Reduced Calorie Vegan Chicken Sandwich

Today's lunchbox features a little idea that I came up with a couple of weeks ago as a way to reduce the calories in something that I eat ALL the time, and that's the Vegan Chicken Sandwich made with the Boca Chik'n Patties. If you've been reading the blog then you've seen me bring them before in a few different ways. I eat quite a few of these things since they're so convenient, but since I've started trying to lose some weight I've paid more attention to my food and it's kinda' bothered me that the patties have 180 calories. I mean, I don't guess that's a big deal, because if you combine it with a Light Bun, which has 80 calories, then you're still only looking at 260 calories for your sandwich. I've been trying to cut calories out everywhere that I can though, and one day I finally figured out how to remove a few calories from this sandwich.

It's easy, just use the Boca Chik'n Nuggets instead of the patties. It takes four nuggets to equal the 180 calories of one pattie, and it only takes three nuggets to make a sandwich, so you save 45 calories right there. Not only that, but based on the number of nuggets in a box and the number of patties in a box, 2 boxes of patties will make 8 sandwiches but 2 boxes of nuggets will make 9 sandwiches. The patties & nuggets cost the same here where I live, so that's kinda' like getting one sandwich for free. Granted, there is a tiny little area of the bun that's not covered when you use the nuggets, but it's not that big of a deal. You can still get some "chicken" in every bite. I guess 45 calories isn't THAT big of a deal, but when you eat as many sandwiches as I do (I practically live on them on the weekends, especially when I'm at the campground) those calories add up. So that's just a little idea I thought I would pass along in case anyone else might be interested in shaving off a few calories here and there.

To go along with my sandwich I brought some more raw Sugar Snap Peas. I love these things. They're great for snacking too. I had never tried them until a couple of weeks ago when I spotted some at the grocery store that were marked down to something like 50 cents so that they could get rid of them before they went bad. I gladly pay full price for them now because they taste so good and you can just tell that they're good for you when you eat them.

I also brought along a few raw Almonds and some Raisins for dessert. So, I guess that's a fairly healthy lunch. 3 out of 4 items are raw and the one cooked item weighs in at only about 215 calories. If I add in a nice walk during lunch then this should work out good for helping me shed the second half of that 40 pounds I want to lose.

And speaking of raw food, I was so excited this morning when I got up and went into the kitchen to rinse my Buckwheat that I am sprouting. I removed the towel that was covering the bowl and THEY HAVE SPROUTED! I felt like jumping up and down because I've never sprouted anything before. It really does feel like you're gardening on your kitchen counter. I don't have the recipe with me now for making the raw "bread" but I'm pretty sure I need to soak some Flax Seeds as well, so I don't know if I'll have time to do that between the time I get home and the time I go to bed, or if I'll just have to put the Buckwheat sprouts in the fridge and soak the Flax overnight. At any rate, I'm excited about making some raw "bread", and if it comes out halfway decent at all I'll show it on here.

So thanks for stopping by my blog today. See everybody on Thursday.