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!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. This means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you when you shop using these links, which helps to make this blog possible. Thank you for your support!

Nutrition in Every Bite

Minestrone is just chock-full of the good stuff. The colorful vegetables and herbs provide an array of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants for health and wellness. Though I’m featuring leeks, garlic, carrots, celery, sweet bell peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, kale, and zucchini, this soup is a wonderful way to show off whatever’s in season or on hand.

Next up on our ingredient list we’ve got a couple varieties of beans–kidney beans and Great Northerns. Inexpensive and oh so good for you, beans are a pantry staple for good reason. These humble legumes boast some serious nutrition value! They’re a great source of complex carbohydrate, fiber, and protein as well as an assortment of vitamins and minerals, such as folate, iron, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium.

And finally, we’re keeping this minestrone classic with just the right of amount of pasta. I went with ditalini, but go with whatever little pasta shape you’ve got on hand!

Whole grain or otherwise, pasta adds complex carbohydrate and B vitamins for lasting energy. Though you can certainly skip the pasta if you’re looking to cut back on carbs, the small amount used here won’t be a problem for most diets. With only 14 grams of total carbohydrate (of which 3 grams are fiber!), this Classic Minestrone Soup is a great option for both health and weight loss!

Perfect for Weight Loss

Speaking of weight loss, did you know that adding soup to your eating plan is a great way to lose extra pounds? Studies have shown that enjoying a bowl of lower-calorie soup prior to your meal is an easy way to decrease your total caloric intake all while keeping hunger at bay. More specifically, that bowl of soup can help you eat 20% fewer calories at your next meal without ever feeling like you’re eating less.

But that’s not all! Aside from having a lower body weight and waist circumference, regular soup eaters also have an overall more nutritious diet. They typically consume less total fat and increased amounts of protein, carbohydrate, fiber, and several vitamins and minerals.

So if you’re looking to lose a little weight and do something for your health, you just can’t go wrong with the soup du jour! Whether you like it chunky or pureed to a smooth bisque, consider adding a broth-based vegetable soup like my Classic Minestrone Soup to your menu!

My Recipe

Full of Flavor

I really do love this soup–and I love making it! There’s something therapeutic about whipping up a big pot of soup. Maybe it’s all the chopping or how the aromatic herbs and veggies make the kitchen smell so amazing. It’s unfussy and uncomplicated, and yet takes just enough effort to feel like an accomplishment. Bonus points if you make fresh bread to go with!

As far as soups go, this Classic Minestrone is straightforward and hassle-free. Simply dice up your veggies, give them a quick saute to bring out their flavors, deglaze with a bit of wine, and gradually add the remaining ingredients to the pot. Finish things off with a fresh grating of Romano and dig in! One bite and I think you’ll agree that this soup is molta deliziosa!

Serves a Crowd

So let me point out that this recipe makes a big ole’ pot of soup. We love having soup with dinner (it’s a great way to get in more veggies!) and I like to make enough that I can stash some away in the freezer for later. Though minestrone is best eaten when freshly made, it’s still quite tasty after being frozen. To brighten up the soup’s flavor and appearance, just toss in a handful of fresh herbs and call it good.

If, however, 6½ quarts of Classic Minestrone Soup is more than you care to make, you can absolutely cut this recipe in half! Most of these ingredients are easily scaled back and if you don’t want to use just half a can each of the kidney and Great Northern beans, feel free to pick only one variety to crack open.

Print

Classic Minestrone Soup

With its colorful veggies and fresh herbs, creamy beans, and tender pasta, you're going to love this Classic Minestrone Soup. It's an Italian classic!

Course Appetizer, Dinner, Lunch, Main Course, Soup

Cuisine Italian

Keyword Beans, Healthy, Kale, Minestrone, Pasta, Soup, Vegetables

Total Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 6 quarts

Ingredients

• 3 leeks (white and pale green parts), quartered and sliced
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups sliced carrots
• 3 stalks celery, sliced
• 1 cup diced sweet bell peppers
• ½ cup white wine
• 12 cups reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
• ¼ cup tomato paste
• ¾ cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (drained, if in oil)
• ½ cup fresh basil, sliced (divided)
• ½ cup fresh parsley, chopped (divided)
• 2 – 3 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp dried marjoram
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• ¼ tsp ground black pepper
• ⅛ – ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 cup uncooked ditalini pasta, about 4½ oz (or other small pasta shape)
• 1 14 oz can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 14 oz can Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed (or other white beans)
• 1 cup diced zucchini
• 2 cups deveined and chopped kale
• 3 oz finely grated Romano cheese, divided
• juice of ½ lemon

