Eat, Rush, Repeat

Boy, morning always comes so fast and I was starvin’ Marvin when I woke up!  No time to wait, I fixed up breakfast right away.  A wafflewich was calling my name…

I ate it so fast, I don’t even remember it!  I hate when I do that!  Note to self:  TAKE YOUR TIME.  Because right after I shoveled ate it, I had a craving for chocolate!  Why is the UNIVERSE torturing me??!!!  I mean, REALLY, do I have to fight morning cravings now, too??!!  I ran out of the kitchen and busied myself with getting the daughters off to school.

I had to skip the gym so that I could tidy up at home and prepare for my lunch guest, Rosemary and her little guy…

He is such a cutie pie!!!  I had fun snuggling him up and catching up with my friend!

We took a snuggle break and ate some lunch.  I had prepared an Italian Chicken Salad;  a great recipe from my girl at the Food Network…

I served it on lettuce with a side salad and a slice of Seven Grain Bread…

and some red pepper hummus…

Such a nice afternoon!

That was the extent of  quiet and relaxing;  the daughters came home and it was back to reality!  We had to head to religion class followed by an ice cream social which I had to help out with, so I decided to give everyone a quick Annie’s mac and cheese dinner with some veggies before we left.  The daughters were not loving eating dinner at 3:45, but I knew the ice cream would deter them from wanting ANY dinner at all later!  So, as not to be tempted  during my job as designated “scooper”, I ate a good snack before leaving, too – Chobani nonfat peach yogurt topped with Pecan Sticky Bun granola (* do NOT buy this, it is EVIL) and about 45 more handfuls of granola – GAH!

I scooped without incident.  A little while after getting home, I had a small bowl of dinner leftovers…

I’m realizing that I’m going to have to get better at pre-planning some dinner for these busy nights.  Can’t eat mac and cheese every time…actually, that wouldn’t be soooo awful ;P

Hope you all had a great day!

ONE GOOD THING:  The Pecan Sticky Bun Granola is almost gone :D

On The Road Again

Greeting from the shore again! We took our sweet time getting here today which enabled us to avoid lots of traffic. After another great night sleep, I felt much better and more energetic this morning. I took advantage of the energy and headed straight to the elliptical for an easy 30 minute workout.

I was much more decisive for breakfast, too. I went straight for a savory wafflewich made with 2 Eggo Nutrigrain waffles, 1 egg white and a slice of Weight Watchers American for a great 3 POINT breakfast...


I made some iced coffee with fat free half and half (1 POINT) to go with it...


I took my time packing and reorganizing everyone's bags. I'm bad at packing and tend to bring the kitchen sink, but I did better this time:)

It was slim pickings for lunch since I scaled down all the fresh produce and perishable items. I dug out a Chickpea Spinach Almond Burger from the freezer, topped it with asiago cheese and put it on an Arnold Sandwich Thin. I chose some applesauce for my side; I forgot how good applesauce is!

But, I still needed some crunch, so I went with a 1/2 serving of Kettle Baked Potato Chips...

It was a tasty and satisfying 7 POINT lunch!

After an errand or two, it was time to hit the road. We made it to the beach house in record time! Don't worry, Mom, we weren't speeding ;P I unpacked the goods and had a little snack of peanut butter filled pretzels (2 POINTS) to tide me over until we decided on dinner...

The daughters voted for Chinese food. The husband ordered and I headed to the supermarket to pick up a few things. While there, I came across these Kahiki Vegetable Egg Rolls...

One egg roll is only 70 calories, 2 grams of fat and 1 gram fiber- 1 POINT! I decided to give them a try so that I wouldn't be tempted by the "other" egg rolls from the restaurant. They were terrific! The egg roll was as crisp as if it had been fried due to the special packaging that's used during microwaving and it was filled with the traditional veggies. The only complaint I would have is that there was a little too much black pepper seasoning on the veggies for my taste, but otherwise, they are a fantastic alternative to the restaurant fried egg roll.

I ordered Shrimp with Broccoli for my dinner. I paired it with the Kahiki egg roll for a tasty 8 POINT dinner...

I had to see what good fortune I would have...

