Starbucks or my diet?

I love going to Starbucks for my regular green hot tea; but I sometimes would like to have something different like frappuccino or tazo chai tea. The problem is that all those delicious drinks are high in calories, and if I'm dieting the last thing that I want is a drink that has 500 calories. So, if you want to go to starbucks and have a coffee and maintain "1,300 calories" per day, you may want to check these drinks out. They are under 200 calories and still taste really good.

Hot Beverages:

• Brewed Coffee - 5 cal, 0 g fat


• Brewed Tazo Tea - 0 cal, 0 g fat


• Nonfat Tazo Green Tea Latte - 130 cal, 0 g fat


• Nonfat Cappuccino - 80 cal, 0 g fat


• Nonfat Caffe Latte - 120 cal, 0 g fat


• Nonfat Caramel Macchiaton - 170 cal, 1 g fat


• Soy Tazo Chai Tea Latte - 190 cal , 2.5 g fat


• Nonfat Caffe Mocha - Hold The Whip - 170 cal, 1.5 g of fat


• Nonfat Sugar-Free Vanilla Llatte - 120 cal, 0 g of fat


• Steamed Apple Cider - 180 cal, 0 g of fat


• Nonfat Vanilla Creme - 180 cal, 0 g of fat


• Caffe Americano - 10 cal, 0 g of fat
  

Cold Beverages

• Coffee Frapuccino Light Blended Coffee - 110 cal, 1 g of fat


• Caramel Frapuccino Light Blended Coffee - 140 cal, 1.5 g of fat


• Coffee Frapuccino Blended Coffee - 190 cal, 2.5 g of fat


• Shaken Tazo Ice Passion Tea- 60 cal, 0 g of fat


• Nonfat Iced Vanilla Latte - 120 cal, o g of fat


• Nonfat Iced Caramel Macchiato - 140 cal, 1 g of fat


• Nonfat Iced Tazo Chai Tea Latte - 170 cal, 0 g of fat


• Iced Coffee (With Classic Syrup) - 60 cal, 0 g of fat
  

¡Disfruten!

Toasted Oat Sourdough Bread

I've been meaning to blog about this bread for very long, but I haven't really gotten around to it. It's a great bread though, and perfect if you've got some sourdough hanging around, needing to be used up. I keep sourdough in the freezer, and revive it a few days before I want to bake - it seems to work nicely for me, though I'm sure sourdough purists would frown.

This bread is really good toasted - the oatmeal is already toasted before it goes into the bread, but the extra toasting brings out the flavor, making it nutty and just perfect with slice of strong cheese, or a spoon of good marmalade.

Toasted Oat Sourdough Bread
Based on a recipe from Riddarbageriets Bröd

450 g water
120 g sourdough from rye
450 g strong wheat flour (extra protein)
150 g wholewheat flour (spelt works fine)
15 g fresh yeast
1-2 tsp golden syrup (you can substitute honey)
1 tbsp salt
40 g rolled oats, toasted (toast in a dry frying pan or in the oven until golden and fragrant)

Mix everything except for salt and oats. Work in a machine - I use my Kitchen-Aid - for 7-8 minutes. Add the salt and oats, and work for another five minutes. Remove dough to a clean bowl, and leave to rise for two hours.

Divide the dough in half, and shape each half into nice loaves. Brush with water and dust over some wholewheat flour. Move loaves to a baking sheet, and cut a pattern if you'd like. Let rise for 1-2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 250°C. Place the baking sheet in the oven, and spray with water. Lower the heat at once to 225°C. You can spray with water a few times during the baking to get a crunchier crust. The total baking time is about 25-30 minutes.

Recipe in Swedish:
Surdegsbröd med rostad havre

Weekend Cat Blogging - kittens four weeks

Julius, looking a bit shy.

I don't even dare to post any other cat pictures right now - I have so many e-mailing me about the kittens! And no surprise, because they are totally cute as buttons. Four weeks old, and starting to romp around their little playpen. They are still a bit wobbly, but they happily wrestle and play with each other. And if you come close to the pen, they'll run up to you, meowing to be lifted and cuddled. Cuties!


Jupiter


Juliet (who's really developing into a princess)


Jamy

And more pictures over at Flickr.

Complaints Choir

This is a cheeseplatter. It is. Just a bit photoshopped. And the only relation to the rest of this post would be this: Would you like some cheese to go with that whine?

Ok, I just have to tell you about this - it has nothing to do with food, but a lot to do with putting me in a great mood today. I've had a not-terrific start to this year, and I have been doing a lot of complaining. But enough is enough! Time to cheer up!

