Posts from — April 2009

The husband has been having computer issues, so we are all sharing my computer which cramps my blogging style hence no post last night! Here’s what my day looked like yesterday…

I tried something new for breakfast. I have a love/hate relationship with oatmeal. I would love to love it because I know it is good for me, but I hate the texture. I also hate that, to make it taste good, I have to add a bunch of extras (toppings, milk, fruit) which puts it way up the POINT (calorie) scale. But, I’m willing to revisit it every once in a while. I came across a recipe for overnight oatmeal in The Perfect Recipe for Eating Great and Losing Weight. All you do is mix oats with milk and dried fruit, put it in the fridge overnight and in the morning, you have “instant oatmeal”. You can eat it cold, but I nuked mine for a minute so it was warm. My mix was 1 c. oats, 1 c. unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze ,1/4 c. dried cranberries and a pinch of salt. This made 2 servings at 4 POINTS each… for a measly little bowl…

I have to say that I actually liked it. The texture was not “gluey” at all and the taste was great. For me, the volume eater that I am, this just doesn’t cut it for 4 POINTS. Plus, it doesn’t stay with me long enough. I was starving by 11:30 a.m.!

Needless to say, lunch was a bit earlier than usual. I had a Health is Wealth Chicken Free Patty on an Ezekiel Bun with 2% cheese, lettuce and dijonnaise. To go with it, I had my usual soy crisps, but an unusual-for-me fruit – papaya! I found this little nugget in my produce store and I decided to give it a try. It has many black seeds in the center which I scooped out; not sure if you can eat them or not – anyone know?? It was sweet and juicy. Another fruit I can add to my rotation! Altogether, a delicious and filling (unlike my breakfast) 9 POINT lunch…

Later, I snacked on a Pumpkin Spice Cupcake with Orange Glaze for 2 POINTS…

Then got some dinner going which included this mystery veg… (*in my best Ben Stein voice* anyone? anyone?)

Well, if you said jicama, you would be right! I really had no idea what to do with it, but thought it might be an interesting addition to my dinner salad tonight. I peeled it and cut it into sticks with my mandoline. It has a different taste than I expected. I guess because it sort of looks like a potato, I was expecting a bland taste, but it has a bit of a sweet bite to it. Interesting. I can’t say I loved it, but I would like to play with it in maybe some type of slaw recipe. I think it would be good within that kind of preparation. Anyway, I added it to my Grilled Chili Lime Scallops Salad with Guacamole dressing. I seasoned sea scallops with chili powder, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and a squeeze of lime, then grilled them for about 4 min. per side. I arranged them over a mixed salad with red pepper strips and jicama sticks. Then topped with guacamole dressing that I made using 1/4 c. prepared guacamole (I buy Trader Joe’s guac) thinned out with a little fresh lime juice and skim milk. I also had a cornbread muffin to go with it. A nice “beat the heat” 8 POINT dinner…

I ended the night with bites of this and that, which included Cheez Its, a couple chocolates and licks of Cookies and Cream Ice Cream! UGH! A way over POINT day, but I did make sure to get in a 45 minute weighted elliptical workout with 20 tricep dips and 30 wall pushups.

Next goal – make better choices!

Have a great day!!!

Wow, it’s another summer day today! It got to 90 degrees and felt like the middle of July! I think this is just an “appetizer” though; the temps are heading down this week. Again, I was feeling like an outdoor run, but I’m not quite healed, so I will be patient. I was going to head to the basement for an elliptical workout, but got so distracted with doing stuff around the house that I never made it! I guess I will consider it a “day off”. I don’t do that very often, but I think it won’t hurt. I hope

I did manage to make time for breakfast. I was in the mood for cereal, so I broke out this oldie but goodie cereal, Quaker Crunchy Corn Bran…

A serving is only 1 POINT -if you can see with my sloppy writing on the box …

I decided to use it as a topping for my Oikos Honey Nonfat Greek Yogurt. I also added some beautiful strawberries for a fiber and protein packed 4 POINT breakfast…

I’m trying to go through some freezer items, so that they don’t get lost in the land of freezer burn. I found some leftover pizza that I made just last week, I believe. It was the one made with the spelt pizza dough. I reheated that for lunch and it was just as good as the day I originally made it! That’s what happens when you eat something before freezer burn I went crazy and had a side of carrots to go with it! I’ve been avoiding carrots since my oral surgery, but I thought I would try it out today. No probs. Yay! A great 8 POINT repeat…

After lunch, we headed out to a friend’s son’s 3 year old birthday party. It was set up like a carnival with lots of moonbounces, games, carnival foods and plenty of “grown-up” food, too. Wow, sure glad I ate before I left! How -EVER, I could not, did not…resist…this…

