I had totally forgotten that I had tried to make baked paczki (“poonch-kee”) two years ago, until I saw that post got 100 hits yesterday!  They were just okay, but I may have to try them again next year. 😀

Since I didn’t do anything traditional for fat Tuesday, I had to drool over my friend Jacky’s shrimp etouffee – holy cow does it look delicious – I’ve never made it before but now its on the top of my list of things to make – thanks for posting the recipe Jacky (and check out her blog – she just got a new layout and it is so clean and nice – love it!).

For breakfast I had one of my 4 point bagels with 1/2 cup egg beaters, baby spinach, deli ham and cheese – there was too much egg to fit on the mini-bagel so it kinda spilled over – 7 Points.  Marisa made the bagels too – except she made hers whole wheat – you can check out how good they turned out here.

I decided to switch it up at the gym and I did the Stair Master for 32 minutes – for a total of 1.75 miles and 92 flights.  I am still trying to increase my speed on the treadmill, so I decided to see how fast I could run a mile . . . without stopping.  I ended up running it in 11:23!  I want to sign up for a 5k in June, with my goal of beating my PR at an official race of 39:00 minutes – I have my work cut out for me. 😀

Back at the office I had a Thai noodle bowl.  I followed a recipe, but it was awful, so I had to do some quick changes to make it taste good.  Have you ever used fish sauce before?  Wow, that is some strong stuff!  So I don’t have a recipe yet because this is still a work in progress – but my co-workers that I brought it too loved it, and I did too.  I sauteed the zucchini in szechwan sauce so it had a nice kick – this whole bowl is 9 PointsPlus.

And I had a cup of cantaloupe on the side – this one was so sweet. 😀

So Tony is still not feeling that great.  It seems like he goes two steps forward and one step back, which apparently his surgeon thinks is normal.  It’s just sad that I can’t make him feel any better.  He only ate half a roast beef sandwich before he started to feel sick.  So needless to say, he had no appetite for dinner. 🙁

I had defrosted pork chops so I decided to make creamed spinach stuffed pork chops for one.  Before I met Tony I never even had creamed spinach before – holy cow is it delicious!  My version turned out so great – I think the stuffing and the sauce made this dish.

Skinny Creamed Spinach Stuffed Pork Chops

  • 7 PointsPlus  (291 calories, 6.5 fat, 10.4 carbs, 0 fiber and 38 protein)

Ingredients:

  • 1 5 oz. pork chop
  • 3/4 cup baby spinach
  • 2 tablespoons fat free half and half
  • 1 tablespoon shaved Parmesan cheese
  • 1/8 cup beef broth
  • 1/4 cup orange juice
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley

Directions:

  • Heat a non-stick pan over medium-high heat.  Slice the pork chop in the middle, but do not cut all the way through.
  • Put the spinach, half and half and Parmesan in the skillet and cook until the half and half starts to bubble and the cheese melts.
  • Stuff the pork chop.  Season both sides with salt and pepper.  Cook over medium-high heat (I used 1/2 teaspoon oil) for a minute on each side.  Then cover and cook 3 minutes per side.  Remove and let it rest – put a small piece of foil over the top.
  • In the same pan add the beef broth, orange juice, Dijon mustard, lemon, lemon zest and dried parsley.  Cook, stirring to get all the bits on the bottom of the pan, for about 4 minutes until it’s reduced a bit.  Pour over pork chop and eat.
looks like such a lonely pork chop
I am not even going to say what I think that looks like 😀
resting with my naked baked potato – I poured the sauce over my potato too – no butter required
heaven on a plate

I cannot describe how delicious this pork chop was.  It was perfectly cooked, and the sauce was nice and tangy – I actually put 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard in the sauce, which almost was a bit too much, which is why I reduced the amount to 1 teaspoon in the recipe above.  This one is definitely a keeper!

Stats for Tuesday:

  • 33 points (26 for food and 6 for wine 😀 )
  • 32 minutes Stair Master
  • 11:23 mile
  • 5 minute cool down

It’s another overcast, rainy day in Chicago – but the only thing that makes me happy about that is hopefully by today the last of our dirty, ugly snow will finally melt!

Have a great day!