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. 

Admit it....You have a clothed and naked weight....plus a recipe

Hola!

I admit to it. I have a naked weight and a clothed weight. Since I have to leave my clothes on at my Weight Watchers weigh in I have to have a clothed weight ;). That weight is a half pound away from 30 lbs. lost. My naked weight is about two pounds lighter. I like that weight so much better. If I was doing Weight Watchers online I would sooooo use that as my official weight. It seems like something stupid, but when you are losing weight you want to weigh the least amount that you can. As long as I keep plugging along, following the Weight Watchers plan, there will be a day that I won't have to be sneaky and weight myself naked because my clothed weight will be so totally awesome it won't matter. For now, having that naked weight, well, it puts an extra smile on my face because let's face it, who doesn't like to weigh less????

Weight Watchers meetings really have been a God send this time around. Last time I lost on line, but it seemed too easy to kind of slip from what I was doing. This go around I religiously go to my Weight Watchers meetings. I go every Sunday at 9:30 a.m. I like Sunday because it's the natural start of the week and it's a good start for my WW week too. I have to say that I really like my meeting leader. She is uplifting when needed, my cheerleader when needed, and understanding when needed. I have realized that no matter what I do I lose about 1 to 1.5 lbs. a week. Instead of getting down my leader Diane always tells me a loss is a loss and I am more likely to keep off the weight. Little things like that make such a difference. Also, by going to meetings every week whether I lose or gain I am keeping myself accountable for how my weight loss is going. Lastly, I've met some really nice ladies at my meetings. In fact, two of them will be doing a 5k with me on June 6th. It's great having other people to push you. For me, meetings just work. 

Ok, time to wrap this up. I do have one recipe for you. This recipe is loosely based on a Giada DeLaurentis recipe. Mine is much simpler. Her recipe is Fried Smashed Potatoes with Lemon Dressing and mine is just the Fried Smashed Potatoes. Take a look below....this was super yummy. My son ate them and my mom told me that I could make these any day of the week for her.

Fried Smashed Potatoes

1-2 pounds of boiling or red baby potatoes

garlic salt

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

Boil your potatoes until a knife goes into the potatoes easily. Drain and then put back in pot with cold water. Let the potatoes cool until you can easily handle them. You will take each potato and "smash" them until they are flat. You still want them to have definition and not falling apart.

In a large frying pan, heat on medium/medium high heat. Add about olive oil two times around the pan. Sprinkle garlic salt on the potatoes and then put garlic salt side down in the pan. Sprinkle more garlic salt on the other side. Add a couple splashed of balsamic vinegar to the pan. Fry until the bottom of the potatoes are browned. Turn the potatoes and fry on the other side. Add a couple more splashed of balsamic vinegar. Fry until the other side is browned too. Serve as an accompaniment to any meat dish you may have.

For a twist, add cumin and lime juice to the recipe for a fajita type taste. Another twist could be chinese five spice or ginger with rice wine vinegar or teriyaki for an Asian taste. Just use your imagination. 

Put your weight loss into perspective

Hey there everyone!

Sometimes I get down that I lose my weight slowly. I lose 1.5 lbs here and .5 lbs there. Though I think I've only gained two times while doing the Weight Watchers program. Still it's those little losses that are sometimes irksome. Then today I really thought about the weight that I lost. Today I lost 1.8 lbs. That's almost 2 pkgs. of butter. 8 sticks of butter off of my body. If I look at a bigger picture I have 1.2 lbs. to lose to hit 30 lbs. Think about what that equals.....

30 lbs. EQUALS

Six 5 lb. potato bags

30 packages of ground beef

3.5 gallons of milk

almost 2 boxes of cat litter

120 sticks of butter

When you think of it that way it seems like so much more. Sometimes we don't see the results that we want. When that happens look at it with a different perspective. If I think of my weight loss as me losing almost 6 5 lb. bags of potatoes AND I know how heavy those suckers are I realize how much I am helping my body by not having that weight on my body. Every little bit of weight lost makes a difference whether it is 1 lb., 5 lbs. or 30 lbs. The best thing to do is not lose sight and keep your goal in focus no matter how fuzzy it may get at times.

