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!

Sunday Around The House

I love lazy Sunday mornings. We had no where to be today, so I slept in until 7:30 but didn't get out of bed until 8:30! Love it! I worked on things around the house and helped the husband clean out the garage. I finally got around to eating breakfast around 11. I toasted up 2 slices of TJ's Sprouted Flourless Wheatberry Bread and topped it with a wedge of Laughing Cow Light for 3 POINTS...


A while after breakfast, I did The Shred for my workout. I haven't done it in quite a while, so I went with Level 1. Totally kicked my butt. I forgot how hard it was! I upped my weights and used 5 pounders and my arms were burning. I even had to stop a time or two! I have gotten all pansy-ish again! Jil would not be happy ;P

After that workout, I deserved a nice big lunch! I decided on a tofu scramble. Are you tired of hearing me rave about these??? I can't help it; they are so good! Really! Tofu can be yummy :) This scramble was made with 1/2 block of Nasoya Lite Firm Tofu, red onion, sliced button mushrooms, baby spinach, roasted peppers and a slice of 2 % cheese. I crumble and brown the tofu first, in nonstick cooking spray, then add the remaining ingredients and cook through. Couldn't be easier or more delicious. Using the lite tofu makes this really low POINTS. The entire block comes to 5 POINTS; I count half as 3 POINTS. The veggies are zero and the addition of the cheese is 1 POINT. So, this giant serving comes to 4 POINTS! So awesome! I had room to add a serving of Triscuits for 2 POINTS and some grapes for 1 POINT. This was one filling 7 POINT meal...

Later in the afternoon, I broke out the popcorn for everyone to snack on. I always forget about this. It is a great volume 1 POINT snack...

Dinner was a Salmon Roulette, Gram's green beans and 1/2 c. brown rice. A quick tip for brown rice- boil it like pasta! I know that sounds strange and not the traditional way to make rice, but if you just put your desired amount of brown rice in a pot of boiling water for about 30-40 minutes, then drain it; it comes out perfect, fluffy and with a great texture! It got 2 thumbs up from the family. A nice, healthy 8 POINT meal...

Okay, now for the dessert. I ditched the Vitahearts and tried out my Chocolate Espresso Glaze on a Deep Chocolate Vitatop...

SCORE!!!! This was so amazing! Rich, chocolatey and very decadent-tasting! And only 1 POINT! You'll be seeing this a lot :D

I'm clocking out early tonight. I have my friend's Dad's funeral in the morning and I know it's gonna be a tough day, so I'm going to get some extra rest. But, come back tomorrow night for a really FUN giveaway!!! Have a great night!

A New Member

I just joined Weight Watchers. Not really. I've been a member since July 2007, but when I went to my meeting this morning, I decided that I am going to pretend that I am a brand new member! Goofy, right? Well, remember that feeling you had when you made the solid decision to embark on a weight loss program? Kinda a mix between disgusted, fed-up, overwhelmed, desperate and excited for a new start? Then, you fully immersed yourself in your program of choice, being extra attentive and hypervigilant about following it to the T. You were very "rah rah" and "I can do it". Well, I tried to channel all those feelings from "day one" and went into my meeting this morning like it was my first. I told the receptionist my plan and she played along. Fresh start. I'm not looking at any of the previous pages of my weigh-in booklet and lamenting over it. I'm just starting new. And how ANNOYING am I that I am one of those people that joins Weight Watchers and only has 10 pounds to lose *wink, wink* ???!!!!

I headed out early for my meeting and rushed back just in time to have some toast before taking little daughter to a make-up dance class. I toasted up 2 slices of Trader Joe's Sprouted Grain Wheat Bread and spread them with 1 Laughing Cow Cheese Wedge for 3 POINTS...



When we got home, I did some housework and headed to the treadmill for a 35 minute run and 5 minutes of tricep dips/weights.

Before I knew it, it was after 1:00 and time for lunch. Chips made a reappearance in the form of these...

A big serving is only 2 POINTS...

I also made a salmon salad wrap using a La Tortilla Factory Smart and Delicious Wrap , a handful of baby spinach and the other half of the salmon salad mix - YUM! I paired it with some carrots for a delish 5 POINT lunch...

I will definitely keep that salmon salad in my normal rotation; it is so good!

I spent some time outside with the husband and daughters. What a glorious day! We had lunch outside and it was so nice!

While prepping for dinner, I realized I was getting hungry. I didn't think I could make it an hour til dinner, so I grabbed this for a snack...

I love this bar just as much as the Peanut Butter flavor!!! I think this may be my fave, though. You can taste and smell the banana flavor and the bits of walnut. These are so great and only 2 POINTS! Thanks again to Robyn at Gnu Foods for introducing me to these beauties!

We broke out the grill for dinner tonight! It was perfect grilling weather. I decided on burgers. I used 96% lean ground beef and some seasonings and formed the patties. I served mine on an Ezekiel Sprouted Grain Bun with a side(3 oz.) of sweet potato oven fries and grapes. A summery 9 POINT dinner...

and a good old dessert of Deep Chocolate Vitatop with PB2 "icing"! I paired it with 1/2 c. skim milk for a satisfying 3 POINT dessert...

