After almost 6 years of marriage...

...We finally got ourselves a toaster.
I have no idea what took us so long. I think it somehow got turned into a game- let's see how long we can make it without a toaster.
Answer: 5 years, 7 months, 11 days, 18 hours and 35 minutes.

My husband was excited to have a toaster strudel.I took one bite of his, and that was enough for me. Reading the ingredients and nutrition facts on these things, will help you do just that.

And I couldn't wait to get my hands on a nice and toasty
BLT, with turkey bacon.I like mine lightly toasted.
My husband likes his burnt.
Who knew? :)

Can you live without your toaster, or do you use it everyday?

I Need Me Some Iron!

Last week I had a good old doctors appointment. At my previous appointment I had mentioned to my doc, that I was pretty tired all the time. If you hung out with me in person, you would see that I yawn like every 5 minutes. Any who, so he did some blood work, and called me back in, to have a chat with him. He said that your "iron levels can range from anywhere between 20 and 250, and mine are at like, 22." I don't know if he was using those numbers as an example, or if that's really what it is, but he told be I was borderline anemic. Figures. Now I have lupus, PCOS, low thyroid, rheumatoid arthritis, blood clotting, and "borderline anemia".
Sweet.

Since I'm pretty tired of being tired (hehe) all the time, I'm excited to take action, and get those iron levels up! My doctor told me to take an iron supplement, and to eat more
iron rich foods:

• Clams (eww)
• Pork Liver (eww)
  
• Oysters (eww)
  
• Chicken Liver (eww)
• Mussles (eww)
• Beef Liver (eww)
• Beef (not a big fan)
  
• Shrimp (eh)
  
• Sardines (eww)
• Turkey (finally something I can eat!)
  
• Cooked beans
  
• Lentils
  
• Spinach (so that's why Popeye eats it!;)
  
• Almonds
  
• Dark green leafy vegetables
  
• Dried fruit
  
• Iron-enriched cereals (eh)
  
• Chickpeas
  
• Soybeans
  
• Artichokes
  
• Broccoli (dang!)

In an effort to eat all my iron ;) I'm trying to incorporate more of these foods into my diet. Except the ones that have "eww" next to them. Those foods go against my deliciously healthy beliefs (not that there's anything wrong with them. They just don't get along with my taste buds, and that's a must for me;).

My friend told me about a yummy recipe she got from the Cancer Project, that I had to try! It seemed like an iron rich recipe, so tonight I gave it a go!

Easy 3 Bean Salad:It was delish! Plus it was very quick and easy to make!
And you know how I love that ;)

Aside from being deliciously healthy, it's really quite pretty, wouldn't you say?

Here's what you need:

• light Italian salad dressing
• 1-2 10 ounce bags of spinach
  
• 1 15-ounce can kidney beans, drained and rinsed, or 1 1/2 cups cooked kidney beans
• 1 15-ounce can pinto beans, drained and rinsed, or 1 1/2 cups cooked pinto beans
• 1 15-ounce can black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed, or 1 1/2 cups cooked peas
• 1 10-ounce package frozen lima beans, thawed. or 1 1/2 cups cooked lima beans, or 1 1/2 cups cooked green soybeans (shelled edamame)
• 1 cup frozen corn, thawed, or chilled cooked fresh corn.
  
• 1 large diced red bell pepper
  
• 1/2 medium diced red onion
  
• salt and pepper to taste

This is what you do:

• In a bowl, mix kidney beans and next 7 ingredients.
• Serve 1 cup of bean mixture onto individual beds of spinach.
• Drizzle Italian dressing over top.

Here's what I'm thinking:

• Serving size: 10
• Calories per serving: 210

Love it!

***

Today's weigh in had me at 167. That's a 0 pound loss this week. Of course my body is going to play games with me, and stop 1 pound short of me losing 40 pounds! Just to drive me crazy of course. Hopefully next week I can say that I'm 40 pounds lighter!

My Deliciously Healthy Memorial Day

Today I made chicken, fruit, and dessert shish kabobs for memorial day!
They were delish! I was able to escape memorial day, without hamburgers and ice cream cones!For the fruit shish kabobs, I used srawberries, watermelon, and blackberries (I had a sudden craving for oranges, and wish I had bought some to add to the mix).

