Lighter Chicken and Dumplings

Since I knew we wouldn’t have a new office microwave at least until lunch time, breakfast had to be something I could heat up in the toaster oven – so we are back to breakfast pizzas!  Flatout thin crust artisan bread, 2 tablespoons tomato sauce, baby spinach, an ounce of deli ham, 1 scrambled egg and 1 ounce of shredded mixed cheddar cheese.  This whole thing comes in at 358 calories and 35 grams of protein!

I was actually busy with one of the secretaries out, so before I knew it, it was time to hit the pool.  Luckily I was all by myself for the entire swim – no poo in the pool this time!

I had really bad cramps yesterday (I know, TMI!) but the pool really helped.  I took this picture and have noticed since I stopped doing Insanity, I’ve lost some of my shoulder definition.

So next week I am going back – but this time with T-25.   Starting Monday, I am going to commit to 30 days of T-25.   I liked doing Insanity at night because believe it or not, I have more energy at night than I do in the morning.  So 8:00 p.m. I will have a date with T-25!

By the time I got back to the office, I could hear they were installing the new microwave, so I waited it out – I didn’t end up eating lunch until 1:45.  I had one serving of the copycat Panera broccoli soup that I made for my friend that didn’t make it in the container I gave her.  On the side was a high fiber English muffin ham, spinach and cheese open face sammie.  This new microwave has a convection oven setting – do any of you know if that means you can use it like an oven, or does it just make the microwave work faster??  I was the first person to use it – and it is way more efficient than our older one.

I am building up my share of snowman mugs at work – I actually have about a dozen and a half more at home in the basement boxed up – I rotate them in and out pretty much year round.  They just make me happy!  Skippy, I know you share in this happiness!

So I kept seeing a bunch of recipes for chicken and dumplings on Pinterest.  I got to thinking and I don’t think I’ve ever made it before.  But the recipes I saw were chock full of butter and definitely not on the healthy side.  I had the idea that I would roast a chicken and use that meat for the chicken and dumplings, and have leftovers for sandwiches and use the carcass later in the week to make chicken noodle soup.  But I quickly discovered that the whole chickens were the same price uncooked as they were already cooked – so I put this $5.99 chicken in my basket.  I picked one that had just been placed on the shelf.  I’ve heard that they cook up these rotisserie chickens using chicken that is really close to the sell by date.  Not sure if that’s true or not?

I also chose frozen veggies over fresh ones, because I thought that would be easier on a weeknight.  I picked up this 10 ounce package:

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:20]

This was perfect comfort food on a cold chilly night, without all the guilt.  And while Tony could tell this was a lightened dish, he really liked it.

Stats for the Day:

• 1516 calories, 63 fat, 152 carbs, 100 protein and 35 fiber
• 38% of calories from carbs, 36% from fat and 25% from protein
• 30 minute swim at lunch
• average blood sugar 119

I am excited for lunch today – I made a batch of my award winning Buffalo Chicken Chili.  Tony goes to a Coumadin clinic every few weeks since he is on blood thinners.  One of the women who helps him looks just like one of the Mowry twins, so he calls her “Sister, Sister” because he’s not really good with names.  Well, a couple weeks ago she brought in the article of my chili and said that she doesn’t cook and she’d really like to try it.  She was joking of course, so she’ll be surprised when Tony brings her a big container of it today!  There was enough leftover for my lunch today.

Time to heat up the car – another sub-zero start to the day.  Have I mentioned how done I am with winter this year already??!!

Make it a great day!