Skinny Pie Crust

Um, Mother Nature, not sure if you got the memo or not, but it’s MAY and I’d really like to see the sun like every single day and have temps in the high 60s at the very least! I am sure she’ll read this later and we’ll have more spring like weather in the near future.  You’re welcome.

I had actually planned on going to the indoor Green City Market on Saturday, but with the rain, cold temps, etc., it just didn’t seem like that great of an idea.  So I killed it at the gym.

I started with 15 minutes of upper body for strength, and then I found another app for my phone – I swear I am the app queen!  It’s called Skyfit, and basically you can pick  a workout for whatever piece of equipment you are doing – treadmill, outdoor running, eliptical, indoor cycling – etc.   You can pick your level, pick a workout and then you just follow the instructions.  I did a beginner treadmill HIIT that only had the max sprint at 6.0 mph – perfect.  It took me 39 minutes to finish that, most of the running was at 4.5 mph – which is just fine for me, and there were even a few walking breaks too.  Then I finished off with a 25 minute swim.

But I ended up using the Competition Pool at my YMCA.  There wasn’t a swim meat going on, and it being a Saturday and crappy weather outside, the family pool was pretty full.  Only a couple issues with the competition pool: 1.  The lanes are super long vs. the family pool.  2.  It goes from 6 feet deep to 12 feet deep – no time to put your foot on the ground like the family pool and 3.  they keep it about 10 degrees cooler than the family pool.  I am not the best swimmer – but what’s really interesting is that my swim stroke of choice is actually the breast stroke, albeit slow.  I somehow can control my breathing and temp with that stroke.  But getting into the cold pool and the fact that I couldn’t put my foot down (yes, I know I could have hung onto the ropes) but it still freaked me out for the first five minutes.  Luckily though, with me being the only person in the pool – I had five lifeguards on the ready just in case I needed help!

I had every intention of coming home and getting busy on my laundry, but with the weather what it was, and both kids working and the dogs being alone for a while, I relaxed in my cozy living room with the dogs and read a book while I heard the pitter patter of rain on the roof.  It was actually really nice to just slow down and not feel like I have to get.it.all.done.because.its.the.weekend.  Ya know?  And um, I may have taken some really cute pictures of the dogs!  I love that I used my PhotoToaster app to turn that first picture of them into a painting.  So.fricken.cute!  But Roman snores like a chainsaw.  I’ve never heard a dog snore so much, I kept having to move him around.

I’ve declared Monday morning my new grocery store run instead of over the weekend.  I just quickly meal planned our dinners for Saturday and Sunday night with what I had in the freezer/pantry/fridge and only had a few things to pick up.  I scored on skirt steak – marked down to only $2.99 a pound because of the sell by date.

I also picked up that Pace Taco cooking sauce on the discount rack at Jewel for .82 cents.  It basically had everything I wanted in a marinade, except it wasn’t that spicy, so I took 1/2 cup of that sauce, and pulsed it with 1 chipotle pepper, a pinch of salt and pepper and poured that over the beef to marinate for about 3 hours before grilling.

Hannah and Jacob already put the top to our gazebo up, but I can’t actually grill underneath it, so it was a dash between the grill and cover while grilling.  It would have been nice to be grilling and sitting outside with a nice glass of Sauvignon blanc, but I ended up drinking hot tea because it was 44 degrees.

So while it didn’t feel like I was in Mexico, it sure tasted like it!  The meat was super flavorful and tender.  I paired it with a mix of black beans and leftover rice, and I ended up only eating one taco instead of the two shown.  My Instagram grilling friend Scott of Grillin Fools reposted that picture I took from Instagram.  Um, he has about 100k followers!  Before I knew it, my taco picture was among the top posts for half a dozen hash tags.  Not much in the whole scheme of things, but my goal is to generate traffic from my Instagram account to my blog so that I can earn some more money on the side with my blog.  Baby steps!

