Hi!!  Hope you all are off to a good week! 

It’s hotsy totsy in these parts which made for no one wanting to leave the house today!  All I can say is thank the Lord for air-conditioning

I wasn’t feeling much like exercising this morning, but kicked my own posterior and did The 100 Workout .  What I love about this workout is you can customize with different exercises.  Today, I swapped knee raises for the jacks and ended with sets of push-ups instead of the 10 minute run for more of a strength training workout.  Still wears me out!

Heat, sweat and tears call for a yogurt breakfast (3 PP) …

• 1 cup nonfat Chobani yogurt (we’re out of homemade greek yogurt!)
• 2 small fresh apricots, diced
• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 3 drops NuNaturals liquid vanilla stevia
• 1 tbsp. unsweetened reduced-fat shredded coconut

Fresh apricots are amazing!

Over the weekend, I made a big batch of Cheesy Quinoa Burgers for the freezer.  I heated a couple in the toaster oven for lunch and served them with a mixed green salad drizzled with good balsamic vinegar and a little evoo (7 PP) ….

I knew I was going to need extra crunch, so I broke out these Trader Joe’s Onion and Chive Corn Crackers …

They aren’t very oniony at all – really just taste like a tortilla chip!

I went with a half serving of “chips” for 2 PP …

A cool 9 PP lunch…

Not long after, the afternoon munchies struck.  I refused to give in!  I made a protein packed snack instead – string cheese with 2 hard boiled egg whites (2 PP) …

And then I gave in

I noshed on Cheez-its, some other chips and pretzels.  Apparently, “salt” was the theme.  But, you know what I did?  I tracked it all.  Yep, I did!  I wrote it all down and Pointed it out.

And then, it didn’t seem all that bad.  Yes, I ate without being hungry, but I tracked my 15 PP (eek!) binge splurge and subtracted it from my 49 Weekly Points Allowance and moved on!  By tracking, I completely changed my mindset from feeling badly about my overeating to feeling okay and in control.  I do get uneasy about using those Weeklies sometimes, but I have been assured many times that Weight Watchers wouldn’t give you those if they weren’t usable!  They want you to succeed.  So, what could have been a “binge gone wild” turned out to be a “splurge and move on”.

Moving right on to dinner…

TJ and Danica  reeled me in with their Pizza Puffs party!  I thought it would make a fun dinner for the family, so I whipped them- changing the recipe slightly to use what I had on hand…

Pizza Puffs

• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 3/4 cup fat-free milk
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 1/4 cup shredded lite mozzarella (I use Trader Joe’s brand –only 1 PointsPlus per 1/4 cup and tastes great!)
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 16 slices Hormel turkey pepperoni, chopped
• handful baby spinach, chopped
• 2 tbsp. finely diced red onion

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray muffin tin (either 12 cup or 24 cup mini) with cooking spray. Mix flour, baking powder and seasonings, then stir in milk and egg .  Add in cheeses (reserving 1/4 cup mozzarella to sprinkle on tops) and combine. Let rest for 10 minutes. Stir batter again, then divide between muffin cups.  Bake until golden and puffed , about 20 minutes. Serve with pizza sauce, if desired.

Total recipe comes in at 20 PointsPlus.  3 puffs are 5 PointsPlus if using 12 cup muffin pan.   If using mini muffin tin (24 cup) – 6 minis are 5 PointsPlus.  8 minis are 7 PointsPlus.

I went with the mini’s!

Served with marinara sauce and broccoli with olive oil and garlic ( 9 PP) …

A dinner everyone loves!  These would be a nice party appetizer, too!  Fun!

Have a great day, everyone!

What is your favorite party appetizer?

Is the weather spectacular where you are???  It is so gorgeous in Philly right now… mid 80’s, breezy and no humidity!  Perfect running weather, but I just wasn’t feelin’ it this morning.  My back is a little janky (yes, it’s a technical term ) and in need of some stretching, so I went with this instead …

Ah, yoga…I’ve missed you!  Chris Freytag is one of my favorite instructors on Exercise TV and when I saw her yoga workout, I was looking forward to trying it.  I was so stiff in the beginning and could barely downward dog, but by the end, I felt stretched and much more limber.  It was a good workout, too!

Today, it seems I’m over eggs for breakfast!  I went with a beautiful yogurt bowl instead …

• 1 cup homemade greek yogurt 
• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1 small peach, diced
• 3 drops NuNaturals Liquid Vanilla Stevia
• 1 tbsp. unsweetened reduced fat shredded coconut

A big 4 PP bowl…

After breakfast, I got to work in the kitchen making Lentil Veggie Burgers.  I’ve been needing more lentils and veg in my life!

I served one up for lunch on a sandwich thin with lite mozzarella and mixed greens (8 PP)…

Along with the worst watermelon I’ve ever had …

It was stringy?? and had a weird taste like it had been previously frozen or something!  From now on, I’ll only buy watermelon halves instead of whole.  That way I can “see” what I’m getting before I buy it!

