All In The Family

I woke up this morning with running on my mind. Before the feeling left me, I quickly put on my sneakers and headed to the treadmill. Since, I woke up with the desire, I thought it would be a great run, but it wasn't so hot. I felt a little weak and it took me a good 20 minutes to get in a groove where I felt strong and steady. Weird. But, I toughed it out for 40 minutes, then did a few reps of leg exercises. Then, I hit the kitchen for a red, fiber and blue! A pretty 3 POINT bowl...


The daughters and I hit the library for some books and movies, then came home to make lunch. Nothing was exciting me today. In an effort to use up some leftovers, I decided to make a tasting plate including leftover sweet potatoes, carrots and a "deconstructed sandwich" of turkey slices and a cut-up Arnold Sandwich Thin. I added a bit of Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard in the middle for dipping. Carrots and dijon are a surprisingly good combo! Altogether, a very filling 5 POINT lunch...

While playing some board games and doing crafts with the daughters, I had a handful of Goldfish crackers... then, about 3 more handfuls...Pfft!

I had an easy pizza dinner planned for tonight. The husband and daughters had regular pizza because they would never touch a pizza with a vegetable on it! I decided to make a flatbread pizza for myself. With a vegetable on it!

This is the easiest flatbread pizza dough to make...

Quick Flatbread Dough

(from The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great by Pam Anderson)

1 c. bread flour, plus extra for dusting

1/2 tsp. teaspoon salt

1/3 c. warm water, plus extra if necessary

1 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil

Mix flour and salt in food processor. Mix water and oil and pour over flour mixture; process to form a soft dough ball. If dough is too stiff, process in another tablespoon of warm water, Continue to process until dough is well kneaded, about 15 seconds.

With floured hands, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and cut into quarters. Working with one quarter at a time, roll dough out to about a 12 x4 inch rectangle, dusting with flour and turning as necessary to keep it from sticking. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Place flatbreads on the sheet, top and bake at 425 degrees for about 10-12 minutes.

Makes 4 flatbreads pizza crusts(110 calories per crust)

So easy! Literally took me 5 minutes to put together. I decided to cut the dough in half and make two flatbread crusts instead of 4 (so 220 calories per crust). I topped them with 1/4 c. chopped sundried tomatoes(in oil), shredded baby spinach and one got 1 oz. asiago cheese...

and the other got 1 oz. goat cheese...

To go with it, I made Barbeque Bean Salad ( click HERE for recipe). I cut each pizza into 4 pieces. I had 2 pieces with asiago and 1 piece with goat cheese. Both were equally delicious! These would make a great party appetizer. It was an awesome 10 POINT dinner...

The husband even tried a piece of the goat cheese one and didn't die! Yippee ;P

I felt pretty full, but dessert called my name later on. I ended up eating a Weight Watchers Chocolate Fudge Sundae Cone for 2 POINTS....

This was not my favorite. The ice cream was lacking flavor compared to the Breyers Fat Free Double Churn Ice Cream that I usually buy. The sugar cone was good, but I probably won't buy these again.

I'm off to pack. We're heading to the beach again for the weekend! So excited to ride my bike again!! And because my Gram thinks I'm obsessed with the computer, I decided not to bring it with me this weekend. So, I won't be blogging this weekend so that I can focus ALL my attention on my family and Gram! She might want me to bring my computer again after this weekend - LOL!!!! I'll see you Sun. night for a recap.

Hope you all have a great weekend! Happy 4th and Happy belated Canada Day to my Canadian peeps!

It's Still Me

Hey, how do you like the new digs??? I have been wanting a custom header for a while, so I decided to get myself one in honor of my upcoming 300th post! Thanks to The Blog Fairy who was an absolute dream to work with! I love how she made "me" skinny; gives me hope - LOL ;)

So, I have to say, today was a good day in the eating department. I got right to working out this morning. I decided on the 3 Mile Walk Away The Pounds For Abs DVD again and it was just what I was up for this morning. It's not too hard, but long enough (43 min.) to do some good. After that, I had an easy breakfast of toast and berries: 2 slices Trader Joe's Organic Spelt Bread topped with 1 Laughing Cow Light Cheese Wedge and 1 cup of blueberries on the side. A nice 4 POINT breakfast...

