Yep. My daughter blames me for her not liking meat. You see, when I was pregnant with her, any type of meat turned me off – even my beloved burgers and steak! What did I crave? Chinese food! So my 18 year old daughter hates meat and loves Chinese food! 😀 She mentioned to me the other day that unknowingly, she’d gone 4 days without eating meat and decided to see if she could stick to a vegetarian diet.
What did I do? I cooked her chicken! Tony and I were having a pork roast, which I knew she wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole, and when I called her to dinner I told her that I had grilled her some Greek marinated chicken, she looked at me and said “Um, Mom, remember when I told you I was a vegetarian?” So her chicken became my lunch!
First off though, yesterday was “Professional Administration Day.” Basically a made up holiday, but we got bagels and fruit – the office managers gave us cute vases with daisies (which luckily I can’t kill!) and one of my bosses gave me an orchid (which I definitely will kill) and a gift card – to be used strictly for Tony and I to go out to dinner 😀 Thanks Nancy! 😀
I am nervous about the orchid. Usually plants come to my house to die!
So while I brought an Arnold thin for my breakfast sammie, I could not pass up 1/2 of an asiago cheese bagel 😀
I decided to make a wrap with Hannah’s chicken – I sauteed some red pepper and put lots of Dijon mustard on my wrap.
I actually accessories my sammie with canned soup. I know, can you believe it? I won it from Lisa a while back – I ended up eating the whole can, which was 2 servings at 200 calories – but 80% of my sodium for the day. 🙁
The verdict? It wasn’t too bad! A tad on the salty side, but I swirled in some Tabasco to make a spicy broth. I like the thick noodles, but the chicken tastes kind of rubbery to me. Speaking of Tabasco, my sister sent me a link with tons of Tabasco recipes!! Guess what my party pizza Friday pizza is going to be?? Blackened chicken pizza with spicy creole tomato sauce! Doesn’t that sound fantastic??!!
It was so nice outside, my friend and I walked for 45 minutes in t-shirts. I had to work about an hour late last night, and when I called Tony to let him know I was coming home, he asked if he could get dinner started. I knew it was going to be quick to put together – I told him to light the grill – it was then that he told me it was cold outside, and he was right! It was probably 65 degrees at lunch and it felt like 45 outside!
Needless to say, I “grilled” indoors! Super simple – surf and turf – ribeye steak (1.4 pound steak for $4.50 – it was in the 50% bin last week!) and scallops with asparagus.
Have you cooked with scallops? I have always read that you need to have “dry” scallops to get a good sear, but for the life of me, I cannot get them dry! I even squeezed each on individually in paper towels, laid them on my cutting board until I was ready to use them, and they were still wet!
My plate: 3.5 ounces steak, asparagus and 3 ounces of scallops. At the table I drizzled the asparagus with Paul Newman’s light balsamic dressing – that turned out really good! Dinner comes in at 425 calories, 5.7 carbs, 59 protein, 16.5 fat and 1.8 fiber.
And then later in the night I got the munchies! I measured out a serving of Trader Joe jalapeno crunchies – yum!
So overall my day was good – except I ended up with 200% in protein, not enough carbs and way high on sodium.
Okay, so I am caught up with Biggest Loser! OMG, tissues were definitely necessary!! Can I just say that I love O’Neal??!! Just his personality, determination – even while grieving the loss of his brother.
But one thing that I noticed – when they had the temptation to eat whatever they wanted, one of the contestants had their “typical” breakfast and it only came in at 175 calories – really? And then Sam mentions that he eats the most calories at 1,800 – which still seems low for how much they work out. Any thoughts?
I am off to put together my breakfast and lunch – not sure what it’s going to be yet because I didn’t make the quiche I wanted to and I never made the scallop bisque!
Happy Thursday!
I’m happy your boss showed some appreciation for you. I worked for some real b*st*rds so I’m glad I’m not celebrating Administrative Professional’s Day with them this year.
Crazy low calories and massive amounts of exercise are the only way TBLosers can get those unrealistic numbers on the scale to make good t.v. We know it’s not healthy to lose 10+ pounds a week but we all want it off yesterday, right?
Hi, I just found your blog. I’m diabetic and trying to lose weight too. I’ll continue reading your blog. I wish I was as good at tracking calories! I used to be and then just stopped. That’s when I stopped losing weight too. Hmm…
I agree with you about The Biggest Loser, the amount of calories they eat with the amount of exercise seems very low. They said that Dairus ate the next most highest at like 1500+, a big guy like him eating 1500 calories with exercise? How can he have the strength to stand up! I usually shoot for about 1400 – 1500 calories for a GOOD day and I don’t do a lot of exercise. This is the first season I’ve watched and it’s been interesting.