Last week I shared a photo on Instagram of an 8 point quiche.  I promised to share the recipe, so here it is.  While most recipes call for upwards of a stick and a half of butter, I used a small amount of butter flavored Crisco to make my dough. 

The recipe is below with a link to the WW points – the recipe is just for the crust alone since you can add whatever you like and adjust the points as needed for the filling!

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Simple Pie Crust

Yield: 4

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

A classic (but WW friendly!) simple pie crust for desserts, quiches, or anything else your heart desires. It's flaky, buttery, and the whole batch makes 4 servings of mini pie crusts.

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Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 cup water

Instructions

1. Combine everything in a bowl and mix well so everything is evenly incorporated.
2. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or overnight. This can be made days in advance.
3. To cook the crust alone, bake at 350 for about 10-15 minutes until golden.
4. Or use this dough to make the veggie quiche below.

Notes

As of the date of this publication, each pie crust is 5 WW points. Click here for the Weight Watcher tracker.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 141Total Fat: 3gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 8mgSodium: 289mgCarbohydrates: 24gFiber: 1gSugar: 1gProtein: 3g

Did you make this recipe?

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How cute are these baby 4 inch tart pans?  I love them because they have the removable bottom, so getting the quiche out after it baked was easy.  I used 1/4 of that recipe above for my quiche, or 6 smart points.  On that particular one, I added shredded zucchini, red pepper, then 1/4 cup egg whites, 1 tablespoon milk, salt and pepper and topped it with 1/2 ounce of tomato basil Cabot cheese.  Yesterday morning I made another one with baby spinach, a slice of deli ham and topped it off with Cabot’s habanero cheese:

What I love about this quiche is that you can easily eat it with your hand like a hand pie.  You could also bake several at a time – the package of Wilton tart pans cost me $14.99 for a set of six.  This would also be good to make brunch for a crowd, everyone could add anything they wanted – kind of like a quiche bar like a potato bar – and add your favorite veggies.

I did end up going to Whole Foods yesterday, and even though I wasn’t doing a full grocery shop, managed to spend $50 there – so easy to do!  The only real thing on my list to buy was this:

Halo Top ice cream!  I’ve been seeing this on Instagram and I think Facebook – 1/2 cup is only 2 smart points, the whole thing is only 8.   I was hoping it would be better than Arctic Zero – which tastes like ass and nothing at the same time.   That though?  Is real deal ice cream, made with real milk and cream, but it’s low sugar and high protein.  I drove right by Hannah’s work yesterday to have her taste this – she is my ice cream aficionado and she gave it two thumbs up.  I told her there was another container in the car and she said “so smart of you Mom to buy two!”  I was going to make a mini banana split last night, but ended up not being hungry after dinner – but go to the website, enter your zip code, and see if you can buy it near you.  You can thank me later.

My timehop this past weekend was all about Tony being in the hospital.  I think May of 2014 was his third or fourth stay in the hospital that year, but this trip was the one where they thought his liver was the problem.

I’ve been dreaming a lot about him this last week for whatever reason.  One dream I had he was removing a tick from my leg after I took our dog Ed for a walk.  Weird.  Last night I was in a bar when one of his old friends who had been traveling came in, gave me a great big hug as I was reading the Sunday paper.  He asked how Tony was doing, and I was sorry to tell him that he had passed away.  He pointed to the paper and said “is his  obituary in here?”  I said, I am sorry, he’s been gone for 18 months.   And this morning I realized, today does mark 18 months of his death.  It’s so weird, because my life is so different – if anyone would have asked me two years ago if I’d have quit my job I probably would have told them they were nuts! 

But here I am, two months from quitting my job, and it’s still one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.   I wish Tony were here to see how happy I am about that decision, and even though there are times when I feel him on my shoulder saying “you should really start looking hard for a job” I know the right job is out there somewhere, and I am confident I’ll find it.  But I still miss him every day!

Make it a great day!  Be happy.  In the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take!