Category Archives: Poultry

Calories v. WW Points

Mango Chicken Salad with Spicy Ginger Dressing, Uncategorized March 23, 2012 Comments: 41

I was chopping veggies and making salad dressing yesterday morning and suddenly I looked up and realized I had to leave the house in ten minutes!  Thankfully, you all know I am low maintenance, and was out the door in 8 minutes.  Can I just be thankful that my hair is long enough to put back in a pony tail? :D  But since I was spending so much time (okay, really it was only 10-15 minutes) on my lunch I quickly grabbed a Pommegrante Chobani and one of the oranges my MIL gave me.  I knew I had granola in my desk (the only thing that now resides there, thank you very much!) so yet another breakfast parfait.  I’ll explain the *** below.  By the way, I never thought citrus would work in a parfait – I was so wrong – it was delicious!

  • 338 calories, 3.28 fat, 62 carbs, 6.2 fiber and 18.25 protein ***
  • technically 7 WW points
  • total calorie points – 9 WW points

It was another hot one in Chicagoland yesterday, 81 when I left to run.  I ended up walking at a pretty good pace for 50 minutes, enough to sweat and raise my heart rate!  I saw lots of green!

And you can never get enough blue sky pics, right?

I have Smokin Chestnut to thank for my Mango Chicken Salad with Spicy Ginger Dressing.  I brought this to a co-worker to share, and he said “I’d Pay to Eat That in a Restaurant.”  Best words a cook likes to hear, right?

I did adapt it somewhat, based on what I had on hand.  I also reduced the amount of oil.  I am doing the dressing stats separately, since I thought the dressing was enough for 4 servings.  I just used a heaping tablespoon of the dressing and tossed it in a ziploc bag and the veggies were not over dressed in the least.

Spicy Ginger Dressing:  (4 servings, each one is 67 calories, 6.5 fat, 1.6 carbs, .2 fiber and 2.5 protein)

  • 2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger
  • 1 tablespoon sriracha (yep, a tablespoon)
  • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (I didn’t have rice wine)
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon ginger pepper sauce ***

Mix well.  I put this in a baby jar with a lid to bring it to work.  Just a quick shake and a pour and I was good to go.

***  This is the ginger pepper sauce I used – I think Tony got it at Fresh Market or World Market – I’ll find out – its addicting!

Mango Chicken Salad (2 servings: 237 calories, 2.7 fat, 27 carbs, 5 fiber and 28 protein)

  • 5 ounces grilled chicken breast
  • 1 cup broccoli slaw
  • 1/2 cup carrots, chopped
  • 1/2 cup cucumber, chopped
  • 1/2 cup peapods
  • 1 chopped hot pepper (not sure what they are called – they were from my PIL) :D
  • 1/2 a mango, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon fresh mint, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped

I had the chicken in a separate bag (leftover from last nights chicken gyros) and when it got time for lunch, I separated half the chicken and half the salad into two ziploc bags, then tossed each with a heaping tablespoon of the ginger dressing, tossed and plated.  I borrowed Hannah’s tiny grater - she got it in a hot chocolate kit – it was meant to grate chocolate over cocoa, but I love using it to grate ginger and nutmeg.

I loved, loved, this salad.  It was bright, the veggies were crisp, the dressing wasn’t too overpowering and the chicken was still super tender.  And the hot peppers that my PIL gave me were a nice balance to the sweet mango.

I luckily was able to grill before the rain came through.  Before I met Tony, I never in a million years would have grilled a chuck roast.  I had always thought that cut of meat had to be cooked low and slow.   I cut the roast in half, put the second half in the freezer, and simply seasoned with salt and pepper.  This was relatively thick – I seared it on both sides for about 3 minutes a side, then set it on the top rack of my grill and it took about 30 minutes to get a nice medium rare.

