Happy Birthday Baby!!

Today is my little daughter's 7th birthday! Wow, time sure does fly! She and my big daughter made the grand plan as to what we were going to do today. Before we got started, I got in a quick 20 minute run, then showered and headed out to begin the celebration.



Our first stop was Starbucks. The daughters love fraps as much as I do, so they wanted to go there for breakfast. While the daughters dug into their fraps and donuts, I sipped my Mocha Light Frappuccino and dug into a BlueBran Vitatop that I brought with me for 3 POINTS...



We hung out at Starbucks for quite a while, then made our way over to a toy store for some browsing and playing. Such a fun little store! Of course, we couldn't get out of there without a small present for the birthday girl!

Then, we were off to pick up lunch at one of their favorite places - Chick-fil-A. They wanted to bring lunch home and have a picnic, so we did just that. I spread out the blanket and they ate their yummy lunch. I snagged a fry or two, but quickly made my lunch before things got out of control! My lunch was a Dr. Praeger's Tex Mex Burger on a whole wheat english muffin topped with a slice of Weight Watchers American and some sauteed peppers with onion. Delish! I added a serving of yellow watermelon and carrots for my side. A filling 6 POINT lunch...

After lunch, these guys came to the door....

HOLEY DONUTS!!!! I won these from Danica's giveaway and have been anxiously awaiting them! I was VERY tempted to dive right in, but I contained myself! Instead, I put each one in their own baggie and labeled it with the POINT value. That way, I won't be tempted to defrost a whole box and then "have" to eat them all! Looking forward to trying these soon :)

Our party-goers (grandparents) came for birthday dinner later in the afternoon. We got right to eating with a starter of Bruschetta with Asiago...

Then came the family favorite (and birthday girl's too!) - ravioli...

some rustic bread ( a must on our table)...

Grilled bratwurst and onions (left) and Chicken Sausage with spinach and feta over sauteed red peppers (right)...

I also made hot Italian sausage with hot fried peppers, broccoli and salad. I didn't get a pic of those before everyone dug in, but here's a pic of my plate...

I ended up eating another piece of bruschetta and a taste of hot sausage, but I was able to dodge the ravioli! Not too bad; I'm estimating about 13 POINTS.

For dessert, of course we had birthday cake - triple chocolate mousse cake! I didn't want to tempt anyone with a picture ;P In an effort to have a healthy alternative, I made a blueberry crisp...

I had a serving topped with fat free whipped topping for 2 POINTS...

It's super late now, but I'm determined to fit in my 10 minute strength routine, so off I go!

Have a great night everyone =)

Sad News:(

Hi guys. I'm gonna make this a quick post. I just got some sad news - my old college roommate's dad passed away, so I'm a bit distracted. Here's a rundown of the day...

Breakfast was 1/2 c. TJ's Nonfat Greek Plain Yogurt (I don't like plain, but I added a bit of Splenda and it was great), 1/2 c. Kashi Go Lean Crunch and 1 c. sliced strawberries for 3 POINTS. This took me a while to eat and held me over for hours...


I went out to lunch with Mom and Gram at a local diner. I ordered a salad with chicken, bacon, mandarin oranges, red onion with a raspberry viniagrette (I used the "dip fork" method). It was a small serving (well, an appropriate serving!) so I estimate it at 5 POINTS...

Afternoon snack was a Bluebran Vitatop and grapes for 2 POINTS...

I tried an interesting recipe tonight involving this...

I got the inspiration from this old Weight Watchers cookbook that I picked up at the Used Book Sale last weekend...

I reworked the recipe so much that I guess I can call it my own now! It was Polenta with Smoked Gouda and Mushroom Sauce....

It was 8 POINTS and out of this world good! I have leftovers, so I will be eating this again. I'll post the recipe the next time for you all :)

For dessert, another serving of Chocolate Banana Cake with Cocoa Glaze...

One word of advice about this "cake"- don't overbake it! Mine was cooked a little too long and it's more on the dry side. If you try it, start to check for doneness around 18-20 minutes. It doesn't take that long to set up and it's definitely better when it's moist! Dry cake sucks :P

Sorry to rush through this. See you tomorrow =)

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 :)

A Good Day

Oh happy day! I felt so relieved after weighing-in this morning. It is terrible that I let the scale rule me and it is something that I haven't been able to conquer yet. I let that number on the scale dictate whether I'm going to have a good day or a bad day. Many times that number has caused me to throw in the towel and quit my diet. Other times it has caused me to overeat just from the stress of not seeing the number that I want to see. I'm trying to get better with this and I have realized that I am in this for the long haul, so it shouldn't matter so much what the scale says on a daily basis. It's about all the healthy changes that I am making for a lifetime. In any event, the scale was my friend today so I felt like it was gonna be a good day :)



Since it was weigh-in day, for both BLBE2 Challenge and Weight Watchers, I did not eat breakfast until after my meeting. I brought these in the car to eat on the drive home(don't worry - yogurt was at red lights only!)...


Lunch was a Mexican Bean Wrap, some carrots and a serving of Kettle Baked Potato Chips...

For the wrap, I used 1/2 c. Old El Paso Fat Free Refried Beans spread on a La Tortilla Factory Tortilla. I added 2 tbsp. salsa, 1 tbsp. guacamole, shredded lettuce and chopped tomatoes and rolled it all up burrito-style. So delish and only 3 POINTS! I have to admit that it is not the prettiest wrap to look at. Something about the refried beans reminds me of dogfood! Thankfully, it doesn't taste that way. Although, having never tasted dogfood, I wouldn't know for sure ;)

Before heading out for daughters afternoon activities, I had a snack of 1/2 c. plain yogurt with one of the new WW banana nut bread bars that I got as a sample at my meeting. I have to say that I really like these bars! It was awesome crumbled on top of the yogurt and it was a filling 3 POINT snack...

Again, I had no specific plan for dinner. Since, it's dance night, I knew it would be something quick. I ended up making soup and sammies for the husband and daughters. No complaints from them -how special ;) I decided to have Chinese food - Trader Joe's style!! I picked up this Chicken Chow Mein in the frozen section at TJ's...
It is basically frozen broccoli, peppers, carrots and chicken with noodles and sauce. The sauce comes in a separate package so that you can add as little or as much as you like. Big daughter loves this meal! We had tried it once before and she insisted I buy it again. It's a good buy, POINTS-wise, too. One serving is 220 cal., 3gr. fat and 4 gr. fiber which comes out to 4 POINTS! Such a bargain that I had room for these, too...

One of these egg rolls is only 110 cal., 4 gr. fat and 2 gr. fiber. That's 2 POINTS!

I added even more veg by having some leftover string beans with evoo. Another yummy and filling meal for only 7 POINTS...

And you know there's always room for dessert! I've been jonesing for peanut butter all day. I do have the weirdest cravings, huh? Deep Chocolate Vitatop with a more glaze-ish topping of PB2 mixed with Marshmallow Fluff...

Goodness in every bite :0)