I cheated. And it was good!

You’ll have to wait further down in the post to see how I cheated!

Yesterday’s breakfast can only be called “hash” in my book.  I took the last egg (sorry Tony and Hannah!) and then just looked through my refrigerator to see what else I could throw in!

• 1 egg
• 3 ounces diced firm tofu
• 2/3 cup canned potatoes, sliced
• 1 cup fresh baby spinach
• 1/4 cup black beans
• 1/4 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese
• 1 light Thomas English Muffin on the bottom
• Salsa roja drizzled over the top!

I don’t usually buy frozen foods, but I had a coupon and these were on sale:

Knowing that I also had leftover chili, I decided to have baked potatoes two ways!  Lunch comes in at:

414 calories, 11 fat, 59 carbs, 21 protein, 6 fiber.

While delicious – there was one problem with the broccoli potato – there wasn’t enough cheese sauce and it was really dry.  But here is where my friend Renee comes in!  She’s my workout buddy/eating pal at work.  I am lucky to have her because she eats the food that my family won’t touch with a 10-foot pole!  (Thai Basil Chicken Wontons, anything with spaghetti squash or quinoa!).  So while I routinely bring her food, invariably I’ll have lots of leftovers and then will have her bring them home to her husband.  One more than one occassion, after Renee has tried to replicate one of my dishes, her husband will say “it doesn’t really taste like Biz’s!”

So yesterday morning she brought me this:

We both like spicy foods and she thought I would like this.  These guys are local and just started bottling their bbq sauces.  The verdict?  It’s awesome! So I decided to add a tablespoon (only 20 calories!) to my broccoli potato and that made it perfect!

Tony went to the Asian grocery store the other day on the way back from a meeting.  He brought me a giant Asian Pear – its so hard to tell when these are ripe though, because the skin never gets soft.

So I crossed my fingers yesterday and cut it open – it was perfect!  It has the texture of an apple, but tastes like a pear!  Now here is item #2 that Renee brought for me:

While it doesn’t say on this individual package, it is sugar free – each container is 60 calories, 3 fat, 10 arbs, 2 protein, 0 fiber.  So I decided to make the perfect snack and dipped half of the pear into my chocolate mousse!

It was so good!  So Renee scored with two great new things for me – thanks Renee!

So here is how I cheated.  Any long time readers will know that I have the worst luck with scalloped potatoes.  So yesterday, I decided I was going to microwave them!  My thought was to mix the potatoes with cream of celery soup and milk and cheese, microwave until the potatoes were tender, but then finish under the broiler with a little more cheese.  Only one problem, my store was COMPLETELY out of cream of celery soup.  But then I saw this:

And then I knew I had this at home:

Biz’s Cheating Cheddar Broccoli Soup Scalloped Potatoes

• 1 can broccoli cheddar soup
• 1/2 cup skim evaporated milk
• salt and pepper
• 4 potatoes, peeled and sliced (1 pound)
• 1/2 cup reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese
• Makes 4 servings:  Each serving: 214 calories, 4 fat, 36 carbs, 9.75 protein, 2.25 fiber
  

In between each layer of potatoes, I generously sprinkled my salt and pepper.

Then I mixed the soup with the evaporated milk, and that was another layer:

Then I microwaved it for 20 minutes on high.  The edges got a little done, but it was nice and crunchy.  Once out, I put the shredded cheese on and it melted into the potatoes.

For dinner I made a pork tenderloin.  I used this awesome dry rub and put it on the pork the night before.  Then baked at 350 until the temp reaches 145 degrees, then wrapped for 10 minutes before slicing.   It was so juicy!

I put some of the bbq sauce on my 3.5 ounce slice:

Stats for Thursday:

• 1,998 calories (which includes 2 glasses of wine)
• 55 fat
• 232 carbs
• 105 protein
• 31 fiber
• 35 minute sculpting ball dvd
• 20 minute treadmill

Happy Thursday all – gotta go brush the snow off my car before work.  Have a great day!