Instructions

• Before getting started, make sure your leeks are properly cleaned. Fill a large bowl with water and add in your sliced leeks. Stir them around with your hands and you'll see that all the dirt and grit sink to the bottom while the leeks float. Carefully scoop out the leeks and set aside.
• In a large soup pot (at least 7 quarts), heat the olive oil over medium heat until shimmering and then add in the leeks and garlic. Gently saute for 5 minutes.
• Add in the celery, carrots, and peppers. Give everything a good stir and saute for another 5 minutes.
• Pour in the white wine and deglaze the pot, using a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom. Simmer for a couple more minutes.
• Pour in the broth as well as the tomato paste, sun-dried tomatoes, half of the fresh basil and parsley, 2 tsp of salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, dried marjoram, and dried oregano. Stir well and bring to a low boil.
• Add the ditalini to the pot and cook for 10 minutes.
• Now add the beans, kale, zucchini, the rest of the basil and parsley, and 2 ounces of the grated Romano. Simmer for 5 minutes. Pour in the lemon juice.
• Taste for seasoning and add the remaining salt, if desired. Serve hot and topped with a good pinch of Romano. Enjoy!

Notes

Nutrition information per serving (1 cup): 110 calories, 4 g total fat, 1 g saturated fat, 14 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 5 g protein

Did you try this recipe for Classic Minestrone Soup? Let me know how it went down in the comments!

Psst…hungry for MORE soup? Try my recipe for Hearty and Delicious Borscht!

Sources

Zhu Y, Hollis JH. Soup consumption is associated with a lower dietary energy density and a better diet quality in US adults. Br J Nutr. 2014 Apr 28;111(8):1474-80. Epub 2014 Jan 2.

Flood JE, Rolls BJ. Soup preloads in a variety of forms reduce meal energy intake. Appetite. 2007 Nov; 49(3): 626–634. EPub2007 Apr 14.

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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?

Nutrition Highlights:

• Skinless chicken breast is a fantastic source of lean, complete protein. Boasting a whopping 8 grams of protein per ounce and only 1 gram of fat, it’s no wonder that this versatile meat finds its way onto most meal plans.
• Chicken breast is also a good source of B vitamins, including niacin, riboflavin, B₆, and B₁₂–all important for healthy metabolism, normal cell functioning, and more.
• Mediterranean cuisine offers not only delicious flavors but also a whole host of health benefits, thanks to the monounsaturated fats found in olive oil and the abundance of antioxidants found in colorful fruits and vegetables, herbs and spices, and wine, just to name a few.

Print

Easy Greek-style Shredded Chicken

Use your slow cooker to make this delicious chicken infused with Greek flavors!

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mediterranean

Keyword Chicken, Greek, Oregano, Slow Cooker

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 4 hours hours

Servings 12 servings

Author Maureen @ The Diet Oracle

Ingredients

• 4 frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 3 pounds)
• ⅓ cup olive oil
• ⅓ cup white wine
• 1 Tb minced garlic (about 3 cloves)
• 1 Tb dried oregano
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper

Instructions

• This recipe is as easy as it gets.  Arrange your frozen chicken in the Crock-Pot and turn it on to the ‘high’ setting.  Whisk together the remaining ingredients and then pour over the chicken.  Cover and cook for 3-4 hours, or until the chicken is cooked through and can be easily pulled apart.  I typically will flip and rearrange the chicken breasts once or twice while they’re cooking, but don’t sweat it if you’re not around to do so. 
• Once done, pull out the chicken and use two forks to shred it up.  Dump the shredded chicken back into the Crock-Pot and toss well.  Turn the Crock-Pot to the ‘warm’ setting and hold until you’re ready to serve.

Notes

Nutrition information per serving (4 ounces of drained, shredded chicken): 182 calories, 6 g total fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 g carbohydrate, 0 g fiber, 32 g protein**

**This nutrition information was calculated by assuming there would be a small amount of calories added by a residual of the cooking liquid (i.e. the olive oil and white wine). If you were to serve the chicken with the cooking liquid, the nutrition information per serving would be 222 calories, 10 g total fat, 2 g saturated fat, 0 g carbohydrate, 0 g fiber, 32 g protein.

