Weigh-In Friday

It’s already the weekend! That went by quickly.

I did my weigh-in today and I lost 1.2 pounds this week! That’s 14.6 pounds in 8 weeks! That’s 1.82 pounds on average each week. I like it!

Last night, I made the Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken from Emily Bites. It’s delicious! Definitely give it a try! I’m really enjoying her recipes.

Next week is my birthday. Now I know some people hold fast to their diet, but my opinion is that on birthdays, calories don’t count. I don’t go crazy, but gosh darn it, it’s my birthday. I will enjoy it! Plus, if eating healthily is a lifestyle that I plan to keep up forever, I gotta splurge occasionally or I’ll go crazy. That’s just the way it is.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

It’s not Monday!

Woohoo! I love four-day weeks.

On Saturday, we just needed to get out of town, so we went to Lancaster, PA for a day trip. We hit up our favorite smorgasbord, but honestly, we didn’t hurt ’em like we use to. My husband only ate one plate, and I only had a little extra beyond that. Plus dessert of course, but I didn’t even finish that. And that’s all we ate that day, so it didn’t hurt! There wasn’t a good way to track that, so I didn’t, but I don’t feel guilty considering that was lunch and dinner. 

Yesterday, I made DELICIOUS Cheesy Chicken and Stuffing from Emily Bites. Holy cow, this stuff is good. One of the best things I’ve made. Make it now. Like, right now. My husband even told me that he wanted this as his birthday dinner. I’m picking Cheesecake Factory for mine and he’s picking this. That’s saying something!

Weigh-in Friday

Well, now I’m back on my regular schedule for weighing in. I had good results this week! Since last Friday (when I switched from Mondays to Fridays), I’ve lost 2.4 pounds!

That’s a total of 13.4 pounds in six and a half weeks! Woohoo!

I also did some quick measurements this morning, and found I’ve lost another inch in both my waist and hips. My “skinny” jeans are actually quite well-fitting now! I can just button, zip, and go! No more huffing and puffing and questioning my life choices anymore.

Going grocery shopping tonight – excited to get some great food for next week!

How is everyone else doing?

Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

Recipe: Moroccan Slow-Cooker Stew

This is a great recipe for fall and winter. I substituted pumpkin for the squash, and it was great.

HOWEVER, the spice amounts that they have listed here are ridiculously low. I got this off of the Weight Watchers site, and was really surprised at this. I really like spices, so I shook my heart out, and even then this came out pretty bland. So my encouragement to you is to go crazy with the spice in order to make it taste like what it smells like.

This smells amazing, btw. Your house will thank you.

Ingredients:

1 spray cooking spray

1 small uncooked onion, chopped (I used leftover shallots – onion is probably much better)

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 cup uncooked baby carrots

1 medium uncooked butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed (again, I subbed in pumpkin)

1 cup canned crushed tomatoes

1/2 cup vegetable broth

1/4 tsp (HA!) ground cinnamon

1//2 tsp (HA!) ground cumin

1/2 tsp (HA!) red pepper flakes

15 oz canned chickpeas, drained

1/2 tsp table salt

Directions: 

1. Coat a small skillet with cooking spray. Add onion and garlic; saute for 5 minutes.
2. Place squash (or pumpkin) in a 3-quart or larger slow cooker. Add sauteed onion and garlic, carrots, tomatoes, broth, cinnamon, cumin, and red pepper flakes. Cover and turn on to low heat; simmer for 6 hours. (or 8, like I did, because I work full time)
3. Add chickpeas and salt. Stir, cover, and heat for an additional 5 minutes (I say longer – the chickpeas were pretty hard).

Yields 1 1/3 cups per serving. 5pp // approx. 265 calories // Makes 6 servings

Note: I’m a meat eater. I like it. A lot. So I added a cubed pound of boneless skinless chicken breast to this, which bumps up each serving to about 7 pp. Still not bad and very filling. If you serve it over 2/3 cup of rice, you’re looking at 11pp total.  

Let’s just be real. Sometimes we eat out of Tupperware.

Recipe: Cheeseburger Tostadas

Oh. My. Gosh. This is too good. I got this from Hungry Girl (bless her!), and I’m wowed. I’ve never been anti-veggie burger like a lot of meat eaters are, because I appreciate it for what it is – not meat. If you don’t think about it not being meat, you won’t hate it. I got the flame-grilled Boca burgers to get the taste. My husband also liked it – so it got man-points.