I sliced 4 ounces of meat (eTools says 8 points?), served over chopped baby spinach, 1 cup egg noodles (5) and quick beef gravy sauce  (2).  This dinner was delicious – the meat was super flavorful and tender.

So if you’ve made it down this far, you are probably wondering what the hell my Calories v. WW Points conversation is all about.  After annoucing that I need to step up my game and that I plan on making some changes come April 1, my dear blog friend Helen sent me a long email.   She’s lost 20 pounds and reshaped her body these last few months following a Paleo diet.  She is an avid runner and is into muy thai (Helen, I know I didn’t spell that right!).  In any event, she reiterated in her email what I was already thinking about, and that is, calories matter.

She notes that I’ll say “1 tsp. of brown sugar is zero points” “2 cups of veggies is zero points” “3 servings of fruit is zero points!”  The truth of the matter is, that Helen believes there is really no such thing as zero point food.  Whether you do low carb, WW, Paleo, etc. calories do matter.  So after everything into eTools:

  • My total WW points for the day?  31 points.
  • If I use eTools calculator using the total calories consumed (1359 calories, 39 fat, 174 carbs, 17 fiber and 93 protein)
  • It is actually 36 points.
  • (51% of calories from carbs, 26% from fat and 23% from protein)

Not that 5 points is going to make that much difference in a day, but let’s just say I eat my activity points, that would be 4, which would be a total of 40 points for the day, or basically 14 over my daily points of 26 for the day.  I know I have my 49 flex points to take into consideration, but let’s just say this is my normal scenario, which it usually is, my 14 daily overage now is 98 extra points in a 7 day time frame, which is nearly double the 49 flex points allowed.  So the fact that I have maintained this past year really isn’t so much of a mystery to me.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the WW program, I like the weekly weigh ins, the accountability, the fact that they steer you away from processed food.  I just think I have to be a calorie counter first, a WW points person second.

What are your thoughts?  Danica, TJ, Renee, I am especially interested in hearing what you have to say!

I am still tweaking my plan for April – so far my goals will be to eat between 1400-1500 calories, under 100 grams of carbs, limiting my bread/grain carb consumption to just one meal a day and use the rest for fruits and veggies, keeping my percentage of calories from fat around 25% and try to up the fiber.  Oh, and exercise like a mo-fo! :D

Oh, and Helen wants me to count points for wine - no fair! :D

No Excuses

Breakfast Baked Potato, Chicken Gyros, Uncategorized March 22, 2012 Comments: 29

As I was watching Biggest Loser the other night eating cheese and crackers I realized how ironic it was. (and maybe a glass of wine :D ).  There I was sitting on my comfy couch cheering these people on, marveling over how fast they can run on the treadmill now just after 11 weeks, and I was doing exactly what got the contestants on that show in the first place!  Mindless eating.

It comes and goes with me.  I can be all the way on, or maybe 90/10, which is still pretty healthy.  But I’d have to say that lately I am 50/50 with the healthy eating and then eating crap.  One thing I’ve discovered is that I can’t keep food in my desk.  Peanuts, crackers, chips, etc.  I say that they are there for my boss, because she pays for them, but I eat my equal share.  I find that if I have down time that’s the first thing I do is reach in and get a handful of peanuts or whatever.

No more.  I put everything in a locked drawer in my bosses office, and only she has the key. :D

That being said, I will enjoy my birthday cheese while I can.  I have a big April challenge for myself that is in the works, so my plan is to be 90/10 the remainder of March – just so you know that 10% will be cheese!

One cheese Tony gave me was called Comte. It’s a french, non-pasturized cow’s milk cheese and it has a wonderful flavor.  First touch of it I knew it would be a great melty cheese like gruyere.  It looks like this:

It’s creamy, slightly sweet but definitely has a strong taste to it, but not enough to overpower my breakfast – just enough to kick it up a notch.

