I don’t know what it is, but once kids are back into school, football starts airing, it really doesn’t matter to me that it is still 90 degrees out, my mind has already made the transition to fall comfort foods.

So for breakfast I had one of the 19 grams of fiber bagel sammie.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but the deli where I got my sliced mozzarella gave me REALLY thick slices – this one slice is 1.5 ounces!  I promise there is an egg and ham underneath all the glorious cheese.

The verdict of the bagel?  I liked it!  It’s very soft and fluffy, and slightly sweet which surprised me, but it’s definitely a keeper!

Work was busy, so I missed my window of opportunity to work out.  Lunch was a serving of leftover red beans and rice, although this time, I dipped 1 ounce of tortilla chips into the bean mixture, doused each bite with Tabasco and it was so good!

So I have two additions to I want that! First is my co-workers pretzel recipe, which I hope to get today.  She said “I have my pretzels on the counter if you want to try some.”  While I was heating up my lunch I grabbed a handful.  Oh.My.Goodness.  These are crack pretzels!  She takes ordinary pretzels, seasons them and rebakes them.

The second I want that! was Pioneer Woman’s Chicken Fried Steak.  As soon as I saw it, I knew I was going to make it – soon!  I used to buy cube steak all the time when money was tight when Hannah was little because it was so cheap.  I had forgotten how much I liked it!

I heated up the oil and butter.  I realized that I may not have coated my steaks enough, because the outside never got crunchy (which is what PW’s looked like) but it was still delicious!

Once I removed the steaks, I added 1 cup chicken broth, a teaspoon of flour and salt and pepper to make the gravy.  I strained it before putting them on the steaks so you didn’t get a clump of flour.

Tony’s plate with mushrooms:

My plate.  You better believe I ate every single bite of this!

So here is why I made a pie.  Hannah’s AC on her car went out.  I am so lucky because I have a husband who is so handy!  He often calls himself the maintenance man because he does so much around the house, but I couldn’t do 1/10th the things he can.  So it turns out the parts to fix Hannah’s car was around $100 – however, with the labor, it would have easily been a 600-700 repair.

Tony spent six hours, and three separate trips to the car dealer and Auto Zone and now Hannah has her AC back, and he fixed her broken turn signal!  So at the very least I thought Tony deserved a pie.  And pumpkin pie (right after pecan!) is one of his favorites.

And to show my love for him, I used my very last can of pumpkin! 😀

I like to call this pie recipe, food processor pie, because it does all the work for you.  I processed the pie dough in it, and the filling too.  I also changed up my pie dough by using half butter shortening and half butter – I really love how tender and flaky the crust came out!

Vanilla Soy Pumpkin Pie
Submitted by Biggest Diabetic Loser (http://www.biz319.wordpress.com)

Makes 8 servings (252 calories, 11.1 fat, 34 carbs, 2.5 fiber, 5.1 protein)

The crust is delicate, and the filling is not too sweet!

Ingredients

1 1/4	cups flour
1/4	teaspoon salt
3	tablespoons shortening
3	tablespoons butter, cold
5	tablespoons water, cold
2	eggs
15	ounce canned pumpkin
1	cup vanilla soy milk
1/2	cup sugar
1	teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2	teaspoon salt
1/2	teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. In a food processor, combine the flour, salt, shortening, butter and water until just combined.
2. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour (or freeze for 1/2 hour).
3. Meanwhile, throw remaining ingredients in food processor.
4. Roll out dough to fit pie plate. Add pumpkin puree to pie plate and bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Yep, this was definitely insulin worthy! 😀

So thank you Tony for all your hard work – you know I appreciate it!  I love you! 😀

Stats for Monday:

• 1663 calories, 196 carbs, 90 protein, 69 fat, 41 fiber 😀
• 35% of calories from fat
• no exercise

Don’t forget to check out this weeks BSI Hostess:  Creative Sanyukta chose Milk!

Who watched the Emmy’s last night??  OMG, the opening was hilarious . . .and reminds me that I can’t wait for Glee to come back!

Tony and I went to a different grocery store yesterday.  We’ve been there before – its called Woodman’s, which I think had its first store in Wisconsin.  It’s huge, and you can literally spend two hours in there going up and down the aisles.

Tony has keen eyes though – check this out!

I plan on making an egg sammie on one, I’ll let you know how it tastes 😀

Then we went to get something to eat – I got an oven grinder – think BMT from Subway, but with pickles and oven toasted – I only ate half of this, but it was out of this world!

So I still need to get the red beans and rice recipe from my neighbor.  After making mine, I definitely noticed that his version was more tomato based – mine ended up looking like dirty rice, but it was still delicious!

I put 1/2 cup of rice in the bottom of my bowl:

I’ve never had red beans and rice before – does anyone know if that looks authentic?   Here is the recipe from Emeril – I did not add green peppers because I didn’t have any, and you know I left out the onions!

