South Beach Diet Day 3 - Tuna Avocado Salad, Salmon & Cauliflower

Well, it’s the morning of Day Four of the South Beach Diet . My Honey was a little grumpy last night, but I think that’s because he doesn’t have as many good options for lunch as I do, working from home, so he’s not very satisfied food-wise. How many days can one be happy with a tired salad from Wendy’s? There aren’t many options for quick take out around him. I, on the other hand, created a delicious tuna salad with avocado dressing over mixed greens and didn’t mind the jello for dessert.

The hardest part for me is actually having breakfast early and making myself eat a mid-morning snack. I’m just never hungry until later in the day. In fact, I usually head straight to the computer after brushing my teeth and start writing. Sometimes it's almost noon before I've eaten breakfast (and I'm usually up before 7). But reading what Dr Agatston has to say in The South Beach Diet book, I have to get in the mid-morning snack in order to control the levels of glycemia throughout the day. The slower digestion of food helps with sugar absorption and keeps what you eat from turning into fat. He explains it much better than I do, obviously, so buy the South Beach Diet book or at least check out his website for better explanations.

Breakfast was more of those mini veggie quiches. I warmed them up in the toaster oven and they were nice and crispy on the top. (The batch I made for today has chipotle chili in them and some chopped mushroom and fresh cilantro/coriander as well. I’ll let you know how they taste tomorrow). Mid morning snack was a couple of cheese sticks I really had to force myself to eat.

By mid afternoon, I made myself a few sticks of celery stuffed with my special smoky chipotle hummus (I whipped up a batch on Monday for snacking during the week) and a chunk of low fat cheddar later. Late afternoon is when I start to feel the need to eat.

Supper was wonderful…

Roasted salmon (the photo is from an earlier post – too lazy to take a new one). This time, instead of spinach, I served it with roasted asparagus topped with a bit of low fat grated mozzarella cheese and returned to the oven to melt while I did the plating. It only takes a minute to melt. But the real star of the meal was my newest discovery – mashed cauliflower a la South Beach…just steam the cauliflower until soft. It’s a slow process even in the microwave –15 minutes at least. Once it’s cooked, put it in a food processor or mash by hand, add some reduced calorie margarine (I’m hooked on I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter – even better than the Olivina I generally buy. It’s very flavorful). I added some 1% milk because I couldn’t find the half ‘n half substitute the book recommended, some salt and pepper and DEE-LISH-OUS!!!

As the kid in the old Chef Boyardi commercial used to say “How come something so pretty (okay he said “good for you”) taste so bad?” Today I tried the almond ricotta cream dessert. I even used a mixer to smooth it out like my cousin did and added some toasted sliced almonds on top. What can I say, I went back for the green jello I had for lunch.

Stay tuned for Day 4....

Recipes

Tuna & Avocado Salad

Smoky Chipotle Hummus

Roasted Salmon

Related links: Food and Drink recipes South Beach Diet Low Carb Diet