Biz’ s Breakfast Baked Potato

  • 6 ounce baked potato, flesh removed (this was half of a giant potato I had) (4 points) *
  • 1 ounce deli ham chopped (1 point)
  • 1 cup baby spinach, chopped (0 points)
  • 1 egg (2)
  • 1/2 ounce thinly sliced Comte cheese (2)

Cut the baked potato in half and scoop out the potato leaving the shell.   In a non-stick skillet, combine the potato, spinach, and ham and cook just until the spinach barely starts to wilt.  Add the cracked egg and scramble together.  Since I was taking this to work, I put my half potato shell in a ziploc, and my filling in a container.  Then once I was at work, I added the egg mixture to the potato – kinda had to stuff it in so it would fit.  I heated that up in the microwave for 1 minute. Then added my two thinly sliced pieces of Comte cheese and finished it off under the toaster oven.

On the side I had one of the oranges my PIL gave me – this delicious and super filling breakfast comes in at 9 WW points.  And because I couldn’t make up my mind which picture to post – you get three!  Your welcome. :D

Okay, I am all about this nice weather, but a tiny piece of me misses the actual spring like weather – you know 50′s and 60′s?  This is what I saw before leaving for my run . . . at 11:30 a.m.!

I decided to try running, but it was just too hot, and I haven’t worked out since last Friday, so I need to build up my speed again – amazing what just five days of not exercising can do to your stamina.  No worries – I walked for 50 minutes.  I moved! :D   And I was sweaty.

It felt nice to get moving again.  I was excited to heat up my lunch because it was more leftovers!  I have to say, the $18 dollar piece of flank steak I got is getting good use.  We had it my birthday dinner night.   Then the night before last I chopped some up for our baby crispy tacos.  And yesterday I had it with some of Tony’s famous fried rice.

My bowl: 3 ounces of flank steak tossed in a bit of sriracha (3); 1 cup of Tony’s fried rice (4); and 1 cup of steamed broccoli and some bean sprouts (0).  I did saute the steak in a bit of olive oil before adding the fried rice, so I’ll add another point for that, so this bowl comes in at 8 points.  Super filling!  And I still have half a pound of flank steak left to use up! :D   I may have kicked my dish up with some sriracha. :D   I love that stuff.

Tony had a doctors appointment with his GP yesterday – his gout is back with a vengence, which is why I love him so much that he pushed through the pain to make my fried rice for my birthday.  Guess what we have a three week prescription of??  PREDNISONE!  I tell you its a wonder drug for Tony.  It takes the gout swelling down, his joints don’t hurt as much – I just wish he could take it longer than three weeks, but at least he’ll have a reprieve for a few weeks!

On Sunday I had every intention of making homemade pita breads for making chicken gyros this week.  I made the dough, and its been sitting on my counter ever since!  I followed this recipe to a T.  (except left the dough on the counter for 4 days!)  It makes 15, 4 inch pitas – each one comes in at 101 calories, 1.2 fat, 19 carbs, .7 fiber and 2.7 protein.  3 WW points.

I also cooked my pitas on my grill.  I cooked up just 4 pitas.  I used my unglazed quarry tiles I got at Menard’s (.49 cents each) that I use when I grill pizza.  Which I haven’t make in a long time, need to fix that!  I heated up my grill to 400 degrees.

Then I added my dough one at a time – it literally only took about a minute, minute and a half per side to cook through.

Chicken Gyros (makes 4 servings: 131 calories, 6.6 fat, .8 carbs, .2 fiber and 17 protein, or 3 WW points)

  • 1 pound chicken breast
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • juice of half a lemon
  • zest of half a lemon
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons oregano
  • salt and pepper

Mix all the ingredients above and let marinate for at least 30 minutes. 

I let my chicken sit while I rolled out my pita dough and grilled the pita, so it really only sat for about 15 minutes, but it was still super flavorful.  I decided to keep the chicken whole while grilling, and then slice it before serving.  My plate: 1 homemade pita (3), 4 ounces of chicken (3), lettuce and tomato (0), 2 tablespoons tzatziki (1) and 1/2 an ounce of potato chips (2).  Dinner comes in at 9 points.

