Sunday, July 19, 2009

Days 318 & 319: Boutique Sale (New dresses & shoes!), New Gym, Harry Potter, and FOUR New Recipes – woo!

Saturday I woke up at 8 a.m. still on a redbull high wide eyed and bushy tailed (regardless of the fact that I’d only had 5 hours of sleep and require 8 and that I was hungover as all get out). I took Reuben outside and raced back upstairs to get Austin ready. I was going to be at the boutique sale at 10 a.m. damn it!

I dropped Austin off and called Stacy on the way – she was in! I got there at 10 a.m. with hundreds of other girls (my favorite place to people watch – the girls shopping and working there have on the CUTEST dresses, skirts, etc.). I shopped around and had a little bit of luck: ended up with 3 dresses and 2 pairs of shoes. I’m kinda obsessed with the shoes, the dresses. Meh. They’re “work dresses” so it’s hard to get too excited ya know? Stacy had TONS of luck though and got some awesome dresses! Woo! Here’s the loot!

Click to make larger!

Note the heels on both pairs of shoes. Austin pointed out that I’ve been neglecting my heels (which were my beloved until I hurt my foot last fall). He was right, and got me thinking, and now I have two new heels to wear (as long as I don’t wear them more than 1 day in a row it doesn’t hurt bad).

After the boutiques I raced over to the gym. A new gym – to see about signing up (it’s close to the hizzy, $15 a month, etc. – no more LA Fitness for me and honestly – I only need the gym for Thursday/Saturday/Sunday; Monday – Wednesday & Friday are my work gym). The place was fine, the guy was super nice and I went to sign up and he was like $120 sign-up fee. Um, no. I was like sorry…. I don’t want to pay to pay. That’s a kinda steep cover. At LA I didn’t have to pay a sign-up fee…. We kinda went back and forth then he agreed to give me a $65 sign up fee to include the 1st month. WOO. Then I met the trainer who knew my boss/her husband and hooked it up for a Thursday session. Then I realized the trainer was training Monica’s dad! Hehe so I talked with Jim – love it!!! Afterwards I went to Kroger for stuff I couldn’t find at Trader Joe’s, then I got home STARVING and immediately made Egg Drop Soup for 2!

1 packet Sunbird Egg-Drop Soup
2.5 cups water
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp green onion, diced (about 1 stalk)
¼ cup mushrooms, chopped

Combine water and contents of seasoning packet in a pot. Set to boil. Once boiling, stir in gentle strokes slowly adding egg. Stir for 1-2 minutes, then drop in onion and mushrooms (will still be boiling). Stir for 4-5 minutes, then divide into two bowls. Let sit for 5 minutes before serving. Nutritional Information: 86 calories, 10 carbs, 3 fat grams and 3 protein grams.

SO good – Austin said it tasted like “the real thing.” High praise, my friends. The plan was to eat the soup whilst cooking an Asian-inspired recipe (Wasabi Salmon) but I just wasn’t feeling Wasabi Salmon and was dying to try Burp & Slurp’s Pasta in Creamy Sun-dried Tomato Sauce for 2 so… pasta it was! Here’s her recipe (modified a bit for our prefs!):


4 oz dried rotini
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp minced garlic
¼ cup chopped onion
2-3 sundried tomatoes, sliced (20 grams)
1/2 cup fat-free milkmilk
1 tbsp reduced fat Parmesan cheese ; also 1 tsp
3 tbsp Trader Joe’s roasted red pepper-artichoke tapenade
2 tablespoon plain Greek yogurt (2 oz.)
salt and fresh-ground black pepper

Cook pasta according to directions. Drain, leave aside. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, drop in olive oil over medium heat. Toss in the garlic and onion, sauté until soft and fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Add in the sundried-tomato, sauté for 1-2 minutes. Pour in the milk, and cook on low 7-10 minutes, letting sundried tomatoes cook into milk and allow all the flavors to combine. Stir in the tbsp of Parmesan cheese and the tapenade. Cook for a minute or so. Remove the saucepan from heat and stir in the Greek yogurt. Season with salt and pepper according to taste. Put pasta into two bowl and pour the sauce over it and mix. Sprinkle ½ tsp parmesan on each serving.
Yummy, creamy goodness in a bowl! Nutritional Information: 330 calories, 53 carbs, 6 fat grams and 17 protein grams. We’ll DEFINITELY have this again, maybe even over romaine as a pasta salad or maybe with chicken on the side (worried I’d still be hungry after). But I wasn’t so who knows! This is the product that MADE it!

