Mourning Monday Morning

Why am I mourning?  My Steelers lost to our division rivals, the Ravens.  It’s always  a very stressful matchup (touted the “best rivalry in the NFL”), and this is the second time we’ve lost to them this year.  They definitely outplayed us (I think Joe Flacco is a much better QB than Ben – I’ve always thought he was over rated), and some of the calls by the refs didn’t help us one bit.  Pittsburgh is a sad place on a Monday after a loss.  I’m sure Holly is thrilled, though, and I’ll forgive her since I made her amazing pumpkin gingerbread recipe this weekend.

I only made small changes – subbed a mixture of Splenda Blend and brown sugar for the sugar, used whole wheat pastry flour, and reduced the cloves.  I didn’t get an overpowering ginger taste to my bread, but a nicely balanced pumpkin spice mixture. 

I enjoyed it with sunflower butter…

With leftover frittata and coffee after spin class Sunday morning… 

 

And by far the best combination – toasted (in the toaster oven) with cinnamon raisin PB.  I could live on this.  Thanks for the great recipe, Holly!

I ran the nutrition analysis (with my modifications) and the stats are amazing for such a dense, delicious bread – you would NEVER guess it was fat free. 

Approximate nutrition (based on 14 thin slices): 103 calories, 0 grams fat, 3 grams protein, 21 grams carbs.

I wanted to share my weekend find at Big Lots… more varieties of the BetterOats I raved about last week.  Since they’re typically about $5 per package, snagging them for $1 was a great deal! 

I don’t typically purchase flavored oatmeals (because they’re typically loaded with added sugars), but these are on the healthier side and their premeasured packaging is so convenient. 

Even though the football game didn’t turn out the way I had hoped, my mother and I made delicious game time snacks.

My first successful homemade hummus (roasted red pepper):

“Homemade” chips from low carb wheat tortillas – sprayed with cooking spray and toasted with salt (as an alternative to the regular tortilla chips the rest of the family ate).

Lightened up spinach artichoke dip (using goat cheese, fat free cream cheese, and topped with shredded romano).

My mother also made nachos supreme and buffalo chicken dip for the meat eaters.  My hubby and younger brother can’t fathom a Sunday without buffalo chicken dip.

Do you have game-day food traditions?  I think buffalo chicken dip is a Pittsburgh thing, but I’m not sure!  I like my chickpea version! 😉