Weekend Cooking Warrior

Okay maybe not a warrior, but I was successful for all of our weekend meals and prepared my husbands meals and some of mine for the week! YAY!

Lots of good things have been cooking at my house! I won’t overload today but I’ll try to give a rundown of some good foods that we have been eating. First…(I think dessert always should go first), a completely Adkins Unfriendly dessert, Apple Bread Pudding. But at 4pts per serving it’s so warming and yummy. (yields about 5 servings) I did not photograph it mainly because my hubby and kid got into it before I could, lol.
6 slices double fiber bread
3T low fat spread
¾C soy milk (Im sure skim would work)
3 egg whites
1T cinnamon
¼C honey
2 medium semi tart apples
Toast bread, cut into 1 inch squares, dice apples set aside. Combine all other ingredients and then toss bread and apples into mix. Grease a baking dish, pour mixture in and bake at 350 for about 20minutes.
I topped it with a small amount of maple syrup instead of a bourbon sauce. Incredible.

Sunday dinner this week earned me 5 stars from the hubs. He said it was one of the best things I’ve cooked ever. Really? I couldn’t believe it because it was hodge podge of pantry surfing.


2 small potatoes diced and places in a bag add,1T onion power and 1T parsley and 1T olive oil, toss and spread on a baking sheet. Cook about 20 minutes at 350- 4pts for 3 oz of potato
Bunch of asparagus sprayed lightly with nonfat cooking spray and lightly salted, cooked on medium in a nonstick skillet -0
Sirloin steak cubed and browned, add Vidalia onion and mushrooms and sauté. Add dry brown gravy mix prepared with 1C white wine and simmer for about 15 minutes. 6oz- 10 pts.
This meal tastes indulgent, it is a little high in points, but still lower than a meal out at most restaurants.

Next I decided to get to cooking with my store buys. I knew I wanted to make a low point soup for the week. What I made was a 100% power food soup at 2pts preserving (yields 5 servings)
8C chicken broth
1C scallions
1 onion
3 stalks celery
1T minced garlic
1/2T fresh minced ginger
2C chopped Bok Choy
3 small potatoes diced
1tsp red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
It’s pretty simple. Add all things to the pot and simmer. I cooked it Sunday and enjoyed it today. It was really simple, filling and good. It has a nice spice on the back of it that, paired with the ginger gives it a miso feel.


I also made these...

they were a quick and easy crock pot weekend lunch. I put them on the night before. I used some pork chops that I had left over, marinaded them for about 1 hour. Placed them in the crock pot with about 1/4C water and set on low for 10 hours. I shredded them and served them fajita style. Two tacos were 6 points.

Tonight I made a pretty low point version of King Ranch chicken. I’ll post that tomorrow.
I have run 2 miles five times so far (even after pizza night). I plan on moving up a quarter mile on tomorrows run. My plan is to hit the gym before weigh-in tomorrow, let’s see if it happens.
I’ve stayed on track this week. I’ve eaten more of my WP than ever, I have about 22 remaining, but I’ve earned more AP than ever. I have about 54 AP that I didn’t use, so hopefully that creates a wash.

Fingers crossed until tomorrow!




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Easy as PIE

Yum, Pie. More specifically Peanut Butter Chocolate pie. Double yum.



Prepare a "brownie" as directed. Mold brownie into a small tart pan. Spoon filling (1/2T PB melted gently folded into 3T fat free whipped topping) into tart and set in freezer for about 10 minutes to set up. Enjoy! 4 points!

I made chili today with beef. I skipped breakfast and ate it for lunch plain and for dinner served in a baked potato. I love making chili, it has to be one my favorite meals. It gets a lot of mileage around here. Don't even bother asking if it has beans in it... I said I was making CHILI didn't I?
It may not have photographed well but it sure was good.




Have a great evening!

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Your body is your temple.

Whatever religion one maybe this message stands pretty clear across the board. You only have one physical body. In my Christian upbringing I believe that I was given this body as a gift, it is my temple, I belong to God and should treat my body justly. This is not a biblical post I'm just setting the framework for the remainder of the post to outline why I am so passionate about food.

