1200 Calorie A Day Menu Plan

Today's feature: The wonderful dandelion! Take the time to look up the wonderful benefits of the dandelion. On it's own, you might find it bitter, but mixed in a salad, you'll never know it's there. Dandelion tea is a different story though and is nothing like the greens. It has a wonderful and enjoyable taste. Dandelions are a great diuretic (French equivalent piss-en-lit = wet the bed) and a liver cleanser. Packed with vitamins. Look up this great green and look to incorporate it into your diet to help lose weight.

BREAKFAST - 357 CALORIES

OVALTINE AND 2 COFFEES WITH CREAM AND SUGAR

SNACKS - 150 CALORIES

V8 AND DRIED APRICOTS

LUNCH - 339 CALORIES

SALAD- BABY GREENS AND 1/2 CUP DANDELION GREENS, 1/2 C. BLACK BEANS, 1 SERVING RAISINS AND SWEET AND SOUR DRESSING

DINNER - 342 CALORIES

PLAIN POACHED CHICKEN

COOKED BROCCOLI

WINTER SQUASH

PAT OF BUTTER

1,200 Calorie A Day Meal Plan

BREAKFAST 423 calories - Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Whole Grain Cereal - 1/2 c. raspberries - 1/2 c. 2% milk - 2 coffees with cream and sugar - Note: you can use 1% or skim to save calories there and if you're not a coffee drinker or drink yours black, there's room for another easy 150 calorie snack at the end of the day.

LUNCH 312 calories homemade pumpkin soup - Low in calories, inexpensive and packed with nutrition. There's lot of online recipes for a good, low-cal pumpkin soup. Crunchmaster Original Multi-Seed Crackers - 1 serving which was 15 crackers - 1/2 c. Dannon Low-Fat vanilla yogurt

SNACK 50 caloriesLow-Sodium V-8

DINNER 548 calories Quinoa Stir-Fry and a hot chocolate made with 1 c. of 2% milk and 1 serving of Cool-Whip

Now the original recipe for the Quinoa Stir-Fry came from Prescription for Dietary Wellness- Using Foods to Heal by Phyllis A. Balch C.N.C. and James F. Balch, M.D.. I did tweak the recipe based on what I already had on hand rather than buying the listed ingredients helping it to fall into my nutritious but inexpensive range. It makes a lot. 6 one cup servings. So, if you're the only one eating it, it can be the next day's breakfast or lunch and the next day and the next day! But seriously, it is very tasty even cold.

Quinoa Stir-Fry

2 c. cooked quinoa

2 TBSP sesame oil

1 c. mushrooms - I used shitake mushrooms

1/2 c. celery, sliced

1/2 c. carrots sliced

1 small onion sliced

1/2 c. green zucchini squash

1/2 c. yellow zucchini squash

2 TBSP stir-fry sauce (or teriyaki or soy sauce)

1/2 orange bell pepper diced

1 c. snow pea pods

3 cloves garlic minced

1/2 c. mixed nuts - The recipe called for 1/2 c. sliced almonds and 1/4 c. sunflower seeds, but I only had the mixed nuts on hand

Instructions: Chop up your vegetables. Cook quinoa according to package instructions. While quinoa is simmering, sauté vegetables (add pea pods last as they need the least amount of cooking time) and garlic in sesame oil. Add the 2 c. of cooked quinoa to the vegetables, add the nuts and stir-fry sauce. Stir all together and serve.

The original recipe called for broccoli and cauliflower, but I used the zucchini instead. So, just use what veggies you have on hand in around the same proportions.