Of course since it was Monday morning and my alarm was set, I did NOT want to get up.  I was so cozy and I knew the house would be cold.  Made coffee – stat.  Then did my blog post for yesterday and then all of a sudden I looked up and I had to leave the house in like 20 minutes!

But first I had to get the dog out of our bedroom.  Even when Tony is feeling well, he’s not much of a sleeper.  He’s lucky to get 5 hours in a night.  But when he has nights he’s not feeling well, he gets the best sleep after I get up and leave.  But once the dog hears commotion going on, he wants out – sometimes.

Yesterday morning was not that day.  I had to bribe him three times with treats to get him to wake up and get outside.  😀

The lovely folks at Chobani sent me a case of yogurt.  I tried their new Apple Cinnamon flavor last week, but I think yesterday’s flavor has topped them all:

So flavorful and delicious – I ended up using 1/4 cup of my Splenda granola,  the 6 oz. container of blood orange yogurt, blackberries, strawberries and banana.  I still can’t get over how filling these parfaits are!  This one comes in at 6.5 points.

Skippy, you’ll be happy to see chocolate chips back on top!

I failed to mention the other reason my legs are sore – not only from my 5 mile run, but as I was leaving the grocery store on Sunday, I had one of those small carts because I didn’t have a lot to get.  I parked in a different section, and there was a small curb (maybe an inch high) that I thought I could just push my cart off and carry on.

Um, not so much – once the wheels hit the street, they stuck and as I tried to push forward I ended up almost going over the whole cart, all my groceries spilled all over the ground and I gouged my shin.  A lovely elderly couple helped me pick up all my groceries. 😀

So I went on weather.com – temp was 30, but felt like 22.  No prob.  I walked the first 15 minutes, ran for 10 minutes, then walked again for 15 minutes.  I have these goofy mittens, but they are so warm.  I bought them at a crap craft fair a few years ago from a little girl who was about 10 years old.  Her Mom had a table of ugly jewelry, and you could tell she wanted to sell stuff too.  They are big, and not sewn very well, but I felt sorry for her and forked over the $5.  But guess what?  They are warm!

And they actually match my scarf kind of?  I didn’t realize I was being such a fashionista!

So it was quite comforting after my chilly walk/run to know I had Lemon Chicken and Orzo Soup waiting for me.  Renee, this is a winning recipe – love the lemony flavor of the broth, although I did simmer a couple slices of jalapeno to make the broth spicier, and of course, left out the onions. 😀  I had two cups, so I am calling it 5 points, with 3 point bread on the side – 8 point lunch.

The only thing I forgot was to add the chopped spinach – I had decided to add the spinach as I heated up my soup so it wouldn’t get so wilty, but I forgot it at home.  This soup is still delicious though – thanks Renee!

Like my friend Mara, I love tiny food.  So I’ve had sliders on my brain.  Not just any sliders – jalapeno bacon sliders to be exact.  While I could have just bought a can of refrigerator biscuits for the buns, I decided to make prezel buns.  I followed this recipe to a T, except I weighed out 2.5 ounces of dough to make slider buns – so I got 14 buns instead of the 8 larger rolls.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup warm water (110°F)
1 package active dry yeast (not instant rise yeast)
2 teaspoons sugar
4-½ cups unbleached all-purpose Flour
2 teaspoons Kosher salt
4 tablespoons unsalted Butter, melted
¼ cups baking soda
1 whole egg, lightly beaten
Pretzel Salt, for sprinkling

Directions:

In the bowl of your stand mixer (fitted with the dough hook attachment), add the water, yeast, and sugar. Stir and let rest 5-10 minutes until foamy (mine didn’t look all that foamy but still turned out).  My dough didn’t raise much either!

Add the flour, salt, and melted butter and mix using the dough hook until combined well. Cover with a plastic wrap (or a towel) and allow to rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in bulk (again, mine didn’t look like it rose all that much, but turned out amazingly). Punch the dough down and turn it onto a lightly floured clean surface.

Line 1 large sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside. Cut the dough into 14 8 pieces (2.5 4 1/2 – 5 ounces each). To shape the dough “take a piece of dough and start forming a round, smooth ball by pulling the sides to the center and pinching to seal. Place, pinched side down, on a counter and lightly cupping your hand around the dough ball, rotate your hand in small circles lightly rolling the ball around the palm of your hand.”

Place the ball on the prepared baking sheet pinched seam side down, with at least 1” between each roll. Cover with a towel and allow to rest in a warm place for 30 minutes until they rise & double (mine didn’t rise a whole lot).  Mine didn’t raise a lot either.

Preheat oven to 425°F and place oven rack in the middle position. In a large saucepan, bring 2 quarts of water to a low boil. Remove from heat and slowly add the baking soda (I dumped mine in and it boiled up and overflowed all over my stove – lesson learned! hah) place back on heat and lower to a simmer.  I’ve made bagels before where I added the baking soda too fast and had a volcano of water erupt from my pot!

Place 2-3 of the rolls at a time into the poaching liquid, seam side down. Poach for 30 seconds and then carefully turn the roll over and poach for another 30 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon to the same prepared sheet pan, seam side down. Repeat with the remaining rolls.

Using a pastry brush, brush each roll with the beaten egg, making sure to coat all sides completely & then prinkle each roll with a little pretzel salt. Using a sharp straight edged knife, cut a slash (or 2) -or- an “X” shape in the top of each roll. Bake the rolls in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. Serve hot!

So my dinner ended up being a pretzel roll (5), 3 ounce sirloin burger (3), 1/2 ounce of cheese (1), pickled jalapenos (0) and lots of mustard (0).

On the side I made baked zucchini fries.  In a ziploc bag I put 1/8 cup whole wheat flour, 1/8 cup bread crumbs, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper.  I cut a large zucchini into fries, then tossed them in 1/4 cup egg whites, then did a shake n bake to coat them.  I then sprinkled about 1 tsp. of olive oil over the top of the fries and baked them on a rack over a jelly roll pan at 425 for 30 minutes.   The whole recipe is 5 points, so my side is 2.5 points, so dinner comes in at 11.5 points.

And as much as I tried to focus on the burger because that was amazing, I think the zucchini fries wanted to take center stage!

The zucchini fries were perfectly crunchy.  Although I have to be honest, the deep fryer was on stand by if these didn’t work out!

So I have the day off today – Tony and I are seeing a couple doctors today to try to figure out how to get him well again.  While it isn’t the most exciting Valentine’s Day I’ve ever had, I get to spend the day with him, so isn’t that all that matters?

A year ago Tony was getting ready to have his colon cancer surgery – I can’t believe its been a year already!  We had a Valentine’s Day dinner on February 13, and if you are still looking for something stellar to make for your special someone, try this Bay Scallop Gratin – served with a crusty bread, it is amazing!

Hugs to all of you – make it a great day!