Lightlife Review and Results of the Raw Experiment

First of all, I have not been posting any 100 calorie snacks in a while. I am embarrassed to say that I have been WAY off my paying attention to my calories. Working in a restaurant makes it very hard... having to taste food ... when I do my RAW challenge, it is going to be difficult. I do not follow recipes.. I cook by feel and taste... oy.. hopefully, I can make many raw delights for our deli case! ... but getting back to the 100 calorie snacks... and my weight. I weigh in June 1st and will post my results... (it may be a week later as I am actually moving June 1st and won't have any internet til the 4th..)..

So, this delicious 100 calorie snack utilized Lightlife's Ham Slices. I really love these and do buy them in the store. 4 slices contain 70 calories, 1 g fat and 12 g protein. For this snack I smeared the slices with dijon and baby spinach and used the ham slice as a shell for a small roll up. 4 of them weighed in under 100 calories. I have also enjoyed them on toast with vegenaise, pickles, mustard, lettuce and tomatoes.... and with rice vegan slices. I have never had real ham slices, so I can't compare... and I don't like many faux meats, but I love these. If I recall, I also liked their bologna slices and I like their smart dogs.

Now onto the results of the little raw steel cut oat experiment. First of all, I used way too much water, second I did not have the flax meal, so I can't say for sure if it would have worked. The oats DID soften up and I think if I had used less water and the flax they would have made a decent pudding like thing. Maybe putting a tiny bit of pro-biotic powder or soaking the groats in rejuvelac would give the yogurt tang? I will say that since I had so much water, I made mine into a smoothie with a frozen banana. It was a disappointment in the way I felt. I had it before work one morning and was literally SOO HUNGRY almost right afterwards. I was seriously tempted to stop and Dunkin Donuts and get a freaken BAGEL and CREAM CHEESE... I felt an addictive quality to it... maybe it was because I hadn't had hardly any sleep the night before? Who knows... but I know I was VERY hungry that day. At work, I just wanted to stuff my face full of food... I controlled myself well and didn't get that bagel (which is a very good thing because that amount of white bread and the dairy surely would have made me sick)..
Also, the smoothie had over 400 calories.. VERY HIGH! I was much better off eating a ProBar for that amount of calories... at least those satisfied me for hours...
For now, my green smoothie in the morning is a MUCH better choice.

I use:
2 c water
1 frozen banana
2 c organic baby spinach
2 T golden flax meal
1 c strawberries
stevia to taste
lemon juice to taste

It makes around 3 cups... and holds me very well.