Did you try this recipe? Let me know how it went in the comments below!

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Welcome back to The Diet Oracle! Now that I’ve finished up my week-long crack at The Mediterranean Diet Weight Loss Solution: The 28 Day Kick-Start Plan for Lasting Weight Loss by Julene Stassou, MS, RD, it’s time to take a closer look at what this diet brings to the table and–perhaps most importantly–see whether it delivered on its promises and claims.

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?

After a week of following The Mediterranean Diet Weight Loss Solution, I lost precisely 1.5 pounds, or a little over 1% of my starting weight.

Though 1.5 pounds might not seem like a lot–especially if you watch any of those crash diet shows on the boob tube–let’s put this into perspective. Based on my personal results, if I were to follow this diet for the suggested 28 days (or 4 weeks) recommended by Stassou, I would lose about 6 pounds in a month. If I kept at it for three months, I’d be close to hitting 20 pounds. Twenty. Pounds. Given that significant health benefits can be reaped by losing just 5-10% of one’s body weight (assuming there’s extra weight to lose), even a person weighing in at 400 pounds would benefit from a 20 pound weight loss!

Though this diet plan certainly has both its pro’s and con’s, I would say one of its biggest advantages is the fact that I rarely felt hungry between meals. I think only twice over the course of the entire week did I feel some hunger pangs and even then, I simply added an extra snack as Stassou recommends. My friends, this is kind of a big deal, since hunger is perhaps *the* number one reason dieters give up and call it quits. To create a meal plan that chalks up a daily 500-700 calorie deficit without undue suffering is really an accomplishment. After all, if you’re not constantly dealing with a growling stomach, you will be that much more likely to stick with your plan and get the results you’re after.

So did The Mediterranean Diet Weight Loss Solution deliver on its claims and promises? I think so. If you are willing to truly commit to this 28-day kick-start plan and follow Stassou’s recommendations, you will likely lose weight. Does that mean this is the right diet for you? Maybe. Over the next series of posts, I’ll continue to share with you my thoughts and insights to help you answer that very question and decide whether a little dietary trip to the Mediterranean might just be your weight loss solution! Thanks for reading!

The post The Mediterranean Diet Weight Loss Solution: A Week in Review…and My Results! appeared first on The Diet Oracle.

Hey, hey! It’s our LAST day testing out The Mediterranean Diet Weight Loss Solution: The 28 Day Kick-Start Plan for Lasting Weight Loss by 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!

For now, let’s take a look at Day Seven’s food log and see how the week ended!

Breakfast: Nonfat Greek yogurt with 1 tablespoon honey, 1 egg, grapes, and my usual coffee with half and half

Lunch: Leftover Sun-dried Tomato and Artichoke Pizza and a small pear

Snack: Whole grain toast with 1 tablespoon peanut butter

Dinner: Keftedes (Greek Meatballs) with Greek Salad (and a small portion of that Pasta Puttanesca!)

Today’s meal plan was a great ending to an overall great week. Breakfast was simple, but tasty and satisfying. I really love honey drizzled on plain Greek yogurt and it’s hard to beat Greek yogurt as a quick and easy source of protein! Lunch made use of yesterday’s leftover pizza, so no complaints there. Still delicious the next day!

Now I have to admit, I sort of winged today’s snack. Though it’s consistent with her other snack recommendations, she didn’t specifically have PB toast on the list. Nonetheless, it definitely hit the spot!

Dinner was wonderful. The keftedes, which are Greek-style meatballs, came together fairly quickly and since they were baked in the oven, I didn’t have to stand over a splattering pan of hot grease. I have to say, I’ve done this with other meatball recipes and you really can’t beat baking! The meatballs cook evenly without burning and you never have to worry about someone getting burned. And, if you line the pan with foil, clean up is a snap, too!

Though I was worried about the ground turkey making for dry meatballs, these actually turned out so well. All the aromatics and fresh herbs added wonderful flavor and there wasn’t a hockey puck in sight. I particularly enjoyed the fresh mint–a flavor that, when combined with the fresh oregano and parsley, really made these seem Greek.

Now, according to my meal plan, I was to serve up these keftedes alongside a Greek Salad–which I did. However, there was one recipe I hadn’t managed to make yet and simply couldn’t pass up: Penne Puttanesca. So! I decided to whip up this relatively quick and easy pasta dish for the family.

