Since I knew I was going to be having pizza and cake later yesterday afternoon, my breakfast was simple – two Nature’s Path granola bars – am I the only one that loves crunchy granola bars?

It was the perfect amount of fuel to do Level 1 of Jillian’s 30 day shred.  I am happy to report that I was able to do the push ups on my toes!

While everyone else had a couple beers, our hostess made sure that my water glass was filled at all times, and made sure I had hot sauce for my pizza!  This one was really good – I think Chevy’s is a chain – there is one in Schaumburg.

My sister brought her green salsa (that had onions in it, but luckily it was pureed!) and I brought my baja fresh salsa.

My sister and I had sausage and pepperoni on our side – I had three squares.

Then after chatting the afternoon away, it was time for cake!

Portillo’s Copycat Cake Recipe

  • 1 box Super Moist Betty Crocker cake mix (any flavor)
  • 1 cup water (if using chocolate cake mix, add 1 cup cold coffee)
  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • 3 eggs

Mix with an electric mixer for 3 minutes.  Bake according to package instructions.  For a 9×13, this cooked in 30 minutes. It is makes the most moist cake I’ve ever had at home!

Then it was time to say goodbye – thanks for a great afternoon ladies!

Jenn and Me. 😀 I am actually wearing a shirt Hannah tie-dyed for me in 7th grade – its one of the comfiest shirts I have!

So on my way home, there was a Caputo’s grocery store.  I had nothing in mind for dinner, so just thought I would see what jumped out at me.  Did I score on tomatoes and zucchini! You know I’ve talked about the $1 rack at my local grocery store – um, they have discount boxes! I got one box (approx. 10 pounds) of tomatoes for $1.80, another for .99 cents and a box of zucchini for $1.50!

Turns out my box of zucchini had 17 zucchini and 5 eggplant!  Tony and I hate eggplant, so those went immediately into the garbage.

I ended up using three zucchini for a cream of zucchini soup with curry and coconut milk (recipe will come tomorrow!) and then I got 20 cups of shredded zucchini.  I divided them into 2 cup ziplocs, then put them in a freezer bag.

Then Tony and I got to work on one of the boxes of tomatoes.  These are really ripe! I took off the stickers and chucked the ones that were too far gone, while Tony chopped them up and added them to the stock pot.  We used about 1/3 of a bunch of fresh basil, two heads of garlic, olive oil and thyme and oregano.

I had to bring out my biggest pot!

So I head to the meat department, thinking I can get something to grill, when I see they had whole beef tenderloins for $4.99 a pound!  John, you have to back me up that this is a great price!

So once I took it out of the package I was like “now what?!”  Tony suggest I look online on how to butcher it – so I watched a chef on YouTube – perfect!

So I cut off the bottom 2 inches of the “tail” and then cut off the “head” at the top. There is also another piece to the right of the tenderloin that has to be removed, as well as any silver skin and extra fat

Just seeing the above picture kind of made Hannah throw up in her mouth!  When it was all butchered, I had five 8 oz. filets and 1 1/4 pounds of meat to grind up for burgers later this week.

Good meat needs no other seasoning than salt and pepper.  I cooked these on the gas grill, probably about 4-5 minutes a side total – it was perfectly medium rare!

Tony and I both took a bite and agreed that these were the best steaks we’ve ever had at home – they rivaled any restaurant! 😀

Stats for Saturday:

  • 1525 calories, 175 carbs, 84 protein, 57 fat and 8.8 fiber
  • 30 minute Level 1 30-day shred

On tap for today:

  • make tons of salsa with the other box of tomatoes!
  • laundry
  • mop kitchen floor
  • deep clean bedroom (I have an irrational fear of spiders – and Tony pointed out that there was one in the corner of our room!)
  • long bike ride
  • update 101 Days of Summer Challenge – check it out tonight! 😀