A Look at My Groceries

A Look at My Groceries

A look at some of my groceries this week:

Diced tomatoes in a can

Tomato Paste

Low-Fat Organic Cottage Cheese

Strawberries

Spaghetti Squash

Robbie’s All Natural BBQ Sauce

Chinese Five Spice

Pineapple

Baby Spinach

Fuji Apples

Bananas

Liquid Sweet Leaf Stevia

65% Cacao Chocolate Chips

Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Fresh Ground Coffee

So Delicious Original Coconut Milk Creamer

Real Parmesan Cheese from the Deli (no fillers)

Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk

Rudi’s Organic Whole Spelt Tortillas

Raisins

Diced Tomatoes and Tomato Paste:

I use canned diced tomatoes and tomato paste very often. I make my own homemade pasta sauce, marinara sauce, and salsas. I like making my own sauce because I don’t add sugar or oil. Most store bought sauces have sugar and oils. How easy is it to make pasta sauce? Look up some recipes online and you’ll see how easy they are to make! Here is a link to an easy one: Click Here

Low-fat Organic Cottage Cheese:

I use cottage cheese as a quick source of protein when I don’t have meat cooked or I’m tired of eating meat. I usually eat it with some berries and cinnamon. I also use cottage cheese in place of cheese in a lot of recipes too. For example, I use it to make pizza. Here is the recipe I used http://www.bbfg.net/2012/01/mini-cheesy-pizzas.html or I use it to make low carb lasagna (recipe coming soon). It’s amazing, it melts when you cook it and it tastes like regular cheese when it’s cooked.

Strawberries:

I eat 4 servings of fruit a day. Usually half a piece of fruit, like half a banana, apple, grapefruit, etc. A serving of strawberries will be something more like 4-5. I normally don’t use strawberries in my protein shakes because they’re light in flavor and you’ll have to use a lot of berries to get the flavor. In my shakes I’ll use sweeter fruits, like a banana.

Spaghetti Squash:

I love squash! I’m so happy I discovered them! Especially this one. I use it as a replacement for noodles and I make spaghetti noodles out of them. It’s so easy, just place it in the oven for an hour, slice it open and use a fork to scrape out the noodles. Here is the link to a recipe: http://www.bbfg.net/2011/11/low-carb-spaghetti.html. Make your own spaghetti sauce or buy a clean one that only has tomatoes, spices, and olive oil.

Robbie’s All Natural BBQ Sauce:

This BBQ Sauce is all natural and low in sugar. I usually use it as a dipping sauce when I make chicken nuggets or have a plain chicken breast. I don’t eat it every day but just have it to change things up once in a while. Here is a link to my Chicken Nuggets: http://www.bbfg.net/2011/09/oat-bran-chicken-nuggets.html. If you’re diet is strict, try a BBQ Sauce like Ali’s All Natural BBQ Sauce. It’s sweetened with Stevia and only 10 calories for 2 TBS. http://www.bbfg.net/2012/01/0-calorie-or-low-calorie-must-haves.html

Chinese Five Spice:

This is a new spice that I bought. I have a ton of different spices and most of the time I buy them in the bulk section because it’ll cost me less than a dollar to refill a bottle. This spice tastes a little like black licorice. I’m not sure that I like it..lol.

Pineapple:

Must be pineapple season because they were right in the front of the grocery store. I love pineapple so I picked one up and sliced it up and put it in the fridge so it’s ready to eat. I was thinking of making a protein shake with pineapple and coconut milk. Hoping it’ll taste like a Pina Colada.

Baby Spinach:

I try to eat a lot of green veggies. I already had a stock of Brussels Sprouts, Green Beans and Broccoli, so I needed some Spinach. Typically I add spinach to my morning pancakes because you can’t taste it. I occasionally make salads with it too. I don’t really like salad, but when I do eat salad I make my own dressing out of Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar, Apple Cider Vinegar, Honey Mustard, salt and pepper.