The Doritos made up for the bad watermelon …

I did manage to get out in the beautiful weather this afternoon.  Little daughter was swimming with a friend, so big daughter and I went for a 1.5 mile walk with Rocky.  He was thrilled! 

Not like this day ….

That was a sad, sad day.

Dinner was super easy – a reheat of leftover grilled chicken topped with salsa cruda (recipe coming soon!) ( 8 PP)…

And a summery greek-style cucumber salad using our cukes from the garden and this new Trader Joe’s find …

The cheese is already diced and seasoned which makes it a breeze to mix with the cucumbers for an instant salad …

A simple and fast 12 PP dinner …

I’ve been able to string quite a few good (i.e.  no excessive snacking) days together since I’ve been close to home this week.  I’m hitting up the home scale tomorrow (I’ve switched to WW online for the summer) and hope to see something happening there!  Regardless, I’ve had a nice week so, I’ll celebrate the healthy choices!!

Have a great day, everyone!

Totally random question today:  How do you feel about emoticons?  Do you like seeing them in a blog post or does it get on your nerves?  I get a little emoticon crazy in my posts sometimes and now that I’ve updated Windows Live Writer there are even more to choose from!  HA!  Since I don’t think of my blog as a serious piece of literature (hey, move over Shakespeare!), I think emoticons are kind of a fun way to emphasize a point or inject a little extra humor.  I could see how it might get annoying, though.  What do you guys think?

Hi guys!  Did everyone have a good weekend?  I had another weekend of whooping it up!  It was big daughter’s birthday, so we had lots of fun and family time.  Here’s a quick recap on Sunday’s birthday dinner…

For those of you who have been reading for a while, you’re probably used to the standard birthday spread – pasta, chicken cutlets and bread!  It’s hard to get this family to deviate

But I did throw them one curve ball – Tortellini with Spinach Sauce!

I tried to recreate the spinach sauce that the husband and I had at our Valentine’s Day dinner last week.  I came pretty darn close! 

Then, the standard…

My eats…

and dessert – Oreo Cookie cake and a taste of Cannoli Napoleon!

All PointsPlus used and tracked

*******************

This is a little tough to look at first thing the morning…

Yeah, let’s just pretend we never saw it…

Who needs it right???

Right.

Okay, so instead of eat cake for breakfast, I ate a lovely egg white scramble…

Egg whites, baby spinach, 2 oz. diced ham and cheese (4 PP)…

Way better than cake.

Nothing goes better with cake egg white scramble than a piping hot cup of press (1 PP)…

The love is back!

After breakfast settled, I was ready to pump some iron.  No gym since the daughters were home from school, so I got my Exercise TV on with my new favorite workout – Jackie Warner’s Total Body Conditioning.  I was actually still sore from doing this on Saturday, so my quads were really screaming today!

Lunch was a yummy Taco Salad ( 7 PP )…

• romaine lettuce
• shredded carrots
• 1/2 cup taco seasoned lean ground beef
• 1 oz. cotija cheese
• 1 oz. guacamole
• fresh salsa
• 3 crushed tortilla chips

So much flavor that no dressing is needed!

Afternoon snack…

Kidding!!!!

Real afternoon snack…

Only 1 PP instead of 850.  Pretty good, eh?

The husband and daughters were having birthday leftovers for dinner, but I had been craving soup all day so I decided to make some for my dinner.  This soup is super easy and came together in less than 30 minutes!

Harvest Grains Vegetable Soup

• 1 small onion, diced fine
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 medium zucchini, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 4 cups fat-free chicken broth
• 1 cup Trader Joe’s Harvest Grains Blend
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 1 oz. piece of parmesan cheese rind (hard edge of cheese block)

Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat.  ( I used a seasoned olive oil)…

Add the onion, carrots, celery and garlic…

Saute until onions are soft…

 Then, add zucchini…

Sprinkle with salt and pepper;  cook about 3 minutes…

Next add the tomatoes…

The broth…

The grains…

And the secret ingredient…

*This is a trick I learned from my Mom.  The cheese rind adds so much flavor.  It basically stays intact during the cooking, but imparts that cheesy, nutty taste to the soup.  Delish!*

Bring to a boil;  reduce and simmer about 25 minutes…

Makes 4 hearty servings (2 cups per serving) at 6 PP.

I served it with some cheesy garlic toast for a filling 11 PP dinner…

I still had cake on the brain, so a while later, I whipped up a quick dessert – Katie’s Single Lady Cupcake…

I used whole wheat pastry flour, applesauce, whole milk (sorry, Katie!) , 1/4 packet of NuNaturals NuStevia and baked it in an espresso cup which worked perfectly!

Every cupcake needs icing, so I topped it with PB2 and 1/4 tsp. sprinkles (4 PP) …

We can have our cake and eat it, too

Before I go… a big shout-out to gluten-free.tv for the mention in their recent video about Falafel Republic!

Have a great day, everyone!

Do you request a special meal for you birthday?