Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Morning Breakdowns + A New Recipe

Sorry I missed you all this morning.  My laptop screen went kaput, so no blogging was happening til I hooked up my old computer monitor to the laptop so I can see!!!   Time for a new computer;  ka-ching, ka-ching :(   I had to spend the morning at the car dealership, too.  Thankfully, that didn’t cost much.  It’s funny how everything seems to go all at once!

Monday

I’m still surprised in the morning when I come down to the kitchen.  After so many years of the same look, it’s different to see a new look.  I really like it!

I was ready to break out the pans for breakfast.  I decided on eggs again.  This time, I sauteed sliced mushrooms in nonstick spray, added egg whites and a slice of asiago cheese.  Very tasty…

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The rest of the morning was spent in clean-up mode.  Still catching up on cleaning after the painting.  Lunch time came quickly, so I made up some fast food.  I decided on another Lavash Pizza, this time topped with some leftover mushrooms from breakfast.  So easy to make;  spray Lavash bread with cooking spray, spread on sauce, top with light cheese and bake at 400 for about 10 minutes…

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It makes a huge serving and I ate the whole thing along with a bowl of Tabatchnick Vegetable Soup

 

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I tried to get myself organized for the week during the remainder of the afternoon.  I had a billion school papers to read through, sign, send in money for, etc.  Whew!  And schools say they’re trying to go “green”!  I also worked on some homework with little daughter while munching on a snack of Trader Joe’s Chipotle Pepper Hummus and carrots…

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Dinner was easy.  The husband and daughters were jealous of my pizza lunch, well, with the exception of the mushrooms, so I told them they could have quick pizzas for dinner.  I used Trader Joe’s Naan Bread as the dough.  They loved it!  Good for me;  no complaining :)

I dug around the freezer and found a few pieces of my Gram’s zucchini quiche, so I heated that and made a side salad with evoo for us all…

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Love it, Gram!!

 

Tuesday

As I said, this morning started off a little rough with the computer glitch.  I had planned on blogging at the dealership, but since that was not to be, I gathered up a bunch of reading material to bring to my Car Dealership Camp Out.  I was rushed, but hungry, so I heated up a Blueberry Apricot Oat Bran Muffin and gobbled that up along with a Chobani nonfat strawberry yogurt before I left…

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Turned out I only had to wait 2 1/2 hours instead of the 3-4 hours that I thought!  And the "damage” was minimum.  Hey, this day is turning around!

Breakfast did not hold me over very long at all.  I’m finding that the 6 oz. cups are not enough for me;  I really need 8 oz. to hold me over.  And the muffin, although delicious and healthy, doesn’t have enough staying power either.  I’m noticing, breakfast is turning out to be the most important meal of the day for me.  If I don’t eat enough at breakfast, I feel like eating more later in the day.

Needless to say, I couldn’t wait for lunch!  My stomach was growling  by 11:30 , but I managed to hold off until 12:30.  I dug around in the freezer again and found some homemade turkey meatballs that I completely forgot about!  I made a Turkey Meatball Stuffed Pita using 3 turkey meatballs (sliced to fit), baby spinach, a Weight Watchers Whole Wheat Pita and a drizzle of marinara…

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Along with a fuji apple, it was a great lunch…

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Little daughter had dance this afternoon, which means that we do not get home until dinner time.  I planned in advance and decided to make a Vegetable Lasagna so that it would be ready when we got home.  Now, I pretty much knew this was going to get some “eeewwws and blaaaahs” because no one but me ,will eat vegetables mixed in with something else.  But, I had this lasagna idea and I really wanted to try it out, so I said tough noogies ;P

These are the items I used for the Vegetable Lasagna

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The star ingredient was the Green Giant Immunity Blend Veggies.  I like these because they are a premium blend;  the vegetables are good quality (no broccoli stalks!) and it is flavored with extra virgin olive oil and seasoning which takes the work out of chopping, cooking and flavoring the veggies before adding them to the dish…

Vegetable Lasagna

  • 3 boxes Green Giant Immunity Blend frozen veggies, defrosted
  • 2 1/2 cups fat free milk
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • 6 oz. block Cabot 50 % reduced fat cheddar cheese, grated(or other lowfat white cheese such as swiss or mozzarella)
  • 2 cups fresh baby spinach
  • 12 no-boil lasagna noodles
  • 3 tbsp. parmesan cheese

Prepare an 11 x 7 baking dish by spraying with nonstick spray and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, combine flour and milk.  Stir continuously over medium heat until mixture thickens, about 5 minutes…

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Remove from heat and stir in grated cheese until melted and sauce is smooth….

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Add the vegetables and stir until mixed in.  *note – I think next time, I would save a bit of the plain cheese sauce to pour over the top layer of the lasagna (maybe about 1/3 cup)…

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Place 3 noodles on the bottom of the sprayed dish and top with 1/3 of the sauce…

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Add spinach…

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Continue with 2 more layers of noodles and sauce.  Top with remaining 3 noodles and sprinkle with parmesan cheese (I added about 1/8 c. shredded mozzarella, too – again, a bit of the plain cheese sauce would have gone nicely as a topper, then additional cheese could be omitted…

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Cover with foil and bake in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes…

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Dinner done!  While little daughter was at dance, I was able to run over to the gym for a 30 minute beat session on The Arc Trainer.  Boy, I have missed the gym these past few days!  I worked so hard that I was actually shaky when I left.  I remembered to bring a snack in the car, so I dug into some Cocoa Roasted Almonds and felt a lot better…

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Dinner was waiting when we got home!  I thought it was delish and so did the husband and daughters after they scraped all the vegetables out of it.  Grrrrrr.

