I’ve Never Had Tuna Casserole.

It was 47 degrees yesterday morning when I got up – love!!  Just something about crisp cool air and I am a happy camper.  And right now as I type this?  It’s 35 degrees!  Okay, that may be a bit too chilly for me this early in September, but we’ll end up in the upper 60s today.

More breakfast casserole for me!  This time with sautéed gala apples – I just sautéed them in 1 pat of butter and 1 loose teaspoon of brown sugar, so much better than the raw apple from the day before.  Breakfast comes in at 355 calories, 14 fat, 38 carbs, 5.6 fiber and 21 protein.

I decided to do an interval walk/jog run on the treadmill yesterday for a 5k.  I walked the first and last 5 minutes as a warm up and cool down.  I would walk for 2 minutes, jog for 1 minute, and then “sprint” the last two minutes of each 5 minute interval.  I use the word “sprint” loosely.

This is what a sprinter looks like:

Long time readers will know that’s me, sporting the hot 80s glasses!  While I obviously won’t be as fast as I was in high school, my fastest sprint yesterday was at a 9:04 pace – my stamina has a long way to go from being sick with bronchitis, but every day I feel better.

You all are going to think I am crazy, but I made my THIRD batch of lasagna soup!  This time I used mostacolli noodles instead of the torn lasagna because I thought it would be easier to eat.  The pasta really absorbed a lot of the sauce overnight!  This is 1.25 servings.  I added a cup of chopped spinach at the bottom while it was heating.  Love.This.Soup! (and I think Suzie may start to think I am stalking her!)

This big delicious bowl of soup is 472 calories, 22 fat, 43 carbs, 4.5 fiber and 23 protein.

There is a reason I’ve never had tuna noodle casserole.  It’s because I hate canned tuna.  The smell of it makes me want to throw up in my mouth a little bit.  But one dish Tony loves?  Tuna noodle casserole.  And I never make it because obviously I don’t like it.  But guess what I can have every day and never get sick of it?  Mexican!

So we had a “his and hers” dinner last night.  Super simple too, dinner was ready in about 20 minutes – not bad considering I was like a short order cook.   I realize that since I’ve never eaten tuna noodle casserole, this recipe might be way off the mark, but Tony really likes it.

Tuna Noodle Casserole

• 4 servings:  283 calories, 9 fat, 27 carbs, 20 protein

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of dry egg noodles
• 1 cup skim milk
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 can (5 oz.) of tuna packed in water
• 1 can of mixed peas and carrots
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 4 tablespoons Italian bread crumbs
• salt and pepper to taste

In a colander, drain the peas and carrots.  Cook pasta according to package directions.  Mine only took 7 minutes to cook.  Drain in the same colander as the peas and carrots.

In the same pan, melt the butter.  Add the flour and cook for 1 minute.  Slowly add the milk to make a basic white sauce.  Remove from the heat, stir in the tuna and cheddar cheese and stir until melted.

In a small skillet, melt the 1 tablespoon of butter and add the breadcrumbs and cook just until they start to brown.  Toss the noodles, carrots and peas into the cheese sauce.  Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of browned bread crumbs over the top and serve.

Originally I thought this would be two servings – that dish is half the recipe, but Tony could only eat half of it, so I decided to make it 4 servings.   And turns out the dog liked it too!

Me?  I had veggie and beef tostadas!  I took 4 ounces of ground sirloin leftover from our salisbury steak, then cooked that with 1.5 cups baby spinach, red pepper and zucchini and used about a tablespoon of taco seasoning and added 1/2 ounce of cheese on top of each one and put it under the broiler.  My dinner comes in at 443 calories, 21 fat, 26 carbs, 4.9 fiber and 35 protein.

I made lots of snickerdoodle cookies last night – its my step-son Joe’s birthday on Friday and these are his favorite cookies – I made giant ones too – I used an icecream scoop for the dough!  I didn’t take any pictures, but I will post the recipe soon because if you have a snickerdoodle fan in your family, these are the real deal – know what my secret is?  I use lard instead of shortening!   They are slightly crisp on the outside, but chewy on the inside.  So while my calorie intake may seem low for the day, it does not include the 1/2 cookie that I consumed while baking last night – you know, it’s all about quality control!

Stats for Tuesday:

• 1270 calories, 58 fat, 108 carbs, `5 fiber and 80 protein
• 50 minute total treadmill interval
• average blood sugar 127

Here are some more amazeball eats:

Anele at Success Along the Way made Maple Chipotle Biscuits with Chicken Apple Sausage Gravy – totally making this next weekend.  Um, she’s lost 200 pounds already people – true inspiration!

Robin Sue makes the most interesting paleo/primal foods – and this one is good enough for a crowd for any diet – she made Grilled Chicken Caprese Appetizers – they look so good – I may morph this into a lunch for me and my SIL next week.  (thanks for the email Mom for telling me I had the wrong link!)

And lastly, can you stop by my friend Mel’s blog?  She’s struggling.  Melissa is on assignment in Peru, away from family and friends.  While this is a temporary gig, what you don’t know is that Melissa suffers from an eating disorder.  She’s young, beautiful and strong through my eyes, but because she’s eating different foods, with different people and not getting her regular workouts in, she’s starting to freak out.

I have no idea what its like to have an eating disorder, but if you could just leave her some comments with some encouragement, I would really appreciate it!  Thanks!

Alright, off to walk the dog – I am wondering if I need to pull out my winter coat?!