Hot Dogs with Poblanos, Pepper Jack and Tomatillo Salsa

At 441 calories and 28 grams of fat, this is not the leanest meal in the world. Especially considering that doesn't even include the fries.

But I couldn't help myself. In fact, I made this a week ago and I'm still thinking about it.

It was just that good.

I even sprung for the fancier hot dogs. Honestly, though, the hot dog didn't matter much buried under all of that peppery, cheesy goodness. The tomatillo salsa, which is my favorite salsa, was just the icing on the cake.

If you want it a little leaner, Applegate Farms has a uncured all-natural organic beef hotdog that I've bought and liked before. Haven't tried them since they changed their formula and packaging though. I can find them at my local health food store.

I did leave off the cojita cheese, but I don't think it would have added a whole lot. Since I stuck very closely to the recipe, check it out at bonappetit.com.

Eggplant Sandwiches with Butternut Squash Soup

This morning started off rough. I overslept and then opened the front door to at least a couple of inches snow piled on top of my car. Seriously, a garage would be worth its weight in gold about now.

Surprisingly, things turned themselves around midday. Not enough to be able to leave work on time, but eh, I got a lot done. Because I made it home a little late it ended up being a soup and sandwich night. The sandwich was an eggplant and goat cheese sandwich, minus the arugula that's in the recipe. It was pretty fantastic. Goat cheese and pesto. Yum. I also sped up the process by using jarred roasted red peppers from Trader Joe's.

On the side was a cup of Pacific Butternut Squash Soup. I'm not going to lie. I was really unsure about this soup. Squash and I have an on and off relationship, after all. But I didn't want to make my own soup and this was on sale. And you know what? It was pretty good. Maybe a little thinner than I prefer, but pretty tasty! I would definitely recommend it, especially if you don't want to go through the process of making it from scratch. I wouldn't blame you. Peeling a butternut squash is a pain in the rear.

Overall a simple, satisfying meal for a cold, snowy night!

Black Bean Burgers

I'm not a huge fan of fried foods. Most are too heavy for me. But I LOVE french fries. I quelled my french fry craving with a big batch of oven fries.

I cut up a couple of potatoes, brush them in olive oil, lay them on a single layer on parchment paper and bake at 400 for 20 minutes. Stir, then bake 15-20 minutes more, checking on them every 10 minutes. They get super crispy and delicious.

With my fries I made black bean burgers. I think they could use even more chili powder, but the lime zest really made these. They were a little too moist so I added more bread crumbs to bring them together, but they came out great. Probably my favorite homemade vegetarian burger. I had mine with deli mustard and hot sauce, but the toppings suggested with the recipe would be even better.

I liked them so much I may even ditch the box of Morningstar Farms black bean burgers in the freezer. It's proof that sometimes, homemade is best.

Triple-Corn Spoon Bread and Fancy Grilled Cheese

Sometimes I have brilliant ideas. When I made my grocery list for the week I saw Jiffy mix was on sale (as if it's normally expensive!) and what I grew up calling "corn casserole" came to mind. Oh, corn casserole, I love you. You are super sweet and make a great side dish next to baked ham. You make my holiday meals complete.

I wasn't planning on ham and it isn't a holiday, but I figured it would be good enough on its own with a side salad or some green beans. So, I put it on the list. If anything it's a cheap meal.

Turned out to be the best idea I had all week. Tuesday I had a sewing class and tonight I'm off to a happy hour so the leftovers have REALLY come in handy.

Last night, I was fed up of corn casserole, so I made "fancy grilled cheese," which was extra sharp cheddar, bacon and pear. DELICIOUS! It was salt, sweet, cheesy.. perfection. It's my new favorite grilled cheese.

See?

Roasted Red Pepper Sandwich

Jeez I've been a slacker, with blogging AND cooking.

Thursday night my mom and I ended up at the mall looking for all things wedding related. She's not convinced the dress she found a couple of weeks ago is THE dress for my sister's wedding, even though my sister and I swear it looks like it was made for her. She's also attending a wedding next weekend, so she wanted to pull together the bits and pieces of what she'll wear. After shopping we met up with my dad at California Pizza Kitchen.

I ordered the vegetable pizza with japanese eggplant and a beer (of course!). A lot of times I do end up ordering a meatless option or vegetarian option when eating out — especially pizza. As you probably noticed, I don't eat much meat because it can be pretty costly. So, I guess when I'm out I tend to gravitate toward the same foods I'd probably make myself? I don't know.

