November 22, 2013

Breakfast Tacos

Since I didn’t hit the gym before work yesterday, it was nice to have a relaxing morning. I drank coffee, posted my blog, read some blogs and had time to make breakfast tacos. What’s not to love?!

This time – I scrambled one egg with 1/3 cup egg whites. I popped my corn tortillas in the microwave for 30 seconds – if you don’t soften the corn tortillas they will pop open when you try to fry them.

Into each hot corn tortilla went 1/2 the scrambled egg mixture, 1 slice of deli ham, 1/4 cup baby spinach and half a slice of American cheese. I heated up 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil in my pan and then fried them to crispy – about 2 minutes a side over medium heat.

But I was taking these to work to eat. So once they were done in a pan, I put a paper towel in my container, put the hot tacos in there, put the lid on and put them in my lunch box. Only problem – the steam will soften the taco – but don’t fret! If you have access to a toaster oven, simply heat under the broiler setting for 5 minutes and they will be crispy again!

For 373 calories and 30 grams of fat, this was a super filling breakfast. I think I may make 10 tacos over the weekend for a quick grab and go breakfast next week. I could literally eat these every day.

I was doing my strength after work, so at lunch I decided to chip away at my 125 mile goal for November, and did 7 miles on the bike in 30 minutes. I didn’t do any resistance, but my goal was to not get below 100 rpms. Kind of like a 30 minute sprint!

I made chili over the weekend for one of our dinners, but decided to bring some for lunch at work. Sadly, ground sirloin was $3.99 a pound, and I looked over and they had round steak for $1.99 – so I got that! When I made it the meat was super tender. However, I think the reheating in the microwave at work made the meat really chewy and tough. I gave a bowl of chili to one of my attorneys and after I ate it, I called her and said “sorry I served you shitty chili!” They can’t all be homeruns, right?

Later on I had a skinny café mocha – a 25 calorie pack of hot cocoa mix, with coffee and a splash of hazelnut coffee creamer. While I am not happy about our cooler temps, I am always happy to bring out my snowman mugs!

So the vibe at the gym at 5:00 is pretty interesting. Lots of high school boys in the free weight room. Wearing weight belts and gloves and grunting as they did their lifts. The other part? The bar was pretty full! Yes, there is a bar in my gym, right next to the fire place. I didn’t know it was a happening place to be for happy hour?!

On tap was hamstrings, glutes and calves:

Seated Leg Curl: 3 sets of 15 reps
Barbell Lunge: 3 sets of 15 reps, per side
Stiff-Legged Barbell Deadlift: 3 sets of 15 reps
Bounce-Bounce-Squat: 3 sets of 15 reps
Standing Leg Curl: 3 sets of 15 reps
Split Squat: 3 sets of 15 reps
Single-Leg Barbell Squat on Bench: 3 sets of 15 reps
Stability Ball Leg Curl: 3 sets of 15 reps
Lying Leg Curl (one leg at a time): 3 sets of 20 reps
Mountain Climbers: 3 sets of 20 reps
Standing Calf Raise: 3 sets of 20 reps
Seated Calf Raise: 3 sets of 20 reps
Jump rope: 3 sets of 1 minute

Yep, that took me 45 minutes to complete. I think the toughest one for me was the split squat – I did it on the Bosu ball. It REALLY concentrates the muscles on your leg on the floor.

I had a meeting last night, so didn’t get home until 8:15. I called Tony on my way home and asked if he’d eaten anything yet, and he said no, but he felt like a cheeseburger, so I stopped at Mr. Beefy’s on the way home. I was all set to get a grilled chicken pita, but my mouth said “I’ll have a gyros!” Since I didn’t eat any of the meat at lunch, I was really hungry!

I ate half the meat and two bites of the pita. I am calling it 550 calories for half – maybe that’s close??

Stats for the Day:

1578 calories, 143 carbs, 82 fat, 78 protein and 15 fiber
43% of calories from fat, 20% from protein and 35% from carbs
30 minute 7 mile bike at lunch
45 minute strength after work
82 miles left in my 125 November challenge

Hooray for Friday! I have some news – my brother is moving my whole site from wordpress.com to a self hosted site so I can try to get some advertising on the blog. Because of this migration, this will be the last post until Monday. I also have to disable the comments section so there is no new content while the migration takes place this weekend. I don’t understand a word of how it works, but I appreciate my brother Charlie’s help!

