Super Hot Dogs and 1/4 lb Burger

Shame on me, I had no breakfast today... it happens.

After much whining by the wife, I decided to make a good old American meal... so it's by far the most unhealthy meal we've had.

For lunch we had what we call here at home "Super Hotdogs," or beer boiled cheddar-wursts.  The kids had a problem calling them by their real name, but they are, after all, super hotdogs.  I boiled them with some onions in Bud Light with Lime then grilled them briefly.  Mine had ketchup, spicy brown mustard, sauerkraut, diced onion, jalapeno slices, and tomato slices.  Made a quick family favorite to go with it: my grandma's cottage cheese jell-o.  Recipe follows:

8 oz cool whip
24 oz cottage cheese
2 small packages of jell-o
1 1/2 cups fruit

Simply mix them together with a spoon until well incorporated.  I used sugar free jell-o.  1 cup is about 200 calories (I had 1/2 cup).  I used lime jell-o and pineapple chunks this time.  A favorite is strawberry jell-o with banana slices.

For dinner, to sate my wife's thirst for "real" red meat, I broke down and made some 1/4 lb cheeseburgers.  I used some of the sauces from this week's fish tacos on mine; it was a great use of those sauces.  Also had sliced tomatoes and jalapeno slices.

Since it was so nice out, we ate outside.  From the grill to the plate!   On the left is a spinach and strawberry salad drizzled with an improvised vinaigrette.  I used 1 Tbsp low sugar strawberry jam, 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar, and 1 Tbsp olive oil, heated until boiling, then allowed to cool.  If you've never tried the strawberry-spinach combination, you're missing out.

I ran real close to my calorie count because of these meals and had to be very judicious with the amount of vinaigrette I used, amount of sauces I used, how much cheese I could put on, etc.  However, it is doable.

Ended this fine day of backyard picnic grilling by taking the kids to see Where the Wild Things Are, which was fantastic.

Total Calorie Count for the Day: 981

For the record: having not had a heavy red meat in almost 2 months, it had quite the effect.  Though it was incredibly satisfying, it also felt like a barbel had been dropped into my stomach.  I felt weighed down... really, really weighed down.  This is of course anecdotal and could be my imagination, but Cora had a similar impression.  Food for thought, I guess.