Hi guys!  Did everyone have a good weekend?  I had another weekend of whooping it up!  It was big daughter’s birthday, so we had lots of fun and family time.  Here’s a quick recap on Sunday’s birthday dinner…

For those of you who have been reading for a while, you’re probably used to the standard birthday spread – pasta, chicken cutlets and bread!  It’s hard to get this family to deviate

But I did throw them one curve ball – Tortellini with Spinach Sauce!

I tried to recreate the spinach sauce that the husband and I had at our Valentine’s Day dinner last week.  I came pretty darn close! 

Then, the standard…

My eats…

and dessert – Oreo Cookie cake and a taste of Cannoli Napoleon!

All PointsPlus used and tracked

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This is a little tough to look at first thing the morning…

Yeah, let’s just pretend we never saw it…

Who needs it right???

Right.

Okay, so instead of eat cake for breakfast, I ate a lovely egg white scramble…

Egg whites, baby spinach, 2 oz. diced ham and cheese (4 PP)…

Way better than cake.

Nothing goes better with cake egg white scramble than a piping hot cup of press (1 PP)…

The love is back!

After breakfast settled, I was ready to pump some iron.  No gym since the daughters were home from school, so I got my Exercise TV on with my new favorite workout – Jackie Warner’s Total Body Conditioning.  I was actually still sore from doing this on Saturday, so my quads were really screaming today!

Lunch was a yummy Taco Salad ( 7 PP )…

• romaine lettuce
• shredded carrots
• 1/2 cup taco seasoned lean ground beef
• 1 oz. cotija cheese
• 1 oz. guacamole
• fresh salsa
• 3 crushed tortilla chips

So much flavor that no dressing is needed!

Afternoon snack…

Kidding!!!!

Real afternoon snack…

Only 1 PP instead of 850.  Pretty good, eh?

The husband and daughters were having birthday leftovers for dinner, but I had been craving soup all day so I decided to make some for my dinner.  This soup is super easy and came together in less than 30 minutes!

Harvest Grains Vegetable Soup

• 1 small onion, diced fine
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 medium zucchini, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 4 cups fat-free chicken broth
• 1 cup Trader Joe’s Harvest Grains Blend
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 1 oz. piece of parmesan cheese rind (hard edge of cheese block)

Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat.  ( I used a seasoned olive oil)…

Add the onion, carrots, celery and garlic…

Saute until onions are soft…

 Then, add zucchini…

Sprinkle with salt and pepper;  cook about 3 minutes…

Next add the tomatoes…

The broth…

The grains…

And the secret ingredient…

*This is a trick I learned from my Mom.  The cheese rind adds so much flavor.  It basically stays intact during the cooking, but imparts that cheesy, nutty taste to the soup.  Delish!*

Bring to a boil;  reduce and simmer about 25 minutes…

Makes 4 hearty servings (2 cups per serving) at 6 PP.

I served it with some cheesy garlic toast for a filling 11 PP dinner…

I still had cake on the brain, so a while later, I whipped up a quick dessert – Katie’s Single Lady Cupcake…

I used whole wheat pastry flour, applesauce, whole milk (sorry, Katie!) , 1/4 packet of NuNaturals NuStevia and baked it in an espresso cup which worked perfectly!

Every cupcake needs icing, so I topped it with PB2 and 1/4 tsp. sprinkles (4 PP) …

We can have our cake and eat it, too

Before I go… a big shout-out to gluten-free.tv for the mention in their recent video about Falafel Republic!

Have a great day, everyone!

Do you request a special meal for you birthday?

Know what I’ve really been missing?  A wafflewich!

I found these gluten-free waffles at Trader Joe’s and thought they would be a great replacement for the wheat waffles that I used to  use…

They toasted up nicely and got stuffed with egg whites and 2% cheese…

Yum!  It was the perfect breakfast after my run this morning! 

Is it wrong that I thought about food the entire run???  I guess the handful of crackers I had pre-run just didn’t do the trick…

Today began week 10 of half mary training!  I can’t believe it’s only 2 weeks away!  Five miles was on the schedule, but I delayed a bit too long this morning and was only able to fit in 4.38 miles before needing to make it home.  Better than nothing, I say!  I’m sticking with 8:1 intervals on the GYMBOSS and finished up in 54 minutes.

