For some reason I woke up with an upset stomach. I got up at 6:30 and stayed up until about 8:30 – it almost felt like I was going to get sick, so I went back to bed and woke up at 10:15! One of the luxuries of not having a job at the moment, no one to call in sick to! I felt much better after that “nap” and ended up not eating breakfast until nearly 11:15.
When I was at Whole Foods I bought some of their chicken apple maple breakfast sausage. Each link is 3 smart points, and so delicious – I do like my sausage links on the well done side, no matter what kind they are. I just steamed the sausage in water with a lid on top for about 9 minutes, by then the water had evaporated and I sprayed it with Pam and got some char on each side. That breakfast was only 5 smart points!
I was all set a couple hours later to get my walk in – the fun was finally out and it was near 55 degrees. Checked my blood sugar – 62. Huh. I didn’t think I took too much insulin with breakfast because of the small amount of fruit I had, so I had a banana and 1/2 a cup of grapes. Thirty minutes later, it was only up to 75. What the what? So I decided not to take any insulin with lunch. I had two chicken carcasses in my freezer, so the day before I cooked them in chicken broth. I like letting my soup sit overnight so I can skim some of the fat off the top – I leave the skin on when I cook the carcass to flavor the broth, but some chickens are fatter than others.
Like most people, I don’t really have a recipe for chicken noodle soup. I just wing it and taste as I go. It’s simple, hearty and two giant cups with extra noodles even is 7 smart points.
Thirty minutes after that, and my blood sugar was still only up to 150. I normally like it to be 200+ before working out. I ended up eating a Kind bar and finally just went to the grocery store and figured I’d check my blood sugar when I got back.
Ah, the Monday grocery store – so quiet! And even in mid-afternoon, the $1 rack still had stuff on it:
I ended up buying a bag of grapes and a mixed bag of lemons and limes. When I got back home, my blood sugar was finally 205, so off I went on my walk.
It was so nice! Slight breeze, sun in my face. Lisa, I took a picture of the ski jump for you on the bottom left hand corner! I live right across the river from the oldest ski jump in North America and once a year they have an international ski jumping competition that brings jumpers from all over the world – from as far away as Japan!
Both Hannah and Jacob were off yesterday so we brought our laptops outside and sat under the gazebo – I worked while the kids did homework. The dogs loved spending so much time outside – it really tires them out. Normally Roman doesn’t like me picking him up, unless he’s tired.
While we were outside, Hannah helped me finish the meal plan. The first thing she found on her Pinterest page was bang bang shrimp. I’ve made it before, but decided to see if I could make a bit healthier version – did you know the sauce for bang bang shrimp is mostly mayo and Asian chili sauce?
Most people toss the shrimp directly into the sauce mixture, but I prefer my shrimp to stay crunchy, so I drizzled a bit over the top of my shrimp, then had a small bowl on the side for dipping.
I’ve calculated that 4 ounces of shrimp comes in at 8 smart points – that takes into account the minimal amount of oil that’s absorbed into the shrimp – these are not greasy at all. I had 1/3 cup leftover rice on the side (2) with fresh green beans that were sautéed in 1 teaspoon grapeseed oil (1) and garlic – so my dinner with my 1 point dipping sauce came in at 12 smart points. This got two giants thumbs up all around. Thanks Amanda for your recipe that I adapted!
I am heading back downtown today! My sister has a friend who is a caterer, and brings food to her office for special events. We are going to have lunch together and network and see where it may lead. And we are going back to Latinicity! My sister and her friend have never been – I’ve already decided that I am getting the pork carnita plate – the woman in front of me got it last time and it looked delicious – seasoned black beans with slow cooked pork with your choice of toppings and fresh tortillas – swoon! I’ve already planned to have a 3 point parfait this morning and plan on spending about 15 points for lunch. I know I’ll get a shit ton of steps in today, so it’s all good. And Jacky and Amanda, I promise the next time I come downtown I’ll meet up with you guys!
Hope you have a great day! Make it a good one – hugs!