Dieting: Over the honeymoon phase......and oh a recipe :)

Morning all!

Yeah, I'm sooooo not into being "good" this week even though I've pretty much been "on plan" with Weight Watchers. Sometimes you get to that point where you JUST want a piece of chocolate cake or brownies or rice krispies. You just feel like you don't want to have to watch what you eat. The problem then is, well a couple problems, you're not eating healthy. Also, you're not doing yourself any favors AND you won't lose weight. So I know all these things, but I still want that chocolate cake damn it :). I've really been trying to make some new foods and try new recipes. I figure instead of having full fat Pad Thai to make my own low fat version. It's a matter of finding what you love and changing it to fit how you eat now. Oh, I did have the piece of chocolate cake anyways LOL. It was within my points anyways. 

Another thing....I'm really trying to stay on plan for exercising too. My goal is to work out at least 3 days a week. Yesterday I counted the snow as my exercise. Believe me, the way I was sweating after shoveling the wet, heavy snow I could count that as exercise and then some. I've been trying to mix up my exercise so that I am dealing with different muscles and so that I am not getting bored. I really want to join my park districts fitness center, but I don't want to spend money and not go there consistently....even though I have been good about exercising. 

Enough about my weight loss talk. Yesterday I tried a new recipe that was just awesome. It was Greens with Cannellini Beans. I have never tried kale before and I'm pretty adventurous with food so I figured why not try it. Kale, if you have not had it, is not a bitter green or leafy lettuce. It does have more texture than something like spinach. It doesn't seem to have much water to it. I was surprised that I liked it as much as I did. This recipe can be a whole meal and I'll tell ya, I was full for a LONG time after eating this. 

Greens with Cannellini Beans

Ingredients

• 2 slices pancetta or bacon, chopped
• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 bunch kale, roughly chopped
• 1 bunch beet greens, roughly chopped
• salt to taste
• 1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans, drained

Directions

1. Microwave the chopped pancetta or bacon on high for 3 minutes. Drain the drippings, and set the crispy pancetta aside.
2. In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Cook onion in oil until soft. Add the crushed garlic cloves, and cook a minute more. Stir in chopped greens, and season with salt to taste (be conservative at this point - you can always add more!). Partially cover the pan, and cook until the greens begin to wilt. Stir in crispy pancetta and cannellini beans. Cook partially covered for 5 more minutes, until the flavors have combined and the greens are tender.

Nutritional Information 

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 437 | Total Fat: 16.3g | Cholesterol: 10mg

This was from All Recipes by By: Diana Moutsopoulos. I used regular bacon and fried it up in the pan. Also, this was for 2 servings, but it can serve a bunch more.

A delicious pesto recipe

I have a great recipe from Giada of Food Network. She has this spinach pesto that is amazing! I do take out the jalapeno because it's not loved by everyone here. Also, had weigh in at Weight Watchers. I was down another .6 lbs. I wanted more, but a loss is a loss. I lost over 2 lbs. last week so I'm okay with a .6 loss. Lastly, I made BBQ Pork Crockpot sandwiches today. Easy.....pork tenderloin and bbq sauce in a crockpot. Put on low for about 6-8 hours. Done and delicious. On to Giada's recipe.

Fusilli With Spice Pesto

 

Ingredients

Pesto:

• 1 cup chopped walnuts (or pine nuts)
• 2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
• 2 cups grated (4 ounces) Asiago cheese
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 6 ounces baby spinach
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 pound fusilli pasta
• 4 ounces Asiago cheese, shaved

Directions

For the pesto: In a food processor, combine the walnuts, garlic, cheese, salt and pepper. Process until the mixture is smooth. Add the spinachand process until blended. Then slowly add your olive oil. 

