I jinxed myself.

I woke up fine yesterday morning.  No coughing!  But around 10:00 I could feel the pressure in my chest building again, and by noon my cough was alive and well.  I think its because I finished the prednisone on Monday and by noon yesterday it just wore off.

I’ve been through two z-paks, 3 bottles of prescription cough medicine, a bottle of antibiotics, prednisone, cough pills AND an inhaler, and nothing worked.  So I have a half day today – I have a doctors appointment at 1:00 today and I think the next step is a chest x-ray.

Not joking – my boss asked me if I ever smoked.  I told her I quit 20 years ago when Hannah was a baby (I quit while I was pregnant, but started again when she was six months old when I went back to my part time bar job – I probably smoked another year before officially quitting.).

She told me she knew someone who had a persistent cough, and that it turned out to be lung cancer and she only has six months to live.  I loved that pep talk!  Ha!

I was so excited to pack my gym bag that I walked off without my good camera, so my camera phone had to step in.  Breakfast was 2 corn tortillas, 1 scrambled egg, 1/2 cup baked beans (sounds weird but its delicious!) baby spinach and cheddar cheese.  I love all the hot sauces in the background!

Frank’s Hot Sauce was my hot sauce of choice yesterday – breakfast comes in at 432 calories, 17 fat, 48 carbs, 10 fiber and 21 protein.

It was so good I made another pot of Suzie’s lasagna soup – I shared it with my SIL for one of her lunches this week and also sent some home with my Mom.  My mom brought me a bunch of fresh basil so that was a nice topping!  Lunch comes in at 378 calories, 18 fat, 35 carbs, 2.6 fiber and 18 protein.

I was actually really busy at work yesterday – the day goes by so much faster when I am busy!  I’ve gotten my other boss addicted to my afternoon iced café mochas.  It’s a 25 calorie pack of diet cocoa mix, mixed with coffee.  I mix the cocoa with the hot coffee until the cocoa is dissolved then pour over ice and add about 20 calories worth of whip cream on top – a delicious under 50 calorie drink!

Look at how artistic I was to get my Kleenex box in the shot!

I forgot to defrost meat that I had planned, so it was leftover time – and what better thing to make than tacos!  Two corn tortillas, 2 ounces flank steak, baby spinach and cheese tacos (2).  The side dish is one medium zucchini that I sauteed with 1/4 cup of cooked rice, 1/4 cup refried beans, 1/4 cup canned corn and 1/4 cup of my salsa.  With a splash of hot sauce it was quite good – my cup is 1/2 of the serving.  Dinner comes in at 519 calories, 15 fat, 57 carbs, 8.9 fiber and 39 protein.

When my Mom came over on Labor day she brought me this when she was on her last trip – I think its hysterical!  Thanks Momma!

And because I was feeling sorry for myself last night, I ate flaming hot Cheetos while watching Master Chef – I hope Christine wins it all!

All in all I ended up with 1669 calories, 73 fat, 170 carbs, 22 fiber and 82 protein – a whopping 40% of calories were from fat – I need to fix that stat!

So I had to log into my 5k race for Saturday.  It gave me an option of running or walking and hit the walking button.  I hope I can get something so I can still do it – its four days away so here’s keeping my fingers crossed!

Loved all the comments to my 4 year blogaversary yesterday!  You have until Friday morning to enter to win the light box and Cooking Light for a year.

Oh, and here is my Mom’s recipe for the corn salad she brought – I got several emails asking for the recipe – it was really good!

The recipe:

• 12 ears of corn, husked
• 6 tbsp olive oil, divided
• 1 cup thinly sliced red onion (I left this out just for you!)  Yippee!
• 1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
• 1/3 cup fresh lime juice
• 2 tbsp. chopped fresh thyme
• salt & pepper

Rub corn with 1 tbsp. oil.  Grill corn, over medium hot fire in charcoal grill, gas grill on high, or as I did it, roasted over open flame on my stove.  It took about 4 minutes to char, turning frequently.  I broke the ears in half to char more evenly.

When cool enough to handle, cut kernels from cobs and transfer to a large bowl.

Place onion in a strainer and rinse with cold water to mellow its flavor (never saw this tip before!).  Drain well.  Mix all ingredients, season with salt & pepper to taste.  Add more lime juice if needed.

I divided the recipe by four, using 3 ears of corn and one whole lime, squeezed, approx. 1 tbsp.

Loved the picture!  It looked very professional.

Thanks Momma!