Then, for the dessert shish kabobs, I dipped strawberries, and marshmallows (cut into 1/3) in dark chocolate (I dipped the strawberries, and marshmallows half way into the chocolate)! It started out with strawberries, marshmallows, and bananas, but I wasn't feeling the bananas, so I left them out.
They were yummy! :
On a side note: I think it would be cute to put strawberries, marshmallows, and blueberries on a skewer for 4th of July!

Later on in the evening, the hubs took me shopping to get some workout gear!
Why do I need workout gear you ask?

Because I got me one of these! :A gym membership to Bally Total Fitness!

I've wanted to join a gym for forever but didn't because, A. with my RA I thought I wouldn't be able to really do much there, and so I was worried it would be a waste of money. And B. because I was/am horrified to go!

Now, after losing 35+ pounds, my knees have been feeling a lot better! I think I may actually be able to incorporate working out, into my weight loss plan! That's so exciting and rewarding for me! I've come so far (a tear;)! I'm proud of myself for facing my fears, and taking the first step: Getting the membership! Tomorrow I'm going to take the second step, and actually go workout!

My original plan was to get a gym membership, just so I could use the pool to do laps. That's still my main plan, as I think it'll be a great workout, and easy on my joints. Although while I was taking the tour of the gym, I saw some workout machines that I may be able to do with my arthritis. That would be a great bonus, if I'm able to take advantage of those spiffy little things! ;D

I'm still pretty darn nervous for tomorrow, but I'm working though it...
I feel like I'm in 1st grade, and tomorrow's my first day of school, lol!

I'm mostly nervous to swim. I can swim, but I don't know how to do the professional kind of swimming. I feel like a complete armature, and I totally don't know what I'm doing! You get a free session with a personal trainer, so I'm wondering if I can ask them to teach me how to use swimming as a workout. I feel stupid asking for that. I'm going to try talking to someone about it tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get it all figured out soon.

I also did my weigh in, on this Memorial Day.
171.
That's a 1 pound loss. I did pretty darn good this week, so I'm kinda confused. I know that the further you get in your weight loss, it tends to slow down a little bit. That's why it made me nervous that my weight loss started out at about 2 pounds a week. I thought, "Oh great! What's it going to slow down to?!" I feel that after losing 36 pounds, my weight loss has slowed to 1 pound a week. Although thus far, I've had little to no exercise. I'm hoping working out will give me the boost I need, to get back to a 2+ pound loss each week!

Well, that's it for me!

Wish me luck for tomorrow!

Hope you all had a great Memorial Day!(Flickr)

**Workout Update!**

I just got back from the gym! I survived!
It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Everyone didn't stop what they were doing to watch me enter the building, or pull up chairs to watch me workout, like I thought they would!
That's good ;D

I did 10 minutes on that thingy... what's it called? The elliptical?
And 10 minutes speed walking on the treadmill (well, at least speed walking for me)
I had planned to do more, but by the end of it, I seriously thought I was going to pass out! I have to take baby steps, to get to my goal... I'm not sure what that goal is, but I know it's more then 10 minutes on each machine, lol! I'd say for the first time working out in years, I did pretty good! It felt good to work up a sweat, and feel my heart racing!

I'm pretty darn proud of myself!

Today was a Good Day

Today, something seemed to be in the air. Spring?... Whatever it is, it has me in a joyful mood!

Today, I had the perfect lunch, and I just had to share it with you!

While my father-in-law was here, he went on and on about how good a grape and tuna fish sandwich was! As Joe and I gave him funny looks, he would say, "Don't diss it, before you try it!" He had actually bought all the stuff to make it, but we never got around to it. So, today as I was raiding the fridge and pantry, trying to find something for lunch that hit the spot, I couldn't get my father-in-law's voice out of my head.

"What the heck Brittany. You only live once." I told myself.

So, out came the whole wheat bread, the canned tuna (in water), the low-fat mayo (gross. If I had low-fat plain yogurt I would have used that. I just used a tiny tiny bit), the already chopped onion I had left over from tacos, and the grapes.

I chopped up the grapes, mixed everything together, and put together my sandwich. I gave myself an extra side of grapes, then let out a sigh, "Here goes nothing." I took a bite.
"Oh my gosh! This is so good!" Light bulb moment: "This is blog worthy!"
I rushed to grab the camera, took a couple pics, and sat down to enjoy my YUMMY
Grape and Tuna Fish Sandwich!!"Don't diss it, before you try it!" ;D
Seriously. It's pretty darn good folks. The grapes add the perfect sweetness!
Calories:
About 220, not including the extra side of grapes.