If you know me you know that I have a degree in Agriculture. Food. My life has quite literally revolved around food. Ironic isn't it? Very specifically we were given guidelines as what we should eat, what we can eat. Just as party lines get blurred so do our food guidelines. I don't care if you are an omnivore, vegetarian, vegan, carnivore, pescitarian whatever; one thing holds true. Food should be real. It should be grown, it should move on earth. Food should not be created and modified. We should not be eating things in wrappers. That's a good rule to live by. There have been two major articles this week about our "food". Here and here. This is not okay with me. I hope it’s not okay with you. I’ve been to the slaughterhouses, I've slaughtered, I've fed animals, and I’ve created feed rations containing ridiculous quantities of manmade additives to make meat more palatable. Meat should not have to "become" more palatable. It was created pure; it was created to be palatable in its purest form. People are always intrigued and disgusted when we talk about food. Sometimes people tell me they don’t want to know. WHAT? You don’t want to know? This can’t be true. Everyone would want to know if their favorite restaurant was using spoiled meat, if there were feces or insects in their food, wouldn’t they? Well? The fact is that there are lots of facts, too many to worry about. There are lots of reasons to be worried about what you eat. Modified foods are GOOD. They are made to be good, they are made to leave you wanting more, to have an insatiable appetite that leaves you buying more and more of the cheap goodness. Don’t feel bad. You have been drugged. Those foods are quite literally drugs; they actually are created to fulfill certain needs. The only need we have is to nourish ourselves. Not to make ourselves happy. If you go grocery shopping this weekend, or even if you open your pantry door, pause, take note of the items you are going to ingest. Read about them, heck, get mad if you need to. You’ve been tricked. Eat purposefully. Know what you eat.

I did a mini shopping trip tonight. I bought a few things and have no idea what I'm planning on making with any of it, except that I have been asked to make a chili. I bought Bok choy, acorn squash, pumello, brussel sprouts, scallions, yams, potatoes and cauliflower. Lets hope I can come up with something. I've been craving crab cakes so I hope to make those in a few days, I'd also like to make some sort of boy choy soup and of course something new and sweet. Speaking of that....you know my "brownies"? Well I've created something sinful and 4pts. Take one brownie, add 2T of organic whipped topping and 1/2T pb. Top the brownie with topping and melt the pb, drizzle over the brownie. Prepare to lick the bowl. Its that good.

I ran two miles three days this week. Apparently Im a little more awesome than I thought, lol. I just found out that since I "jog" more than 5mph then I'm actually running. WOOHOO! Im a runner!!! So all further entries will use the term "running" so that I may embrace my awesome new title. I think I will stay at 2 for about two more days before moving up. Im so excited to share that I had a friend read my blog and say "your blog has inspired me to start C25K" OH MY GOSH! I was so excited, seriously. I inspired someone?!? Thats probably one of the greatest compliments ever. That person does not know how they have inspired me to work harder. Thank you.

Happy Weekending!!


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Hawaiian style

Last nights dinner was so good. It was so good that I thought a picture couldn't even do it justice. I want you to be surprised by its goodness.

Okay, here's the truth, I took the pictures without the card in the camera and don't feel like setting the camera up on this computer to upload the pic, so we are going with trust here people. But I swear,if the words Pineapple Pork sound good then you wont be disappointed.

Here's the deets:
19oz boneless pork cut into cubes
1/2C onion in big chunks
1C pineapple cubed (I used canned)
1C pineapple juice (not syrup)
1/4C soy sauce
1T garlic minced
1T fresh ginger sliced thin
1T flour

Toss pork cubes in flour, brown with the onion. Add in garlic and ginger stir for about 3 minutes. Add pineapple and remaining wet ingredients and allow to boil, simmer for about 10 minutes. Sauce will thicken a little upon cooling. I served mine with 1/4c rice for 2 additional points and it was just enough rice. The pork dish is 7pts for 4 LARGE portions. I had broccoli as and additional side. Easy!

Today I was out and about and missed lunch. I knew I would so I prepared for it by having apple slices on hand. When I got home, I was ravenous. I thanked God for making the incredibly awesome chock-full-of-goodness sweet potato. I am trying to keep points low today since we are planning on having pizza tonight. ACK! I keep thinking in the back of mind what my leader said "you have points for it". He also said that people who don't eat foods because they are scared of them, and who don't eat out, don't typically do as well on this program, because they never stop looking at it like a diet. Its a lifestyle a program. There will always be pizza, and there will always be pizza night, it's how I prepare for it that makes the difference.

Im going to try and get a jog in tonight, I typically like to do it in the morning, and hope that I dont get in a carb coma tonight after pizza, lol.

Oh, I know you should usually start things with a quote but yesterday one popped right out at me from no where, i must have had quotes on the brain. I thought Id leave with it today:

"if there is no struggle, there is no progress..." Frederick Douglas


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Motivate me.

"There are only two options: make progress or make excuses" - Ellen Mikesel

This quote was at the front of our meeting. Purposeful, powerful. I should really take in the quotes alot more. This weeks goal on top of my normal, tracking food and activity, is to not make excuses. If I don't run, I don't progress. If I don't track, I don't progress. If I don't lose, I don't progress. Seems easy enough.
Weigh-in came and went I and was so elated. I was actually down 1.2lbs. WOOhoo! Even with my cycle, I was shocked. Today's meeting was PACKED. They hold 3 meetings today and I can only imagine how many people there are at the 5:30pm. There were people still being weighed about 5 minutes before the meeting was over and they start weighing in one hour before hand! WOW!

