Today was full of all kinds of amazing!!  It started with a plan that I followed almost perfectly!!

Breakfast was the old standby…Shredded Wheat & Bran, yogurt, and berries from the garden.  The blueberries were fresh picked and the others were in the freezer.  I hope the day will come when we have enough blueberries to need to freeze them, but for now, there are plenty to eat fresh for the next week or so!

I really enjoy the nuts each morning and I wanted to share a couple tips today.  When I buy nuts from Costco, I buy both the salted mixed nuts and the unsalted.  When I get home, I dump both jars into a huge bowl and mix them all together.  Then I put them back into the containers.  This results in the nuts being half salted and half unsalted.  They end up tasting salty, but I know they aren’t as salty as the straight salty ones!  I don’t think anyone in this family has an issue with salt, but it feels a little more “healthy” to mix them, so I do it!!

The next tip has to do with yogurt.  I’ve been wanting to try this for several weeks and today I finally just did it.  These tiny little canning jars are normally used for making jellies and jams.  I wanted to see how much yogurt would fit into one jar and was very please to see that exactly 4 ounces fit perfectly!  Since I eat 4 ounces for breakfast many mornings, I’m happy to buy the large container and just fill these tiny jars to use throughout the week.  I will also keep some small containers on hand for when I have to eat on the run, but when I’m home (and in a hurry), I love having this option!

I decided to take a picture of myself today.  I’ve lost 15 lbs, which puts me half way to my goal weight and the image in the mirror made me smile today.

I also headed to my classroom to get started on preparing for the new school year.  It felt great to be in my “chair” again even though my desk was still a disaster, exactly how I had left it when school ended last June!

I brought my wonderful little BLE lunch and look forward to packing my lunches in my Planet Box divided lunch container.  I need to double check the amount of lentils allowed at lunch because this was just 4 ounces, and I’m thinking that maybe it should have been 6 ounces.  It felt like not much, but the other food filled me up anyway.

It’s funny how everywhere I turn there are traces of my old life and old eating patterns.  This little jar was on my teacher desk and the chocolate bar and hot chocolate were in my cubby.  I just looked at them and smiled and thought, “You have no power over me any longer!”  I”ll find someone to share them with when we do the school work bee!  I’ll also try to find something else to put into this cute jar that was a gift from one of my students who is moving and won’t be coming back.

Tip #3 today is something I believe I’ve talked about before.  Mason jar storage keeps food fresh longer in the fridge, so I dutifully cut my grapes into small bunches and put them into these 2-quart jars.  It’s so easy to pull out a few bunches, wash them, and have them ready for a quick lunch!  Everyone eats them faster this way as well because all that needs to be done is for them to get washed!  This is the new “fast food” and kids will gravitate to food that is prepped and ready to eat! (Tip for parents!)

The one change on my planned menu today was supper.  I wanted a light protein so decided to have tofu with the yellow beans I had picked from the garden the other day.  These are my “go-to” seasonings for tofu and a lot of other savory things that I make.  The yellow one on the left is McKays Chicken Style Seasoning and the one on the right is something I found at Costco (I think I showed this one already, and maybe both of them).  I used them both on the tofu tonight.

Instead of using oil in my pan, I used vegetable broth.  I read about doing that in someone’s food blog recently and I thought it was an excellent idea.  The tofu soaked up the broth while it cooked which added more flavor to it!

Well seasoned tofu is a must because the seasonings are what give it flavor!

My pan must have been on the burner a little crooked because one side looks nice and toasty brown while the other side looks like it needed more heat!

My supper tonight was completely from the garden, except for the tofu.  Everything was delicious and again, so rewarding knowing that we grew it ourselves!! I didn’t eat the kale leaf and completely forgot that I could have added a fat to this meal.  Oh well!!

Tomorrow is my official weigh in day.  I’ve been weighing all week long and things haven’t budged since last week.  I’m hoping i’ll drop  my usual pound by tomorrow morning.  I’m also going to get those measurements done so I can compare to June and July!

Time to also grab some water and get drinking before I go to bed.  I’ve really failed to drink my water this week and I’m not sure why.

That’s a wrap!!  See you tomorrow!