Busy Day

Sorry I have been M.I.A. today. It started out as a rough morning, little daughter woke up at 4:30 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep! Needless to say, I was not thrilled. One positive thing is that I was on the elliptical by 5 :45 and got that out of the way. I remained grouchy all morning and therefore, did not get a picture of my breakfast. I had 1/2 c. greek yogurt with some sliced strawberries. Not exciting, but nothing was this morning!!



I was out the door running errands and Christmas shopping by 8:30 a.m. I didn't bring any snack with me, so I stopped home to eat lunch. I was starving!!! Four hours was too long for greek yogurt to hang out. I grabbed a quick sandwich of 2 oz. turkey, 1 laughing cow light cheese wedge, lettuce and tomato on an Arnold Sandwich Thin. I had grapes and a serving of pretzel sticks (30 grams - yup, I weigh it!) for something different. The pretzels were a good choice because they took a while to eat. I'll have to remember this "chip alternative"...







My snack this afternoon was a Fiber One Strawberry Yogurt and 1 bar of Kashi TLC Roasted Almond Crunch Granola Bar...

For dinner I made potato skins! These were so easy to make and tasted great. I used some small to medium potatoes and scrubbed them well, sprayed them with cooking spray and baked them in a 425 degree oven right on the rack for about 40 minutes. I sliced each potato in half and let cool for a bit. When cool enough to handle, I scooped out each potato, leaving a small bit of potato for each shell. (*I'm saving the scooped out potato for another recipe -maybe potato soup or mashed potatoes.) I seasoned the potato shells well with salt and pepper and placed them on a sprayed baking sheet and back in the oven for 10 minutes. They were pretty crispy at this point. I topped them with some cooked turkey bacon, 1 oz. shredded Cabot 75% reduced fat cheddar cheese and chopped green onion. I put them back in the oven for about 5 minutes until the cheese melted. These were so good! A great "bar food" fix. I had 4 skins for 6 pts. I had a side salad with cucumbers and Kraft Light Three Cheese Ranch Dressing...

I made quite a few extra potato skins without any toppings. I may try to freeze them or just keep them in the fridge and work on them this week. There are so many different combos to put on these skins other than cheese and bacon. Maybe a mexican-style skin with fat free refried beans, cheese and salsa or a breakfast skin with scrambled egg and cheese! Ooh, I think I'll try that tomorrow for breakfast!

I ended the night with more than a few Holiday Ginger Cookies. I don't know why I did that. I guess it's being tired and feeling stressed that drives the munching. The food police needs to pull me over... :(