I jogged today. The first mile was torture. I still have not recovered from the pain of the stairs, my legs are sore. But after the first mile the pain and tension must have worked itself out and I was able to jog another. Go me. 2 miles today. My dear hubby has started jogging as well. The other day I heard him pounding the treadmill so hard and thought he was going to run through the wall. I asked him what was going on, he went from not running at all to getting on the treadmill trying to run 7mph. Seriously?!?! Was he nuts? I think we all do this, we head out the door with good intentions and full force, we don't think to look when crossing the street or proceed with caution. He wasn't and isn't going to become a runner by starting off at 7mph. He's going to hurt himself. So I surfed around on the net and found an article by Hal Higdon (one of the foremost long distance runners) He states that when starting off you should pick a pace that lets you have a conversation with someone next to you. You may be jogging very slowly, but concentrate on the rhythm and speed will come with increased endurance. Could I get on the treadmill and run 5 miles? Probably so. Would I hurt myself and swear off ever running again? YES!!! Its so cliche, but Rome wasn't built in a day.

Today I've eaten:
salmon with cheese on romaine lettuce- 3
Bagel thin with black bean burger-6
Edemame-3


Im clueless as to dinner. Hopefully I can pull something together!

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Pancake fail, again.

I'm about to give up on my quest for low point pancakes. I made these this morning, and at 1 pt a piece it seemed like they would be great. My kid seemed to like them though, although she had the luxury of dousing them in syrup and butter. Me? Not so much. This was recipe and attempt #3. The taste was so-so, but it was the fluffiness that was missing, that carb laden fluff that makes pancakes so good.


But you are welcome to try them yourself, heck, you may even figure out what to do about the fluff factor. If you do without upping the point factor PLEASE let me know!
1C pumpkin
2C water
3 egg whites
cinnamon to taste
1 tsp baking powder
1T sugar

Tomorrow is weigh-in day. I'm a little down, its my cycle and even so I would like to see a loss. I feel like I have eaten right and stayed completely on target. Ive consumed only 18 of my weekly leaving 31 and none of my activity which still leaves me like 40 activity. I think Id be glad to see a 1lb loss tomorrow. I really wanted to see 3. But if losing weight were easy everyone would do it, right? Ill just run a little harder today and tomorrow and try to weigh-in as best I can.

Today was my failed pancake-1
Soup -2
Salmon Sandwich- 6
1/4 of Annie's mac and cheese-2 (I couldn't resist and had it for breakfast since mine was so bad)

Tonight is chicken Florentine rerun served over broccoli.

Keeping fingers crossed until tomorrow!

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Prepare your tastebuds

Tonight I made bliss. Serious chocolate lovers bliss. I needed this. I'm about to show you a very innocent version and a not so innocent version, that will leave you all hot and bothered wanting to stick your spoon in as soon a possible. Please don't hold me to blame if you go to the store tonight to get the ingredients. Heck, you probably have them!


Here the first variation. This simply decadent "brownie" will only cost you 3 points. Totally worth it, and guilt free but to quote Anthony Bourdain "Everything tastes better when you feel guilty".


This version cost me 6. And OH MY GOSH... It was worth it. Double dark chocolate yogurt with a fudge brownie with a strawberry puree; 6 points for a decadent dessert? Oh yeah, this will be a regular at my house. Ive already been thinking that the brownie could be used as a crust for a possible mousse style tart or maybe some whipped creation. There will be more posts, I promise.


The deets and what you will need:
1 c cereal (I used what I had on hand, I had Kellogg's flakes and Kashi Honey Sunshine) They are the same value point wise, but you will get more protein with the kashi.
1oz soaked dates
2T unsweet cocoa

Blend the dry ingredients, set aside, puree the dates, combine to two. It should have a crumbly, granola appearance. You may want to test for sweetness here and adjust to your liking. I like the sweetness of the dates, but if you'd like it to be more you could always add your fave sweetener. Press the mixture into a 1/4 measuring cup or mold of choice. It will make two brownies.
I pureed some strawberries with a dash of cocoa for the sauce. Arrange as you wish! If you wanted you could probably make a pretty awesome ice yogurt sandwich. Just saying, lol.

That's all I have for today. Ive been evaluating my pantry. I may not have a lot of new ideas this week. I'm trying to eat from my frozen stash, which means soup and sandwiches. Lots of repeats. But Ill try to post one or two new recipes. But really after this, I doubt you're interested in anything else.