If you’re not familiar with Pasta Puttanesca, it’s a tomato-based sauce that’s loaded with all sorts of deliciousness. Olives, capers, anchovy paste(!), fresh herbs, red pepper flakes–so many layers of spicy and briny flavors that really live up to the recipe’s name! Now, I did opt to keep the heat to a minimum, since I planned to serve this to the kiddos, but you could really spice it up to your heart’s content! Either way, this pasta dish is a traditional Italian dish worth trying.

So here’s the nutrition breakdown for Day Seven. Calories came in 1277, 43% from carbohydrate, 35% from fat, and 22% from protein with 18 grams of fiber. Today’s calorie count was a bit lower than usual, but I didn’t particularly notice. Even including the small serving of Pasta Puttanesca with my dinner, I still ended up with less than 1300 calories for my daily total. Day Seven was yet again proof that it is possible to eat well and lose weight!

Speaking of weight loss, tomorrow I’ll be sharing my own personal results after following this diet plan for one week. Based on my mid-week weigh-in, I suspect I’ll have something to show for the last seven days! I’ll also give an overall run-down of the week, do a little number crunching, and give you my final thoughts on The Mediterranean Diet Weight Loss Solution.

Thanks for reading and have a fabulous week!

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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 Loss by 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!

So let’s jump right into Day Five’s food log!

Breakfast: Breakfast Sandwich made with egg and lean bacon on whole wheat bread, mixed berries, and coffee with half and half

Lunch: Leftover Faki (Greek lentil soup) with whole wheat pita bread and grapes

Snack: Nonfat Greek yogurt with 1 tablespoon honey

Dinner: Sun-dried Tomato and Artichoke Pizza with Prosciutto and Greek Salad

Today’s meal plan was full of winners! It’s hard to go wrong with a breakfast sandwich and it was nice having easy options for both lunch and snack. Though the extra time spent prepping and preparing soups, salads, and snacky items can be tiresome, the reward of having a fridge and pantry stocked with tasty options packed with good nutrition is worth it.

Dinner today was definitely a highlight. Weekend pizza is a tradition at our house and most weeks, I make it from scratch. When I saw that Stassou included several Mediterranean-inspired pizzas, I knew I had to make at least one. Given my love of artichokes, the Sun-Dried Tomato and Artichoke Pizza was a no-brainer.

For the most part, Stassou’s recipe worked pretty well. The dough was a fairly standard “healthier” pizza dough made with half all-purpose and half whole wheat flour, though I did end up having to use more flour than the recipe called for to make the dough workable–I think about 1/2 cup more. The sauce was made with canned crushed tomatoes, some aromatics, and oregano and came together quickly.

When it came time to put it all together, I got the feeling Stassou may have not actually measured the amount of toppings she used. The recipe seems to indicate you’re supposed to use all of the pizza sauce, which would have completely flooded the pizza. As for the other toppings, the sheer quantity of sun-dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts was also beyond excessive. I think I ended up using maybe half of what the recipe stated–certainly no more than 2/3. Her amounts would definitely have been better suited to a deep-dish style pizza.

The other issue I had with Stassou’s recipe was her instruction to somehow transfer this heavily laden, uncooked pizza to either your pre-heated pizza stone or (even more impossibly) directly to your oven rack. My friends, as you can see from the picture above, this pizza is fully loaded and I can tell you, attempting to somehow maneuver this uncooked mass would be a catastrophe–and I didn’t even use the full amount of toppings! Any attempt to slide (flop) this monstrosity onto an oven rack could only result in the most epic kitchen fail of your life.

Because I am not a glutton for punishment, I went another route. Having a bit of experience when it comes to making pizza, I decided to roll-out my pizza dough directly onto my unheated stone. I could have also used a metal pizza pan. Granted, it would be ideal to have the stone pre-heated, but there was no way I was going to attempt Stassou’s suggested method.

Otherwise, I cooked the pizza according to her instructions and the results really were delicious! This pizza had so many layered flavors and was a treat to eat. Though I also made a pizza with more familiar toppings for the rest of the crew, my artichoke lovers gave this one a try and really liked it! So despite the various hiccups with the recipe, I’d still call this one a winner for sure!

