Clean Eating’s Sesame Noodles and Pretzel Roll Burgers

Well, while we lucked out on the stormy weather on Sunday, I wasn’t prepared for 80 degree heat.  And I had planned on making pretzel rolls that not only have to be baked, but boiled as well – let’s just say I had sweaty boobs going on most of the day!  (I am sure Tony is shaking his head at that last statement!  What can I say – you are married to a klassy lady!) 😀

I am actually extremely proud of myself for not giving up on working out and eating like a pig with all the stress I have going on at work.  I will be the first person to tell you that even several months ago, this type of stress would have me running to the nearest fast food restaurant – not just once, but probably for breakfast and dinner.

I made my goals smaller and more attainable, and I think I am able to focus on it more clearly than to just say “I want to weigh 135.”   I know that I have to plan my food and workouts, and only then will I be successful – and not let stress get in the way.  Because let’s face it, there is always going to be some type of stress, another birthday party, Christmas, etc. – I can’t let food take control – I am in control of it! 😀

And then I read Helen’s INO post.    Want to know what INO stands for?

It’s Not an Option

While I have always had this mantra with managing my diabetes, I never really thought of applying the same principal to eating well and exercising.  It’s not an option having an 8 point bagel today, because I have my bagel on Wednesday.  It’s not an option having pizza today because I’ll have it over the weekend.  Everything sort of “clicked” after I read that post.

I feel like I am finally living a lifestyle rather than doing a diet.  Being on a diet means that at some point you are done.  Well, we aren’t.  At least I am not.  I still want the pizza, wine and bagels, just not all on the same day every day!  (except for the wine – but that’s another story!)

I decided I wanted to go to the gym before work yesterday morning.  I set my alarm for 6:15 and told Tony that if he didn’t see me in the morning that is where I would be.  See I say that a lot of times, but normally when the alarm goes off, I turn it off an just lay down “for another five minutes” and then next thing I know its an hour later!

But I was up and out of the house by 6:30.  The pool was pretty full, so I did 35 minutes on the incline treadmill at 20% incline – insanely hard and I feel that I got an upper body workout as well otherwise I would have flown off the thing!  Then I went to the pool.  The lap lanes were still pretty full, but the therapy pool was empty.  I remembered that TJ loved doing water jogging, so that’s what I did.  I got a floaty belt (not sure what its called) and just “jogged” in place in the water for 25 minutes.  The therapy pool is 10 degrees warmer than the lap lanes and my face was pretty flushed after that!

So while I had my lunch all set, breakfast was throw shit in a bag because I was running out of time.  An egg white bagel sammie and half a giant fuji apple.

My friend and I then went on a 45 minute walk at lunch.  I brought along 4 pound weights too.  I told Tony that I found that bananas are good fuel before working out.  But sometimes it feels heavy in my stomach.  So he found me . . . banana chips!  These are the best fuel for me!

Before the walk my blood sugar was 181.  I purposely take 1/2 the amount of insulin at breakfast if I plan on working out at lunch.  So I ate 8 banana chips (____ points), walked the 45 minutes, got back to my desk and my blood sugar was 104 – perfect! 😀

Hannah likes to go through my food magazines and will flag some recipes she wants me to make.  One of them came out of Clean Eating’s magazine, and my version is based on their recipe.  The base of the “sauce” is tahini and honey.  Hannah took one bite and declared it disgusting, but refused to try the finished version.  No problem, it was already on my work menu lunch this week so I was the winner!

Sesame Noodles (based on Clean Eating Magazine)

makes 4 servings (1o oz. each) for 9 PointsPlus

• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 tablespoons* garlic chile sauce (found in the Asian aisle – it has a rooster on it)
• 8 oz. dry corkscrew noodles
• 1/2 head of steamed broccoli
• 2 raw carrots, sliced into matchsticks
• 4 ounces of chopped cooked chicken breast
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup pasta water

Put the tahini, honey and chile sauce in the bottom of a large bowl.  Cook pasta to al dente according to package directions.  Save 1/2 cup of the pasta water before draining.  Add noodles to tahini mixture, toss in the broccoli and carrots – add enough pasta water to help the tahini coat the pasta.  Add chopped cilantro and serve.

* 2 tablespoons makes for a spicy dish – start with 1 tsp. and work your way up.  Tony thinks I’ve still burned all my taste buds off so I can’t taste anything anymore. 😀

My sister recently went to a burger place recently and had a pretzel roll burger, and it’s kind of been on my mind ever since I saw it.  I’ve made jalapeno honey wheat soft pretzel sticks before, but never pretzel rolls.  Tony found me a recipe and they turned out really good – the best part is that they stayed soft! 😀

Bretzel Rolls (Bavarian Pretzel Sandwich Rolls)

from www.food.com. Makes 12 – each one: 201 calories, 2.6 fat, 38 carbs, 2 fiber and 5.4 protein – 5 PointsPlus per roll).

• 1 1/3 cup warm water (nothing over 115 degrees, otherwise it will kill the yeast)
• 2 tablespoons room temperature milk
• 2 1/2 teaspoons (one package) dry yeast
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons of melted butter
• 4 cups flour
• coarse salt
• 2 quarts water for boiling the rolls
• 1/2 cup baking soda*******!!!!!!

In the bowl of your stand mixer, put yeast and 1/3 cup of the water and let it stand for about 10 minutes, or until its foamy.

Add the remaining cup of water, milk, sugar and melted butter and swirl to dissolve.  Add the flour on low speed, a little bit at a time, until the dough is firm and pliable – I did have to add a couple more tablespoons of water to mine to get the right consistency.

Let the mixer knead for 5 minutes.  Remove dough, cover and let rest for 10 minutes.  Since I knew I was making 12 rolls, I weighed the whole dough ball and to get 12 equal portions, each roll was 2.75 ounces of dough.  Place the divided rolls on a big cookie sheet, cover with Pam covered plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.

Bring the water to a boil.  Now here is the **********!!!!!!!! part of the recipe.  It said to add the baking soda all at once to the boiling water.  OMG, it was like Mt. Fuji of an eruption of boiling water all over the stove, kitchen floor, etc.  Thank God for my cat like reflexes I didn’t get burned with hot water!

Once I cleaned up my baking soda mess, I boiled two rolls at a time for 30 seconds total.  Put them on a Pam covered baking sheet, sprinkled with coarse salt and baked six rolls at a time for exactly 8 minutes (although it could take up to 10 minutes).

So my dinner – 1 pretzel roll, 3 oz. burger, 1/2 ounce cheese, jalapeno mustard, pickled jalapenos, 2 ounces of tots and 2 ounces of sweet potato – this delicious dinner came in at 13 points.

Stats for Monday:

• 36 points (including wine)
• 35 minute incline treadmill on 20% incline
• 25 minute water jogging
• 45 minute walk at lunch with 4 pound hand weights

Alright, I am off to make a garlic spinach goat cheese quiche for breakfast – come back tomorrow for the recipe. 😀  Have a great Tuesday!