After lunch I got in bed to blog and passed out, waking up 3 hours later. Sweet – I’ve had my 8 hours now – woo! Weird day as far as food… I counted my 3 a.m. pizza as breakfast because I WASN’T hungry at all when I got up. Around 9:30 I had “snacks” strawberries + a turkey sammy and a fiber one bar…. Then at 2:30 when I returned home was the soup + pasta… then at 8 was the a new recipe – Cooking Light Green Salsa Chimichangas!


Makes 2 servings (1 chimichanga + 2 tbsp salsa)

8 oz. chicken, cooked and shredded
1 oz. fat-free mozzarella grated
1 oz. fat-free cheddar grated
¼ cup chopped green onions
½ tsp oregano
¼ tsp cumin
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tbsp fat free sour cream
1 (4.5-oz.) can chopped green chilies, drained
160 grams fat-free refried beans, divided in half
2 8-inch flour tortillas (Mission carb balance)
Cooking Spray
¼ cup bottled green salsa

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Combine first 8 ingredients; toss well. Spread beans down center of each tortilla, then top with chicken mixture. Roll up and place rolls, seam sides down, on a large baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Coat tops with cooking spray. Bake at 500° for 7 minutes. Serve with salsa. They were awesome… like – the best Mexican recipe I’ve made so far. A couple of things; there was too much mix for 2 tortillas! So I made 2 “the right way” with beans, then added a third tortilla, piled it with mix, then we divided it in half. Next time I’ll reduce the chicken to 6 oz. and see if that makes it easier to fit in the tortilla!! But the way I made it (with 1.5 tortillas per serving) came out to 485 calories, 55 carbs, 6 fat grams and 47 protein grams. So once I tweek this one i'll update the calorie information!





I ended up at 1,914 calories, 261 carbs, 33 fat grams and 121 protein grams. Here’s what I ate. I'm SO happy about these recipes, mostly the pasta and the chimichangas - DEFINITELY going to become regular favorites around here - woo! And the eggdrop? What a yummy, filling app before our Asian inspired meals - woo!

Sunday I woke up feeling funky – just kinda awake, cramps (TOM arrived… perhaps bringing with the funky feeling). I couldn’t get motivated to do anything but pick up the remote. Grrrr. I skipped the gym, and only made it out of the house for Harry Potter. It was GOOD, but it was just clearly a bridge movie. Like not a lot happened as far as open and closed mystery solved – it just more carried the story along leaving me wanting some sort of resolve! Definitely a darker tale and I jumped out of my chair a few times fo sho!

Other than the movie, I just consumed a crap load of candy! TOM wanted sour patch kids…and a few twizzlers…and peanutbutter M&Ms… and chewy sweet tarts… (not kidding) and I was like here! Here you go! This ended up being my lunch... and it gave me a tummy ache - big shocker! The new recipe was a dinner recipe: Turkey Enchilada Casserole from Cooking Light for THREE servings (Austin’s bro still in town!)!


10 ounces ground turkey breast
¼ cup chopped onion
½ tbsp minced garlic
½ tsp dried oregano
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 10-oz. can red enchilada sauce
Salt
6 six-inch corn tortillas
45 grams fat-free cheddar cheese, grated
45 grams fat-free mozzarella cheese, grated
10-oz. can Enchilada Sauce
Chopped fresh cilantro

In a large pan over high heat, stir turkey, onion, garlic, oregano, and cumin in oil until turkey is crumbly and no longer pink, about 4 minutes. Stir in ½ cup enchilada sauce. Add salt to taste. Meanwhile, cut tortillas in half. Arrange a fourth of the halves evenly over the bottom of a shallow 3-quart casserole, overlapping to fit. Sprinkle a fourth of the cheese evenly over the tortillas, then top with a half of the turkey mixture and a fourth of the remaining enchilada sauce, spreading each level. Then make a tortilla layer, cheese layer, bean layer and sauce layer. Then a tortilla layer, turkey layer, sauce layer and top with a cheese layer. Then a final tortilla, sauce cheese layer. Bake in a 425° regular or convection oven until cheese is melted and casserole is hot in the center, 18 to 20 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro. Nutritional Information: 425 calories, 39 carbs, 14 fat grams and 34 protein grams.