Giant brownie with giant gobs of chocolate icing. You can’t tell from this picture, but this thing was about 2 inches high. It stared at me for a long time, calling, beckoning, tempting. I caved. And you know what?? It wasn’t THAT good! I think it sat out too long. But, I ate it anyway Not sure of the POINTS. Maybe 500??? LOL! Hopefully, I can run later this week

I also picked on a soft pretzel before I left the party. Again, not that good. Gotta work on the “don’t eat it unless it tastes good” rule. Anyway, it was a fun time of outdoor play in the sun! Hope I sweat off some of those calories…

I wasn’t all that hungry for dinner. The husband and daughters decided to eat hot dogs and some fruit. I was thinking of just having cereal or maybe skipping dinner altogether. I did some cleaning and then felt ready to have a little something. I remembered I had some tofu in the fridge, so I decided on a tofu scramble. I used 4 oz. extra firm tofu, roasted peppers, red onion, baby spinach, a slice 2% cheese and salsa. I crumble the tofu and brown it in a nonstick pan sprayed with cooking spray, then add the rest of the ingredients. Simple and absolutely delicious! I could eat this every day! I had a Weight Watchers Petite Bagel with a wedge of Laughing Cow Light on the side. A quick and easy 6 POINT dinner…

Gee, for not being too hungry, I sure ate a lot! And I topped it off with a little “sweet”…

The flavors are so fun and they are only 1 POINT…

I went with the Banana Split…

A nice way to end a HOT day!

Hope the weekend was fun for you, too!!! Have a great night =)

The husband and I had a movie/date night at home last night. We got a movie for us and a movie for the daughters. They watched upstairs and we had our “date” downstairs. It was fun and no babysitter needed! Anyway, it got too late and I was too tired to blog, so here’s my update from yesterday…

I woke up to some beautiful weather and was really itching to go for a run. My cheek is still a bit chubby and my stitches are still intact, so my gut was telling me to wait until everything was healed totally. Instead, I headed to the basement for a 40 minute stint on the elliptical with my weighted vest and did 20 tricep dips and 20 wall pushups. Good enough!

Breakfast was an open faced omelette with spinach, salsa and 1 oz. Cabot’s 75% reduced fat cheese. Mmm… I love salsa on eggs! I had a slice of TJ’s Sprouted Flourless Wheat Bread, all for only 3 POINTS…

I was really jonesing for some coffee this morning, too, but wasn’t in the mood for something warm. I decided on a Vanilla Frappuccino with whip! I used unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze this time and some sugar free vanilla syrup and topped it with 1 tbsp. lite whip. This was a great 1 POINT treat!

After breakfast, the daughters and I went to a Used Book Sale over at little daughter’s school. I was so excited for this! What a dork, right?? I could have spent hours there and lots of cash! Although, everything was priced at either $1 or $2, so you can’t feel bad about spending with that bargain price. I scored some cool cookbooks…

And some summer beach reads…

The daughters picked up about 4 books each, too. It was a great time!

It was such a beautiful day that we ate most of our meals outside. So relaxing! My lunch was a Boca Bruschetta Burger topped with 1 tbsp. hummus (thanks to Kate for that AMAZING idea!) and roasted peppers on an Arnold Sandwich Thin. I had some soy crisps and a fuji apple on the side. A delish 6 POINT lunch…

Later, for a snack, I couldn’t wait to dig into this….

Ever since seeing them on Kelly’s blog, I had to have them! I have been searching high and low and finally came across them in Target. I chose the chocolate cookie caramel pecan flavor. Nuggets of goodness…

I think Kelly described these as “crack” and I would have to agree! Definitely leave you wanting more. Don’t know if I could buy these again due to danger potential But, they are a fun and tasty 2 POINT treat.

After cleaning out my car, cleaning out the garage and running an errand, I wasn’t in the mood to make a grand dinner. I pulled out a serving of Rigatoni(actually Ziti) with Three Cheeses from the freezer and heated that with some leftover asparagus. I made a side salad of tomato, cucmber and red onion dressed with a little olive oil and balsamic. Another outdoor dining 7 POINT meal…

Before we settled into our movies, I grabbed a Weight Watchers Candy Bar Ice Cream for a melty 3 POINT dessert…(sorry for the bad pic)

I won’t embarass myself by telling you the brain cell deteriorating movie we watched! We had some good laughs, so it was worth losing a few brain cells

I just want to say how great it is to be part of this blogging community! I have gotten so many awesome ideas from you all and have tried things I might not have come across otherwise! Thanks so much for all the inspiration!

Enjoy the day and I’ll be back tonight