This week I'll move up to 2 miles. I wasnt as sore as I thought I'd be after the stairs tried to kill me. Im really wanting to try to go to yoga class this week. I need to get past my fear of being the newbie and not knowing what Im doing and just go for it. I mean after all everyone had a first time as well, didnt they? Ive been tossing this around for about 3 weeks. This may be my week.

Have a Happy Monday!!!

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If these stairs don't kill me...

We are away from home so no new food posts to date. I have done my best today to stay on track.

Oats-3
Coffee-1
Stuffed grilled shrimp with green beans and salad- 18
Chicken chickpea soup -5
Ham Slice- 4

Since we are away from home I decided to run some stairs. Oh my gosh. I thought that I was in better physical shape. Stairs will challenge your fitness in a hurry. I ran about 12-ish times up and down of double stairs and thought I was going to die. Yet, I'm not down on myself. It motivated me. I have new goal. By the end of the summer Id like to be able to do about 30 sets.I hope that this is realistic and that increasing my aerobic ability in running will increase my stair climbing ability. Only time, sweat and willpower will tell.

I wanted to also bring up something new and possibly something fun to try. I know a girl who is a raw foodie. She has inspired me to think outside the box in terms of creating replacement foods that are non-animal based. For the first time in my life I made Almond milk. I have bought it before, but never realized how simple it is to make your own milk. Heres the recipe:
1/3C Almonds (soak for at least an hour to soften skins)
2C water
2-3 dates for sweetness pureed previously
1tsp. vanilla

puree almonds in a blender and slowly add water until liquefied. Add in pureed date paste and vanilla, continue to blend. Strain through a mesh strainer and enjoy. Its a super, sweet non-dairy milk alternative if you have milk allergies. I'm not sure of the WW point component, but its something new and fun to try. The remaining strained nut is super nutritious and Ive blended it before with some spreadable cheese and added it to stuff dates. Delish! You can also make your own rice milk; the possibilities are endless.

Enjoy the weekend!



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A little Bourbon in my chicken

I did not want Chicken Florentine again. It was time to get creative. I know that my family loves this dish so I tried to make it as WW friendly as I could. Made with 3 chicken breasts, yielding 4 servings this comes to 7 points without rice (5 pts for 1/2c). Its super easy and really good, almost as good as the places in the mall (or at least I like to think so). I served this with sauteed green beans with onion and cranberry. So here's the recipe: In one bowl mix the following:
1/2C water
1/3C reduced sodium soy sauce
1/4C apple juice concentrate (next time I'm going to add a pureed apple, but I had this on hand to use)
2T sugar free ketchup
1tsp red pepper flakes
1T minced garlic
1/4 brown sugar (I hated to use this, but had nothing else to use, honey would have almost tripled the point value)

Cube the chicken and brown in a non stick pan, when cooked add the mixed ingredients. Cover and let simmer for about 10 minutes. If you like it a little soupy then serve it right away otherwise you may want to add 1T corn starch, if you like it a bit thicker.


As for lunch, yesterday I made this:

It is shown with a cut up corn tortilla. It is simply my take on a tortilla soup.
8C broth
10oz chicken
2 cans rotel
1 can black beans rinsed
1C corn
1 onion
Season to taste
It makes about 10- 1C servings at 2pt/serving.
To make this soup vegan, use vegetable broth and add another bean of choice.

Oatmeal for breakfast with pb -6 pts. Im on day 3 of this and although I love it, tomorrow I will find something new. I havent had eggs ina while, and since I didnt make a fritatta this week I believe they will be on my menu tomorrow.

Tonight I thought Id get creative for an after dinner treat. I was wanting something warm and savory. So I thought Id try something with pumpkin. What I was going for was a major FAIL. What I ended up with was pretty good. I took 1 can of pumpkin, spiced it up, added three egg whites and cooked it in a nonstick skillet. I was hoping for pumpkinish pancakes without having to add flour. That apparently doesn't work unless I add some more base. Lesson learned. I topped my hot concoction off with some maple syrup and it really tasted like Pumpkin Cream of Wheat. 4 pts for a HUGE, seriously filling bowl.

Until tomorrow!

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If you like Pina Coladas.....

Coconut shrimp. They were awesome. You must try this recipe and see what you’ve been missing.
¼C skim milk
3T flour
1T seasoning
20ish shrimp peeled and deveined
1C sweetened coconut
½ cornflakes
Mix milk and flour together dredge shrimp. Mix dry ingredients together and dip shrimp place on a cookie sheet and spray lightly with nonfat spray. Place in oven at 350 for about 10 minutes. I served with cocktail sauce.
They are about 2 points for 3. Although, if you eat 9 it totals around 7 points.(Dont ask me how I know this) Sometimes I love WW math!
Try to refrain from eating the entire batch. Please don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Also, I get asked all the time about what my daughter eats. It's simple. She eats every single thing that I make. I do not make special meals for her. What I eat, she eats. The only mods that I make are to make her eating easier; (instead of lettuce wraps which would be a hot mess), she gets bread, etc. I have found that my child (any child) will always choose the processed food if it’s offered, but will almost always eat the likewise if it’s presented. She just picks out the parts she doesn’t like, primarily mushroom and onions. I saw on a show last week that a personal trainer was getting on to a mother who had bought her kid cookies because they made her happy. The trainer said this "my parents fed me food that I needed, food for nourishment, they did not however feed me what I wanted or reward me with it." This definitely made an impact.