My parents tried my pizza and liked it. Even my dad, who contantly picked at it and asked, "Eww.. what's that?" (Answers: sundried tomatoes and broccoli.) He ate it even though he seemed to suspect that I was trying to trick him into eating gross vegetables he doesn't like.

Last night's dinner is grocery store sushi because at the last minute my parents requested I spend some quality time with the pup after work while they were out of town for the day gambling away my mom's inheritence. Just kidding. They didn't gamble it ALL away. Just some of it.

So that makes Wednesday my last home-cooked meal. If you call it that. I prefer to call it "assembling." There wasn't even a recipe. It's a mash up of two sandwiches: Roasted Red Pepper Subs from Eating Well and Panera's Mediterranean Veggie.

It had jarred roasted red peppers tossed in olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper. The peppers went on Great Harvest Dakota bread with hummus, olive tapenade, red onion, romaine lettuce and swiss cheese. The original inspirations had goat cheese and feta respectively, but I didn't have either on hand. Swiss seemed the best choice considering it was either that or shredded pepper jack. But a provolone might also be good.

There were a lot of different flavors going on in this sandwich. Maybe too much. Each bite had a little something different to offer, though, and I kind of enjoyed that. The hummus added some protein, the bread was loaded with whole grains and the olive oil and tapenade had lots of healthy fats and it was chock full of veggies. So, I think it hit all the necessary food groups. I even got a fruit in with a nice crunchy apple on the side.

I will resume today, promise!

Until then, enjoy your weekend!

Sandwich Night

Grilled cheese: Pepper Jack, tomatoes and center cut bacon

Today's food was totally unplanned, but I didn't mean for it to be that way. I packed my breakfast and lunch plus snacks and brought them to work as usual. But it ended up being a team lunch for my co-workers' birthdays.

And the lunch choice? Buca di Beppo. Probably the least healthy of all the options.

Lunch with a large group of co-workers has always a challenge for me when trying to make healthier choices for myself. At a past job a co-worker asked if I had an eating disorder because I consistently made special orders. I will say the current crop of co-workers are MUCH better and there are several other than myself who make special requests. So I guess I don't worry so much anymore.

But I still try not to seem too picky. The portions of their pasta are huge and unfortunately I have always been and will most likely always be a card-carrying member of the clean plate club. The best strategy is to ask half be put in a to-go box before the food is brought to the table, but I didn't want to call attention to myself. I know I shouldn't care what people think, but I still do.

How do you handle lunch with co-workers or other situations where you have little control over what's served or when there's few healthy options? Are you one, like me, who hates making special requests?

I ended ordering the gorgonzola, apple, and walnut salad with dried cranberries and grilled chicken. The wedding soup and mixed greens salad would have been the better choice calorie-wise, but I had the soup one other time and hated it. It's not worth it if it's not enjoyable. Wasn't the best salad ever, but it was better than the soup.

Good thing was the salad was big enough that I wasn't hungry for my snack and although I was hungry for dinner, I didn't want something too heavy.

That means sandwich night. I've been craving a grilled cheese sandwich ever since I saw CHOW's You're Doing it All Wrong video on grilled cheese. I thought how to make a grilled cheese sandwich was well-known, but maybe not? At least I can rest assured I've been making it right all these years. I've been using a lid recently, too, after I saw the grill guy in the cafeteria do that. The cheese melts perfectly that way.

Mine was a bit of pepper jack, a bunch of tomato and a slice of center bacon on whole wheat with cherries on the side. Perfection.

Do you have a favorite grilled cheese?

B.E.S.T Sandwich

I've been surprised over the years how people seem to not know about a fried egg sandwich. Sometimes I make them with lettuce and tomato and bacon. But almost always mine feature plenty of mayo (now of the light variety) and cheese (the 2% kind, of course). They are my go-to sandwich because they're simple, delicious and who doesn't have cheese, eggs, bread and mayo already in the fridge?

But to some, this is a new idea? Shocking, I know. What's new to me, though, is making it with hard-boiled eggs. Duh. I'm not sure why I didn't think of it before. It instantly takes a sandwich best eaten freshly made (cold runny egg? YUCK.) and transforms it into something portable. In fact, these were best cold the next day. The only downside to my fried egg sandwich was that I never had leftovers for lunch. But if I fry one and make the other hard-boiled.. problem solved.