I just discovered something called Complaints Choir. It's a very amusing movement, with choirs in Birmingham, Hamburg, Helsinki and a few other places, too. Watch the videos, and enjoy! Helsinki is my favorite.

Banana Maple Muffins

I've made these muffins to have at hand in the freezer for our prospective kitten buyers. So far, they hold up very well. I de-frost them and heat them slightly in the microwave, and they really go down a treat with tea or coffee. You could serve them for a luxurious weekend breakfast (if you're not so concerned with kitten buyers, and I imagine most of you are not), drizzled with more maple syrup.

The recipe is, like so many other muffin recipes I try, from Dagensmuffin.se (The Daily Muffin - sorry, in Swedish.)

Banana Maple Muffins
Makes about 15

5 dl (2 cups) flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1,25 dl (1/2 cup) sugar
300 ml soured milk (buttermilk or a neutral yogurt would work fine)
1 egg
3 tbsp maple syrup
3 tbsp vegetable oil
3 bananas, sliced

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Mix all the dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and cinnamon - in a bowl. In another bowl, mix the soured milk with the egg, maple syrup and oil, and the sliced bananas. Carefully mix everything together, and dollop into muffin cases. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until lightly golden and no longer sticky.

Recipe in Swedish:
Bananmuffins med lönnsirap

Sample diet plan - 1300 calories

Hi guys,

I found this diet plan that might help you to start eating healthier. The goal is to have 1300 calories in total per day.

Breakfast (250 calories)

1 small fruit or 1/2 oz dried fruit
Cereal: 1 1/2oz Dry (high fiber)
or 1 cup cooked oatmeal
milk (from daily allowance)

Daily milk allowance (160 calories)
2 cups skim milk or 1 and half cups low-fat (1%) milk or equivalent soy drink, yogurt, cheese, tofu

Fat allowance (140 calories; 15g fat)
4 tsp fat or 6-8 tsp Diet Margarine or 3 tsp Oil
or 1 and half tbsp mayonnaise or 1/2 medium avocado
or 1 and half tbsp peanut butter or 30g nuts/seeds

Lunch (440 calories)

2 slices bread (2oz) or 1 medium roll or bagel
or 4 crispbreads/crackers or 6" pita

2 oz lean meat, chicken or turkey
or 3 and half oz tuna (in water) or 2 and half oz salmon
or 1 oz cheese or 1/2 cup (4 oz) cottage cheese
or 1/2 cup (4 oz) ricotta cheese (low-fat)
or 1/2 cup (4 oz) fruit yogurt (low-fat)
or 1/2 cup (4 oz) bean salad

Large salad (oil-free dressing)
1 small fruit or 1/2 oz dried fruit

Dinner (360 calories)

soup (fat-free)
3 oz lean meat (cooked weight)
or 4 oz chicken breast (no skin)
or 3 oz chicken thigh/leg (no skin)
or 5 oz fish (grilled, not fat)
or 3/4 cup (6 oz) beans (soy, kidney, pinto etc)/lentils
or low-fat entree (e.g. lean cuisine) or recipe dish

1 small potato or 1/2 cup rice/pasta or 1 slice bread
2-3 servings vegetables/salad
1 small fruit + diet gelatin dessert

Between Meals

water, coffee, tea, diet drinks, fruit from main meals; raw vegetable pieces, milk from allowance.

This information was taken from Calorie fat & carbohydrate counter.

Enjoy!

Patricia

Big hickup

Blogger has been very weird today, and I've had big problems both accessing my blog and clicking on old links. It should all work now though, so let me know if something is still wrong!

I just came home from a delicious dinner with my parents. Before dinner, we had some rye crispbread with a super blue cheese, St. Agur. After that, we got chicken breasts with rice and a creamy curry sauce with chickpeas and braised leeks. Dessert was apple pie with vanilla sauce, and I drank a lovely red wine that's a new favorite, Raccolto Nero d'Avola Cabernet Sauvignon. Really very tasty. Another wine that I love is the one in the picture - an Amarone wine that we drank on Christmas eve. Stupid me didn't think to write up the exact name - but then again, I've loved all Amarone wines I've been fortunate enough to try.

Pene pointed out that I should tell you what country they're from - sorry! Both wines are Italian, and both are also very full-bodied, flavorsome wines.

Today, we had our first prospective cat buyer over. She fell in love with little Jupiter, who will move in with her and her two Labradors in about two months time.

And tomorrow, I'll be getting a new camera, a Nikon d80! Very exciting! So I know what I'll be doing this weekend...