Splurge

Hi Everyone! I hope you had a lovely Valentine's Day. Ian and I exchanged cheesy gestures and then ate and drank to celebrate our love and the fact that it was Tuesday. I have been steering away from a rigid schedule the past several days which is liberating but I know I've been eating too much. I'm hoping to find a balance between insane planning that causes anxiety and a flippant attitude that makes me feel like I need a mid-day waffle. I did finally weigh and I was down about 5 pounds since Christmas. I was happy that I had shed the holiday weight and decided that I would weigh again next Wednesday morning. That means I need to get it together and play nice by eating only when I'm hungry and stopping when I'm full. The struggle is real.

This semester has been one of the busiest of my life. I seem to have had an influx of meetings, projects and future preparations. I have so much up in the air which stresses me out because I like to mark things off my list. Oh, and apparently I'll be starting a split semester class on March 6th at Shelton so it's only going to get worse. Even though it sounds like it, I'm not complaining. I like having job security and goodness knows I always need extra money. In addition to school work, I'm also working hard on getting this MLWOR book project an ISBN number. It's a dream that I've become obsessed with accomplishing. Writing a book is more than hard...it's a soul-sucking venture whose highs and lows are more extreme than I could have ever imagined. That seems dramatic to say but it also feels right. One of the ways I'm working toward this goal is by attending a writing workshop next Friday the 24th. It's kind of a day for writers who have written a book and are now saying "What now?" That's me! In addition to the workshop, I'm also going to be meeting with an agent and actually pitching the book. She will tell me ways to improve the pitch and hopefully give me some ideas. Because of this, I need to be ready to give them all I've got. I've been making some recipes from the book that you all may have seen before so I can get some decent photos. I'd like to bring a sample that provides a visual for the agent. I'll be sharing them again here and making Pins for them on Pinterest (hopefully). What I'm saying is, I'm sorry for any repeats. That may be something I do the next one or two weeks. I'm nervous about this whole thing but excited because I've been working on this material for a LONG time.

The first recipe is for Spicy Deviled Eggs. I am a BIG fan of Deviled Eggs and this recipe kicks them up a notch and adds bacon. I am incredibly lazy and usually by hard boiled eggs from the store or my mom makes them. I realized I had never made them myself. So, I decided to boil some eggs and it won't surprise you to know it was really easy.

Spicy Deviled Eggs

Ingredients

2 Eggs

2 Tablespoons Light Mayo (REAL mayonnaise)

1 Tablespoon Yellow Mustard (you could also use Dijon for additional kick)

1 Teaspoon Srirachi Sauce (give or take depending on your tolerance)

1 Piece Turkey Bacon (cooked until crisp/I make turkey bacon in the oven) OR 3 pieces of pre-cooked bacon (usually around 80 calories)

Sliced Green Onion for garnish

Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, Smoked Paprika to taste

Directions

Hard boil your eggs, cut them in half, dump the yolks in a bowl and mash them up. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder. Mix in the mayo, mustard and hot sauce. Use the mixture to fill up the egg white halves. Top with crumbled bacon and green onions. It’s so easy! Regular deviled eggs are delicious but having them this way makes for a nice change to kick things up a bit.

Next up are the diet soda cakes. I have a lot of these that I make. I started with chocolate and then made creamsicle. 

Diet Cola Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 Box of your favorite chocolate cake mix

1 12 ounce can of diet cola

1 tub light whipped cream

1 tablespoon of chocolate fudge (out of a jar is fine)

Directions

Pre-heat the oven based on the instructions on the back of the cake mix box. Empty the box of cake mix into a mixing bowl, add soda. Mix. Pour the mixture evenly into a 12-cupcake cupcake pan that is lined with liners and sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake the recommended amount of time on the box. While the cupcakes are baking, get out another bowl and mix together the chocolate fudge with the whipped cream. Cover and refrigerate. When the cupcakes are done, let them cool completely if you want them to have the frosting.

Pro tip: Only frost the cupcakes you want at that moment. If you frost all of them and refrigerate, the top gets a bit gummy. Frost them as you eat them.

*Suggestion: If you are wanting to kick it up a notch, adding a frozen, miniature peanut butter cup to the middle of the batter before baking makes it even more decadent and still less calories than a full-fat piece of cake.

Creamsicle Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 Box of your favorite vanilla or yellow cake mix

1 12 ounce can of diet orange soda

1 tub light whipped cream

Zest of one orange

Juice of one orange

Directions

Pre-heat the oven based on the instructions on the back of the cake mix box. Empty the box of cake mix into a mixing bowl, add soda. Mix. Pour the mixture evenly into a 12-cupcake cupcake pan that is lined with liners and sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake the recommended amount of time on the box. While the cupcakes are baking, get out another bowl and mix together the whipped cream, orange zest and orange juice. Cover and refrigerate. When the cupcakes are done, let them cool completely if you want them to have the frosting.

*The zest and juice are optional but add a really bright orange flavor. You will be able to taste the orange in the cupcakes but it will be somewhat faint so adding the extra to the frosting will really amp up the orange vibe in the cupcake.

