Cauliflower Popcorn

I went to the gym before work yesterday!  Those of you who follow me on Facebook already know that .  I did a 5 minute warm up, ran 3.13 miles (in 39:02) and then did a 5 minute cool down.  It was nice to have that all done by 7:30 in the morning!  I ended up having a Fit and Active (Aldi brand) protein bar for a pre and post work out snack – it’s 236 calories total, 9 fat, 35 carbs, 2.4 fiber and 3.9 protein.

Yep, the breakfast parfait is back!  Did you miss it?  This time 1/2 cup of strawberries, plain Greek yogurt, 1/2 a banana and 1/3 cup of my granola.  Breakfast comes in at 357 calories, 2.9 fat, 68 carbs, 6 fiber and 18 protein.

One of the ways to make sure that you are a controlled diabetic is to meet with your endocrinologist every three months.  While it may seem excessive, other than making good choices, taking the right amount of insulin, etc., the only way you really know how you are doing is if you know your number.  You are probably like, what number??

Your A1c number is a blood test I take the week before my appointments.  It averages out my blood sugar numbers for the last three months.  Anything under 7 is excellent.  Drum roll please . . .

Mine was 6.5!  This number makes me happy because it proves that having a short lived high blood sugar in order to work out at lunch doesn’t impact my overall health.  Winning! 

I ended up having my lunch I brought the other day when Tony came to pick me up for lunch.  I used 3/4 of the risotto rice, had 2 ounces of shrimp, 1.5 cups of broccoli, 1/2 cup of bean sprouts and 1/4 cup of edamamme – tossed it in 2 tablespoons of stirfry sauce (40 calories for 2 tablespoons) and a splash of sriracha.  Lunch comes in at 453 calories, 7.5 fat, 70 carbs, 8 fiber and 33 protein.

I knew I was going to cook up pork chops, but was wondering what sort of side dish I could make.  I knew I had a cauliflower I never used up, and while I was leaning towards a cauliflower gratin, it was 85 degrees out and it just didn’t seem right.  So I went on Tastespotting, and found that Jenn made cauliflower popcorn.  (of course now I can’t find the link – Jenn – can you give me the right link?)  I was immediately intrigued!

I did switch it up a bit – I used our deep fryer so they weren’t greasy.  I also made the recipe for two.  Each One Cup Serving:  246 calories, 9 fat, 29 carbs, 4 fiber and 12 protein.

• 2 cups cauliflower, cut into bite size pieces
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup seasoned bread crumbs
• pinch of garlic salt
• pinch of pepper

Heat your fryer or pan of oil to 350.  Mix the eggs with the garlic salt and pepper.  Toss the cauliflower in to coat.  Put bread crumbs in a large zip loc bag and shake until coated.  Cook for 5 minutes, or until golden brown.

I couldn’t believe it when I was downloading my pictures that I never took a picture of dinner!  I must have been hungry.  But I did take a quick picture on my phone to send to my sister.  You can see that I had quite a bit of egg leftover so I think I could have gotten away with just one.

I had a pan sauce with a spicy mustard hot sauce for my pork chop – the chops may look big, but they are only 4 ounces – I pound them really thin.  I used about a tablespoon of the light ranch dressing for dipping my “popcorn.”  This was so good – you really couldn’t even tell it was cauliflower – for those of you with young kids, this may be a way to sneak a veggie in.   Dinner comes in at 534 calories, 18 fat, 38 carbs, 6.6 fiber and 50 protein.

What I did do yesterday:

• 1580 calories, 38 fat, 212 carbs, 23 fiber and 105 protein
• Total of 50 minutes on treadmill, 5k baby!
• awesome doctor appointment (my doctor did tell me that he wished more of his patients were like me!)

What I didn’t do yesterday:

• No snacks at work
• Drank 80 ounces of water
• No wine.    Just shots of Jagermeister.  Kidding! (although that was my shot of choice back In the day).
• No snacks after dinner.  (even though I made Tony some homemade potato chips for a snack for him last night)

Now here is our inspiration video for today.  I will tell you, thinking of this guy, I think I am going to try to bike a little faster today!