It's really a spin on a BLT plus egg, but I called my version a B.E.S.T sandwich because it featured baby spinach rather than lettuce. The sandwich also included light mayo and was piled on a ciabatta roll.

Last week called for several sandwich nights. I did squeeze in some workouts, but was otherwise busy at work with lots to do when I got home. Short weeks can be like that. Plus, I saw a movie with an old friend and went with my family up to see my sister for her birthday. And last night my parents had the dog over at my apartment trying to avoid the fireworks. They set some off near their house and it really makes the dog snap out.

Unfortunately next week looks equally busy with my boss being out all week. I spent today planning food and workouts, so hopefully that part will go smoothly. I really need to refocus. I'd love to fit into last summer's cute sun dress by my sister's bridal shower. Almost there — it zips up about half way.

What's your favorite go-to meal?

Rainbow Peanut Noodles

Rainbow Peanut Noodles

If I had forgotten what a hunger signal was, I got a rude awakening on Saturday. I went with my family up to Cleveland for the day to see my sister and her fiance's new house. We left around 11:30 so I had a big bowl of cereal with fruit and nuts around 9:30. I even packed a Larabar. I thought about packing lunch, but figured we'd stop along the way. Nope.

We got there and did my family think to get lunch? Nope. By 3:30.. even after I had my snack, I was dying of hunger. A snack bar and a bowl of cereal doesn't last long. When I mentioned I was hungry that meant my mom and sister had to pipe up about how little they ate and they weren't complaining. That's great my mom can got 6 hours on a piece of toast and my sister can go 8 hours on coffee and a handful of triscuits, apparently I was made to be a "wuss" because my body couldn't subsist on 550 calories for 8 hours.

I did get a handful of peanuts and South Beach cereal bar my mom had in her purse, but I didn't make the best choices at dinner because I couldn't get rid of the headache I developed from being over hungry.

On the bright side, my sister's house was super cute and makes me want to save even more so I can own my own place and have the opportunity to paint and decorate things.

Today was MUCH better all around. I started my day off with another bowl of Kashi Go Lean with blueberries, pecans and vanilla soy milk and coffee with a little half and half. Then, I went shoe shopping! My right arch has been hurting on and off when I run and my left knee was starting to bother me again, so I decided it was time to plunk some money down on good shoes. So glad I did!

No pain at all.. I even went a little farther than I normally do. I should really keep track of mileage so I can replace them before the pain sets in.

I stopped in for lunch.. leftover pulled chicken from Friday night on a Trader Joe's whole wheat bun. It was much better cold, but still very vinegary.. I think I like a more sweet bbq sauce kind of pulled chicken.


Pulled Chicken Sandwich

Then off to do my grocery shopping so I could make some dinner. As I got out of the car a young guy was a couple spaces over loading up his car with his groceries -- an entire cart of gallon-sized tubs of ice cream and gallon jugs of 2% milk. Looks like he picked up the basics! I'm guessing he lives with a bunch of other guys?

I picked up stuff to make this Rainbow Peanut Noodles recipe I saw on the Splendid Table site. I usually listen to it in the car every Saturday while I'm running errands, but I've never actually made any of the recipes from the website. I wasn't disappointed.. these were fantastic! I skipped the bean sprouts since they looked awful at the store and skipped the chicken because I didn't want to fuss with making some. I think seared tofu would be excellent in this salad if you didn't want to use chicken.

Now I'm exhausted. I think I'll crawl into bed and catch up on some reading. Night!

Grilled Vegetable Sandwiches

I guess I took a bit of a blogging hiatus. It wasn't exactly intentional, but I ended up working late just about every night this week and by the time I got home, I just didn't have the energy to blog.

My real job is a full-time writer, and I write and post content to the web all day long. Sometimes, especially when I have to work late, blogging seems like a chore rather than something fun. So that's why my posting is so sporadic. I love what I do, I just don't always feel like doing it 24/7.

I'm like that about everything, though. A few years ago I worked retail on the nights and weekends to pay off credit card debt and save up a down payment for my car, and during that time I did not fold laundry — ever. I lived out of laundry baskets or I dumped clothes in drawers all balled up. Sounds insane — and it was — but I worked at an extremely busy department store clearing their fitting rooms and spent 6 to 8 hours folding and hanging clothes and putting them back on the racks. I had nightmares about folding clothes. The absolute last thing I wanted to do on my precious evenings or afternoons off was fold clothes. So I didn't. If people came over I just hid the baskets.

