Up And Moving: No Candy Required

It’s so nice to get up with the sun!  Love the time change for the morning, although getting dark by 5:30 p.m. kinda stinks.  Oh well, can’t win ‘em all!

The daughters were off from school today, so it was a nice relaxing morning in the pj’s for us.  I took advantage of the extra time to make a bowl of Pumpkin Oat Bran…

• 1/2 cup oat bran
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup canned pumpkin
• splash of Silk Heart Health Vanilla Soymilk
• 2 tbsp. walnuts
• 1 tbsp. homemade almond butter

Delicious and very filling.  The addition of almond butter made it!

After breakfast, I got in a good amount of organizing and decluttering in various rooms.  It all accumulates so fast!  Especially books and magazines!

Lunch happened earlier than I thought.  The oat bran was filling, but didn’t hold me over as long as it has before.  Oh well, I ran with it and fixed up a leftover turkey sandwich on an Ezekiel Hamburger Bun with spinach.  The star of the sammie was this awesome mustard…

 

It wasn’t as zesty as Zesty!  But, it was the perfect compliment to the turkey sandwich, as were the POPchips and crunchy Gala…

Later, while I was packing up the mounds of Halloween candy, I had a little treat…

Then carried on along my merry way, pinching my nose so as to not be enticed by the smell of this…

or this…

Yes, you can smell it through the wrapper.  Uh huh.  Have I mentioned that I hate Halloween?  Yes?  Okay, moving on…

While little daughter was at dance, I decided to hit the gym for a quick run.  I wanted to do 3 miles today, but knew I probably wouldn’t be able to fit it into my 30 minute time frame.  I tried pumping up my speed, but it left me a little too winded, so I  resigned myself to the 2 miles and walked the rest at a 10% mountain climbing incline.  It felt great!

Dinner was prepped (me) and in the oven while I was gone (thanks, big daughter!), so a yummy cheesy Lasagna was waiting when we came home.  I wasn’t in the mood for it , though, plus I made it extra cheesy for the family and I didn’t think it was worth the splurge.  I decided on a Salmon Roulette with a drizzle of pesto, leftover roasted potatoes and veggies…

I’m turning into the Leftover Queen!  It’s my secret way of cleaning out the fridge :)

I ended the night with a decaf soy latte:  decaf coffee and Silk Heart Health Vanilla Soymilk…

Candy?  What candy?  Yep, I can say that now.  I am so over it.  Who needs it?  Nope, not me!  Whew!  Now to brace myself for Christmas cookies!!!  Aaaaah!!!!

ONE GOOD THING:  I’m back to running again and I love it!  So far, so dizziness and no major hip issues.  I’m going to try out a pre-5K training schedule which I’ll post about tomorrow.  I like pushing my body a little to see what it can do!

Have a great day all!

Paint + Date

Hey guys!  Sorry for this fly-by post;  I have lots to get done to put Humpty Dumpty the kitchen back together again!

The husband and I sent the daughters off to my parents for an overnight stay so that we could paint without interruption.  It was a work day for sure!  We started bright and early and didn’t finish up until nearly 6:00 p.m.  I made sure to start off with a yummy breakfast.  My Mom gave me some of her homemade fig jam made from the fresh figs in her garden and I was looking forward to trying it out…

I spread some on 2 slices of toasted Trader Joe’s Organic Spelt Bread with a wedge of Laughing Cow Light Cheese.  It was delicious!

The husband painted away in the kitchen, while I taped and painted trim/doors in various parts of the house.  Time flew by!  Before we knew it, our stomach were screaming for food.  I decided to just make a quick wrap with turkey, avocado and baby spinach on a Joseph’s Lavash Bread .  I knew the wrap needed some condiment, so I dug around the fridge (which was in the middle of my kitchen!) and found some of this …

That made it!  It was a yummy addition.  I rounded out the lunch with some POPchips crumbs and a juicy pear…

Then, it was back to the grind.  The husband finished off the kitchen and I finished off the last of my downstairs trim and cleaned up our painting supplies while hobbling around.  Back breaking work, but well worth the effort!  We finally decided it was quittin’ time, showered and headed out for a little dinner date to a local sports bar.

