Canned Clams!!!
Audience responds with “EWWWWWW!!!”
Linguine in a Tomato Clam Sauce
with Zucchini, Jalapeño, Capers and Spinach 
The husband LOVED it!!!
Run:
Got off work around 2 p.m. and came home to relax. Around 3, husband and I went for our run. I made the mistake of trying to run too far on too little energy – we did a HARD 5.3 miles. My legs were like lead. I have more energy at 5:30 in the morning than I did today! If this is what it’s like to be sleep deprived, I can’t imagine those of you who don’t get enough a few days in a row. I really feel sick! After the run, though, I felt a lot better, although my brain was no longer tired, my legs sure are! 400 calories burned though.
Snack:
Husband and I showered and put on all of our Davidson College sweats 🙂
I had a post-workout snack of unsweetened applesauce and half a serving of Kashi Heart to Heart. ~
Cocktail Hour:
We had an early dinner since I was getting hungry around 5:45. Dinner was all on me, and when I cook alone, I like to have a drink, even if it’s just sparkling water and lime. Tonight I had a Gin + Tonic, but it only had about 1/3 an oz of gin.
Kath Cooks:
My production was inspired by this recipe from Cooking Light for Linguine with Clam Sauce, but I rarely follow a recipe and made quite a few changes to this guy.
In action:
Here’s what was in my sauce:
- 10 oz of chopped zucchini (2 medium)
- 1 jalapeño, chopped fine
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed
- 1 big handful baby spinach
- 2 plum tomatoes, chopped
- 1 can crushed tomatoes
- 1 6.5 oz can minced clams, partially drained (EWW!)
- Basil, oregano, red pepper flakes, and Dry Sherry (just a splash)
- 2 tbsp or so of capers
- 1 tsp EVOO for veggies
- 7 grams grated fresh Parmesan
I served it over 2 oz whole wheat linguine for me plus 4 oz spaghetti squash (pre-cooked leftovers for more volume!). The husband just got 3 oz linguine.
Dinner is served!
Vegetable Mountain:
A volume eater’s delight! (See below of the shocking low calories on this dinner!)
Leftovers. It is a RARE occasion that I don’t clean my plate, but I was really stuffed when I got to the bottom. I gave this to the husband and subtracted 1/2 oz pasta from my bowl, which may have been a little less but the leftover sauce made up for it. I probably should have done without the spaghetti squash on the bottom, but who knew 2 oz of linguine was this much pasta!?
Total dinner calories: 398!
The reason this HUGE bowl of pasta is not very high is that I used lots of vegetables to bulk it up and used crushed tomatoes and added my own seasonings instead of jarred tomato sauce, which is usually pretty high in calorie. This dinner was amazing! I think next time I’d like to use bigger pieces of clam. These were good, but they were so tiny I didn’t get too many bites where I thought “Mmmmm, clam!”
Total Tuesday calories: 1559.
Amazing since I was awake for so many hours, but I never got too hungry. I think it was the super-filling meals – oatmeal, soup, and vegetable delight.
-410 through 5.3 mile run
= net of 1149. I’m waaaay too full to have the rest of my allotment.
Off to watch some March of the Penguins with the husband then it’s up to read in bed and hit the sack early. Night!
hey, I had a few questions and I'm curious to know if I could e-mail them to you. If I can then e-mail my name br1ghtness@aol.com.(: Thank youu,dylan
Kath,Fabulous blog. I was overwhelmed by all of the info you include in the daily posts at first, and also had some concerns about your focus on calorie counting, calories burned and net calories. However, after reading your response to a reader (yesterday, this week??), your diligence and attention to detail in the context of your weight loss/maintenance makes more sense.And, best of all, the recipes are fabulous!! Had the tuna salad for lunch today and it was wonderful and sooo easy.Thanks!dl
I must be your most frequent poster!! haha! Quick question..do you usually put PB on your oatmeal pancake or just banana? I'm making it tomorrow for the first time (already mixed the egg whites, baking powder and oats in the fridge) and wondering if its going to be filling enough without something fatty on it like PB. or maybe I just love pb….yum
Hi DL, Thanks for the comment. I agree that counting calories and keeping a blog like this is somewhat strange and maybe even obsessive, but I guess the reason I started the blog in the first place was to share my recipes and healthy meals with my family and friends, not to analyze every last calorie. I had a lot of people in my life asking me what it takes to lose 30 pounds and keep it off, so I decided to show them – through journaling my exercise and meals. The calorie part just made it more interesting and I had to explain myself a lot less if I just put it in there :)I feel that I could maintain my weight pretty easily without calorie counting simply by putting the emphasis on eating fresh, whole foods, but I'm just always so curious that I count just for fun! Plus, CalorieKing makes it so easy that I can total things up in a few minutes, so it's pretty effortless to calculate a meal or even a day. I guess it does appear that I spend hours a day counting calories, but really it's kind of second nature. I hope one day to wean myself from counting anything at all, but until it becomes annoying or a burden, here I am. Glad you liked the tuna salad!!K
J – PB on the pancake is optional. I usually have just banana, but I'll have a dairy side with it. Did you do the 1/3 cup recipe? If so, pancake + banana + fruit or yogurt would last me at least 4 hours. But I HAVE had it with PB and it's EXCELLENT! Toasted walnuts are my newest addition 🙂
Clams! I wouldn't have guessed! I love that your dinners always look like so much food and for such a reasonable amount of calories! I hope to get to that point…some day! 🙂 Great run today…get some rest tonight! -Meg-
Ah clams, I never would have guessed! The end result looks delish!