Oh, that’s right.  It’s still April in Chicago, so that means you’ll have temps in the 80s one day, and then barely get out of the 40s.  I actually had to turn our heat on, which has been off for probably two weeks.  Luckily all three of us don’t mind a cool house, but yesterday I was downright cold.  Hannah was home for me with breakfast before heading to work, so we had what we like to call a diner breakfast at home.  I had 2 ounces of leftover steak (2) scrambled with 1/2 cup egg whites (1) with spinach and a slice of buffalo wing cheese (thanks Laura!) (3) with three ounces of leftover new potatoes on the side with fresh fruit.  Such a delicious 8 smart point breakfast and super filling because I had plans to hit the StairMaster up later.

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After Hannah left for work, I had to clean the fridge.  I kind of just did a cursory clean up last Saturday, but it was time to pull out the shelves and clean them really well.  I texted these pics to Hannah because I knew she would be happy with the before and after!

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Yeah!  Now I can see everything.  I decided I would get in a quick 30 minute walk before doing some computer work. God I love snapchat!

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See those shoes?  I bought them at my local thrift store for $5 – they look barely used at all.  I looked them up, and they retail for $77!  I wore them on my walk and on my workout at the gym later yesterday afternoon, and I realized that I haven’t replaced my running shoes in a long time.  I took a close look at a couple pair that I have and saw that they were pretty worn, and just threw them out.   Helen, you’ll be proud to know that I now own 9 pairs of shoes – well, that includes two pairs of flip flops.  I joke because she collects shoes like I collect jars of mustard!

Long time readers know I talk about my $1 rack a lot.  I love the $1 rack, even though Tony would be embarrassed by how fast I would run to it when I saw it was full.  I mean, come on – I can sometimes get 14 bananas for $1!  When I was at the store on Saturday, I bought a 2 pound bag of tomatoes for $1 and a 1 pound bag of roasted red peppers for $1.  I have learned the hard way that it’s not a bargain if I buy the $1 stuff, bring it home and decided to do something with it three days later – by then it’s almost always bad.  So I decided to roast them to make a soup with later – and yesterday was the perfect day to make it.

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Once I entered the recipe into the Weight Watcher recipe builder, I realized that each serving was only 2 points!  I knew I needed to bulk it up a bit before going to the gym, so I added 1 link of leftover Jennie-O sweet Italian sausage (4) with 1/2 cup leftover pasta (3) and added baby spinach for a filling 9 point soup.  But it had me thinking, this would be nice to have on hand if I was hungry late in the afternoon as a great 2 point snack.

I had every intention of doing the StairMaster at the gym, but there is only one, and in the hour and fifteen minutes I was there, it was being used.  Every time I saw someone get off of it, I didn’t get there fast enough to get on it.   So I did the treadmill and did an hour at 8% incline.  I ended up watching an episode of Fixer Upper, so the time went by fast.

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After I cleaned out the fridge, I decided to marinate my chicken for dinner.  I didn’t want to use a whole lot of oil, so I only used 1 tablespoon of oil mixed with 2 teaspoons of Greek seasoning and 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper, so it almost was like a paste.  Every hour when I walked by the fridge, I’d flip the ziploc bag around to make sure all the chicken was covered.  So while I wish it would have been warm outside using the grill, I at least got the flavor of summer in my dinner!

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I had pita bread in the freezer so I took that out earlier in the day to thaw. (3).  I had 5 ounces of chicken on my pita (4) and some tzatziki (1) and. . . green bean fries on the side.

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I found a bag of fresh green beans that Hannah bought when I was in Virginia, and well, they were looking pretty sad.  Not bad, but not fresh either.  For my one serving, I took 4 ounces of fresh green beans and for the batter:  1/4 cup flour (3) 1/2 teaspoon creole seasoning and 4 tablespoons of lime seltzer.  I would have made a beer batter, but I knew I wouldn’t need a whole beer for the batter, and I knew I’d drink the rest, so the lime seltzer worked great.  Just dredge the green beans into the batter, and deep fried for 4 minutes at 375 degrees.  Now you all know how I feel about my deep fryer – because it holds the temps so well, nothing comes out too greasy, unless the oil is really old.  But I cleaned out the fryer and had fresh oil and these were light and crisp.  I guess if I were being technical, I’d add another point for the oil, but I still have 17 flex points left for the week before my Thursday weigh in, so I am not going to sweat it.

I have some more recipe testing to do today – this week is Cooking Club at Courtney’s house tomorrow night, and I have been assigned dessert!  I’ve always wanted to make a fruit tart – don’t these look pretty?!

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Wish me luck!  

Stats for the Day:  90 minutes of exercise – 30 smart points

Make it a great day Open-mouthed smile