Looks like you still got a pretty good sear on the scallops, though!
Too funny about Hannah–I couldn’t stomach any kind of meat when I was pregnant with Miss D., either. And eggs? God, they sent me straight to the barf bucket!
that’s so funny about Hannah 🙂
So nice you guys got flower and bagels! Our office doesn’t do anything for us admins, so I just have to buy myself something nice 🙂
Your food photos are wonderful, making me so hungry. Could your scallops have been frozen? That would make them more watery. Don’t worry about Hannah. Things could be a lot worse than being vegetarian. Most of us don’t eat enough veggies or fruit.
Yep – I discovered you’ll only get “dry” scallops by using fresh ones – thanks Judy! 😀
Hmm. My mom must have craved salty and spicy stuff, as well as chocolate, judging from my tastes! 🙂
I’m looking forward to that pizza you’re making tomorrow.
Mmmm, scallops. You can surf that turf over here any day.
great looking breakfast! My son loves that Progresso chicken noodle soup. Lovely flowers, you deserve them 🙂
All those pretty flowers and tons of scrumptious food in ONE post…WOW! Sure would like to pop a few of those scallops in my mouth about now. And tell Hannah I’ll take the Greek marinated chicken next time and any steak or meat she passes up!
I think it’s great that Hannah is going veg! I’ve been veg and vegan and am now flexitarian but really prefer veggetarian meals. Except I can’t get over my love of bacon! hahahahaha! Anwyay, I read an article on Biggest Loser and how the contestants are so competitive that they starve & dehydrate themselves. They def do eat WAY too few calories. The point of that show is who can lose the most weight within the given amount of time and they do drastic things to win. (Wearing sweats while excercising to sweat more and drinking no water–once contestant starting peeing blood b/c of this!) Which is probably why the sucess rate of keeping the weight off after going off the show is so low. I like the premise of the show, but don’t like what it does to people. They are only learning to crash diet and don’t know what to do once they are done.
Awww – your flowers are beautiful!!!!
I really think it’s true that your kids eat/crave what you eat/crave/eat while preggers. Then again….it’s sorta the trend right now to not have meat so maybe that’s a possibility too 🙂
I LOVE grill marks too – they make food just THAT much better 🙂
so funny about hannah! sometimes i think my life might be a bit simpler if i didn’t like meat too…or sugar for that matter!
the steak and scallops plate looks mouthwatering!
When my mom was pregnant w/ me she got sick the entire pregnancy just SMELLING pasta sauce. She couldn’t eat it for months, and had to stop going to family Sunday dinners b/c every week she’d just puke. Now there is ONE die-hard rule in our house – Johnny HAS to deal w/ old pasta sauce – as in, he has to wash any dirty dishes that have touched it, or if I’m reusing leftovers he has to open the tupperware and put it in the pot to reheat. I cannot STAND the smell of old, cold pasta sauce it literally turns my stomach. I told my mom this a few years ago and that’s when she told me about her pregnancy — weird!!!
I’m obsessed w/ grill marks too! Yours look great. Giveaway on my blog!
I went through a vegetarian phase in late 2008/early 2009 and enjoyed it at first, but then realized there were certain things I missed… like sausage balls! And every now and then I crave a turkey sub or slices of steak. I’d say now I’m definitely a flexitarian. I eat mostly vegetarian, but if I really want meat, I eat it.
Are you talking about the Jimmy Dean/Cheddar cheese balls? My cousin makes those every year and I can never eat just one! 😀
great Hannah… spread the word. More and cheaper beef for me!!!
Way to go Hannah. I have gone vegetarian twice in my life, once when my pet steer ended up on the dinner table and my cruel sister asked me how Coco tasted, veggie for 4 years at age 9. The second time was after college and I gave it up while on tour for a year and the 2 weeks in Texas where the ONLY thing I could get without meat was an iceberg lettuce salad and grilled cheese with that nasty fake american cheese stuff (YUCK) went back to meat :p
Scallops you want to dry as well as you can but not crowding the pan will do more for a good sear than drying, definitely pat dry but just don’t crowd the pan or no matter how dry they won’t be as good as they can be.
Thanks Alison!! 😀
Funny about your daughter blaming you for not liking meat because of your pregnancy with her. Although I blame my mom for my love of mint chocolate chip ice cream because she ate tons when she was pregnant with me. With my brothers she ate tons of spicy food and they both love it! There must be some tie there!
I have to say that I love seeing all your food cause it always looks soooooooo good.
Hannah and I would be fabulous friends!!!!
Those scallops look great!