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta. Cook until al dente. Drain and reserve about 1 cup of the pasta water. Place the cooked pasta and pesto in a large serving bowl. Toss well and thin out the sauce with a little pasta water, if needed.

Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Garnish with Asiago cheese shavings and serve.

Also, great by adding grilled chicken to it too!

***copyright by Food Network and Giada DeLaurentis ****adapted

Tips because I can't taste a thing!

Good afternoon everyone!

     I have a cold. Boo hoo for me. The one good about a cold is that I cannot taste a thing so I am just eating to eat. The bad thing is that I cannot breathe, snot is a constant and I cannot taste a thing :(. Needless to say that I have not really cooked much because of the fact that I cannot taste anything. For today I will have some tips on how I stay on plan and/or pantry items. Actually, I'll give a list of things that I have stocked so that always have Weight Watchers stuff on hand. FYI I do not use FF cheese or sour cream because I hate the taste and/or texture. The extra calories for reduced fat is fine with me.

Tips on what I eat:

1. When making tacos use corn tortillas. Corn tortillas have less calories than flour. Also, make refried beans and layer that before any meat that you may put on your taco. Fills you up with less calories.

2. Arnold sandwich thins are the bomb. 1 pt. awesome.

3. Green Giant broccoli and cheese for one is NO points. How fab is that?!?!?

4. I am beginning to like the Fruit 2 Day's. The bits of fruit were hard to get used to, but for 2 fruit servings and 2 pts. it's a winner.

5. I like my desserts so I make sure I have some "Fluff", apple and nutella or cake made with diet soda or canned pumpkin on hand. My "Fluff" recipe is on this blog.

6. Don't completely stop eating favorites like pizza or not go out to restaurants. For pizza, get Pillsbury pizza dough. Low in calories. I go out to eat, but I always research the restaurant I'm going to. TGI Friday's just changed their menus and there is not much in the way of low calories there. Grrr. Take the time to research. 

7. Always have fruit and veggies on hand.

8. When chopping veggies do all of your veggies at one time, even if you are not going to use those items today. I'd rather cut 3 red bell peppers than do one three times. 

9. I drink my water with a straw. For some reason I can get more water in me doing it that way. 

10. When making your meals make extra and freeze individual sizes. You control the salt and you know the calories/pts. involved. I put the points on each serving I freeze so I can just grab it and know what I am to count.

Ok, for my pantry/refrigerator these are items I always have on hand:

rf cheese

egg beaters

yogurt

I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray butter

Jello Sugar Free 

Jello Mousse Chocolate

Redi Whip whipped cream

Lite Cool Whip

rf sour cream

Buddig corned beef (50 calories per serving)

WW chocolate cookies and cream bars

chicken breasts

fish

pork tenderloin

round steak

93% ground beef

Breaded chicken patties (4.5 pts. and on Arnold bread makes a great, hearty, FILLING sandwich)

frozen corn and peas

rf mayo

mustard

rf dressing

spinach

romaine

lemons

limes

onion

garlic

peppers

apples

banana

canned crushed pineapple

Sugar Free Jello pudding

canned pumpkin

diced tomatoes

refried beans

pasta

bacon, canadian and regular

French's onions

black beans and pinto beans

FF chicken broth

LF Velveeta

Pillsbury pizza crust

pizza sauce

rf mozzarella

Stove Top stuffing

corn tortillas

salsa

Bakes Tostitos

100 cal. almonds (really stops hunger pains)

Fig Newton Apple Crisps

Kikkoman's Sweet and Sour sauce

rice

Rice Chex

100 cal. Thomas's bagels or English Muffins

Arnold's Sandwich Thins

rf Wheat Thins

Laughing Cow cheese wedges

I'm trying to think if I have anything else that I stock in my pantry or fridge. If I do think of it I will put it here. When doing Weight Watchers I have found that if my pantry is not stocked that is when I graze. If I have "my" food available I really stay on track.

The Small Goals and recipes, recipes, recipes

Hola!