Alright, so let’s look at today’s nutrient breakdown. Across the 3 meals and 1 snack, calories came in at 1350 with 51% from carbohydrate, 27% from fat, and 22% from protein with 26 grams of fiber. I didn’t have any issues with hunger today and despite being in a persistent calorie deficit of 500-700 calories per day, I have yet to really feel it. Given that hunger is one of the number one reasons dieters throw in the towel, this is a huge plus.

I’m nearing the end of our seven-day test run of The Mediterranean Diet Weight Loss Solution and I hope that, if you’ve ever considered trying a Mediterranean-style diet, these posts have been helpful! Tomorrow will be my last day following Stassou’s meal plan after which I will do a series of posts sharing my overall thoughts on this diet, discussing everything from the grocery shopping and food prep to the meal plan and my personal results after one week following it. By the end of this series, I hope you’ll have all the information and insight you need to decide whether a Mediterranean diet might by the right plan for you!

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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 Loss by 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 let’s get into today’s food log and see how it went!

Breakfast: Whole grain bread with 1/4 avocado, 3/4 cup mixed blueberries and sliced bananas, 1 egg, and my usual coffee with half and half.

Lunch: Faki (Greek lentil soup) with chicken sausage and grapes.

Snack: Carrot and Bran Muffin (yes, I’m still eating those) with 1/2 cup Craisins and chai tea

Dinner: Shrimp Scampi with 1 cup Barilla ProteinPLUS spaghetti and green salad with Greek Dressing

Remember yesterday’s breakfast bust? Well after everything quite literally fell apart on the kitchen counter, I decided to give Stassou’s French Toast recipe a second chance. I whipped up the egg mixture once again, but this time I only gave the bread slices the briefest of dunks. Sadly, the French toast still ended up a burnt, soggy mess. (Paradoxical, I know.) I suspect the combo of too few eggs and the use of almond milk had something to do with it. In any case, I went with plan B and had the toast with egg, avocado, and fruit. Not a bad alternative!

The Faki was a new take on lentil soup for me, but a traditional recipe for many who observe Lent. Though lentil soup is something I make on a somewhat regular basis, Stassou’s recipe is meatless and had the unexpected flavor of red wine vinegar added just before serving. This not being the season of Lent, the Faki was served alongside chicken sausage and grapes for a cozy and filling lunch on a chilly day.

My snack was quick and easy–a Carrot and Bran Muffin with dried cranberries and a spicy cup of Chai tea. Fairly perfect for a fall afternoon.

Dinner today was simply delicious. Stassou’s recipe for Shrimp Scampi turned out beautifully and everyone around the table loved it! The Scampi had a nice balance of flavors between the garlic, lemon, white wine, and extra-virgin olive oil and no one minded the Barilla ProteinPLUS spaghetti, which is made with a combination of grains and legumes, such as lentils, chickpeas, flaxseed, barley, oats, and spelt. It’s an easy swap that makes pasta night even better (for you)!

So here are the numbers for Day Five. Calories came in at 1352 with 47% from carbohydrate, 34% from fat, and 19% protein with 25 grams of fiber. Stassou’s plan continues maintain a steady calorie range and though the macros vary a little bit, that is largely influenced by my snack choices.

I really appreciate how little I’ve had to battle hunger these past several days. Though I have consistently been in a calorie deficit of 500-700 calories per day, I have rarely felt it. Stassou’s ‘weight loss solution’ continues to deliver meals and snacks that keep hunger at bay–something any dieter can appreciate!

That’s it for Day Five! Thanks for reading and have a fantastic weekend!

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Welcome back to The Diet Oracle! We are officially at the half-way point of our week-long test drive of The Mediterranean Diet Weight Loss Solution: The 28 Day Kick-Start Plan for Lasting Weight Loss by Julene Stassou, MS, RD. If you’re just joining us, be sure to check my previous posts for Days One, Two, and Three as well as more information about Mediterranean diets and their potential benefits!

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!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. This means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you when you shop using these links, which helps to make this blog possible. Thank you for your support!

Day Three’s Meal Plan

Breakfast

• Greek Yogurt with Berries, Honey, and Mint (pg. 90)
• 1 slice whole wheat toast
• Coffee with half and half

Lunch

• White Bean Soup with Kale (pg. 118)
• 1/2 whole wheat pita
• 1/2 apple

Snacks

• Date Nut Energy Ball (pg. 202) with fresh strawberries and chai tea
• Carrot and Bran Muffin (pg. 93)

Dinner

• Hamburger made with 4 ounces extra-lean ground beef on a whole wheat bun with ketchup, mustard, lettuce, tomato, pickles and onion (pg. 61)
• Easy Brussels Sprouts Hash (pg. 182)

My Thoughts

So we definitely had some winners and losers today, my friends. Though the day had a rough start out of the gates, it definitely ended on a high note!