Wow, this Weight Watchers Program is so easy to follow! I ate all the things I loved, but still stayed within my daily POINTS! This is such a great program; I'm gonna tell all my friends! I don't know why I haven't done this before ; )

Fake it til I make it =)

5K Saturday and Pizza Revenge

Hope everyone is having a good Saturday! I woke up a little slow; my cold seems to have surfaced. It's mild, but I was still slow going. My first thought was no way am I exercising today, but as I got up and moving around, I realized that I didn't feel as badly as I thought. I donned the sneakers and headed to the treadmill for another 5k Saturday! This was my second time and I was able to run without stopping again! I even beat my time from last week by 3 min.; I went from 61 min. to 58 min! I felt really good afterward. Depending on what I have going on, I may try it again tomorrow morning!



After my run, I had some breakfast of 3/4 c. Puffins, 1/2 c. high fiber cereal, 4 sliced strawberries and 1 c. Soy Slender...









I was craving lots of fruit today and I actually decided on what fruit I wanted before what I would have for the main part of my lunch! I went with a ham wrap with lettuce and tomato, orange slices, grapes and 1/2 oz. Kettle Baked Potato Chips. An altogether yummy 5 POINT lunch...


My peanut butter cravings surfaced again and I also wanted some yogurt for a snack, so I put them together. This was an interesting combo! I used 1/2 c. plain yogurt and mixed it with my BFF - PB2 to make peanut butter yogurt! Sounds weird, right? It was good, though. To make it even better, I crumbled a Weight Watchers Peanut Butter Cookie over the top...

Wow, 3 POINTS of PB heaven!

The husband and daughters devised an evil plot to get their pizza that I deprived them of last night! It was decided that we should go out for dinner and of course, they chose Bertucci's, which is an incredible brick oven pizzeria and Italian restaurant! This place is hard to be in; even though it is a chain -type restaurant, everything is so delicious. But, the item that is the toughest for me is this...

These dough ball rolls are right up there with brownies in the temptation department! They are served with a dish of flavored olive oil for dipping! Evil, evil, evil!!!!! So, I tried to be a good Weight Watcher and moved the rolls and the dipping oil to the other end of the table. I allowed myself one of these rolls, but I waited until the server brought my salad with fat free Chianti dressing until I dug into this doughy goodness...

Along with my salad, I ordered a cup of the Tuscan Minestrone Soup which was delicious and warmed my stomach on this cold, cold night...

I did break off another bite of roll, but didn't eat any of the pizza that was swirling around me! Whew, glad that we got out of there before any damage was done! It's a little rough going out to eat, especially when I knew that I used most of my Weekly Allowance POINTS yesterday on that mindless after lunch snacking. Overall, I was happy with my choices tonight. I have to understand that everything I ate was delicious AND good for me, even if it wasn't what I would have eaten "in the old days" (i.e. giant calzones, heavy pasta dishes, way more than one roll!). As a matter of fact, I commented to the husband on the ride home, that I couldn't imagine eating or ordering the menu items that I used to when we went there. I could almost remember the "after feeling". You know, like that stuffed and lethargic just want to lie down feeling. Again, I acknowledged my progress in this journey of trying to eat healthy! Cool!

When we got home, we played a little Wii bowling and tennis, then I had some dessert. It got away from me last night, but no way can I go 2 nights without some!!! I continued on with my peanut butter craving and had my usual dessert, Deep Chocolate Vitatop with PB2/Fluff icing. This was the last of my PB2 (sniff, sniff), but I have some on order. Can't live without the stuff, now...

The husband brought the remainder of the daughters' pizza home and one of those doughy devils home. I am using Angie's trick right now of imagining that it fell in the toilet!!! LOL! Hey, we gotta do what we gotta do to stay outta trouble!

Hope you're all staying out of trouble, too! I know, I'm NO FUN...

Dinner And Dessert!

I spent some time this afternoon perusing WW friendly recipes from my vast array of recipe binders (I currently have 4 binders filled with recipes) and cookbooks. It's a sickness, I know, and one that I have inherited from my Mom who has a roomful of cookbooks, recipe binders and past issue cooking magazines. Sorry I "outed"you, Mom!!! While looking through my binders, I came across a recipe for Baked Buffalo Chicken which looked easy enough so that's what I made for dinner tonight. I put chicken drumsticks in a baking dish sprayed with cooking spray, seasoned them with s & p and baked them at 400 degrees for 30 min. While they were baking, I melted 1 tbsp. light butter with 1/4 c. Frank's Hot Sauce and a dash of celery salt. After 30 min., I poured the hot sauce mixture over the chicken drumsticks and let them bake for another 10-15 minutes. I took the skin off of my little guy before adding the sauce, but left the others with skin which got nice and crispy. The family loved it - hooray!! I served mine with a side of carrot sticks and cucumber spears with 2 tbsp. Marie's Light Blue Cheese Dressing for dipping, and also a 3 oz. serving of baked fries. A fun dinner, all for 6 POINTS...

I had plenty of room for dessert (as always!) and thought I would make something special, but didn't get around to it :( So, I took out my yummy Deep Chocolate Vitatop, mixed up the PB2 and then saw this blast from the past in my kitchen cabinet...

Can you see where I'm going with this???? I added 1 tbsp. of marshmallow fluff ( 20 cal., 0 gr. fat = 0 POINTS!) to the PB2 and heated it in the micro for a few seconds until the fluff got melty and mixed with the PB2! I know!!!! This is the best dessert - Deep Chocolate Vitatop with PB2 Marshmallow Frosting...

* Drooling while posting*...

I'm pretty sure I can save up 2 POINTS to have this every night!

Well, it was a good "on program" day today which is a great thing because the BLBE2 is officially underway! My teammates that have weighed-in today are off to an awesome start; I hope to be right up there with them this Thurs.! GO TEAM ANGIE!

Have a nice night =)