I had a good day.  I got some exercise in.  I almost brought the can of peanuts to the living room last night while we were watching t.v., but I ate exactly 10 (2 points) and stopped at that.  :D

Don’t forget to submit your BSI – breakfast recipes!   I am still getting emails that a lot of you can’t comment – still don’t know what’s wrong with that, but hopefully wordpress will fix it soon.  So if you can’t leave a comment with your breakfast link, just email it to me at mybizzykitchen@gmail.com.

I am off to make my lunch:  Mango Chicken Salad with Spicy Ginger Dressing.  Yum!

I may be the last person to know about this site, but just in case there wasn’t enough food porn out there – check out Tablespoon.com.  Not sure if its kinda like Tastespotting where you can submit recipes, but it is searchable. :D

Make it a great day!

Season 52 = Yum!

Grilled Chicken Salad with Dried Cherries, Uncategorized June 7, 2011 Comments: 25

I had a work appointment at 9:00 that was 1/2 a mile from my gym – score!  I ended up running 29:00 minutes for 2.5 miles, then cooled down for 6 minutes.  Then did 5 minutes of abs on the ball, stretched and did 20 minutes of upper body strength training.  A nice 60 minute workout. :D   I even had time to dry my hair at the gym AND put make up on.  As I was leaving the locker room, they have a really big wall to wall mirror, and I stopped and said to myself “I look pretty today.”  It was a nice way to start the day – and then I read Marisa’s post about Positive Affirmations Week – and love the message she has about being having positive affirmations about yourself throughout the day. :D

Over the weekend I made blueberry pancakes, and as I printed out the recipe, realized I didn’t have any milk.  So I took this best blueberry pancake recipe, but subbed in one 12 ounce can of evaporated milk.  They were delicious!  She said she got 15-18 large pancakes, I got 13 large pancakes – each one comes in at 5 points plus, but really one is plenty.

I didn’t have any sugar free pancake syrup, so I fried an egg and topped it with 3/4 ounce of mozzarella.  I know it sounds weird, but the saltiness of the cheese paired well with the sweet and juicy blueberries.  Breakfast comes in at 9 points.

A co-worker brought me her old bike she doesn’t use anymore – I’ll have to take a picture of it, and although its been sitting in her garage for 5+ years, it’s been ridden once!  So now I have a work bike I can leave here, and keep my bike at home – nice!  I got in a sweaty 45 minute bike ride in 90+ temps. :D

I have never been a big fan of chicken salad.  Mostly because they are so mayo heavy just the thought of it made me kind of gag.  But I saw a recipe for a grilled chicken salad with dried cherries that looked amazing, and I could control the amount of mayo.

Grilled Chicken Salad

  • 4 pts. for 1/2 cup; 8 pts. for 1 cup

Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • pinch of salt and pepper
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
  • 1.5 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts

For the salad:

  • 1 cup diced celery
  • 1/4 cup diced red onion (for you onion lovers out there!)
  • 1/4 cup dried cherries, chopped
  • 1/2 cup light mayo (I used the reduced fat mayo/olive oil kind)
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 1/4 teaspoon of salt

Combine the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper and Italian seasoning.  Add to a ziploc bag, add chicken and marinate for at least an hour, but can be marinated overnght.

Grill chicken, discarding marinade.  When the chicken is cool enough, dice into bite sized pieces.  Combine remaining ingredients, add grilled chicken and toss.

My lunch – 1/2 cup chicken salad on a 1 ounce dinner roll, an ounce of veggie straws and an unpictured cup of watermelon – lunch comes in at 11 points.

I really liked this, the flavors melded even more overnight and I love the chewy dried cherries.  Mom, I’ll have to make this for you the next time you are over.

