AWITLOL - Day 5

Yesterday was a day off of work - hooray! It was a great day yesterday, lots of productivity, lots of family time, a nice walk in the forest preserve, gymnastics class, and a not-too-unreasonable bedtime (for me, not so much for H who was still yelling "Mama, I have a question for you..." at 9:15pm.

No recipes today, I more pieced together my meals, but while I have your attention, here's a line of salad dressings we loooove at the Even-House:

Bolthouse Farms* has a line of creamy salad dressings that are yogurt-based, and the oil-based dressings are fat-free or reduced-fat. The yogurt thing is cool, but even better is that these dressings don't have any weird things in them - the list of ingredients is short and pronounceable. 

Ingredients in Classic Ranch: Yogurt, Soybean oil, Apple juice from concentrate, egg yolks, distilled vinegar, natural flavors, salt, spices, onions, xantham gum, garlic, vitamin A

The only things that raise an eyebrow for me are "natural flavors" (what does that mean exactly?) and xantham gum. Xantham gum is a product from fermenting sucrose and fructose, so it is an added sweetener, usually used to thicken mixtures. Many gluten-free recipes call for xantham gum to keep the mixture together in place of gluten. Different people have different opinions, but I'd rather have a tiny bit of xantham gum than tons of sucralose or high-fructose corn syrup in my food.

For Weight Watchers, 1 Tablespoon of dressing is 1 point. Allow me to get on my high-horse for a moment... you might be thinking, "But I can eat other reduced-fat or fat-free dressing for fewer points than that." Sure, but do you know what all of the ingredients are? And does that ranch dressing make your three-year-old break out every time he eats it? Just sayin'....

And this three-year-old I mention? His favorite is the blue cheese. Seriously.

Monday

Breakfast

• Pumpkin Muffin (I edited yesterday's recipe to add in the spices)
• Eggs (1 egg white, 1 egg)

Lunch

• Turkey wrapped around a pickle spear (2) - H calls these "roll-up sandwiches." Its for when we don't have bread in the house:)
• Pizza (2 slices thin-crust)

Dinner

• Carrots & celery with ranch dressing
• Black bean burger with tomato, onion, lettuce, ketchup, and mustard on a white bakery bun

Snacks

• Apple
• Pretzels

*Bolthouse Farms has no idea who I am, I just like their dressings.