Posts from — April 2009

Thanks to all for your nice comments about my friend’s Dad. I feel sad for her and I have been moping around the house all day, not doing much of anything that I should be doing. Well, except eating. I always manage to get that in. I think that even if I had my jaws wired shut, I would find some type of food that could fit in between that labyrinth of wires

I decided to try out a treadmill run this morning since the last of my stitches fell out yesterday. I think I am pretty well healed, so I cranked up the treadmill and did my 40 minute run. Yay! It felt so good! I can’t believe how much I miss it when I don’t run! I threw in 20 tricep dips and 15 wall pushups, too!

After that, I fixed a quick breakfast of an Ezekiel English Muffin with a wedge of Laughing Cow Light for 3 POINTS…

I fiddled around on the computer and did a little cleaning (very little), then it was time for lunch. I made a salmon salad wrap with a side of carrots and TJ’s Sour Cream and Onion Rice Chips for 5 POINTS…

I still felt a little hungry, so I had 2 very sweet clementines -YUM for 1 POINT…

Before taking little daughter to dance class, I broke out a snack…

Another great Gnu Bar! I crumbled it onto 1/2 c. nonfat Greek yogurt for a filling 3 POINT snack…

While little daughter was in class, my friend ,Coleen and I went for a walk around the parking area and solved all the world’s problems. We walked at a pretty good clip, so I got in an extra 30 minute exercise today! I love when bonus exercise happens

I was not into providing a creative plan for dinner that no one would appreciate anyway, so I gave the husband and daughters sandwiches and fruit and I had my leftover Polenta with Smoked Gouda and Mushroom Sauce for 8 POINTS. I added some roasted peppers to it to change it up tonight…(sorry about the pic; hard to make it look “pretty”)

Here’s the recipe for this full flavored dish:

Polenta with Smoked Gouda and Mushroom Sauce

• 24 oz. tube of prepared polenta
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 1 tbsp. flour
• 1/8 tsp. pepper
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 3/4 c. skim milk
• 2 oz. lite smoked gouda ( or lite smoked mozzarella), grated
• 1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese
• 8 oz. container of baby portabella mushrooms, sliced

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray a 11×7 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Slice tube of polenta into 1/2″ slices and layer in baking dish.
3. In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in salt and pepper. Sprinkle flour over butter; whisk quickly and cook for about 1 minute. Whisk in milk and cheeses. Stir in mushrooms.
4. Pour sauce over polenta slices and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Makes 3 hearty servings at 8 POINTS each.

I ended the day with some Righteous Rounds for 2 POINTS…

And a handful of little chocolate eggs and bites, licks and tastes of Cookies and Cream Ice Cream. Ugh! Glad I took that extra walk today

Looking forward to getting in bed early. Have a great night =)

Hi guys. I’m gonna make this a quick post. I just got some sad news – my old college roommate’s dad passed away, so I’m a bit distracted. Here’s a rundown of the day…

Breakfast was 1/2 c. TJ’s Nonfat Greek Plain Yogurt (I don’t like plain, but I added a bit of Splenda and it was great), 1/2 c. Kashi Go Lean Crunch and 1 c. sliced strawberries for 3 POINTS. This took me a while to eat and held me over for hours…

I went out to lunch with Mom and Gram at a local diner. I ordered a salad with chicken, bacon, mandarin oranges, red onion with a raspberry viniagrette (I used the “dip fork” method). It was a small serving (well, an appropriate serving!) so I estimate it at 5 POINTS…

Afternoon snack was a Bluebran Vitatop and grapes for 2 POINTS…

I tried an interesting recipe tonight involving this…

I got the inspiration from this old Weight Watchers cookbook that I picked up at the Used Book Sale last weekend…

I reworked the recipe so much that I guess I can call it my own now! It was Polenta with Smoked Gouda and Mushroom Sauce….

