Fast(ing) Food - Mushroom Mini-Quiches and an Easy Veggie Side

Day 20, Feast Day #11 - Triple Feast

After my double feast day birthday I was not looking forward to getting on the scale. However, I managed to not gain anything and am still at 10 lbs lost. Another birthday present? Perhaps it was a gift from the Wizard of Oz.

Eating "reasonably" today just didn't work out. I managed to skip breakfast and not eat for 16 hours, as I had hoped to. This means I had at least a 16/8 type intermittent fasting schedule. But from there it was all downhill on Calorie Mountain. 

There was a box of strawberry cream Pocky biscuit treats on my desk this morning. That was my late breakfast at 11:30 am. Then on this rare warm and sunny late April day in Seattle, our office went on the building rooftop and had a barbecue to celebrate the April birthdays in the office. There was hot dogs, pasta salad, corn chips, rhubarb custard pie, and beer. Lots of calories.

Tomorrow I fast. I need to get back on track. I made a yummy lunch to motivate me. Zach and I like to do weekly food themes so we don't waste as much food and need to buy less in general. You may have guessed it is Mushroom Week:

Mushroom Mini-Quiches (Yields 12 pieces) ~98 kcal/piece
Takes 45-55 minutes

• 6 large eggs ~420 kcal
• 1/4 cup skim milk ~21 kcal
• 6 low fat butter crackers (I used Ritz Reduced Fat crackers) ~84 kcal
• 1 cup of shredded cheese (I used Parmesan since I had it on hand, I would recommend medium cheddar or mozzarella though) ~431 kcal for Parmesan
• 1/3 cup buttermilk pancake milk ~160 kcal
• 1/2 cup spinach ~3 kcal
• 1 small onion, diced ~15 kcal
• 4 medium to large mushrooms, diced (I used crimini mushrooms) ~18 kcal
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped ~1 kcal
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• Cooking spray ~23 kcal

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease muffin pan.

Crush crackers (I usually just put them in a plastic bag and smash them a few times). Add 1/4 cup of cheese to the crumbs. Sprinkle crumb/cheese mixture into the bottom of the muffin tin cups. Pat down crumb/cheese mix.

Lightly spray a frying pan or skillet and heat up to medium. Throw onions and mushrooms in the pan and cook until tender (onions become translucent). Set aside.

In a medium to large bowl, beat eggs. Add milk, pancake mix, remaining cheese, spinach, parsley, salt, pepper, and the cooked onions and mushrooms. Mix.

Pour mixture evenly into muffin pan. There should be about a 1/4 to 1/3 inch of space left in the tin for the quiche to expand.

Pop the muffin tray in the oven for 25-30 minutes (until tops start turning a golden brown). Take mini-quiches out and let cool for 10 minutes. then pop them out with a knife. I also garnished with a little sprinkle of paprika.

A Quick, Easy Veggie Side Dish (Yields 4 servings) ~97 kcal/serving
Takes 15 minutes

• 1 medium onion, sliced ~46 kcal
• 2 carrots, sliced or cut into sticks (I leave the skin on) ~50 kcal
• 5 medium mushrooms, sliced (I used crimini) ~15 kcal
• 1 can of green beans, rinsed and drained ~70 kcal
• 1 tsp of minced garlic
• 2 tbsp butter (I use unsalted) ~204 kcal
• oregano or italian seasoning
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste

Melt butter in a large frying pan or skillet. Throw in onions, carrots, and mushrooms into the pan. Cook until onions and carrots are tender.

Throw in minced garlic and green beans. Turn heat to medium-low and cook another couple of minutes until green beans are hot. Sprinkle on oregano, salt, and pepper. Eat.

Fast(ing) Food - Low-Cal Tuna Salad

Day 7, Fast Day #4

One of the reasons I have made it this far with alternate day fasting is that for one glorious part of my fast day, I feel full and the rest of the time, water and tea do a fairly good job of keeping my stomach occupied. Don't get me wrong, I am still hungry most of the time. But the tea and water help my stomach forget about its emptiness for a bit.