Recipe Fail!

Let’s start with breakfast. I tried making the French Toast recipe found in the book and it was, I’m sad to report, a total debacle. I followed the cooking instructions to the letter and, despite my best instincts, soaked the bread slices for 10 MINUTES. If you’ve ever made French toast, you can probably guess what happened. One slice was so soggy I couldn’t even transfer it to the skillet! The others somehow managed to burn whilst remaining an uncooked mess within. Oh dear. I think I will try this recipe again, though only briefly dunking the bread slices prior to cooking. We’ll see what happens! Needless to say, I resorted to plan B and had the yogurt with berries again.

Keeping Hunger at Bay

Lunch was a significant improvement! The White Bean and Kale Soup was really tasty and satisfying on a chilly day. A colorful variety of veggies, creamy white beans, a bit of chicken sausage, fresh thyme and red pepper flakes come together to make a filling soup full of flavor–not to mention good nutrition! I would certainly make this again.

Snacks were repeats from earlier in the week, so nothing new to add there except to note that I had a bit more difficulty with nagging hunger throughout the afternoon today. I suspect that’s likely due to the fairly low calorie count at lunch. Instead of ignoring my hunger cues, I went ahead and added a second snack. Problem solved.

Dinner for the WIN!

The family definitely appreciated the dinner menu tonight and I have to admit, it felt good having an honest-to-goodness hamburger. We buy our beef from a local rancher and love it! Such high quality meat and we know how the cows are being raised and processed.

The Easy Brussels Sprouts Hash went over fairly well with the crew. Believe it or not, my boys actually like Brussels sprouts, though I usually just steam and toss them with a dab of butter and salt. My husband liked this new recipe with its tangy Dijon vinaigrette; the boys only gave it a middling rating at best. For an otherwise widely despised member of the cruciferous vegetable family, I’ll go ahead and call that a win.

Nutrition Breakdown

Alright! So, let’s look at the numbers. Today’s calories came in at 1248 with 55% coming from carbohydrate, 25% from fat, and 20% from protein and 24 grams of fiber. A slight change from the usual breakdown, but this is no surprise given that my snacks of choice today were a bit higher in carbohydrate. As all previous days, this is once again a calorie level that, by all calculations, would create about a 1 pound weight loss per week–perhaps a bit more. My weigh-in yesterday certainly confirms that.

Aside from the French Toast fail this morning, Day Four went pretty well! I enjoyed most of today’s meal plan and added an extra snack when I needed something to keep hunger at bay. I do still feel like I am spending a lot of time in the kitchen, but that comes with the territory when fresh, unprocessed food is on the menu.

I hope you’re enjoying this review of The Mediterranean Diet Weight Loss Solution! I know I have enjoyed the chance to test new recipes and taste new flavors! Tomorrow we’ll be taking another look at that French Toast and for dinner? Shrimp Scampi! You don’t want to miss it!

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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.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. This means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you when you shop using these links, which helps to make this blog possible. Thank you for your support!

Day Three’s Meal Plan

Breakfast

• Carrot and Bran Muffin (pg. 93)
• 1 egg
• Grapes
• Coffee with half and half

Lunch

• Tuna Salad Sandwich on whole wheat bread (pg. 66)
• 1/2 sliced pear

Snack

• 1 ounce mozzarella
• 10 cherry tomatoes

Dinner

• Steak with Red Wine-Mushroom Sauce (pg. 176)
• Greek Salad (pg. 110)
• Baked Apple with Walnuts and Spices (pg. 197)

My Thoughts

Day Three went pretty well, I’d say. Breakfast was relatively quick and easy, as was lunch. Nice to not have a sinkful of dishes to contend with! Breakfast today made use of the Carrot and Bran Muffins I made earlier in the week, so it was a no muss, no fuss start to the day. Lunch came together in a snap, too. I enjoyed Stassou’s simple but tasty recipe for tuna salad and certainly felt satisfied with my lunch.

The highlight for the day was definitely dinner. If you appreciate a good steak and enjoy mushrooms, you will love this recipe for Steak with Red Wine-Mushroom Sauce. The sautéed mushrooms were really delicious with the fresh thyme and added loads of flavor to the red wine reduction sauce. I did miss not having a little butter whisked in at the end of deglazing, but such is life when you’re on a diet, no?