In the meantime, you can always email me at mybizzykitchen@gmail.com, or follow me on Instagram at biz319. I am also working on a My Bizzy Kitchen page on Facebook! You can stop by and like it over the weekend. Open-mouthed smile

And check out Courtney’s Cookie Recipe Contest! You can find out the details here – winner gets a super cute apron and a $25 dollar Williams Sonoma gift card!

Have a wonderful weekend – see you Monday!

September 21, 2013

You Never Know

So guess what – I didn’t have a muffin or sausage casserole for breakfast yesterday! I had about 20 minutes left before I had to leave, and I thought “I think I have time to make Nicole’s banana bread pancakes!”

I of course modified to what I had on hand. I started to follow her recipe and my batter was super thick – as in if I tried to scoop out some to drop in my pan I turned my measuring cup upside down and that batter wasn’t going anywhere. So I upped the milk to 3/4 cup and added a container of Chobani honey yogurt. I also subbed in pecans because I didn’t have any walnuts.

Banana Bread Pancakes

adapted from Nicole at Prevention RD

Makes 10 pancakes (1/3 cup measure size)

each pancake: 150 calories, 1.9 fat, 29 carbs, 1.5 fiber and 4.5 protein
B+ grade on calorie count

Ingredients:

2 cups white flour (Nicole used whole wheat)
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder (I added that)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 large bananas, mashed
3/4 cup skim milk (upped from 2/3)
1 container of Chobani honey yougurt
1/4 cup chopped pecans (Nicole used 1/3 cup walnuts

I am a lazy baker, so I mix my dry ingredients first, then add the wet ingredients on top of the dry ingredients and mix until combined. I like to let my pancake batter sit for 15 minutes, but there was no time yesterday. Right now the batter is sitting on the counter and I’ll cook the rest of them off for breakfasts next week.

They look plain, but they were very good – I liked the chunks of banana and the crunch from the pecans. On the side I had some Canadian bacon.

I was able to leave work early yesterday to go to the Wedding dinner for my nephew and his wife. So no lunch workout – so yesterday was a rest day for me. I knew I would be eating an early dinner so I brought leftover chicken noodles soup that I froze – I’ve never tried to freeze soups with noodles because I thought the nooodles would taste like ass reheated after being frozen.

Guess what? The noodles were delicious! And I used chicken from one I grilled so I could still taste the smokiness from the grill.

I swung by home, picked up Tony and we were off to the restaurant. The lighting was horrible in the restaurant but I plan to get a ton of pictures tonight at their reception. The bride and me – her name is Izzy. I put this picture on Instagram last night and Stacie said “Izzy and Bizzy!” Love it.

We started out with saganaki – how can you go wrong with warm cheese and pita bread?!

I had a burger – with extra pickles and pickled jalapenos. I love when a restaurant isn’t afraid to make a medium rare burger – sadly it had no seasoning at all.

Don’t panic – I immediately got rid of the red onions! Whew.

My other nephew Chris sat next to me – Tony wouldn’t take a picture with me – ha!!

And then we finished off the meal with a strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting. FYI, this was insulin worthy!

Then we went back to my SIL’s house and hung out for a while. We go to the reception tonight at Izzy’s parents house and then they drive back home to Tennessee tomorrow. Open-mouthed smile

Today is my step-son’s 24th birthday!! I met him when he was 10, almost 11 so I am so proud of the man he has become. I put this on Facebook this morning – the big picture was from a vacation in Door County – I think he was 16?

I wanted to put pictures when he was younger but I could not figure out how to hook up the scanner to the computer – our printer is an all-in-one and it kept saying I didn’t have a USB plugged in – gah, I don’t even know what that is. So I scammed some pictures off Facebook! His wife Lizz (wow, Lizz, Izzy and Biz!) is surprising him with something today – one year it was zip lining, last year I think was the sky diving. We’ll found out later today.

I have to give a shout out to blog reader Peggy – I hadn’t checked Facebook pretty much all day yesterday. Her husband has diabetes, and at his last appointment his A1C was 8.7 – anything over 7 is not good. (Still haven’t gotten my results in the mail yet – grrrr).

Anyway, at that point in May their doctor wanted him to start taking insulin and he asked for just 3 more months to get his act together. They stuck with low carbs, cut out added sugars, started exercising. Tried to figure another way if one thing didn’t work. Their dedication and perseverance paid off – not only did he lose 17 pounds, but his A1C this last time? 5.5!