Red Beans and Rice (printer friendly version here)

Makes 8 servings (1.5 cups: 355 calories, 11.4 fat, 37.5 carbs, 9.0 fiber and 25.3 protein)

Ingredients

1	pound dried red beans, rinsed
1	teaspoon canola oil
1/4	cup ham, chopped
3/4	cup chopped celery
1/2	teaspoon salt
1/2	teaspoon black pepper
1	pinch of cayenne
1	teaspoon dried parsley
1	teaspoon dried thyme
1/2	pound smoked sausage, chopped
3	tablespoons garlic, chopped
10	cups chicken broth

Directions

1. Place the beans in a large pot – pick out any that don’t look pretty. Pour six cups of water overtop and soak overnight.
2. In a large pot, heat the oil. Add the ham and cook for 1 minute. Add the celery, salt, pepper, and cayenne and cook, stirring until the celery is soft, about 4 minutes. Add the parsley, thyme, sausage and 3 large ham hocks (not included in the recipe because they were removed prior to serving).
3. Add the garlic, beans and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce and simmer for 2 hours. Mash up some of the red beans for a thicker sauce.
4. Serve over cooked white or brown rice.

I need to give a shout out to our 101 Days of Summer participant John.  He won $10,000 from Stride Gum for his Stridea of running 40 races before he turns 40 years old!!!  If you have time today, stop on over and wish him good luck.  Congrats John!

Oh, and I signed up for FoodBuzz’s Project Food Blog – My profile is still on the first page – I am the one with the negligee apron with the cat oven mit and strainer in hand!  The competition starts in two weeks – should be fun!

Nothing like waiting until the last minute on this weeks BSI!  When Tony and I went to Whole Foods a few weeks ago, they had a gelato bar – he picked pistachio and I had a tiny spoon of salted caramel.

We’ve both had pistachio on our brain since then, and what a perfect opportunity to try to make some when this weeks BSI ingredient is pistachio!

Biz’s Pistachio Gelato

• 2 cups shelled pistachios
• 4 cups vanilla soy milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch

Put pistachios in a food processor and finely grind them.  Put in a large bowl.  Put 3 cups of the soy milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Just as it starts to simmer, remove from heat.  Meanwhile mix the last cup of soy milk with the sugar and cornstarch and mix well.  Add to hot milk, return pan to medium heat and cook for an additional 10 minutes – it should be thicker.

Now it was at this point based on several other recipes I saw, they wanted you to strain the pistachio mixture and throw out the pistachio’s that didn’t go through – what??!!  Why would I throw away all that goodness?  So I mixed everything together, let it cool and then refrigerated it for 8 hours.

Then I just turned on my icecream maker and 20 minutes later, you have soft gelato.  This morning, it looks just like icecream, but either way, we both thought it was delicious!

Our next project is to see if I can substitute splenda for the sugar – has anyone tried a sugar free icecream at home?

It was 11:30 when I realized I hadn’t even eaten breakfast yet!  So I heated up two pieces of my pizza from Friday night with a big bowl of watermelon.

And then I canned 8 pints of my baja fresh salsa.  I am sending some jars for Amanda and Andy to try! I may have had just enough left over to have some chips and salsa for a snack 😀

So by now it was around 3:00, and I knew I wanted to get a bike ride in.  Two things were not in my favor though – not enough fuel before heading out and it was hot out!  I did my 9.8 mile loop around my neighborhood and I probably stopped four times to catch my breath.  I also went the opposite direction so I wouldn’t have to end my ride with the big hill.   Well, this way was a lot harder because at one point, one mile was a hill climb!

It took me an hour, and when I got back I think I was overheated because I was nautious and didn’t even want to drink water.  I took a cool shower, which helped, and after a couple hours I felt fine – I made sure to drink lots of water – that’s another problem, I don’t drink nearly enough water on the weekends.

Tony bought a pot roast last week that needed to be cooked up.  Normally pot roasts have to cook low and slow because of the type of meat – but if you marinated them and grill them, its delicious!  I came up with a new marinade after picking out what I liked from a bunch of other marinades:

Biz’s Beef Marinade

• 1/2 cup whiskey
• 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons Splenda brown sugar (can use regular)
• black pepper
• juice of one lemon
• pinch of salt (not too much because the teriyaki is salty)
• 2 tablespoons cilantro

I made the marinade around 9:00 a.m. and we grilled at 6:00.  I am sure you could marinate it overnight too with no problem.

I notoriously used too many coals again!  Tony said I had enough coals to cook a turkey!

After letting it rest for 15 minutes – my plate:

With zucchini “pasta” on the side – Shelley, thanks for the reminder to make it!  The marinated meat was delicious – full of flavor and tender.