So funny about Hannah and meat. My mom craved Chinese food when she was pregnant with me, too (well, she was also married to a Chinese man), and obviously now I love it 🙂 So, Hannah might have a theory there! 😉
Your food is gorgeous!! It looks so good.
I cried through BL the other night too. It just broke my heart to see O’Neil like that. He has such a HUGE heart.
The calorie content for BL is crazy to me especially considering they work out 4-6 hours per day. Totally nuts, but to pull the crazy numbers on the scale every week I guess that is what it is. They have to feel hungry constantly I would think.
What a strange thing about pregnancy and the “cravings” you inherit….it was the opposite with my mom and my bro, I think. When she was pregnant with him, she had an obsession for peanuts. And he doesn’t like nuts! Crazy boy. I think she ate a lot of Korean traditional food when she was pregnant with me…and I don’t like Korean traditional food…haha! So Hannah can’t blame you! >__<
Re the Biggest Loser – I wondered if some of them were eating less because they were on camera? And it’s no wonder they are losing 7 – 10 pounds a week with as few calories as they are eating!!!
Awww Hannah is so cute! Is she going to eat fish? I was contemplating vegetarianism – but if I did it – shrimp, fish, scallops, mussels, all that good stuff would still have to be on the table!
She likes shrimp, and if you call Gorton’s fish sticks fish, she’ll eat those too! 😀
The scallops look wonderful. I have had any in a while. Now I am craving some. That is so funny that Hannah blames you. Well, a vegetarian diet is good too 🙂
Thanks for the shout out B!
I heard Sam say the same thing about the 1,800 calories is the most anyone can eat, and I thought about Michael weighing in at 526 pounds eating that little and working out so much, of course they are going to lose tons of weight!
I love scallops- tough to get them dry I agree! 🙂
I too love O’Neal and I needed plenty of tissues for the last episode! WOW!
Good use of the chicken- I made a bunch on Monday and have enjoyed it all week. YUM! 🙂
I love scallops and can never get them dry enough, either! I’ve tried everything, including my salad spinner (bad idea). Paper towels is about as good as it gets, in my experience!
I love ONeal, too. His passion and drive and determination put me over the edge. One inspirational word out of that man’s mouth can drive me to tears! 🙂
I don’t watch TBL, but the 1800 daily for a man who’s working out like mad sounds low to me also. You’d think he’d be having to burn lean muscle, but I guess they have the calculations for the contestants worked out.
Ditto everyone’s scallop comments. They look fantastic!
awww that’s so funny! The chicken looks good though – love that wrap pic! But not as much as the indoor grilling extraveganza – YUM!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE scallops! Those look so tasty! And the flowers are beautiful! I saw your previous post the other day on those jalapeno crunchies and got me some the other day…so good! I love spicy stuff:)
You should tell Hannah she can always be a flexitarian–someone who is mostly vegetarian, but sometimes eats meat. Like me! I tried to be a vegetarian about 5 years ago when I was in graduate school, but I wasn’t getting enough protein and I had some health problems as a result. So I added chicken and fish back in–but only a couple times a week. Works great for me!
I’ve never heard of flexitarian before – but I bet that would work for her – thanks B!
Personally, I always hope the sodium thing evens out by the end of a 7 day period since I tend to have a few high sodium days even when I’m not eating processed foods.
I was sickened by meat as well when I was preggo and I have a child who eats it only occasionally. She prefers other sources of protein like beans & cheese.
I just blogged about how I like meat less and less these days, I just don’t like the texture that much! The flavor is great though. 🙂
I don’t like the Biggest Loser. Only because it sets an unrealistic example of weight loss; exercise a lot, eat very little. I’m famished on less than 1800 calories a day when I’m sedentary, can’t imagine on hours and hours of activity.
Pretty flowers! 😀
Jenn
Not food related…but 2 years ago we gave my MIL an orchid plant for Mother’s day. It has bloomed 6 times and is still alive in her sunniest window. I can’t beleive it!
Jillian Michaels says the lowest calories a guy should eat is 1600 and a woman 1200. It seems to work for the contestants and they have a better rate than the rest of the world for keeping the weight off afterwards.
I keep my cals down to between 1800-2200 even when I burn crazy cals like last week when I burned 12229 calories. That doesn’t count the calories I burn just keeping the body humming.
Happy Earth Day 🙂
Good for Hannah for trying out goin’ veggie – I always assumed she was pretty much a vegetarian anyways 🙂
Mmm, now I’m craving scallops – yum!
That is too funny about Hannah not eating meat now…and blaming it on you! I wonder if that will happen with my 7 mo. old…I ate strawberries everyday preggo with him, but shyed about from some meats as well!