So I met my Mom and Hannah at Seasons 52 for dinner last night.  I had no idea what to expect, but was quite surprised with the decor and it had a huge, beautiful bar – and a guy playing a piano and singing in the middle of the bar!  There were no prices marked on the online menu, never a good sign, but I was presently surprised – most small plates/appetizers were between $4 and $9 dollars, and the most expensive entree was $16.95 – not bad!

We started out with the parmesan and thyme flat bread – a whole serving is 9 points, so my 1/3 portion was 3 points.

Sorry in advance for the photography – I had old blue with me and the lighting wasn’t very good.  The flatbread was super crispy and flavorful. :D

Anytime I see goat cheese on a menu, I am all over it.  My Mom is a goat cheese lover too, so we split the appetizer portion – which was one giant ravioli.  The whole plate is 7 points, so my portion was 3.5 points – heaven on a plate.  The goat cheese was super creamy mixed with fresh basil and tomatos.  I need to make goat cheese ravioli at home soon!

For dinner my Mom got the trout, and though I am not much of a fish eater, this was good.  Hannah, however, spit her taste out into her cloth napkin and needed a palate cleanser, stat!

Hannah got what I can only call grown up chicken fingers.  Probably from the age of 2 to about 17, the only thing she ordered no matter where we went, was chicken fingers.  Italian restaurant?  Chicken fingers.  Mexican restaurant?  Chicken fingers.  She got the sesame teriyaki skewers.

I got the maui tuna crunchy salad – the whole thing is 11 points, including the dressing.  I ate about 2/3 of it, so I am calling it 7 points.  For some reason I thought the tuna would be slightly warm, but it was cold – still delicious!

And while I am not a dessert person, they have things called “mini indulgences.”  When he brought the tray over, I had to get the sugar free oreo cookie with no sugar added chocolate cake – holy shizz – this was so good and worth the 5 points!

So all in all, I didn’t do too bad – my dinner came in at 18.5 points.  I earned about 10+ activity points yesterday, so I am not going to sweat it. :D

Stats for Monday:

  • 35:00 minute treadmill, includes 2.5 miles in 29 minutes
  • 5 minutes abs on the ball and stretchng
  • 20 minutes upper body strength
  • 45 minute bike ride
  • 39 points
  • average blood sugar 131

We have another couple of hot days in Chicagoland – temps near 100!  I may need to take my lunch early today to get my bike ride in before it gets too hot! 

Make it a great day!

 

Clean Eating’s Sesame Noodles and Pretzel Roll Burgers

Sesame Noodles with Chile Garlic Sauce, Uncategorized April 12, 2011 Comments: 35

Well, while we lucked out on the stormy weather on Sunday, I wasn’t prepared for 80 degree heat.  And I had planned on making pretzel rolls that not only have to be baked, but boiled as well – let’s just say I had sweaty boobs going on most of the day!  (I am sure Tony is shaking his head at that last statement!  What can I say – you are married to a klassy lady!) :D

I am actually extremely proud of myself for not giving up on working out and eating like a pig with all the stress I have going on at work.  I will be the first person to tell you that even several months ago, this type of stress would have me running to the nearest fast food restaurant – not just once, but probably for breakfast and dinner.

I made my goals smaller and more attainable, and I think I am able to focus on it more clearly than to just say “I want to weigh 135.”   I know that I have to plan my food and workouts, and only then will I be successful – and not let stress get in the way.  Because let’s face it, there is always going to be some type of stress, another birthday party, Christmas, etc. – I can’t let food take control – I am in control of it! :D

And then I read Helen’s INO post.    Want to know what INO stands for?

It’s Not an Option

While I have always had this mantra with managing my diabetes, I never really thought of applying the same principal to eating well and exercising.  It’s not an option having an 8 point bagel today, because I have my bagel on Wednesday.  It’s not an option having pizza today because I’ll have it over the weekend.  Everything sort of “clicked” after I read that post.

