What's In There

I have been really good about eating my meals at home. When I am out most of the day running around, I am tempted to eat whatever is out there. I tend to not make the healthiest choice and I don't usually feel satisfied . My new strategy has been to take a "lunch break" at home. Sometimes it's a royal pain to do this, but I make out better with my healthy eating goals when I follow through with it.



The Power Pumpkin Pancakes stayed with me for a lot longer than I thought this morning. But by 1 p.m., I was starving! Funny how it happens all at once. I headed home for my "lunch break" and tried to figure out what looked good to eat. My first thought was a quick wrap, but then the leftover potato skins jumped out at me. I looked around for something to top them with and I found a Weight Watchers Smart Ones Chicken Sante Fe in the freezer. I don't normally eat these dinners; they aren't usually that great and are super loaded with sodium. Plus, it's just not enough food for me. But, I figured I should eat what's in there before stocking up on more food. See, I'm getting better at not wasting!!! This frozen meal is not too bad taste -wise and it was only 2 Points...





I heated the potato skins in the toaster oven. Meanwhile, I nuked the Chicken Santa Fe for the required time. I filled the skins with the Chicken Santa Fe and topped them with a slice of 2% cheese divided over the 4 skins. Carrots were a nice side...




I weighed the skins before filling and they came to 3 0z. which is only 1 Point! With the chicken and the cheese, these only came to 4 Points! So great and filling.



I packed a snack for the afternoon. I had grapes and a Curves Strawberries and Cream Granola Bar...

Thursday nights are usually breakfast for dinner since we get home late, but I was prepared tonight! Before we left for afterschool activities, I made Chicken Cutlets -a family favorite. I decided I would have the same dinner as the family, so I breaded the cutlets as I usually would except I used egg whites instead of whole eggs. Also, I pan fried my cutlet first and used only cooking spray in a nonstick skillet. Then, I added the oil to fry the rest for the family. It worked out great! I still got the taste of a homemade Chicken Cutlet without all the fat! I used the leftover scooped out potato (from the skins) and made mashed potatoes for the family. I had a bit of leftover butternut squash and we all had salad (mine dressed with Marie's Light Blue Cheese). Awesome dinner...

In my fridge exploration, I also found these biscuits...

I'm not sure why I have these! No one in this family really likes them. I figured I would play with them and see if I could make Mini Apple Turnovers. I peeled and diced(small) one large apple and placed it in a bowl. I added 1/2 tbsp. sugar and 1/8 tsp. cinnamon. I flattened out each biscuit (dust with flour, they can stick) , added about 1 tbsp. of apple mixture and folded over. I crimped the edges with a fork and placed on a cookie sheet coated with cooking spray. I sprayed the tops with cooking spray and sprinkled a little more sugar and cinnamon. They baked for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Here's how they turned out...

I ran these through my Weight Watchers Recipe Builder and they came out to 1 Point per turnover! One of these biscuit tubes makes 10 turnovers.

These tasted fine on their own. They do have that "biscuit taste", but the apple flavor was good. I thought this dessert would be MUCH better, if it was apple turnover A LA MODE!! Since I had the Points, I added a serving of Breyers Fat Free Double Churn Caramel Swirl Ice Cream...

Leave it to me to add more calories... :)

Hope everyone had a great day!

New Day, New Breakfast

Sleeping went better around here last night; I think I was in a coma! So, today is good. Sun is shining and I was looking forward to playing around with the leftover potato skins from last night. I decided to make them into Egg and Cheese Potato Skins. I took two of the potato skin shells and put them in the toaster oven to recrisp/reheat. Meanwhile, I scrambled 3 egg whites and some diced green pepper in a pan sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. I split the cooked egg mixture evenly and loaded it into the heated potato skins. I took a slice of 2% cheese, divided it in half and placed a half on each skin. So easy and so good...

A great "grab and go" 3 Point breakfast! My mind is racing with all the different combos to add to these skins! Speaking of racing, out the door I go... :)

Busy Day

Sorry I have been M.I.A. today. It started out as a rough morning, little daughter woke up at 4:30 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep! Needless to say, I was not thrilled. One positive thing is that I was on the elliptical by 5 :45 and got that out of the way. I remained grouchy all morning and therefore, did not get a picture of my breakfast. I had 1/2 c. greek yogurt with some sliced strawberries. Not exciting, but nothing was this morning!!



I was out the door running errands and Christmas shopping by 8:30 a.m. I didn't bring any snack with me, so I stopped home to eat lunch. I was starving!!! Four hours was too long for greek yogurt to hang out. I grabbed a quick sandwich of 2 oz. turkey, 1 laughing cow light cheese wedge, lettuce and tomato on an Arnold Sandwich Thin. I had grapes and a serving of pretzel sticks (30 grams - yup, I weigh it!) for something different. The pretzels were a good choice because they took a while to eat. I'll have to remember this "chip alternative"...







My snack this afternoon was a Fiber One Strawberry Yogurt and 1 bar of Kashi TLC Roasted Almond Crunch Granola Bar...

For dinner I made potato skins! These were so easy to make and tasted great. I used some small to medium potatoes and scrubbed them well, sprayed them with cooking spray and baked them in a 425 degree oven right on the rack for about 40 minutes. I sliced each potato in half and let cool for a bit. When cool enough to handle, I scooped out each potato, leaving a small bit of potato for each shell. (*I'm saving the scooped out potato for another recipe -maybe potato soup or mashed potatoes.) I seasoned the potato shells well with salt and pepper and placed them on a sprayed baking sheet and back in the oven for 10 minutes. They were pretty crispy at this point. I topped them with some cooked turkey bacon, 1 oz. shredded Cabot 75% reduced fat cheddar cheese and chopped green onion. I put them back in the oven for about 5 minutes until the cheese melted. These were so good! A great "bar food" fix. I had 4 skins for 6 pts. I had a side salad with cucumbers and Kraft Light Three Cheese Ranch Dressing...

I made quite a few extra potato skins without any toppings. I may try to freeze them or just keep them in the fridge and work on them this week. There are so many different combos to put on these skins other than cheese and bacon. Maybe a mexican-style skin with fat free refried beans, cheese and salsa or a breakfast skin with scrambled egg and cheese! Ooh, I think I'll try that tomorrow for breakfast!

I ended the night with more than a few Holiday Ginger Cookies. I don't know why I did that. I guess it's being tired and feeling stressed that drives the munching. The food police needs to pull me over... :(