What a morning!!! Can I just say—I LOVE baking class!!!!!!
Today was my first day of the three week class and I knew I would love it when I walked in and it already smelled like a Parisian bakery…long wooden tables go down the center of the kitchen and huge stand mixers are against the wall. There’s a brick oven for baking pizza, an actual “closet” used just to keep bread in that’s rising, and about 15 other ovens for baking all kinds of things! Today we baked biscuits and we have to take home everything we bake so here I am now with a load of biscuits just sitting around in my kitchen and only me to eat them! Oh no!! I think I’m going to freeze them and bring them back out on a special occasion like when Ryan is here so I can make egg, bacon and cheese biscuits for him. They seriously smell amazing though and are about 4 inches high because of all the baking powder in them. Of course they have a TON of shortening in them as well!! I’m going to plug the ingredients into my software later on if I have time to get an accurate calorie count per biscuit but I’m sure they are quite quite high….special occasions only with these bad boys! Tomorrow we are baking scones and chocolate chip muffins…oh, and coffee cake! 🙂
When I got home from school I made a quick lunch of a veggie burger on one of those Thomas’ mini bagel breads that I pulled out of my freezer (seriously I freeze everything!). I melted some provolone cheese on top and put ketchup and honey mustard on it. I also had a sliced apple and 4 ounces of cottage cheese….oh, and a square of dark chocolate for dessert! My throat is still killing me (which is SO weird because other than that I feel perfectly fine but it’s so bad now it hurts to even sip on water) and at 3:30 I’m going back to the doctor…I wanted to get a workout in today though and also make a new soup recipe (for my throat!) so I think I’m going to make the soup right now and work out after the doctor, depending on what the doctor says of course!
See you in a bit!
This lunch (including a square of dark chocolate not pictured) about 520 calories.
Oh, and great news about my oatmeal breakfast! It kept me full a whole 4 hours this morning and when I snacked I only ate the 7 almonds out of my “snack mix”, leaving the cereal behind. Go oatmeal!
andrea
January 7, 2008 at 6:34 pmHey! i love your blog. I look at it everyday. I just joined Weight Watchers again. I am trying to lose 10pounds that Ive gained over the past year. I was down around 40lbs since my highest weight in HS but then gained 10back. Not terrible, but I am trying to get into the groove again as I slacked off for a little.
I do not have a food scale, I am on a tight budget right now..but have problems estimating portions. For instance what 2oz of ground turkey breast should look like or what 2oz of turkey breast looks like. I end up eyeballing it, but im sure i am off at times. Any tips?
thanks! Good luck with this semester. I would have a hard time baking treats and having them in the house. Im not much for sweets, but I LOVE bread, especially home baked breads and biscuits. They look YUMMY!
jenna
January 7, 2008 at 6:48 pmAndrea-
the easiest way to portion out things like ground turkey breast is to buy a 1 lb pack (how it usually comes) and divide that into four sections. Each section will be 4 ounces, which is the recommended serving size. That’s how I always did it in the past before investing in a food scale. You can get scales for pretty cheap at places like target but if you want a good one they are about 60 dollars. That’s probably not in the budget right now and you def. don’t need one to eat healthy! If you just want 2 ounces of turkey take a 4 ounce portion and cut it in half. Freeze all the extras for later! Also for cottage cheese, yogurt, milk, ect…the best way to go is to just always use a measuring cup. That way you know you are exact instead of eyeballing it. Hope that helps a little!!
jenna
January 7, 2008 at 6:55 pmSide-note!!!!! I just calculated the calories per biscuit and anyone want to take a guess at what it came out to???!!!!
I’ll give you the right answer when I get home from the doctor later!
The winner gets one! (just kidding!)
Kim
January 7, 2008 at 7:03 pmThanks for the quick response! Insanely high is my guess.
What calorie calculator program do you use and where did you buy it?
arimcg
January 7, 2008 at 7:07 pmI guess 350! If I win I would like my prize to be a chocolate chip muffin, though 🙂
jenna
January 7, 2008 at 7:07 pmKim-
I just use a website (www.nutritiondata.com)…they have a pantry feature that you can build recipes and get the total fat/calories per serving. I found out about it at school in my nutrition class and it works great!
Cathy
January 7, 2008 at 7:58 pmThose look incredible!!! Good luck with school! Question for ya, how do you freeze some common things. For example, you were talking about turkey meat with another blogger and breaking it up into 4oz portions…from there how would you freeze each one…what do you wrap them in? I am dense when it comes to freezing! The reason I don’t do it often is b/c I never know what to wrap stuff in. Thanks Jenna!!
Sara
January 7, 2008 at 8:03 pmHmm..I’ll guess 400 🙂 They look delicious!
Your classes sound so fun, not like school was for me!
Danielle
January 7, 2008 at 8:07 pmI’m guessing 280! I used your peanut butter oatmeal recipe to make my breakfast this morning 🙂
Ala
January 7, 2008 at 8:35 pmI would guess one bixcuit is around 210 calories. They are still fairly small (even if they are loaded with shortening!) 😉
Ala
January 7, 2008 at 8:36 pmOpps I meant biscuit not bixcuit!
hk
January 7, 2008 at 9:33 pm225 is my guess…we’ll see!! glad baking went well, I’m jealous you get to spend so much time in the kitchen!! so fun 🙂
THanks!
Kristie
January 7, 2008 at 10:18 pm269 calories is my guess…
andrea
January 7, 2008 at 10:21 pmThanks for responding Jenna. Yes…good idea about the ground turkey. I am making the whole pound because I live with my boyfriend and he can easily eat alot of it in one sitting. Before I throw it in the skillet I will measure it out. I thought it’d be about 1 cup of the cooked ground meat.
andrea
January 7, 2008 at 10:22 pmThanks for responding Jenna. Yes…good idea about the ground turkey. I am making the whole pound because I live with my boyfriend and he can easily eat alot of it in one sitting. Before I throw it in the skillet I will measure it out. I thought it’d be about 1/4 cup of the cooked ground meat.
andrea
January 7, 2008 at 10:23 pmooops! Sorry for the double post! It’s 1/4 cup=2oz i think
Shelley
January 7, 2008 at 10:23 pmmmm those biscuits look SO GOOD. I’m going to guess 310 calories per biscuit.
what kind of veggie burgers do you buy? or do you make them yourself?
Kim
January 7, 2008 at 10:32 pmDo you measure yogurt and cottage cheese in a liquid measuring cup?
jenna
January 8, 2008 at 12:25 amHi kim-
No, I use a food scale. I typically don’t measure anything in measuring cups unless its water or milk. I go more by weight as in ounces and grams because that’s what I’m being taught to do in school and that’s a more accurate way to do it. Plus, I was dirtying up too many measuring cups!! Since I do have a very accurate digital food scale, I simply put my bowl on it, zero the scale out, then plop my yogurt or cottage cheese in. I typically eat 4 ounces at a time.
jenna
January 8, 2008 at 12:27 amAndrea-
Be careful! 1/4 cup of ground turkey is not necessarily 2 ounces if you are going by weight. 1/4 cup measures liquids which is totally different than measuring the weight of something. You are better off just dividing the portion sizes…don’t try to stick the turkey in a measuring cup!! 🙂
jenna
January 8, 2008 at 12:28 amShelley,
I LOVE LOVE LOVE gardenburger original veggie burgers. they are the best of any i have ever tried!!! They are only 100 calories per patty and pack in a bunch of veggies and whole grains…plus they really do fill me up when paired with a whole wheat bun and some cheese. Super good!!!