Ingredients:

Two 6-inch corn tortillas

1 meatless hamburger-style patty with 100 calories or less (ok, my flame-grilled ones were 120, but whatever)

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 slices 2% American cheese (I used low-fat)

1/2 cup shredded lettuce

1/4 cup chopped tomatoes

1 tsp. ketchup

1 tsp. mustard

1 tbsp. chopped pickles (Mt. Olive makes an awesome large diced relish that worked perfectly)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with non stick spray.
2. Lay tortillas flat on the sheet, and spray with non stick spray.
3. Bake for 5 minutes (IMPORTANT NOTE: don’t overcook. I had very dark brown crusty nasty tortillas and had to redo them)
4. Carefully flip tortillas, and bake until crispy, 3-5 minutes. (Honestly 3 mins on each side is perfect)
5. Bring a skillet sprayed with non stick spray to medium heat. Cook burger patty for about 4 minutes per side, until cooked through.
6. Set burger aside to cool. Remove skillet from heat, re-spray, and bring to medium heat. Add onion and cook and stir until softened, about 4 minutes.
7. Transfer onion to a medium microwave-safe bowl. Chop burger patty and tear cheese slices into pieces. Add both to the bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds or until cheese has melted. Mix thoroughly.
8. Evenly top tortillas with lettuce, followed by burger mixture.
9. Top with remaining ingredients and devour!

Makes 2 servings // 4pp // 180 calories

I think you can probably skip cooking the veggie burger on the skillet and just go straight to the microwave. There’s directions on the box for cooking them in the microwave. That’s one less thing to wash. Since they’re so low in points, I made a double batch and we each ate two, which was just right. It felt like a lot of food for the points!

If you try it – let me know what you think! What variations would you put on your tostada?

Recipe: Grilled Ham and Cheese with Rosemary-Dijon Spread

This is a delicious sandwich! For only 6pp, you can’t beat it! This is an official Weight Watchers recipe. If you have some tomato soup handy, this is a GREAT rainy day soup/sandwich combo. My husband absolutely loved it.

Ingredients: 

2 tsp low fat cream cheese (pretty sure this actually means 2 tbsp, as other commenters on the site point out.)

2 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp rosemary, fresh, minced

1/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese

1/4 cup shredded low-fat part skim mozzarella

3 oz extra lean deli-sliced ham (that was impossible for me to find. Never found it.)

4 slices reduced-calorie whole wheat bread

cooking spray

Directions:

1. Mix the first three ingredients together. Spread evenly across all four slices of bread.
2. Mix the two cheeses together, and sprinkle a fourth of the mixture on two of the slices.
3. Put half of your ham on each of those two slices, and then top with the remaining half of the cheese mixture.
4. Top with the remaining two slices of bread, sauce side down.
5. Spray cooking spray on a skillet or griddle, and cook like you would a normal grilled cheese.

Makes 2 servings // 6pp 

Back on the wagon…

UGH. An out-of-town colleague came into town, which meant we all went out to eat multiple times.

The first temptation was pizza brought into work. I resisted. I ate my piddly ol’ Beef and Macaroni Lean Cuisine and watched everyone else slobber over pizza. Eyes on the prize.

The second temptation was Cheesecake Factory. I get weak in the knees there. In fact, that’s where I’m going to go on the one day calories don’t count – my birthday. I already have it on the calendar. BUT! I managed to order a couple of apps off the Skinnylicious menu and stayed the course. Until dessert menus were brought. And then I got a slice of cheesecake to take home and half with my husband. Did I get the low-carb kind made with Splenda? NAY! I got the Turtle Pecan Caramel Cheesecake like the no-shame-no-good-rotten-glutton that I am. And here I am in the online Weight Watchers confessional. But hey, at least I split a splice.

Somehow I lost a half a pound that night. I’ll take it.

The next night, the ladies at work all wanted to go out to a Mexican restaurant. Again, I got weak in the knees. I’m from Texas, land of the mighty taco, and here there is no good Mexican food. Except for this wondrous place they brought me to. I did NOT get a margarita, which was sad, but I dealt with it. I did however partake in a tamale, chips and salsa, a soft taco, and a little fried ice cream. It was a lot. I was full. But I kept plowing through because Mexican food.

