Dinner for Two!

Before I get on to dinner, I forgot to post my lunch!  I had ground beef and it was taking forever to cook, so I broke mine down, sprinkled it with mozzarella cheese, pickled jalapenos and 1/4 diced avocado – of course with Frank’s red hot sauce!

Tony and I had an amazing grocery shop – I’ll explain more in tomorrow’s post, but one of things we got was this steak – for $4!

1.25 pounds!

I also got this for $1 after coupon:

Love this mix – not bitter at all.  I ended up making a lime cilantro spicy dressing for my salad:

• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 jalapeno, seeds in tact, cut in half
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• chopped cilantro (to taste – I used about 2 tablespoons chopped)
• salt and pepper

Mix everything together and cut jalapeno in half and place face down in dressing – leave for at least 15 minutes, longer for a spicier dressing.

20 minutes was perfect for me - still flavorful but not over spicy!

I added 1/2 crumbled ounce of goat cheese, 3 ounces of diced cucumber and my dressing:

Luckily the rain went away so I could grill out – my view of the sky from the grill:

We ended up splitting the steak, I ate about 1/3 of the steak and we each had 5 big shrimp – the shrimp was just okay – they tasted kind of old even though I just bought them yesterday!

nice grill marks!

they look good though!

The kitchen is all clean – Hannah would be proud!  I have to keep up to her cleaning standards while she is on vacation!  She’s usually cleaning up as I cook, she can’t stand a messy kitchen!

See you tomorrow – my step-son is coming over tomorrow and I know we are having a beef roast, but that’s about it – oh and while the boys go to the John Dillinger movie  tomorrow I am getting a much needed pedicure! 

Hope everyone had a great and SAFE 4th!  See you tomorrow!

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. . . and last night’s ribs – YUM!

Before I get to the Triple D, I have to implore all of you to make this barbecue sauce – I swear you will NEVER buy store bought barbecue sauce again!

First you need to start with the dry rub for the Ribs:

• 1 tablespoon dry mustard
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
• 1.5 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1.5 teaspoons onion powder
• 1.5 teaspoons celery salt
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice

Mix together in a jelly jar – this makes a lot and will keep in your refrigerator for weeks!

Next is the sauce:

• 1 tablespoon of the dry mix above
• 1.25 cups ketchup
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 1/8 tsp. liquid smoke

Mix well – this also makes a lot and will keep in the fridge for weeks.

put this in a jelly jar so you can just pop a lid on it and stick it in your fridge

they were so tender I thought I wouldn't be able to get them off the grill!

We’ve learned to slow cook the ribs – based on our schedule yesterday, I put them in the oven at 11:30 a.m. and they cooked until 6:00 p.m. at 225 degrees.  I hit them up with dry rub, then wrapped tightly in foil and put the foil packets on a jelly roll pan, just to catch some of the juice if necessary.

my plate - about 1/2 slab

look at how clean the bones are!

After everyone was done, I picked the rest of the meat off the bone - 1.6 ounces of meat!

My mom actually did very well at Baggo – she was teamed with Tony and I believe they won all but one game!  Once it got dark out, we started a bonfire – such a relaxing night!

from the comfort of our bug free gazebo!

We got up at 7:00 today – Hannah and Nana are headed to Virginia!   They flew out of Milwaukee airport – so much less hassle than O’Hare!  We left at 8:00 and it was a smooth ride in – hardly any traffic.

Hope you have fun!

Reason 1,000,001 that I know Tony loves me – we went to a joint in Milwaukee they featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives!  It’s called the Comet Cafe in Miwaukee:

It was pretty crowded so we got a seat at the counter

Tony got eggs and this weird sausage - it was very dry

I should have ordered the special, still don’t know why Ididn’t!  It was eggs with fajita peppers and pepper jack cheese and chopped tortilla!  Sadly, I got the boring plate, it was just okay – I ate the eggs, 1 piece of bacon about 1/3 cup of the hashbrowns (those were good!) and 1/2 slice sourdough bread – maybe 20 carbs altogether?

Then we just drove around Milwaukee – I love all the different types of architecture!

And of course no trip would be complete without stopping ath the Mars Cheese Castle!

So much to look at!

I ended up getting chicken sausages with bacon and cheddar cheese, that are surprisingly only 120 calories a piece!  Also some jalapeno cheese curds and smoked mozzarella string cheese that is so smokey and good!

