Weekend Cooking: Cranberry Pecan Rosemary Chicken Salad

This weekend was an absolute blur.  Sam worked overtime this weekend and at the tattoo shop.  We've barely seen each other and excepting a brief excursion to the grocery store and out for a few hours of mom time, I've been at home with The Toddler.  Hope was visiting grandma and so Atticus and I had a chance for some one on one time.  We played all manner of games including a disconcerting game where the flour was covered with invisible dinosaurs and I couldn't move because I would squish them.  It was adorable and unnerving.

Anyhoo, all that to say I didn't do any baking this weekend.  I did -- however -- spend Sunday morning being Productive.  While Sam was working early Sunday morning I deep cleaned the kitchen, boiled eggs for lunches, toasted pecans for recipes, put a bean soup in the crock pot and made Cranberry Pecan Rosemary Chicken Salad.  Please click on the link to see the recipe and much more elegant picture of the sandwich.  I didn't make any changes to the recipe except that mine didn't turn out as "mayo-y" as the sandwich in the picture. I'm okay with this, I'm not big on soggy sandwiches.

I really liked the dressing in this sandwich -- the tangy combo of Greek yogurt, mayo, and apple cider vinegar really made the sandwich killer.  I think I may use it in other sandwiches.  I keep thinking of a  chicken sandwich with pear, pecan, and bacon or a date, almond, apple combo.  I might need to experiment a bit.

I've been really sick of bringing my lunch to work and I've now reached the point in my pregnancy where I'm either ravenously hungry, eating to stay awake, ravenously hungry, emotionally eating to keep from crying over dumb stuff or ravenously hungry.  I've been hitting up the vending machine at work and I certainly don't need the Snickers and I don't need to be spending money on junk.

Part of my insane cleaning and food prepping was to be better prepared for work.  The time in the kitchen was worth the result of Atticus playing contentedly (i.e. the rest of the house was wrecked). I need to eat healthier for my baby, my health, and so I don't fall back into the bad habits that I worked so hard to get rid of earlier this year.  Today for lunch I had my chicken salad sandwich with a cup of bean soup.  It was filling, nutritious and well under 500 calories.  I ate breakfast when I arrived to work the morning (I have difficulty eating and getting the kids ready in the morning) and my boiled egg, cheese stick, 7 Triscuits, and banana kept me full until lunch.  In the breakroom fridge I have a pear, a rice cake, peanut butter, hummus, and baby carrots.... JUST IN CASE. 

My normal holiday attitude is to EAT EVERYTHING.  While I can.... everyone else is overeating and it is the only time people don't seem to judge.  I'm not limiting myself on treats by depriving myself.  I will eat a cookie (or two) and enjoy the holiday food, but when I'm not celebrating I can eat healthy.  My all or nothing mentality greatly contributed to my weight gain.  If I go over on calories because I had a doughnut the world will not fall apart.  It is no excuse to throw my hands up, cave in and have 6 Boston creme doughnuts.  Being reasonable is difficult to learn.

Tonight I plan on making sugar cookies and my goal is that I'll be so full from my nutritious day that a cookie or two will be alright, guilt-free indulgences.