After lunch, and some cleaning around the house, I finally sat down to see how everybody was doing in blogland.
I clicked on over to CBG blog, and saw that she was hosting a
photo comparison challenge! You take a picture of yourself today, and compare it to a picture of you at your heaviest. Then you compliment yourself on the changes you've made!!

It's hard to compliment myself, or to even see the difference between me at 206, and me at 180. Sometimes I convince myself that I'm exactly the same. This challenge was a great way to help me see the progress I've made, and give myself a pat on the back!!

Here it goes! :

Before picture:
(February 2007)This isn't actually me at my heaviest. I was about 190-195 (my heaviest was 206). This was either right before or soon after I found out I had low thyroid, and got put on low thyroid meds. And it's before I found out I had PCOS. It's pretty weird that I'm only about 10 pounds lighter now, then I was in these pictures. Back then I was bloated, and my hormones were all out of whack. This was a very painful time for me. I gained 50lbs in 1 year. I didn't know what the heck was going on. All I knew, was I was fat, unhappy, and embarrassed. I refused to meet new people, and to be honest, I didn't go out of the house much. I never wanted a picture taken of me. The only reason I have these pictures, is because it was valentines day, and my husband insisted on getting a picture of his beautiful wife, on v-day. I love my husband so much for loving me during that time, and still telling me I was beautiful each and every day. Gosh I'm lucky.

Today's Picture:I see quite a big physical change. My chubby cheeks aren't so chubby. I don't have as much acne now (glad that's gone!). And I have a bit more of a jawline!!

But the true changes I see, go way past my physical appearance.
For one, I'm posing for the camera, and I was actually having a fun little photo shoot (in my bathroom;). I actually feel pretty enough to snap away with the camera! I feel worthy enough to be apart of the world (although I'm realizing now that I was always worthy...).

Looking at my before pictures, reminds me of all the struggles, heartache, and confusion I had back then.

Today I'm happy.
I can see it in these pictures, and I can feel it.
I'm taking charge of my life, and my health. I'm no longer confused, and feel like I have no control over what the heck my body is doing. I'm in control. I'm on one of the most wonderful journeys. Everyday I wake up, I know I'm getting closer and closer to my happy ending, and that fills my heart with excitement, and hope, each and every day. Two things I did not have, in my before picture!
Today, I'm :Deliciously Healthy! And man it feels good!!

Weekend Recap, and a Weigh In! Fun! ;)

Hi everyone!

I hope you all had a great weekend!

I meant to do this post yesterday, but my husband had the day off, so it ended up being a long weekend! It was awesome! ;D

Over the weekend, I made 2 new Deliciously Healthy recipes, that I'm so excited to share with you!:

I woke up Saturday morning with the weirdest craving for french toast! So, I went into the kitchen to see if we had everything, without having to make a run to the store (the grocery store should be avoided at all costs on Sat.). Guess what? We did! Shocker! So, I made
Crunchy Cereal French Toast!! :It was crunchy, and yummy, and the perfect weekend breakfast!!
I wanted to use Cinnamon Life cereal, but we didn't have any, so I went with Strawberry Special K cereal. You can use any cereal you like! The strawberries on mine got a little burnt. I thought I would have to pick them off, but they didn't taste burnt at all, so I left them on. They added a sweet tartness to the french toast!

Here's What You Need:

~6 slices of whole wheat bread
~1 egg, and 2 egg whites
~1/2 a cup of low-fat milk
~1 1/2 cups of crushed cereal of your choice
~salt
~cinnamon

This is What You Do:

Crush in a plastic bag, a cereal of your choice. Pour cereal onto a plate. Beat together in a bowl 1 egg, 2 egg whites, milk, salt and cinnamon. Pour mixture into a deep plate. one by one, dip your bread into the egg mixture, coating both sides, then dip into the cereal mixture, coating both sides, and then into a hot pan. Cook on med/high until the egg has cooked. About 3 minutes, depending on how thick your bread is. You could also place the bread slices on a cookie sheet, and cook at 450 for 15 minutes. Add a topping of your choice, and dig in!

