Biggest Loser Finale!

So excited to watch it tonight!  But I am torn, do I watch it when it starts, or do I wait and DVR it to fast forward the commercials??  What would you do?

For those of you at home keeping score, you’ll know that yesterday was weigh-in Monday! 

You’ll note I am up +.8 from last week.  I am not too concerned though – I drank hardly any water over the weekend – fingers crossed I make it to 159 next week!

So two days of food – are you ready??!!

I had leftover pecans from Thanksgiving, so I decided to google pecan recipes, and I found this blog:  Homesick Texan.  I still find it so amazing that I can stumble upon such an established blog for the first time!  This one I will go back to again and again.  Anyway, she had a recipe for her Grandpa’s special pancakes – the only difference is that I omitted the 4 tablespoons of oil her recipe called for, reduced the pecans from 1/2 cup to 1/3 cup and then added 1 tablespoon flax seed.

Toasted Pecan Pancakes

• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups milk (I used skim)
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon whole-wheat flour
• 1 HEAPING tablespoon of fresh baking powder (the secret ingredient for fluffy pancakes!)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoons flax seed
• 1/3 cup toasted pecans (I toasted them in a dry pan for 5 minutes)

Mix egg and milk.  Add the rest of the ingredients – you may need to add more milk to get the right texture.  I didn’t.  Let the batter sit for at least 15 minutes.  They will turn out so fluffy!!  This made 12 pancakes – 2 pancakes per serving for 300 calories, 6 fat, 51 carbs and 1 fiber.  Breakfast was two pancakes, 2 slices of bacon and 1/4 cup sugar free syrup.  Wow, these pancakes are FILLING! 😀

Lunch was simple – 1 serving of my leftover Cincinnati Chili from the night before with a 10 ounce baked potato and 1 ounce of cheddar cheese.  This took forever to eat! 😀

Have you had the Red Lobster biscuits before?  They are cheezy and garlicky – so fricken good but probably each one is 300 calories.  I did the Bisquick version, only I could only make 5 biscuits because I was almost out of Bisquick!

Mock Cheddar Garlic Rolls

• 1 1/4 cup Bisquick
• 2 tablespoons cold butter
• just under 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup Cheddar cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Mix in the butter into the Bisquick until the butter is grainy.  Add milk, cheese and salt and pepper.  Mix just until you can’t see the Bisquick.  Each biscuit was a 1/4 cup drop biscuit.  Per biscuit: 107 calories, 11 fat, 16 carbs, 3 protein and 1 fiber.  I am pretty sure Hannah would be happy if I made these every night!

Along side the biscuits, I made the Best Beef Stew.  I adapted it from Cook’s Illustrated – you’ll see my changes in bold.

Best Beef Stew

• 2 cloves of minced garlic
• 4 anchovy fillets, finely minced (I used 2 teaspoons anchovy paste)
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 boneless chuck-eye roast, trimmed of excess fat, about 4 pounds (I used a 1.5 pound)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I only used 1 tablespoon and used Pam)
• 4 medium carrots, chopped into 1 inch pieces
• 2 cups red wine (they suggested a good quality Pinot Noir or Cotes du Rhone – I used boxed Merlot!)
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 springs of fresh thyme
• 4 ounces salt pork (first time ever using this!)
• 1 pound potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 cup frozen peas (completely forgot!)
• 1 1/2 cups frozen pearl onions (um, pretty sure I just threw up in my mouth a little just typing that – left it out!)

Heat oil in pan.  Add meat and brown on all sides.  Meanwhile, mix together garlic, anchovy and tomato paste.  Once the meat is browned, add this mixture and mix until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add carrots and cook for 2 minutes.  Add flour and cook, stirring constantly until you can’t see any flour, about 30 seconds.  Add wine and stir until sauce is thickened, about 2 minutes.  Add broth, thyme and pork salt.  Cover and bake at 300 degrees for 90 minutes.  After that, remove salt pork and add potatoes, cook an additional 45 minutes.  This is what salt pork looks like.  My friend at work said that her Dad used to slice this and have it as bacon!

This made 9 cups of beef stew, each cup coming at 294 calories, 13 fat, 15 carbs, 17 protein 1 fiber.  My plate with 1 cheddar biscuit for dipping!

Pure comfort food at it’s best! :D  Of course, I only added the crushed red pepper to my bowl! 😀

Stats for Monday:

• 1,403 calories
• 69 fat
• 139 carbs
• 49 protein
• 9 fiber
• Ran a 5k on the treadmill at lunch! 😀

Since I made 12 pancakes – today was a repeat, with a twist!  I knew the pancakes were high in carbs, so I wanted to balance it out with protein.  I decided to top each pancake with 1/2 ounce of deli ham and then 1/2 ounce of pepper jack cheese!  Then I put it under the broiler of the toaster oven.  Holy cow, was this good!  The saltiness of the ham, the spicy kick from the cheese – balanced perfectly with the crunch of the pecans and slightly sweet pancake.  This may be a repeat tomorrow!

Lunch today was my first recipe from Jen’s e-cookbook!   Although I adapted it slightly:

Eastern North Carolina Pulled Chicken

• 3 large bone in chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar (Spenda)
• 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoons Tabasco
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Spray crock pot with Pam.  Add chicken.  Mix together the rest of the ingredients into a jar.  Pour half of marinade over the chicken and cook for 4 hours.  Remove and let cool.  Pull off skin and bones and chop well, adding the 1/4 cup remaining marinade to the chicken. 

Skinny Coleslaw

• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp. sugar (Splenda)
• 1/4 tsp. celery salt
• One 16 ounce bag coleslaw mix

Mix everything together and refrigerate overnight for the flavors to blend.

My lunch: Two lettuce wraps with a total of 1 cup chicken mixture, 2/3 cup coleslaw – and extra Tabasco on top!  I had 2 kiwi on the side.

These were so good!  Very filling too!  Dinner was low fat lasagna:

Biz’s Low Fat Lasagna

• 1 28 ounce jar of spaghetti sauce (Hunt’s is low in fat)
• 1/2 cup egg beaters
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 8 ounces low fat mozzarella
• 2 cups low-fat ritcotta cheese
• 1/2 pound lean ground beef (I used 93% ground sirloin)
• 8 ounces lasagna noodles
• zucchini (for my side!)

Mix together egg beaters, ricotta, garlic and 4 ounces of mozzarella cheese.  Brown ground beef and drain fat.  Start by putting sauce on the bottom, then lasagna noodles, then cheese mixture, then meat.  Repeat until all the ingredients are done – top with remaining sauce and 4 ounces of mozzarella cheese.  Bake at 350 for 45 to 60 minutes, or until noodles are cooked through.

8 servings:  Each serving 359 calories, 15 fat, 32 carbs, 25 protein and 4 fiber

Done!  A few of the corner pieces were a bit crispy, but it turned out good!

My plate:

I also had an afternoon treat!  My office installed an espresso machine!!  My friend Cassie showed me how to use it, and made me a sugar free vanilla cappuccino – it hit the spot!  Thanks Cassie! 😀

Stats for Today:

• 1,311 calories
• 48 fat
• 122 carbs
• 89 protein
• 12 fiber
• 40 minutes of The Firm Fat Blaster (I have a feeling I’ll be sore tomorrow! 😀 )

Off to watch Biggest Loser!!!