Dinner Aug 31^st

Tonight was grilled asparagus, roasted garnet yams, a salad with grape tomatoes, red onion, feta cheese, and my favorite dressing, as well as eye of round steaks seared on the stove top then finished off in the oven and topped with a shallot/garlic pan sauce. No exact measurements I did everything to taste and by eye.

Dinner Sept Seventh

Steak again with that lovely eggplant tomato cheese mixture and sourdough garlic cheese bread. No recipe since I just threw it all together.

Beef Stew

I took some beef stew meat, seasoned and coated in flour, I then browned the meat. I then deglazed the pan and slapped in some celery and carrot and onion. I tossed all of that into the crock pot with some fresh thyme, quartered red potatoes, 2 cloves of garlic, and a large can of pureed tomatoes. I let that cook on high for four hours. I also made buttermilk biscuits in the shape of an oak leaf.

Pasta

Daniel and I made fresh pasta tonight and I made a sauce of the roasted chicken from earlier with whole canned tomatoes, garlic, onion, herbs, crushed red pepper, and mozzerella cheese.

Apple Pie and Tacos

Homemade apple pie and taco fillings.

Into The Sun

The photo is of my son shoveling snow. It’s not snowing too hard, we had some sleet action and flurries that acculturated to about an inch or so.

I’m having the worst time writing lately so I asked my son for a bit of help. “Dan, what should I write about?” He put his hands on his hips, gazed off into the distance, then said oh so dramatically, “You should write about ME!”. I told him I did mention him shoveling the snow… he nodded, it was good enough for him.

If you haven’t already, go to OneLotus over at Flickr! Join and participate and I will love you in naughty ways!

I am trying to get back on track with Weight Watchers. I haven’t gained any weight but I haven’t lost any either. Tonight for dinner I made pizza using Flatout Bread which is only 2 points per bread piece thingy! I topped it with a fresh tomato sauce (I had 3 roma tomatoes that needed to be used up), shredded chicken breast, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, fresh basil, and shredded mozzarella.

Preheat oven to 350. Pop one of the flatbreads onto a cookie sheet and place in the oven for 6 – 7 minutes.

• 1 Flatout original bread
• 1/2 cup tomatoes blended up with whatever seasonings you want especially garlic
• 1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
• 1/3 cup shredded chicken breast
• fresh basil leaves
• 1/4 cup finely shredded part skim mozzarella cheese

After you pull out the slightly baked flatbread, top with the sauce, chicken, basil, and cheese. Bake for another 10 – 15 minutes at 350 until the cheese is golden and bubbly! This pizza is awesome because it’s so filling and crisp. Cut into at least 4 wedges. Each pizza is 5 points!

I was thinking, since I have no idea what visitors I have. If it wouldn’t be a good idea to discuss WW more? Post more WW recipes? Although really they are not WW specific but I would list the point value so it’s a bit easier… thoughts?

I’m also looking for a new stability/fitness ball because the one I had seems to have a large gash in it. Weird since I bought it 2 months ago and never used it, but alas it’s trash. So brand/cost suggestions?

Lastly, what is your favorite music to work out to?

Imbolc, Pizza Recipe, and Happy Songs

The photo is of one of the cat’s sleeping on my bed.

Imbolc is next Friday (February 2^nd) and I want… no… I NEED to do something. It’s about renewal and I feel like I need to renew MYSELF. Purge the anger and bitterness. Let go of things I can’t control. Accept situations that have happened in my life. Move on. Any suggestions?

Tonight, yes, it was flatout bread pizza again! Here’s the recipe and point value for all those Weight Watcher’s out there.

Preheat oven to 350 and bake the flatout bread for 7 minutes.

• 2 Light Flatout Bread Original
• 1/2 cup shredded cooked chicken breast
• 1/2 cup red onion
• 2 cloves garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup cilantro
• 2 Tbsp Kraft Spicy Honey Barbecue Sauce
• 1/4 cup scallions
• 1/2 cup Kraft 2% Finely Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• 1/2 cup canned artichoke hearts, without oil
• 1 lime

After 7 minutes, pull the flatout bread’s out of the oven. Cover each flatout bread with 1 tablespoon of the kraft bbq sauce and then add all the toppings, evenly divided, holding back the scallions and lime. Put back into the 350 degree oven for 10 – 15 minutes, until the cheese is all melted. Take out and squeeze a bit of lime and sprinkle some scallions on the top. Cut into at least 4 pieces. Yum yum! So for all of that, it’s 9 WW points.

I worked out to the Biggest Loser 1 DVD for an hour and now sitting down to my tasty Edy’s Light Vanilla Bean ice cream. I made Danny some cinnamon sugar toast. Well I guess I am going to go through the podlet for a bit.

