Breakfast for dinner

I don’t know what was with me last week. I was seriously dragging.

I came home Thursday fully intending to change into my workout clothes and do a round of the Firm’s Cardio Sculpt. One thing I failed to remember was that they were painting our porch and its entire contents were hanging out my living room. That includes two andridonak chairs with a side table, two mountain bikes, a grill, a large empty flower pot (because I killed the plant that was in it) and a fake hanging basket of flowers (It looks real.. it even fooled our 90-year-old neighbor who was surprisingly still “with it.”)

To fit all of that junk, the boyfriend moved the chair and ottman usually in the living room closer to the center, making it hard for me to move the coffee table out of the way. And because I was already crabby and not really wanting to do anything but veg, I gave up.

And then we had breakfast for dinner. Pancakes from a box, oh yeah. I usually make pancakes from scratch. But I just couldn’t muster the energy and we were out of sugar.

We did have a box of the Hodgsons Mill whole wheat buttermilk pancake mix in the pantry so that’s what we had with scrambled eggs and a couple slices of center cut bacon.

I’m going to choose a mix, this is one I like. It has no weird ingredients and has a good amount of fiber per serving. Make them even tastier by adding a dash of cinnamon to batter. It just bumps the flavor up a notch, and by adding that unexpected flavor they taste homemade even though they aren’t. I bet your friends and family wouldn’t even be able to tell the difference.

What’s your favorite lazy-night meal?

Broccoli Chowder

I love soup. And I love bread with my soup. Those bread bowls at Panera? Best. Thing. Ever. Too bad the bowl (minus the freaking soup) is 590 calories.

Every time I make a batch of soup I have the best intentions to make a batch of homemade rolls. I have a bread maker that would do most of the work for me, but I’m still not able to get my act together.

So when I found these Alexia whole grain rolls at my local health food store, I nearly peed myself in the aisle. They’re whole wheat, made with ingredients I can pronounce, are individually frozen and heat up in only 8 minutes in the oven. Best yet, they’re 90 calories, 1 gram of fat, and 2 grams of fiber – that’s 1 point if you’re counting. They’re so awesome I nearly grabbed a second one, but luckily was able to reign myself in a bit.

That left me plenty of points to make this Broccoli Chowder and still use the whole milk it called for. Skim milk just doesn’t cut it in soups. Creamy soups need to be creamy… not watery and separated looking. Plus whole milk just tastes really, really good. In this recipe it’s only ¼ cup per serving – not so bad points-wise. Only swap I made was center-cut bacon instead of regular.

And this soup was fantastic. I’m not usually a fan of broccoli in my soup. I’ve gagged on cream of broccoli or broccoli cheddar soups more times than I can count. No matter how hard I fight it, I still have a lingering dislike for the vegetable.

The boyfriend loves broccoli. So this was a nice compromise. There was plenty of potatoes and corn (yay carbs!) to keep me interested and enough broccoli to keep him happy. Oh, and it reheated well, too, which is essential because it made one gigantic pot of soup, and it's only 6 points for four large bowls! Lastly, to make it less chunky I processed it a bit with my immersion blender to give it a thicker consistency. Yum!

Apple-Spinach Chicken

I love fall. The changing of the leaves, pumpkins, apples, and plenty of warm soups and stews are something I look forward to every year.

Pre-WeightWatchers, fall meant apple turnovers and loaf after loaf of pumpkin bread. While those occasionally appear in my menus, I’m trying to find more healthful ways to incorporate these foods beyond, you know, eating a whole apple as a snack.

I’ve seen those recipes that call for spice cake and can of pumpkin and there are tons of people who swear by pumpkin fluff or baked apples with cinnamon and Splenda. But how do I deal with incorporating these foods in a low calorie/low fat, whole food way? I won’t eat anything with high fructose corn syrup or partially hydrogenated oils (even if it says it’s trans-fat free) and if it has ingredients I can’t pronounce I try to stay away from it.

Baking is difficult to do in a low-point way, if you expect it to still taste anywhere close to the real deal, so I’ve opted for using typical fall ingredients in savory dishes.

In my most recent attempt I made Apple-Spinach Chicken from Health magazine. What’s good about the dish is that if you use 4 oz. chicken breasts, it’s only 4 points per serving. Low enough that you can add some whole wheat couscous or brown rice, or even a quick pilaf.

The meal overall wasn’t that exciting, though. The sauce was good, but the apples and spinach side dish really didn’t do anything for me. And the chicken was just chicken.

But, that’s not to say I haven’t made a good savory dish with apples or pumpkin. Here’s some of my greatest hits:

• Chipotle-Pumpkin Black Bean Soup
• Chicken with Apple Gravy
• Curried Squash and Apple Soup
• Penne Pumpkin Pasta
• Pumpkin Risotto

What are your favorite pumpkin and apple recipes? I’m always looking for new ones, so send them along!