Today I upped the jogging to 1.75 miles. I will do this for about 3 days or until it feels good. Then I will move up to 2. I’m feeling good and Hope to be back to 3 in no time. I tend to have issues with shin splints, so hopefully I am doing this slow enough as to not get them.

My new breakfast obsession seems to be old news to everyone but me. It’s a little high in points but so beneficial in so many ways. I added 1T of natural peanut butter to my oats. It’s heaven, it tastes like a desert. I need to experiment with some different butters and see if I can find a more point friendly one that fills the need. Oats with PB is 6pts, I guess that’s not too terribly bad.


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The beef won!

Last night we had the beef and broccoli stir fry recipe off of the WW website. It was awesome. It had plenty of juice and was very satisfying. One note to self though, don't eat it, or any other Chinese food the night before a weigh in. Just sayin'.


So about that... today was weigh in day. I lost a pound even. I'm happy for the loss but of course would have liked to see more. But I wont linger on my one pound, I'm just excited to see what the scale will show next week. This weeks meeting was all about the weekly points. Once again my leader says to eat them. To use them in a way that makes you happy, for that meal out, that special dessert, alcohol or however you want. They aren't extra points, or bonus points,they are your points to eat. I don't know how I feel about this yet. He did however mention something that had obvious truth to it, he said that it has been proven that when you consume the same foods or even the same calories that your body goes into stalemate mode. It neither gains nor loses, but when you jolt it by changing your calorie consumption that you keep your metabolism working all the time. Food for thought, I suppose. No pun intended.
Last night I tried two new things. One was roasted cinnamon chickpeas. They are pretty darn good, all I did was toss them in 1T honey and 1/2T cinnamon, baked them in the oven for about 30 minutes tossing every 10 minutes, take out and sprinkle lightly with about 1tsp sugar. These are vegan as well.

The other thing was so good that I inhaled it before I could even get a picture taken. I can not eat fresh bananas, but have had luck eating cooked bananas. So I tried it last night, I sliced a banana lengthwise and drizzled 1tsp honey on it and lightly sprinkled cinnamon and ginger on it. I wrapped it in aluminum foil and baked it for about 20 minutes on 350. I topped it with 2T homemade vanilla. Awesome. Totally Awesome. With sweet treats like this I can not understand why anyone would ever want to eat one of the 100 calorie packs of mystery food.

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Heartrates and smooshed chicken

"So this morning... I say to you: I love you. I would rather die than hate you. " Martin Luther King Jr.


This morning was a blur. I skipped breakfast. I know, I know..total no-no. I didn't even get a coffee in. Total chaos and madness. Yet, amongst the madness I was able to get a workout in. I jogged 1.5 miles and walked another 1.5 at an incline. I felt pretty good. I could have jogged longer but my 3 year old boss had enough fun watching me and decided we needed to move on to something else. I honestly was motivated today by my super cool new gadget. I received a heart rate monitor for my birthday. Now I can see in real time where my workouts are at aerobically. It has a chest strap and a watch that transmit to each other. It allows me to set a minimum and maximum heart rate and tracks my calories based on my weight. It also tracks how long I was in the zone of my target heart rate during my workout. Hopefully this motivates me to work harder during my workouts.
Tomorrow is my meeting and weigh-in day. I'm still confused as to how I should be working the plan. Everyone says to eat your points. I don't think I'd ever eat my activity,but consuming my weekly points seems like a ridiculous amount of food. I don't want to not eat enough, but then I don't want to eat too much. ARGH! My leader is a pretty strong advocate of eating all your points. Last week i had like 35 left and this week I have around 30. Hopefully tomorrow the scale will tell me that it likes what I'm doing. Also, last week he touched on something that I wanted to talk about further in the group and didn't. He said "we didn't get fat by eating too many fruits and vegetables". Well, I believe this is true and un-true. For about 3 years now we have been trying to eat a minimal amount of processed foods. The problem with processed food is that it is nutritionally void and leave you feeling hungry for more crappy food. But if you eat healthy food you tend to stay satisfied longer. In theory. I realize that it was not the healthy food I ates fault, it was my portion control.I thought nothing about grabbing a handful of almonds a few times throughout the day, I would sit down at night to a hot mug or two of tea with at least 1T of honey in each one, Id make an entire bowl full of dates or dried apricots to eat. My gosh, I was probably consuming a ridiculous number of calories in really, really healthy food. Its basic and ridiculously simple in theory,but it matters. If you ate it then negate it. Write it down, track your points. Sounds so simple right?
I actually thought up my lunch before bed last night. I wanted a chicken salad, but didn't want mayo. Heck, we don't even have any mayo in the house if I did want it. So I created my masterpiece..Sweet Smashed up Chicken salad. Are you getting the idea that I'm not so good at naming my recipes? LOL. Isn't it pretty? It tasted so good, its creamy and has a subtle sweetness to it.