We celebrated our hard work with a nice, cold one…

Then ordered a couple appetizers…

Sweet Potato Chips with Horseradish Sauce …

Fried Mozzarella Moons…

My plate ( sorry about the dark pics, they really dimmed the lighting at this point)…

We also ordered dinner.  I went with the Lemon Pepper Salmon Salad with citrus vinagrette.  It was delish and I ate most of it.  I was really craving some greens!

And the husband ordered a GINORMOUS burger with steak fries and a side Iceberg Wedge salad smothered in bacon and ranch dressing…

Heart attacks on plates.  He’s a hopeless cause!  More frustrating, he’ll probably wake up and have lost 2 lbs.!!!

We headed home and plopped in bed for a good night’s rest.  Got much more to do before the daughters get home, but we’re close.  Here’s a sneak peek…

Hope you had a great day!

ONE GOOD THING:  I didn’t go crazy with appetizers at the restaurant and ordered a healthy dinner  =)

All In The Family

I woke up this morning with running on my mind. Before the feeling left me, I quickly put on my sneakers and headed to the treadmill. Since, I woke up with the desire, I thought it would be a great run, but it wasn't so hot. I felt a little weak and it took me a good 20 minutes to get in a groove where I felt strong and steady. Weird. But, I toughed it out for 40 minutes, then did a few reps of leg exercises. Then, I hit the kitchen for a red, fiber and blue! A pretty 3 POINT bowl...


The daughters and I hit the library for some books and movies, then came home to make lunch. Nothing was exciting me today. In an effort to use up some leftovers, I decided to make a tasting plate including leftover sweet potatoes, carrots and a "deconstructed sandwich" of turkey slices and a cut-up Arnold Sandwich Thin. I added a bit of Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard in the middle for dipping. Carrots and dijon are a surprisingly good combo! Altogether, a very filling 5 POINT lunch...

While playing some board games and doing crafts with the daughters, I had a handful of Goldfish crackers... then, about 3 more handfuls...Pfft!

I had an easy pizza dinner planned for tonight. The husband and daughters had regular pizza because they would never touch a pizza with a vegetable on it! I decided to make a flatbread pizza for myself. With a vegetable on it!

This is the easiest flatbread pizza dough to make...

Quick Flatbread Dough

(from The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great by Pam Anderson)

1 c. bread flour, plus extra for dusting

1/2 tsp. teaspoon salt

1/3 c. warm water, plus extra if necessary

1 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil

Mix flour and salt in food processor. Mix water and oil and pour over flour mixture; process to form a soft dough ball. If dough is too stiff, process in another tablespoon of warm water, Continue to process until dough is well kneaded, about 15 seconds.

With floured hands, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and cut into quarters. Working with one quarter at a time, roll dough out to about a 12 x4 inch rectangle, dusting with flour and turning as necessary to keep it from sticking. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Place flatbreads on the sheet, top and bake at 425 degrees for about 10-12 minutes.

Makes 4 flatbreads pizza crusts(110 calories per crust)

So easy! Literally took me 5 minutes to put together. I decided to cut the dough in half and make two flatbread crusts instead of 4 (so 220 calories per crust). I topped them with 1/4 c. chopped sundried tomatoes(in oil), shredded baby spinach and one got 1 oz. asiago cheese...

and the other got 1 oz. goat cheese...

To go with it, I made Barbeque Bean Salad ( click HERE for recipe). I cut each pizza into 4 pieces. I had 2 pieces with asiago and 1 piece with goat cheese. Both were equally delicious! These would make a great party appetizer. It was an awesome 10 POINT dinner...

The husband even tried a piece of the goat cheese one and didn't die! Yippee ;P

I felt pretty full, but dessert called my name later on. I ended up eating a Weight Watchers Chocolate Fudge Sundae Cone for 2 POINTS....

