breakfast and dinner, lower-cal style??

Although the tedium of counting calories is still kind of frustrating me, I'm really not finding this whole "diet" thing all that challenging -- I like the program I'm using to track my calories and exercise, I found a really helpful website that has made calculating calories/etc. of homemade things fairly simple, and my active lifestyle and already healthy eating habits have allowed room in my "diet" for a substantial treat at least daily -- homemade popsicle, slice of pie, homemade cookie, etc. Not bad, if you ask me!

(Is it wrong that I absolutely despise the word "diet?" Sigh.)

Anyhow, I found plenty of room in my daily calories yesterday for a truly indulgent brunch:

I made some whole-wheat buttermilk pancakes with Buttermilk Syrup, and enjoyed a side of fresh, local strawberries and a glass of iced green tea. Yum yum! (That syrup isn't healthy at all, but it's so caramelly-good, a tablespoon or two is a fantastic treat!)

Tonight's dinner leaned much more toward the healthy side, although it didn't taste that way!

Quinoa topped with sugar-snap peas, tofu, green onions, cilantro, and homemade peanut sauce.

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I've found, so far, that the biggest changes I've made in my eating habits have actually been really, really small -- I've mostly been paying closer attention to portion sizes, and have avoided mindless eating/snacking at work. (The new job helps -- there really isn't much in the way of "junk" laying around, and if I get desperately hungry, I just eat a graham cracker or a few vanilla wafers. Plain, bland, and unappetizing, I'm actually satisfying hunger, as opposed to boredom or frustration, which was often the case at my old job.)

I just hope things continue to feel this easy! I am already making appropriate progress, but definitely have a ways to go!