Easy as pie to make too!

7oz cooked chicken (I used some off of a roasted chicken I had)
3 stalks celery
1 apple
1T honey
2T chopped almonds
salt and pepper to taste

I chopped all the ingredients in the processor to a chunky consistency individually, add to a larger bowl and stir in 1T honey and salt and pepper to taste. I served in romaine leaves. It makes 6- 1/4c servings at 2 points each.
Dinner is still a toss up. We are either having beef and broccoli or we are having a repeat of the chicken florentine, as per my husbands begging. Right now its a race to see which meat thaws out first.

Happy Eating!

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Chocolate-ish Truffle Balls

I had no better name. Pure and simply these are little chocolate balls. They are wonderful, and even better, they are quick to make and require no baking. Pair with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and you have perfection! What makes these even better is that my hubby and daughter love these and run to the kitchen any time they hear the processor start up, lol. These are a sure fire fix for any chocolate craving and will keep you on track without any unnatural gunk. Add items,change extract and make these your own.
2oz of dates (soak in water to soften for about 10 minutes)
1/4c finely chopped almonds
1/4c unsweet shredded coconut
1T cocoa powder (the darker the better in my opinion)
1tsp vanilla
Use a food processor to puree the ingredients into a thick paste that is easily molded into balls. I got 7 good shaped balls. They are 2 points a piece, but they are a healthy, fiber full, satisfying 2 points.

Store in the fridge, that is if you have any left to store!

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Noodles are passe

Three words. Chicken chickpea soup.
One word. AWESOME.

Forget noodles. Even the whole wheat ones can't provide you as much energy, fiber and protein as chickpeas. They are the great imitators, as they assimilate to what ever seasoning that you coat them with. I will post in a day or so a sweet treat using chickpeas. Until then, we have this soup. It's the basics of a chicken noodle. Chicken, celery, carrots, onion, spices and some left over broccoli in a chicken stock. I paired it with bagel thin sandwich to make a combo. My soup will cost you about 4 points, that's one hearty 4 points. I had a bagel thin "burger" with the soup. The thin is 3pts and I used a Black Bean Burger patty. These things are awesome. They are 3pts a piece.



Breakfast was simple. Oats & coffee with sugar -4 .

I went to the store today and picked up some scallops. I know we will be having shrimp and scallops. I chose to make a scampi, using rotini noodles, its a little high in points with the noodles but it tasted great. The recipe came to 11 points per serving. 8 oz rotini noodles, 16 scallops, 16 shrimp, 2c spinach, 1T garlic, 1/2 white cooking wine, old bay, salt and pepper to taste. Saute shrimp and scallops in 1T butter, about half way through add garlic, spinach, wine and remainder of butter, cook about another 6 minutes or until seafood is done. Toss in cooked noodles and serve. I served this with a cranberry jimica salad tossed in basalmic vinegar with a dash of chili powder.


I also need to find a decent dessert. I am a lover of all things sweet so stay tuned to see if I find something easy and yummy to make.
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Dance Fever

Yesterday I played "Just Dance" with the little me. I forgot what a good little workout it could be. So today during nap time I popped it in a set a timer for 30 minutes. I worked it. But its mysterious (and embarrassing) how I can nail the "Pump up the Jam" which, by the way looks surprisingly similar to the "Carlton Dance" and yet I can not master the simple "Mash Potato"? This has to say tons about the quality of my rhythm.

Today's food was a story of repeats. I had coffee, oats and a baked apple for breakfast. 5
Lunch was a packed lunch as I was out and about town. I packed a salmon bagel thin with romaine and a thermos of sweet potato and apple soup. 9

But tonight, ah...tonight we are having one of my favorite dishes. Chicken Florentine. Easy Peasy. I make mine with reduced sodium instant gravy. I know its scandalous to use instant gravy, but I'm lazy when it comes to gravy. LOL. I usually lightly coat the chicken breasts in flour and brown. Pull the chicken and place in a casserole dish. Saute onion, garlic, mushroom and spinach together, set aside. Make 1 packet instant gravy as per instructions, make the other by substituting sherry in place of the water. Combine gravy with the spinach mixture and pour over the chicken. Traditionally you use provolone to top the dish, but in keeping with using what I have on hand, I will use some of the 8lb block of mozzarella that I have in the fridge.(Buying in bulk isn't always best, especially when it comes in an 8lb block of cheese.) Place in the oven at 350 and cook for about 30 minutes. Serve with rice or noodles if you have the points. I skipped the rice in place for a little extra chicken served over some 0 point broccoli. Using the WW recipie builder I came up with about 10 points per serving using 1 oz cheese.



