Asparagus, Bacon and Cheese Strata

Do you like French toast?  Do you like bacon?  How about asparagus?  Cheese?  Did you ever think there could be something so completely delicious, including all of these ingredients?  Imagine it - a savory, cheesy, rich strata, that you can eat for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner!

I ate one slice the night I made this.  Then I let it cool, individually wrapped each slice in aluminum foil, and froze them in a Ziploc freezer bag (I find it helpful to date my frozen foods, and throw them out after 3 months if they haven't been eaten).  Whenever I want a slice, I simply thaw it in the fridge over night or during the day, and pop it into the toaster oven at about 430F for 10-15 minutes.  Voila!  Delicious strata in no time flat!  What a wonderful make-ahead meal that you can enjoy for the whole week, or for weeks to come.


Adapted from WW Online
Makes 6 servings
Points+ value = 7

• 2 tsp olive oil (this can be omitted if you get enough grease from the bacon, but does not decrease the Points+)
• 4 slices uncooked bacon, diced
• 1/2 cup onion, diced
• 2 cups asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces
• Nonstick cooking spray
• 6 slices light whole wheat bread, day-old is best
• 4 large eggs
• 4 large egg whites
• 3/4 cup skim milk
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard (I used about 2 1/2 because I love Dijon)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground pepper
• 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1 cup low-fat shredded cheddar cheese

Heat a large oven proof skillet over medium heat.  You can choose to add the oil now, or you can wait to see if you get enough fat from the bacon.
Add bacon and cook, stirring, until golden brown, about 4 minutes.
Add onion and asparagus (if you didn't get enough grease from the bacon, you can add oil now); saute until vegetables are soft, about 3 to 5 minutes.  Remove vegetables from pan and set aside.

Preheat broiler.

Off heat, coat same skillet with cooking spray.  Arrange bread slices tightly in bottom of skillet.

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, egg whites, milk, mustard, salt and pepper; pour over bread and allow milk mixture to soak in entirely (like when you make French toast).  Sprinkle with 1 Tbsp of Parmesan cheese.

Place skillet over medium to medium-high heat.  Cook, shaking pan frequently to promote even cooking, until almost cooked through to the top, about 4 or 5 minutes.

Place skillet under broiler to set eggs, about 2 minutes.  Remove skillet from broiler; top with bacon-veggie mixture, cheddar cheese, and remaining Tbsp of Parmesan cheese.  Place skillet under broiler again until cheese melts, about 1 to 2 minutes.

Slice into 6 pieces and serve!

What a Week!

This has been one hell of a successful week.  Why, you ask?  Well...!

For starters, I went back to training.  Ok, yeah, whatever.  I know you're disappointed in me, upset, think I'm a moron, whatever.  To be honest, I missed training, I missed my trainer, and I can't put the blame entirely on her.  I'm the girl who didn't say "ouch" when my calves were in excruciating pain.  So after a good long discussion, she and I have come up with a great way of moving forward.  So far so good!
And did I mention that I completed an entire spin class on Wednesday...with zero pain?  Rock on sista!

On March 5th I'm squeezing into a beautiful Asian-style ball gown for the annual George Washington Ball.  We are some high-rollers, people.  The theme is "Diamonds and White Tie".  You can bet your butt Brian will be in white tie...not so much diamonds for me.  If you think this is silly and I should wear the diamonds, please feel free to send me some.  I will gladly accept and wear them.
The problem?  I bought said beautiful gown in September, when I weighed 130 pounds.  Whoops!  Yes, the dress zips, and yes, it still looks fabulous.  But I would so very much like to breathe, and I would definitely like to eat!  So I'm on a mission - eating like a super healthy freak this week and next, and Juliana is doing nothing but perfecting my abs, arms, and shoulders for the event.  Plus, we're just too scared to work my legs at this point.  Upper body it is!

My cooking has noticeably improved, and I'm not actually sure why.  This week's accomplishments include Sauteed Shrimp and Zucchini, Dijon Roasted New Potatoes, and the most incredibly savory and melt-in-your-mouth-delicious Asparagus, Bacon, and Cheese Strata.  Dear lord those were some good meals!
Who knows, maybe my cooking's improved so that I can make the world's most amazing meal with my NEW LE CREUSET!!!

Isn't he handsome?!

Aren't they gorgeous?