I've also been a slug this week and haven't worked out since Monday. I pulled some muscles the the back of my legs cleaning my carpet of all things, and I could barely move. So I took it easy until I could at least walk without being in pain. To my defense I also ran a few miles that day, walked around a plant nursery for an hour and planted flowers on my balcony. I'm still pretty out of shape.

I've been busy cooking, though! Last night after dinner I made muffins for a co-worker's birthday breakfast and made focaccia for these grilled vegetable sandwiches. I cheated and made the bread in the bread machine. I don't own a stand mixer so using my mom's old bread maker to make the dough is my little trick. It's better than nothing, and you can't beat a free bread machine.

I liked these sandwiches a lot. I used focaccia because it seemed easier than ciabatta for some reason. I do have a ciabatta recipe I'd like to try next. Not every bread dough comes out great in the bread machine.. so some day I'll have work up the nerve to make bread by hand.

I found this sandwich recipe while trying to find a similar one I made like 5 years ago. But I can't find it in any of my cookbooks and I couldn't find it online. I was just beginning to learn to cook back then so it had to have come from my Cooking Light subscription or one of the two cookbooks I owned back then.

That's one great reason for this blog. I can look up just about every recipe I've ever made. It's an online recipe file — until one of the sites I cook from starts retiring pages or the bloggers I get recipes from delete their sites. I guess there's something to be said for pen and paper.

Dijon-Cilantro Tuna Salad

I’ve loved tuna salad for as long as I can remember. I was definitely that one weird kid in middle school to bring tuna salad kits (the ones with the mini can of tuna, packet of mayo and relish with some wheat crackers) for lunch. People moaned and groaned about the smell, but I didn’t care. Tuna was one of the few sandwiches I remember liking. I hated peanut butter back then, and I thought my sister's love of ham and margarine sandwiches was a little strange.

In college, I remember arguing with a boyfriend over how to make the perfect tuna salad. He insisted it wasn't tuna salad unless it had celery, and I whole-hearted disagreed. Sweet pickle relish and mayo was all that was required. Besides, I've never been a huge fan of raw celery.

But last month, I found this variation in Bon Appetit and I’ve been obsessed ever since. When I don’t have leftovers to pack, I make this tuna sandwich.

Plain fat free yogurt makes it healthier than using mayo, and it has the sweet relish I love, but also the celery my college boyfriend insisted on. Plus, red onion, cilantro and tangy mustard. Perfect.

The recipe calls for tomato, arugula and whole wheat bread, but this would be great on crackers alone. In fact, I might have the leftovers for snack tomorrow.

Because I liked the accountability of making my food journal public, I think I'll include it again today. If this isn't something you like reading, let me know. I love suggestions to make the blog better.

Breakfast: Ezekiel sprouted English muffin topped with a roma tomato and a slice of 2% natural sharp cheddar. I toasted the English muffin at home, but melted the cheese in the microwave at work. Didn't want to mess with the broiler on the toaster oven in the breakroom. Coworker commented that it looked good. On the side, glass of skim milk and 1 tbsp half and half in my coffee.

Lunch: Dijon Tuna salad on Great Harvest honey wheat bread, baby carrots and an apple

Snack: 2 oz. lean deli ham with 1 tbsp light cream cheese spread on it, rolled around about ¼ of a bell pepper, sliced. Apparently my mom used to make a similar appetizer but with olives rather than bell pepper. Interesting.

Dinner: An Asian noodle dish I might share share later this week, plus sautéed snow peas with chestnuts, and a steamed chicken dumpling I found at Aldi's. It doesn't come close to my favorite take-out steamed dumplings, but I guess it's OK in a pinch.

Dessert: A re-run of the vanilla yogurt with strawberries. Gosh, this is good. My grandma used to serve fresh fruit with vanilla yogurt for dessert. It's comfort in a bowl.

Monte Cristo Club Sandwiches

Sometimes food at home can be just as good, if not better, than restaurant food. Especially when you're talking about food at a casual dining chain.

The ex and I, while not dating again, have been hanging out as friends. Friday, rather than going out, I made a version of his favorite sandwich at Claddagh's Irish Pub. They have a monte cristo sandwich that he orders just about every time we're there.

