Jenn's Menu & Lifestyle Blog

I love Tabasco sauce, but I’m not too crazy about the tingly, medicine-y aftertaste that refuses to go away. lol Worth it though!

I decided to catch up on my updates and do yesterday’s and today’s in one shot. Well, yesterday’s isn’t really that great being I ate mostly leftovers, but why waste pics that were already taken, right?

Like I said yesterday, I was pretty active. I woke up, had some cottage cheese, went to the office for awhile, then shortly after got busy working up a sweat. I did:

20 minutes recumbent bike
Upper body resistance training
1 hour of my obstacle course
20 minutes recumbent bike

I <3 my obstacle course, it's so much fun. I was starved after all of that, so I made a fluffy 6" inch turkey sub:

turkey_sub_1_feb9

I saved a few calories by doing something that my dad used to do: Gutted the roll!

turkey_sub_2_feb9

I took out as much as I could and it ended up weighing just 2oz, which made it 150 calories. It’s a useful trick that works great with thick bread. So once the bread was perfect, I piled on:

3oz Boar’s Head reduced sodium turkey breast (90 cal)
1 TBSP Hellmann’s olive oil mayo (50 cal)
2 big handfuls of leftover salad from the night before

With 14g of olive oil potato chips (75 cal) on the side

turkey_sub_3_feb9

turkey_sub_4_feb9

Deliciousness for less than 400 calories. Then I had a serving of Haagen Dazs dark chocolate ice cream. Hey, it was post-workout, I totally earned it. I only felt like having 2 big meals yesterday and a couple snacks, I had leftover sauce and braciola for dinner.

So remember the batch of cannellini (white beans) I told you about? They ended up overcooking in the crock pot. I was heartbroken! *sigh* See?

cannellini_beans_feb9

BUT all was not lost! I ate them anyway and they weren’t that bad, just mushy. hehe I tossed about a cup of them in 2 TBSP Hick Lickin’ Good BBQ sauce (30 cal), then popped them in the microwave to make fake baked beans to have with breakfast:

eggs_beans_1_feb10

I fried 2 large eggs (150 cal) with Pam olive oil cooking spray (15 cal), steamed about 2 cups of fresh baby spinach in the microwave (15 cal) and then layered it on my plate:

Spinach
1/2 of the beans (~150 cal)
Eggs topped with 14g cheddar cheese (55 cal)

eggs_beans_2_feb10

Along with a piece of beer bread with seedless raspberry Polaner All Fruit

eggs_beans_3_feb10

I estimate this to be around 600 calories, give or take. This was SO GOOD! Loved the beans, despite their texture. Very filling too, kept my tummy happy for about 5 hours!

I took a chance on the beans again and made white bean burgers for lunch:

wh_bean_burgers_2_feb10

I mixed the remaining beans with:

1/2 cup flour
2 large eggs
Garlic salt
Paprika
Dried parsley
Pinch of cayenne
Black pepper

I mixed it by hand– gross ! –and it ended up being really runny, like pancake batter. So I fried them in a nonstick pan with EVOO…

wh_bean_burgers_1_feb10

…and they ended up coming out totally awesome!!

wh_bean_burgers_3_feb10

I had mine on an Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted grain roll (170 cal) with spinach, red onion, tomato, Heinz no salt added ketchup and no salt added mustard. Along with 20g olive chips and string beans tossed in red wine vinegar and lemon pepper.

wh_bean_burgers_4_feb10

wh_bean_burgers_5_feb10

Yum! It made 10 burgers, I froze the rest of them. Dustin said they tasted like a bean burrito, I concur. They turned out tastier and firmer than I thought. I love when things turn out great when you are expecting the worst.

And finally: Black bean and corn chili with lean ground beef

chili_scoops_2_feb10

1.2 lb 96% lean ground beef
1 can Cento crushed tomatoes
1 can Trader Joe’s no salt added diced tomatoes
1 can Eden organic no salt added black beans
1 can no salt added corn
2 medium yellow onions
Minced garlic
~3 TBSP chili powder
~3 TBSP cumin
Garlic salt
Black pepper
1 TBSP EVOO

1. In a large pot or dutch oven, add in EVOO, onions, garlic and ground beef; cook on medium heat until beef is browned and onions are softened
2. Reduce heat; add in tomatoes and spices; mix well
3. Toward the end, add in the beans and tomatoes
4. Let simmer on low for about 45 minutes

Servings vary, I would estimate between 8 and 12 servings.

chili_scoops_1_feb10

It turned out fabulous! I topped mine with 14g cheddar cheese (55 cal), red onion, diced tomatoes and 3oz Chobani plain Greek yogurt (50 cal) and had 1 serving of Tostitos Scoops (140 cal) on the side:

chili_scoops_3_feb10

chili_scoops_4_feb10

You can easily make this vegetarian or vegan by replacing the beef with tempeh, tofu, seitan, meatless meat products or just skip the “meat” component altogether and just do the veggies and beans. It’s REALLY yummy, especially doused with Tabasco.

I’m exhausted, so I’m just going to end this like one of those movies where it just ends and you’re like WTF? lol I can barely see the screen @_@ lol Nite nite!