Week 1 Challenges

I am a good cook!!! I decided, since it was Canada Day and a day off work, that I wanted pub grub. And then that got me to thinking about Amy's challenge this week of skinnying (is that a word?!) up your favourites. See...I'm pretty good about all I eat. I tend towards fresh, and not processed and eating out is usually a favourite restaurant and is either Vietnamese (which is healthy) or Japanese (sushi rocks!). And when I do make something from my past, like lasagna, I'm making LASAGNA...I only enjoy it once or twice a year, and it's dang hard to skinny that one up - takes two just to lift it out of the oven, for crying out loud!

So, I decided on pub grub...chicken wings (Lord, how I miss chicken wings!), bacon cheese burger and poutine...how's that for Canadian, eh???

Burger was easy...ground bison (very lean) with Epicure Barbecue Rub, Chili Garlic Sea Salt and some Garlic Pepper. Grilled on my griddler, along side a thick slice of onion (to duplicate those delish fried ones), and a slice of Canadian Back Bacon. Top with a tablespoon of shredded cheddar cheese, some Sweet & Spicy Mustard, all on a whole wheat bun, and voila, we have Cheeseburger. One down...

Poutine...thinly slice up a small baking potato (scrubbed well, to keep the skin on and therefore more fibre) as well as a small sweet potato (again, with the skin and to ump up the fibre). Toss with 2 tsp of canola oil (heart healthy, thank you very much) and then laid out on a rack and baked at 425F, turning after 20 minutes. Gravy was Club House Brown (25% reduced sodium), which I only made half the pack, so only had a very small amount to deal with (after boiling to reduce). As for the cheese curds, I rinsed off a quarter cup of 1% cottage cheese and drained the remaining curds. Tasty!

Lastly the wings, and we can all thank Food Network's Alton Brown for this! Start with a portion of chicken wings, separated at the elbow (??) and tip removed. Lay in a single layer in a steaming basket and steam over boiling water for 10-15 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack over a paper towel and put in the fridge to cool down. Heat oven 425F - 450F, and (I did this so they wouldn't stick) toss the cooled wings with a tsp of oil. Arrange on a rack over parchment or silpat and bake at the high heat for 20 minutes, turn them over and bake for another 20 minutes. They really will come out of the oven golden brown and crispy, just like they were deep fried!! And the steaming gets rid of a lot of the fat, so you'll only set the smoke alarm off once (which I did, but I also had the burger going and the fries...I think the heat actually set mine off, not the smoke). Meanwhile, in a bowl mix 1 tsp of extra virgin olive oil with your favourite hot sauce (Alton uses melted butter, but again, I went for heart healthy!) and immediately after the wings come out of the oven, toss with the combined sauce. Serve!!

So there, Amy...food challenge done. Wednesday work out done (and OMG! I thought my abs were sore from yesterday's boot camp...today really added to it! Good job!). And weigh-in done!

I am loving this!!

:)

Carol