Peggy put this on Facebook and it nearly made me cry – you never know how something you say or do can effect another person:

Beth Hills Velatini BIZ!!! (www.mybizzykitchen.com for those of you who haven’t checked her out, you should). YOU, ma’am, have NO IDEA how you have inspired me and help me better understand this illness. That for each one it is different, what works for one may not for another. I don’t think you will ever know how much you have done for us!!! Thank you is never enough!!

Just – wow. I am so happy I could help in any small way – hugs to you and B and keep up the great work!

And on that note, I have to get my ass in gear – still need to make a carrot cake for Tony’s birthday tomorrow! Open-mouthed smile Make it a great day!

May 1, 2012

Hash brown Egg Cups

Tony was flipping channels last week and texted me something like “a taco shell made of bacon filled with potato and cheese.” He was watching a show about a food truck that sells only bacon centric foods. www.getyourlardon.com.

Since Tony is my muse most of the time in the kitchen, I decided to make hashbrown egg cups. I did a quick google search and took this recipe as my base. Here is my version.

Hash brown Egg Cups

makes 4 servings, 3 cups each serving: 207 calories, 8.8 fat, 18 carbs, 2 fiber and 11 protein

Ingredients

12 ounces shredded potatoes (I used Ore Ida brand)
1 cup egg beaters plus 1 egg, beaten well
2 tablespoons fat free half and half
salt and pepper to taste
4 slices of cooked bacon, chopped
2 ounces of American cheese (3 slices), divided

Heat oven to 350. Press 1 ounce of shredded potatoes into a 12 cup muffin tin, making sure to spray with Pam. Push the hash browns down and press up the sides. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until starting to get golden brown.

Remove from the oven. Beat the egg beaters, egg, salt, pepper, and fat free half and half together. Divide among the hash brown cups. Sprinkle with the chopped bacon. I cut my cheese into 4 squares, and placed a square of cheese on top. Return to oven and bake 10-15 more minutes or until the egg is set and the cheese is melted.

For breakfast I had 3 egg cups and a cup of watermelon. I just reheated them in our office toaster oven – I may or may not have splashed them with Tabasco before consumption. Open-mouthed smile

Even though there was a chance of rain, I got out for my walk. It started to drizzle the last 10 minutes, but no big.

Tony and I went out for Chinese on Sunday. They had lunch specials for $8.75. I got an egg roll, 2 crab rangoons, spicy pepper chicken with shrimp fried rice. It felt like I was eating forever and barely made a dent! I cooked up some more zucchini and had some of the leftover stir fry. Yup, that’s a circle of sriracha to kick it up a notch! Or what Tony would call a burning ring of fire. Open-mouthed smile

My store had chicken legs on sale for $1 a pound. I decided to try Chicago Chef Art Smith’s fried chicken recipe. Now you have to plan ahead for this recipe. You have to brine it one day, the second day it soaks in buttermilk, and then you are ready to go.

The only problem I had was that these chicken legs were huge! I ended up having to finish them up in the oven, so what should have been a 30 minute meal to make at most, turned into almost 50 minutes. Next time I’ll look for smaller legs! One of the secret ingredients Art Smith uses is Old Bay seasoning. I did tone down the cayenne a bit for Tony’s sake, so I used hot sauce on my chicken. Tony is convinced I’ve burned off my taste buds by now with all the hot shit I eat.

See what I mean – look how big that chicken leg is on my dinner plate!

Since its dipped in flour twice, it was extra crispy. And since we cooked it in our deep fryer, it wasn’t greasy at all.

I have to show you this panini I made over the weekend – Tony and I had a light supper after our Chinese on Sunday. I made a rosemary ham and sliced blue cheese panini. If you can find sliced blue cheese at your store, I highly recommend it – its not overpowering at all – check out how melty it got!

It’s 7:25 in the morning right now, but I could actually have that for breakfast.

More good news! Hannah got a letter from Roosevelt University. They are offering her a renewable $7,000 annual academic scholarship! Way to go Hannah! So proud of you!

I am looking forward to tonight – having dinner with my Momma! I can’t remember the last time I saw her and it’s the first time I’ve seen her since she’s been back from staying with my brother. Charlie’s second round of chemo is this week. My mom will probably stay home this month, my nephew is graduating 8th grade, and then will head back in early June.

