What's for dinner: Goat Cheese & Raspberry Panini

I started an 8-week "biggest loser" type competition this morning hosted by my little sister. It's called "Chubbie Club."

There's a lot of cash to be won if you lose the most -- I most likely won't win, but it's another great motivator to shed this baby (and cupcake-indulgence) weight.

Last time I participated in Chubbie Club I was training for the marathon... I think I took 3rd place. In retrospect, I should've taken a dive the second to last week so I would've been the at-home winner. But I didn't. I did, however, get down to 140 lbs for the marathon and even lost 5 more pounds after the race. It felt great. I haven't been  a size 4-6 since I was in Junior high. :)

Anyway, I know what works for me... and Dieting doesn't if I want to be healthy. What does work is Michael Pollan's mantra of "Eat Food. Not too Much. Mostly Plants." So that, coupled with the fabulous premise of eating like a French Woman, ("French Women Don't Get Fat" you know...), I prepared this for dinner:

Micro greens with crook-neck squash, avocado,
crimini mushrooms, red bell pepper, parmesean cheese & green onions.
I also added basil and cherry tomatoes from our garden and
 a lemon thyme vinaigrette  (the lemon-thyme from my herb garden),
some lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and salt. 

The main course: Goat cheese and raspberry panini on
whole wheat (from Stoneground) paired with steamed carrots

Things I love about this meal: that I made it up. I have never had a raspberry-goat cheese panini before. It would've been even more delightful with a little honey to sweeten it up, but that's mostly because I am kind of a sugar addict (not candy, but sweets... like cinnamon rolls, and cupcakes, cookies, etc). But I will say the pairing of the cheese with the tartness of the raspberries was even more delightful than I had imagined. I lightly buttered the bread before sticking it in my George Foreman (so much better for paninis than meat, I think). Oh, and I mashed up the raspberries so they could be spread out easier on the sandwich. 

Also, the salad was awesome... I hardly ever buy salad dressing, but was getting tired of my "balsamic" go to; so this was definitely a nice change. And we just started eating squash raw... good choice for a salad -- who knew? 

I'll keep you posted on my Chubbie-Club progress. 10 pounds in 8 weeks is possible, 15 pounds would be better... but no matter what happens it's going to be fun to spice up my food relationship because that  is what works best for me!