Day #30 - Breakfast Scramble & Strawberries

As I mentioned before, I made the hubby throw dinner together for the girls before he took them back to the ferry. So I was on my own for dinner tonight, which was actually kind of nice. I spent 10 minutes going from the fridge to the pantry to the chest freezer, back to the fridge, then the pantry and the chest freezer once more, trying to see what looked good. I don't know why I wasted my time - I already knew I was in the mood for some breakfast. Big surprise, I know (I'm totally my dad's child). Oh - and we went to Costco Saturday evening and they had some amazing looking strawberries - so we got some. And I ate some. And they were F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S!

The nutritional information for this meal was actually really easy to throw together (that and I have the house to myself for the next hour and fifteen minutes) so I'm going to go ahead and post the info below. Enjoy!

Ingredients: (Keep In Mind This List Is For a 1-Man Meal)

1 Whole Egg

2 Egg Whites

1 tsp Butter

1 Tbsp Milk

1 Baby Dutch Yellow Potato (about 2 oz)

3 Slices Canadian Bacon

1/8 oz Shredded Cheese

3 Strawberries

Directions:

Beat eggs and milk in a glass bowl. Melt butter in a frying pan. Add potatoes and season with salt and pepper. Pan fry until potatoes become golden brown and tender. Add ham and cook long enough to heat. Move potatoes and ham to one side of the pan. Add eggs and cook until almost done. Add potatoes and eggs to the mix and finish cooking. Sprinkle with cheese. Wash strawberries and cut as desired. Enjoy!

** My dad would add a little salsa or Tobasco sauce to this meal if it were up to him. I was tempted, but afraid of ruining a perfectly good meal if I did, so I played it safe!

Nutritional Information (For The Exact Amount Listed Above - 1 Serving):

Total Calories: 218 cal

Total Fat: 6.5 g

Total Carbs: 16 g

Total Protein: 20 g

Playing Catchup

I have not been starving my family this weekend - I promise!

This last week at work was pretty stressful and from Thursday until today, I have had no time for blogging......or cooking. Yes - I'm ashamed to admit it - we have had a slight relapse. But don't worry - today we managed to jump right back on track and so we will continue this journey next week. And although we did resort to eating out, I have actually been pretty good about finding healthy choices and have avoided fried foods and soda.

Day #27 - Right after work, I had to meet Jim at the house, pick him up, went to get Kayla and from there we headed down to the dance studio to get Kayla signed up for her Hip Hop class. She starts Tuesday and is more than excited! Anyway - by the time we did all that, it was 6:45 pm and as we were driving down Auburn Way wondered at the same time "what's for dinner?" The meal I had planned took more than 60 minutes to prep and cook - so Godfather's Pizza and Salad Bar it was.

Day #28 - I don't think I need to remind anybody about Fridays in our house - they just flat out suck. This Friday, I had so much work to do to get caught up from my crazy stressful week, I just stayed at work until Jim made it Bellevue (6:15 pm) and from there we went up to Edmonds to get Katlynne and Kelsey. We stopped at Arby's where I got a the Grilled Chicken Club sandwich (bacon removed) and a water (no fries - yay me!).

Day #29 - A certain someone in my house was in a foul mood all day. So I left him with the girls to fend for themselves and went to hang out with some amazing friends for a game night. They supplied a great dinner of hoagie sandwiches with fruit & veggies. It was great and the entertainment was just what I needed to relax and have a good time.

As far as today goes - that certain someone is still in a foul mood - so again, I made him figure out dinner for the girls while I'm up here playing blog catchup. It smells like he cooked chicken nuggets or something - I'm not certain. As for myself - I will blog about my own dinner in a little bit.

I also need to post my favorite gadget for this last week......I'll have to think about that one.

Day #26 - Chili & Cornbread

About a year ago, Jim decided he wanted to try making homemade chili all by himself. I was skeptical at first, but eventually consented after he assured me he would find a recipe and follow it. He ended up finding a really awesome recipe and made a few modifications to accommodate our taste preferences. And let me tell you - it was fantastic! We've had the recipe sitting around but he never made it since.....until tonight! Again - since it's Wednesday, Jim was in charge of dinner and he didn't disappoint! Homemade chili and cornbread - Yum!

As a small side note: I decided that if I am going to continue cooking and posting my meals, I am going to stop calculating nutritional information. It's the most time consuming part of this whole goal and the only reason some of my posts don't get published in time is because I haven't had time to do the nutritional information. So until further notice - I will continue posting the recipes and directions - but will skip the nutritional info unless it is requested on a particular recipe OR unless the nutritional information is already available from a recipe I have followed and all I have to do is copy it.

