Important Wordy Bits

Been forever and a day.....

First of all, sorry it's been forever. It seems like when my son is out of school I get to do stuff like my blog less and less. I'm really going to try and get this going again. 

So how have you been? I've been good. I'm a little "stuck" at almost 35 lbs. for my weight loss. I realized that my lack of routine since my son has been out of school has not helped me at all. To rectify that I have been making sure that I plan out what I am going to eat for the week. It keeps me more  on my Weight Watchers toes. I also need to start working out more. I have been so blah about it yet I know that it truly helps me to stay fit. So next week I am starting to work out again. I may not be walking outside since it's about 90 degrees on average, but I will be going back to my Wii Fit. Anything to just be fit once again.

I will be trying something new this week. I am going to be doing a whole bunch of cooking and canning with my bestie on Tuesday. So far we are thinking of doing salsa, spaghetti sauce, sweet pepper jelly, corn salsa, veggie soup and sweet and sour sauce. We both figure that we can make stuff where w know what is going in the food and it's a lot cheaper to make our own. To buy sweet pepper jelly from some place like Tastefully Simple is A LOT of money and I can make it extremely cheap so why not do it????? I'm going to take photos and I'll let you all know how it goes. 

Seriously Good Stuff.....Jamba Juice bars

While I was strolling through my grocery store I saw these frozen little goodies. I have to say that I was intrigued. I actually bought the Peach and Blackberry ones. The best part is that they are only 1 pt.!!!!! Yay!!! I love a yummy 1 pt. WW snack. There's fiber in the bars so it lowers your point total bonus! Even better than the one point is that they truly taste good. 

Now, for the bad news...there are only 4 in a package. Kind of stinks, but they are so good that it doesn't bother me that much. The taste and point value more than make up for the measly 4 bars that you get. 

A truly yummy and healthy snack!

 

My Food Revolution

*looks sheepishly*

I'm back!!! It's been a while, but I'm getting back on track with my blog. So you see from my title that I am doing my own Food Revolution. I've been on the good side of eating, but I could be better and I have to admit that seeing Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution has completely spurned me on. I am on a mission to change the way I eat and the way my son eats. My son will take Wheat Thins instead of Doritos, but he loves his popsicles and m & m's. His eating could be better too.

First item I am going to change is portion control. I am going to buy snack baggies and put good portions in them. Also, using smaller plates, meat being the right serving size (size of a fist), etc. All of it starts in eating how we should eat. 

Second item I am taking control of is processed food. My family and I were going to have loaded nachos one night (WW friendly with FF refried beans, lean meat, veggies, etc.) and I was looking at the cheese sauce in the jar. How good can it be for you if it has a long shelf life? I decided then to make my own cheese sauce. FF half and half, skim milk, RF cheddar cheese, salt and Wondra flour.....I know what is in this and it's not in a jar. I'm making my own pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, Alfredo sauce, and so much more. My son loves his popsicles so I am going to make yogurt pops for him. High fructose corn syrup won't be the first thing in it. It may take a bit more time, but isn't it worth it??? 

Third item I am taking control of is eating out. We're not huge on eating out, but the simplicity of going to a drive thru window is way to easy to get crap in your body.  Instead I have frozen single serving meals aka leftovers :), pizza dough and sauce always on hand, grilled veggies and bread for sandwiches.....all stuff that I have made, but that can be re-heated or cooked in a jiffy. What I make is infinitely better than a Quarter Pounder cheeseburger and a large fry.

Lastly, I am taking control by taking the steps to make ALL of my own stuff. This may take a bit longer because I want to make my own pasta, bread, etc. I just need to get the stuff to do it. Fresh pasta is easy to make and so much better for you. PLUS, I can easily put something like spinach or roasted red peppers in it and my son won't know. I REALLY want to make my own bread. I love bread and if I can make healthier bread yay me.

Another part of my Food Revolution is getting up and moving. I've been good about exercising and I want to make sure my son is moving too. I have to be responsible for his little 7 year old body and it staying fit and healthy. Thank goodness he is not a couch potato and loves going outside to play. For me, thank goodness for Wii. It has been my savior. 

Start your own Food Revolution! Don't use ease as an excuse. Good fresh food doesn't take long to make. If you can't cook, take a lesson or ask a friend that does know how to cook to show you how to. We take the time to watch our favorite TV shows so we need to take the time to plan our menu's. We need to take time for us to be healthy! 

I do have a good recipe for you. This is one of my favorite marinade recipes: Slightly Sweet Lime Marinade. This marinade is great for chicken, fish, pork or beef. Because it has lime as it's acid do not marinate overnight because if you do your meat will become mealy. It has a fresh taste. The protein is great on it's own or cut your protein and put on a salad, in a tortilla, etc. I usually cook my protein on the grill whenever I can....on to the recipe.

 

Slightly Sweet Lime Marinade

4 limes, juice and zest

1 TBSP brown sugar (can use honey too)

1 TBSP rice wine vinegar

2 cloves of garlic, rough chop

1 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients together. Place protein in the marinade. After a half hour turn over the protein. Marinate for about an hour. Cook your protein however you like. Super tasty!!!!