I feel like I am finally living a lifestyle rather than doing a diet.  Being on a diet means that at some point you are done.  Well, we aren’t.  At least I am not.  I still want the pizza, wine and bagels, just not all on the same day every day!  (except for the wine – but that’s another story!)

I decided I wanted to go to the gym before work yesterday morning.  I set my alarm for 6:15 and told Tony that if he didn’t see me in the morning that is where I would be.  See I say that a lot of times, but normally when the alarm goes off, I turn it off an just lay down “for another five minutes” and then next thing I know its an hour later!

But I was up and out of the house by 6:30.  The pool was pretty full, so I did 35 minutes on the incline treadmill at 20% incline – insanely hard and I feel that I got an upper body workout as well otherwise I would have flown off the thing!  Then I went to the pool.  The lap lanes were still pretty full, but the therapy pool was empty.  I remembered that TJ loved doing water jogging, so that’s what I did.  I got a floaty belt (not sure what its called) and just “jogged” in place in the water for 25 minutes.  The therapy pool is 10 degrees warmer than the lap lanes and my face was pretty flushed after that!

So while I had my lunch all set, breakfast was throw shit in a bag because I was running out of time.  An egg white bagel sammie and half a giant fuji apple.

My friend and I then went on a 45 minute walk at lunch.  I brought along 4 pound weights too.  I told Tony that I found that bananas are good fuel before working out.  But sometimes it feels heavy in my stomach.  So he found me . . . banana chips!  These are the best fuel for me!

Before the walk my blood sugar was 181.  I purposely take 1/2 the amount of insulin at breakfast if I plan on working out at lunch.  So I ate 8 banana chips (____ points), walked the 45 minutes, got back to my desk and my blood sugar was 104 – perfect! :D

Hannah likes to go through my food magazines and will flag some recipes she wants me to make.  One of them came out of Clean Eating’s magazine, and my version is based on their recipe.  The base of the “sauce” is tahini and honey.  Hannah took one bite and declared it disgusting, but refused to try the finished version.  No problem, it was already on my work menu lunch this week so I was the winner!

Sesame Noodles (based on Clean Eating Magazine)

makes 4 servings (1o oz. each) for 9 PointsPlus

  • 2 tablespoons tahini
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 2 tablespoons* garlic chile sauce (found in the Asian aisle – it has a rooster on it)
  • 8 oz. dry corkscrew noodles
  • 1/2 head of steamed broccoli
  • 2 raw carrots, sliced into matchsticks
  • 4 ounces of chopped cooked chicken breast
  • 1/4 to 1/2 cup pasta water

Put the tahini, honey and chile sauce in the bottom of a large bowl.  Cook pasta to al dente according to package directions.  Save 1/2 cup of the pasta water before draining.  Add noodles to tahini mixture, toss in the broccoli and carrots – add enough pasta water to help the tahini coat the pasta.  Add chopped cilantro and serve.

* 2 tablespoons makes for a spicy dish – start with 1 tsp. and work your way up.  Tony thinks I’ve still burned all my taste buds off so I can’t taste anything anymore. :D

My sister recently went to a burger place recently and had a pretzel roll burger, and it’s kind of been on my mind ever since I saw it.  I’ve made jalapeno honey wheat soft pretzel sticks before, but never pretzel rolls.  Tony found me a recipe and they turned out really good – the best part is that they stayed soft! :D

Bretzel Rolls (Bavarian Pretzel Sandwich Rolls)

from www.food.com. Makes 12 – each one: 201 calories, 2.6 fat, 38 carbs, 2 fiber and 5.4 protein – 5 PointsPlus per roll).

  • 1 1/3 cup warm water (nothing over 115 degrees, otherwise it will kill the yeast)
  • 2 tablespoons room temperature milk
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons (one package) dry yeast
  • 1/3 cup light brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons of melted butter
  • 4 cups flour
  • coarse salt
  • 2 quarts water for boiling the rolls
  • 1/2 cup baking soda*******!!!!!!