I made tuna tacos pretty recently but they are pretty and yummy so I wanted to include them in the book and repeat the recipe here.

Tuna Tacos

Tuna steak is a gift from the sea. If it’s not overcooked, it’s tender and moist almost like an actual steak. Also, keep a watch for it to go on sale at specialty stores. It can happen and when it does, grab them up and freeze them so you can have the decadence of tuna tacos anytime you want. I used to think the idea of a fish taco was disgusting but I’ve changed my ways.

Ingredients

1 Tuna Steak

2 Small (taco sized) corn or flour tortillas

Shredded Lettuce (you can also use fresh shredded cabbage but it’s just not really my bag)

1 Tablespoon Ginger Sesame Salad Dressing (or any Asian inspired dressing you want. There are a lot of options these days in stores)

1 Teaspoon Garlic Chili Sauce (more if you want it to have more of a kick)

1 Clove Minced Garlic

1 Tablespoon Mayonnaise

1 Teaspoon Sriracha Sauce

1 Tablespoon Chopped Peanuts

1 Tablespoon Toasted Sesame Seeds

2 Tablespoons Reduced Fat Blue Cheese

Green Onion, Soy Sauce, Salt, Pepper and Garlic Powder to taste

Directions

Add salt, pepper and garlic powder to both sides of tuna steak after patting it dry. Marinate it in ginger dressing, chili sauce and minced garlic. While that’s marinating, chop the lettuce, green onion and peanuts. Also, in a small bowl, mix together the mayo and sriracha. Bring a non-stick skillet to medium-high heat. Take the marinated tuna and sear on both sides for no more than 1-2 minutes per side. Basically, as soon as a very thin white layer creeps up into the pink of the tuna, it’s DONE. Overcooked tuna turns into canned tuna and that’s not what you’re going for when it comes to tacos. When it’s done, take it out of the pan and let the steak rest while you prepare the tacos. Take each tortilla, divide and smear the sriracha mayo on the bottom of both. Then, add lettuce to each one. Add Blue Cheese on each one. Sprinkle the chopped peanuts. Then, slice your tuna steak into strips and divide them evenly on each taco. Sprinkle green onion and sesame seeds onto both tacos. I put a few drops of soy sauce on each. I have a big appetite and two tacos fill me up. These tacos are hearty, salty, filling and delicious.

Finally, I couldn't leave out a picture/recipe of the low cal ranch that I make.

Homemade Low Cal Ranch

Ingredients

3-1/2 Cups Buttermilk

1 Cup Light Mayo (I’m very particular about mayonnaise too. I don’t use “salad dressing” mayo; I use “real” mayo)

2 1 oz packets of your favorite ranch dressing/seasoning mix

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon onion powder (the extra powders are optional but I like it to have a lot of flavor…adding these gives a very strong flavor that only intensifies as time passes so if you don’t like strong garlic flavor, eave this out or lessen it)

*Feel free to split this recipe in half if you don’t think you’ll need that much. This make a huge batch.

Directions

Plop the mayonnaise in a big bowl. Pour in the buttermilk half a cup at a time. This is an instance in which it’s important not to throw everything a bowl at once because you’ll end up with clumps of mayo. Stir the buttermilk in slowly making sure each half-cup portion gets mixed in evenly. I highly recommend using a whisk for this. Once the mayonnaise and buttermilk are combined and there aren’t a ton of mayo clumps, stir in the dressing mix, garlic powder and onion powder. Pop a lid on the bowl or container, stick it in the fridge and let it cool a bit then it’s all yours.

Pro tip: Keep some low fat blue cheese on deck and mix it in to the dressing for home made “healthier” blue cheese dressing. I know it’s weird but I actually bring a small container of this dressing to most places I go for dinner. You can have 3 tablespoons of this dressing for less than 60 calories.

See y'all next week!

Stuffed

Hey y'all! We are less than a week out from Valentine's Day. I only bring that up because I've got some exciting culinary treats in my future. I'm going to renew a V-Day tradition with Jordan and have Cheesecake Factory on Sunday and then Ian and I are getting steak and bread pudding at the Chophouse in T-Town on Tuesday. I'm also going to try to get my hands on some chocolate covered strawberries. Tis the season. Other than daydreaming about splurge meals, I've been completely swamped. I have A LOT of balls in the air. I just wanted to type balls. But seriously, I'm busy as all get out and I just agreed to teach a split semester class starting in March. So, it's real y'all. I'm handling it pretty well right now and had just settled into my crazed and financially strapped lifestyle when Ian's car decided it was done working last night. It had to be towed and we are in limbo right now, just hoping for a miracle. It came at a pretty horrible time since we are going on vacation for spring break and then he has a bachelor party but life doesn't wait for convenient times to happen. I'm surprisingly calm even though everything around me is hectic. I'm trying to apply my "one day at a time" theory to all aspects of life I guess. My plan was to weigh on Valentine's Day but I may not be able to take it anymore and weigh sooner. Not knowing the number has been strange but it's been nice to take a break from the obsession. I think I may go back to checking regularly again but try not to let the number define me. I'm anxious to see if I've gotten any of the Christmas weight off. We will see. I'll definitely be able to report next week.