This was not my favorite. The ice cream was lacking flavor compared to the Breyers Fat Free Double Churn Ice Cream that I usually buy. The sugar cone was good, but I probably won't buy these again.

I'm off to pack. We're heading to the beach again for the weekend! So excited to ride my bike again!! And because my Gram thinks I'm obsessed with the computer, I decided not to bring it with me this weekend. So, I won't be blogging this weekend so that I can focus ALL my attention on my family and Gram! She might want me to bring my computer again after this weekend - LOL!!!! I'll see you Sun. night for a recap.

Hope you all have a great weekend! Happy 4th and Happy belated Canada Day to my Canadian peeps!

Dance The Day Away

Whew, I am so tired tonight, so I'll try and make this quick! I woke up at 6:00 a.m. this morning (on a weekend!) so that I could make an early WW meeting. The husband wanted to take my mother-in-law out for a "surprise" Mother's Day breakfast(how cute is that!) and I needed to get back in time. I went to the 7 a.m. meeting which was surprisingly packed with members! I'm happy to report the scale was my friend and I am down 2.2 lbs.! Only 4 pounds til goal! Whoo hoo!

I rushed home after the meeting (which was all about positive self talk - very good topic!) and went straight to the elliptical. I watched really bad TV that kept me entertained during my 40 minute weighted workout. After that, I was ready for some breakfast. I went with an old favorite - Mock Egg McMuffin for 4 POINTS...



I tooled around on the computer, read some blogs and got myself and little daughter ready for an afternoon of dance! Little daughter had her dance rehearsal and she had to be in full costume and makeup. It took quite a while to put it all together. Before we left, I ate a quick lunch of turkey, baby spinach and dijonnaise on an Ezekiel bun with a side of carrots and soy crisps for 6 POINTS...

The dance dress rehearsal was an all day affair. After little daughter did her dance, she wanted to stay to watch the other dancers. We were there about 4 hours! Good thing I brought a snack (2 POINTS)...

I finally made it home, right about dinner time. I had planned ahead for the family and made Chicken Parmesan for them. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to eat and my stomach was letting me know that I had better figure it out quick. I looked in the freezer and pulled out these guys to try...

Look at the nutritionals; what a POINTS bargain!

A serving is 4 pieces, but I was starving so I went with 3 servings! That's 12 mini wontons and it only came to 3 POINTS. Now, they are little guys, but having a lot of them on the plate helped make them seem more filling. They taste terrific, too. I made a dipping sauce with 1 tbsp. soy sauce, 1 tbsp. water and 1/4 tsp. rice vinegar. I paired the wontons with a cup of fresh pineapple for a delicious 4 POINT dinner...

With plenty of room for dessert, I decided to end the night with a Fudgy Peanut Chip Vitatop with PB2 for 2 most delicious POINTS...

I'm off to bed! Have a great night, everyone =)

Grillin And Chillin

What a beautiful morning! I woke up to a balmy 60 degrees, so I definitely wanted to do a 5K Saturday outside today. It was a nice run; my outside time seems to be a lot better than my treadmill time for some reason. I did notice that it was a bit tougher to run in the warmer weather. I wasn't dressed properly either( long sleeves), so that may have had something to do with it. Tomorrow is supposed to be beautiful also, so I may have to add a 5K Sunday, too!



Breakfast was a "grab and go". After my run, I showered and had to do a couple quick errands, so I grabbed this on my way out the door...







These are okay. Not much bang for the "Weight Watchers buck". One cookie is 180 cal., 6 gr. fat and 5 gr. fiber which is 3 POINTS. Not very filling, but it was fine in a pinch.



Lunch was a turkey, cheese and spinach pita. I used 2 oz. turkey, 1 Laughing Cow Light Cheese Wedge, and a handful of baby spinach stuffed in a Weight Watchers Pita. A serving of Kettle Baked Potato Chips (Hickory Barbeque) and an orange made it a filling 6 POINT lunch...