Stats for Monday:

1492 calories, 56 fat, 148 carbs, 11 fiber and 60 protein
40% calories from carbs, 34 from fat and 26 protein
30 minute stretch before work
50 minute walk at lunch

Alright, gotta jump in the shower – make it a great day!

April 16, 2012

Bacon and Pepper Egg Bake

I have so many of those tiny peppers to use up. I kind of get crazy when I see stuff on the $1 rack!

I think I’ll grill some up to make a grilled pepper soup, but decided to sauté some up to make something for breakfast and see where my inspiration took me. A quick look in the fridge and I had . . . bacon. Doesn’t bacon go with everything? Then I chopped up a zucchini, and about six of those tiny peppers.

Bacon and Pepper Egg Bake

Fills two, six ounce oven proof ramekins

240 calories, 13 fat, 7 carbs, 1.8 fiber and 20 protein or only 3 WW points (maybe because they are so low carb?)

Ingredients:

· Six small peppers, diced

· 1 medium zucchini, diced

· 4 slices of bacon

· 1 cup egg beaters

· 1 ounce cheddar cheese

· 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

· Pinch of salt and pepper

Directions:

Cook bacon in skillet. Remove when its crispy (yep, can’t have chewy bacon – ew!). Drain almost all the fat, then add in the zucchini, peppers, Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper. Sauté until the veggies are done to your liking.

Spray your ramekins with Pam. Put two pieces of bacon on the bottom of the ramekin (I just crushed 2 slices to cover the bottom) divided the veggie mixture between the two, added ½ cup of egg beaters to each one, than topped with ½ ounce of cheddar cheese on top. Bake for 20 minutes.

I also added some cherry peppers to kick it up, if you don’t like the spice, just leave them out.

I forgot my good camera at home, so I had to use my blackberry, but here was my breakfast with sautéed apples and slivered almonds. Breakfast comes in at 390 calories, 22 fat, 27 carbs, 5.8 fiber and 22 protein.

I had every intention of walking at lunch yesterday, but the winds were 35-40 mph. I had some work errands to run, so I ate lunch before I headed out. 1.5 ounce sesame bagel, 2 ounces deli turkey, .8 ounce of provolone, some salad mix on the bottom – toasted under the broiler in the office toaster oven, with yucca chips on the side with some watermelon. Lunch comes in at 567 calories, 9 fat, 77 carbs (yikes!), 3.8 fiber and 22 protein.

Um, are you thinking what yucca chips are? I made them from a yucca root. My store sells this size yucca root for around $1.50. Sliced thinly and crisped up in my deep fryer – I basically can have three ounces of these chips for the same calories as potato chips. Only one slight problem. I have no idea why I thought yucca was low carb, it’s not. In fact while my 3 ounce serving is only 160 calories, it has 40 grams of carbs! I did some research and discovered that turnips, rutabagas and celery root are low carb (like only 6 grams per cup) so I am going to play around with making chips out of those veggies.

I store them in an airtight container. These are so delicious!

I had help with dinner from my buddy Rick Bayless. Again, from my pantry clean I found that I had this taco packet – 2 tablespoons are only 20 calories.

Two chicken tacos, with Veronica’s crock pot pinto beanson the bottom. I follow her recipe to the T, except I add two full chipotle peppers to mine to kick it up. Dinner comes in at 458 calories, 15 fat, 43 carbs, 8.1 fiber and 38 protein.

I keep reading some of my brothers old posts – I really miss that he stopped blogging, but with his work schedule, any family time I realize that something had to go. I especially love this post – called point of view.I think it’s especially appropriate for those of us losing weight. For some of us, it’s the final number on the scale, or a smaller size jeans. But I think trying to get to the “end result” we forget to stop and applaud ourselves during the journey.

Case in point – my dear blog friend Shelley – even though she was sidelined for over a year with a foot injury, she participated in a 10k run over the weekend. Was it a PR? Nope. But it doesn’t matter because she’s doing it! I also think it’s cute how color coordinated her running outfits have been the last 10 weeks leading up to that race. I am lucky if I have less than five stains on the shirt and sweats I wear. Yep, still klassy like that!

Stats for the Day:

1310 caloires, 46 fat, 149 carbs, 17 fiber and 79 protein
46% of calories from carbs, 32% from fat 22% from protein
30 minute stretch before work
no wine 😀
no snacking after dinner 😀

Make it a great day!