I did some organizing this morning and before I knew it, it was time for lunch. I was in the mood for soup even though it was hot today. I decided on this...

It is really rich and delicious. It has the best nutrition facts of any other canned split pea soup on the shelves, although the sodium is a bit high as is with most canned soups. But, I love that this is packed with protein and fiber, has no fat and is only 1 POINT per cup...

Along with my soup, I made a turkey and 2% cheese sammie on an Arnold Sandwich Thin and had some carrots for crunch. Not on purpose. I was out of chips! It was still a great lunch for 4 POINTS...

After refereeing the daughters all afternoon in The Battle Of Ouch-Quit It She's Touching Me, I needed a good snack to keep up my energy. I went for half of an Apple Pie Larabar for 2 POINTS...

Then, dinner was a vegetarian delight. I had two portabella mushrooms waiting to be used and since no one else in this house will touch them, it was all me! I decided to make a stuffed mushroom burger. I cleaned and stemmed both mushrooms, seasoned with salt and pepper and stuffed one half with a mixture of spinach, parmesan cheese and a bit of light sour cream. Then, topped it with a slice of asiago cheese and the other mushroom and placed it on the grill until mushroom cooked down a little. While I was grilling, I threw some sweet potato slices on, too. A filling 8 POINT meal...

It was one cheesy "burger"...

Plenty of room for another Brownie Strawberry Shortcake for 3 POINTS...

No Pudge Brownies rock!

And before I go, I want to say a big Thank You to Danica for giving me the Hard Working Food Blogger Award! I really appreciate it! Seriously, blogging is so much fun for me, I love being part of the blogging community!

Have a great night =)

Nightmare On Hormone Street

I am hormonally challenged today. I feel tired, annoyed, happy, frustrated, bored, excited, tired and more tired. How's that for a skitzy lady? It must be that time. Could be why I wanted a basket of chocolate this afternoon! Pfft! And I was being so "intuitive" with my eating these past few days :( Well, I got back to counting today, with the exception of the chocolate incident. But, there's always tomorrow. That I can count on...


Breakfast was an Arnold Sandwich Thin with a wedge of Laughing Cow Light and 2 tbsp of hummus. A yummy 3 POINT combo...


Then, I headed out to take Gram to get some bloodwork. After that, we picked up my Mom, went back to Gram's living community and met my Dad and nephew for lunch in one of the restaurants there. I ordered a Mediterranean Veggie Wrap made with romaine, cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, red pepper hummus and feta and a side salad with lite Italian dressing on the side. It was very good! I estimated it at 6 POINTS...

Later, I had a snack of prunes and an Italian fig cookie for 4 POINTS...

Then came my second "snack" which was all the chocolate in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Yes, it's a real place. No, I can't tell you how to get there ;P Oompa loompa doom-pa-dee do. Can you tell chocolate makes me crazy?? Sigh. Moving on....

Dinner, as if I needed it, was the last of the leftover Greek lima beans mixed with orzo for 8 POINTS. I love these beans! If there are any Greek blogfriends out there who have a recipe for this, I would love to have it!!! Who knew lima beans could be so good...

I'm not thrilled with how things went down today, but I'm hoping tomorrow will be better. I feel like I am in limbo right now. I'm not at goal yet, I want to lose more, but I'm just "hanging out" and not giving it the hard core press I need to get to the end. Any suggestions??

Have a great night everyone =)

More Of The Same

I was up and out early this morning to make my WW meeting. Not that I was in any rush to get weighed or anything. No big excitement on the scale. It was exactly the same. I can't be upset about it. I haven't been keeping up with my "following the program to the T" strategy. Too much picking going on. But, I spoke with the receptionist while I was there. She has lost 100 lbs. and has kept it off since 1984. I talked with her about my frustration with myself and about getting to goal. I am coming up on 2 years at the end of July and I really hoped to get to my goal and be on the way to achieving Lifetime status. She told me it took her 4 years to get there. Wow. That made me feel a little better. I'm declaring the high end of my weight range for my goal weight even though it's probably not where I would want to settle in at. But, at the rate I'm going, I don't want it to take a lifetime to get to Lifetime! I can see it now. I'll be a real looker when I get to goal at age 90. I might not have teeth, but I'll be the hottest chick in the nursing home ;P In my thong. Eeeewww. Sorry, did you just throw up a little bit?? Okay, in an effort to erase that visual from your damaged mind, I will get to the food...


