Happy Birthday Honey!!

Tuesday is Dan’s birthday and I have a very special day/night planned. It’s tradition that we take off work for each other’s bdays and spend the day together and this year is no different. I plan to get up early to take the boys for a run so Dan can sleep in for probably the second time ever; he normally pulls morning duty with the dogs since I am not a morning person whatsoever. After the boys are nice and worn out, I’ll let them jump in bed and snuggle Dan while I make breakfast. While it may not seem like a big deal to get up and make breakfast for most people, it’s a huge deal in our household. I have a tendency to sleep until noon when I don’t have to go to work AND Dan’s pretty self-sufficient in the mornings; on a normal no-work day, he’s up, showered, had breakfast, played with the dogs and is working on something or other long before I even roll out of bed. On a normal weekend, by the time I get up and make breakfast, it’s Dan’s lunchtime.

For his special day, I’m going to make his favorite breakfast treats: apple-pecan pancakes with sliced banana, real scrambled eggs (not eggbeaters/eggwhite combo) and real bacon (not turkey, ps this is twice in the same week, he will be overjoyed!) with an asiago bagel from Einstein on the side for his guilty pleasure. Not sure if I’ve ever mentioned this before, but Dan has a sandwich obsession, he can (and will) turn any meal into a sandwich. This happens most at breakfast; he casually piles everything from his plate onto his toast and forgoes his silverware to eat his sandwich with his hands. I swear he doesn’t even know he does it anymore. Side note: I once saw him sandwich a huge hunk of lasagna between two enormo pieces of garlic bread … he’s obsessed!!

I had planned for us to picnic in the park for lunch with the dogs but now the weather forecast is iffy so I’m not sure if we’ll still be able to do that. Dan’s idea of a perfect day is a mix of lounging and playing with the dogs; therefore, I thought it’d be great to take a picnic (pick-a-nick) basket over to Lake Grapevine for a fun afternoon with the pups so we could play fetch in the lake. There is no funnier sight to see than my Gus’ head barely bobbing above the water while he swims hurriedly back to shore with a ball in his mouth while Fredo splashes around crazily trying to steal the ball back before they reach us. Fredo always reaches the ball first but Gus usually steals it from him and Fredo won’t push Gus under water so he rarely is able to steal it back, a wrestling match in the muddy shore occurs shortly thereafter. Note to self: pack blankets to cover the inside of the car for the drive home. So that is what I hope to do Tuesday afternoon, weather permitting.

For Dan’s special birthday dinner, I made reservations at his favorite place for a 4 course wine dinner!! So that’s 4 courses of his favorite foods with 4 wine pairings, can’t wait! Shhhh, he doesn’t know yet, I offered to tell him but he wanted to be surprised. Then to close out Dan’s special day, I’ll let him pick what movie to watch and we’ll cuddle up under the blankets with a huge tub of popcorn, watch whatever terrible movie he’s sure to pick out, and call it a night.

The rest of our week is going to be a bit hectic, and aside from Monday night, our regular plans are totally shot. Wednesday evening, I have plans to go out for a friend’s birthday and Thursday evening I have a company event. In order to try to stay on plan, I’ll be packing my gym bag and shower things with the hope of making it to the gym for at least a short workout before both events. I’ve also already fully cooked both nights’ dinners and will be packing them in my lunch bag so that I can eat before I go out and (hopefully) don’t indulge on something fatty and non-points friendly. The upside is I’ve really planned ahead of time to try to stay on track; the downside is the dinners for both nights are pretty boring and repeats of recent meals. After over-indulging all weekend long for Dan’s bday weekend, I really do need to stay on track but we’ll see what happens. Soooooooo, wish me luck!

This week’s meal plan:
Monday – Indian-spiced grilled chicken with asparagus and red peppers
Tuesday – 4 course wine dinner!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday – turkey tacos with black beans
Thursday – meatloaf with roasted veggies and oven fries
Friday – grilled pork chops with broccoli and carrots

Apple-Pecan Pancakes
Makes 6 large pancakes / 1 pancake = 5 points (normally I’d laugh at something where 1 serving is 1 pancake but these really are filling enough that I only want one)
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup regular flour
1/6 cup cornmeal
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg (you could also add ginger but I don’t because Dan’s not such a fan of ginger)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup non-fat plain greek yogurt
2 eggs
1 tbsp safflower oil (or canola)
1 large apple, cored, peeled and chopped into itty bitty pieces
3/4 cup pecans, chopped into itty bitty pieces (I just buy the bag of already itty bitty pieces)

- whisk the eggs, yogurt and oil together
- mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl
- slowly add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture, whisking slowly until fully blended
- fold in apples and pecans and stir well
- drop by ladleful onto hot, greased skillet
- enjoy!!