Lost In Leftovers

I did not want to get up this morning. I felt like I could have slept for quite a few more hours. But, only 1 more day to get through before I get to sleep in until 7 a.m. - yay! It's way better than 6, that's for sure!

I decided to do a quick Shred this morning for something different. Jillian still continues to kick my butt, even on Level 1. One day, I will be shredded ;) After huffing and puffing, I had a cereal breakfast. Are you guys sick of seeing this breakfast?? I know, but it's been really filling me up, so I'm sticking with it for a while. Today was 3/4 c. High Fiber O's, 1/2 c. unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze and 10 oz. of strawberries! Yes, you read that right! Ten ounces of strawberries (300 grams) is only 1 POINT. If you're not a "weigher", it works out to 1 1/2 cups. That is an awesome POINT bargain! It was a great 3 POINT bowl...



After breakfast, I went to visit my friend, Rosemary who just had her first baby. He is sooooo adorable. I got to hold him and get my baby fix! He is the cutest! On my way home, I got a little lost (duh) and it ended up taking me almost an hour to get home instead of 30 minutes :( Needless to say, I was more than starving when I got home. The first thing I saw in the fridge was my bbq baked tofu, so I went with that on a whole wheat bun with lettuce, a slice of 2% cheese and BACON! Way to make something un-vegetarian ;) I had some carrots with 2 tbsp. hummus to go with it. It was a quick 6 POINT lunch that I promptly munched down...


I sailed through snack time with no troubles since I ate such a late lunch. I had no specific plan for dinner other than wanting to use up some leftover ground beef from tacos the other night. I thought about making a beef stroganoff with it, but realized I didn't have all the ingredients on hand. I finally came up with a take on an old recipe called Barbecue Beef Cups. Instead of the biscuit dough, I used my Cornbread recipe as the base. I mixed up the cornbread batter, divided it evenly in a 6 cup muffin tin, topped it with the leftover cooked ground beef ( only used 1/2 oz. per cup) and baked it for about 15 minutes. Then, I topped it with shredded 2% cheese (about 1/2 oz. per cup) and put it back in the oven for another minute until melted. I topped the Beef Cornbread Cups with shredded lettuce, tomato, salsa and 1 tbsp guacamole. Good and hearty ! I paired it with a heaping cup of leftover roasted veggies for a terrific 6 POINT dinner...

For dessert, I broke out another freeze dried fruit find - BANANAS...

The nutrition facts are good, too...

I used 1 POINT worth as a topping for 1/2 c. Breyers Fat Free French Chocolate Ice Cream...

A super sweet 2 POINT treat. These banana slices are VERY sweet, even though they are unsweetened. They remind me of those crunchy little meringue cookies. They kinda stick to your teeth as they melt in your mouth, too. My dentist would NOT be happy.

I must go brush and floss ;P Have a great night!!

Totally Tofu

I peeked at the scale this morning. I was scared that it might ruin my day. As much as I say to myself that the scale doesn't matter, it does. A lot. It dictates my day. Good number = good day, lots of motivation and general happiness. Bad number = bad day, sometimes overeating and most definitely overall bitchiness. Lucky for my family members, a good number appeared. Not a great number, but I'm showing a teensy loss which makes me feel good about my approaching official weigh-in on Saturday at WW. Hopefully, I can get back to wear I was before this last few weeks of "on and off trackness" :)


After my visit with the scale, I headed to the treadmill for another 35 minute run. I've been really into running this week! I know it's not the best to do it everyday, but so far my hip has been cooperating, so I'm going with it! I've also been going with cereal for breakfast. I'm finding that it fills me up and is very satisfying, especially bulked up with lots of berries. Today was 3/4 c. TJ's High Fiber O's, 1/2 c. unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze and 1 c. of blueberries for 3 POINTS...



Lunch was a bbq baked tofu sammie on spelt bread with lettuce, tomato and a slice of 2% cheese. I added in some more red superfoods with 1 c. watermelon and a fuji apple for a 6 POINT lunch...

Baked tofu... up close and personal...

The daughters declared it to be Taco Tuesday, so it was tacos for dinner! I joined in the taco festivities, but with a twist. For me, it was Tofu Taco Tuesday! Don't say eeewww! It's great. Really. First, I took 1/2 block of Nasoya Lite Firm Tofu, squeezed between paper towels to remove excess water and crumbled it in a nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray. Next, I sprinkled 1 tbsp. homemade taco seasoning over the tofu and mixed in. I let the tofu crumbles "brown" for about 10-15 minutes until the tofu dried out and resembled "ground beef/turkey" (it does, TOO!!!)....

I ended up only needing half the mixture, so I saved the other for another time. I assembled my tacos using 2 yellow corn taco shells, 1/2 oz. grated 2% cheese, lettuce, tomato and 2 tbsp. guacamole. I paired the tofu tacos with a cup of organic black bean soup and carrot sticks for an amazingly delicious (and messy) 6 POINTS...

Seeeeee??? Not so yucky right?!

I had plenty of POINTS left for a beefed- up (haha) dessert, but I ended up wanting 1/2 c. Breyers Fat Free French Chocolate Ice Cream with 1/2 Peanut Butter Cookie Larabar crumbled on top...

That was an awesome 3 POINTS!