It was 8 POINTS and out of this world good! I have leftovers, so I will be eating this again. I’ll post the recipe the next time for you all

For dessert, another serving of Chocolate Banana Cake with Cocoa Glaze…

One word of advice about this “cake”- don’t overbake it! Mine was cooked a little too long and it’s more on the dry side. If you try it, start to check for doneness around 18-20 minutes. It doesn’t take that long to set up and it’s definitely better when it’s moist! Dry cake sucks

Sorry to rush through this. See you tomorrow =)

I am diggin’ this weather. Something about the warm sunshine really makes me happy! I planned on getting out for a walk this morning, but since I had to do a catch up post, I didn’t make it out. I did a weighted treadmill walk instead. I tried to get my heart rate going by really pumping my arms. Boy, that works!

After my workout, I had a Weight Watchers Petite Bagel with 1 tbsp. homemade almond butter and a side of cantaloupe for 4 POINTS…

For lunch, I went with a yummy tofu scramble. This mix was 3 oz. tofu, red onion, mushrooms, spinach, roasted peppers, salsa and 2% cheese. Mmm.. my mouth is watering just writing about it! Seriously, it’s that good! I had side of Triscuits for a salty crunch. A super filling 7 POINT lunch…

I went out to do a little shopping after lunch. I am in need of some summer clothes, mainly shirts. I tried on a few things and am still in amazement at the fact that I now wear a size M shirt. Comfortably. I can even get away with a Small here and there. In my mind, I still see myself as that 2x girl! Note to self: work on body image, girl!

When the daughters came home from school, I had a snack of lite string cheese, pretzel rod and clementine for 2 POINTS…

I felt like having something sweet after that. The munchies were gearing up for a visit. I decided to break out some armor…Arizona Pomegranate Green Iced Tea…

This tea comes in individual tubs that you mix with water. Each tub makes 2 Quarts. It is sugar free but, sweetened with Splenda. It is really good and helped kick the sweet munchies to the curb…

Dinner was low key tonight. The husband was traveling, so the daughters had free choice for dinner. They chose mac n chreeze (it’s made with nutritional yeast instead of cheese), paninis and fruit. I decided on a panini and this new soup I picked up at my second home…

Sorry for the blurry pic! One cup serving is 1 POINT. This is a bit high in the sodium department, but has a ton of potassium!

I have to say that this soup is yuck -e. I think it is basically V-8 juice in a carton. I hate V-8 juice. Badly. Eeew. Gross. Okay, sorry. However, if you are a V-8 fan what is wrong with you? , you will definitely like this =)

Thankfully, my panini was the redeeming part of my meal. I made a ham and smoked gouda panini using 2 slices Trader Joe’s Sprouted Flourless Wheatberry Bread, 2 oz. ham, 1/2 oz. lite smoked gouda, baby spinach and dijonnaise. A good 4 POINT dinner ( minus yucky soup)…

I had plenty of room for dessert and decided to conjure up a cake recipe using some overripe bananas that I had. I came up with a Chocolate Banana Cake with Cocoa Glaze. Basically, I used my whole grain Banana Bread recipe replacing the chocolate chips with unsweetened cocoa. When the “cake” was cooled, I drizzled it with a glaze made with 1 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa, 2 tbsp. powdered sugar, 1/4 tsp. instant espresso powder and 1 tbsp. water. Here’s the result…

I played around with the amounts of the ingredients so as to keep it to 2 POINTS per serving(I run everything through my Weight Watchers Etools Recipe Builder). Even with the glaze, I was able to accomplish that. Here’s the recipe, if you’d like to give it a try…

Chocolate Banana Cake with Cocoa Glaze
(8 servings)

• 1 1/2 c. whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. Splenda
• 1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder (such as Hershey’s)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 4 tbsp. unsweetened applesauce
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 medium bananas, very ripe, mashed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix mashed bananas, applesauce, vanilla and egg in a large bowl. In another bowl, combine dry ingredients. Gradually add dry ingredients into wet ingredients until well combined. Spread batter into a 8″ square baking pan sprayed well with nonstick spray. Bake for 20 -25 minutes. Let cool completely before adding glaze.

For the Cocoa Glaze, whisk together 1 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder, 2 tbsp. powdered sugar, 1/4 tsp. instant espresso powder and 1 tbsp. water. Drizzle over cooled cake.

You can have your cake and eat it, too – even with a little lite whip …

Have a sweet night