No news yet to report on Tony. Still waiting for his INR level to drop. The cardiologist stopped by later in the afternoon, but he was just waking up and didn’t get everything she said. I called the cardiologists office because she said I could call her if I had any questions, but I never heard back from her. Hopefully today I’ll get a call back from her. For the record, I am the note taker for the family! I talked to Tony intermittently throughout the day. He actually is sleeping better during the day for some reason, so twice when I called him I woke him up. Today marks Day 7 at St. Mary’s and I know it’s getting old for him, but as I’ve said all along, he’s at the right place, so we’ll just have to go with the flow.
So since it’s just me at home this week, I thought I’d give myself a bit of a challenge. My goal is to spend only $15 on groceries this week. Yesterday I didn’t spend anything, just used what I had in my freezer, pantry and fridge. It will be an interesting week for sure!
You can’t go wrong with a breakfast egg mcmuffin for breakfast. Mom, I am loving the egg cooker you gave me – they taste like I cooked the eggs on top of the stove and don’t turn out rubbery like they sometimes do in the microwave – and these are egg beaters, so that says a lot! I used 1/3 cup egg beaters, some baby spinach, 1/2 ounce of mozzarella cheese and nuked it for 1 minute 30 seconds. Um, I may or may not have put some sriracha on my eggs. And I had some strawberries on the side that I am surprised are still good since I bought them over a week ago.
While I had my gym bag packed, it was so nice outside that I decided to take a walk and get some fresh air – I really enjoyed my walks when I was at the hospital. This is just a short 5 minute walk from my office – so pretty! It’s mostly corn fields except can you see the gigantic house on the left hand side in the background?
So the weekend before Tony got admitted to the hospital and he was resting, I was doing an inventory of what I had on hand, what to make, etc. I really have no idea when I bought these radishes – I am guessing a month ago? I bought them because it was $1 for the bag, and I love radishes in salad – that nice peppery bite. But as things tend to do in the downstairs fridge, it got pushed to the back and forgotten.
Pickled Radishes
These pickled radishes are tasty as a snack out of the jar, or on a pulled pork sandwich - be creative!
Ingredients
- 20 radishes, sliced thin
- 2 pinches crushed red pepper
- 3/4 cup water
- 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon honey
- Instructions
Instructions
In a pot, boil the water, vinegar, salt and honey. Put the sliced radishes in a mason jar - first fill half the jar, sprinkle with crushed red pepper, fill the rest of the jar with radishes, pour the boiling liquid into the mason jar, and top with the remaining crushed red pepper.
The brine can be used to pickle any veggie you like!
I ended up finding a small package of frozen ground beef in my freezer, so duh, I made tacos! The pickled radishes made the tacos – so spicy good! I melted a bit of extra sharp Cabot cheese on the bottom of each flour tortilla, then added the ground beef, and topped it with diced tomato, red cabbage and the pickled radishes. These were not only really tasty, but they were super filling – I ended up not even starting dinner until after 7!
Long time readers know I am an emotional eater, and let’s just say I’ve been on a bit of an emotional roller coaster these last few weeks. Me, alone with no one to see what I eat = Trouble with a Capital T.
But guess what I did? I came home, put my workout clothes on and did T-25. I didn’t call for a deep dish pizza to eat all by myself in solitude! #nonscalevictory!
And while Tony is away, I thought I’d try a couple things that I’ve pinned that I knew Tony wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole. I pinned this recipe called an Israeli Salad. It looked like summer in a bowl, but I modified it to make 1 serving and to suit my taste. And left the stinky red onion out. I also added cooked orzo to it to make it more of a complete side dish. I am actually not sure what makes the original dish Israeli, so I am calling it a Summer Orzo Salad.
Summer Orzo Salad for One
- 1/3 cup diced English cucumber
- 1/2 cup diced yellow and orange pepper
- 1/2 cup cooked orzo
- 1/4 cup diced tomato
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- juice of half of one lime
- zest of half of one lime
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- pinch of crushed red pepper
Just mix everything together and let it sit for about 10 minutes. I found two small hanger steaks in my freezer. I ended up defrosting both of them, and cooked one to go with my dinner tonight and the second one will be part of breakfast tomorrow. Each one was 3.5 ounces before cooking. Since they were so small, instead of my usual 2x2x2x2 method (8 minutes to a perfect medium rare sirloin) I did 1x1x1x1 – still gotta have those grill marks!
This was so good – I imagine this salad would only get better the longer it sits and it would have a chance for the orzo to absorb more of the flavors. Definitely a keeper!
I got all my steps in and then some too:
And I forgot to download this picture for yesterday’s post, but by miracle of miracles, I only gained .4 last week. Not too bad!
Alright, time to put my stuff together – it looks like it might be a rainy day so it will be a gym workout today. I made cinnamon chip scones last night too that I’ll post about tomorrow – they taste just like Starbuck’s except mine are only 166 calories and 20 grams of carbs vs. 480 calories and 70 grams of carbs. Blog reader Ruth – I finally found the Hershey’s cinnamon chips at my store!
Make it a great day!
Gah, I’m so sorry to hear Tony’s still in the hospital – my prayers continue to be with you!
