NCAAB Winners!

This year, I decided to try my hand at participating in a NCAAB bracket tournament hosted by the Pastor of a church I attend.  This is coming from someone who has never watched a college basketball game in her entire life and doesn't even know who the strong teams are.  But, miracles do happen and before the final game of the season, I was tied for 1st place out of 75 players!  Can you believe it?!  Inexperienced, lil' ole me!

We all got to choose our Champion at the beginning when we were making our Round 1 picks and I had chosen Wisconsin, so if they won, I would get 20 bonus points.  But, we all got the opportunity to choose our Champion team again before the final game for 12 points (this was helpful for those whose Champion team had already been eliminated).  J picked Duke from the get-go and with Kentucky off the list, he suddenly became a contender for the dough, so he stuck with Duke because he'd need all 32 points to place.  But me, I had to complete a thorough analysis of all possible scenarios before making my final decision.  I assumed that everyone would stay with their original pick if they picked Wisconsin or Duke, but also considered the possibility that someone would do a little switcheroo to ensure themselves some sort of win (which did happen!).  Wisconsin or Duke?

Here is what my (semi-crazy) analytical mind came up with: 

Scenario 1 – Duke wins, I bet against myself and pick Duke

Me – 3^rd place $300 

J – 6^th place $125

Combined win - $425

Scenario 2 – Duke wins, I stay with Wisconsin

Me – No dice

J – 5^th place $200

Combined win - $200

Scenario 3 - Wisconsin wins, I bet against myself and pick Duke

Me – 3rd place $300
J - $0
Combined win - $300 

Scenario 4 - Wisconsin wins, I stay with Wisconsin

Me - 1st place $500
J - $0
Combined win - $500

What would you do?

I agonized over this decision for over 6 hours and finally decided to bet against myself and picked Duke.  Thank goodness I had gained enough of a lead to have some flexibility with my pick!  By picking Duke, I would be guaranteed $300 no matter who won, and would get an additional $125 if Duke won.  If I stayed with Wisconsin, I could win $500 or walk away with nothing.  I am risk averse, so I'm not surprised with my final pick!

What an amazing game it was.

Duke won!  And I almost had a heart attack.  I don't know if I can participate in this bracket again next year because my blood pressure shoots through the roof during each game and my heart races when the game is close.  Even for me, I scare myself with how intense I get! 

Here are the final results.  

 

Look!  I picked the correct winning teams in rounds 3-6!  Man, just 1 point short of tying for 1st!  Next year!

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

In support of my lifestyle decision to eat healthier, I tried out a new recipe this weekend - Cauliflower Crust Pizza!  Yes, you heard right - a no flour crust!  I followed this recipe and it was delicious!!  

To make the crust, you blend the cauliflower into rice size pieces, then you wring them dry.  That was the hardest part for me because cauliflower has so much water in it, but at least I got a good arm workout!  Once dry, you mix in egg and cheese to hold it all together, then pop it in the oven!

 I made two 8" personalized portions and each was only about 628 calories which sure beats the calories on a "real" pizza AND it had more protein than fat grams!  We used turkey sausage, bell peppers, and mushrooms as toppings.  My only complaint would be that the crust was a little soft (not sure if it was because I didn't get all the water out), so I couldn't pick up each slice, but had to eat it with a knife and fork.  More lady like, anyway, LOL.  I will definitely be making this again in the future!!

Here are the nutritional facts for the ingredients that I used:

Green Onions

I recently learned that green onions will regrow from their stems after you've cut off the green, so I gave it a try.  I have the worlds biggest non-green thumb, so imagine my delight when I saw how quickly my little onions were growing after just a couple days!  All it took was some fresh water and a little bit of sunlight!

Here are my onions after just two days!  I had chopped the green part off down to the white bulb and secured the stems with a rubber band so that they would stand up straight.  Oh, and excuse the ghetto boba straw, haha!

 

Here they are about a week later!  I added some new ones the night before, which explains the shorties.  They were tall enough that they didn't need their additional boba straw support anymore!

 

Here they are about a week and a half later...the day before I consumed them!

 All chopped up and ready to bake in the oven with my cod filets!  Do try this at home.  You can regrow them again and again!