Mondays are always hard for me to get up because I sleep in over the weekend.  I wish we could have a late start to work on Monday mornings! šŸ˜€

Breakfast, yet another egg sammie (promise its the last one for a while!) with some strawberries – they were pretty tart so I sprinkled them with Splenda and let them sit for a while.  Breakfast comes in at 444 calories, 45 carbs, 33 protein, 16 fat and 3.6 fiber.

When I was in Chicago on Sunday, I got a text from Tony that said “I am changing my football food and there is nothing you can do to stop me!”  He had bought some beef tamales, but had a taste for red beans and rice with sausage.  He actually cooked it on our rice maker, sausage and all, and it turned out perfect.  FYI, the sausage was already fully cooked šŸ˜€  There was a lot leftover so that became my lunch, although I didn’t grab much sausage!  Lunch comes in at 365 calories, 59 carbs, 11.5 protein, 34 fat, 3 fiber. I am not sure that is correct – when I put one cup of Zataran’s red beans and rice, it said it was 25 grams of fat, which seems REALLY high -I need to check that out.

On the side I had a baby spinach salad, that I quickly ruined with my dressing choice.  I was all out of dressing that I brought, but the firm as some in the fridge.  I chose a Ken’s Steakhouse light raspberry walnut dressing.  Um, let’s just say it tasted like a bunch of cotton candy was melted and turned into a dressing – ick!

 

it kind of looks like blood in the bottom of my bowl – ew šŸ™

 

I have two dishes that routinely haunt me – the first being chili, the second being scalloped potatoes.  But over the years, I am happy to say that I have SEVERAL wonderful chilis that we eat on a regular basis.  It used to be my chilis would be thin like soup.

However, scalloped potatoes have still eluded me, but I still never gave up.  I’ve watched my Mom make them for years, she’s even made them in my own kitchen, but invariable the potatoes are never cooked through, the sauce separates – disappointment every time.

So I went back to basics!  Before the internet, this was my go to cookbook.

 

okay, so 1989 is not that new!

 

 

yep, first things first, cross off onions of the ingredient list!

 

You melt 2 tablespoons of butter, then add 2 tablespoons of flour to make a  roux.  Add the milk.  The only difference here is that I add cheddar cheese to the sauce.  I put all my sliced potatoes in my casserole dish, poured the cheese sauce overtop, then I put it in the microwave for 10 minutes. When the 10 minutes was over, the potatoes were nearly done, so I finished them off in the oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

 

ready for the microwave – I put more cheese on top before putting in the oven

 

 

perfection! I also sprinkled dried parsley on the top before putting in the oven

 

They were tender, flavorful, nice and crispy on the top – I’ll never make them any other way again!  Dinner comes in at 478 calories, 36 carbs, 45 protein, 16 fat and 3.4 fiber.

 

our dog loves pork bones – I ate 4 ounces of meat and gave the rest to our dog šŸ˜€

 

And since our chops were thin and would cook fast, I had time to do a Jillian workout while the potatoes cooked – holy cow this one was hard!  I was sweaty 10 minutes into it!

Stats for Monday:

  • 1417 calories, 157 carbs, 96 protein, 88 fat (still not sure), 15.3 fiber.
  • 45 minute walk with 2 pound weights at lunch
  • 25 minutes quick trouble zones before dinner

Biggest Loser and Glee tonight – love Tuesdays! šŸ˜€