A Snack Intervention

It was another sunshiny day, today. I thought I would go for another walk at the trail. Before I left, I had quick breakfast of Banana Fudge Vitatop (1 POINT) and a mango crackshake (2 POINTS)...



Then, I hit the trail. I walked 4.2 miles in about an hour. I tried to really keep my arms pumping to burn those calories. I wonder if I am burning as many calories as when I run. I run at a pretty slow pace, so maybe walking this way is doing a better calorie burning job? I don't know. I guess I have to save up for a Body Bugg to know for sure!

For lunch, I made a wrap with 1/4 c. Spinach Artichoke Hummus, cucumber slices, lettuce and a La Tortilla Factory Wrap. I went back to soy crisps and carrots for a side. A tasty 5 POINT lunch...

I felt like something sweet after, so I had one of these Sunsweet Prunes ; they are individually wrapped which makes them feel more "special". As if prunes could be special. Well, I guess if you're having bathroom "issues", these could be very special :) Anyway, 4 of these gems are only 1 POINT...

When the daughters came home from school, I made a snack of savory rice crackers with Laughing Cow Light and 3 strawbabies for 2 POINTS...

Then, I snacked on a handful of goldfish, a chocolate and 2 Righteous Rounds cookies. What can I say? Same old, same old. I need an intervention. A snack intervention. Anyone care to stage one for me? I promise I'll go to rehab; really, I will! I won't bore you with my lamenting about my snack issues. Moving on....

Dinner was carb-arific and quick. I combined 2 oz. of Ronzoni Smart Taste elbow macaroni with 1/2 c. TJ's marinated bean salad from yesterday. What a terrific combo! This bean salad is a great topping for pasta; no other seasoning, sauce or oil needed! I topped it with a tbsp. grated parmesan cheese. A delicious 6 POINTS...

I also had some whole wheat naan for 2 POINTS...

Then I ended the night with a 1/2 c. Banana Split Froyo for 2 POINTS...

Hope you got to soak up the sun today! Have a great night =)

Recipes Galore And A Giveaway

Hi blog friends! Thanks for coming back tonight! I had a busy weekend and it was nice to finally relax a little today. I've got a couple things to catch you up on, so I'll get right to it. First up, remember these guys...


They are the Chocolate Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Glaze that I came up with for the BSI challenge this week. Lara over at Thinspired is hosting this week's challenge and since it was my first time entering, I wasn't sure if I should post the recipe first, but Lara says it's A-OK. So here's the recipe for those....(by the way, little daughter LOVES these!)...



Chocolate Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Glaze

3 egg whites
1 large banana, mashed
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup skim milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the glaze
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons skim milk, room temp
2 teaspoons peanut butter, melted


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, beat egg whites, banana and sugar. Add milk, vanilla and oil and beat for 2 minutes on low speed. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to wet ingredients until fully combined. The batter will be very thin.

Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop batter and pour into 12 cup muffin tin lined with paper liners until all are filled. If not using liners, spray tin well with cooking spray.

Bake cupcakes for 12 minutes. Do not overbake! Let cool on wire rack.
After cupcakes are completely cool, prepare glaze. Place 2 teaspoons of peanut butter in a small microwave bowl and microwave for about 20-30 seconds until melted into liquid. Combine powdered sugar, milk and melted peanut butter and whisk until smooth. Top each cupcake with 1 tablespoon of glaze.

Makes 12 cupcakes.
Each cupcake with glaze comes to 137 calories with 2 grams of fat and 2 grams of fiber. (Nutritional data calculated using calorieking.com)






I didn't get a chance to exercise yesterday, so I was really itching to run this morning. I was about to head out, but it was raining so I was banished to the treadmill. It turned out to be a great 40 minute run while watching mindless tv shows -love it!

I wasn't too hungry for breakfast after that, so I decided on a liquid breakfast. No, not that kind ;) I was dying to try the "milkshake" that the brilliant Becca came up with, so I got the blender going. I used 1/2 c. unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze, 2 tbsp. sugar-free, fat-free vanilla pudding mix, 4 large sliced strawberries and about 6 ice cubes. OMG!!! It was terrific! A really sweet Strawberry Milkshake for 2 POINTS (really less - I think it's 1 POINT with the almond breeze)...

