The Weekend that Flew By

Weighing in on Friday mornings would not be my first choice, but it is what my husband and I agreed to do to accommodate date night. It is nice to have a little wiggle room for a treat. However, with Friday morning weigh-ins I do struggle with thinking I have room for more treats since the next weigh-in is so far away. For example, last Friday I knew I was going to be eating on the road (to a wrestling tournament) and it would definitely be a higher calorie than normal dinner. I was fine with that. However, at lunch on Friday, all I could think about was a big ol' order of BBQ nachos from the local smokehouse. Surely, I could afford both...  Thankfully, my Lovely Ladies talked me down from the ledge and I ate the lunch I had brought from home - Leftover Soup, egg muffins and an orange. I did not regret it.

We got to the tournament at 6 p.m. In the crazy world of wrestling, my nephew didn't wrestle until nearly 10 p.m. He had a first round bye and since he wrestles in the second highest weight class, that meant four hours perched in the bleachers to see his 4 minute match.  I was so happy that he won!  My nephew is in the ring to the far right in the blue singlet.

Speaking of being perched...this view made me a bit nervous. I am not very confident going down stairs. The lack of rail increased my nerves and I thought about the trip (no pun intended) down the whole evening. In the end, I took it slow and made it without incident :)

Saturday morning it was back to the tournament. Of course, I had to eat breakfast at home because of the no eating in the car rule. I threw together this little sandwich - English muffin, one of the veggie egg muffins and Swiss cheese. Someday, if I am allowed to eat in the car this would be an easy to-go breakfast too.

It was tasty and I felt good about sticking to my plan. But let the record show, I did share a cinnamon roll with my sister at the tournament. It had a caramel apple topping - much of which landed in my purse when I took a bite...ugh!

Then there was even more waiting. I got to the tournament at 9 a.m. and my nephew didn't wrestle until about noon. We were closer to the action this time, but I did NOT enjoy our seats. My sister had gotten there first (bus driver) and picked out our seats. Then fans from another school surrounded her. Turns out it was the school of the kid my nephew was wrestling in the semi-finals. We knew it was going to be a super tough match cause that kid is ranked 4th in state, but my nephew beat him at the last tournament. Unfortunately, that kid was having none of the my nephew beating him again. It was no fun at all listening to parents screaming about how the ref isn't calling a pin (they can clearly see from half a gym away) and you are watching the other kid doing his best to jam your nephew's shoulders down by bouncing hard on his chest. After the match, I had to walk away cause I was afraid I would say something I would regret. Anyway, my nephew fought hard and there is always next time!

While I was walking off "my mad" a bit in the hallways, I noticed this sign on one of the classroom doors. It made me chuckle a bit.

Wrestling for third place. My nephew is in the red and black singlet.

This kid is a sophomore and I think we will be seeing him again. It is cool how the rivals do end up chatting and forming bonds.

Third place! 

After spending 11 of 24 hours sitting in the bleachers and 3 of those 24 hours driving to and from the tournament, I was wiped out!  Saturday night my husband and I started watching Making a Murderer on Netflix. That whole case is crazy on so many levels. Sunday morning, I was lying in bed wishing my husband would wake up so we could continue watching. I made myself an egg and avocado sandwich on ciabatta with a cutie for breakfast. Breakfast in bed can be healthy and delicious, even if the show you are watching is very disturbing. 

So in less than 24 hours we watched the whole 10 episode series. We just couldn't stop - it is fascinating. My husband and I did our own thing for lunch so I took the opportunity to make myself this from a leftover sweet potato, turkey/cheese sausage and a handful of fresh spinach. The spinach wilted a little as the sweet potato and sausage warmed up in the microwave. It was super easy and tasty...and how can you not love the color??

After an extremely lazy start I was determined to accomplish something. I have been planning to make these Stuffed Savoy Cabbage Rolls with Tomato Sauce for a week or two. I couldn't find Savoy cabbage, so mine is plain old green cabbage.

First in a pot of boiling water you boil the whole head of cabbage for a couple of minutes. As the outer leaves soften, peel them off and place head back in water. It was actually super easy to remove twelve pliable leaves without tearing them up. Note on the dill in the bowl - it is from last summer's garden. Thanks to a college friend who gave me this freezing tip and my in-laws for this "vacuum" sealing tip.

Lots of chopped veggies, including the remainder the cabbage.

Veggies are sauteed until soft.

Then all the filling ingredients are mixed in with the raw ground beef.

A scoop of filling (about a half cup) into the leaf.

Roll and place on top of a layer of the tomato sauce.

They look so pretty in their rows.

Top with remainder of sauce.

Fresh from the oven. Sorry I can't give a full report yet because I made these for my lunches (husband is not a cabbage fan). I think I might want to do something a little different for the sauce next time. Also, I think there is a cabbage roll soup recipe that I might want to try.

Once the cabbage rolls were finished I made the real dinner Chicken Sausage and Broccoli Rabe Penne.  I think you can guess where I got the recipe :)  Instead of broccoli rabe, I used broccoli and instead of penne, I used campanelle pasta. I think campanelle is my new favorite shape.

It is a very simple recipe and took almost no time to prepare.

It went so fast I forgot to take picture of the process.

I loved how simple this dish was, but I thought it was a bit bland. That may be my fault for not adding enough salt. I think in the future I would like a little heat in it...maybe some crushed red peppers.

It didn't get nearly as much accomplished this weekend as I had planned, but in all it was a good weekend. I am going to be super busy this week now though :)  Any suggestions for fast meals?