Here's What I'm Thinking:
~6 servings
~Serving size: 1 slice of french toast
~About 200 calories per serving (it can range, depending on the kind of bread you use)
**I had 2 slices which put me at about 400 calories. A tiny bit of a splurge for breakfast, but I like to splurge on the weekends! ;D

On Sunday, my Husband and I were excited to watch the new series, LIFE, on the discovery channel! Did anyone else watch? It was so awesome! While we were watching it, my husband and I kept saying things like: "What?!" "Really!" "Dude!" "Cool!" "Whoa!" "Did you see that?" "Gasp!" "WOW!"
It was pretty funny!
It's amazing how beautiful our world is, but it's a shame how much we (I) take it for granted. The sunset is one of the most beautiful things, but do I ever take the time to look at it? Not really. And it's right in my backyard! Watching the show definitely helped me to remember how grateful I am to be living in this beautiful world! It was an 11 part event, so we recorded it, and every Sunday, we're going to watch a couple episodes together! I'm excited to watch the rest of the series!

We wanted something quick and simple for dinner Sunday night, so we could watch the show!

I remember as a kid, I loved making little pizzas out of English muffins! I thought I could easily make a Deliciously Healthy version, and it would be a fun, and simple Sunday dinner! Boy was it ever!! My husband and I both bought things we wanted on our individual pizzas, and it was a fun little activity to do together in the kitchen! This recipe is perfect for a fun, relaxing night at home!
Healthy English Muffin Mini Pizzas:
Here's What You Need:

**You can add any topping you like. Italian seasoned ground turkey, chicken, or any kind of veggie combo, would all be great on these mini pizzas. This is what I put on mine:

~1 package of whole wheat English muffins
~1 Jar of low sodium marinara, or pizza sauce
~1/2 an onion, chopped
~1 bell pepper, chopped
~1 cup chopped mushroom
~1 can of black olives, sliced
~1 cup low-fat mozzarella cheese

This is What You Do:

Preheat oven to 375. For each English muffin half, spread 1 tablespoon of the sauce over the top. Then, evenly spread out 1/4 cup of cheese, over 3 halves. Repeat for each trio. Then add the rest of your toppings. Place pizzas on a cookie sheet, and place in the oven for about 13 minutes, or until the cheese is melted, and the muffins are crispy. Enjoy!

Here's What I'm Thinking:
~Servings: 4
~Serving size: 3 English muffin halves
~Calories: About 355 (If you use the toppings I did;)

****

Now for my weigh in:
My weigh-ins were on Tuesdays, but I thought I'd switch it to Monday. That way I could start out my week knowing where I stand, and so I could blog about it every Monday. I'm trying to have a little bit more a of a schedule on this little blog of mine ;). So, I switched it, and then I didn't blog about it yesterday! ;) Oh, silly me!
Okay, enough of the stalling. My weigh in had me at 181. (My clock is broken!;) Awesome. Again, I'm happy with it. I lost a pound and that's something to be proud of! I also have a few possible explanations rolling around in my head, that make me feel okay with the 1 pound loss:
1. I usually find that I'm down 2 pounds every Tuesday. Maybe I lose that last pound ON Tuesday? If that's the case it will show up in either my sneak peak weigh in, or next Monday's weigh in.
2. I think TOM might be thinking about showing up this month. I've been crossing my fingers all month, that my healthy eating will show, by having 2 periods in a row. Come on ovaries! You can do it! Last month I think I started around the 8th ( I ought to write that down;), so if it does show up, it's obviously late. But the phrase, "Better late then never", has never been so true, in this case! So, if it is going to make an appearance, I don't care if I don't lose weight...heck, I won't even care if I gain weight, if it means that Aunt flow payed me a visit 2 months in a row!

So, that's where I'm at this week. 181, happy, healthy, and anxious! ;D

Another Deliciously Healthy Weekend!