And when I saw this recipe for Monte Cristo Clubsandwiches, I knew this would probably taste even better. And it did.

Because I had eaten light earlier in the day, I made the recipe as written and it was fantastic -- full of flavor. And I've had jam with monte cristos before, but I definitely liked the applesauce better.

Even those these were pretty much full of fat and calories, you can easily lightened them and make them healthier overall. For one, you could use whole wheat bread. Instead of pepper bacon you could use center cut bacon or even turkey bacon if you wanted to. (I would personally opt for the center cut bacon.) Also, swap regular sharp cheddar for 2% sharp cheddar and use less. If you shred it from the block you could get a little bit all over the sandwich. Finally, you could always cook in cooking spray rather than butter.

Even though these were delicious, I'm always looking for better ways to make a monte cristo -- what's your favorite recipe?

Southwestern Turkey Burger with Chili Oven Fries

Do you have extra points to spend? I don’t this week. I gobbled up my flex points and then some at the beginning of the week. Stress eating got the better of me. I’ll spare you the drama but I got into a minor fender bender with an uninsured driver (they’re at fault) and the boyfriend may lose his job.

There has been more, but I think even those two instances might drive a normal person toward a snacking binge. I probably won’t show a loss on the scale this week, but I’m fine with that. I’m proud of myself for salvaging the week as best I could.

Last week, though, I had plenty of time to work out and for some reason I ended up with a bunch of flex points toward the end of the week. Wasn’t I lucky?

So I used them to make a burger I had on my list for a while – the southwestern turkey burger. And because I had so many points, I could make chili fries that are baked in a little more oil than I typically use. And — this was possibly the best part — I could wash it down with my most favorite beer. Octoberfest.

The boyfriend complained about the burgers falling apart a little on the grill. Maybe because they didn’t have much of a binder? But they were delicious anyhow. And those chili fries never disappoint. I can’t believe I haven’t shared this recipe yet.

The burger, with a “typical” generic wheat hamburger bun was 11 points and the fries are 3 points per serving. More than many oven fries, but totally worth the extra point in my opinion. My mouth is watering just thinking about how good they were.

Chili Oven Fries
Adapted from Everyday Food

1 ½ pounds russet potatoes
1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon chili powder
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut potatoes into wedges.

In a large bowl, mix together the olive oil, chili powder, salt and pepper. Add the potatoes and toss to coat.

Put the potato wedges cut sides down on a baking sheet coated in cooking spray. Bake, turning potatoes halfway through, until they are tender and golden brown, about 45 minutes.

Portabello Burger with Basil Mayo

It's been pretty gross out recently. Monday was a particularly gross cloudy, drizzly, cold day. And just in case it's been gross where you are, too, here's a warm weather sandwich to cheer you up.

Weight Watcher's Grilled Portobello Sandwich with Basil Mayo is a great vegetarian subsitute to grilling burgers. True, there's nothing quite like a big, juicy burger straight off the grill, but if you are looking for something leaner or meatless a portobello is delicious.

Most packaged vegetarian burgers scare me, especially the ones trying to taste like a hamburger (they don't!). Portobellos are my favorite vegetarian option. And this recipe has a nice basil mayo that really kicks up the flavor and adds a wow factor.

This time, I paired it with steamed corn on the cob. I can't wait for summer to officially get here.

Turkey and Cheese Panini

Fridays are good days for simple food. Nothing seemed simpler than a Turkey and Cheese Panini. Turkey, provolone, jarred pesto, mayo, tomato, and voila, a panini better than those silly Lean Cuisines from a box. And it didn't take a whole lot more time to make.

I didn't even need a fancy panini press or a George Foreman grill to make those grill marks. Just a grill pan (a staple for apartment cooking when no actual grills are allowed) and a heavy pan (a cast iron skillet). YUM.

On the side I roasted potato wedges with grill seasoning. Like I said, simple.

Brats and Sauerkraut

This meal is pretty self explanatory. It's bratwurst that I put in the Crockpot, covered in a giant can of sauerkraut, and then let sit on low for 8 hours. Then, I put it on a New England-style split top hot dog bun, added spicy brown mustard and enjoyed with a heaping pile o' mashed potatoes.

It's been a long, stressful week and this was *exactly* the kind of dinner I was looking forward to coming home to. And it took zero prep. Besides pinching my nose when dumping the kraut into the crock at 8 a.m., of course. It's a bit stinky to take in first thing in the morning.

