Best. Surprise. Ever.

I don’t nearly use my crock pot as often as I should.  I mean, what’s easier than putting your dinner together before work and then coming home to hardly any prep for dinner?  So yesterday morning I made beef stew, and added a half a head of chopped cauliflower for more veggies.  😀

Breakfast was an oldie but a goodie – Biz’ breakfast sammie!  1 Thomas’ light english muffin  (3), 1/2 cup egg white (2) 1.5 ounce sliced deli ham (1) 1/2 ounce American cheese (1) with a sliced orange on the side.  7 PointsPlus.

At the gym today I decided to do the Stair Machine.  I grabbed a 6 pound balance ball and tossed that back and forth while doing a pace of 30 steps per minute – which was on the slow side, but I wanted more of a strength workout than cardio – my calves and biceps were screaming at the end of 40 minutes!

Let’s face it, there are just some meals that you have to reserve for your lunch because your spouse, significant other, or children would throw up in their mouths at the mere thought of a dish – falafel is one of them in my house!  I give you falafel for one! 😀

Course: main meals PointsPlus™ Value:    5 Servings:  1  Preparation Time:  0 min Cooking Time:  0 min Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Ingredients

	4 oz cooked chickpeas
	1/4 cup(s) cilantro
	1 clove(s) garlic clove(s) (medium)
	1 tsp Sriracha Chili Sauce
	1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
	1/2 tsp Durkee Ground Cumin Seed

Instructions

Put ingredients in food processor and process until smooth.
Form into 4 balls. Heat non-stick skillet with Pam over medium-high heat.
Cook, browning on all sides for about 10 minutes, or until cooked through.
Serve on pita with cucumber sauce.

I love sriracha!

I put it on half of one of my pitas (2) points, with 1/2 cup tzatziki sauce (2) and 1/3 cup diced cucumber and a sauteed apple on the side.  9 PointsPlus.

I will need to tweak this recipe just a bit, because they balls didn’t stay together very well, so this became a messy knife and fork lunch, but the flavors were all there.  I would also add lemon zest to the mix too next time.

So later in the afternoon I get a call from Tony.  He was like “is that cauliflower in the beef stew?”  And then later I talked to Hannah and she was like “I think Tony wants to go out for pizza tonight.”

Okay, 3 red flags right there – um, my beef stew was already made (and its really good!), Tony knew it was the Biggest Loser finale last night, and we have gone OUT for pizza all of about 3 times in 10 years.

So I get home, say hi to Hannah, go to the living room to give Tony a kiss and he is like welcoming me with open arms.  I was like “wow, he must have missed me today!”  I give him a hug, and then I feel someone standing behind me and I was like “Hannah made it to the living room really fast!”

But I turned around . . . AND IT WAS MY STEP-SON JOE from Texas!  I was in such utter shock I couldn’t speak, and then I just started to cry and I couldn’t stop hugging him.  We haven’t seen him since July and he was a site for sore eyes!

When my Mom went to visit my brother in Austin, she went to the movie theater that Joe works at and confirmed that he and his girlfriend would not be making a trip up for Christmas.  But it turns out that Joe’s drivers license expired when he was down there, and in order to get a Texas one, he had to get his Illinois license renewed.  So they are here for all of three days.

So out to pizza we went!  Apparently they don’t have good pizza in Texas (but I hear the Mexican food is amazing!)

When the kids were little we used to ask “do you want to go to the dead animal place?” because this place has dead animals everywhere.

I don’t go on Facebook that often, but somehow Tony figured out that he was coming, so I was the only one surprised – Tony was so happy to see him!  And it’s the first time since 21 that he was able to order a beer with dinner. 😀

their crust is really good. Tony and I had a bacon, sausage and pepperoni

Since there were leftovers, I was able to weigh what I ate to figure out the points.  I had four slices, each one 1.5 ounces, so my pizza came to 11 points.  My two bottles of Miller lite came to 7 points.  18 PointsPlus.

Tony and Joe even did their first shot together, which they left up to the bartender.  Um, turns out she made them a red headed slut – jagermeister, peach schnapps and cranberry juice!  I had about 1/2 a shot worth – it wasn’t too bad, but then I was a jagermeister shot girl back in my day!

So on the way home, Hannah and I dropped the boys off at a bar near our house and we got to making cookies – that are actually being shipped to Joe!  He loves snickerdoodles which I made two nights ago.  Tony had the best idea though.  Joe loves those oatmeal sandwich cookies that come individually wrapped from the Hostess outlet.  So Hannah and I made oatmeal cookies (without raisins because Joe’s weird that way) and then we made a cinnamon cream cheese frosting in the middle.

When the boys got back from the bar, the first couple batches were done, and let’s just say they were a huge hit!

So one of our favorite family activities to do when the kids were little was play board games – hands down our favorite is Pictionary.  Can I just say that Hannah and I dominated?!  We won all three games, when in the history of board game wins, has never happened.

So because I am in such a happy mood with Joe being home, I’ll give someone a $20 Whole Foods gift card if you can solve all four of these Pictionary clues from last nights game.  Can I just say though, that there is a big difference in playing the game when they were 9 and 11 to 18 and 21, when you get these words:  crank, wad, tea bag?!

The most ironic clue?  To win game three and seal the deal – the word was SNOWMAN!

Stats for Tuesday

• 39 (+5 after we got home with Asti toasts to Joe!) total 44
• 42 minutes on Stair Master with 6 pound balance ball
• average blood sugar:  122
• having Joe home for one night?  priceless!

And so the old me would have just eaten like a pig after a big point meal like that, but guess what?  I still have 16 flex points left for the week and I’ve earned 18 activity points, so its all good. 😀

I took the morning off of work as Joe’s heading back to his Mom’s house after lunch.  I am off to make one of his favorites – cinnamon rolls!

And if you made it down this far, I’ll leave you with this picture, that makes me laugh my ass off every time I look at it.  Joe got an iPhone from his girlfriend for his birthday.  One of his apps lets you take a picture and make it fat.  I guess this is what I would look like!

Make it a Great Day!