Though I enjoyed my steak sans starch, I roasted up some little baby potatoes for rest of the crew lest they starve. If you were needing a few more calories on your plate, these would be a quick and easy addition with virtually no clean up. Though they hardly warrant a recipe, I’ll be sure post one soon for those nights you need a potato side that’s both healthy and delicious!

The Breakdown

So let’s crunch some numbers for the day! Across the 3 meals and 1 snack, calories came in at 1318 with 34% of calories from carbohydrate, 43% from fat, and 23% from protein. Only 14 grams of fiber today. Once again, calories are coming in right around 1300 calories per day and a quick weigh-in this morning showed I was down half a pound.

From personal experience, I know that this calorie level will typically deliver some results over the course of a week and so I adjusted Stassou’s plan down from 1500 calories accordingly. As Stassou mentions, a person can certainly modify her plan to suit their own needs by adjusting the number of snacks, adding protein to any vegetarian meals/snacks, or by decreasing/increasing portion sizes a bit. In my case, I simply stick to 1 snack per day (as opposed to 2-3 snacks) and call it good.

Keeping Hunger at Bay

Though 1300 calories isn’t much, Stassou really does make every single bite count. I have yet to be bothered with any serious hunger pangs and have enjoyed the color, flavor, and variety of her recipes (mostly). I find that for most people, feeling hungry is perhaps the number one reason they quit on any given diet. After all, it is pretty hard to ignore biology. Once you let yourself truly get physically hungry, it is near impossible to think about anything besides FOOD. Food like brownies. Chips. Inordinate amounts of pasta. You get the idea. Stassou has really done a great job of creating a menu that manages to cut calories without undue misery.

And that’s it for Day Three! Tomorrow we’ll be to our half-way point in this little Mediterranean experiment and speaking of experiments, I’ll be trying out Stassou’s recipe for French Toast! The ingredient list looks a little iffy, so we’ll see what happens!

Thanks for reading! If you’d like to learn more about the Mediterranean diet, you do so here.

The post The Mediterranean Diet Weight Loss Solution: Day Three appeared first on The Diet Oracle.

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!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. This means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you when you shop with these links, which helps to make this blog possible. Thanks for your support!

Day Two’s Meal Plan

Breakfast:

• Whole wheat toast with 1/4 avocado
• 1 egg
• Coffee with half and half

Lunch:

• Leftover One-Pan Tuscan Chicken
• 3/4 cup cooked whole wheat pasta
• Mixed greens with Greek Dressing

Snack:

• Carrot and Bran Muffin

Dinner:

• Chicken Gyros with Tzatziki
• 1 whole wheat pita
• Parmesan Zucchini Sticks

My Thoughts on the Day

The Carrot and Bran Muffins

I have to admit that after yesterday’s deliciousness, today was a bit of a letdown. Breakfast was fine, though nothing particularly exciting. The Carrot and Bran Muffins, though moist and spiced, were otherwise lacking in any amount of reasonable sweetness. My muffin-loving 5-year-old was both confused and disappointed.

The Gyros

The gyros were also, sadly, a bit disappointing. The chicken gyro meat had an over-powering amount of herbs and yet still lacked flavor due to the absence of any fat content and a meagre usage of salt. The Tzatziki was also so very bland. Tzatziki is something I make several times a year and everyone at the table was pretty underwhelmed with this recipe. Bummer.

The Zucchini

And finally, those misleading Parmesan Zucchini Sticks. I mean, just look at them. They look fantastic, don’t they? DON’T BE DECEIVED. Despite the promise of crispy broiled parmesan and sizzling herbs atop the fresh zucchini, these were awful. Like, comically so. Despite appearances, the zucchini retained zero of its structural integrity and had the mouthfeel of a slug. And, to add insult to injury, the herbed-parmesan veneer did nothing in the flavor department, which really is a mystery in and of itself.

The high point of the day, then, had to be lunch, which was yesterday’s leftovers–the One-Pan Tuscan Chicken with whole wheat pasta and Greek salad. Still tasty the next day.