     Big goals freak me out. There. I've said it. The fact that my long term goal is to lose about 80 lbs. freaks the hell out of me. Five pounds or a smaller pants size or even exercise goals seems so much more manageable. My good 'ol buddy Weight Watchers has taught me to make small goals. A five pound goals seems so much easier to reach than 80 pounds. Even something as simple as tracking all my points as a goal is doable. So that is all that I do now. On my refrigerator I posted my goals which are:

1. Exercise 3 times a week

2. Track all my points

3. Lose 20 pounds by Jan. 25th

4. Lose 50 pounds by my one year anniversary

Then I have little goals like not shopping in the plus sizes anymore, drink more water and more. Little goals that are attainable. It's so much easier to do it this way. Try it. Write down your goals. Stick those goals on your refrigerator at eye level. Then make them reality.

Now for recipes. I have three for you today. Here's the first:

Chicken Salad

4 - 4 oz. poached, cubed chicken breast

1 cup red grapes, quartered

2 medium celery stalks, chopped

1/8 cup sliced almonds or can be chopped almonds

1/2 cup light mayo

1/2 cup light sour cream

salt to taste

Poach your chicken breast (I put frozen chicken breasts in my crockpot. Cover with water, add 3 splashes of soy sauce, carrots, celery, four garlic cloves, liberal salt and lastly pepper. Cook on high for 4 hours. Let cool and then cube.) Add all ingredients; mix and serve on Arnold's sandwich bread. 

4 pts. per serving (6 servings) and 1 pt. for the Arnold sandwich bread

Caramelized Brussels Sprouts

2 - 4 cups of fresh brussels sprouts, cleaned and halved

1 sliced onion

1 - 2 TBSP of olive oil

a couple splash of balsamic vinegar

salt to taste

In a large skillet, add onion and oil. While that starts cooking steam your brussels sprouts. In the time that the onions cook the brussels sprouts will be cooked. When onions are good and caramelized add the brussels sprouts. Slightly brown the brussels sprouts. Add balsamic vinegar and salt. 4 servings and 2 pts. per serving

***You can also cook with bacon. I cut up 6 slices of bacon. Cook until slightly crispy. Save the grease. Use the bacon grease as a substitute for the olive oil. Cook as above, but just add the bacon to the brussels sprouts at the end. 

Crockpot Cheeseburgers

1.5 lbs. 90% lean ground beef

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp black pepper

8 oz. Kraft Velveeta Light Reduced Fat Processed Cheese, cubed

2 TBSP FF skim milk

1 cup onions

2 garlic cloves, crushed

Brown ground beef and garlic. Drain beef. Add to crockpot along with all other items. MIx well and set on low for 6-7 hours. Servings 10 and 4 pts. per serving. ***I tend to add more milk to thin this a bit. I use Arnold's bread with this recipe. Even my kiddo ate this. This came from WW recipe swap. Author is Sandradee 1963

Weigh In, Golden Globes and GREAT chicken recipe

Good evening everyone,

     Sunday is my D-day. My weigh in is on Sunday which is great because it's how I start my week, but ugh I cannot have one bad thing on a Saturday. I weighed myself earlier in the week and I know that I was down a total of 19 lbs. I REALLY wanted to hit my 20 lb. mark, but alas...no. I am at 19.5 lbs. down and 4 lbs. down for last week. Pretty awesome result for one week, but that elusive half pound did not come off. Next week WILL be my 20 lb. mark. My stagnant Christmas season is done. Finito. I am back on plan. Yay! I ate my filling foods i.e. veggies, protein, beans, etc. Let me tell you how full you get just eating veggies or beans. It really is amazing to realize what foods do what and what keeps you full. I owe Weight Watchers big time just in what it has taught me.