In the bowl of your stand mixer, put yeast and 1/3 cup of the water and let it stand for about 10 minutes, or until its foamy.

Add the remaining cup of water, milk, sugar and melted butter and swirl to dissolve.  Add the flour on low speed, a little bit at a time, until the dough is firm and pliable – I did have to add a couple more tablespoons of water to mine to get the right consistency.

Let the mixer knead for 5 minutes.  Remove dough, cover and let rest for 10 minutes.  Since I knew I was making 12 rolls, I weighed the whole dough ball and to get 12 equal portions, each roll was 2.75 ounces of dough.  Place the divided rolls on a big cookie sheet, cover with Pam covered plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.

Bring the water to a boil.  Now here is the **********!!!!!!!! part of the recipe.  It said to add the baking soda all at once to the boiling water.  OMG, it was like Mt. Fuji of an eruption of boiling water all over the stove, kitchen floor, etc.  Thank God for my cat like reflexes I didn’t get burned with hot water!

Once I cleaned up my baking soda mess, I boiled two rolls at a time for 30 seconds total.  Put them on a Pam covered baking sheet, sprinkled with coarse salt and baked six rolls at a time for exactly 8 minutes (although it could take up to 10 minutes).

it always amazes me how flour and a few simple ingredients can make something so delicious :D

right before they rested for 30 minutes

the aftermath of my baking soda volcano - although I will say after I cleaned up the mess, its the cleanest my stove top has ever looked - note to self - clean with baking soda!

be sure to check at 8 minutes to see if they are done

So my dinner – 1 pretzel roll, 3 oz. burger, 1/2 ounce cheese, jalapeno mustard, pickled jalapenos, 2 ounces of tots and 2 ounces of sweet potato – this delicious dinner came in at 13 points.

can't have burgers without tots! :D

Stats for Monday:

  • 36 points (including wine)
  • 35 minute incline treadmill on 20% incline
  • 25 minute water jogging
  • 45 minute walk at lunch with 4 pound hand weights

Alright, I am off to make a garlic spinach goat cheese quiche for breakfast – come back tomorrow for the recipe. :D   Have a great Tuesday!


Make More Memories and BSI – Salsa

Involtini (Beef Rolls), Turkey Tacos, Uncategorized April 1, 2011 Comments: 17

I loved all your comments yesterday about taking time to hang out with Hannah.  Even more so when I read this sad news.  I’ve been to her blog off and on, but she’s much younger than me and I’ve never commented before.  Sophia brought my attention back to her blog this week.  Turns out Monet’s sisters family was in a car accident on their way home from a cruise in Florida over spring break.  A mother, father, and two sons.  The youngest son died pretty much at the scene.  He was only 13.  The father has brain damage and has yet to ask where he is.  The mother didn’t survive her injuries and died yesterday.  The 15 year old son, the driver, was the only one wearing a seat belt and I believe pretty much just walked away.  It was a one car accident.

And then there is this story.  A husband and wife are anxiously awaiting the birth of their first child.  They end up having a c-section, so the wife is not able to hold her daughter right away.  The time comes for her to hold her daughter, she stands up, says “I feel light headed” and they rush her back to her bed, but it’s too late.  She’s had a pulmonary embolism and dies the day after her daughter was born.  Her husband became a father and a widower in two days.

I don’t mention these posts to be morbid.  Quite the contrary.  When I read events like this, it nearly stops me in my tracks.  I think we get so caught up with the day to day shit that we don’t stop.  Take a breath.  Appreciate what we have, not what we want.  Make sure to tell those around us that we love them.  Because you literally never know if it will be the last time you see them.

So let’s all make a pact to make more memories – okay? :D

I was on a Mexican theme for breakfast and lunch as soon as I opened my jar of salsa.  Breakfast was 2 corn tortillas, 1 egg, 1 ounce of black beans and sliced peppers, covered in salsa. :D   Breakfast was only 5 points but it was surprisingly filling.

