Leftovers Can Be Fun!

Hi Everyone!

Popping back in briefly to let you all know I'm still around, but swamped beyond belief.  It'll probably be a couple more weeks before things are back to what passes for normal around here. :-)

I did want to share a little about my weekend, though!  We had our dear friend, "twriter", over for dinner.  He brought potatoes (which we rarely have - loved the tiny fingerling ones, it's like eating a bunch of potato skins!) and sausages and cheese and obscenely huge steaks and we had a BBQ.  I now remember why Standard American Portion Sizing (SAPS) no longer works for me.  (Go ahead and use it along with the Standard American Diet acronym - you know you want to!)

So anyhow, when our appetites finally returned this afternoon, Mr. Handsome-and-Handy came up with a brilliant use for the leftovers we didn't send home with our friend.  Those being a mess of grilled peppers and onions and about 6 ounces of steak.  We cut up the steak and he added garlic and cumin to it, and he chopped up the peppers and onions a bit smaller than we had for grilling.  He heated up part of a jar of queso sauce, put it all together on a low-carb wheat tortilla, and voila!

Cheesesteak tacos!  (Or, edited as above, I suppose that should be "Cheesesteak Tacos in Spaaaace!")

They were really tasty.  Definitely a good excuse for making extra grilled peppers and onions, not to mention steak.  I suppose we could healthify it by making our own healthier version of cheese sauce, or even just throwing some shredded cheddar on top.

Something That Made Me Laugh Today

I was in the breakroom at work today.  I noticed a paper grocery bag from Whole Foods.  While it was the "EAT MORE KALE" that made me stop and notice (and crave some kale crunchies), there were a couple of other "Healthy Tips" that made me chuckle:

"You say 'crunchy granola' like it's a bad thing."

and

"When in doubt, eat a sprout." <-Make mine roasted Brussels!

Got a playful "healthy tip"?  I'd love to hear it!

Quick Hello on the Foodie Front

Hi to you all!

Just wanted to post a quick "hello"!  Life is crazy-busier than ever, but I'm managing to squeeze in my exercise and tracking my food in the calorie counter (vs. photos).  I'm doing well enough to have put a halt to the upward march, but not well enough to lose those 6 holiday pounds.  Grumble, grumble.  Yet my blood glucose levels have been great; I got my a1c done last week and it was 5.5%, down .2% from last time!  And that includes the holidays and birthday celebration.  So I feel pretty good health-wise if a little strung out work-wise.

I had to tell you all that I am KICKING myself for not taking a photo of dinner last night!  We went to a local eatery, Pasta Moon, for which Mr. Handsome & Handy got a gift card.  We both got the same entree, and it was kind of nice to order something and not have to say, "But can I get this instead of that?"  It was grilled salmon on a bed of sauteed shredded brussels sprouts and diced (tiny) butternut squash, with this heavenly citrus sauce drizzle underneath.  Not often you can get BOTH of your favorite veggies in one dish!  If I hadn't seen that, I probably would have gotten an appetizer and either soup or salad - this one sounded good: "roasted brussel sprout salad-butternut squash, pancetta, baby cannellini beans, frisée, aged white balsamic vinegar, EVOO".  We had planned to use the gift card here just ourselves, but Things 1 & 2 really love going out to eat and it was an opportune evening.   I think this is the fanciest place we've taken them so far.  Thing 2 knocked over her huge water goblet, yet caught it mid-fall, and it only splashed a little water and a few ice cubes on their pizza - we discretely cheered her impressive save!  I only wish there had been a little more space between tables, they have room to expand now, yet their dining room is rather cheek-to-jowl.

Hope everyone enjoys a great rest of the week!

Believe it or not...

...I was not the one who went on this Costco run. (And no, nut-thing wrong with a few more nuts, Debby! ;-)

Grrrr...(I'm mad at Starbucks)

So I ordered a "Skinny Caramel Macchiato" the other day at Starbucks.  I liked it so much, I got the iced version today.  Both times, I asked the person at the register:  "The Skinny Caramel Macchiato is sugar free, right?"  Both times, affirmative:  of course it's sugar free.  (Well, aside from the natural sugar in milk.  I accounted for that already.)