Otherwise, it's one of my favorite zero fuss meals. Although brats aren't the healthiest proteins for you, at 200 calories, they aren't as high in points as you might expect, and if eaten only occasionally, won't kill you. :)

Little Italy Chicken Pitas with Sun Dried Tomato Vinaigrette

I'm not sure why these were so well rated on Cooking Light's Web site. The Little Italy Chicken Pitas were just OK. Nothing special. In fact, they were almost plain tasting.

The vinaigrette was really good, if not a little garlicky. But when you put it all together it just isn't that great. Oh well, they can't all be winners.

Black Bean Wrap

I've been trying to eat more veggies lately. Unfortunately, I've had mixed success with it. While I like lots of veggies in things, the list of side vegetables that I can actually tolerate is pretty short.

Yesterday's lunch was at least a couple of servings. The black bean wrap had red peppers and salsa in a whole wheat tortilla and green pepper strips dipped in fat free southwestern ranch dip. Next time I'll add an apple or something because it wasn't as filling as I would have liked it to be. Filled me up but didn't stay with me.

Ham, Mozzarella, and Spinach Panini

I got the idea for this sandwich from an Everyday Food issue. Martha's version was on french bread with fresh mozzarella. That would have been better. Hands down. Except, it took 20 minutes in the oven. I didn't have that kind of time for lunch.

So, it's 2 oz. of part-skim mozarella cheese on 100% whole wheat bread with 2 oz. of deli ham and about 1/2 cup spinach. I cooked it in a small frying pan and weighted it down with a glass pie plate and a pyrex liquid measure to flatten it. And cooked over medium heat until nicely browned on both sides and the cheese had melted. I put cheese close to the bread on both sides to keep the toppings securely in the middle. I liked it, but didn't love it. If I make it again, I'll make it Martha's way and make sure my ham is low sodium. Blech. Too much salt.

I served it with this:

Grape Tomato Salad
2 pints grape tomatoes
4 tsp extra virgin olive oil
4 tsp fresh lemon juice or vinegar
1 tsp dijon mustard
salt and pepper

Whisk together oil, lemon juice, and mustard. Toss with tomatoes and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Garden tomatoes = YUM

This past weekend I got some really good looking tomatoes from the North Market's Farmers Market. I think I planned just to add them to a salad to go with corn chowder (I also picked up some gorgeous sweet corn) but they were so red and juicy I decided to put off the corn chowder until Friday and make some BLTs instead.

You might think BLTs would not be WW-friendly. Again, using some clever swap outs, it's very easy to recreate it in a point-friendly manner. Instead of white bread, I used toasted whole wheat. Then, I opted for light mayo and center cut bacon. Center cut tastes like bacon b/c it actually IS real bacon. Unlike that turkey bacon crud my mom tried to feed me whenever she was trying to eat better. It's only 2 pts for two slices. Maybe 2.5 depending on the brand and whether you count half points. I don't b/c my old school points slider doesn't mark half points. Anyhow. It's not as flavorful as real bacon, so I'll buy that if I'm eating only a slice, or if I need a slice or two for an entire recipe to impart bacon flavor.

What I do with leftover veggies...

Besides making an "everything but the kitchen sink" salad, I'll turn leftover odds and ends into a tuna salad sandwich. Tuna salad is one of those things that tastes good with whatever you choose to put in it. I grew up on tuna salad that consisted of mayo, canned tuna, and sweet relish. And a lot of the time, that's how I make it.

When I went to throw it together yesterday, though, I decided to do something different. I had a lot of leftover carrots, celery, a cucumber, and some green onions languishing in the fridge just waiting to spoil. Although I have a boyfriend, he doesn't live with me and rarely is around through the week to eat at my apartment. So, for the most part, my cooking is cooking for one. When I buy a whole bag of carrots, some typically goes to waste. Sure, I can buy single carrots at Kroger, etc. But those are generally more expensive than the entire bag. Not per ounce, just more expensive overall. Sometimes it's a better deal, but in case of the carrots, it's not.

So anyhow, this week's tuna salad is all of the leftover veggies (about a 1/4 cup of each) plus 2 cans of chunk light tuna in water, and enough light mayo to make it creamy. This week's bread is Arnold's 100% whole wheat dutch country bread because it was on special.