Happy Halloween! Brat Soup Recipe

Almost six weeks of six weeks

Weight today: gained one pound

Total lost: 5 pound in almost six weeks

1/2 cup of oatmeal:150
1 tsp of sugar:15
1 graham cracker sheet:70
total:235

1 slice of wheat bread:70
1 tsp of Smart Balance light butter:15
1 tbl of natural peanut butter:100
total:185
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running total:420

1 Jimmy John's turkey sub with no mayonnaise but with cheese and light dressing:422
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running total:842

2 snack twix bars:150
Reeses Peanut butter cups:100
1 Twinkie:150
1 tbl of powder creamer with coffee:30
2 tsp of sugar:15
total:445
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running total:1,302

Today's challenge: Dealing with a one pound gain

Actual fitness: none

Note on picture: Our daughter carved this pumpkin today. I thought she did a nice job. Happy Halloween!

Note on weight gain: I haven't written my calories for yesterday, but the gain this morning is directly related to going over my diet yesterday by a good 1,000 calories. Some of those calories included some deep fried cheese curds. So, I have a few regrets about this...one of which is that I didn't bring my camera along to photograph these cheese curds for you all. The other is, well, lack of self-control in over-eating.

Brat Soup Recipe

-1 1/4 lbs of brats(cut into 1/4 inch slices. You can use raw or pre-cooked. To spice up the flavor, cook the brats on the grill first or use your leftover grilled brats. Is there such a thing?:)
- 2 (10 oz) packages of frozen corn
-1 cup of peeled, cubed potatoes
-1 cup of chopped onions
-2/3 cup of water
-1/4 teaspoon of pepper
-3 1/2 cups of milk
-2 T of butter
-1/4 cup of all-purpose flour
-shredded cheese for garnish

In soup kettle combine brats, corn, potatoes, onion, water and pepper. Bring to a boil then reduce heat, cover, and simmer about ten minutes or until corn and potatoes are tender. Stir occasionally. Stir in 3 cups of milk and butter. Combine remaining 1/2 cup of milk with flour and stir into brat-corn mixture. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly (about 10 minutes more). Garnish with shredded cheese. Serves 8-to 10. Can use sausage or ham instead of brats.

Note: While cooking this up, you may question the use of such little water. You shouldn't need additional water as it cooks down and works out fine.