You are just rockin’ it. I’d be happy to just maintain while going through a crisis, but the way you are doing this with exercise just puts me to shame! And these pickled radishes. Love the sound of them. As for what makes this an Israeli salad, I also have no clue! Glad Tony is resting!
I’m sorry to hear there’s no news yet. That must be stressful!!!
I love anything pickled. I need to pickle some things. 🙂
Yep, anything pickled and I am in – have you ever had fried dill pickles? Amazeballs!
I lose stuff in my refrigerator and freezer all the time. Love finding hamburger so I can have tacos! Pickled radishes are amazing, aren’t they? I love them. Keeping on going with the flow.
Thanks John!
Hang in there Biz. If there is anything you need, let me know, even if it is just an email shoulder.
Thanks Lori – I appreciate it! 😀
Hope you get to talk to Tony’s cardiologist soon and I hope today has been a good day for you and Tony. Voted again, X3.
Yep, I finally talked to the cardiologist this afternoon – a couple more days of additional tests, and I think we’ll have a game plan!
I’m glad you are staying busy!! That orzo salad looks tasty!!!
Glad that Tony is able to sleep – seems like rest is the best thing possible for him!
Now that he isn’t getting blood transfusions they don’t bother him as much – before they did his vitals EVERY SINGLE HOUR day and night for 2 days!
glad you found the cinnamon chips! (although now you make me feel guilty, i occasionally pick up one of those scones at starbucks and now i won’t have an excuse not to make them at home LOL!)
you and tony and his medical team are in my prayers. my fiance and his dad have both had heart problems, i know it’s really scary to be in medical limbo!!
I actually used my food processor too to put it all together – they were literally in the oven 5 minutes after putting them together. And I made them small so the carbs wouldn’t be too bad.
Yep, the limbo thing is crazy – hope we’ll have some answers soon!
Love that you didn’t order that pizza and make yourself a beautiful dinner. You deserve that!!
Thanks Courtney!
I’m really proud of how you’ve held up against the emotional eating. I’m an emotional eater too and understand how hard it is. You rock girl. And hey, where’s the recipe for the pickled radishes??? Those tacos sound so good!!
That’s so weird! I knew I did a ziplist recipe this morning, don’t know where it went! I just updated it – the brine can be used for any veggie you like. 😀
I love seeing your just in a diaper baby – he’s getting so big!
I saw this slow cooker breakfast casserole and thought about you. Here it is.
http://www.bhg.com/recipe/chile-verde-breakfast-lasagna/.
Israeli salad is really popular in Israel( Duh). Lots of finely diced cukes, tomatoes, peppers, onions, herbs with oil vinegar. You can find it in a lot of the Lebanese/Persian restaurants in my area. Israeli’s and Sephardic Jews eat it with breakfast too. I’m an ashkanazi jew, we eat lox and bagels. LOL.
Thanks for the link Randi! Huh, I guess I’ve never heard of that before – but then again, in the far NW suburbs of Chicago, we don’t have any Lebanese/Persian restaurants 😀
I just can’t get into radishes. I love almost all vegetables but, radishes?? Nope. Can’t do it. lol
Tony’s in my prayers every day!!
Okay – your radish hatred is my onion hatred – deal! But I have to say, after pickling them, they don’t have as harsh a bite, but then I add crushed red pepper, so it’s a different kind of heat.
I know I said it on Instagram but I’m proud of you! And I am of course praying for tony
Hugs Joy – thanks!!
I have radishes waiting to be pickled! Glad to hear that Tony is getting some good rest. Hope you all get good news soon.
Best,
Bonnie
Let me know how they turn out – I still may need to try your pickled beets!
The salad looks great – I’ve made something similar and love it! Congrats on basically no weight gain and not ordering the pizza! That would definitely be something I would do. Good for you for making some good choices that are all about taking care of yourself! That is much more emotionally satisfying in the long run. Hugs to you and Tony – here’s hoping for progress today! Peace, Lynne.
PS – just curious, what size plate is your orzo salad/steak sitting on?
It is a regular dinner plate – I kind of fanned out the salad so it would go to the edges – my plates are Williams-Sonoma Everyday plates – sturdy enough to go in the oven! And the steak was 3.5 ounces before cooking.
That salad looks so good! I also made orzo salad this weekend.
Yay for T25!!
I always forget how much I like orzo!
Congrats! My gain would have been four pounds. I too am an emotional eater. Lately I can seem to stop snacking. I am stressed and reach for the food. My guilty pleasure these days??? Your Baja salsa and chips. Keep you in my thoughts and voting daily.
I actually think that salsa and chips could be a dinner! 😀 Thanks for voting!
Way to go on your NSV! When my husband is out of town, I try to make challenges for myself, too – like only cooking from the pantry/freezer with the exception of fresh produce!
I loved your taste test of all the San Marzano pasta sauces – and that you had balls to buy Mario Batali’s $7.49 sauce! 😀
Crossing fingers that Tony’s levels go down so you can get some answers! I’m proud of you for sticking with the workouts and good food choices while you’re going through so much stress.
I have to admit, it’s not easy! But I have to stay healthy for the both of us, ya know?! 😀
I love reading your blog. Praying for Tony and for you in this difficult time. Please add me as a Fitbit friend, I love my Fitbit!!
Thanks Jill! I just sent an email request on Fitbit – woop! I love my Fitbit friends! 😀