Bitter Cold

When I let Ed out this morning, a burst of arctic air immediately hit my face! Even the dog didn’t stay out longer than he had to! I came inside to check weather.com:

Yikes! I decided to warm my car up about 10 minutes before I left, thinking the ice would melt, but it didn’t. While I finished getting ready for work though, Tony went and scraped my car – thanks Tony! 😀

So I had to have something hot and spicy for breakfast to warm me up! 1 low carb tortilla, 1/4 cup fat free refried black beans, 1/2 cup egg beaters cooked with 1/4 cup spicy salsa verde, then extra jalapenos and fresh cilantro to round out the breakfast taco!

12 grams of fiber! This kept me full for hours, and while I had a snack planned (apple and peanut butter), I just wasn’t hungry for it.

In this month’s Cooks Illustrated they had a recipe for Thai Basil Chicken. While I have never had it before, I decided to give it a try. Their recipe was a bit confusing, so since I made this before work today, I’ll give you my version:

Biz’s Thai Basil Chicken

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 package basil (mine is 2 ounces)
1 teaspoon garlic
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
4-6 thai chiles

Mince garlic, basil, oyster sauce and chiles in food processor. Heat non-stick skillet with Pam to medium heat. Add basil mixture and cook for a couple minutes until fragrant. Without rinsing the processor bowl, add chicken and pulse until it is ground. Add to basil mixture and cook until chicken is done – about 6-8 minutes.

So flavorful and easy! Their recipe also called for fish sauce, but I didn’t have any. And while I went timid on the chilies (I only added 3), I wish I would have added more. So on each piece I added a touch of red chile paste! 😀

Done!

While the chicken was cooking, I decided to make wonton bowls for my chicken. Just bake wontons at 350 for about 6-8 minutes. I love my silicone muffin pan!

This was a wonderful lunch! Best part? The chicken mixture makes four 4 ounce servings – each one is only 130 calories, and 6 wonton wrappers are only 85 calories!

My giant plate of food with a romaine salad on the side. I used Annie’s Asian sesame dressing to keep with the theme!

My afternoon snack to up my calories for the day:

I actually had no plans for dinner believe it or not! So Tony got a patty melt:

And I made this plate: 1 pita with an ounce of salami, an ounce of pepper jack cheese, 4 ounces cucumbers with 1/4 cup cottage cheese and a jalapeno pepper on each cucumber – weird but delicious!