Dinner at our House: Grilled Steak Salad

Yes! I'm alive, and eating delicious food. We haven't been cooking much, but this has been a new staple for the past two weeks: Grilled Steak Salads.

Mmmm...so good.

Tim will buy a pack of two small sirloin steaks and I will do the rub/seasoning. After it's grilled I add a few things:

• Blue Cheese Crumbles (reduced fat)
• Blue Cheese Dressing (lite; and I do a half serving)
• Balsamic Vinaigrette (also lite and half a serving)
• Additional ground pepper

All in all, when I've done the math the salad comes out to 7-8 WW points. Not too bad because I'm very full after eating steak. 

And just to update you on some of my 13x13 goals...

Notice two things: in 2 weeks I've lost 5.8 pounds doing WW and  C25K! 

Couldn't be happier and hopefully, healthier!

Dinner at Our House: Parmesan Parsley Chicken

Last night the family tried something new. I found a recipe on lowfatlifestyle.com for Parmesan Parsley Chicken.

It was really yum, but I think in the future when we make it we should have a side of spaghetti or pasta with sauce. I really recommend this one! It weighs in at 3 old WW pts. (shocking!)

Ingredients:
• Vegetable oil spray 
• 4 slices whole-wheat bread for bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese 
• 1-1/2 tablespoons finely snipped fresh Italian (flat leaf) parsley 
• 1-1/2 teaspoons paprika 
• 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled 
• 1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk 
• 6 (4 ounces each) boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, all visible fat removed 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Lightly spray a rectangular baking sheet and slightly smaller cooling rack with vegetable oil spray. Put rack on baking sheet. Set aside. 
2. In a food processor or blender, process bread into fine crumbs. Pour into a shallow bowl. Stir Parmesan, parsley, paprika, garlic powder, and thyme into crumbs. 
3. Pour buttermilk into a shallow bowl. 
4. Rinse chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Dip chicken into buttermilk, shake off excess liquid, dredge in crumbs, and shake off excess crumbs. Put chicken on cooling rack. Spray each breast with vegetable oil spray. 
5. Bake for 15 minutes, turn chicken, and bake for 10 minutes, or until done. 

Mmmm. And yes, it's on our fine Chinet paper plates! :)

Eleven in 11: Evaluating March

I don't want to jinx it this early in the game, but 2011 is GREAT! As usual, I want to be accountable to my Eleven in 11 goals.

The breakdown:
1. Volunteer opportunity- This month I attended a YP meeting for servant leadership and I think there are a few opportunities for me to do some volunteer work. Also, at work this week I put my name in to be part of Relay for Life. 
2. The weight loss one- I have lost 14 pounds since January, which means I'm right on track with my goal. Overall, I've lost 31 since October. I've never been so proud of myself. I feel great, my knees are so thankful.
3. Plan and take honeymoon- New plan: Amelia Island in May. I'm so excited!
4. Trying four new recipes- We did four new ones, but I think I left one off the blog because it was only so-so:

• Tortilla Pie/Fiesta Lasagna
• Creamy Basil Chicken
• Baked Onion Rings
• and the one I didn't post, but you can find online- Blondies with Chocolate Chips 

5. Blog three times a week- We've picked right back up and I'm always trying to think of new and somewhat useful or entertaining content. Feel free to make suggestions!

6. Student loan- Check :)

7. Savings!- Check check :)

8. Read 52 books- I'm failing. I did buy the new J.R. Ward book two nights ago. I will finished that one over the weekend!

9. Facebook birthdays- Doing well :)

10. Visit 12 new restaurants- LOVED Old Siam!!! I think we're going to try Woodstone in April- anyone been?

11. Etsy- Def. falling behind, but now that its getting pretty out, and soon I'll have Fridays off, I think I'll get back into this.

Hope your March was eventful and fun! Here's to April!

Dinner at Our House: Tortilla Pie aka Fiesta Lasagna

 I have to preface tonight's post with a shout out to my friend Megan. I just posted on my facebook that I was making a tortilla pie to which she said: "Megan: I thought you hate pie."

Ha! I do actually hate dessert pies, so she has a point. But, since I altered this recipe I feel I now have the right to rename it, so I'm dubbing it: Fiesta Lasagna.

Anywho, I saw the recipe in my Taste of Home book but thought it looked a little complicated with all the chop this etc. Mondays can be crazy days so I got the idea to substitute a jar of salsa for some of the ingredients. It worked out well. I'll link you the original, but I'll post what I actually did.

Looks a little messy but it is so so so yum I promise. This is actually dad's plate. He had Spanish Rice and a garden salad.

Ingredients

1/2 pound lean ground beef (93% lean)

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 jar (16 ounces) Salsa (your choice of heat, we used Mild)

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

dash of garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

3/4 cup part-skim ricotta cheese

1/4 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

4 low-fat flour tortillas (8 inches)

1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat Mexican cheese

Directions

Season your beef in a large nonstick skillet with the chili powder, ground cumin and throw in a dash of garlic powder.

Cook the beef and chopped onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the salsa. Heat til you get a little bit of a boil then reduce heat. In a small bowl, combine the ricotta cheese and mozzarella cheese.

Place one tortilla in a 9-in. round baking pan coated with cooking spray. Layer with half of the meat sauce, one tortilla, all of the ricotta mixture, another tortilla and the remaining meat sauce. Top with remaining tortilla; sprinkle with Mexican cheese.

Cover and bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.

For those on WW (old points, sorry I'm to cheap to pay for meetings and learn new points) a 1/8 serving is 4 points and a 1/4 serving is 8. Tonight mom went for 1/8 and I went for a 1/4 because I was starved! Either way, for all the yummy gooey cheesy-ness it's a great way to spend the points.