I wish every day could be like yesterday.  I woke up at six when the alarm went off.  I already had my workout clothes ready to go, gym bag packed, so I was in the car by 6:15.  Ate a banana on my way to fuel my swim.  Swam 45 minutes without stopping. Hit the hot tub for 5 minutes, the steam room for 5 minutes. 

Had a great shower, dried my hair, was back home by 7:45 which was plenty of time to pack my lunch, make a pot of coffee and get dressed.

I am loving these tortillas I bought – they are LaTortilla factory brand, 3 points for each wrap and I love the texture of them.  I had an egg/ham/spinach roll up with cherries and a plum – breakfast comes in at 9 points.

Both my bosses were out of the office, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t busy.  I’ve been working on a long term project (hopefully it will be done with this week!) and I was able to buckle down with no distractions.

When I went on weather.com before lunch, it said the temperature was 88, but felt like 98.  They were not kidding!  I ended up walking 75% and jogging 25% – no running in that kind of weather.  I did 3.2 miles in 45 minutes, and with a 5 minute warm up and cool down, 55 minutes total.

Anyone who knows me well knows I love Reuben sandwiches, almost as much as this chica.   šŸ˜€

I knew my SIL loved sauerkraut, so I decided to make a reuben casserole.  While this was delicious, I couldn’t help but think that adding caraway seeds, maybe a couple squirts of light thousand island dressing – and maybe a can of cream of celery soup might make this more “casseroly.”  Yep, that’s a word I just made up. šŸ˜€

Reuben Casserole – 4 servings/7 pointsplus each

  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup skim milk
  • 1/3 pound corned beef, chopped
  • 2 cups sauerkraut (one 15 oz. can – undrained)
  • 2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
  • 1/2 cup swiss cheese, divided
  • 12 ounces potato, cooked and diced
  • dash of paprika
  • salt and pepper

Mix all the ingredients together and pour into a baking dish sprayed with Pam.  Only add half of the swiss cheese to the mix, then sprinkle the top with the remaining swiss cheese and sprinkle of paprika.

Bake for 30 minutes, until nice and bubbly, at 350 degrees.  Try not to burn your mouth when you want to take a bite of it right away.

My Dad introduced me to Bavarian style sauerkraut, and its almost always the only one I buy.  I love that its slightly sweet and has caraway seeds.

While the finished product looks delicious:

My lunch sorta looks like dog food.   I have a serving of the casserole over a can of green beens.  A completely filling, delicious, tangy 7 point lunch with a peach and 1/2 a banana on the side.

Tony had cut out a recipe last week, but had I read it correctly I would have had all the ingredients, so it got bumped to this weeks menu.  I was actually shocked when he showed it to me, because Tony typically does not like sweet with meat – as in sauteed apples with pork chops, mango salsa over chicken, etc.

You know I love sweet and savory, so I knew I would love this.

Pork Chops with Cherry Balsamic Sauce

  • makes 4 servings – 1.5 points per serving (about 1/3 of a cup) 5 points for whole recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • okay, crazy people can add 1/4 cup finely chopped onion (ew)
  • 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 3 cups frozen cherries, chopped (do not thaw, and make sure its no sugar added cherries – its 0 points per cup vs. 6 points a cup for sugar added)
  • 1/2 cup chicken stock
  • 1 tablespoon cold butter
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Heat the oil over medium heat.  Add garlic (and onion) and cook, stirring for 2 minutes.  Stir in vinegar, cook for 30 seconds.  Add cherries and stock.  Cover over high heat until teh liquid is thick and slightly syrupy – about 5-7 minutes.  REmover from heat, whisk in butter salt and pepper.

Use part of the glaze to brush on the pork chops.   Our chops were thick, 6 ounces each, so I butterflied them before grilling.  They only took about 10 minutes on a hot grill.  Let your chops sit 5 minutes before serving with the cherry sauce.  On the side I had half a cup of white rice mixed with a cup of baby spinach.  Dinner comes in at 11.5 points.

This sauce was the perfect balance of sweet and savory.  And after I took this picture, I cut up my pork and mixed the sauce in with my spinach and rice.  If I could have licked my plate I would have – but I let the dog lick my plate every night – I know, the dog has trained me!

After dinner I cleaned out the fridge, didn’t watch some of the Sox game with Tony because they sucked ass, didn’t drink any wine, and got to bed by 11:00.  Why can’t I do that every day? 

Check out my brother’s most recent post – I am always jealous of his writing skillz. šŸ˜€

Do you want to lose weight? Then all you have to do is want it. Period. The only trick is, you have to want it more than the donut someone just waved under your nose.

Accomplishing anything in life is easy. The only hard part is figuring out the answer to this simple question: do you want what you want?

Stats for Monday:

  • 27.5 points
  • 45 minute swim
  • 55 minute walk/jog
  • average blood sugar 108
  • 6 activity points earned (um turns out I am a slow swimmer!)

Off to make it another day like Monday! šŸ˜€  I decided Tuesdays and Thursdays I am going to work out at home – today is abs and upper body.  Make it a great day!