken)
Oils: 2 teaspoons (salad dressing and oil for vegetables)

The cost of this meal was approximately: $0.00 (thanks Maggy-and Sarah for the salad!)

How did I do today?
Grains: 6 oz out of 6 oz (4 were whole)
Fruits: 1 ½ cups out of 2 cups
Vegetables: 3 ½ cups out of 2 ½ cups
Milk: 3 cups out of 3 cups
Meats & beans: 6 oz out of 5 ½ oz
Oils: 4 teaspoons out of 6 teaspoons

Total cost for the day: $4.93