You know what else I’ve been missing?  FALAFEL!  Sorry, I’m screaming about it again.  Who knew falafel could be so exciting?!

Luckily, I had some Falafel Republic  stashed in the freezer and was able to whip up a falafel salad in no time…

No falafel is complete without tzatziki sauce.  I took help from Trader Joe’s this time…

Complete…

I felt snacky a while later, so I broke out the usual apple and cheese combo…

Actually,  the apple was a new find!  It was a Honeycrisp!  Ever try one?  Run, don’t walk to the nearest store to get them.  Ah-mazing!

I’m trying to be good about planning dinners this week since it’s a little crazy ‘round here.  On the menu tonight… Chicken Cacciatore…

I don’t have a recipe for this.  It’s another one of those “method” type of dishes and really simple.  Brown chicken that’s been seasoned with salt, pepper and whatever other seasonings you like, remove to a warm plate, add veggies to pan and saute (I use onion, peppers and mushrooms which the family picks all out), deglaze pan with a little red, red, wiiiiiiiine, put chicken back in with about 2 cups tomato sauce, cover and cook until done.  Sometimes I add a little chicken broth if it’s too thick.  That’s it!  Easy peasy.

Serve with a side of garlic bread for dipping…

or in my case, a toasted gluten-free bun.  It’s how I roll these days.  Get it – bun… roll…?  Yeah, clearly I need to go to bed

Have a great day, everyone!

What food have you been missing lately?

Am I the only Mom who doesn’t want her kids to go back to school next week?!  I’m really digging the late mornings and pajamas as daily attire

My new attire is going to be running clothes!  Today was my second training run, so I donned the running tights and headed to my parents to use their treadmill.  Remember a while back when ours died? 

May she rest in peace.

Since I no longer belong to the gym and it was way too stinky hot to run outside, I banged on the parents’ door in the early morn and pounded it out on their treadmill. 

I trudged through 3 miles.  I am much slower on the treadmill than outdoors.  I’m not so concerned about pace, but it just takes longer to get done!  Oh well, gotta do what ya gotta do.

After the run, Mom invited me to have breakfast.  I fished around her fridge and decided on a fried egg, turkey sausage and strawberries…

Before leaving, I introduced Mom to Exercise TV!  We did a few minutes of Cardioke , Back2Bollywood and checked out some of the other offerings.  I think she might be hooked now, too!

Once home, I put on real clothes and caught up on house stuff.  My stomach let me know it was time for lunch.  Well really, it was a competition between my stomach and little daughter yelling that she was dying of starvation (hand on forehead) to let me know it was time for lunch.

Guess who was louder?

Lunch was Falafel Republic falafels in whole wheat pita with tzatziki, baby spinach and tomato…

Along with pieces of sun…

The afternoon was a bit rough in the food department.  I started munching on a few baked chips and it turned into more.  And more.  I definitely lost control and ate mindlessly.  I went into that auto-pilot mode of junk munching.  I finally snapped out of it and regrouped.  I made a conscious effort not to feel badly about it.  I have to move on from it.  Learn from it or even just forget about it.  I only mention it because I am real about my struggles with food along this journey. Although I strive on a daily basis to eat right and show the healthy foods I eat, there are days when it’s not so pretty.  But, I gave up feeling guilty so there will be no whining here.  Only trying and never quitting

Sooooo…. dinner….

Smoked Salmon and Parmesan Omelet Muffins (with spinach added) and grilled asparagus…

I definitely was not hungry for this dinner, but I ate anyway.  Not a very intuitive move in the true sense of the concept however, my thinking is if I skip dinner because I binged this afternoon then it would translate to my brain as “punishment”.  I used to do that all the time – eat too much, then don’t eat for a day to make up for it.   That was a bad cycle, so I didn’t want to skip dinner like the old days this time.

Out with the old thinking, in with the new

Have a great day, everyone!

Let’s talk fun stuff!  What are your weekend plans?