We started out the weekend by going to the movies. This was my 1st time going to the movies, since I've been on my diet, so I was a little nervous. Movie theaters are a major temptation for me, for 2 reasons:
#1.Kettle corn makes me weak in the knees.
#2. Before catching a movie, we ALWAYS go out to eat at one of my favorite restaurants, Jim-N-Nicks, because it's right next to the theater. It's a hard habit to break. AND, you can smell their BBQ outside, and down the block. Seriously. That's how we 1st found the restaurant. Our noses led us there ;)

So, in an effort to resist the kettle corn, and conquer the aroma of Jim-N-Nicks BBQ that surrounds the area, I made BBQ chicken wraps at home, for dinner. I was good and full when we left for our movie, and I got a little BBQ fix :)
My mouth was watering by the time I got done making it, and all I could think about was sitting down and digging in! So, this is the only picture I remembered to take ;)I got 4 boneless skinless chicken breast, and cut them into about 1/2 inch strips, and cooked them in a skillet. Once they were done cooking, I added 1 cup of sweet and tangy BBQ sauce, some chopped onions, and let it simmer for about 5min.Then I just put some of the chicken strips in a low calories tortilla, added some low-fat cheese, low-fat sour cream, and some cubes of avocado.
It was delish, and very filling!

After dinner, we were headed to the movies, with full bellies!
I brought a 100 calorie pack to eat during the movie. ( Shhhh! Don't tell! ;)I'm glad I didn't spoil my diet while going out to see a movie, because we ended up leaving early, due to a very talkative, and annoying lady sitting behind us. We got a refund, and she got kicked out :) Normally I don't do things like that, but she was obviously doing it to be disruptive. I would have been really disappointed if I had spoiled my diet, for a movie we didn't end up seeing. It was a test to see if I could resist the sweet aroma of BBQ, and kettle corn, and stick to my diet...and I passed! To me, that was better then any movie!

I also made some tacos this weekend. I got the idea from THIS blog, to use lettuce instead of taco shells...genius! Then I just cooked up some lean ground turkey with taco seasoning. I topped my tacos off with low-fat sour cream, low-fat cheese, tomato, onion, salsa, and avocado. It was totally tasty! Two tacos filled my husband and I up pretty darn good! ;)

The rest of the weekend was spent lounging around. My husband was sick/getting over being sick this weekend, so we didn't really do much, other then attempt to see a movie, play cards, watch the new season of 24, and EAT...Deliciously Healthy of course!

On a little side note: I stepped on the scale this morning!
I told myself Monday was the day I needed to start looking at the numbers, and stop being blissfully unaware. So, I finally did it. The numbers said, "194.5" That means I've lost 2lbs. Boo! ;) Actually, I'm not that disappointed that I've lost 2lbs in 3 weeks. At least it's something. If I were to gain 2lbs, I would be really upset, and would look at those 2 little pounds as a major deal. So why shouldn't I treat losing 2lbs as a major deal? Also, for the first week and a half, I was focusing on weening myself off of things slowly, instead of stopping everything at the same time. Then, into the 2nd, and a little bit into the 3rd week, I had already stopped all the bad foods, and I was eating healthy, but I wasn't keeping an eye on my portions, or counting my calories. That was the last stage of the process for me. Add on top of all that, the fact that I've barely (and by barely, I mean I haven't) worked out, and I'd say I'm pretty happy with a 2 pound loss.

Now that I've got everything down pretty good, it's time to switch this from being a nice and slow stroll in the park, to a brisk walk. It's time to work up a sweat, and burn some calories baby!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

A Successful Weekend, and a Yummy Recipe!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

I'm happy to report that I had a great, successful, and :Deliciously Healthy weekend!
I made healthy choices, and didn't pig out ALL weekend like I normally do!

My husband and I came up with things to do, so that we weren't thinking about vegging out the entire weekend with pizza and a movie...and brownies, and candy, and ice creme...I'm getting side tracked. Point is, we did good! ;)

We actually got a lot done! Which is kinda funny to me. It's amazing the things you can get done, when your not thinking about eating all the time!

I also went shopping. Shopping's good when you're on a diet. At least for me anyway. I get to get my mind off of food, buy things I love just as much as I love food (or at least almost as much), I drool over things I would buy if I had lots and lots of money to spend, and I get to day dream about the day I will love clothes shopping as much as I used to. I look at items and say to myself, "Stick to your diet Brittany, and you may actually be able to pull that off someday!" I also went baby shopping, even though I'm not pregnant ;) Joe and I decided since we know we are going to start trying for a family in a few months, it would be smart to slowly start buying things now. The benefit to that is, I get to wait for things to go on sale, and clearance! Did you know that most Targets re-do, and clean out their baby section every January? I got LOTS of stuff for 50% off! Shopping for baby things was also a HUGE motivation for me to keep making healthy choices! My goal is to lose at least 40lbs before we start trying. Buying baby things was a nice reminder that I don't have time to fool around.