After the meeting, I came home and made a breakfast wrap with a La Tortilla Factory Tortilla, 3 egg whites, baby spinach, center cut bacon and a slice of 2% cheese for 4 POINTS...


For lunch I tried these new veggie burgers that I picked up the other day...

The nutritionals are great...

These burgers are made with beans, corn, zucchini, string beans, oat bran and a host of other good veggies. They have a nice kick to them and taste a whole lot like the California Veggie Burger also made by Dr. Praeger. I served mine on an Arnold Sandwich Thin with lettuce and a squirt of lite ranch along with a serving of soy crisps and a fuji apple. A healthy 6 POINT lunch...

I took the daughters to see a play this afternoon at little daughter's school. It was very cute and entertaining. When we got back, I made a snack of 1/2 c. TJ's nonfat greek yogurt, 1/2 c. Kashi Go Lean Crunch, 2 strawberries and a tsp. chocolate syrup for 2 POINTS...

Dinner was pasta and salad for the husband and daughters, but I wasn't in the mood for pasta. Well, I was, but not only 1 cup of pasta! It's just too little of a serving to make me happy. I searched around the freezer and came upon this guy...

It has been in my freezer for an eternity. I'm trying to make sure I eat the freezer stock, so since the date was okay, I decided to eat it for dinner. It's a pretty good bargain for 4 POINTS, but I wasn't having high hopes that it would be good!

I made these to go along with it...

Altogether, a 6 POINT dinner...

But, I only ate some. Here's what I left...

That was one yucky frozen dinner. The chicken was rubbery and "fake", the pasta was flavorless and the sauce was weirdly spicy. The flavors didn't jive. Ick. The TJ's Potato Medley, on the other hand, was terrific! I should have just eaten a big dish of that!

I picked on a roll from the family's dinner, then cleaned up and moved on to dessert. I thought I would give the VitaHearts another try. I had the idea of icing them, so I thought that may redeem them. I made a Chocolate Espresso Glaze by mixing 1 tsp. unsweetened cocoa, 1 tsp. powdered sugar, 1/8 tsp. instant espresso powder and 1/2 tsp. skim milk and spread it onto the VitaHeart...

Well, the hearts are still dry, but the glaze was amazing!!! The espresso gave it a prominent flavor making it taste like dark chocolate. So good! I can't wait to try this on the Deep Chocolate Vitatops that I love! Come back tomorrow night; I'll let you know how it is!!

I ended the night with a giant latte made with skim milk for 2 POINTS...

Decaf, of course! Goodnight =)

Books, Bloggers And Brainless

The husband and I had a movie/date night at home last night. We got a movie for us and a movie for the daughters. They watched upstairs and we had our "date" downstairs. It was fun and no babysitter needed! Anyway, it got too late and I was too tired to blog, so here's my update from yesterday...


I woke up to some beautiful weather and was really itching to go for a run. My cheek is still a bit chubby and my stitches are still intact, so my gut was telling me to wait until everything was healed totally. Instead, I headed to the basement for a 40 minute stint on the elliptical with my weighted vest and did 20 tricep dips and 20 wall pushups. Good enough!

Breakfast was an open faced omelette with spinach, salsa and 1 oz. Cabot's 75% reduced fat cheese. Mmm... I love salsa on eggs! I had a slice of TJ's Sprouted Flourless Wheat Bread, all for only 3 POINTS...

I was really jonesing for some coffee this morning, too, but wasn't in the mood for something warm. I decided on a Vanilla Frappuccino with whip! I used unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze this time and some sugar free vanilla syrup and topped it with 1 tbsp. lite whip. This was a great 1 POINT treat!

After breakfast, the daughters and I went to a Used Book Sale over at little daughter's school. I was so excited for this! What a dork, right?? I could have spent hours there and lots of cash! Although, everything was priced at either $1 or $2, so you can't feel bad about spending with that bargain price. I scored some cool cookbooks...

And some summer beach reads...

The daughters picked up about 4 books each, too. It was a great time!