Surprisingly, the milkshake kept me full until lunch, but then I got hungry all at one time. That's been happening a lot lately...hmmm. Anyway, I put together a sammie with 1/4 cup Spinach Artichoke Hummus, slice of turkey and lettuce on an Arnold Sandwich Thin. I went with some leftover sweet potato fries and carrots for a side. A tasty 5 POINT lunch...

Later in the afternoon, we went for a family hike in the woods. We huffed it through the trail and up a huge hill at a pretty good pace. Not as good as our dog, Rocky, though. We were amazed at how he runs at top speed for the entire 40 minutes!

When we got back, I set to work on dinner. I had prepared some dough earlier to make naan. Naan is an east Indian flatbread that is similar to a pita, but has a more chewy, doughy texture. I believe it is traditionally made with white flour, but I decided to try it using whole wheat. Click Here for the recipe that I used (put through WW Recipe Builder for your POINTS convenience :)

And the end result...

I also made some honey barbeque chicken thighs on the grill and sauteed zucchini with garlic and parmesan...

My plate for 8 POINTS...

and I couldn't help taking another half of naan. It's so good!

For dessert, I went with my standard for 2 POINTS...

But, there's a twist! Instead of using my usual PB2, I tried a new (to me) similar product called FitNutz. It is a low calorie, low fat powdered peanut butter that you reconstitute with water. It is a great bargain at only 1 POINT, like the PB2. I do have to say that I did notice a difference in taste between this product and PB2. I didn't feel that FitNutz had as prominent a peanut flavor as the PB2. It's odd because it is just peanuts, sugar and salt. Maybe my tastebuds were off today! So, with that said, I'll let YOU be the judge! I have 3 individual serving packets to give away! This product is available in regular, chunky and pro (which contains more essential fatty acids) and I'm giving away one of each to ONE lucky winner...

All you need to do is leave me a comment! And since I'm shipping, ANYONE can enter this time - whooo hooo Canada/overseas friends! I'll choose a winner (using random.org) on Tuesday, May 19.

Thanks for reading and hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Someone's In The Kitchen

I spent almost the whole day in the kitchen today. Some was cleaning, but most of it was baking! I really enjoyed it. It was fun to create and get my hands dirty!

I started off with a breakfast of an open faced smoked salmon and dill omelette. I used 3 egg whites (got a little yolk in there by accident), 1 oz. smoked salmon and a sprinkling of fresh dill. It was delish and 2 POINTS...




Then, I got right to it. I had an idea to make a "healthy" cupcake using some overripe bananas that I had. Coincidentally, I saw that the Blogger Secret Ingredient Challenge this week is bananas, so I thought I would come up with something to submit to the challenge this time. I have only read about it and have never done the BSI challenge before, so I'm not sure if it's o.k. to post my recipe before submitting it. You'll just have to hang in there til I can post it! I will tell you that I decided on making Chocolate Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Glaze! They came to 2 POINTS each, 137 calories, 2 gr. fat and 2.2 gr. fiber. I had to have one for a snack. Mmmm. I really liked the flavor combo. Here's a sneak peek...

While these were setting up, I also made dough for a sweet treat for the husband. I used to make him Sticky Buns all the time, but I haven't done them in almost 2 years! So, I thought I would surprise him with this special treat.

As the dough was rising, I took a quick lunch break. My stomach has been a little off since first thing this morning. I haven't been that hungry and almost feel a bit queasy. That doesn't stop me from eating though! I decided on a Spinach Artichoke Hummus sammie. I used 2 slices of TJ's Organic Spelt Bread topped with 1/4 c. of my homemade Spinach Artichoke Hummus, a slice of Weight Watchers Pepperjack cheese and a handful of baby spinach. A side of grapes was plenty to round out this 6 POINT lunch - no chips :-0 ....

After lunch, I took half the sticky bun dough, rolled it out and filled it with cinnamon, sugar and lots of raisins. I made the syrup for the dough ( you do not even want to KNOW how much butter, sugar, etc. is in this!) and let buns rise for a little while longer. With the other half of the dough, I decided to make giant cinnamon buns. I rolled out the dough and filled it with cinnamon and sugar and put those aside to rise. When the rolls were double in size, I baked them all and let me tell ya, this house smelled AMAZING! The husband was dancing a jig around the house in anticipation for these guys! So, now I will tempt the bejesus out of you by showing you the end result! Ready.........

Sticky Buns......

Cinnamon Buns with Ridiculously Artery Clogging Frosting...