"Wow!"  I thought to myself.  "This is so tasty!   And it tastes so non-fake caramel!"

There's a reason for that.  I checked their nutrition web site, to get the calorie count, and I viewed the info about this wonder of the espresso-drink world.  In the fine print:  "Caramel drizzle is not sugar free."

Guess the old adage is true:  "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is."

I guess the good news is (1) this followed a 2-mile walk and (2) that I found this out before I popped the top off the empty cup and licked all the caramel drizzle off of the inside.

BSI: Yogurt Recipe - Spicy Yogurt Veggie Dip

Hurrah!  Biz is hosting a "Blogger Secret Ingredient" event, and this week it is yogurt!  You all know I do love me some plain yogurt.  Especially Greek-style!

(Also, Biz is having a Chobani giveaway.  She had some serious Chobani wealth dropped onto her doorstep, so she made lots of yummy looking stuff with it.  I think my blog article would have had the photo with the box, like she did, and then a photo of me laid out on the floor, surrounded by foil wrappers, empty yogurt cups, and a spoon in my hand.  My oven mitt scrawl would have been "I was supposed to cook with this?  Ooops. Love, Pubsgal")

Anyhow, I just got a 17.5 oz. container of Fage on sale at Target...to see the "Use By" date was the day after I bought it! Ack!  That was yesterday, so I'm living dangerously today, in more ways than one:  I used some of it to make Spicy Yogurt Veggie Dip!  Now, this doesn't taste overly spicy to me, because of the yogurt, but it does have a little kick to it.  I also found that I had to do a spoon assist, because it didn't stick to the veggies as well as, say, a ranch dip would do.  But since I was the only one eating it, that didn't worry me too much.

So are you ready for this amazingly complex recipe?

Are you sure?

Okay, here goes...

Ahem!

You're taking careful notes, right?

Okay.

Ingredients:

• 1 serving (5 oz.) "Tasty Bite" Punjab Eggplant (5 oz.) - This food item is almost like a thick salsa in consistency.
• About 1/4 cup plain Greek-style yogurt (I used Fage 0%, but any kind would do nicely.  Did I measure this?  No, I just put in a couple of large dollops, which looked to be about 1/4 cup.)
• Assorted raw or blanched veggies

Instructions:

1. Mix the Punjab Eggplant and the yogurt.
2. Prep the veggies.
3. Serve!

Pubsgal dines "al desko" today

Thursday 13 January 2011

Breakfast:  Broccoli cheddar omelette (I was unintentionally Lori's copy-cat!), usual toast, 3 mugs of the usual coffee.

Pre-workout: 1/2 lo-bar.  Not shown:  packet of low-sugar electrolyte sports drink mix I consumed during the workout.

Workout:  I did the "F'ab Ride" spin class at the gym.  It's the same spin class instructor that I had before, but this class is 45 minutes of spinning and 15 minutes of ab exercises.  I liked the new format pretty well, although I was a bit weak on the planks.  Oh well, if I go often enough, I'll get better at them.  I forgot how great the endorphins are after this class! :-D

But yes, the down side is that it does make me hungrier later in the day.  The calorie counting app I use lets me input exercise, so I use that and estimate on the lower side when it prompts for intensity.    

Lunch:  6 oz. "spaghetti joes", mixed green salad with plain rice wine vinegar.

And 1/8 cup of dry-roasted wasabi edamame.

Snack:  1 apple + 1 cheese stick.  Not shown: 4 mini dill pickles.

Dinner: 3.5 oz baked potato with 1 Tbsp butter and lemon pepper, 3 pork ribs (packaged), 1.5 cups Brussels sprouts with 1 tsp olive oil and lemon pepper + garlic powder.  

Calories:  2171 food - est. 377 exercise = 1794 net calories

Macronutrient breakdown:  48% fat, 26% carb (25 grams fiber), 25% protein

(Oh, and your comment about yesterday, Lori, about not seeing any nuts?  There WERE some hidden nuts - those kale crunchies have cashews as an ingredient!  Not to mention the almond milk in my coffee.  As Debby said once, "Pubsgal, even when you're not eating nuts, you're eating nuts!" ;-D )