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 :)

Healthy Eats

I was striving for healthy eats today. I think the junk foods trigger me to grab for more, so I'm going to try to focus on as much whole foods as possible. It will take some time, I love my junk and have a house full of it that I don't want to waste. Little by little, hopefully I can get to eating a "clean" diet most of the time. We'll see how it goes! You know I love to try these experiments in eating!

Breakfast was 1/2 c. Fiber One and 1/2 c. skim milk topped with 8 strawberries. I also had a mangled hard boiled egg white. I hate when the shell doesn't want to come off! A filling 3 POINT breakfast...


While I was eating this, I thought for a minute that the milk had gone bad. I had just bought this the other date and it didn't expire until April, but it didn't taste right to me. I had the husband taste it, too. Why do we ask someone to taste something when we think it's bad??? It's that weird? Who wants to taste something bad? But, the husband tried it and said it was perfectly fine. I don't know why it tasted weird to me; maybe I'm used to Almond Breeze now.


I had a hair appointment at lunchtime and some errands to run after, so I ate lunch a little early. I was excited to try these new Ezekiel Sprouted Grain Burger Buns...

They are huge and so hearty! One bun is 170 cal., 1.5 gr. fat, 6 gr. fiber and 9 gr. protein which comes in at 3 POINTS. I went with a Boca Bruschetta Tomato Basil Parmesan Veggie Patty and 1 tbsp. lite mozzarella to go on the hearty bun. I had just enough time for a side of carrots before heading out the door. A yummy 5 POINT lunch...

Lots of cleaning went on around this filthy house this afternoon. It feels so good to have things in order... for 25 seconds. The daughters came home from school. Snack crumbs and spilled drinks found their way back to the floor. Oh well, I tried. After re-cleaning some stuff, I stopped for a snack of 2 small plums for 1 POINT....

Pretty good, eh??? Fruit for a snack. Just fruit. No crunch = no munch. Could this be the secret to keeping from munching away in the afternoon???

And it was pizza for dinner tonight. I had originally planned on making pasta for myself, but it got too late and I was beginning to get a little too hungry. I decided to go with the pizza and a big salad of endive, escarole and radicchio dressed with a little olive oil, red wine vinegar and a drizzle of honey. I took my time eating tonight, trying to really enjoy everything on my plate. I found that one slice and the salad was enough to feel satisified. It was a great 9 POINT dinner...

After more cleaning, I'm calling it a night! I'm posting this while getting a fabulous new hairstyle by little daughter who is VERY rough and yanking out many of my hairs. Hopefully she will get some of the gray ones. YIKES! Ouch, I'm thinking she does not have a future in the world of cosmetology ;) I am also enjoying this Banana Date Breakfast Cookie for 2 POINTS...

Mmmm...works for me! Gotta go "tip" my hairstylist. Have a great night:)

What A Girl Wants

I started off my morning with a strength training workout; today's routine was lower body and abs. I notice I'm not very good at the 1 -2 minute rest between sets; that "patience thing" I need to work on ;) So, I kind of flew through the whole thing in about 20 min. It feels strange to not be doing some type of cardio on these days. I'm second guessing whether I should be getting in a little since I'm still in the weight loss mode, but the things that I've read say to weight train 3 times a week and do the cardio the other days. I don't know; anyone wanna shed some light on the sitch??



I was so excited for breakfast! I picked up these Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin English Muffins after seeing them on Angie's blog ...

What's neat about these is that they are a flourless sprouted whole grain english muffin and the mix of grains form a complete protein containing all essential amino acids. The nutritionals for 1 english muffin is 160 cal., 1 fat, 6 gr. protein and 4 fiber which comes to 2 POINTS. It's such a nice hearty-tasting muffin and was delicious topped with some I Can"t Believe It's Not Butter Spray and a tsp. of Smucker's Sugar Free Grape Jam. A sliced orange and hot cuppa joe made it a perfect 3 POINT breakfast...

After the Boca Bruschetta veggie burger yesterday, I got bruschetta stuck on the brain! I decided to listen to my body and give it what it wants! That's part of the Intuitive Eating way! I made the bruschetta topping- fresh plum tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, fresh basil, salt and pepper. I toasted 2 slices of whole wheat tuscan pane and topped it with 1/2 c. bruschetta and a bit of shaved parmesan. To go with it, I had a bowl of Tabatchnick Minestrone Soup. A spectacular 6 POINT lunch...

I was so happy with that lunch!!! I think I could eat that every day! I love bread, tomatoes and cheese!! This elation lead to ..... a My House Chocolate Chip Cookie (1 POINT).....

