So after all the snow it was nice to wake up to sunny skies this morning. What I am not thrilled about is the temps! Right now it is 5 degrees outside, with a windchill that makes it feel like -2. It’s days like these that I really don’t miss my commute to Chicago! š
Yesterday’s breakfast kind of looks like dog food, but trust me, it was delicious! I diced a small baked potato and Pam fried it. Then I added 1/2 cup of egg white and a handful of baby spinach – then splashed with Tabasco – so like a potato hash?
With a small bowl of fruit – my store sold this fruit salad for $1.49 a pound last weekend!
Lunch was just cheezy goodness! I know Sophia will appreciate this grilled sandwich pic! š I had 1 cup of my Buffalo Chicken Chili, 1/2 ounce cheddar cheese and 1 tsp. smart balance sour cream:
Then my grilled cheese! 2 oz. Polish rye, 1.5 ounce lean deli ham, 1/2 cup baby spinach, 1/2 sliced jalapeno, 2 slices 2% American cheese. A co-worker bought and hated this fat free margarine so she let me have it. I think the brand name is I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, but in any event 1 tablespoon is only 5 calories! I used that to grill up my sammie – so good!
![bacon 009](http://biz319.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/bacon-0091.jpg)
And since you couldn’t tell from the above picture, there was a layer of fresh jalapenos!
I bought a bag of pears on the dollar rack – every day I touch them and they are still hard. I decided to cut into one and its kind of like an Asian pear where the skin never gets soft – perfect way to finish my lunch.
I probably make chicken parmesan once ever two or three weeks – I just love it! It helps that I have canned our marinara sauce so that’s always ready to go, although I used our last jar last night š
I usually dip my chicken into egg whites – I don’t like whole eggs for some reason. Last night I just used a bit of beef broth that I seasoned – worked great! You really just need something wet to dip it in so the bread crumbs stay on.
I always use a combination of 1 tsp. real butter, 1 tsp. canola oil and spray the pan with Pam.
![bacon 018](http://biz319.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/bacon-0181.jpg)
The last few minutes on the second side I add mozzarella cheese – love how Tony’s chicken looks like a heart! I love you Tony! š
I drained the pasta but left some of the water in the bottom of the pot – I added baby spinach for a minute just to wilt before adding it to my plate: 6 oz. chicken breast, 5 oz. cooked high fiber pasta, 1/2 cup marinara and 1 oz. part skim mozzarella with a handful of wilted spinach:
After seeing the picture of the short rib grilled cheese sandwich on the cover of last month’s Bon Appetit magazine – I haven’t been able to shake the need to make it. I bought short ribs over the weekend with the intention of having short ribs with a celery root potato puree, but after I brought them home, 3 pounds of short ribs really isn’t a whole lot of meat.
So last night I decided I was going to braise them to just make the sandwiches. I opened the first package and damnit if they were bad! The sell by date was February 8 – rats!
So on to Plan B! I decided I would use the celery root and potato for my BSI recipe this week which is lemon zest! The first part of my recipe was to make a lemon chili oil. I put 3/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil on low heat and added dried chilis and some lemon rind that still had a bit of lemon pulp on it. I just heated it for 15 minutes and let it cool.
I found this oil/vinegar set at Tuesday Morning for $4.99. For some odd reason they had initials of only “B” and “M” for some reason! Here’s my Bizzy set!
![bacon 029](http://biz319.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/bacon-029.jpg)
So then it was time for Part B of my BSI recipe. Except I can’t find the celery root. Really? How do you lose 2 pounds of celery root?? So you’ll have to wait for the second part. This is a recipe I made up – in my head it sounds amazing, but we’ve seen where my recipe ideas haven’t had such a great outcome before! š
I met a new blog friend! My friend Amanda asked if I knew this blogger because she lives near my community – her name is Michelle and her blog is here. Nope, I hadn’t seen it before but I absolutely love it. She has a cooking group called HBin5 – Healthy Bread in Five Minutes based on this book:
![bacon 031](http://biz319.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/bacon-031.jpg)
So excited to try new bread recipes from this – thanks for letting me join the group Michelle!