After our filling dinner, we went for a brisk family walk on the beach for about 30 minutes. It was a beautiful night :)

Ice cream was on the agenda for dessert! I bought some Breyers Fat Free Double Churn Vanilla Ice Cream while at the supermarket. I'm trying to keep the vacation damage to a minimum!! I decided to liven it up by topping it with one of these guys (1 POINT) brought from home...

and a teensy squirt of Hershey's Special Dark Syrup for a decadent 3 POINTS...

I'm off to cozy up with the husband. Have a great night, everyone!!!

Striving To Maintain

Hi everyone! Sorry, I missed posting yesterday. I'm finding my summer days are filled to the brim with entertaining the daughters and by night time, I am just too tired to post. It's been fun though! I'm trying to keep to a schedule as best I can so as to keep the sibling blow-ups to a minimum. So far, so good! What is not so good is my eating plan. While I can't say it's gone to hell in a handbasket, it's just not been up to par. I'm not physically tracking my food, however as a habit, I do mentally count what I am eating. And I'm noticing a lot of picking here and there: crusts off daughters' sandwiches, an extra chip or two, bites of leftovers... you know, that kind of thing. I know from experience that it all adds up in the end. But, my mindset seems to be to just get through the summer without packing on any more pounds. I think I'll have good weeks where I feel completely on track and in a losing mode and then, I'll have others when I'm just trying to get by without a massive gain. I looked at the calendar and see nothing but holidays, parties and vacations in the upcoming weeks. UGH. So, instead of stressing about losing and making it to my goal weight, my NEW GOAL is to get through the rest of the summer without gaining. If I lose, great. If not, that's okay, too. And come September, when everyone is back to where they should be, I feel like I can focus on myself again. Does this sound like a cop-out? Maybe. But, I know the more stressed I feel, the more I want to eat. A lot. Lots of eating = gaining. I don't want to go there. So, maintain is the state I'm striving for!

Now, onto the food...

After Jillian kicked my non-Shredded butt, I made a yummy wafflewich using 2 Eggo Nutrigrain Waffles, 1 tbsp. PB2 and a sliced Fuji apple for 4 POINTS...

Lunch was completely boring. Please excuse my lack of creativity in the lunch department. I've been trying to be good about using leftovers and I also find the usual sandwich, chip, fruit combo to work best during these busy days. So here's today's: leftover grilled chicken in a small La Tortilla Factory tortilla, Kettle Baked Chips (oh, I've missed having these -yum!) and watermelon for 7 POINTS...

Non pictured snacking went on in the afternoon. Not too crazy, though. Just some reduced fat Cheez-its and some No Pudge Brownie batter licks!

For dinner, I tried a recipe from Devin Alexanders' book, The Most Decadent Diet Ever, for Salisbury Steaks in Rich Brown Gravy. It was very good; definitely a family favorite...

Salisbury Steaks With Rich Brown Gravy

1/3 c. egg substitute

1/4 c. old-fashioned oats

1 tbsp. plus 2 tsp. onion soup mix

1 tbsp. dried minced onion

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1 lb. 96% lean ground beef

3 tbsp. flour; divided

1 c. fat-free, lower sodium beef broth

2 tbsp. ketchup

2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

olive oil spray

1 onion, sliced and separated into rings (about 3 1/2 c.)

Combine egg substitute and the oats in a medium mixing bowl. Let stand for 3 minutes to soften the oats. Add onion soup mix, minced onion, garlic powder, pepper and beef. Mix until well combined and then shape into 4 oval patties about 1 inch thick, 3 inches wide and 4 1/2 inches long.

Put 2 tbsp. flour in a medium shallow bowl. Dip the patties in the flour to coat them on all sides. Put the remaining flour in a medium mixing bowl. Slowly whisk in enough broth to form a paste. Then slowly whisk in the remaining broth, ketchup and Worcestershire sauce until well combined. Set aside.

Preheat large nonstick skillet to medium-high heat. When the skillet is hot, lightly mist it with spray. Put in the patties and brown on both sides. Pour the broth mixture into the skittlet. Add the onion rings to the skillet. Bring the liquid to a boil; cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer aobut 15 minutes, flipping patties once, halfway through. Transfer to a platter; spoon onions and gravy over the patties and serve.

