Jillian overload pt. 3

Last night, I made Chicken Stuffed with Artichoke, Feta, and Black Olives. Of all of the recipes I've tried from Jillian's book so far, this was my least favorite.
Her recipe actually calls for pork instead of chicken. I'm not a huge fan of pork so I figured I would just use chicken breast. Maybe I should have just used pork, or stuck with something else that I think I would have liked better. It just didn't go that well together and I don't think I'll be making this again.

I ate the rest of the No Cream "Creamed" Spinach last night (about 2 servings worth). Since I hardly ate any chicken because I didn't like it, I ate 16 pieces of Ghiraradelli 60% cocoa chips (16 chips = 1 serving = 80 calories). hehe!

Tonight, my last night of my Jillian overload, is going to be Almond Crusted Chicken. I'll also be using the half a pint of cherry tomatoes that I forgot to use the other night and a cucumber mixed with red wine vinegar and a touch of olive oil as a side "salad".

Jillian overload pt. 2

Food updates!

The Whole Wheat Pasta with Zucchini, Tomatoes, and Lemon Yogurt Sauce was divine. It also made excellent leftovers that I ate for lunch yesterday (and I plan on eating the rest today). I've never cooked with greek yogurt before, but a lot of these recipes called nonfat plain greek yogurt so I ended up buying a large tub of it. The yogurt mixed with fresh lemon zest, parmesan cheese, whole wheat pasta, zucchini and tomatoes was very very tasty.

The No-Cream "Creamed" Spinach was also delightful, but not how you quite expect "creamed" spinach to be. Maybe that's because most of the creamed spinach I've ever had also had a very salty and vinegar-y type of flavor added to it, but this recipe only uses fresh lemon juice for that extra tang. When it's warm, it's delicious.

I sort of burned the Banana Blueberry muffins, but regardless they make an excellent addition to my already made Oatmeal Chocolate chip muffins. I wish they had more of a banana taste to them. The next time I make them, maybe I'll throw in an extra banana. Chad loves the Oatmeal Chocolate chips muffins and he actually finished off the whole batch last night. I'll definitely make another batch this weekend.

Last night for dinner, I made:
Roasted Chicken with Spinach Pesto: Also another hit with the husband! He had an intense hockey game last night, and ate a big bowl of this afterwards and loved it. It uses whole pasta (I used penne), and the pesto is made of fresh spinach, fresh parsley, walnuts, olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, a touch of cinnamon, and other spices. I roasted a big chicken breast (about 1 lb) in the oven, and then sliced it up into thin slices. Then I tossed the chicken, penne pasta, and the pesto together is a large bowl. YUM!
One thing that I forgot to do was mix in a half a pint of cherry tomatoes. You were supposed to toss those in with the rest of the pasta, but I forgot and they are still sitting in my fridge. Oops. Regardless, we agreed that the tomatoes would have made a nice addition but were definitely not needed. I'll remember next time, though.

Tonight, my dinner will be Chicken Stuffed with Artichokes, Feta, and Black Olives. Jillian's recipes actually says to use pork tenderloins, but I'm substituting chicken breast because I'm not a big fan of pork. I'll probably have leftover No-Cream Creamed Spinach with it, and/or steam some frozen vegetables to eat on the side. We'll see how hungry I am.


So far, since I've been eating nothing but whole unprocessed foods this week, I can tell that I don't feel as "empty" as fast. Before, I was eating two granola bars for breakfast and would get that empty stomach feeling in less than two hours. Now that I'm substituted the granola bars with the muffins and fresh fruit, I can tell that I don't feel as drained and empty as fast in the morning. I'm going to contribute it to the fact that the muffins are much more nutritional and aren't packed with weird chemicals.
I also haven't experienced the "sugar crash". Around 2:30 or 3:00pm, I would always feel like I was going to fall asleep on my desk. I don't feel that as much now.

I have some other thoughts too, but I'll wait until I'm done with my "diet" on Friday morning. Chad and I plan on eating somewhere Friday night, where I'll probably indulge in a good bit of processed food for the first time in a week. That will be the real test to see if I feel any different afterward.

Jillian overload!

Let me start this post by saying that I (or my husband) certainly don't have any problems when it comes to eating healthy. But I've decided to take it a step further and try to eat a whole food diet for the next four days.

My goals are:
1) Eat nothing but whole foods starting today until Friday morning
2) See if I feel any different during the course of this experiment
3) Take this experience to learn how to incorporate an organic and whole-food diet into my current diet to give myself an even cleaner diet

I've been using Jillian Michaels' Master Your Metabolism cookbook as a guide (thanks Eliz!). I absolutely love Jillian so much. She has taught me so much about living a healthy lifestyle, both physically and mentally. All from either watching her shows, reading her books, or using her workout DVDs.

Last night, here is what I made:
- Grilled Lemon Chicken: From Jillian's cookbook. DELICIOUS! The marinade contains fresh lemon juice and zest (I got my lemons from an organic produce market down the road), olive oil, dijon mustard, honey, basil, and a few spices. I marinated a few pieces of chicken breasts and then had Chad grill them on our George Foreman. Then you top them off with extra marinade and kalamata olives. Even Chad thought this was a delicious meal.
- Russet Potato Salad with Arugula and Lemon: Her book suggested to make this as a side dish with the Grilled Lemon chicken. Yeah, I'm basically obsessed with this dish. I used 2 russet potatoes, arugula leaves, and celery, all organic and locally grown. The potato salad dressing consists of fresh lemon juice and zest, red wine vinegar, olive oil, dijon mustard, and some spices. Very delicious.

For lunch yesterday, I made:
- Mediterranean Tuna Wraps: Also from Jillian's book. Unsalted tuna fish, mixed with some olive oil, a hard boiled egg, and spices. Folded into a whole wheat flour tortilla and topped with organic alfalfa leaves. Very good! but it wasn't very filling... so I made:
- Guacamole: I'm very particular about guacamole, and was very surprised that Jillian's very simple recipe turned out to be so flavorful. I got two avocados, 1 fresh tomato, 1 red onion, cilantro, and some spices and lime. I bought some pita chips to eat it with. I can't wait to eat some more of this tonight!

For breakfast this morning, I ate:
- Chocolate Oat Muffins: From Jillian's breakfast chapter. These muffins are amazing. Contains honey instead of sugar, whole wheat flour instead of white, dark chocolate chips (60% cocoa), rolled oats, chopped walnuts, orange zest, and other spices. One muffin = 170 calories and they are so flavorful and delicious. They are much better than eating a granola bar.


Tonight, I'll be making Pasta with Zucchini and Cherry Tomatoes in a lemon-yogurt sauce, and No-Cream "Creamed" Spinach, both from her book. I'll also be making Banana Blueberry muffins, to compliment to Chocolate Oat ones I already made.

I'll update tomorrow with my reviews.