And a big thank you to one of my commenters yesterday who pointed out that my stats for yesterday showed 0% alcohol even though I had put in my beer that I had at dinner. What I learned is that if the food doesn’t have a grade next to it, it doesn’t have ALL the nutritional information! Case in point, I typed in Miller Lite because that’s what I had – but they only had the calories and carbs, nothing else. So after I typed in “light beer” it gave it a grade and adjusted my stats: so the day before yesterday was a B-
Wednesday’s stats:
I also did a 30 minute run jog on the treadmill and 10 minutes of abs on the ball – AND I held a plank for two minutes which is a record for me! š
Off to put together my breakfast and lunch today. Oh, come back tomorrow – I will have had my 200,000 page view by tomorrow so I have a great giveaway to celebrate! š
omg everything you just pictured made my mouth water. i personally think fresh jalapenos are a lot better and have more of a kick than pickled ones!
Oh yeah. Totally appreciating! š
Dang, I need a boyfriend to make ME a heart-shaped chicken patty!
Great deal on the fruit salad! Cutest heart chicken ever š
happy early congratulations!!! I’m totally going to enter your giveaway wahtever it is. Can it be a homecooked meal by Beth herself? hahaha
OK, i don’t know why i laughed because i’m not kidding. The chicken parm looks incredible. Seriously…I’m showing it to my boyfriend right now!! š
heart shaped chicken parm looks SO GOOD! Omg that melty cheese has my name written all over it š
Everything is better with a little hot sauccee š
I have always wanted to try to make chicken parm, but for some reason, have always been scared to do so. I have no idea why either? For some reason I always think it is going to be ubber hard. I may have to tackle that soon!
Awww, your heart shaped chicken for Tony is so sweeeeeet!! It looks so tasty!! š
I am totally craving comfort food right now. Will you come make me lunch? Just no Tabasco sauce or jalapenos. Deal? Deal.
So many good eats on this page! Josh would go nuts for the buffalo chili and I want to eat your potato hash! I have a sweet potato, maybe I will make something similar for din din. Love the heart shaped chicken- too cute!
I’m also confused over the B & M bottles? Balsamic? who knows.. At least it worked out for you! I’m a sucker for anything w/ the ltter C monogram or Christina on it. I’m like a 10 year old w/ Christina pencils and stickers. hahaha
That sandwich looks deeelicious! Awesome pics! š
Give away on my blog!!!!
Yea for 200,000 page views. I’m craving melted cheese on bread. But i’m also craving Soccer, Skiing, Swimming, Sunshine…It’s a craving not a hunger. I just had a baked potato. 5 min bread would be great! I’ll have to check it out.
I love the hard cheesy bits that happen like on your grilled cheese sammie…I would eat that end first, lol!
Your BSI oil looks so pretty! Funny that you were able to get “B” bottles.
Biz, I love the “B” bottles you got! I wish they had ones that said “J”!
Now, besides the BSI, what could you use that oil for? Sauteeing potatoes, or adding to scrambled eggs??
You could use it any way you would used flavored oil – in stirfry, Pan frying, etc.
It is olive oil, so it can’t be too high of a heat, but for a quick saute you should be okay š
Your chicken parmesan looks awesome! Coincidentally that’s on my menu this week, too! I copied and pasted that buffalo chicken soup – YUM – I hope to make it soon!!
Chicken parm is one of my absolute favorite comfort foods. Yours here looks outstanding.
You are such an amazing cook! I am drooling at all of these pics.
would you please come and cook for me???
Next time I am in Kanas City Dave! Have I mentioned I’ve never been there? š
Your breakfast reminds me of the Jimmy Dean D-Lights Breakfast Bowls. They are great in a pinch but now I’ll probably feel forever guilty if I buy one since you have made the same thing from scratch. I’m always trying to figure out what to do with the last couple of potatoes in a bag and now you’ve given me an idea!
Chicken parmesan sounds like a lovely choice for dinner …REAL SOON!
Which calorie program do you use, out of curiosity? I like that it gives a grade!
Your grilled cheese looks intense!
It’s called http://www.caloriecount.com. It’s free. It has a food log where you can enter not only your eats for the day, but your recipes too! š