I can’t believe I forgot the cheese! And who wants some cheese?

I love when dinner becomes a delicious breakfast the next day.  Since Tony’s appetite hasn’t been the same (um, for those of you who have been asking. . . Tony has lost 43 pounds since his colon cancer surgery!) the steaks I bought for dinner last night were tiny . . . each one raw was about 5 ounces, so 4 ounces cooked.  I cooked up another one for my breakfast yesterday morning, and on the side took the other half of my baked potato and made hash browns with 1 tsp. olive oil.

Then fried an egg with a handful of baby spinach and came up with something of a hash.  I have no idea what to call it . . . except a delicious way to start the day!  This plate comes in at 9 PointsPlus.

So I am sure lots of you saw Jessica’s Warm Spinach and Strawberry Bacon Pecan Salad with Goat Cheese.   I finally smartened up and now I have a notebook I can not only write down recipes I want to make – but actually remember where I found them so I can give proper credit.   Since I am counting my points, I did have to adjust the recipe somewhat.

Biz’s Strawberry Orzo Salad with Romaine, Bacon and Candied Pecans

This made 3 giant servings – 9 PointsPlus (7 for the orzo salad and 2 points for the salad dressing)

• 1/2 cup uncooked orzo, prepared according to package directions and drained
• 1/8 cup candied pecans (found at Aldo for $2.19) chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tsp. of olive oil and Pam
• 6 cups baby spinach
• 1 cup strawberries, sliced
• juice of 1/4 of a lemon
• 1 tsp. lemon zest
• 3 tablespoons goat cheese (which I forgot to bring to work 😦 )
• 3 pieces of cooked bacon
• 4 1/2 cups romaine lettuce chopped
• 2 carrots chopped
• 3 servings of Annie’s Light Goddess Dressing (2 tablespoons is 2 points!)

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat.  Add bacon and cook until crisp.  Remove and drain the bacon fat (I know Jessica just had a heart attack if she read this!).  Add the olive oil and a spray of Pam and add garlic.  Cook for a couple minutes.  Add baby spinach and just cook until slightly wilted.  Add lemon juice and zest and remove from heat.

Add the orzo, bacon and pecans and mix well.  I put this mixture in a separate container.  In another bag, I put the romaine, carrots and strawberries.  When I got to work, I tossed the romaine, carrots and strawberries in the Annie’s dressing.  (I also had some leftover zucchini from the night before and tossed that in the orzo mixture too).  I heated the orzo mixture for about 30 seconds and scooped that on top of my romaine salad.

This was not only delicious, but completely filling.  I ate lunch around 1:00 and it kept me full all the way to dinner – sometimes when I eat a salad I can be hungry a couple of hours later.

Tony had a doctor appointment this afternoon, so I had him run to Fresh Market for me to pick up bay scallops and tuna steaks.   He also bought me. . . .CHEESE!

sweet and spicy cheese? um, yes please!

Seared Tuna Steak Salad

• makes 2 servings – 8 Points Plus (the side dish is just one serving for me – the tuna is 4 points and the side dish is 4 points)
  
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. lemon zest, frated
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• two 5 ounces tuna steaks
• 1 1/2 cups chopped romaine heart
• 1/4 cup chopped red pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped yellow pepper
• 1/2 cup cooked orzo
• any additional zero point veggie you want to add to your salad
• 1 tablespoon Annie’s Light Goddess Dressing

Mix together the oil, lemon zest, salt and pepper.  Rub the mixture over two tuna steaks.  Dip the sides of the tuna steaks into toasted sesame seeds.  Heat a nonstick skillet over high heat.  Spray the steaks with Pam so they don’t stick.

Cook one minute a side for rare.  I still like it on the medium side – so I cooked mine for two minutes a side (next time I think I’ll do mine just a minute and a half a side).  In a bowl, mix the romaine, peppers, orzo and tablespoon of Annie’s dressing and salt and pepper to taste.  Slice the tuna steak and serve over the orzo salad.

I loved this dinner!  But I have to thank Tony for introducing me to tuna steaks.  It took me a really long time to get over how raw it looks – the first time he made it for me I made him cook it until it was all grey!

Who wants some cheese?

For those of you who made it all the way down this far – I am doing a mini-BSI this week on the side.  The wonderful people from Cabot cheese have offered me a $25 gift basket to give away to one of my readers!  All you have to do is submit a recipe or recipe link in the comments section of this post, or email me your recipe to mybizzykitchen@gmail.com with your favorite recipe using cheese.

You all know what a cheese whore I am so I am anxiously awaiting your recipes!  A winner will be picked by . . . Tony!  Yep, let’s let him be a judge for this one!  I’ll announce the winner on April 11th – good luck! 😀

Stats for Tuesday:

• 36 points (including wine)
• 17 flex points left for the week
• 45 minute walk outside carrying 4 pound weights

Today is Wednesday . . . so I’ll be Hanging with Hannah!  We are going to do a group exercise class and pick up Chipotle on the way home.  Did any other of you Weight Watchers get the Buy 1 Get 1 Free coupons at your meetings?  I’ve only been there once, so any suggestions would be appreciated!  And then we’ll watch American Idol. 😀

Have a great day!