Ranch Pita Chips

I am happy to report that my surgery yesterday went really well.  Literally 30 minutes from beginning to end.  I had no idea what to expect, how I would feel afterwards.  Um, turns out I could have probably done this on my lunch hour since the plastic surgeons office is literally 2 minutes from my office.

I didn’t want to eat a big breakfast, so I decided on a Green Monster!   This one comes in at 345 calories, 13 fat, 43 carbs, 10 fiber and 20 protein.

• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 cup cantaloupe
• 4 cups baby spinach (loosely packed)
• 1 tablespoon peanut butter
• 1/2 an apple, chopped
• 5 ice cubes

I didn’t have any frozen bananas, so had to add the ice cubes to get the right consistency.   I threw everything into the blender and I ended up getting two glasses of the one posted below.  This is super tasty and filling!  Tony took one look at me putting the spinach in and was like “no way I am going to have any of that!”

That cup with sipping top?  Total score at CVS – it was on the 75% off rack, and I had a $2 off any order, so it ended up costing me .80 cents.  Winning!

The part that hurt the most about the stitches?  Getting the local anesthesia!  Tony was with me the whole time and he said “good think your eyes were closed because that was a long needle!  I could feel the stitches being put in, but just a pulling sensation, no pain.  I go back next Monday to get them taken out.

Two things I didn’t expect?  No covering of the stitches, they need to stay open to the air and I need to just keep the stitches soft with Neosporin.   Another thing I didn’t expect?  No exercise until Thursday!  I can’t sweat at all the first three days.  So I really will need to kick the mileage up on the bike machine when I can get back at it!

I thought this picture was weird because my bathroom mirrors weren’t all closed properly.  Up close:

Please ignore the caterpillar eyebrows – I’ll get them done over the weekend.  The side of my face with the stitches was a bit puffy from the anesthesia shot.

So what better way to treat myself as a good patient than to get an amazeball sandwich at Garibaldi’s.   I love the décor – it’s a shitty picture, but it’s a statue of a waitress that looks like she’s going to spill a tray of food on the customers below.

Tony grew up around the neighborhood we were in so he’s probably been going to this place for 25+ years.  I ended up getting the Oven Grinder, which is ham, salami, provolone, Italian seasonings, lettuce and chopped pickles.  I could only eat half!

Thanks for being my hand model Tony!  Had I sat down long enough, I probably would have taken a nap, but I had some stuff to do in the kitchen for lunches/dinners later in the week.  My MIL gave me a sausage pumpkin sauce recipe that turned out really good (although  I did tweak it a bit) . . . that recipe will come later in the week.

I bought a can of hummus at my store over the weekend for .99 cents.  I have no idea how good it is, but 2 tablespoons are only 20 calories.  I decided to make some pita chips to go on the side.  When I was cleaning out my pantry over the weekend, I found a packet of hidden valley ranch dressing that I never used. 

Baked Pita Chips

• 4 white pitas, cut into 8 triangles each pita (my pitas were 125 calories each)
• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons of hidden valley ranch dressing powder

4 servings:  185 calories, 3.3 fat, 32 carbs, 4 fiber and 5 protein.

Heat oven to 425.  Brush the pita chips with the olive oil on both sides, sprinkle with the ranch dressing and bake for 8 minutes. You don’t have to coat each pita with the olive oil, just dab enough so that the ranch dressing powder sticks.

Crunchy, not too salty – delicious!  Know how I took this picture?

I used a skewer to make one chip higher than all the rest.  I saw that on a blog a long time ago and completely forgot about it!

I made calzones for dinner – not posting the recipe just yet because it needs some serious tweaks, or at the very least to be deep fried and not baked!

And Kym, I tried to make the Artisan bread in a pasta pot with foil in between.  It came out pretty flat and dull, but the one in my Dutch oven didn’t rise as much as well, but it was definitely better in the Dutch oven.

Thanks Tony for taking me to the doctor yesterday and being a great lunch companion!  He was in heaven last night – Bears game and the final game in the Cardinals/Giants game to see who goes to the World Series.

And my football picks sucked last week so I am again in last place.

Off to get ready for work – make it a great day!

And Happy belated birthday to my soon to be step-daughter in law Lizz – she turned 22 yesterday – hope you had a great day!