Can I just say that my title doesn’t sound like diet food at all?  I thought I had homemade pita breads left in the pantry, but I think Hannah used them all.  So the only thing I thought I could use quickly was an Arnold Thin.  I preheated my oven to 350.  On each half I put 1/4 cup tomato sauce, sprinkle of oregano, 1/2 cup baby spinach, 1/2 of one cooked egg diced, 1/2 ounce of goat cheese and 1/2 ounce of cheddar.   I actually loved the extra tang of the goat cheese 😀   7 PointsPlus.

For some reason I always want to take food pictures as close as possible – so now I give you a close up of my breakfast (and I really couldn’t decide which picture to post!)

My before workout fuel was one of the oranges my parents-in-law sent from Florida – the box they sent me is half gone already!  When I checked my blood sugar before working out and it was 202 – perfect!

I decided to do a 5k, but it was a rough run.  I think I tried to start out too fast at 5.0 to start, and in the first 15 minutes had to stop at 30 second intervals to walk.  After a 5 minute warm-up, I did the 5k in 40:14, then did a 5 minute cool down – love that the gym is a mile from my office and I can change back to my work clothes really quick!

When I got back to my office, my blood sugar was 57 – eek!  But my protein rich chili and carb baked potato helped – I only took half my insulin after I ate half of this plate.  This is one cup of my Buffalo Chicken Chili (6 points) with 4.5 ounce baked potato (3 points) and 1/2 ounce 50% reduced fat Cabot Cheddar cheese (1 point).  10 Points.

I got my January issue of Eating Well and one recipe jumped out at me almost immediately.  This was our side dish, although I just tossed the cooked broccoli in the Parmesan sauce.  Except for Cabot cheese I use real cheese for everything – its worth the points 😀

Broccoli with Creamy Parmesan Sauce

(from Eating Well Jan. 2011)

Course: main meals
PointsPlus™ Value:    3
Servings:  4 

Preparation Time:  5 min
Cooking Time:  15 min
Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Ingredients

1 pound(s) broccoli
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup(s) fat-free skim milk
1/8 cup(s) dried bread crumbs
1/2 cup(s) grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Instructions

Steam broccoli pieces for 5-7 minutes, until tender.
Meanwhile, wisk flour and 1/4 cup milk in a small bowl until smooth. Heat the remaining 3/4 cup milk in a saucepan over medium-low heat until steaming.
Whisk in theflour mixtrure; cook whisking, until thickened – between 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat; add cheese, salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Drizzle over the broccoli.

Here is the cheese I used – pretty sure I have at any given moment at least six cheeses in my fridge:

I always weigh my cheese to make sure I get the most for my points.

My second side dish was crab cakes because I had leftover crabs from the Crab Rangoons I made for Christmas.  One thing I like about the Recipe Builder is that you can manipulate the recipe while you are typing it in – like reducing the amount of butter or mayo in a recipe.  This crab cake recipe was based off of a few I saw on Tastespotting, but I reduced the butter to 1 tablespoons for the pan fry – the original recipe called for 1/8 cup of butter AND 1/8 cup of olive oil!

And when I got home, I realized that I only had 5.5 ounces of crab, not 8 ounces like I wrote in the recipe, but I just kept the points the same – not that big of a difference.

Crab Cakes 

Course: main meals
PointsPlus™ Value:    4
Servings:  4 

Preparation Time:  0 min
Cooking Time:  0 min
Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Ingredients

8 oz lump crabmeat
1/4 cup(s) dried bread crumbs
1/8 cup(s) cilantro
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 large egg yolk(s)
1 Tbsp regular butter
1 Tbsp mayonnaise

Instructions

Combine all ingredients except for egg yolk until well combined.
Add egg yolk and blend just until mixture holds together. Cover with wax paper and chill for 30 minuts.
Heat non-stick pan over medium heat. Add butter and Pam spray and when the butter is hot – cook the crab cakes for 4 minutes on each side, until the outside is crisp and browned.
Points are for one crabcake.

be sure to let them cook without touching for the first 4 minutes so it doesn't break during flipping
only one of mine broke - not bad!

Since Tony doesn’t like spicy, these were a bit bland for me (well, for him too!) so next time I would add fresh parsley and crushed red pepper flakes for more flavor.

I defrosted one of our $3.25 New York strips to split.  It was kind of thick so I cooked each side initially for 5 minutes a side, then just 2 minutes each other flip.  I am a sucker for the grill marks!

I ended up letting the steak rest for 5 minutes while I put everything else together.  This actually wasn’t a bad weeknight meal time wise, I was done in just 30 minutes.

perfect medium rare 😀

My plate: I ended up eating 4 ounces of steak, one crab cake and the broccoli side dish.

Sadly, I gave myself too much insulin and as I was cleaning out my pantry after dinner, I could feel the sweat pouring down my neck – my blood sugar got down to 33 🙁  So I ate 1/2 a blueberry muffin (3 points) and two pears – and I was still full from dinner!

Stats for Tuesday:

  • 33 points
  • 40 Flex Points remaining
  • 50 minute treadmill – total of 3.5 miles
  • average blood sugar 99

Today is my Friday – let me tell you I could get used to 4 and 5 day weekends! 😀  Make it a great day!

Question of the Day: Can you eat meat rare or does it half to be cooked gray before you’ll even touch it?