This weekend, I made one of my favorite recipes! It's called "Chili Verde", but I just call it chicken chili :) It's really more like a chicken chili soup. It's great for cold, winter days, because it warms you from the inside out! It's also very simple, and quick to make, which is a lifesaver for me, with my RA. It's a GREAT recipe if you have leftover cooked chicken breast, as it makes this recipe even easier to make!! I usually add a dollop of low-fat sour cream, and a tablespoon of salsa on the top, but I forgot to pick those items up at the store, so I just went without it. My husband also likes to enjoy it with a small handful of low sodium tortilla chips (He's also trying to lose weight).You Will Need:

~2 cups chopped and cooked chicken breast (2 boneless skinless chicken breast)
~1 can (15 to 16 ounces) of cannellini or great northern beans. Rinsed and drained.
~1 can (14 1/2 ounces) of low sodium chicken broth
~1 cup green salsa (salsa verde)
~1 (9 ounce) package of frozen white corn, thawed

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a 3-quart saucepan. Heat to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. And that's it! You're done! Told you it was easy! ;)

Makes 4 servings.

Here's What I'm Thinking:

Calories: 290 for 1 serving.

Enjoy!

***

I'm excited for this upcoming week. This past week was my first week on my diet. I decided this time around, I would start by taking baby steps, instead of stopping EVERYTHING cold turkey! That's what I've been doing over the past week, and I have to say, it's made a big difference! I wasn't having to go through my caffeine withdrawals, and my chocolate withdrawals at the same time!

Every day, I would focus on eating healthier, along with focusing on 1 thing I could change/cut out. I would focus on cutting out my soda for a couple days, along with eating healthy recipes. Then, over the next couple days, I would focus on cutting out my sweets, along with the soda, and continuing to eat healthier. And so on, and so forth. So, this past week was kind of the beginning stages of my diet, focusing on 1 thing at a time. The begging stage is done, and I've successfully weaned myself off of my old habits! This next week, it's all on baby!
I'm excited!

My Favorite Chicken Salad

Once, when I was 16, I went on an all salad diet. Yeah. Pretty crazy.
I left that experience, heavier then when I started (Although I was still only 125lbs! What the heck was my deal?), and with a new found hatred for salads!
It wasn't until I was about 19yrs old, that I could even consider eating a salad!

That was the time when I discovered this salad. It's in the "Rosdale Diet" book, although I've made the recipe my own. His actually has more calories then my version!

This is a seriously yummy salad! I usually reach for this salad when I need a little help to keep me from running to the nearest Krispy Creme! It's yummy, mouthwatering, and a very satisfying salad! It solves my craving for the "No No" food, when I'm having my weak moments. It's also very filling. I sometimes (key word sometimes) can't even finish it! When I eat this salad I think to myself, "I can totally do this!"

You Will Need:

~About 2 handfuls of mixed greens (really, you can add whatever you like. They're greens!)
~1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil (I usually add a little shy of a tablespoon)
~1-2 squeezes of a lemon
~About a 1/4 teaspoon dijon mustard
~Half a garlic clove chopped. (I sometimes skip the garlic when I don't feel like messing with it)
~A pinch of sugar or splenda
~3-4 black olives sliced
~1 tablespoon sliced almonds
~1 boneless skinless chicken breast (I usually only use half, and save the other half to use in a salad the next day. Or give it to my husband for his salad;)

Directions:

Dressing:
Mix the EVOO, dijon mustard, lemon juice, garlic, and sugar together. (I usually mix it in a 1/4 cup measuring cup, because it's a small amount and tends to get lost in a big bowl :)

1. Bring 2 inches of water to a boil in a deep skillet. Reduce to simmer, and add the thawed chicken breast.
2. Simmer for 10-15 min. Check to see if chicken is completely cooked by cutting into the middle of the breast. Meat should be white, and juices should run clear.
3. In a bowl, combine: mixed greens, olives, and almonds.
4. Pour half the dressing into the bowl, and toss well.
5. Slice chicken diagonally into 1/2 inch slices, and arrange on top of salad.
6. Drizzle remaining dressing on top
7. DIG IN!!

Here's What I'm Thinking:

Calories:
Around 350 to 400, depending on if you use half a chicken breast or not.
Yes, it's a bit of a splurge, but it's satisfying, tasty, healthy, and has the good kind of fat in it.