Thanks for all your comments yesterday about Tony making me dinner. And yes, that does mean he’s feeling better. He’ll feel even better when he’s not plugged into a wall anymore though! The home health care nurse came by Monday to change his sponge, and his wound looks “pink” which is a good sign.
Even after I told Tony that each slice of his delicious jalapeno corn bread came in at six points, he said “will you eat any more of it?” Hells yes! I just need to make it work in my meal plan.
So yesterday I made a 1/2 cup egg white (2) omlet with spinach (0) with a slice of corn bread (6) and a cup of fresh fruit (0). A lovely 8 WW point breakfast. Tony said the recipe suggested reheating it in the microwave for a few seconds and it tasted as if it had just come out of the oven. So fricken good!
While Tony is more than willing to make dinners so I can get to the gym, I plan on saving those days when I know the weather is not going to cooperate. Yesterday, while cold (23), it wasn’t windy. So I had a nice 45 minute walk at a pretty fast pace – I kept skipping the slow songs on Pandora to keep the momentum going. I’ve found that I feel better when I run every other day – it gives my legs a chance to rest in between.
The only thing I hate about the end of February? Dirty snow – when I am really done with winter and want it to be spring and 50 degrees so I can put up my gazebo again and watch baseball. 😀 Most of the snow is already melted and I think we have rain in the forecast, so it shouldn’t be around too much longer.
I have a bad habit. I open cans of stuff, only use a little bit, then put them with the lids still in tact. I just hate to waste food. But then invariably I’ll be looking trying to find something and realize I have:
- 1/3 of a container of chicken broth
- 1/2 a can of tomato sauce
- 1/2 a can of chipotle peppers in adobo
- 1/4 can of canned black beans
- 1/2 can fat free refried beans
The light bulb went off as I stared at these half used cans of food.
Refried Bean Soup – Makes One Generous 2 1/2 cup serving for 7 points
- 1 cup chicken broth (0)
- 1 cup tomato sauce (0)
- 1/2 cup fat free refried beans (2)
- 1/3 cup canned black beans (2)
- 1 tablespoon chipotle peppers
- 2 ounces of shredded chicken leftover (2)
- 1/2 ounce of cheddar cheese on top (1)
I just mixed everything but the chicken and black beans with my stick blender. Dumped that into my container, then added the black beans and chicken and then heated it up at work and topped with the cheddar cheese. Spicy, slightly thick from the refried beans and delicious. Anytime I can get 2 1/2 cups of soup for 7 points I am in. 😀
I had steak on the menu, and wanted to do something a bit different – a quick Tastespotting search brought me to Kevin’s site – should have known he’d have a great recipe for Steak Diane. I did make a few adjustments – because even though I halved the amount of Dijon mustard, it was a bit too much for Tony, so I added more beef broth.
Steak Diane Sauce (makes 3, 1/3 cup servings for 3 points each)
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 clove minced garlic
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms
- 1/4 cup brandy
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1/4 cup fat free half and half
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershie sauce
I melted the butter over medium high heat and added my 4 ounce steaks. I seared for exactly 2 minutes per side – Tony and I like our meat on the rarer side. Kevin left his steak in, I removed it to rest. In the same pan I added the garlic and sauted for about 20 seconds. I added in the mushrooms and 1/4 cup of the broth and sauteed the mushrooms for about 2 minutes. I added the brandy, and sadly since I have an electric stove, couldn’t ignite it as Kevin’s directions stated. Next I added the mustard, fat free half and half, the rest of the beef broth, Worcestershire sauce and the juices that collected on the plate from the removed steaks. I added the steaks back in and reheated the steaks for about 30 seconds while stirring the sauce.
I served my steak (4 points) over 3/4 cup mashed potatoes (3) and 1/3 of the mushroom sauce (3), with 1 cup of green beans (0). A delicious 10 point dinner.
I love these little cups I got at Sam’s Club – I got 10 for $5 in the restaurant supply aisle – each cup holds 1/4 cup – it was nice to have everything ready when I needed it.
Alright I have to get going and get in the shower – make it a great day!
I’m with you on not running every day. I tried running 4 times a week but 3 times a week works best for me.