Oh yeah, that's right...my adorable, caring, funny, intelligent, and incredibly thoughtful boyfriend gave me a new gadget for Valentine's Day!  And of course a bouquet of my favorite flowers too :)


I'm giving myself a massive pat on the back, and I'm crossing my fingers that tomorrow's weigh-in provides brag-worthy results.

Dijon Roasted New Potatoes

Tonight I had an epiphany.  While eating my delectable home-made meal, it hit me - why do I love cooking?  As I've said time and time before, Singaporeans find it unusual to cook.  They say to me, "Wow...you cook?  Why???"  Simply walk outside of your home, your work, your gym - there's food everywhere in Singapore.  And it's cheap.  So when they ask why, my typical reason is "I enjoy it" or "I'm on a special diet".
But that's not the true reason, is it?

I cook because, after that very first bite, when I close my eyes and savor every flavor, every texture, and every single bit of that food, I know that I made it.  I accomplished that dish.  I put my own time, and my own energy into creating something that is not only healthy, but tastes amazing.  And lately, everything has been tasting amazing!

Did Weight Watchers develop better recipes?  Or did Sarah just become a better chef?  I'll go with the latter.

Tonight's delectable and savory delight takes so few ingredients I guarantee you'll find most of them sitting in your kitchen.  It's also incredibly easy, not at all hands-on, and tastes like a million bucks!

They look fried, but they're not!  Delicious!

A Weight Watchers Online recipe
Makes 4 servings; Yields about 1 1/4 cup per serving
Points+ value = 4

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 3/4 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds uncooked new potatoes, red or white, quartered or halved  (I used red)

Preheat oven to 425F (220C).  Coat a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together mustard, oil, paprika, salt, thyme, and pepper; add potatoes and toss to coat.

Transfer potatoes to prepared baking dish and roast 15 minutes; stir and roast until tender on inside, about 15 to 20 minutes more.

*If your potatoes do not get crispy enough, coat them with cooking spray and then bake them for a few more minutes.

Sauteed Shrimp and Zucchini

Wow!  I have so many older recipes to share with you all, but this one just takes the cake!  I had to put it first in line!
Do you ever just want something absolutely delicious, tasting like you paid for it at a top notch restaurant?  But you want it in your home, within your PointsPlus allotment, and you would rather just make it quickly yourself?  This is most definitely your recipe!

Keeping frozen, peeled and deveined, uncooked shrimp in the house is a must.  Not only shrimp, I keep all sorts of frozen fish - tilapia, salmon, snapper.  With shrimp, simply place it under cold, running water for 5 minutes to thaw.  For fish, I typically place it in the refrigerator when I leave for work in the morning, and it's ready to cook by the time I'm home from the gym!

Put these ingredients on your next grocery list - you'll thank me!

Makes 4 servings; Yields about 1 1/4 cups per serving
Points+ value = 4

• 1 Tbsp olive oil, divided
• 1 medium zucchini, cut into 1/4 inch slices
• 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• 1/4 cup water

1. Heat 2 tsp oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add zucchini in a single layer; increase heat to high and cook until bottoms are golden, about 2 minutes.  Flip zucchini an cook until golden on other side, about 2 minutes more.  Remove zucchini to a plate with a slotted spoon.
2. Heat remaining teaspoon oil in same skillet.  Add shrimp; saute 1 to 2 minutes.  Add tomatoes, oregano, salt, and pepper; saute until shrimp are almost just cooked through, about 1 minute.  Stir in garlic and water; saute, stirring to loosen bits from bottom of pan, until shrimp are cooked through and tomatoes are softened, about 1 to 2 minutes more.  Return zucchini to skillet; toss and serve.

Scrumptious Blueberry Parfait

I always keep low fat granola and frozen fruit* in my house - they are staples that keep me full and work perfectly for nibbles.  They also work perfectly when I'm craving a parfait!  I'm an eater - I actually enjoy chewing my food.  So when I buy things that are smooth, I usually add something crunchy to the mix.  On the odd occasion that I eat yogurt by itself, I always get yogurt with chunks of real fruit.  Otherwise I don't feel as though I'm actually eating!  That's what perfects the parfait - you add smooth and creamy to deliciously crunchy, top it off with fruit, and voila!  Magnifique!

Makes 1 serving
Points+ value: 6

• 6oz Yoplait Light Blueberry Yogurt (or other brand)
• 1/4 cup low fat granola
• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries (or fresh)

Layer ingredients into a cup or bowl as you like and enjoy!  Mix up the flavors by changing the fruit and yogurt flavor, or by substituting flavored granola and vanilla or plain yogurt.  (Note this may affect Points+).