So, I technically was able to go without a snack this afternoon again. I did have a couple of bites, licks and tastes which probably added up to a POINT, maybe 2. I tack those on at the end of the day, just in case. I feel like I have a good groove going now and I am happy without all the afternoon snacking. I've been talking myself through it when I feel like I might grab something and I realize that I am not hungry. It's just that whole habit thing of wanting a snack when the daughters get home. Breaking that habit will take some behavior modification and I know it won't happen overnight. But having these last few days under my belt make me feel assured that it IS possible :)

Have a great night everyone!

When A Plan Comes Together

Back again! Hope you all had as beautiful a day as it was here. The sun was shining, no humidity and a light breeze. Just perfect! I was tempted to go for an outdoor run, but decided the impact on my hip might not be as harsh if I stick with the treadmill for a while. I did 40 minutes; 14 of which completely sucked. Those first minutes seemed brutal for some reason. I was not feeling strong at all, but I perservered, then got into a groove and it was fine for the rest of the run. Watching The Hills kept me entertained during it, too.

After the run, I made a breakfast burrito with a small La Tortilla Factory tortilla, 3 egg whites and salsa. It was only 2 POINTS, but very filling...


So filling, in fact, that I wasn't ready for lunch until 1:30! I dug around in the fridge and found some of the bbq baked tofu that I made (last week??). It still looked decent, so I made a bbq baked tofu sandwich on a honey wheat bun with lettuce and a slice of 2% cheese. Delish! On the side, I had a serving of crinkle potatoes, an apple and a fruit and nut bite for dessert. A voluminous lunch for 8 POINTS...


No snack attack this afternoon! My lunch took me all the way to dinner. Maybe the 8 POINTS is the amount I need or it could have been the combination of filling foods that kept me satisfied and not looking to munch. I hope that's the ticket :)


I planned a nice, healthy dinner, but the husband and daughters had a different plan - PIZZA! I let them go the pizza route, but stuck to my dinner plan for myself ...

Chicken and Broccoli with Garlic Sauce

• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 3 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 1 lb. chicken breast cut in 1" pieces
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 2 c. broccoli florets
• 1 1/2 c. fat free chicken broth
• 1 1/2 tbsp. cornstarch
• 2 c. cooked brown rice

1. In a large skillet, heat oil and garlic and cook 1 minute. Season chicken with thyme, salt and pepper and add to skillet. Brown on all sides for 3 minutes.
2. Add broccoli; cover and cook 2 minutes.
3. Add 1 cup broth, cover and simmer until chicken is cooked through(about 5 minutes).
4. Dissolve cornstarch in remaining 1/2 cup broth, add to skillet and simmer 1 minute.
5. Serve over rice.

Makes 4 servings. 5 POINTS per serving. Each serving is 1 cup chicken mixture and 1/2 cup rice.

I found this recipe in one of my old WW recipe binders. It is quick and delicious! Best part is now I have 3 additional servings that I packed up and put in the freezer for those heat and eat dinner nights! Definitely a keeper...

I had plenty of room for dessert, so I made up my old favorite - Deep Chocolate Vitatop with PB2 icing for 2 POINTS...

and a blueberry crackshake (2 POINTS) to wash it down...

The daughters were intrigued by my crackshake and came running with their straws to take a taste. Some taste! They ended up drinking half of my shake - booo! It's okay; I don't mind sharing the health ;P

Another good day in! I'm hoping to get to my WW meeting this Thurs.; it's been a while and I really miss it! I like going to the meeting; I just don't always love the weighing part! I have been avoiding the scale the past couple of weeks, but I'm going to stay the course this week and see if the scale speaks good things to me =)

Have a great night!

Eat, Repeat

Today, I tried to recreate the eating day I had yesterday. Since all went well, I repeated some of those meals today. I started off with some gardening early this morning, then came in for another cereal bowl: 3/4 c. TJ's High Fiber O's, 1/2 c. unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze and 2 chopped apricots for 3 POINTS...



A little later, I made up a strawberry crackshake for 1 POINT...

I spent the rest of the morning prepping for our bbq tomorrow, then stopped to make another delish tofu sammie. I used the bbq baked tofu for this one on 2 slices of TJ's spelt bread with lettuce, tomato and a squirt of Kraft Light Three Cheese Ranch. So good! It almost tasted like a BLT but it was a BTLT (bbq tofu lettuce tomato) - heheh! Riding alongside again, some carrots and 3 apriums. Love this 5 POINT lunch...

More prepping for the party, then came snack time. I had to keep reminding myself the definition of "snack" - small portion of food! I went with a fruit and nut bite for 1 POINT...

but, still wanted something more, so I had a lite string cheese (1 POINT)...

I recognized that I wasn't hungry, but I still felt like eating more. I tried to talk myself out of it. It worked for a while, then I succumbed to some Cheez-its and about 10 M&M's. Not so bad, I'm guessing about 5 POINTS.

Before dinner, I decided to get in a run. My hip soreness is getting better with just doing the walking this past week, so I thought I could try a run again. I went to the trail and started to run, but it was so difficult today! Not sure if it was the weather (hot and humid) or that I took that break. I didn't push it, though. I did a mix of walk/run for 35 min. and that seemed good enough for today.

I picked up pizza on the way home for the husband, daughters and our nephews that were visiting. I stayed away from that and made myself some TJ's Chicken Cilantro Mini Wontons with a side of sweet fresh pineapple for 4 POINTS...

I ended the night with a mango and cream bar for 1 POINT...

I'm ready to relax a little tonight and get a good night's rest for the bbq tomorrow. I'm looking forward to some yummy eats at the bbq. I'll be back to show you tomorrow night, if it doesn't get too late. If so, I'll be back Mon. morning for a recap! Hope you're having a fun weekend :]