Thank goodness for Pinterest...

Kids were sick all last week with the flu...and now I have a lovely head cold. Ugh.  Would love to spend the majority of my life in bed but being a working Mom doesn't allow for that behavior much does it.  When all those balls are juggling up in the air and I am feeling nasty my creativity goes right out the window....then comes Pinterest!

Have to share something hilarious (especially if you live nearby).  I have seen a billboard nearby...

Did you do a double take too?? Every time I pass it I think that it is suggesting that Pinterest is a cure for depression, anxiety and other problems! Hilarious.  Pinterest does cheer me up usually! But I don't think it's a medically recommended treatment! (For those of you who aren't from west Michigan, Pine rest is a hospital and outpatient facility servicing psychological and emotional issues.)

Anyways Pinterest provided me with two different meals this week that I wanted to highlight and review because they were great and allowed me to be on "Auto-Pilot" while providing good food for my family.  Here they are:

Meal 1:

Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork

(source here)

Ingredients:

1 (2 pound) boneless pork tenderloin (or regular pork loin)

1 teaspoon ground sage

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 cup water

Glaze

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Directions:

Combine sage, salt, pepper and garlic. Rub over roast. Place in slow cooker with 1/2 cup water. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. About 1 hour before roast is done, combine ingredients for glaze in small sauce pan. Heat and stir until mixture thickens. Brush roast with glaze 2 or 3 times during the last hour of cooking. Serve with remaining glaze on the side.

This was one of those recipes that is SO easy, house smells great all day, have practically all ingredients in your house all the time, the meat just fell apart so tender and it was easy peasy and DELICIOUS! How much better can you get!

Paired it with a loaded potato recipe from Pinterest, which were great and my kids scarfed but not much different from a million other loaded potato recipes you have seen so I'll skip that.  I also made these tomatoes...

Baked Parmesan Tomatoes

Ingredients

• 4 tomatoes, halved horizontally
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 450° F.
2. Place tomatoes cut-side up on a baking sheet. Top with Parmesan, oregano, salt and pepper. Drizzle with oil and bake until the tomatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.

From Eating Well Magazine, easy, yummy and healthy.  More for the husband and I because my children adhere to a strict no tomato policy - with the exception of ketchup which is just because I don't think they know! :)

For another night I made a ridiculously great salad!  Would also make a fancy schmanzy lunch for a friend!

BBQ Chicken Salad

(adapted from here)

Ingredients:

Chicken:
2 chicken breasts
1/4-1/2 cup of barbecue sauce to marinade (optional, but recommended)

Salad:
1 head bibb lettuce, washed & chopped
1 sweet potato, peeled & chopped and roasted

Succotash:
1/2 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lime and zest
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili pepper
1/2 can black beans, drained & rinsed
1/2-2/3 cup frozen corn, thawed (unless you plan to let this thaw & marinade all day like I did!)
salt & pepper to taste

Dressing:
2/3 cup mayonnaise, light or regular
1/3 cup buttermilk, sour cream, or nonfat greek yogurt
2 Tablespoons milk
2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro, finely chopped
2 Tablespoons lime juice
2 teaspoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 to 1/3 cup BBQ sauce

Additional ingredients:
extra virgin olive oil or nonstick spray (to lightly coat the sweet potatoes before roasting)
extra BBQ sauce for drizzling and tricolor tortilla strips to top on finished salad

Directions:

Succotash:
Combine first 5 ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Add beans & corn, season with salt & pepper.  Saute in pan until slightly browned.

Chicken:
Marinate chicken in BBQ sauce about 6 hours (optional). Preheat grill, and cook chicken until done. Remove from heat and let "rest" for about 5-10 minutes. Chicken can even be made ahead of time & refrigerated.
Make dressing: Combine all the ingredients together and whisk (or shake, if using a jar) vigorously to combine. You could also run this through a blender to make it even more smooth. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Assemble lettuce, black bean & corn succotash, sweet potatoes, and top with chicken. Drizzle with additional BBQ sauce, followed by the Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing. I also topped with these (not pictured, forgot until we were halfway done eating!)

Never would have thought of adding sweet potato to a salad.  So yummy.  Dressing: Delicious! Meal sounded kind of complicated but it was really relatively easy and so many flavors. Trust me if I can make it in like 30 minutes under the influence of DayQuil then it must be really easy.  Yum yum yummy!

So there are your Pinterest picks this week.  Certainly added a little pizazz to a dreary week filled with illness and cleaning so maybe Pinterest really is a cure for depression.  Look out Pinerest, Pinterest is coming for you....

Fall treats

Can you believe my "baby" is turning three? Say no.  Because I can't.  This is too much, I may need another baby now and that just sounds exhausting...

Isn't she precious?

So I had a fall themed party with her (complete with directing my family to wear fall colors to the party, I don't think my brother in law will ever let me live this down, what can I say I am a total control freak!)

Have to share a few of the little treats I made...

Look at these adorable acorns!!! Take a mini Nutter Butter, and a Hershey's Kiss and glue them together with peanut butter and then "glue" a chocolate chip on the other side, freeze.  Yummy, PB and Chocolate is the ultimate combo!

