What??  Yep, we’ve stepped both feet directly into it!  I’ll never understand Chicago weather – we’ll still probably have an 80 degree day in October!  But Halloween will always be crappy! 

Breakfast was a leftover steak sammie.  Two ounces of whole wheat Italian bread, 1 egg, 1.5 ounces 75% reduced fat Cabot cheddar, 1.5 ounces steak and two kiwis.

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I got a mixed bag of fruit on the $1 rack – these kiwi were perfect!

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Lunch was a cup of my BSI – Broccoli Cheese Soup, 2 ounces of whole wheat Italian bread, 1 ounce mozzarella cheese (for Pam grilled cheese) and a small apple.  I brought some of this soup to my co-worker, and we both decided my Homemade Panera Broccoli Cheese soup kicks this soups ass!

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I knew today was going to be chilly, and comfort foods hit the spot when its cold!  Just to show you how low maintenance I am, I woke up at 7:50, took a shower, blew dried my hair, got dressed, made breakfast, made lunch, and put dinner in the crock pot and was out of my house at 8:30 and sitting at my desk at 8:44 – nice!

I call this 5-minute beef stew, because it can literally be thrown together in that amount of time.  I even put the meat in the crockpot in one huge frozen piece!

5 Minute Crock Pot Beef Stew

  • 1.25 pounds beef stew meat
  • 4 large potatoes, peeled and diced
  • 4 large carrots, peeled and diced
  • 3 cups good beef broth
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1/4 cup water
  • salt and pepper to taste (needed more seasoning at the table!)
  • Makes 6 generous servings: 279 calories, 8.3 fat, 22.6 carbs, 2.8 fiber and 27.5 protein per serving

Put the frozen beef on the bottom of the crock pot, add the veggies on top, pour broth overtop (enough so the meat and veggies are covered) sprinkled with Italian seasoning, salt and pepper and put the lid on – I set mine for 10 hours.  Our crock pot tends to run hot, so I started it out and when Tony got home from a meeting, turned it off, then restarted it at around 3:00.  Loved the smell coming in the door!

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I scoop out the meat and veggies and pour the broth into a pot on the stove.  I bring it to a low boil, then add the 1/4 cup of water that has been thickened with corn starch and stir for 2 minutes until it gets thick.  Then put the gravy, meat and veggies together, give it a good stir and dinner is served!  I also had a side salad with Annie’s Goddess dressing.

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And then I put my Artisan bread in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes to get it nice and warm.  I had 1.5 slices of bread, pat of butter and 1 serving of the stew.  My camera battery died JUST as I was taking a plate of my stew – I am having it for lunch tomorrow so you’ll get a pick tomorrow night! 😀

Stats for the Day

  • 1448 calories
  • 52.6 fat
  • 109.9 protein
  • 149.9 carbs
  • 23.3 fiber
  • 31% of calories from fat
  • 45 minute WINDY walk with my co-worker!

My weigh in isn’t until Wednesday, but I stepped on the scale and was pleasantly surprised to see 160.9!  I started my challenge 5 weeks ago at 167.6.  Of course, now I have jinxed it and will probably weigh in at 163 on Wednesday!  But one thing I realized is that while I am eating around the same calories, my percentage of fat recently is between 28 and 32%.  There were some days where 60% of my calories were from fat (thanks cheese!) so maybe that’s the difference?

In other news, BSI is hosted this week by Coco at Balance, Joy and Delicias!  She’ll post sometime tonight with the new ingredient this week.

Hope everyone had a good start to their week – see you tomorrow night! 😀