Thankfully, I had to leave the house after that otherwise I may have continued my happy cookie dance with the rest of the batch =)

For dinner, I planned a spice rubbed pork tenderloin. I made a rub with a variety of spices - garlic, chili powder, brown sugar, cinnamon, cumin, salt and pepper, then baked the 1lb. tenderloin for about 25 min. at 375. It was moist and delish to me and big daughter (have I said she is my favorite daughter ;) The husband and little daughter would care to not ever have that again. Oh well. At least they liked the beans! I served the pork with a side of (canned) reduced sugar baked beans and a salad with Kraft Light Three Cheese Ranch. My portion was 4 oz. pork, 1/2 c. baked beans and side salad for 8 POINTS...

I have been missing my Vitatop and craving peanut butter, so you know, I gotta give my body what it wants! The usual.... Deep Chocolate Vitatop with PB2 icing ...

A well spent 2 POINTS!

I'm holding my breath for tomorrow's weigh in. Not quite sure what to expect with this new workout routine, but regardless of what the scale says to me, I'm feeling good about being on track this week and I have enjoyed a week of eating healthfully and on program! Feel free to remind me of this statement tomorrow, just in case..... ;)

Cookies In The House

It was a 2 hour delay for the daughters this morning, so we got to sleep in a bit and start slow for the day. I was able to get in a good 40 min. on the elliptical before getting little daughter off to school, too. Then, I dug into a breakfast egg sammie made with one egg white (the last egg!), baby spinach and a slice of 2 % cheese on a Weight Watchers Petite Bagel. I also had a bit of little daughter's sliced banana, all for 3 POINTS...



After that, I headed out to the grocery store for some much needed staple items (bread, eggs, oj). I'm always on the lookout for something new to try and I stumbled upon these...


After I got home and took a closer look, I seemed to remember trying these before and thinking they were just o.k. I decided to give them another whirl for lunch today. I popped one in the micro for a minute and instead of eating it "burger style", I made it into a wrap. I used a La Tortilla Factory Smart and Delicious Tortilla , cut the patty in half to fit on one side, topped it with a shredded lite string cheese, lettuce, tomato and wrapped it up! The nutritionals for one of these patties is 70 cal., 1.5 gr. fat and 3.5 gr. fiber which is 1 POINT. Can't beat that! To go with this yummy Boca Bruschetta Wrap, I had a serving of Soy Crisps and a sweet Fuji apple for 6 POINTS...

When the daughters got home from school, they requested chocolate chip cookies for a snack so I got to work making some while they did homework. I spent a minute "pumping myself up" for this task because I was a little nervous that I wouldn't be able to control myself with these guys. Not only do I love cookies, but I love cookie batter just as much!!! Big troubles were ahead! But, I decided to make the cookies more "user friendly" for myself by altering the recipe a bit. So, I took the Original Nestle Toll House Cookie recipe and revamped it to make it a My House Chocolate Chip Cookie! They came out great and the daughters devoured them! Here's what you'll need to make these:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 stick light butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup unpacked brown sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Beat the butter, sugars and vanilla until creamy. Add egg and applesauce beating well.
2. Gradually beat in flour, soda and salt.
3. Stir in chocolate chips *( I used the mixture of mini and regular b/c it's what I had on hand)
4. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper
5. Bake at 375 degrees for 9 minutes.
6. Cool and store in airtight container.
7. Makes 40 cookies 1 POINT each or 2 cookies for 3 POINTS

And of course, I had to have one two of these guys...

It felt so good to overcome that potential for disaster by remaking the recipe and the daughters were none the wiser! They loved them and when the husband came home, he commented that the house smelled sooo good :)

Well, good thing I buttered them up with the cookies because I had a very healthy (a.k.a. eeewwww that's gross) dinner planned! I made Tuscan Chicken with Spinach and White Beans and it was delicious! For this, I used:

• 1 pound chicken tenders, cut into bite sized pieces
• 2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1 (15 oz.) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 tbsp. sundried tomato packed in oil, chopped
• 3 large handfuls of baby spinach
• 1 cup fat-free chicken broth

1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Coat with cooking spray. Add chicken, sprinkle with thyme, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook chicken until browned.
2. Add beans, sundried tomato, spinach and broth. Simmer for 10 min. or until chicken is done.
3. Makes 4 servings at 4 POINTS per serving.

So much flavor! I love the creaminess of the beans, too. I served this over small pasta for the husband and daughters. I ate mine as is with a hearty whole wheat roll. A fabulous 6 POINT dinner in minutes...

I ended the day with 1/2 c. Breyers Fat Free Double Churn Caramel Swirl Ice Cream and another My House Chocolate Chip Cookie for 2 POINTS...

I also couldn't resist a nice hot cup of coffee with some cream for 1 POINT!

A great On Program day for me!! Yay! I love when that happens =)

Off to watch the Biggest Loser!