Day 288 – 292: 2 New Products, 2 New Recipes, Movie Review, Doobie Brothers/Bad Company Concert, Pool Time, AC Disaster and More – sigh!

Wow… it’s been too long… here goes catch up!

Wednesday: I worked, walked 3.5 miles during lunch, worked and then headed home to change clothes, get Reuben together and head over to Andy and Monica’s for dinner! We had such a good time catching up with them, seeing their new place, and enjoying the fabulous dinner Mon made. I also had a new product: Quinoa!! I’ve been wanting to try it and was so glad she cooked it! She mixed it with roasted veggies and fat-free feta – SO good. We had it with chicken and fresh basil from her balcony. YUM. Can’t wait to cook it on my own – going to start tapering away from the white rice. I know. Shocker. I always get lots of great ideas from Mon – she sent me away with a cookbook and a Fiberone Chocolate & Oatmeal bar – said I’d love it! We headed home around 10:30 and went to bed upon arrival! Great night – good to get together with good friends. I ended up at 2,057 calories, 259 carbs and 47 fat grams. Here’s what I ate.

Thursday: I woke up tired, worked all day, skipped my lunch and after-work work outs. Blah I know – I just wasn’t feeling it and didn’t want to push myself. At all! Haha I DID try the Fiberone Chocolate & Oatmeal bar though and LOVED it! Can’t wait to go get some of my own – thanks for the REC, Mon! I also wanted to go see my sister that evening – she had undergone surgery and was finally feeling better – so I wanted to go over and watch SYTYCD with her and my mom! Before I left to visit, I made a new recipe for me and Austin, Cooking Light’s Chicken Picatta with garlic-basil pasta. It was from a book that Mon loaned me and I love it. I tweaked it a little and here’s how it ended up going:

Chicken Piccata

8 oz. chicken, cut in bitesize pieces
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp olive oil
¼ cup fat-free chicken broth
2 tbsp lemon juice
¼ tsp pepper
Dried parsley to taste

Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle salt on chicken and cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side until brown. Remove chicken from pan. Add broth and lemon juice to pan and stir.. Cook, uncovered, over high heat 30 seconds until slightly reduced. Pour sauce over chicken. Sprinkle with pepper and parsley. Serve over garlic basil pasta:

4 oz. angel hair pasta
1 ½ tsp olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice
½ tsp minced garlic
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
2 tbsp fresh basil, diced

Cook pasta according to package direction; drain, reserving 1 tbsp pasta water. Combine pasta water, olive oil and next 4 ingredients; toss with pasta and basil.

We LOVED IT! I’ll definitely be making it again – woo! So after dinner I headed over to sister’s for the show and we were disappointed. Really? Send the wrong guy home? Total BS. Whatever. I headed home at 10:30, went through the cookbook and found LOTS of new recipes – woo! - and passed out! I had 1,776 calories, 252 carbs and 49 fat grams. Here’s what I ate.

Friday: I woke up early - Austin had a 8:15 a.m. flight to NY to visit our friend Tyson! After getting back to sleep and waking up at a normal time, I worked, had a working lunch so no work-out, then had to race home after work (no work-out again) to get mom so we could hit up the concert! Yes- time for Doobie Brothers & Bad Company at Chastain Park!! We were excited but had a few bad hiccups… (1) the AC wasn’t working… the roofers said the AC tripped the breaker so they turned the breaker and said they would work until 9:30 p.m. and by the time we got home it would be cold…. In the meantime HOT. (2) We couldn’t find parking. At all. We finally overpaid. (3) We were late to the concert – Doobie Brothers was almost done. Total crap. BOO. (4) It was HOT – like REALLY hot and we didn’t know you could bring your own alcohol/drinks. At the end of the night though, all hiccups aside we had a GREAT TIME at the concert – so fun to hang out with mom. We got home ready for a cool house but no… the breaker had tripped again and the house was 90 degrees. It was midnight. Sigh. We turned on the fans, got the air going again and I slept AWFUL – worried about the breaker tripping again, hot, etc. I ended up at 1,946 calories, 197 carbs and 57 fat grams. Here’s what I ate.

Saturday: Got up exhausted… but not hot. The AC was running – never tripped off again. Long story short, the AC guy came, said the roofer’s equipment was tripping it and we’re good to go – no problems. Still charged us almost $100 though. Sigh. I made breakfast and headed to the gym for a 3.5-mile walk. I got back home and me and mom went across the street to the pool – my first time using it – woo!! It was nice and private and we enjoyed it! My sister came to join us and we had a great time laying out and relaxing. Around 4 we headed in and I made sausage pizzas – yum! And then mom headed out to babysit and me and my sister hung out, then we got ready and I packed up me and Reuben for a night over at her house! We also went to see The Proposal – OMG – I loved it! I thought it was hilarious – I laughed almost the entire movie. I love Sandra Bullock, loved that ‘Coach’ was the dad, I thought the story was awesome and far less predictable than I feared it would be, I cried – it was just adorable! After the movie (got out at midnight!) I was SO tired but Reuben didn’t let me sleep. He was up ALL night up and down at every single noise. I finally got to sleep around 4 a.m. but it was constantly interrupted. Dang Reuben. At the end of the day I had 2,062 calories, 268 carbs, and 64 fat grams. Here’s what I ate. I was glad I got in the workout and great movie/family/relaxation time, but probably should have avoided having so many treats!



Today: I woke up for good at 10 a.m. feeling like a zombie ANNOYED with Reuben. Grrrr. I had a breakfast sandwich at Devie’s and headed home for another day at the pool! Mom met us over at my house and we headed out for a full day of laying out, chatting, reading and having fun! They headed out at 4 p.m. and I cooked up some pasta without a recipe! It was pretty yummy!! I call it Chicken & Mushroom Macaroni!

5 oz. boneless skinless chicken breasts, bitesize pieces
2 oz. barilla macaroni
1 oz. feta cheese
½ cup mushrooms, chopped
1 tsp olive oil
½ tsp minced garlic
1/3 cup naturally preferred
2 tbsp fat-free chicken broth
Dried basil, salt and pepper to taste

Set pot of water to boil and set a pan sprayed with fat-free olive oil spray over medium-high heat. Add noodles to boiling water and cook for 7 minutes. Add ½ tsp olive oil to pan and chicken sprinkled with basil, salt and pepper. Cook chicken until browned, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add to bowl. Using the same pan, add garlic, mushrooms and broth. Cook for 2 minutes until mushrooms soften, then add chicken, tomato sauce and another ½ tsp olive oil. Drain noodles and add to pan, stir for 2-3 minutes until it thickens. Remove from heat, add cheese, stir and serve. Loved it!

After lunch/dinner I passed out on the couch with Reuben… then watched more Law & Orders! I ended up at 1,665 calories, 229 carbs and 38 fat grams. Here’s what I ate. I’m SO tired but I’m excited to get back in the gym tomorrow and I’m SO GLAD I had such a fun, relaxing weekend with family, and I’m glad Austin is back from NY and the AC is okay and the roof is on and I’m PUMPED to try new recipe this week – WOO! A note about weight: been 116 or 116.5… I can see that the weight is up a little, as are the calories. I’m going to shoot for a maximum of 1,700 calories this week and FAR fewer sweets (I ate lots of sweets every day last week). I hope you all had great weekends – I’m OUT!!