It’s hard to beat a hot bowl of Classic Minestrone Soup! From the colorful herbs and veggies to the creamy beans and tender pasta, each bite is full of robust Italian flavors. It’s hearty, satisfying, and the perfect addition to any menu! Loved by grown-ups and kiddos alike, it’s no wonder minestrone has long been a family favorite.
In my recipe for Classic Minestrone Soup, I’ve put together a delicious line-up of nature’s best and brightest flavors to bring you a soup worth remembering. Both satisfying and waistline friendly, this soup is the perfect addition to your menu!
Next time you have one of those frantic days that just won’t quit, give this recipe a whirl! It’s a busy mom’s dream come true. Just grab some chicken out of the freezer, crank up the ole Crock-Pot, and forget about it. Or at least for a few hours, anyway. What I love best about this recipe, though, is that the chicken ends up both moist and packed with flavor–two attributes commonly lacking in Crock-Pot fare.
My version down below has got some Greek flavors going on, though you could easily switch things up. I’ve done this with citrus-y flavors, balsamic vinegar instead of wine, and all sorts of different herbs and spices–all good. And I use this chicken in all sorts of ways: tacos, wraps, salads, pasta, panini sandwiches, you name it. I’ll often cook up a batch at the beginning of the week just to have it on hand for a quick lunch or dinner. I’m all for easy these days, how about you?
Now that I’ve got a week’s worth of food logs, let’s crunch some numbers and see where the numbers landed. Across the seven days I followed Stassou’s meal plan, I averaged 1308 calories per day with 47% from carbohydrate, 32% from fat, 21% from protein (or 69 grams per day), and 22 grams from fiber. Based on all typical calculations, that calorie level should have definitely produced some weight loss given my particular height, weight, age, gender and activity level. More specifically, I should have created an average daily deficit of 500-700 calories per day, or 3500-4900 calories for the week. Assuming that 1 pound of body weight has roughly 3500 calories, I should have lost 1-1.5 pounds this week. So how did I fare?
Hey, hey! It’s our LAST day testing out The Mediterranean Diet Weight Loss Solution: The 28 Day Kick-Start Plan for Lasting Weight Lossby Julene Stassou, MS, RD! It has definitely been a busy week–so much cooking!–but I’ve enjoyed taking this diet book out for a spin and sharing with you my experiences every step of the way. Now that I’ve really had a taste of what it’s like to follow a Mediterranean-style diet for weight loss, I’ll be sure to post my best tips and insights to help you get the best results!
Happy Saturday! I hope you are having a great start to your weekend–and to November! Today we are heading into the homestretch of our seven-day review of The Mediterranean Diet Weight Loss Solution: The 28 Day Kick-Start Plan for Lasting Weight Lossby Julene Stassou, MS, RD. It has been a busy week in the kitchen, to be sure, but I’ve enjoyed testing and tasting new recipes and meal ideas inspired by the sunny Mediterranean!
Welcome back to The Diet Oracle! It is Friday and we are on Day Five of our little Mediterranean excursion. For the last several days, we have been taking an in depth look at The Mediterranean Diet Weight Loss Solution: The 28 Day Kick-Start Plan for Lasting Weight Lossby Julene Stassou, MS, RD. Putting on my Dutiful Dieter hat, I’ve been faithfully following Stassou’s plan in order to give you a little taste of what this diet is like and what sort of results you could expect.
Thus far, this book has a lot going for it! Many of the recipes have been delicious and worth making again. Yeah, there have been a few bombs, but I’ve tested enough diet and cookbooks to know this is really par for the course. Stassou has done a great job of putting together meal plans that are filling, nourishing, and (mostly) tasty all while keeping calories low enough for steady weight loss. Though my final weigh in for the week isn’t for a couple days, I can say with confidence even now that following her plan will help you drop pounds.
So far the week has had its ups and downs, hasn’t it? Some of the recipes have been absolutely delicious–full of flavor and a feast for the eyes! Others? Not so much. So what will today’s menu bring to the table? Let’s jump right in and take a look at today’s food log!
Welcome back to The Diet Oracle! We are on Day Three of our week-long venture into The Mediterranean Diet Weight Loss Solution and thus far, it has been a mixed bag, my friends. Day One offered up some great recipes that were both tasty and satisfying. Day Two? Well, Day Two had some trouble in the flavor department. However! Day Three is a new day and steak is on the menu! So let’s get right to the food log and see how it all went.
It is Day Two of our seven day trial run of The Mediterranean Diet Weight Loss Solution! This is a weight loss plan that promises to help you ‘kick-start your new diet and lose weight in just 28 days’ with Mediterranean-style fare. So let’s put that promise to the test! For the next seven days, you’ll get a front row seat as I follow the meal plan, test the recipes, and log every bite so that I can share with you, dear readers, my honest-to-goodness opinion of this plan.
Day One was full of flavor (and time spent in the kitchen); how will Day Two go? Let’s get right to the food log and see how it went!
So let me tell you how this is going to work. For seven days, I will be following Stassou’s comprehensive weight loss and wellness plan, blogging each day and sharing with you my experiences. Grocery shopping, meal prep, cooking, recipe testing, food logs–you’ll get a front row seat for it all as I commit an entire week to this Mediterranean diet plan and dish out my candid opinions every step of the way.
Though Stassou offers 6 weeks of complete meal plans with handy grocery lists and meal prep tips, I’m going to wiggle things around a bit and puzzle together my own Mediterranean meal plan using her blank meal planning sheet. I’ll simply plug in her various meal options and make my own grocery list. Yes, this will cost me extra time, but I’m good with that. To be honest, I want to pick meal choices my family will most likely enjoy and this also gives me the chance to test out as many recipes as possible.
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