It was such a beautiful day that we ate most of our meals outside. So relaxing! My lunch was a Boca Bruschetta Burger topped with 1 tbsp. hummus (thanks to Kate for that AMAZING idea!) and roasted peppers on an Arnold Sandwich Thin. I had some soy crisps and a fuji apple on the side. A delish 6 POINT lunch...

Later, for a snack, I couldn't wait to dig into this....

Ever since seeing them on Kelly's blog, I had to have them! I have been searching high and low and finally came across them in Target. I chose the chocolate cookie caramel pecan flavor. Nuggets of goodness...

I think Kelly described these as "crack" and I would have to agree! Definitely leave you wanting more. Don't know if I could buy these again due to danger potential :) But, they are a fun and tasty 2 POINT treat.

After cleaning out my car, cleaning out the garage and running an errand, I wasn't in the mood to make a grand dinner. I pulled out a serving of Rigatoni(actually Ziti) with Three Cheeses from the freezer and heated that with some leftover asparagus. I made a side salad of tomato, cucmber and red onion dressed with a little olive oil and balsamic. Another outdoor dining 7 POINT meal...

Before we settled into our movies, I grabbed a Weight Watchers Candy Bar Ice Cream for a melty 3 POINT dessert...(sorry for the bad pic)

I won't embarass myself by telling you the brain cell deteriorating movie we watched! We had some good laughs, so it was worth losing a few brain cells :)

I just want to say how great it is to be part of this blogging community! I have gotten so many awesome ideas from you all and have tried things I might not have come across otherwise! Thanks so much for all the inspiration!

Enjoy the day and I'll be back tonight :)

Dentally Challenged

I had my gloomy dentist appointment early this morning. Last night, I read up on the procedure that my dentist was going to perform and I got freaked out. But, I managed to buck up and went anyway. Thankfully, everything went well even though I felt skitzy and super anxious half way through the oral surgery and had to sing songs to myself to distract me from jumping out of the chair and running out of there looking like Dracula with blood dripping down my chin! Such a baby!

Before I went to the dentist, I made a big breakfast just in case I wouldn't be able to eat after the procedure! Lord knows, I wouldn't want to go without food. That would only be adding insult to injury! I had an open-faced omelette with 1 oz. diced ham and chives, a slice of TJ's Sprouted Flourless Wheat Bread and 1/2 banana for 4 POINTS...


Despite the fact that I had facial paralysis on the entire right side of my face for hours, I still managed to get some food in! My thought was to go with softer foods, so that it wouldn't be too rough on my stitches. I decided a big bowl of this soup would fit the bill...


And it was green in honor of Earth Day! I had the whole can of soup for 3 POINTS...


I also made a PB2 and Sugar Free Grape Jelly sammie on an Arnold Sandwich Thin(2 POINTS)with a side of sliced fuji apple(1 POINT)...

The sandwich went down o.k., but the apple was a little too jarring for my mouth, so I skipped eating it and saved it for the daughters' snack.

After running the daughters around to some afterschool activities, I sat down for a soft snack of Oikos Nonfat Greek Yogurt and a BlueBran Vitatop for 3 POINTS...

I finally found the Honey flavor! It was delicious! Probably the sweetest of them all. And the BlueBran Vitatop, well.... it's a Vitatop! How can you go wrong??!!

I had planned ahead for dinner, just in case I was incapacitated somehow from my dentist appointment! Gee, so much for positive thinking, right? Anyway, I yanked out the crockpot this morning and put in 1 lb. frozen chicken breasts, some seasonings - salt,pepper, cumin, garlic and onion powder, chili powder and 1 cup salsa. I cooked it on low until done, then shredded the chicken (didn't need much help -it basically falls apart) and added in 2 tbsp. lite cream cheese. Stir until melted. It is soooo good and 4 POINTS per serving (4 servings total)! I used it to make chicken soft tacos. My plate was 2 soft tacos made with 1 cup shredded chicken, 1 La Tortilla Factory Smart and Delicious Tortilla -cut in half to make 2, half ounce of Cabot's 75% Reduced Fat Cheddar and some lettuce. To go with it, I had some leftover kale with white beans. A fabulous 7 POINT dinner...

