Lovely Weekend

Happy Saturday, my lovelies!  Sorry I missed posting  yesterday.  I was busy entertaining my little sister...and reading Eclipse, naturally.  I finished it this morning, about 24 hours later than I expected.  Aaaaand now it's on to the next book:  Scarlett, the sequel to Gone With The Wind.  Obviously not written by Margaret Mitchell, as GWTW was her only book.  We'll see how good this is...I'm only about 50 pages into it, and it's not super fantastic.  I'll let you know in a few days.

So, as far as being fit goes, so far so good!

For yesterday:

Morning:  Day 4 of the Shred!

Breakfast:  One cup of Quaker Oat Squares with skim milk and strawberries

Lunch-ish:  1 Kashi dark chocolate and coconut bar (yummmmmmy!)

Snack-ish:  1 WW chocolate chip cookie and a small amount of Kraft mac and cheese that I made for S when she came over

Dinner:  Leftovers from Thursday night - the ham and potato au gratin dealy.

Today:

Morning:  Day 5 of the Shred!  Yesss!  Does anyone else get kinda...bored with the Shred?  I mean, I like it and I like knowing what I'm doing.  But now that I'm on Day 5 of the-same-exact-thing, I find myself really looking forward to Level 2.  Thoughts?

Breakfast:  Two Eggo Nutrigrain waffles with strawberries and maple syrup 

Lunch:  a few saltines to ward of an approaching migraine

Afternoon:  5 mile brisk hike/walk with my boys, Matt and Oscar

Afternoon naughty snack:  One scoop of grasshopper ice cream (mint chocolate chip with oreos!) in a sugar cone.  Hey, it was hot, and we had a nice long hike!

Dinner:  Sliced steak over polenta - recipe from WW Momentum Cookbook.  This was soooo tasty!  Recipe at the bottom.  Sorry, no photos...I just didn't think about it.  But this is definitely a winner!

Does anyone have any fun Sunday plans?  I plan on sleeping in, doing Day 6 of the Shred (blaaaaaah!), and reading.  I may throw in some laundry, because...you guessed it!  I'm going on ANOTHER TRIP NEXT WEEKEND!  On Thursday, I'm leaving to drive to Charlotte, NC, to visit my wonderful friends Anna and her husband Tim, and Cassie, her husband Dave, and their new little baby Charlie.  I'm so excited!  I'm not super excited about the 9 hour drive, but I'm going to head to the library to pick up a book-on-cd from my summer reading list.  Any suggestions?  I need it to be around 16-17 hours.  

Okay - House just came on, so I'm out of here!  Here is the fab recipe - I almost never make steak, but this one was truly yummy!

Sliced Steak with Crispy Polenta:  6 points

1 one pound flank steak, trimmed

1/2 teaspoon ancho or regular chili powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 16-ounce tube of fat-free polenta, cut into 12 slices

1 1/2 cups fresh or thawed frozen corn kernels

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1/2 red onion, chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Spray a nonstick ridged grill pan with nonstick spray and set over medium-high heat.  Sprinkle the steak with the chili powder and salt.  Place the steak on the pan and cook until and instant-read thermometer inserted into the side of the steak registered 145F for medium-rare, about 5 minutes on each side.  Transfer the steak to a cutting board and let stand 5 minutes.  Cut on a diagonal into 16 slices.

Meanwhile, spray the broiler rack with nonstick spray and preheat the broiler.  Arrange the slices of polenta on the rack and broil 5 inches from the heat until crispy and heated through, about 2 minutes on each side.

Spray a medium nonstick skillet with nonstick spray and set over medium heat.  Add the corn, bell pepper, onion, and jalapeno pepper;  cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes.  Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the cilantro.

Place 3 slices of polenta on each of 4 plates and top evenly with the steak.  Spoon the corn mixture on top.

*Chef's note:  I didn't have any jalapeno or cilantro, so I omitted these and it was still darn tasty.  I also have a bit of an aversion to chili powder, so I sprinkled the steak with salt, pepper and garlic instead.  I also broiled the steak as well as the polenta - I get nervous cooking steak on the stove.  :)  But that's just me!*