Crunching the Numbers

Moving on! Let’s take a look at today’s nutrient breakdown. Calories today landed at 1285 with 53% coming from carbohydrate, 30% from fat, and 17% from protein with 28 grams of fiber. Today’s protein came in a bit low, but I’m not surprised given that today’s snack was more starch-based and I also wasn’t able to eat a full portion of that chicken gyro meat. Otherwise, today’s calorie level of <1300 is once again appropriate for weight loss and should produce some results by the end of the week.

Living the Lifestyle

For exercise today, I did my typical weight lifting routine and felt like I had a good workout. Nothing amazing, but I didn’t get stuck under the bar, either. I also did fine with my water intake, getting in an extra liter. I’ve found that it really helps if I make a batch of infused water, adding sliced lemon, oranges, or strawberries for a touch of flavor and sweetness. We’ll make a water drinker out of me yet!

And that’s it for Day Two! Tomorrow we’ll be taking a look at Day Three and hopefully we’ll have more hits and fewer flops! Steak with a Red Wine and Mushroom Sauce is on the menu for tomorrow, so let’s keep our fingers crossed!

The post The Mediterranean Diet Weight Loss Solution: Day Two appeared first on The Diet Oracle.

Welcome back to The Diet Oracle! It is a new week and today we are jumping headfirst into The Mediterranean Diet Weight Loss Solution: The 28 Day Kick-Start Plan for Lasting Weight Loss by Julene Stassou, MS, RD. I don’t know about you, but I am excited to dig in and put this Mediterranean meal plan to the test!

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.

With that said, let’s get right into Day One!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. This means that I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you when you shop using these links, which helps to make this blog possible. Thank you for your support!

Day One’s Mediterranean Meal Plan

Breakfast

• Yogurt with Blueberries, Honey, and Mint (pg. 90)
• 1 egg
• Coffee with half and half

I really liked how the honey and mint tasted together and the portion seemed just right.

Lunch

• Greek Salad (pg. 110)
• 3 oz deli turkey

This was a really nice salad with a tangy vinaigrette.

Snack

• Date Nut Energy Ball (pg. 202)

These were kind of fiddly to make, but eventually came together. Definitely wouldn’t be able to eat more than one of these at a go. Though they’re not overly sweet, they have a sort of filling richness thanks to all the high-fat ingredients, cocoa powder, and dates. My husband and 10-year-old both liked these.

Dinner

• One-Pan Tuscan Chicken (pg. 168)
• 2 oz whole wheat pasta
• Roasted Asparagus with Lemon and Pine Nuts (pg. 183)

The Tuscan Chicken dish was really delicious and a satisfying portion size. The asparagus recipe, I think, had way too much lemon. The whole family was puckered up!

Overall, I am really impressed with today’s offerings! The food was full of flavor and the portions were certainly satisfying. I could tell by the end of the day that I was in a calorie deficit, but wasn’t suffering by any means. In fact, based on our dinner, my husband wondered whether this was actually a weight loss plan!

Nutrient Analysis for Day One

So let’s take a look at our nutrient breakdown for the day. Between the three meals and one snack, I landed at 1324 calories with 44% coming from carbohydrate, 32% from fat, and 24% from protein. Fiber was right at 25 grams. This calorie level, for me, is appropriate for about 1 pound of weight loss per week. (I did weigh in this morning so we’ll see if there are any changes by the end of the week.) Given how satisfied I felt throughout the day, I’d say this plan offers a great balance between reducing calories whilst offering decent portion sizes.

Time and Effort

As for effort entailed, Stassou’s plan will certainly get you reacquainted with your kitchen. Between truly preparing and cooking food for every single meal as well as whipping up those Date Nut Energy Balls, there was a lot of time spent in the kitchen today. Though nothing was overly complicated, each meal involved some amount of washing, measuring, chopping, mixing, cooking and beyond. Nothing about this day was ‘grab-and-go.’ On the bright side, even my amateur iPhone pics show you how delicious and wonderfully good-for-you these meals were.

It’s a Lifestyle, too!

In keeping with every aspect of Stassou’s 28-day kick-start plan, I am also following her exercise schedule and working on drinking more water. Though she does include a strength training routine with body weight exercises, I’ll be sticking with my usual barbell program. Today was a cardio day and I had a great workout. As for the water, I managed to get in an extra liter. True confessions, I am not always the best water drinker, so this is definitely a good goal for me.

Alright! Day One is officially on the books! I’d say today was a great start to what I hope will be an enjoyable week full of new recipes. Up tomorrow, Day Two!

Thanks for reading!

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