Ingredients (don't be intimidated by the amount of ingredients):

2 lbs Ground Beef / Turkey

1 lb Ground Italian Sausage

3 Cans Chili Beans in Mild Sauce (do not drain)

1 can chili beans in Spicy Sauce **

2 Cans Diced Tomatoes with Juice

1 Can Tomato Paste

1 Large Yellow Onion, Chopped

1 Green Bell Pepper, Chopped

1 Red Bell Pepper, Chopped

2 Green Chili Peppers, Seeds Removed and Chopped

3 Tbsp Bacon Bits

1 tsp Sugar

4 Cubes Beef Bouillon

1/2 Cup Beer

1/4 Cup Chili Powder

1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

1 Tbsp Minced Garlic

1 Tbsp Dried Oregano

2 tsp Ground Cumin

2 tsp Tabasco Sauce

1 tsp Dried Basil

Salt & Pepper to Taste

1 tsp Cayenne Pepper

1 tsp Paprika

** We used 4 cans of chili beans in mild sauce because once you add all the other ingredients, you will get a big enough kick of spiciness. I think the beans in spicy sauce is overkill.

Directions:

Heat a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Brown beef and sausage. Drain off excess grease.

Add remaining ingredients and stir to blend. Cover and let simmer over low heat for at least 2 hours. Longer if you can - the key to good flavor is simmering. Adjusting seasoning if needed after two hours.

Serve with Corn chips, sour cream, shredded cheddar and / or cornbread.

Day #25 - Pizza

Tonight was pizza night again. Its just so simple and easy and depending on which toppings you choose, relatively healthy. Our favorite toppings are turkey pepperoni, green peppers, mushrooms and olives (Kayla picks off the green peppers).

This pizza is the exact same as the one I posted before - so if you want ingredients and nutritional information, check it out here!

Day #24 - Sweet & Sour Pork

Let me just start by sharing with you all, that I have a pretty amazing husband! Today, at work, it was one of those days where nothing was going right and by about 10:30 this morning, I just knew that I was in for a long one....and boy was I right! I use to think that only nurses worked 12 hour shifts, but lately, I'm starting to think otherwise. The difference is that nurses work three or four 12-hour shifts and then get three or four days off. I only wish that were the case!

I got to work at 6:45 am. I left work at 6:30 pm (without taking a lunch break, or any break for that matter, because yeah - it was really just ONE OF THOSE DAYS).

Anyway - I had a really nice dinner planned on the menu tonight and I spent my commute home stressing about how I would ever be able to pull it off. I walked in the door trembling from low blood sugar because as I mentioned before, I skipped lunch....and I'm completely shocked when my husband says: "dinner's ready"!

Not only did he make dinner - but he made what was on the menu!

Sweet & Sour Pork

Kayla insisted we have Caesar Salad with it!

I'm not entirely sure how Jim cooked the pork - that and I'm tired as heck and still need to run to Target to pick up some necessities - so I'm not going to list ingredients or nutritional information.

But essentially, the sauce came from here:

Throw in a little diced up red pepper, green pepper and pineapple - use a little water to reduce the thickness and sweetness - and you have yourself a LOVELY sweet & sour sauce! It was fabulous! And the best part - I already have my lunch made for tomorrow!!!

Yummy!

Day #23 - Eggs & Toast

I love breakfast foods - they are probably one of my favorite. If you haven't noticed, it's what we resort to when we're in a pinch for dinner. Tonight, we spent all day cleaning the house and then had to go pick Kayla up from her dad's. I wasn't in the mood to be creative in the kitchen. So - this is what we had - over easy eggs & toast with cantaloupe. Yummy!

Ingredients:

2 Eggs

1 Piece of Bread

1/2 Tbsp of butter

Cantaloupe

Directions:

Put bread in the toaster (duh). Spray frying pan with cooking spray. Crack eggs into pan. Pour 1/4 cup water into pan and cover with a tight lid. Cook on medium-low heat for 3 minutes. Remove from heat. When toast is done, butter as desired. Place eggs on top of toast and enjoy!

Nutritional Information (Approximately For 2 Eggs, 1 Pieces of Toast, 1/2 Cup Cantaloupe):

Total Calories: 278 cal

Total Fat: 9 g

Total Carbs: 23.7 g

Total Protein: 21 g

Day #22 - Date Night!

Prior to yesterday's events, Jim and I had decided that today was going to be our monthly date night. I wasn't about to let the fact that we resorted to eating out the previous evening, ruin our dinner plans for tonight. We ended up meeting some of our good friends for dinner at an awesome little Greek restaurant in Kent - Spiros. It's a fabulous place - the food is amazing and the atmosphere is great! I was so excited, I forgot to take a picture until AFTER I was full. The portion sizes are quite large - so we all know what I will be having for lunch tomorrow - YUMMY!

After dinner, we stopped at Bath & Body Works where I stocked up on soap and got myself some yummy smelling lotion. I LOVE that place too!

Our movie doesn't start until 9:50 - which is why I'm at home blogging in the middle of our date night. But I'd rather do it now than when we get home after the movie at like 1:00 am.

It's been a fabulous night!

The Gyro Platter!