We are in the home stretch for the 101 Days of Summer Challenge! Only one more week left! While there is a pretty large group that dropped out before the end of the first month, there are about 12 participants who have given me weekly updates and are doing great.  Don’t forget to email me your week 13 update!

I am making red beans and rice with ham hocks and andouille sausage – fingers crossed it turns out.  My beans have been soaking since yesterday, but Tony and I have not had the best luck working with dried beans.

Enjoy your Sunday!

I was up for a full hour yesterday when I decided I wanted to make wonton egg cups for breakfast.  I turned my oven on, put the wonton cups in the oven, and by the time I got out of the shower and was dressed, they were done – so about 10 minutes in a non-preheated oven at 350.

The nice thing is that they cool really fast.  Inside I have 1 ounce of Swiss cheese, 2 ounces ham, 1 whole egg, 1 egg white and sprinkled with fresh basil.  With delicious watermelon on the side.

These would be perfect for a brunch or company coming over since the wontons can be made and stored for a couple days.

I ended up doing a 5k on the treadmill at lunch, but I mixed it up.  I started out walking, then raised the incline and speed, then did one minute sprints, trying to go faster each one – my fastest sprint was 6.8 mph!  I find I don’t mind running if I mix it up like that.  With a cool down it was 45 minutes.

I actually ate my lunch with a couple co-workers in our lunch room when I got back, so no picture.  Just imagine last nights pasta, but instead of meatballs, pam fried shrimp.   Lunch came in at: 458 calories, 76 carbs, 26 protein, 5.8 fat and 3.4 fiber.

With the leftover Italian sausage meatballs, a sliced them for our party pizza Friday.  Tony’s side: sliced meatballs, mushrooms and black olives.  My side: sliced meatballs, pepperoni and pickled jalapenos.

Show of hands of how many people have tried my no-rise pizza dough?  What? You haven’t made it yet and are still ordering pizza on Friday nights?  Well, I know for sure Marisa has made it a lot 😀

Biz’s No-Rise Pizza Dough

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 package yeast (or 2 1/4 teaspoons loose yeast)
• 1 cup water

Mix flour, salt and yeast.  Stir in water with a wooden spoon.  Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup of flour on your counter, mix dough until it no longer sticks to your hands.

I had two and 1/3 slices:  676 calories, 63 carbs, 28 protein, 11.1 fat and 4.1 fiber.

Stats for Friday

• 1610 calories, 183 carbs, 86 protein, 59 fat and 9.8 fiber
• 45 minute walk/jog/sprint 5k

Don’t forget you have until tomorrow to submit your BSI pistachio – I am making pistachio gelato tonight, so come back tomorrow to see how it turned out.

In today’s I want that! MaryBeth’s pesto foccacia wedges – she used refrigerated crescent rolls, but they look impressive!

Enjoy your Saturday – I have to clean out gutters today – but I don’t mind because its gorgeous outside today 😀

I forgot to show you what Hannah made after school on Wednesday night.  Her class is from 7:00 to 9:30 – she had a late lunch and by the time she got home she was starving.  She wanted pizza!

She ended up making a caramelized onion and bacon pizza.  I know my brother Charlie and friend Debbi are happy about that!  (I love fluorescent lighting – not!)

I went back to basics for breakfast – an egg sammie on half a jalapeno cheese bagel – we had two birthdays in our office yesterday, so when I saw the jalapeno bagel, I put my arnold thin back in my lunch bag – not pictured is a side of watermelon.

I was going to use my leftover pork to make pork tacos in corn tortillas.  I had visions of Pam frying them so they were nice and crispy.  Only one problem – when I took the tortillas out of the bag they were all moldy.

On to plan B!  I had some tortilla chips in my work drawer.  I layered 1 ounce of chips on the bottom, then put my shredded romaine on top of that.  I heated up the pork with 1/2 cup black beans, poured that on top with some cheddar cheese and some of my baja fresh salsa.  This was so good!!

My grocery store had Italian sausage on sale – when I make meatballs I buy the Italian sausage that is in bulk, not in a casing.

• 9 ounces Italian sausage
• 8 basil leaves
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons Italian bread crumbs
• salt
• pepper

Throw everything into the food processor.  I make golf ball size meatballs, so with the amount above, I got 15 meatballs.  Each on comes in at 62 calories, 4.9 fat, .7 carbs, 0 fiber and 3.4 grams of protein.

Get a non-stick skillet and spray with Pam, 1/2 teaspoon canola oil, and 1 pat of butter.  When the pan is hot, add the meatballs and brown on all sides.  Add your pasta sauce and let the sauce simmer for 15 to 20 minutes with the meatballs to finish the cooking process.

My plate:

And guess what? Plenty of meatballs leftover to make Party Pizza Friday! 😀

In today’s I want that! Debbi’s Taco Corn Bread Casserole!  It looks so good and pretty sure I can have Mexican every day of the week 😀

Happy Friday!