I gained that half pound back and he brought a friend.

So now I’m back on the wagon. No more eating out this week (thank God!), fruits and veggies, and count, count, count. My app tells me that I stayed within my points yesterday, but MyFitnessPal is screaming that I didn’t.

Tonight’s dinner? What looks to be a yummy peanut Thai dish. I forgot to defrost the frozen chicken… so dinner might be a little late tonight. I’ll be posting my recipe for the delicious Rosemary Swiss Ham Sandwiches today!

Weigh-in Monday!

Ahem. Ladies and Gents… I have LOST TEN POUNDS!!!!

I did my weigh in this morning and it said I had gained .6 pounds over the course of the week. I was a little disappointed, but I got it, because I did splurge some this weekend do to it being the beginning of the monthly week-from-hell where chocolate is the only thing that can convince you to get out of bed.

But then I decided to weigh myself about an hour later, and I had LOST .6 pounds from last week. I don’t know why, and I’m not asking questions. I verified it a couple of times. I’ll take it.

So my total loss is .6 pounds. I’m happy with that. I was not miserable this week, and I splurged, so I can’t expect more than that. Although if I had weighed myself yesterday I would have been an entire pound down, but whatever. I’m being honest and tracking my weight on Mondays.

I am thinking of changing my date to Fridays though, because I’m so, so, so good during the week and it might motivate me to be better during the weekends. We’ll see.

Tonight’s dinner is going to be the Rosemary-Swiss grilled cheese sandwiches. It was supposed to be last night’s dinner, but I forgot an ingredient – whoops! I’ll be posting the recipe tomorrow!

Good Find: Harris Teeter Steamable Broccoli

Can I just say how impressed I am with Harris Teeter? I went to another local grocery store for the longest, until I got home and would keep discovering expired food. So I switched stores and haven’t looked back.

Last night’s meal was Daily Chef Parmesan Crusted Tilapia (5pp from Sam’s Club) and steamed broccoli. I’ve been accidentally stocking up too much on steamed veggies, so my freezer is full and I need to eat it at every meal basically to empty out my freezer. I enjoy broccoli a lot, and was SO HAPPY when I poured out my florets on to my plate and saw just that. Florets. Nothing but florets. None of that half-florets-half-stems-ok-mostly-stems crap. I’m sold. Plus the store brand is cheaper anyway.

SO GO OUT AND BUY HARRIS TEETER STEAMABLE BROCCOLI FLORETS!

Recipe: Ginger Scallops & Snap Pea Stir Fry

Ginger Scallop & Snap Pea Stir Fry

6oz rice noodles

1lb sea scallops

2tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce

1tbsp minced peeled fresh ginger

1 cups fresh sugar snap peas, trimmed

1 orange or red bell pepper, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced (I used the stuff out of a jar)

1/8 tea spoon red pepper flakes (I used a lot more!)

2 teaspoons canola oil

1/4 cup chooped fresh cilantro

1. Cook rice noodles according to package directions. Set aside.
2. While that’s cooking, toss together scallops, 1 tbsp soy sauce, and ginger in medium bowl. Set aside.
3. Chop all of your produce ingredients.
4. Spray large deep non stick skillet [or wok, which I used] with non stick spray and set over medium heat (VERY IMPORTANT. I cooked it a little high, but caught it in time). Add bell pepper and snap peas, stir fry until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes (again, VERY important not to cook longer. You’re cooking this twice). Stir in garlic and red pepper and cook another 30 seconds.
5. Add oil to skillet, add scallop mixture and stir-fry until they’re browned and just opaque throughout, about 3 minutes. (I forgot the oil, and just used spray. It didn’t negatively affect the dish). Add pea mixture and remaining 1 tbsp of soy sauce and stir fry until heated through, about 1 minute.
6. Divide noodles about 4 serving plates; top evenly with scallop mixture. Sprinkle with cilantro.

This is 7 points plus per serving//275 calories//4 Servings.

We were totally full after eating this! There’s enough that we’re having leftovers tonight, and I expect it to be pretty great since it’s been stewing in tupperware in it’s own sauce for 24 hours. I’m excited to have it again!