     This week we talked about getting active in our meeting. It is soooo crucial to get up and just get moving. I started slow and worked my way into vigorous aerobic exercise and it makes all the difference in my weight loss. There are plenty of days where I do NOT want to exercise at all. The after effects are what make all the difference. You just feel better, you lose weight, it's a mood booster and it makes me feel more fluid rather than a big lump. Currently I am just using my Wii system, but plan on joining the gym within the next month or so. I want to keep building on my exercise regime. Get up. Do it. Don't make an excuse to NOT exercise because those excuses won't help you when your 60 and on medication for your heart or cholesterol or who knows what. Don't get me wrong. I could completely implode LOL and my words may bite me in the behind. I know how hard it is, but something is better than nothing. 

     A quick shout out to Ricky Gervais being his usual cheeky self on the Golden Globes. Just love that guy. Now I will have to watch his new show on HBO come Feb. 19th. My last shout out is to one of my favorite shows on TV....Glee won for Comedy show. Yay! I absolutely LOVE this show. It's fresh, creative and oh so good. Cannot wait for the Madonna episode that they are filming this week. Go Glee!

 

 

photo off of Twitter by Frankenteen aka Cory Monteith aka Finn Hudson on Glee

  

     Lastly, a super great recipe. I don't have the specific points, but it's not high at all I want to say it's 6 or 7 points or around 300 calories. This recipe is for the chicken only. If you serve over rice or pasta you need to add that to your total. This recipe is off of http://crockpot365.blogspot.com . I linked the specific recipe too. 

Brown Sugar Chicken

-12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, or 6 boneless, skinless breast halves
--1 cup brown sugar (it's okay. you can brush your teeth after.)
--1/4 cup lemon-lime soda (stay with me...)
--2/3 cup vinegar (I used white wine, but think regular white would be fine)
--3 cloves smashed and chopped garlic
--2 T soy sauce (La Choy and Tamari wheat free are GF)
--1 tsp ground black pepper

The Directions.

Use a 4 quart crockpot for this recipe. 

Plop the chicken into your crockpot. Cover with the brown sugar, pepper, chopped garlic, and soy sauce. Add the vinegar, and pour in the soda. It will bubble!

Cover and cook on low for 6-9 hours, or on high for 4-5. The chicken is done when it is cooked through and has reached desired consistency. The longer you cook it, the more tender it will be.

Serve over a bowl of white rice with a ladle full of the broth.

 

Food Glorious Food!!!

This is what I usually say about food, but lately I've had to to change my way of thinking. It all started when my son Billy kept asking me for reassurances that I was going to be alive for a long time. Of course I told him yes every time. In the back of mind I'm saying to myself "How can you promise him that when you are overweight?" So I decided to join Weight Watchers again. I had joined about 4 years ago and followed the plan online. This time I decided to go to meetings and I am SOOOOOO glad that I did. The fact that I have to weigh in at my meeting and that my meeting leader knows my weight truly is a help. Accountability is key for me. 

People complain that Weight Watchers is a "diet" and that they hate counting points. Yeah, counting points can be a pain the keester, but it works. If you were watching what you ate looked out for calories, fat, carbs, etc. it's the same thing. If you need to lose weight you need to account for what you put in your body. Simple. What I do to make it easier is that I try and figure out what I am going to eat for that day. Then I calculate my points and I have an idea what my points will be for the day. Menu planning is a great help too. I am less likely to eat "off the cuff" if I have my dinners and lunches planned for the week.

Now, here's the deal. I do not like frou frou food. I'm probably not going to make a dilled lentil salad. I will make a low point version of mac and cheese or pot roast. I make food that I would eat even if I wasn't on Weight Watchers. Sometimes you just have to modify your meals. Love sweet and sour chicken? I do too, but now I do not bread and fry my chicken and Kikkoman's Sweet and Sour sauce is very low in calories. Yes, it takes time, but the results are worth it.

I do not consider myself on a diet. I consider myself changing my lifestyle. I cannot keep going down the chips and ice cream path. As good as it tastes it will kill me some day. Exercise has become part of my life too. Even if I only exercise 3 days a week for a half hour it's better than me not doing it all. 

In telling you this I am going to share recipes that I like, how my weigh in's go, Wii exercise discs I like, etc. Join the journey.