Grilled Scallop Skewers w/ grape tomato, boccocini and chick pea salad

I cribbed the recipe for the salad from Eat, Shrink and Be Merry, and I had some scallops kicking around the house, so I put this together.

Scallops (feeds 2)
Marinade about 10 medium scallops in the following for about an hour:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp garlic juice
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp lime flavoured Red Hot sauce

While your scallops are marinading nicely, put in a big bowl:

• 1-19 oz can of chickpeas
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 cup mini boccocini, halved
• 1/3 cup chopped red onions
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil (must be fresh)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice (I used lime, and it worked just as well)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Mix it all together and let sit for a while. Tomatoes can lose their flavour when refrigerated, so if you are going to let it sit for a long time (which I would, because oil/vinegar salads taste best if left to marinate for a while) don't add them until just before you serve it. Although, I threw it all together and let it all rest and it tasted great.

Thread scallops on a skewer and grill on bbq for about 3 minutes each side. Really, its the size of your scallops that dictates how long you grill it for. Look for them to get opaque and less "squishy".

Serve with french bread, and enjoy!

Special K Satisfaction

Here's what Kellog's has to say about their new cereal, Satisfaction:

Introducing Satisfaction* - a delicious, new Special K* breakfast cereal that satisfies your hunger to help resist temptation. A good source of protein and a high source of fibre, it’s a mix of crunchy whole grain flakes and clusters with a taste you’ll love. Try it and see for yourself.

Admittedly, if something is "new" I want to try it, but in this case, I was really hoping that it would deliver on its promises. Cereal has to be the easiest breakfast, ever. Throw it in a bowl, drop some milk on top, you're eating. What's that, 30 seconds? Beauty, right? Wrong. Cuz an hour later, you're ravenous again, because the processed carbohydrates have burned off like sulphur on a match, and your internal furnace is still burning in high gear, and your stomach is turning inside OUT like a cactus that hasn't been watered. Fundamental flaw to cereal. This is why I have to scramble and egg-white and put a triangle of laughing cow cheese on a whole wheat wrap to keep my belly-beast (*hunger) from rearing its ugly head at 10am, making me venture into the office kitchen, where my already weak-will is accosted by double chocolate chip cookies, or chocolate covered peanuts and raisins, or mini-cinnamon buns. You see, its not my FAULT I am a fattie.

But I digress. I look at the nutritional info. Each serving, which is 1.25 Cups (sans milk) contains

• 200 cal
• 1 g fat
• 40 g carbs
• 4 g fibre
• 10 g protein

Protein and fibre keep you full. Fat too makes you feel full for longer, but that's an aside. So, looking at that info I think, I am gonna try it. There's a pantload of protein in there.

No. There isn't. At least not enough to keep me not-hungry. Now, keep in mind that because of my grueling commute (everyone pity me now) I eat breakfast at 6:30 am. Perhaps it makes sense that I am starving again by 10am. HOWEVER, if I want to be starving again at 10, I could eat Captain Crunch. Cuz the same thing happens no matter what cereal I eat for breakfast. The Cap'n isn't going to deliver as much by way of fibre and protein, but I just don't want to be gnawing off my own arm by mid-morning.

So, in conclusion ( I love ending shit like that, because its sooooo unimaginative. For the record, I never concluded an essay or paper with that phrase)... ahem, in conclusion. Special K Satisfaction tastes OK (for a "healthy cereal") but its not going to keep you full longer to resist temptation. Unless you are offered a donut immediately after finishing your bowl. Then you might resist the donut.

Now, if you'll excuse me, its 10 am, and I need to properly season my arm...

Food Shame Spiral

Oh noooooo.
Was doing so good. But work is stressing me out in a big way, and I just ate, for lunch, a wrap that consisted of roasted vegetables soaked in olive oil and proscuitto salami. Yeesh. Now I have to figure out what to have for dinner that is 200 cals or less.

Sucks being a fattie.