Lastly, what are your favorite songs that, when you listen to them, you can’t help but smile and feel happy? Oddly enough, being Pagan ‘n all, I really like Christian Pop music. As long as it isn’t overly specific about Jesus and such, the songs are really perky. I am also really loving the band Dropping Daylight right now. 

Wish I May

The photo was taken at the park, I really loved the golden pink light reflecting on the snow.

Firstly, a recipe for Black Bean and Veggie Tostadas

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

• 1 small avocado, diced
• 4 small corn tortillas
• juice from 1 lime
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 bell pepper, any color or various colors, sliced
• 1/4 red onion, sliced
• 1/4 sweet onion, sliced
• 1/2 cup canned black beans, rinsed
• 3 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese
• 1/2 cup store bought pico de gallo
• kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper, to taste

Put the tortillas on a cookie sheet and place into the oven for 5 – 10 minutes, until lightly browned and crispy. In a small saucepan, lightly saute all veggies except for the avocado, feta cheese, and pico de gallo.  Pour into a bowl, add the avocado, feta, pico de gallo, taste for seasoning, add more salt and pepper if you need to. Lightly toss until everything is well mixed. Evenly divide the mixture into four even portions and top the warm crispy corn tortillas. Weight Watcher Points per tostada is 3. For all four tostadas it is 14 points. So yummy. So healthy. So filling. A nice meat free dinner!

Today has been a long day. Work was fine, I had a victory over lunch. I decided upon Wendy’s for lunch (small chili, side salad no dressing, plain baked potato) and my boss wanted a sandwich. She gave me cash for her sandwich and I was going to pay for my meal on my bank card. So I drive in the balmy cold (it was practically 35 degrees although windy), order our food, go to the drive up window to pay, and was VERY specific on what amount was to be placed on my card and what would be paid in cash. Suffice to say the woman (who is ALWAYS very rude, other people who have gone to this particular Wendy’s have told me so), screwed it up. I didn’t want to gyp my boss out of her change so I went into the Wendy’s and was very polite and explained the situation to the cashier. He got me the head manager who was super friendly and we discussed the complicated change situation. I even did the math on a napkin for him! Long story short, he didn’t even bother charging my card the extra $1.58, gave me the correct change back for my boss, AND a free medium (although in Wendy’s sizes it’s more like a large) Coke Zero! I was SO thrilled they provide Coke Zero now!

Then when I got home, I hurried and got Daniel ready to go and we went to the park to play for a bit, after freezing my hands into frozen chunks, we went to the bank and then the grocery store. I took a photo of the freshly misted corn because well… it’s pretty.

Daniel then wanted to take some photos, which naturally I am still full of glee about because he has some mad photo skill! Look at the photos he shot in the store! My five year old son ROCKS!

So after dinner and everything, I worked out for an hour and am currently freezing. I noticed after I lost the first 25lbs or so, that I am CONSTANTLY cold. It’s so irritating sometimes although come summer I’m sure I will appreciate it!

iTunes had an offer to download, for free, the premiere episode of The Dresden Files. I watched it tonight and thought it was very interesting! I am looking forward to future episodes. So download and check it out!

We also decided on a late night Blockbuster run, we rented Employee of the Month and The Chronicles of Narnia.

Lastly, what song would you use to define your life?

Orange Beef with Noodles

Crossposted at: Talking Snack.

This was not too orange flavored thankfully and just over all very tasty!

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked somen noodles
• 1 1/2 pounds cooked sliced steak or beef roast
• 1 1/2 bell peppers, sliced
• 2 small onions, sliced
• 1 cup snow peas
• 1 cup sliced scallions (green onion)

Sauce

• 2/3 cup orange juice
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon arrowroot or cornstarch
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 3 tablespoons fresh grated ginger

Toss all of the sauce ingredients into a bowl until well blended. In a skillet cook the bell peppers, onions, and snow peas until slightly tender, add the beef and sauce mixture. Cook until sauce is thickened, toss in the noodles until well coated, serve with another sprinkle of scallions. Makes six 1 cup servings or 3 large servings. For those on weight watchers, each 1 cup serving is 7 points (probably due to the amount of meat but I needed to use it all up).

Mexican Turkey Salad Over Baked Sweet Potatoes

This is so yummy, so filling, and so healthy, with just a bit of a kick to it. For all those Weight Watcher’s out there, each serving is 7 points and this recipe is for 4 fantabulous servings. 

• 4 large sweet potatoes
• 12 oz cooked boneless, skinless turkey breast, shredded
• 1 medium red onion, chopped
• 1 medium bell pepper, chopped (I used yellow)
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, chopped (I used red and yellow)
• 1/2 cup cilantro, fresh, chopped (I LOVE cilantro)
• 2 Tbsp canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (use less if you can’t handle a bit of spiciness)
• 3 garlic cloves
• 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice

Preheat oven to 400