menu plan monday, feelin’ beachy edition

I was away all last week, totally overdoing the breads, pastas, and desserts. While I loved every minute of it, I now feel a little off considering I don’t usually eat like that on a normal basis. (And the scale tells me much the same — eek!). Since Drew wants to lose a few pounds, we decided to start South Beach Phase 1 on Monday. A few years ago I lost about 20 lbs. by following the program! This time I really just want to get rid of the sugar cravings and get myself back on track to healthy eating. I like to think of it as a pseudo cleanse (a carb cleanse that is — watch, now I’ll have all kinds of searches on colon cleanse reviews just because I typed the word “cleanse.”) At any rate, I know how hard it is to find South Beach menus, so I wanted to make a point of sharing mine. Breakfast is the most boring, but I’m going for simplicity. I’ll channel my creative energy into SB dinners. I remember that the first three days are hard, but they got easier after that. Having everything written down will no doubt help. So here we go, with Week 1.

Monday:
B: Microwave scrambled egg with 1 slice boiled ham, low-sodium V8 juice, coffee or tea
S: Celery sticks with peanut butter
L: 15 bean soup, salad, SF jello
S: Turkey pepperoni, sliced green pepper, string cheese
D: Baked chicken oreganata, salad, steamed broccoli & cauliflower, vanilla ricotta creme

Tuesday:
B: Microwave scrambled egg with 1 slice boiled ham, low-sodium V8 juice, coffee or tea
S: Walnuts
L: 15 bean soup, salad, SF jello
S: Cucumber slices with hummus
D: Turkey & bean chili, salad, cocoa ricotta creme

Wednesday:
B: Microwave scrambled egg with 1 slice boiled ham, low-sodium V8 juice, coffee or tea
S: Celery sticks with neufchatel cheese
L: 15 bean soup, salad, SF jello
S: Ham slice and wrapped around string cheese, dipped in mustard
D: Chopped steak smothered with LF cheese, onions, and mushrooms; salad; broccoli, vanilla ricotta creme

Thursday:
B: Microwave scrambled egg with 1 slice boiled ham, low-sodium V8 juice, coffee or tea
S: Walnuts
L: Turkey & bean chili (leftover), salad, SF jello
S: Turkey pepperoni, pepper slices, string cheese
D: Turkey cutlets, sauteed squash & zucchini, salad, cocoa ricotta creme

Friday:
B: Microwave scrambled egg, low-sodium V8 juice, coffee or tea
S: Celery sticks with peanut butter
L: Vegetable soup, tuna fish “wraps” (use lettuce leaf), SF jello
S: Hummus and cucumbers
D: Lemon-herb tilapia or cod with herbs, sauteed squash and zucchini, cole slaw, vanilla ricotta creme

Saturday:
B: Western omelettes (ham, pepper, onion, tomato), low-sodium V8 juice, coffee or tea
S: Ham & cheese roll-ups with mustard
L: Southwestern chicken salad (greens, beans, jalepeno, onion, green pepper, grilled chicken, black olives) with fresh salsa and LF ranch dip (LF sour cream + Hidden Valley ranch mix), SF jello
S: Walnuts
D: Grilled filet mignon, steamed asparagus, steakhouse salad, mocha ricotta creme

Sunday:
B: Microwave scrambled egg with 1 slice boiled ham, low-sodium V8 juice, coffee or tea
S: Celery sticks with neufchatel cheese
L: Cobb salad (greens, tomato, onion, hardboiled egg, grilled chicken, avacado, shredded cheddar, turkey bacon) w/ LF ranch dip, SF jello
S: Tomatoes and mozzarella with balsamic drizzle
D: Chicken curry over cauliflower “rice”, vanilla ricotta creme