That leaves me enough to enjoy an evening apple and possibly some clemintines and of course a glass of wine. Another successful day!


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Exploding Apples

This morning didn't turn out as I expected. My plan was to have oatmeal with pumpkin, a frittata and a baked apple. I got as far as the baked apple. I forgot to plate on top of the bowl and it exploded. Seriously exploded. So then I had the task of cleaning the microwave, and you know how that goes, next thing I'm cleaning the oven. Well I was distracted as to the remainder of my breakfast. By the time I was finished it was time to start lunch. But before that...


It was awesome and so worth the mess. I saw the recipe as while back and remembered when we talked about apple goodness at the meeting. I used a honey crisp, removed as much core as possible and filled the hole with frozen blueberries, I also dropped a few drops of honey down the hole. You can use sugar free maple syrup as well for minimal point impact. I just placed it in a bowl for about 3 minutes on full power, but remember to cover it, or your microwave will look like a crime scene. Just saying.
Apple-0
Blueberries-0
honey-1
Coffee with sugar-1

For lunch I made a savory sweet potato and apple stew/chutney. It is quintessential "cold weather" food. Super simple. Two sweet potatoes, boiled in about 2.5 cups chicken broth, I don't have an immersion blender (I will be scouring thrift store this weekend) so when they were done I pulled them out and pureed them with the food processor. Then returned them to the broth. While that simmered I chopped up two apples in the food processor, just until chunky, they are going to provide the texture in the soup. Combine the apples with the soup and boil for a few minutes, season with salt/pepper or cinnamon/allspice to taste and serve. This makes about 4 healthy servings at 3 points each.
It would be perfect with some homemade bread, or something or the sort. I had a different craving....


I decided I also wanted shrimp lettuce wraps. Totally not complementary to the soup, and I probably wouldn't eat the two together again, but on their own, they were outstanding. The shrimp were about 16 medium, tossed in seasoning, cooked lightly, then served in romaine lettuce leaves with salsa. Normally I would have added 1/2 cup pureed black beans to make a paste, but I didn't want to fool with it, that would have upped the fiber and added about 2 points.

Soup-3
Shrimp-2
Lettuce-0
Salsa-1

Snack will be the same as yesterday.
Dates 1 oz- 2
laughing cow- 1

We are headed to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner. I will have the beef fajitas. Hopefully I can guesstimate the weight, I called and they told me they prepare 16 oz for fajitas for two, so after we half it and account for water loss, I'm thinking it will be about 6 oz of meat. I will use corn tortillas and salsa and I never eat the rice and beans anyway.

If anyone wonders why I'm not taking advantage of the glorious 0 point banana its because I can't. I long to eat those 0 point bananas. They call and beckon me from the counter, as well as cucumbers, fresh mushrooms, zucchini and multiple other vegetables. For some reason those items make me sick, very sick. So Ive just accepted not eating them. I wish the mighty plantain was 0 points though, I could do some damage;) I have artichokes and jimica to take advantage of this week though, I just need to figure out how to best use them.


Thats it for today, well except for my nightly glass of red wine!

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Apple crumble= happy camper.

I could have bypassed dinner and just have eaten the entire pot full of this. I'd be lying if i said I wasn't looking forward to it. ALOT. I plugged it into the WW recipe builder and 5 apples (0), 2 T spread (3) and 2 packs oats (7) came to 20 points for the entire pot; whatever, I'll take it because for 5 servings it's still 4points. And it's sure to hit the spot. Ive paired mine with 2T of Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream, just to get the flavor of the cream.

Dinner was noodle-less spaghetti and it is always a hit in our house. I chose to have mine with carrot noodles (veggie peeled shaved carrots, sauteed), 1 cup of sauce & broccoli. My hubby had his with zucchini noodles, sauce, ground beef, broccoli. You can have a plateful! I paired it with a salad, and by salad I mean some plain romaine lettuce, I need some new salad add-ins.
carrot (or zucchini) noodles- 0
1 cup sauce- 5
broccoli- 0
salad with dressing (balsamic vinaigrette)-0





I wanted something savory for a snack. I went with natures candy. Dates. They are so good and really hit the spot. I used dried dates and stuffed them with a soft cheese. I also had 1 kiwi with it as well, the sweet and tart just worked.