I have that all the time that I have leftover cans which I eventually can throw away. That’s why I’m making my recipe database and in the future when I only need half a can of something I will look for a recipe to use the other. Don’t like throwing away food either but still do it way too much.
the soup was such a great idea! i LOVE using up things that potentially could have gone to waste. it looks so delicious too.
i had to scroll down and learn more about that cornbread, OMG, my husband would die. we’ll be making that soon! so glad to see that tony’s doing better.
Wow! Everyday I read your blog, I am so impressed. Every meal looks delicious! I feel like so often my meals get so boring.
That steak look fantastic! 🙂
I really, really, really hate dirty snow too…oh who am I kidding, I hate snow in general…lol
Good news about Tony’s wound!
Have you tried the app Jog.fm? (there is a website too…. http://www.jog.fm ) I love it. It basically uses your music library and automatically sets the songs to your pace. It’s really cool. I love pandora too….but have been heavily listening to Bon Iver station…and its really mellow music…not so good for workouts! 🙂
I will have to check that out – I have a blackberry – I’ll see if I can download it. Thanks for the link! 😀
Refried bean soup sounds delicious. I’m totally in love with mexican food – I bet I could eat that soup every day!!!
Hi Vat. SOOOOO glad Tony continues to heal. That soup looks amazing. I LOVE whipping something together with “bits and pieces” that need using up. (sometimes its successful, others for me, not so much….)
Please let Tony know that I’m willing to come and change his bandages if he bakes me cornbread. Not that I’m a trained healthcare professional….I just like cornbread. Have a great Wed!! 🙂
Great news that Tony’s wound is healing!!!! Yes, please on the soup, sounds perfect!
Pink is great news! I’m so relieved to hear that Tony’s wound is healing nicely.
What a great idea for cleaning the fridge. I’d make that soup brand new and that steak and sauce look yummy.
I am “known” for my jalapeño cheddar cornbread. It is SO good and goes SO fast in this house! I probably make it once a week in the summer. The soup looks amazing but omg that steak looks unreal!
I am going to snag some of those cups, so adorable. When I was growing up at the end of the week my Dad would take everything out of the fridge that was leftover and mix it together to eat, he called it Horby Skorby. 🙂
I love that name!
The soup idea was brilliant. I usually just put the rest of the can of whatever into a freezer bag and freeze it until I need that particular item again.
I wish I were good like that when it comes to not wasting things. Sometimes I’m great and use everything up, but most of the time I forget that I opened something and by the time I realize it’s still in there it’s too late.
I’m starring this post for the steak recipe though, yum!
I hate wasting food too, and use leftovers to make soup a lot! Steak looks yummy, my hubby would love it.
I grilled in the snow last night, I just couldn’t bake chicken again! 🙂 Smelled so good, and tasted like summer! Still snowing, but not sticking so it’s pretty!
Biz – I think you got more snow than we did the other day since you are more north. We barely got an inch and it was all gone for sure!!
Soup sounds delicious!!
Yep, we definitely did – my Mom and sister live in Oak Park and Forest Park – they only got an inch!
I’m always in the same boat as you, lots of little leftover bits of ingredients! That soup looks like a great solution…I definitely need to be more creative with mine! 🙂
Nice on that soup! I waste too much food, I know I do. I’m bad at remembering what is in the fridge.
I agree on the running every other day thing. When I trained for my 2 half marathons, almost all of the recommendations for training plans were to run 5x a week. I just couldn’t do more than 3x, but I eventually found a great plan on 3x a week.
Awesome job on that soup. I used to be the queen of using up a little of this and a little of that. The last couple of months, I’ve been dumping. Mostly liquids (like extra chicken stock or extra enchilada sauce, especially if I generate it mid-week).
Way to use up what you have! I’m really bad with broth and tomato sauce- I always have both hanging out in my fridge. Refried beans are FABULOUS. What a great soup
The sign of a great cook is being able to take all those bits and pieces and come up with something delicious!
Running every day is hard and takes a while to get used to. I guess I always feel unless one is training for something and is following a plan, there’s really no need to run every single day – unless you feel like it!
Great soup Biz!
I can’t waste food either. I use my freezer a lot for things I am not sure I am going to use right away but I always go through both fridge and freezer and try and use up what I have before doing a shopping trip.
That soup looks so good! Black bean soup is one of my all-time favorites–I love the stuff from Panera’s, definitely my favorite lunch when I don’t feel like packing anything for work. Plus you can’t go wrong with soup as a clean out the fridge sort of meal.