Fuji Apples:

Fuji apples are my favorite! They are so sweet! My second favorite are honey crisp. I love to cook my apples in coconut oil and cinnamon. It’s a yummy treat. I also add them to my Ezekiel hot cereal. Check it out here: http://www.bbfg.net/2012/01/hot-cereal.html

Bananas:

I eat a banana almost every day. Half a banana for breakfast and the other half post workout. My absolute favorite way to eat my banana is in my morning pancake. I just throw 5 egg whites, 1/2C of oatmeal, cinnamon and half a banana in a blender. Blend, then grease a small pan with coconut oil, pour in the batter and cook at medium heat. Add some healthy 65% Cocoa Chocolate Chips. Yummiest breakfast ever! Here is a video: 

 

Liquid Sweet Leaf Stevia

My absolute favorite sweetener! All natural and zero calories. I use this in place of sugar. For example, in my morning coffee, my homemade protein bars, pancakes, oat bran muffins, protein shakes. This stuff is expensive, about $17 for a big bottle, but all you need is 8 drops in your coffee or 25 drops if you’re baking something. It should last you at least 6 months!

65% Cocoa Chocolate Chips

For you chocolate lovers! Did you know that chocolate is rich in antioxidants and fiber? Yes, chocolate is good for you; however, most chocolate is full of sugar and hydrogenated oils, and God knows what other stuff when it’s cheap quality. When it comes to getting chocolate, always go for the highest Cocoa percentage possible. Read the ingredients!!! Cocoa should be the FIRST ingredient! These chocolate chips are 5 grams of sugar for 2 TBS. I usually add less than 1 TBS to my morning pancake adding about 2 grams of sugar to my meal. I’m going to be sad when I have to cut out chocolate chips from my diet as I get closer to my competition!

Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Most bread is awful. Just pick up a loaf of bread and read the ingredient list. I’m sure you’ll see Bleached Flour, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Starch and all kinds of fake, cheap ingredients. The bread is such poor quality that they have to enrich it by adding vitamins and minerals.  I gave up regular bread but I still trust certain good quality brands. One of them being Ezekiel! Try anything Ezekiel! It’s good quality stuff. Here is the link to their website: www.foodforlife.com. They do have a few gluten free products but this one is not one of them, so if you have gluten intolerance then your diet is probably way different from mine. I love to eat this bread with some all natural unsalted peanut butter (ingredients should only include peanuts only and maybe some salt, but I think unsalted tastes better) and a little bit of all natural jelly (ingredients should include the berry and real sugar). As I get closer to my competition, I will probably have to eliminate the jelly from my diet as well.

Fresh Ground Coffee

I always look forward to my morning coffee. It smells so good! I buy the beans and grind them up at the grocery store. I believe I bought a Caramel flavor this time! I just add 8 drops of Sweet Leaf Stevia and 1 TBS of So Delicious Original Coconut Milk Creamer (pictured above). This coconut creamer only adds 1 gram of sugar per serving.

Real Parmesan Cheese from the Deli (no fillers)

I’ve discovered that Parmesan cheese is low in calories and fat. I use it occasionally in my homemade Italian dishes. The best stuff you can buy is in the deli section, not the cheap stuff that has added ingredients to it. I just want cheese! Don’t add anything else to my food! Thank you! Haha!

Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk

I prefer to use Almond milk in place of skim milk. I’m lactose intolerant so this is so much better to my tummy. I use almond milk mostly for my protein shakes. Make sure to get the unsweetened stuff!

Rudi’s Organic Whole Spelt Tortillas

I didn’t really like the Ezekiel tortillas so I decided to give this brand a try. The ingredients are natural and I do like Spelt. Get more information about Spelt here: http://nutrition.about.com/od/grainsandcereals/p/spelt.htm. I make burritos with ground turkey, homemade salsa, greek yogurt (in place of sour cream), and avocado.

Raisins:

I like making my own trail mix with 1oz of nuts and a handful of raisins. I use raisins as a serving of fruit. Just be careful when adding dried fruit to your diet. The portions are a lot smaller.

Not pictured is my meat/protein. Typically I have chicken breasts, ground turkey, TONS of eggs, and canned tuna.

"You are what you eat, so don't be fast, cheap, easy or fake"