My parents and Gram met us at big daughter's basketball game this afternoon and then came back to the house to hang out and have dinner with us. They came bearing some grocery goodies - for me! One of them was Peanut Butter Puffins! I had to break into them right away. I had a 3/4 c. serving (2 POINTS) with a Weight Watchers Vanilla Yogurt (1 POINT). So yummy; I may have to "hide" the box...

I wanted to make a big healthy dinner for everyone tonight. I had planned on chicken and since it was so nice out, I decided to get my grillin on. I cooked the chicken thighs and legs on the grill with some barbeque sauce and also, grilled some sliced zucchini. I also fired up the stove to roast some potatoes, red and green peppers and onions. I completed the healthy menu with a salad, leftover bruschetta topping and rustic bread. I took a little of everything. Lots of red and green! A great 9 POINT family dinner (sorry for the sloppy pic!)...

Dessert tonight was more red and green ...

Where's the chocolate???!!!! It was THERE, believe me! Another goodie that they brought was a chocolate cake! My mom also brought a sugar free chocolate dip which I just had a smidge of. Since I did some damage last night, I decided on "damage control" tonight. The strawberries were nice and sweet and I had coffee to go with it, so I felt satisfied.

Back on track! Something about the warm weather and the thought of bathing suits and shorts really helps out with that ;) Have a great night everyone and thanks so much for your wonderful comments! I love reading them and they really help me get back on track and refocused! MUWAH =)

I Ran A 5K!!

Well, not a real race. More like my own little personal one, in my basement on my treadmill!!! Hey, but it's a start! One of my goals this year is to run a 5K race, but I have had difficulty trying to run outdoors. After receiving some great advice from some bloggers, I realized that I need to build up my lung capacity and endurance and just start SLOW. So I mainly "jogged" on the treadmill and went fairly slow (at 3 MPH speed). It took me 61 minutes and I didn't stop at all or slow to a walking pace. I know that is a ridiculous amount of time to run a real race, but I was so happy with myself and I hope to gain more endurance to be able to do this outside! During my run (okay, jog but, run sounds so much "cooler" haha), I also realized what has been holding me back from running outside.....it's ME! My mind plays tricks on me and talks me out of doing it, making me feel like I couldn't possibly run another step or that maybe I should stop so I don't overdo it! But today I said, "LA LA LA LA LA - I can't hear you!!" to the fat girl mind and I went for it! It felt so good!

I got so caught up in this workout that by the time I got done and showered, it was almost lunchtime! I hadn't eaten breakfast before my run because I didn't want to get stitches in my side or anything else that could hinder my workout, but when I was finished, I wasn't that hungry anyway. So, I waited a little then made some lunch. I had a turkey sandwich with turkey, lettuce, and a squirt of dijonnaise on an Arnold Sandwich Thin. Along with that, a 1 oz. serving of Kettle Baked Potato Chips, carrot sticks and 2 tbsp. hummus...



After that, I felt like something sweet, so I had a Weight Watchers Peanut Butter Bliss Mini Bar...

Snack this afternoon was a nice cup of cinnamon vanilla nut coffee and my last slice of apple cranberry bread from the freezer. Must make more of that!

I'm planning on making chicken again tonight and I have plenty of POINTS still left (12), so maybe I can make a yummy dessert, too! See you later...

Lunch For Breakfast

After my sugar rush yesterday, I am totally craving salty. Nothing sweet appealed to me at all this morning. I was making little daughter a turkey sandwich to bring for lunch today and it just looked sooo good to me. So, I made one for myself - for breakfast! I used 2 oz. of turkey, some lettuce and a squirt of dijonnaise on an Arnold Sandwich Thin. I did have one "sweet"- a clementine- on the side...



That was just right and really hit the spot! I think it should hold me through my running around this morning, but if not, there's always the "coffee plan" :)

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... :(