*I find it best to run cold water over the frozen fruit to remove the ice buildup, then add them to your dish immediately, still frozen.  They thaw quickly, won't get mushy, and taste so good cold!

Sour Cream, Chive, and Garlic Mashed Potatoes

I have this tendency of buying 5lb bags of potatoes, using two or three, and letting the bag sit on top of my microwave and rot.  So this past week, I used up most of my remaining potatoes and tried this Weight Watchers online recipe, with a bit of a Sarah twist.

You may find it slightly bland, but adding extra salt and pepper, and maybe a saucy topping from an accompanying dish will do the trick.  These are super light and fluffy, and hit the spot for my mashed potato craving!  I served them with left over Teriyaki-Marinated Chicken and Gina's Roasted Asparagus (note the Points+ value = 1).  Yum!

Serves 4.
Points+ value: 4

• 1 1/4 pounds uncooked potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced in half
• 3 Tbsp fat-free sour cream (I used light instead)
• 3 Tbsp chives, chopped
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Combine the potatoes and garlic in a large saucepan; add enough water to cover.  Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, covered, until the potatoes are tender, 20-30 minutes.  Drain, reserving 3/4 cup of the cooking liquid.
2. Mash the potatoes and garlic in the saucepan.  Stir in the sour cream, chives, oil, salt, and pepper.  Gradually stir in enough of the cooking liquid, 2 or 3 tablespoons at a time, until the potatoes become creamy.

Yields about 3/4 cup per serving.

Healing Muscles

I had a follow-up appointment with Dr. Goh this afternoon (he's my sports injury specialist).  He's of course happy to see me walking normally, especially considering he'd never seen it before.  Poor guy had only seen the raptor stance!
So I get in there, we chat a bit, and onto the ultrasound table I go.  The muscles are improving, though he can still see a bit of damage.  I'm allowed to get back into the gym, "light exercise" only as he says.  We'll find out tomorrow around lunch whether or not my CK and liver enzymes are back to normal.  He's certain they will be - says I'm making a good recovery.  So I'll find out mid-day tomorrow if I'm allowed to attempt spin class in the evening.  Oh boy - I can see it now.  Me.  On a spin bike.  After all this time.  Holy lord.

Speaking of blood work, I have to go to the diagnostics lab on the fourth floor of the medical centre to have my blood drawn.  This is my third visit in two weeks, so I'm not exactly worried about it.  So far the two women I've seen knew what they were doing with a needle and it was a totally smooth process.  Well...not tonight!  No way!
I get called into the blood cubby, as I like to call it.  Not a room, just a cubby.  There's a desk and a chair and some kind of medical table thingie.  No door or anything.  The woman in the lab coat smiles and puts the band around my upper arm, tells me to make a fist.  This is nothing out of the ordinary...though the previous two times I had a fun squeeze toy.  Not gonna lie, I wanted the squeeze toy!  She taps on my vein, wipes the area with an alcohol pad, and then she just grabs the needle.
Whoa whoa whoa lady!  What the hell do you think you're doing?  You're going to pick up that needle, shove it into my arm, and draw my blood?  YOU DON'T HAVE GLOVES ON WOMAN!  Nor did I see you wash your hands.  You've been fondling all sorts of crap in here and you haven't even washed your hands!  Who the hell do you think you are?!?!  Who taught you that AIDS are a lie???
I say nicely, "Are you going to use gloves?"
"No, do you want me to use gloves?"
"Uhh, yes, when blood is involved I would most definitely like gloves.  In fact, I'll take gloves at all times please."
"I don't use the gloves because I can't feel your vein if I use gloves."
Who are you?  Do you even have medical training?  Is this going to be like a 5-year-old sticking needles randomly into my arm until my blood shoots out???
"Ok well I would still like for you to use gloves."

At this point another lady, who happens to be standing in the cubby and also happens to have drawn my blood before (quite well if I say so myself), turns around, tells the stupid disease-loving woman to leave, washes her hands, puts on gloves, and gets to work.
She tells me "the other lady is a lab technician, so she doesn't really know to use gloves".
Are you telling me that a lab tech was about to operate on my inner elbow and you were just going to LET HER???

Moral of the story - I miss America.

Teriyaki-Marinated Whatever You Want!

Last week I had a bunch of chicken in the fridge, but I wasn't sure what to do with it.  So I busted out the good old Weight Watchers cookbook for the perfect marinade.  The Teriyaki Marinade recipe jumped out at me, and I had every ingredient in my kitchen - what more could you ask for?