I served it with some of Gram’s green beans to round out the meal…

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According to the ingredients I used, this lasagna came in at 330 calories and 10 grams fat per serving  (for 6 servings).  I have a couple pieces leftover that will make a great “frozen dinner” for another night.

I’m hoping to get my new computer tomorrow and get back to my morning blogging on Thursday!  Looking forward to catching up on all your blogs, too.  It’s been a couple days and I miss seeing what you’re all up to!

ONE GOOD THING:  I was able to fit in a workout and it felt great!

Question of the Day:  What kind of computer do you use?

18 comments:

thewwchick said...

I feel your pain! Other than my body falling apart on me....

1- central AC the last two weeks of hot humid weather before fall hit. I refuse to fix it until next year, and I'll push for a new, bigger unit that can cool the upstairs. do you know how gross it is to put on makeup while you're sweating????

2-one of Kent's power tools he's using to build out new bedroom furniture crapped out on him this weekend. Is've waited nearly 16 years for this furniture....a few more won't hurt I guess.

3- Kent's car is making a strange noise.....never a good sign. Never. Never ever.

4 - tonight......I discovered a huge leak in the disposal. It has been leaking through a little pin size hole that developed. I wondered why the cabinet door looked a bit swollen the other day, and the cabinet liner always looked dirty after I would clean it. This evening, I opened the cabinet doors to grab a bottle of cleaner, and water poured out. We hit the motherload tonight because all of the food I ran down the disposal this evening had sprayed and spewed all over the inside of the cabinet under the kitchen sink. It was nasty! Kent ran to home depot to buy & then install a new one. Phew.

5 - The washing machine wouldn't drain, but we lucked out on that one & were able to unclog the filter.

If thoughts turn into things....then I'm dreaming of a brand new house with brand new appliances....and brand new cars. All of which will be paid for with cash I win from the lottery of course. :)

Peace out!

Andrea@WellnessNotes said...

I love the Lavash pizza and the lasagna! Beautiful!

Good job on getting in a workout and feeling great! :)

janetha said...

wow marisa you have been eating like a queen! i kept reading and kept "oooing" and "ahhing"! love the mushroom scramble, the pizza, the pita, the lasagna! you are killing me over here!

Unknown said...

You're food always looks so good. I love mushrooms on my pizza!

katecooks said...

ugh i feel you on the computer issues. those are the worst knock on wood! that lavash pizza looks so good. i love that you can get such a huge piece for so few calories. do you find yourself missing the crust or is this just in a whole other category than a regular pizza craving?

btw your new kitchen color looks great!

lynn said...

both your pizza and lasagna look great! i use a macbook air. i love it, but i got it refurbished, and it's needed to be fixed 2x already now ( i just got it a few months ago)

Diane, Fit to the Finish said...

If it's just your laptop screen, you can get a new one and install it yourself for about $80.00! I know this because I accidentally tripped over a bunch of legos (imagine that) while coming down the stairs and my laptop flew out of my hands and tumbled down the stairs. Screen was dead. We checked with the manu. and they said, "Oh, cheaper to buy new laptop." But NO - I found a site and got one for $80.00. They had a video on how to put it in, and it worked perfectly. It's been a year now and it's still going. Just a thought for you because I hate to spend money!

But I do love that veggie lasagna, and I know my family would too!!

Jen, a priorfatgirl said...

bleck - sorry about your computer but I'm so glad you fit in a workout! Way to go!!! Life gets so busy but all that counts is we continue to make time for the things we know we need to do!

And, the vegetable lasagna looks delish!

OldGoogleAccount said...

I use a desktop ACER. It was cheap and it's very compact. Aside from one virus that snuck through, I've had zero issues with it in almost two years.

Your pizzas look so delicious. I'm going to have to keep my eyes open for lavash and give this a try.

Di said...

Aren't those unexpected expenses fun ?? I have an HP Pavilion Slimline. I have been using it for about 2 years now and other than annoying updates, no complaints

michal said...

Marisa,
The lavash pizza looks delish!!!
I gotta try it!!!

Go Veggies!

PS: i use a Mac powerbook laptop, apple is the best! =)

Lorie said...

The food looks SO GOOD!! I'm going to have to try that lasagna!

Missy said...

Sorry about your computer! I use an HP but don't like it. Just got a huge virus and had to replace the entire hard drive. Blah. Your lasagna looks so good!!

sian-girlgetstrong said...

YUMMY-I think I will make that pizza for tomorrows dinner-thanks for sharing

Yum Yucky said...

I think you need to do a contest. Whoever is the winner (me) gets a prize pack of all that good food you snapped. Don't ask me about the logistics, though. You'll get it fresh cooked and on my plate somehow.

Anonymous said...

Great meals for the day. Your pizza and lasagna looks awesome.

I need my filling breakfast to fuel me through the day too. Breakfast is very important to me or else I eat pretty crappy later on.

I use a Dell Laptop.

Marisa @Loser for Life said...

Heather - Holy cr@p that's a lot of stuff! Thing are supposed to happen in 3's not 5's! Keep those good thoughts going, girl!

Katecooks - It's definitely not the good old crust we love, but it still gives you that pizza fix. The flatbreads are a tiny bit thicker than a tortilla and more chewy.

Diane, FTF - thanks so much for that great info! I will look into that, too!

Wendy said...

Every thing looks delish! You do great photos :) Thanks so much for mentioning Cabot. The farm families appreciate it! I'm linking to your post on the facebook page: www.facebook.com/cabot

On a personal note, I am totally making the Lavash Pizza for lunch today. What a quick great idea! Woot!