Makes 4 patties; 4 servings

1 patty with 1/4 of the gravy and onions has 205 calories, 26 gr. protein, 13 gr. carbohydrates, 5 gr. fat, 60 mg. cholesterol, 1 gr. fiber, 573 mg. sodium

To go with it, I had 1/2 c. high fiber noodles and a scant 1/2 c. peas. A hearty 8 POINT meal...

Of course, I had to have one of the No Pudge Brownies that I made this afternoon. So dessert was a Brownie Strawberry Shortcake for 3 POINTS...

I'm off to enjoy the beautiful evening! Have a great night everyone!!!

An Evening With Joe

Hey everyone! We got in late last night, so I have been spending the day catching up on housework and blogs. You all have been busy!


I really missed my bike ride this morning. It was so fun to be able to ride around the shore town and it seemed so easy to get in 4 or 5 miles in a day. I may have to look into where bike trails are near my home. A new form of exercise to throw in the mix! As for my exercise this morning, I broke out an "oldie but goodie"- Leslie Sansone's Walk Away The Pounds. Kelly over at Happy Texans had mentioned this a couple days ago and I remembered I had it, so I gave it a whirl this morning. I was able to do the 3 mile (43 min.) with no problems. I have the one for abs that comes with resistance bands, so it was a nice full body workout.

After the workout, it was breakfast time. I decided to try something else new, a wafflewich! I've been salivating over these since seeing them on Danica's blog, so I tried my own version today. I used these Eggo waffles (2 for 2 POINTS) ...



smeared with 1 wedge of Laughing Cow Light Cheese and one egg white. It was delicious and a filling 3 POINT breakfast...



After more blog reading and a trip to Trader Joe's, I was ready for lunch. I was in the mood for a big salad today. I decided on a Turkey Bacon Ranch Salad using romaine lettuce, 2 slices center cut bacon, tomato, 1 tbsp. Kraft Light Three Cheese Dressing topped with my Ranch Turkey Burger for 5 POINTS...

and some beautiful blueberries and watermelon for 1 POINT...

The afternoon munchies came to visit, so I did end up digging into a box of reduced-fat Cheez-Its and a handful of chocolate covered raisins. Later, I was thinking that I should make a serious effort to take pics of these munchies when they occur. It may be a "tool" to help jar me out of that mindless eating mode. Either that or I'll just be extremely mortified to have to show all that junk! Hey, whatever works ;P

And tonight, I had dinner with Joe. No, that is not my husband; just all eats came from my home-away-from- home, Trader Joe's. First, was one of these...

then, 8 of these guys...

and for some veg, 1 cup of this yummy mix...

Altogether, now...

It was an awesome "heat and eat" dinner for only 6 POINTS! Gotta love all the great Weight Watchers-friendly food at TJ's!

And I couldn't resist a little (okay, maybe not so little) piece of organic dark chocolate to finish the night (2 POINTS)...

So, just to update you on some things... I tiptoed to the scale this morning, hoping for a good result considering all the exercise I was getting in at the shore, and thankfully, the scale was nice and slid me a 2.5 lb. loss since my last WI. I'll take it! Nice to see it heading down toward that goal number again! Another thing is that I've decided to stop my "Counting Experiment". If you remember, I was going to try to start my day's POINTS allotment at lunch instead of breakfast in an effort to help me with the afternoon munchies. I can't say that it didn't work. It actually helped pull me out of that funky eating mode I was in, but what I found is that it was too hard to "reset" myself if I fell off the wagon. It just seems easier to start the day fresh, rather than the middle of the day or later in the evening, if that makes sense. And actually, I've stopped being compulsive about counting every POINT, too. Now, hopefully that doesn't bite me in the big rear-end, but I don't want to stress about figuring out how many POINTS is in every little morsel that I eat. Mostly where I'm applying this strategy is going out to eat and eating at someone's house. I will always "mentally" count POINTS for my meals as best as I can. It really is the same thing as calorie counting and I need a general knowledge of how much I am putting in my mouth. But, let's face it, it's difficult to POINT count or calorie count when you are eating out or away from home. I will always do my best to make the healthiest choice possible. That is my lifestyle change. It has to be that way for always.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!