You could use this marinade on anything - chicken, steak, pork, fish.  Whatever!  I also recommend drizzling it as a sauce after your dish has finished cooking.  Marinating your meat/fish for at least one hour will ensure a fork-tender entree with superb flavor.  Another idea is to toss all of the marinade in a large ziploc and marinate with multiple servings of chicken breast (or other meat of your choice).  When it's ready, cook up what you want and freeze the remaining pieces.  You'll have perfectly marinated Teriyaki meals ready to thaw and cook!

Teriyaki  Sauce / Marinade
Makes 6 servings (1 1/2 Tbsp each)
Points+ = 1

• 1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 3 Tbsp orange juice (I used fresh squeezed, but either would be fine)
• 1 Tbsp packed dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp Asian (dark) sesame oil
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 Tbsp minced peeled fresh ginger (for a less potent ginger flavor, use old ginger, rather than young)

In a small jar with tight-fitting lid, combine all the ingredients; cover and shake well.

Chinese New Year - Sri Lanka Style

This past weekend was the Chinese New Year celebration, so Thursday and Friday were public holidays here in the Sling.  I took off to Sri Lanka for the long weekend with 5 friends (Kelly, Kristen, Alison, Kat and Chris) and we had an amazing time!

We landed around 2am on Thursday morning (after flying BUSINESS!) and hopped in a van - ahem, the rattiest stinkin' van to exist with only three real seats in the back and no a/c - to our hotel in Colombo to catch some z's before our 7:30am (much nicer) van pickup.  The first stop after Colombo (there's not much to see there other than weird - but way cool - hotels with private butlers who constantly ask to give you head massages, though you know the only person he wants to touch is Kristen) was the Pinawala Elephant Orphanage.  Baby elephants are the cutest freaking thing you ever saw.  Although I will say that when Kelly showed me the picture of the blind grandfather elephant with a hard on (I was off in wonderland and missed it) I nearly had a heart attack and got a whole new meaning of the word "elephantiasis".  Jesus I never want to see that again. After purchasing some paper products made from elephant dung, we were off to Kandy.

In Kandy we saw a pretty sweet cultural dance show, complete with men walking on hot coals just after rubbing fire all over their entire bodies (mouths included).  At this point we're basically one full day into the trip and already Kelly and I just want some western food - cheese and tomato sandwiches with french fries for dinner!

From Kandy we left for Unawatuna, stayed on the beach, and had a fabulous time.  Can't really complain - the views were spectacular, the people friendly and smiling, the food came out hot and the beers came out cold.  I've had just about enough rice and curry to last me a long time, to say the least.  It's the food of Sri Lanka and they are damn proud of it!  My goal is to replicate the curry we had at The Lucky Tuna restaurant on Unawatuna Beach.  It had quite a bit of coconut milk, but there was a sort of sweet and spicy zing to it - I kept tasting nutmeg.  So weird.  Be on the lookout for future attempted rice and curry blog posts (whether it's a success is a totally different story).

View of the ocean from Lucky Tuna Restaurant - Unawatuna, Sri Lanka

Ali and Kristen, enjoying some Coronas on the beach.

We took a day trip to Galle Fort as well, did quite a bit of shopping, ate...wait for it...rice and curry, drank some Sri Lankan tea, and watched the sunset.

Good times had by all!

And now, only because I promised...the results from last Tuesday's weigh-in.  Ugh, I just want to cry.  How much weight has Sarah gained?  Do I really have to say it?  135.5.  Dear God ONE THIRTY FIVE POINT FIVE!  It wasn't very long ago I was hanging out at 130 and feeling wonderful!  Now I just feel fat and sassy.
So, I've got some new rules and some new challenges:

1. Change weigh-in day to Friday for a pick-me-up, and so that I can use all of my extra points from the start and be a good girl for the rest of the week!
2. Start measuring inches lost in addition to pounds, every other week or so.
3. Remove all junk food from house!  NOW.
4. Post Smugglette pictures every other week or so, when measuring, so that all of you readers can keep up with my progress.  If putting pictures of myself in a bikini for all the world to see isn't motivation, I don't know what is!
5. No clothing purchases until goal has been achieved.  This is going to be the hardest part.  I am a shopping fanatic!

First round of Smugglettes:

So when am I supposed to reach this goal?  Giving myself plenty of time for ups and downs, I'm setting my 27th birthday, May 14, as goal day.  Bring it!