We really liked this one, but didn’t love it. Honestly, I think it’s because of the ground turkey. Sadly, I don’t think I’m a fan… :( Next time I’m going to make this EXACT same recipe, but with shredded chicken or maybe even with lean ground beef. We’ll see. However, if you like ground turkey I think it’s a yummy one – my fave was the tortilla layers! Anywho, the rest of the day was pretty much spent preparing for tomorrow (cooking breakfast, lunch, etc.), laundry, and hanging out with Austin! Tyler (bro) left and now it’s just us & Reuben again!I ended up at 1,974 calories, 308 carbs (eek!!), 52 fat grams and 67 protein grams. Here’s what I ate. I’m looking forward to a busy work week and a relaxing non-work week. I hope you all had wonderful weekends and I hope one of these recipes is up your alley!!

17 comments:

Big Pissy said...

Love love LOVE the dresses and shoes! You look great in them and they're perfect for work. :)

I've heard so-so things about Harry Potter. :(

WholeBodyLove said...

Mmmm...Mexican! I love that post the nutritionals for the recipes that you create :)

Nerd Girl said...

you are quite the little cooking queen lately!!! i am jealous i wish i had the patience and desire to cook more!

sartaj faisal said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Mica said...

I'm impressed that you negotiated your way to the lower sign-up fee. Nice one!

Cute dresses too!

fittingbackin said...

Pissy: Thanks!! Yes, very 'worky.' I"m wearing the vintage dress and black heels today! It's good - just clearly leading up to something better you know?

Wholebodylove: I noticed that I hadn't made that many Mexican dishes and decided to give it a whirl! Oh definitely - i'm posting them in spark anyway and it's nice to see "bad" looking foods be so low in calories!

Nerd Girl: I'm loving it!! i don't know where it's coming from but i'm embracing it! :)

Mica: haha I just thought that was crappy! Pay $100 to pay you more $ each month. What? No logic! Thanks - I love dresses!

Therese said...

Love those dresses!! I wear a lot of dresses to work also. They're so much easier to throw on!

You are seriously a recipe machine. I don't know how you do it! I feel like I just don't have enough ingredients for new things and don't want to go buy 30 new products for 1 recipe...

Thinspired said...

Cute dresses! I especially love the middle one.
I had no idea they made egg drop soup in a packet!! That is awesome.

Peanut Butter Swirl said...

$120!? are you serious!? thats so much money....

LOVE all of the shoes - too cute :) and the pasta dish looks super yummy!

fittingbackin said...

Therese: Thanks!! Love it – agreed – your outfit is complete! I hear you – I really try to choose recipes with simple ingredients (or 5 recipes that use the same thing to make it worth my $!), make a list and then go for it!! I’m having a blast!

Thinspired: Thanks girl! It’s my fave, too – wore it today! I know!! I had no idea – SO good!

Peanutbutterswirl: I know it! I was like um…. No. Thanks girl – I’m loving shoes and the pasta was really good – burp & slurp is a recipe genius!

Kelly Olexa said...

I love everything from Trader Joes and now I'm gonna try some of those new sauces you shared!! You are so good with trying new stuff and recipes...I'm gonna follow! I'm sooo bad about eating the same things each day. Not gonna do it no more!! ;-)

Paige@ Running Around Normal said...

That green dress is SO gorgeous. I love that you post all your recipes. I definitely come to your blog for recipe inspiration, girlie!

Anonymous said...

VERY cute dresses and shoes!!!
I just assumed everyone carried those Western alternative products but maybe not???
I get their stuff at Albertsons/vons/foods co. I hope that helps:)

Anonymous said...

Ive been looking for a healthy enchilada casserole recipe!! Get out of my head! Totally gonna make this sometime this week. Will report back!

fittingbackin said...

Pissy: Thanks!! Yes, very 'worky.' I"m wearing the vintage dress and black heels today! It's good - just clearly leading up to something better you know?

Wholebodylove: I noticed that I hadn't made that many Mexican dishes and decided to give it a whirl! Oh definitely - i'm posting them in spark anyway and it's nice to see "bad" looking foods be so low in calories!

Nerd Girl: I'm loving it!! i don't know where it's coming from but i'm embracing it! :)

Mica: haha I just thought that was crappy! Pay $100 to pay you more $ each month. What? No logic! Thanks - I love dresses!

Big Pissy said...

Love love LOVE the dresses and shoes! You look great in them and they're perfect for work. :)

I've heard so-so things about Harry Potter. :(

WholeBodyLove said...

Mmmm...Mexican! I love that post the nutritionals for the recipes that you create :)