Finally!! A Day to Relax

It was nice that I could just relax today after running around all week.  

I got up this morning and went to the beach for my workout.  I've started doubling the reps of everything except the sprints.  10 burpees, 20 jumping jacks, 10 pushups...you get the idea.  If you're new to my blog this is the workout I'm refering to:

After finding out that my Best Buy Geek Squad warranty expired on June 26th instead of July 9th I moped for a bit then took the kids to the beach.  I knew that if I stayed at home I'd munch for half the afternoon then hate myself for it later.

I had been craving sauerkraut a while back so I bought a big bottle while at Publix one day.  Since I bought it I've been trying to find various ways to use it besides on top of hot dogs.  My Publix doesn't carry fat free vegetarian hot dogs so I make weird mushed up mushroom and onion dogs.  Maybe I need to invest in a meat grinder/sausage stuffer for my KitchenAid.

ANYWAYS, back to the topic at hand...

Tonite I made myself a vegetarian reuben with homemade thousand island dressing.

It's really simple.

Vegetarian Reuben

8 oz mushrooms, sliced

1/2 large onion, diced

2 slices low calorie bread (preferably whole wheat)  {I used Sara Lee 45 calorie bread}

 butter/margarine {I used Parkay spray margarine}

4 slices fat free Swiss cheese 

1/4 c sauerkraut

2 T homemade Thousand Island dressing (recipe follows)

1.  Spray skillet with pan spray and heat over med-high heat
2. Sautee onions and mushrooms until soft (if they start to stick add a bit of water or vegetable broth to the skillet as needed)
3.  Spread butter on one side of each slice of bread
4. On opposite side spread Thousand Island
5. Lay down 2 slices of cheese on the Thousand Island side of each piece of bread so it covers all of the bread, put mushroom, onion blend on top of cheese, add sauerkraut, Put the second bread and cheese layer on top of sauerkraut
6. Heat skillet again over medium heat and spray with pan spray
7. Place sandwich in skillet cook on first side until brown, flip the sandwich over and cook until second side is browned and cheese has melted

Thousand Island Dressing

1/4 cup fat free mayo

1 T ketchup

1/2 T vinegar (I used white balsalmic but any clear, light vinegar will work)

1/2 T sweet pickle relish

Sprinkle dried minced onion

1. Whisk everything together in a bowl

I realized yesterday that I substiute mushrooms for beef in MOST recipes.  Recipe calls for ground beef?  Diced mushrooms!  Recipe calls for steak?  Sliced mushrooms!  Mentally try substituting mushrooms for beef in recipes.  It works.    

Do you substitute vegetables for meat in any of your recipes?