I knew I wanted to run on the treadmill at lunch.  My blood sugar was 160 prior to a workout.  I think I’ve found the perfect pre-fuel snack – a banana!  It was perfect, it wasn’t heavy.  After my 5k run, my blood sugar was 110 and I felt great the entire run. :D

You know I bring lunch for two co-workers.  They always rate my food.  Yesterday’s zucchini lasagna made my one co-worker say “today was the best day of the week because it was lasagna Wednesday.”  I always tell Tony that I am “changing lives, one day at a time!”  But he doesn’t like most of the food I make, so he kids me and tells me that they probably don’t have any taste buds, and that’s why they like my food!

But yesteday’s lunch just made #1 on my friends list of dishes I’ve made.  I literally put it together before work, its that easy.   I had the giant leftover grilled turkey breast.   I planned on making 12 “tacos” but had enough filling to make 13.  The best part – 3 tacos are only 5 points!  Thanks for hosting BSI this week Tina!

Turkey Tacos

  • makes 4 servings (3 tacos each) for 5 PointsPlus

Ingredients:

  • 13 corn tortillas
  • 5 ounces cooked turkey breast, diced
  • 1 cup diced zucchini
  • 1 cup grilled poblano pepper, chopped finely
  • 3 ounces black beans from a can, drained (which is only 1 point – I would have added more!)
  • 1 cup salsa (or make my baja fresh salsa shown above!)
  • 2 ounces Pepper Jack Cheese

Mix the turkey, zucchini, chile, black beans and 1/4 cup of the salsa together.  Steam the corn tortillas for 1 minute so they are pliable.  Divide the turkey mixture between 13 (or 12) tortillas.  Lay them face down in a baking dish.  Pour 3/4 of the remaining salsa over the top, and cover with the pepper jack cheese.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, just until the filling is hot.

Slight problem – the corn tortillas really crumbled after the baking, so for my portion, I just cut it up with a knife and fork, spooned the mixture over 1 ounce of tacos and kinda had turkey taco nachos – each splashed liberally with Tabasco!  Out of the oven they looked pretty though!

mmmmm... my baja fresh salsa :D

I have been enjoying the cookbook my PIL’s gave me.  One of the recipes that caught my eye was a recipe for Involtini, or beef rolls.  Because these recipes are from a Tuscan kitchen, the recipes are somewhat vague, but that’s what I like about it.  You can almost imagine making this in a Tuscan kitchen, tasting as you go along.

The base of the sauce was one 28 can of whole Italian plum tomatoes that I cooked down with a splash of red wine, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.  After about 15 minutes I pureed the sauce with my stick blender.

Meanwhile, I took two 4 ounce pieces of round steak that were pounded thin.  Added 1 ounce of mortadella over the top of each piece of meat, then 1/2 an ounce of shaved Parmesan cheese.  Roll up, secure with a toothpick, and brown on all sides in a non-stick skillet that’s sprayed with Pam.

Once the rolls are browned, simply add them to your tomato sauce that’s been simmering for about 20 minutes, while the potatoes are cooking.  Mash the potatoes.  Place on plate, with the meat on the side and pour the tomato gravy over the top.  My plate comes in at 11 delicious points – if I could have licked my plate I would have! :D

And I apologize for my dinner picture . . . that’s what happens when your blood sugar is low – I only took two pictures before I had to eat!

Stats for Thursday:

  • 38 points (including veggie chips and wine later in the evening)
  • 45 minute treadmill, 5k run of 38:10 :D
  • average blood sugar, on the low side – 91

Any weekend plans?  Tony may be up for seeing a movie – we’ll see!  Make some good memories! :D

Don’t forget . . . Monday I’ll pick 4 winners of the new Rocco Dispirito’s Now Eat This Diet cookbook! :D   Click here to enter and good luck!

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