April 2, 2012

Paleo Breakfast Casserole

I have Helen to thank for this delicious breakfast. I never would have thought to sub sweet potatoes into a breakfast casserole. And I have to admit. I was a tad bit nervous. I am new to liking sweet potato. In like, I only tried sweet potatoes about 3 1/2 years ago.

And while Helen adapted her recipe to what she had on hand/liked. I did the same as well. My store had reduced fat Jimmy Dean sausage for $5.99 – wtf?! So I went with the store brand breakfast sausage ($1.99 thank you very much!) so I reduced the amount to 8 ounces instead of the full pound in her dish.

I also added . . . chopped pickled jalapenos. If you are not a hard core fan of sweet potatoes, I suggest you add the pickled jalapenos because it’s a nice balance to the sweetness of the potatoes. And I also cheated by adding 2 ounces of sharp cheddar, which kinda makes it not so Paleo – so leave it out if you follow it to a T.

Best part? One casserole – breakfast for a week done. I know I won’t get sick of it the rest of the week.

Paleo Breakfast Casserole

6 servings: 295 calories, 15 fat, 17 carbs, 2.7 fiber and 21 protein

Ingredients:

1/2 pound breakfast sausage
2 cups diced sweet potatoes (what I got from 1 large one)
3 cups baby spinach, chopped
3 cups egg beaters
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons chopped pickled jalapenos
2 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
4 baby peppers, sliced thin for the top

Cook sausage in a skillet until no longer pink. Microwave the sweet potato for 4 minutes. I drained any fat off the sausage and then tossed in the sweet potatoes and cooked for another couple minutes (no onions in mine!). Then just mixed it all together in my baking dish – and topped it with the cheese and the sliced peppers. Mine took about 50 minutes to bake (my oven may be slow) so check yours after 30-40 minutes.

That one sweet potato gave me all this!

On the side I sautéed a whole apple with a teaspoon of butter and 1 teaspoon of brown sugar.

I brought a slice of this to one of my co-workers who is doing Cross-Fit and Paleo. She emailed me: “this casserole is ah-maz-ing!” I could not agree more. Open-mouthed smile

Before work I did Level 1 of 30 day shred. For the record, I never do level 2 – I just hate it for some reason! 25 minutes exercise before work? Done.

My blood sugar was only 140 before my lunch workout. I ended up eating a banana for more fuel, and could only walk so my blood sugar wouldn’t drop too much. It was a gorgeous day! I ended up walking for 55 minutes.

I got back to work and had left over beef stew and salad in a Solo cup. Um, doesn’t everyone eat their salad in a Solo cup?

Over the weekend Tony asked if I had ever had white bean soup with bacon. I actually never had, but he had a jones for it. When I was cleaning out my deep freeze I saw that I had a ham bone (probably from last Easter!). I’ll post the recipe tomorrow because I haven’t worked out the exact calories yet. And now that I am looking at the recipe I realize I forgot to add the half and half, so it’s only chicken broth – no wonder it doesn’t look like the recipe photo!

But this is delicious. You get the flavor of the ham, I ended up picking off just a cup of ham that I shredded and put back in. Topped each bowl with 1 slice of cooked bacon.

It was good the day I made it, but after sitting in the fridge for a couple days, the flavors just melded so well.

On the side I had a buffalo turkey open face sandwich. 2 ounces of my homemade bread, spread with laughing cow blue cheese, topped with romaine, 2 ounces oven roasted turkey breast, cucumbers and buffalo sauce.

This sandwich was so good – I toasted the bread so it was crunchy, the cheese made it so creamy and of course, how can you go wrong with buffalo sauce?

I forgot to mention the prize for BSI – Flour this week. Simply leave your recipe link on this blog post, or if you don’t have a blog, just email me your recipe and I’ll post it on recap day.

Stats for Day #2 of 30 of Operation Bad Ass:

25 minutes 30 day shred
55 minutes walking (10 minutes short of my 90 minute goal)
1424 calories
50 fat
163 carbs (still over by 38 grams)
25 fiber
81 protein
46% of calories from carbs, 32% from fat and 22% from protein
NO WINE

Alright, off to do workout #1 of the day. Hannah is actually meeting me for lunch today. She has a babysitting gig after school and otherwise I won’t see her much. I am hoping she’ll want to bring her walking shoes! Be right back

Make it a great day!

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