Dates 1oz- 2
laughing cow-1

I started my activity again. Last year I completed C25K and it's an excellent program. It enabled me to run my first 5K. I stopped jogging around August of this year and needless to say Im almost back at square one in terms of my fitness. I jogged a mile today, but it will be a process to get back to 3. I'm looking forward to adding my classes back into my routine. My plan is to be at the gym tomorrow. Its sad when we pass they gym and my daughter says "I like that place,but we dont go anymore" Um, okay kiddo. I get it, I get it. Lol.

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Sugar Butt...

One of these is off my derriere. YAY! Actually 5.8lbs to be exact! I was happy at weigh-in but only for second before I realized what came out of my mouth. I said "Well, I was bad at Christmas and now my weight is just leveling out" Seriously. I'm appalled at myself, and here's why, as far as I can remember I have been negative about my weight and that hasn't done me much good at all. So from this moment on I'm really going to try as hard as I can to be positive about my weight loss. Ill try this. I'm happy that I no longer will be carrying around an extra 5.8 lbs on my rear. Oh and I got a Sticker! Oh yeah baby!

Today has been a little boring in terms of my eating:
Salmon bagel thin- 6
Coffee- 1
Potato soup- 6

This will be my last day of this soup. I will make a new yummy lunch tomorrow. I like to batch cook as I don't mind eating the same thing in a row for a few days. I embrace my habitual nature. I'm thinking about some sort of sweet potato dish. We will see. Also, on the new plan apples are 0. I use them in a lot of dishes. Today someone mentioned slow cooker apples, um yes, I believe I will be making these tonight or tomorrow.

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Potatoes and Playdates

Okay first things first, the potato soup. Its delish and here's the recipe. I took the picture as I ate it, of course you are welcome to garnish with cheese and scallions, I just skip the points and enjoy it as it is. All of my recipes are sort of throw together so there is no right or wrong.

6 medium potatoes
5 stalks of celery
1 onion
6 cups chicken broth (homemade broth drastically changes the flavor opposed to store bought)(use vegetable to make this soup vegan)
salt and pepper to taste

Cook potatoes in water, drain and mash leaving some chunky texture. Saute the onions and celery, I use white wine, just a splash to add a little zing. Add the veggies and stock to the mashed potatoes. The consistency will be a little soupy, if you want to eat immediately I would add 1 tbs. corn starch to thicken in you like it thick. I always make mine for the next day, it will set up overnight and be thick and chunky for the next day. Enjoy...I have calculated that this makes about 9 servings, at 6 points a piece. Pair it with a salad and you will be full!


This morning I had a playdate, a breakfast play date of all things. It was fun, but I prepared by eating a slice of fritatta and oatmeal before hand. There were apples available so I munched on those.
Oatmeal and coffee- 4
Soup for lunch -6
Dinner, well I have a meeting tonight so I'm going to rely on a bought rotisserie chicken, paired with sauteed carrots, raisins & apple, salad, and broccoli.
5 oz Chicken white meat some skin-7
carrot saute (raisins 2, sugar 1)- 3
broccoli-0
salad-0
dressing (maple grove sugar free balsamic)-0


Tomorrow I need to use some carrots and zucchini so Ill be making noodle-less spaghetti. I will slave over the stove and work my fingers to the bone when I open a nice jar of this

But its good, full of veggies and only 3 points per serving. YES PLEASE!!!


I weigh in tomorrow for week one. As anyone would wish I'm hoping for a loss. After today I'm looking at about having 30 weekly points left. I don't quite know yet if I need to eat more or less of those points we will see. Keeping fingers crossed!
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Baby its cold outside...

Cheesy right? I know, but I indulge any chance I get to revel in cold Texas weather. First thing I thought of when the temp dropped was baked potato soup. Yummy, low point soup. Ill post a recipe and photos tomorrow. But the good news is its only 6 points for a whole yummy bowl.
Today I decided I needed more of that smoked salmon. I made it for breakfast on a bagel thin. Easy 6 point breakfast. Pair it with some easy 0 point fruit and you will be set beyond lunch time.
2 oz salmon- 2
laughing cow- 1
bagel thin- 3


I made our weekly fritatta. This weeks was onion, spinach and tomato. Fritattas are a wonderful breakfast food. They re-heat well and are excellent cold. This one cooks up at a measly 1 point for a slice. This makes 6 slices.


The remainder of the day I spaced on getting pictures. J and I have embarked on a pact of never eating the at the same place when we travel to Houston, so today we enjoyed some AWESOME new Brazilian food. I chose plantain crusted chicken, served over black bean paste and rice with a refreshing salsa with corn, tomatoes and jimica. Good doesn't even begin to describe.
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