So Tony and I are empty nesters for the next week!  Come on back tonight for Grilled Steak with Marinated Grilled Shrimp and Baby Romaine Salad!

BSI – Potatoes! Red White and Blue Potato Salad!

Even though I am South Beach and no potatoes are allowed, my mom was over so I decided to use up the rest of my purple potatoes to make a red white and blue potato salad – red (red pepper) white (egg whites) and blue (purple potatoes)!.

I know they are purple, but they look blue!

I don't like mayo, so I used 1/3 cup of this dressing

I did have a bit - it was good!

Red White and Blue Potato Salad

• 1 pound purple potatoes
• 1 hard boiled egg, diced
• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• 1/2 red pepper, diced
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/3 salad dressing (your choice)

Mix and let sit in the fridge for at least a few hours.  Check out our host this week for the other participants – he’s going on vacation with his family so is deciding a day early this week! 

Quick post, my mom is over and I need to play hostess!  See you tomorrow!

Best Omelet EVER!

I can’t get over the feeling that its not Saturday!   Gotta love three day weekends!

I decided on making on omelet, and I let me cheese choice at the farmers market dictate what I was going to make.  When I looked in the fridge I realized that I had leftover taco meat, so that, mixed with some of the cheese, became my stuffing.  Oh, and Frank’s Hot Sauce helped too!

I mixed generous amounts of hot sauce in both my eggs and the taco meat

I shredded 1 ounce of my cheese – 1/2 ounce mixed with the beef, the other 1/2 ounce went on top!

I guessed and used the same calories I would pepper jack cheese

then Tony reminded me about the pickled jalapenos! So good!

•  2 eggs
• 2 ounces ground beef
• 1 ounce cheese
• pickled jalapenos
• 300 calories, 21 fat and 2 carbs

We met my Mom at the Goodwill before lunch – found three really cute tops!  Then we met Tony at the sushi place.  We had talked about it earlier, and while Tony can eat this low carb:

sushimi platter!

I don’t like raw fish, so I ended up with this:

asparagus wrapped in beef!

I wished they would have mentioned the sauce on the menu, but I really only ate what was on the meat, not what was on the plate

Hannah and Nana each got the bento box, Hannah got the teriyaki chicken and my mom got the salmon, which I tried again, and still don’t like!

My mom loved every bite!

And Tony gave me his flower off his plate – its made with celery and carrots!

I think we are going to hit one more thrift store this afternoon.  Hope everyone had today off like me!  Come back tonight for Chicago Style BBQ Ribs, and my BSI recipe for the week:  Red, White & Blue Potato Salad!

I hope to kick my mom’s butt in baggo too!

Fun Night!

We were basically outside from the minute I came home from work until about 10:00!   And I beat Hannah in baggo – first time ever!

I ended up going to the farmers market after work and luckily found a parking spot right away.  It’s a small market – the most popular station was the cheese station, although the woman who worked the booth could not have been less friendly.  This old woman walked up and pointed to swiss cheese and asked “what kind of cheese is this?”  The lady responded “you’ll have to wait your turn!” 

maybe 15 vendors total?

I got the most amazing cheese!  Chile in adobo cheddar!

its spicy and creamy, and she said it melts well

I also bought this - 4 ounces cooked has 12 carbs, but also 9 grams of fiber so 3 net carbs!

and I got a big bag of arugala

The flank steak turned out really flavorful.  I marinated it in this combo since breakfast, but could easily be marinated overnight too:

• 1/3 cup olive il
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1/3 soy sauce
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

for medium rare, it doesn't take long - maybe 8 minutes total

I microwaved cauliflower and made a simple cheese sauce:

I used the rest of our cheese ends!

4 ounces flank steak, arugala, 1 tablespoon Annie's goddess dressing and a cup of cheesy cauliflower

Dinner comes in at 457 calories, 26 fat, 37 protein, 18 carbs, 3.2 fiber.

Stats for Yesterday:

• 1344 calories
• 68 fat
• 113 protein
• 67 carbs
• 8.2 fiber

Hannah saved this from our dog!

he likes to eat toads!

My mom is coming over today – we are meeting at the Goodwill store then hitting up a sushi place for lunch – I’ll post later today – the weather is gorgeous!!