You know I had to take BLT's of everything to make sure it was "okay"! Um, it was okay ;)

It makes me feel better to know that these treats are a bazillion calories and it's just not worth spending the POINTS (not that I even have enough in one day to cover ONE of these guys!).

Then, came dinner. I was not much in the mood for anything. So, it was "kids choice" and they picked this...

I stumbled upon this Roads End Organics product when little daughter was diagnosed with a milk protein allergy. For the first 5 years of her life, I had to make almost all of her food from scratch so that I would know exactly what was in it, otherwise it would be life-threatening to her. I always had a "bag of food" for her wherever we went. When I found this product, I was thrilled that she could eat something that resembled the Kraft mac and cheese that other kids ate. What makes this "cheesy" is actually, nutritional yeast. It is delicious and a great source of protein and B vitamins.

Here are the facts (click pic for better view)...

Since I wasn't too hungry, I shared this with the daughters. I only had 1/2 c. of mac and chreese along with some broccoli for a mini 4 POINT dinner (served on my salad plates)...

But, you know I always have room for dessert - sick stomach or not! I couldn't resist anymore. I had to have ..................

another Chocolate Banana Cupcake with Peanut Butter Glaze! See, I was a good girl! No "buns" that would end up on my buns for sure!

Have a great night everyone =)

Tonight's The Night!!

It's the Biggest Loser Finale tonight!!! Is anyone else as crazy-excited as I am? I'm even posting earlier than usual because I don't want to miss a minute of it! I can't wait to see everyone and how they look. I've got my tissues ready because I know I'll be blubbering through the whole thing! Okay, let's get this show on the road...

It was another glorious morning for a run, so I laced up and hit the pavement. I ran for 40 minutes at a pretty slow pace today; I felt weak for some reason, but I perservered! When I came in, I had an easy breakfast of Veggie Quiche Cups and a Weight Watchers Vanilla Yogurt for 3 POINTS...



Anyone remember those Veggie Quiche Cups from the South Beach Diet?? It's a great Weight Watchers-friendly recipe, too! You can click HERE for the recipe.

After breakfast, I tooled around in the kitchen. I came up with a new hummus recipe, Spinach Artichoke Hummus. It is really good! For this, you'll need...

• 1 (15 oz.) can garbanzo beans(also known as chick peas), drained and rinsed
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 cup fresh baby spinach
• 1/2 c. artichoke hearts (canned in water)
• 3 tbsp. lemon juice
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• few dashes of cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.
2. Chill for 1 hour before serving.
3. Makes 6 (1/4 c.) servings at 2 POINTS per serving.

I couldn't wait to eat this for lunch. I decided to make a sandwich using the Spinach Artichoke Hummus, 1 slice of Weight Watchers Pepperjack Cheese, a few baby spinach leaves and 2 slices of TJ's Organic Spelt Bread. Amazing! I had the usual side of carrots and soy crisps for a great 7 POINT lunch...

I ran some errands and came home to afternoon munchies! Argh! I started with a fine snack of a Cinnamon Raisin Gnu Bar which I was sure I wasn't going to like, but I loved it! I would definitely buy this 2 POINT bar again...

AND THEN...... I snacked on those stinkin chocolate covered almonds again. And some pretzels sticks. And a handful of chips. BOO! See? See how I sabotage myself when I am close to goal? It's ridiculous. Total mental patient behavior. I think it's because I am a runner now. Yep, that's it. Running makes you hungry, which in turn makes you eat lots of crap, which in turn keeps you from goal. Therefore, running = unattainable goal. Which is why you are running. To chase after goal. See how I got to that? No, I was not a pych major in college.

Sorry, I digress... Back to my healthy dinner! I made Mozzarella and Red Pepper Stuffed Turkey Burgers served on Arnold Sandwich Thins. Ellie Kreiger made these on the Food Network the other day and I thought they looked good! To go with them, I made a Barbecue Baked Bean Salad. I found the recipe HERE. It was a huge hit with the husband! The burgers, not so much. Only because they are "turkey" which to him means "healthy" which, in turn , means "sucky".

I cut up a juicy, sweet watermelon to round out this 8 POINT barbeque...

Don't these look good???

Since, I'm posting earlier than usual, I didn't have any dessert yet. I'm thinking I should forget about it altogether considering my afternoon mouth activity. I hope the Biggest Loser will motivate me and occupy me so that I don't sneak back to the kitchen...

Enjoy your night!