I was able to get this down pretty well. Normally, I would have went crazy with the toppings/veggies for the tacos, but I didn't want to push it since the anesthetic was wearing off and I wasn't sure if I would be sore or not. So far so good! Yay!

After dinner, I took the daughters to a Health Fair at their school. It was interesting and fun. I spent quite a bit of time talking to a registered dietitian there. That was cool!

We got home a little too late for dessert. I had planned on some ice cream, but I'm more tired than anything, so I'm gonna let it go for tonight. I'm popping some Advil, antibiotic and I'm off to sleep. Nite :)

Best Laid Plans

I had all intentions of starting off anew by attending my Weight Watchers meeting this morning, but little daughter got a cold so, I kept her home from school to rest. I didn't let that stop me. The sun was shining and I felt happy and excited to get "back to basics" today. I got out my tracker (whenever I go to my meeting, I grab a few extra just in case I can't get there for a while), put the date in and kept it out the whole day so that I could journal everything I ate.


The first entry was a breakfast of Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin English Muffin topped with a wedge of Laughing Cow Light Cheese and 1/2 c. fresh pineapple. I had a robust cuppa joe with Silk Soy Creamer to go with it. A 4 POINT fresh start...

Oh, and I should have started out by saying that you may notice my pics look a little different. My camera was involved in a fatal freak accident this morning! I had it on my upstairs console table in the hallway and the husband came out of his office, threw a box on the table which knocked my camera off. The camera fell onto the carpet then bounced up in the air and through the spindles of the banister and fell to the first floor! May it rest in peace :( It surely wasn't the greatest quality camera, but it's done me well enough for the time that I've had it. I had been thinking of getting a new one, but it was an unneccesary expense...until now. So, I'm in the market for a new camera, but until then, I will be using little daughter's Kodak Easy Share! At least it's got 8 MP and I have to say that it seemed to do a much better job with close-ups than my old guy. I do notice that the picture lighting isn't the greatest, but I'll have to make due for the time being.

Lunch was a Buffalo Turkey Burger on an Arnold Sandwich Thin with lettuce and 1 tsp. Marie's Chunky Lite Blue Cheese Dressing. Along with it, I had 2 crunch, 1 sweet (trying to cover all my bases of possible munchie cravings); 1/2 oz. Penny Sticks Honey Wheat Pretzels (I love these which may be a problem:), strawberries and yes, Mom - carrots! A terrific 6 POINT lunch...

It was such a beautiful day so I got little daughter out for a tiny walk in the neighborhood and went to visit a neighbor for a bit. She was tired so we didn't stay out very long. After big daughter came home from school, we were all ready for a snack. I decided to try out the Blueberry Oikos Nonfat Greek Yogurt that Kristina from Stonyfield Farm sent me...

I topped it with 1/2 c. Kashi Go Lean Crunch for a yummy 3 POINTS...

I have to say that I LOVED the Blueberry flavor!! It was definitely sweeter than the Vanilla and had quite a few tiny blueberries in it. I realized that I am not a fan of plain unsweetened yogurt. I think it's an acquired taste, and I HAVE TRIED, but it's not for me. I need the sweetness to fully enjoy it. This Blueberry flavor fits the bill! Now, I'm looking forward to trying the Honey flavor (if I can find it - haven't seen it yet)!

Dinner was heat and eat tonight. I have lots of leftover Easter ham, so I heated that and served it with leftover Gram's green beans and mashed potatoes (Diner's Choice Brand). My plate came to 6 POINTS...

And for the grand finale, a Chocolate Skinny Cow for 2 POINTS...


This was a good day! I decided I wasn't going to think so much about exactly what I'm eating. By that I mean, I'm not going to drive myself crazy with making sure that I'm only eating "clean" foods (though I think I prefer them now) or worrying that I might be eating too many bread-type items, chips or even dessert! I'm just going to do my best to get in my Healthy Guidelines, stick to my Target POINTS and eat whatever I'm craving while doing all this. It worked when I first began this journey and I think it will work for getting me over this hump and to goal. I am regaining that same enthusiam as when I first started. I put up some "visual aids" (pics of women with rockin , but attainable bods) in various areas of the house - mirrors, refrigerator, etc. to help me keep my goal in the forefront of my mind. It's a soft porn convention around here! The husband is thrilled =) Hey, whatever works ; p