Soup Review and Staying Full

Hi Kids!  Hope you survived your Monday!  I barely made it, but it's one day down and we are 4 days away from the weekend!

Last week I was lucky enough to receive a sample of the Campbell's V8 Garden Vegetable Soup in a cute shipment, including a notebook, pen, pedometer, and reusable bag.  I am pretty skeptical about packaged soups and I rarely purchase them because they never satisfy me.  They are often not worth the ingredients or calories.  It's not that I am a gourmet chef, but I like to think that I can make something better and I like to know exactly what goes in my food.

I decided that the ultimate test of this soup would be on a day that I needed to stay full and it would be a while until my next meal.  I opened the soup and poured it in a bowl- I used the whole box since it was the main part of my meal and only 240 calories.  I irrationally poured out tons of pepper in it, because that's what my dad does and I picked up that habit somewhere along the way:

The color was a bit like baby food, but the texture was pleasantly thicker than I expected.  The taste was very mild and I enjoyed it.  I think it would be a good base to add your own frozen veggies and extra spices like paprika and cumin for a little kick.  I like my soups full of flavor and spice.  I would love to try some of their other flavors, like Golden Butternut Squash. I hope the folks at Campbell's don't mind that I snagged their nutritional info:

Based on the taste and nutritional profile, I came up with my little pros and cons list:

Pros:

• Convenient
• Low calorie
• Tastes good
• 5 grams of protein, 3 grams of fiber, not too much added sugar

Cons:

• It's packaged and I don't do packaged
• It could use a little bit of spice, but it's likely my Tabasco-influenced palate
• There is 20% of your daily value of sodium

Thanks again for letting me sample this soup!

I'm not sure if it was the soup, but I did stay full that day, which is a miracle in itself!  I did have a couple of these high fiber friends to help me:

Beautiful sugar snap peas and a sugary sweet organic Bartlett pear

Feeling Satisfied

I'm always looking for the right combination of foods to fill my stomach and give me enough energy without getting hungry or overstuffed.  I did not do a good job of that today when I had a sandwich the size of my head (I have a big head) and was stuffed for 8 hours!  I felt sluggish and queasy and it was no fun.  I prefer a higher volume of lower calorie foods to fill me up, but not make me want to take a nap right away!  I hate the word diet, and I never say I'm on one, but sometimes I just get it wrong and it's alright sometimes.  There is no perfect combination, but I'm still working on mine!  What combinations of food keep you satisfied?

Since I was more than properly fueled for the gym, I busted out a really fun treadmill run (for me)/jog (for anyone else).  I did 3.5 miles in 40 minutes and felt awesome.  I had the entertainment of my iPhone there to find awesome youtube videos to run to!  Some of the highlight's included Brit's new video, lotsa Shakira, some old school hip hop (Sir Mix-a-Lot) and a little Gipsy Kings.  I followed it up with some stretching so that I don't limp tomorrow.  I stretched to Pachebel Canon in D Major- it's so calming and reminds me of our wedding since that's the song I walked out to...ah memories!

Dinner tonight was really fun!

It's cold for me (I think it's 50 degrees, maybe) and I decided I wanted to make berry apple crisp.  I microwaved berries and half of an apple and then added 1/4 cup of TJ's Blueberry granola.  It was perfectly warm and comforting.

It was enjoyed with my Jasmin Green Tea obsession:

I also had a nice green apple with raw almond butter.  And for fun, here is the husband's dinner:

Yes, that's 3/4 of a blender full of protein powder, frozen fruit, yogurt, and juice.  His secret ingredient today was lemon juice and he shared a sip with me to showcase his mixologist skills. 

I'm now procrastinating my shower and getting ready to go to bed, which I desparately need to do.  I stayed up way too late watching the Kardashian Wedding Special last night since I still love everything wedding-relate- don't judge.  Bed time!

Thanks for reading!