It’s Hot and I am getting Faster!

Tony told me that a local bagel store had pretzel bagels, and the first thing I thought was “I need to make some!”  I took a standard pretzel recipe, thinking that if I formed it into a bagel shape, it would taste like a bagel.  Guess what?  It tastes like a pretzel!

Pretzel “Bagels” – makes 8 bagels, 4 P+ each

• 3/4 cup warm water
• 1.25 teaspoon yeast
• 2.25 cups flour (+ up to 1/4 cup more)
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg/1 tablespoon water for wash
• 2 quarts water
• 1/4 cup baking soda

Put the water and yeast in your stand mixer and let it sit for 5 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients, and let the mixer mix the dough for 10 minutes on low – I ended up adding about 1/4 cup more flour so it wasn’t sticking to the sides of the bowl.

Let rise 1 hour.  Separate the dough into 8 balls (mine were each 2.25 ounces) and put a hole in the middle.  Bring a boil.  Add baking soda and boil bagels 1 minute on each side – using a big slotted spoon remove from the water – put on parchment lined cookie sheet, brush with egg wash mixture and sprinkle with sea salt.

Bake for 15-20 minutes at 425 degrees – mine took exactly 20 minutes.

I love working with dough.  If I won the lottery I would open up a diner that would just be open for breakfast and lunch, and I’d have fresh bread, muffins, soup and donuts. 😀

I made the mistake of putting my bagels on foil – don’t do that – they totally stuck.  I had a pretzel bagel sammie with a banana on the side – breakfast comes in at 7 points.

When I left to do my walk/run at lunch, this is what weather.com said:

89°F

Feels Like: 98°

I figured I would start out walking, and just see how I felt.  I had two things going for me – it was overcast and it was breezy.  I probably ran 80% and walked 20%, but still managed to do 3.2 miles in 39 minutes – I think my running part is getting faster.  😀 Some day this week I want to see if I can run a 30 minute 5k on the treadmill – I think I may surprise myself!

I was flipping through Food and Wine magazine over the weekend, and they had a recipe for Vietnamese Peach salsa. Although they suggested it be paired with fish, I decided to use it on top of grilled chicken on a salad.  I adapted it though, the original recipe called for 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, and I thought it was too much, and for color, I added 1/4 cup chopped jarred roasted red pepper.

Vietnamese Peach Relish – 1 PointPlus for the whole recipe – the only points are in teh brown sugar 😀

• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 jalapeno pepper, seedes removed, finely chopped
• 1 tablepoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime jjice
• 3 firm, ripe peaches, peeled and diced
• 1/4 cup chopped roasted red pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tablespoons chopped mint

Mix everything together.  Store in refrigerator until ready to use. Holy cow this is delicious!  The sweetness of the peaches and brown sugar works so well with the spicy kick of the jalapenos – I did add 1 tablespoon of this new dressing to the base of the spinach/cucumber and carrot mixture – altogether with a tablespoon of Newman’s Own Light Lime dressing this whole bowl of goodness is only 6 Points!

Two cups baby spinach, cucumber, carrots, 4 ounces grilled chicken, 1 tablespoon light lime dressing and the peach salsa – so delicious.  The salsa hits so many notes – slightly salty from the fish sauce, the heat of the jalepano, and sweet from the peach – I’ll definitely make this again soon.

I thought I would do a 30 day shred when I got home from work, but the heat of the run at lunch, I felt dehydrated and had a bit of a headache.  So I went right to making dinner. 😀

My go to for taquitos, although I switched up the filling this time:

• 3 corn tortillas (2 points)
• 1.5 ounces ground beef, .5 ounce in each tortilla (2 points)
• 2 teaspoons canola oil (even though there is no way my deep fryer absorbs that much oil (2 points)
• 1/3 cup chopped roasted red pepper (0)
• 2/3 cup chopped baby spinach (0)
• 3 teaspoons taco sauce (1)
• 3 teaspoons light sour cream (1)
• Oops – forgot to add 3 tablespoons refried beans (1)

The tacos come in at 9 Points, with 1/2 a cup of yellow rice mixed with 1/2 cup baby spinach – dinner comes in at 12 Points plus.

First here is a crappy picture of the filling – I think I started to turn my camera off before it finished taking the picture. L(

Yep, pretty sure I could eat these every night 😀

STats for Monday:

• 27 points
• 50 minute walk/run, including 39 minute 3.2 miles 😀
• average blood sugar 134

I am off to the gym to beat the heat – have a great Tuesday!