Now, 400-500 calories is not a lot of calories, but it can be a great mass of food if you want it to be. Or it could be less than a cup of Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream. Although the latter option provides a great deal of bliss for a moment, the rest of your fast day is going to be even more difficult.

So what am I eating and drinking on fast days? 

Most of the volume I am consuming is zero calorie liquids: water, tea, and coffee. The tea and coffee may have a calorie or two here or there, but they are worth it for the variety for me. I start drinking water as soon as I wake up and keep drinking it until bedtime. I have found I am much thirstier in general both fast and feast days on ADF than I was prior to this diet. I have been drinking an average of 6 cups of tea a day, one cup of coffee, and 8 glasses of water a day. I get heartburn a lot, so one coffee is all I can really handle in terms of caffeine intake on a fast day. The herbal tea is great because some of it tastes kind of like food and the different flavors provide the variety I need to not go crazy.

Currently in my tea arsenal I have: Stash Strawberry Pomegranate herbal tea, the Kroger Brand (Private Selection) Peppermint herbal tea, and Kroger Brand (Private Selection) Rooibos Red Tea. These are all caffeine-free. The strawberry pomegranate flavor is tasty, but there is no resteep value in it. The others are good overall for the money. I drank all of my remaining ginger and jasmine tea already. A lot more tea is going on the grocery list for next week. It is a good thing I love tea and normally drink it without any sweeteners.

In terms of foods, I have been mostly eating raw and pickled produce this week:

• Carrots (a whole carrot, ~30-35 kcal)
• Broccoli  (a spear, ~10 kcal)
• Onion (a slice, ~15 kcal) - for flavor
• Celery (a stalk, ~5 kcal)
• Cabbage (a leaf, ~5 kcal)
• Spinach (a leaf, ~2 kcal)
• Dill Pickles (large, whole pickle, ~10 kcal)
• Pickled Sweet Peppers (1 pepper, ~5 kcal)
• Clementine (one fruit, ~40 kcal) - TREAT
• Navel orange (one fruit, ~70 kcal) - TREAT

I feel like this little guy:

I eat most of these things solo. However, I made some of these things into a salad and put on Kraft's Fat-Free Zesty Italian dressing (~15 kcal per two tbsps). I am not really a fan of any fat-free or light dressing, so I would never eat a salad with this dressing normally. But when you are hungry, everything tastes a lot better. If you have low-calorie salad dressing recommendations that don't taste too sweet, I would LOVE to hear them.

On the pre-prepared foods side, I am currently loving Progresso's light line of soups. The ones I have been eating are 120 calories per can (60 calories per serving, two servings per can): Light Savory Vegetable Barley, Light Vegetable and Noodle, Light Zesty Southwestern-Style Vegetable. No can opener required on these, so they are an easy take-to-work food too.

I also have developed a cheap and low-calorie take on tuna salad which I plan on eating for lunch again today:

Fast Day Tuna Salad

• one 2.5 oz size Bumble Bee Premium Light Tuna in Water Pouch (~70 kcal/pouch)
• 2 tbsp celery bits (~2 kcal)
• a dash or two of lemon juice (not enough calories to register on the nutrition label)
• dill pickle relish (not enough calories to register on the nutrition label)
• sprinkle of pepper
• heavy sprinkling of Old Bay seasoning 

Mix this all in a bowl or tupperware and eat. I was surprised by how good this tasted. Always take all of my taste opinions with a grain of salt because I am rather hungry on my fast days.

I am aware some of you may have the misfortune of not knowing what Old Bay is. It is a delicious seafood spice blend from Baltimore, MD. I went to college at the University of Maryland, College Park and one of the most important things I learned in those four years is that Old Bay makes almost anything taste incredible. I put it on and in crab, crab cakes, salmon cakes, any type of fish really, mac 'n' cheese, pasta, potato chips, corn, in dips, on any battered and fried food. You can substitute this with a generic seafood seasoning... but you should really buy Old Bay and join the Old Bay Nation with me. Your mouth will thank you. No, I am not an Old Bay spokesperson, I just love it.