Our stores never have dollar racks. There is never discounted produce either, I think because they use it in the deli/hot bar area to make soups and other dishes with it.
That’s too bad! All four of the stores near me have some type of discount area – whether it’s meat/produce/canned goods – weird!
And ps skinny taste has an awesome knock off bonefish grill bang bang shrimp that you don’t even have to fry, she even has a grilled version:)
I’ve actually seen her recipe for that – sadly, Hannah is again picky about her shrimp and won’t eat it grilled – I don’t know where I went wrong with that girl?! 😛
I’ve never commented before but love your love for cooking! I’m actually an RD have you ever considered asking you MD to adjust your insulin so it isn’t so hard to exercise? You are eating well and exercising a lot you likely can decrease the dose, I’ve had patients who have even gone off it with better eating habits:) hope I’m not being nosey just excited you’re excited by healthy living!
Hey Courtney! Thanks for taking the time to comment – I appreciate it. I have an appointment with my endo in a couple weeks, so I’ll mention it to him. And for the record, you aren’t being nosey! 😀
I think ski jumpers are brave souls. Or crazy!!!
Love the puppy/Biz pics!
The weird thing is that little kids jump off it too! It looks scary just looking at the top, let alone being on the top and looking down. I couldn’t do it 😀
That is one heck of a $1 rack – I’ve never seen anything like that at our grocery stores…no wonder you score so well there! Sorry to hear you weren’t feeling good but it sounds like you’re ok now, yay. 🙂
Love that last shot of you and the dog – what joy, on both of your faces!
Yep – Roman keeps me laughing for sure! I feel great today! 😀
Norge ski jump has a summer competition too! I have never been yet, but maybe this year! The winter one was awesome. We just golf carted it down to the site. It was a balmy 50 degrees that day! 🙂
I’ve actually never been to the summer one, but I can hear the winter one on my deck – the crowd, the announcers. It is pretty cool to have that in our back yard though!
Love the pictures of you and Roman….sweet dogs. And those $1.00 racks, yep I would have gone for the lemons and limes, potatoes and corn. Festival has $10.00 boxes full of non perishable foods, if you can catch them at the time they put them out. I think the employees get first dibs on them though. The perishable foods end up at St Joes, because Festival does not have a $1.00 rack….wish they did though. Catering sounds fun, I could see you doing that.
Would love to do the Shrimp, but I am allergic to shell fish…..sigh. Yeah, I don’t have a recipe for chicken soup either. My soups are always…..whatever I have at the moment. But I do love to use those roasted chickens, leaving just a little bit of meat on them and boiling the carcass……makes for a great soup with noodles or rice and whatever else is in the fridge that needs to be added. No two soups are ever alike.
There is a grocery store that I go to at the end of the summer that has boxes of tomatoes, peppers, etc. – but I just found out they are going out of business – bummer!
Yep, no two soups are alike in my house either – even when I make tomato soup it’s always different depending on how sweet or tart the tomatoes are.
“Most people toss the shrimp directly into the sauce mixture, but I prefer my shrimp to stay crunchy” <–With you there, sista!
Love those photos of you with Roman!
Glad we are on the same page with our shrimp – I watch Chopped and I see these people fry something and then douse it in sauce – what the what?!
Roman is so fricken cute – love him 😀
I’m still not used to you blogging on Tuesday, I forget to check( even though I’m eating breakfast at the moment). I can’t believe that 1.00 rack!! My store had a couple things and nothing all that great. One bag had 3 onions for 1.00. I passed since I can get onions for 20 cents a lb at the mexican markets. Your racks are amazing. I like to freeze grapes and throw them in my smoothies in the summer. I like my snausages( yes, I spelled them that way on purpose) well done too. Btw, if you’re interested in mystery shopping, let me know. I can hook you up with the companies I shop for and you can get free meals, etc. There are also some for other industries that pay $$.
Ha, we say snausages too! I’ll email you to get that info from you 😀
Thanks for the ski jump picture! A nice reminder of home 🙂
You’re welcome Lisa! I seriously think of you every time I walk by there – happy belated birthday too – looks like you had a great day!