Asian Crockpot Chicken and Moo Shu Lettuce Wraps

I have two recipes for you. First off is the Asian Crockpot Chicken. I just kind of put this together and it was so yummy.

Asian Crockpot Chicken

2-3 frozen or thawed chicken breasts

3 TBSP soy sauce

4 crushed garlic cloves

1 TBSP lemongrass, crushed or smashed (Garden Gourmet already crushed is what I use. Can get from the produce section)

salt to taste when the chicken is done

Put all the items in a crockpot. Put on high 4-5 hours or low 8 hours. When done, shred the chicken. You can thicken sauce with a water/cornstarch slurry or Wondra. Can put chicken on rice, veggies or on lettuce leaves.

Moo Shu Lettuce Wraps

1/2 lb. ground beef

1/2 lb. ground pork (or you can use "meatball mix" in the meat section. Mine at my grocery store is 1/2 pork and 1/2 beef)

2 TBSP soy sauce

2 TBSP rice wine vinegar

4-6 chopped garlic cloves

1/4 tsp Chinese 5 spice

1 tsp garlic salt

(I added two shakes of sesame oil too)

1 medium onion, small chop

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Lettuce and toppings (can use any or all of these). These items do not go in the crockpot. 

Bibb Lettuce (could you flour tortillas for mandarin pancakes)

shredded carrots

chopped mushrooms

La Choy Chow mein noodles

bean sprouts

plum sauce

Add everything above the dotted line into the crockpot. Cook 4-6 hours on high and about 8 hours on low. When mixture is done put a helping on the bibb lettuce. Add any toppings that you want to the Moo Shu Lettuce Wraps. Super yummy.

Two Yummy recipes: Sweet Potato Pancakes and Homemade Pizza Sauce

I'm not going to be too wordy here. I am going to give you two recipes though. The first one is my Sweet Potato Pancakes. This is my own recipe that I kind of put together. I love Potato Pancakes and thought it would be wonderful to use sweet potatoes because they are so tasty and have lots of good vitamins/minerals. Second is my Homemade Pizza Sauce. This one came by accident. We always have homemade pizza once a week because it's my sons favorite. For me I load it with good veggies. My son only has cheese, but eh. Sooooo I already had my crust pre-baking and I thought I had pizza sauce; I didn't. What to do. My mom then says, "Well, do you have tomato paste?" My first thought was it's too sweet so I kind of bounced it around and my own sauce that is sooooo good. Also, I know exactly what's in it. So no further ado.....

 

Sweet Potato Pancakes

Fiber One pancake mix; follow the 12 pancake recipe

2 medium sweet potatoes, shredded

2 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 TBSP brown sugar (Fiber One is not that sweet and I needed my kid to eat it :) )

Mix pancake mixture as done on the box (I'm sure you could use light Bisquick too if you do not have Fiber One. I found Fiber One at Wal-Mart). Shred your sweet potatoes in your food processor or you can grate them. Add sweet potatoes to mixture. Then add the other ingredients. NOW :) I also added two smashed, ripened bananas too and it was delicious. This isn't part of the recipe. You could add almost anything. Blueberries would be good too. Make sure all ingredients are incorporated.

On medium to medium low heat warm a large skillet or griddle. I use Pam in my pan and then I put my pancake mixture in medium size dollops. I use medium low heat because you don't want to scorch your pancakes and they will cook more evenly so you don't have raw sweet potatoes in your pancake. Low and slow to get a done pancake that is not black. Check the middle of your pancake to test doneness. 

You can top with fruit, lite syrup or whatever you like. Mine was spray butter and lite syrup. Two pancakes (they are filling because of using Fiber One and the sweet potatoes) were 5 pts. or roughly 250 calories. Everyone loved these and what's wrong with a little breakfast for dinner? Nothing. :) 12 to 14 pancakes will be made.

Homemade Pizza Sauce

1 12 oz. can of tomato paste

2/3 cup stock or broth; veggie, chicken or beef

2 crushed garlic cloves

2 TBSP Garden Gourmet Italian Herbs (can easily use fresh basil and oregano)

2 tsp dried Italian seasonings (I also use Weber Roasted Garlic seasoning)

salt and pepper to taste

Super easy. In a medium sauce pan heat on medium and add tomato paste and stock. You are basically thinning out to a pizza sauce consistency. You can use water if you want. Once thinned out add the rest of the ingredients. You'll want to taste to make sure it is to your pallets liking. You could make it a bit spicy by adding red pepper flakes too. The great thing is that there is NO sugar. Yay! It keeps really well in the refrigerator. I make a big batch because we have pizza every week. You cold halve it and use the small tomato paste can if you want. I have not put in the freezer, but I'm sure it would freeze well too. The whole can of tomato paste is 300 calories and the chicken stock is 0 pts. so to put on the pizza and per serving the pizza sauce is about 1 pt. because you will have a lot left over and what you put on your pizza. 

Correction on VitaTops

Good Morning!

I have a correction on the Vita Tops Corn Muffins. They are not 2 points, but 1 point each. There's a bunch of fiber in it to make it only one delicious point.