I have a couple recipes to share this week that are easy and healthy which is my favorite thing. If you don't like mushrooms, you could try this recipe with any stuff-able produce: peppers, zucchini and I can't really think of anything else right now. The cool thing about stuffing mushrooms with stuff is that you can also choose whatever ingredients you want or have in the refrigerator. I took large button mushrooms, removed the stems and washed the caps. I layered them on a baking sheet that I covered in aluminum foil and sprayed with non-stick spray. I popped them in a pre-heated oven (400) to roast while I prepared the other ingredients. I was going to chop everything up then remembered I had an awesome food processor so I used that instead. I tossed in the mushroom stems, black olives, leftover broccoli, red onion, deli ham, way too much garlic, low fat cream cheese and a bit of low fat shredded cheese and let er rip. Once it was all blended and a totally ugly color, I got out the mushrooms, flipped them over and stuffed them. I didn't use all the mix and decided that was OK. I baked them about ten minutes, sprinkled some chives over them and they were done. Mushrooms are almost zero calories so the only thing setting me back here was the cheese and ham. It was super low carb but also delicious. Like I said, you can make this recipe your own but I'm always a big fan of edible food vessels and mushrooms certainly qualify.

The other recipe I made served as a side dish for a DELICIOUS bone-in pork chop that Ian grilled. All I did was toss together a sliced yellow squash (you can use zucchini) with a couple tablespoons of store-bought marinara, salt, pepper and garlic powered in a small baking dish that I sprayed with non-stick spray. While I was chopping and tossing, the oven was pre-heating at 350 degrees. I arranged the squash in the dish and then topped it with low fat mozzarella cheese. I went a little heavier on the cheese than I probably should have. Oh well. I baked it about 7-8 minutes until the cheese was bubbly and it was done. It was a cheesy, low carb vegetable side dish. I'm not on an exclusively low carb diet or anything but I skip the carbs at dinner sometimes. This made a great addition to the pork chop and it was super easy so I'll probably make it again soon.

Have a great week everyone!

Spinach Stretching

Happy Hump Day Y'all! It's already February which feels a little absurd but that's just how it goes. Things are going pretty well with me other than a small potato chip incident on Monday and of course, an over indulgent weekend. I'm not sweating it today. I didn't get to exercise as much as usual this weekend because I did something at 9 Round that preventing me from moving my neck and back for about three days. I was stressed about not working out but realized I needed to take care of my body. I'm back to my regularly scheduled soreness now so I've been burning calories like normal the past couple days.

While I do spend money on good quality groceries, I'm not rich so I try to find items on sale and I also try to stretch ingredients that I buy. I look for recipes that call for similar ingredients to ensure I don't have waste in food or money. This week's grocery list included spinach and reduced fat feta and I got two delicious recipes out of those ingredients. The first is a baked egg breakfast. I love a runny yolk and I've never achieved that when making baked eggs. I will check the eggs like five times and they will still be raw. After the last check, it seems like it takes less than 30 seconds for the yolk to be overdone. One day, I will perfect the runny yolk in a baked egg but until then, the over-hard version is tasty too. All you do is pre-heat the oven to 400 then wilt some spinach with water in a non-stick skillet. I didn't use any oil or spray for this and it only took 3-4 minutes. While it cooks, grab a small ramekin or casserole dish (I happen to have the perfect tiny purple dish), and spray it with non-stick spray. Take the wilted spinach and spread it evenly on the bottom of the dish. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder. Then crack two eggs on top of the spinach bed. Add salt and pepper to the eggs. Finally, top the spinach and eggs with around a quarter cup of crumbled, reduced fat feta cheese. Pop it in the oven anywhere from 15 minutes until the end of time depending on how you like your eggs. I was hungry so I found myself a bit impatient. Despite the lack of runny yolk, I loved this breakfast. The cooking process, eggs and cheese masked any sharpness from the spinach and it was filling. I like anything that has cheese.

The other recipe I made was a pretty, summer-like salad. The blueberries in a salad was an idea I saw on Pinterest. I've only recently gotten in to adding fruit to salad. I like strawberries because they add a tart tang to your salad. The blueberries are a bit sweeter but because I had a lot of salty elements in the salad, it provided a nice balance. All I did was lay out a bed of spinach, add sliced red onion, grilled chicken (that Ian so generously grilled for me), reduced fat feta cheese, a 100 calorie pack of almonds that I rough chopped, half a cup of blueberries and a few tablespoons of low fat Italian dressing. This was bright and filling (because of all the protein) and downright pretty. I love a giant, attractive salad for dinner.

Finally, I tried the last flavor of Halo Top I haven't tried in my freezer. I loved the lemon cake because of the balance of calories versus taste. I think that the peanut butter cup is the best flavor I've had so far but it costs you quite a few more calories. In this case, I think it's worth it. This flavor is creamy with actual streaks of peanut butter which are happy little treasures. I loved it. I want to try some of the other flavors soon, I just have to fit this expensive little treasure into my budget. It's not cheap!

Have a great week everyone!

Enjoy the Super Bowl this weekend.

Until next week...