Chili Dogs and Jello

Cost: $10

Prep: 20 minutes

The only reason the prep for this meal was so long was because it included making chili.

Matt gave me some time to get things started in the morning, so I had the chili slow-cooking by 8AM. We called my grandparents and invited them over, as we have been so busy lately we haven't seen much of them.

I have only ate a chili dog one time. It was when I was pregnant with Charlie, and at Maude Hunter's. I don't think it is on their new menu. It wasn't too awesome, and everyone laughed at me when I ordered it with salad.

But, I say, screw you all, because here I am 2 years later eating a chili dog with salad again!

Anyway, I didn't add meat to the chili; just kidney beans, chick peas, black beans, tomatoes, and mushrooms with seasoning. No spice; grandparents can't handle it.

We barbequed the hot dogs (all beef) and served with marble cheddar. It was a hit all around.

I also made dessert. My friend Amanda was over, and I was saying I should make a dessert. She joked I should make Jello with fruit because that's what old people like.

And you know what?

That is what I made because we had the ingredients. Mixed fruit sugar free Jello with a can of fruit cocktail in it. Classy.

Beautiful Weather/Beautiful Food

Ah, Victoria! Thanks for bringing us the summer weather in May.  We took Charlie to Cadboro Bay/Gyro Beach. He's an odd duck, and seems to feel no cold, so he kept walking into the water fully clothed. The finale was when he walked into the water, sat down, and started playing.

We had no extra clothes, no extra diapers. Luckily, we were headed to dinner at the in-laws, and Grandma always keeps spares. But he still had to have a naked car ride there!

Once there, he took the opportunity to do some more pantless gardening. Norm, the dog, took the opportunity to do some unhindered baby-bum-sniffing.

Matt's parents made dinner and plenty of it. There were a lot of things to choose from (and I remembered to snap pictures for once).

Matt's dad barbecued some steaks. He remembered I like mine rare! The steak was a little much for me though, probably 10 ounces or so, and I couldn't finish it even though it seemed like a great cut (but what do I know about that?).

The other sides including fresh bread, carrots, mushrooms, green beans. coleslaw, and these potato/sweet potato thing that Matt's dad makes that are really special.

For dessert, Matt's mom made strawberry shortcake--as in, actually made the cake, not just bought those cup things. It was awesome! If I hadn't had eaten so much steak, I may have had more!

Charlie also ate some of the chocolate cake he brought Grandma. But what happens at Grandma's, stays at Grandma's.

Weekend Treat: Sidney Bakery

Calorie-wise, today is a write off. We went to go for breakfast, but kind of got lost finding the place. We ended up eating McDonalds breakfast. It was almost 9:30, and I had done my insulin at 8AM, we had to have something.

We were out in Sidney taking Charlie to his favorite place, the Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre. Of course, if it is open, we always have to get some lunch at the Sidney Bakery after.

It is my favorite bakery. We did NOT make healthy choices though, but we did try to pace ourselves with our treats.

As our "main", Matt and I had a pepperoni-cheese stick. Charlie had a plain cheese stick, but helped out with all the pepperoni. These are so fresh and soft. Yum.

Then came the desserts. We got 3 x2 (starting from top):

1. Apple fritter: we always get these. So yummy because soft inside and crisp outside. Very little glaze, which I prefer.
2. Chinese chew: new to us, a chewy cookie which seems to use a lot of brown sugar. Large pieces of date inside.
3. Chocolate mound: THE BEST treat in THE ENTIRE WORLD. Okay, well, maybe not the far, but it is fabulous. A giant macaroon covered in chocolate.

Now, before you judge, we did not finish these treats until breakfast this morning, but when prices are as good as they are at the SIdney Bakery, how can you resist? Everything was only $10!

Leftover Chicken

Cost: nothing (+$2 for dessert) as it was calculated the day before.

The perspective here is strange. His plate is about 2/3 the size of mine.

Prep: a couple minutes

In all honesty, it is Sunday, and I really let my blog slide this week along with my family's nutrition. Matt's school hosted a big rugby tournament, and he was not around home much. Now, I am going back and trying to remember what we had.

This post is about Thursday. Wednesday I was ill and didn't eat the dinner, so on Thursday there was more than enough leftovers--actually, there is still quite a bit of chicken in the fridge that probably should be tossed now.

I simply heated it up on plates in the oven: chicken, stuffing, and broccoli. Charlie and I--no Matt that night--sat down to eat and it was just awful. Bland, dry, tasteless. It really needed gravy, but someone had decided that gravy was gross the night before and tossed it.

So, you know what saved the dinner for us?  Ketchup (for Chuck) and chipotle aioli (for Mom). Charlie pretty much just ate handfuls of ketchup, but he ate a bit of broccoli too, so how picky can I be?

The meal was fairly meager. I still wasn't too pleased with it even with the saucy additions. We decided we saved enough calories to break into the Easter candy for dessert. This has been an added bonus to having a small child: people buy him candy. He cannot self-regulate his candy, so Mom and Dad eat a bunch of it.

Charlie had a chocolate covered marshmallow, and I had the Oh Henry version--boy are these smaller than what I remember! Regardless, we cut them up and savored them. Charlie was really mad at me though when there was none left, so he finished his meal with some crackers and cream cheese. I guess he really wasn't feeling his dinner either.