Halloween Bark: This is the best way to use up leftover halloween candy.  Chop up a whole bunch of different candy bars and add a bunch of peanuts (make sure if you use M&M's you only use the red/orange/yellow/brown to keep in halloween colors, this means you can eat greens and blues while you cook!)  Melt 1.5 bags dark chocolate and spread out on wax paper on cookie sheet.  Sprinkle with topping and gently press in.  Refridgerate until hardened.  Melt 3 oz white chocolate and drizzle on top and refridgerate again until hard.  Break apart into pieces and enjoy.

The Cake! It originally was going to be a pumpkin.  But it had a dent around the middle where I stacked the two Bundt cakes ( I am not a fan of baking!) so my Mother in law had the brilliant ideas of the ribbon and the flowers.  Turned out cool and very "autumnal" (that is my favorite word this month).  Recipe was good, I got it off Pinterest!

Caramel Apple Cake with Apple Cider Frosting
INGREDIENTS
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1½ tsp. baking soda
1½ tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
1½ cups light brown sugar
¾ cup canola oil
¾ cup unsweetened applesauce
¾ cup caramel sauce (homemade or jarred)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 eggs
1½ cups buttermilk

Apple Cider Frosting:
7 1/2-8 cups confectioners’ sugar (to desired consistency)
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 cup apple cider or apple juice
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
pinch of salt

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour two (8 or 9 inch) round cake pans and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together whole wheat pastry flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside. In a second large bowl, beat sugar and oil together with an electric mixer until well combined, about 30 seconds. Add applesauce, caramel and vanilla, beat for 30 seconds, then add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk, and continuing to beat until well combined.

3. Pour batter into prepared cake pans and bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle of each cake comes out clean, about 35-40 minutes. Set aside to let cool for 10 minutes, then gently loosen cakes and turn out onto a cooking rack; set aside to let cool completely.

4. For the frosting, put sugar, butter, cider, cinnamon and salt into a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Arrange one cake on a large plate and spread about 1 cup of the frosting evenly over the top. Arrange second cake on top then frost top and sides of entire cake with remaining frosting. Set aside at room temperature or in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour to allow frosting to set before serving.

Makes a tall 2-layer, 8-9 inch round cake. (I made two recipes, in two bundts to stack for the pumpkin shape and I added food coloring to get my orange color!)

For actual food I should share more than just treats with you!

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

• 6 large baking potatoes, peeled, cut in 1/2 -inch cubes
• 1 large onion chopped
• 1 quart chicken broth
• 3 garlic cloves minced (or pressed)
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup cream
• 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
• 1 cup sour cream (optional)
• 8 slices bacon, fried & crumbled  
• Cheese for sprinkling

Directions:
 

1. Combine first seven ingredients in a large crock pot; cover and cook on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 8 hours (potato should be tender).
2. Mash mixture until potatoes are coarsely chopped and soupy is slightly thickened.
3. Stir in cream, cheese and chives.
4. Top with sour cream (if used), sprinkle with bacon and more cheese

Brie with Apples and Cranberries

8 in round brie
1/4 cup cranberries
1 medium apple chopped
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp melted butter
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Mix all ingredients minus brie in bowl, cut brie in top and bottom halves.  Layer brie, 1/2 filling, brie and top with other 1/2 filling.  Bake at 350 12-15 min, serve with crackers


It was a great party full of fun fall foods and colors! Hope you are having a wonderful fall!

Happy Halloween!

Sitting here passing out candy with my trusty sidekick

Whilst my adorable munchkins troll for candy

I sure hope we get more action soon because as of 7:05 we had one person and this is my bucket

Everyone gets two right now and it may be handfuls by the end of the night! I don't need extras laying around that is for sure! We usually have tons so I don't understand it!? Maybe because it's Monday.  Anyways I was being a good doobie and went running tonight! 1.5 miles.  I have slacked off for far too long and there is no time like the present!

Thanks to my accountability girls for giving me the nudge! Helps that I have a halloween colored running shirt! And I selected a VERY easy dinner for my husband to prepare while I ran! How many Seinfeld fans are there out there??? Question: What was Elaine's favorite thing to order at the little diner they all went to? While you think about that watch this (I love Jerry!):

Oh my word I could listen to that a thousand times, so funny! My brother in law (who is the hugest Seinfeld fan) is also the hugest candy fan! So perfect.

Anyways anyone get the trivia question yet....

It's the BIG Salad!

I don't know about you all but I was always getting the Salad Bar at restaurants as a kid.  I love it.  I think it's the make your own aspect of it all.  All the choices.  Plus they always had chocolate pudding.  How can you go wrong? My absolutely favorite part about working at the hospital on weekends is that I get to do "Big Salad".  I do that junk up right!
I can make a hugnormous salad for 10-12 pts.  And my kids LOVE big salad night.  I believe that they like building there own dinner as well.  I make all the cobb ingredients but add additional!

Big Salad

Ingredient Possibilities
Lettuce (did I need to say this?)
Tomato
Mushroom
Hardboiled Egg
Grilled Chicken
Bacon Crumbles
Avocado Chunks
Croutons
Olives
Dried Cherries
Cheeses (Feta, Blue, or Shredded Colby)
Green Onion
Garbanzo Beans
Your favorite dressing (I always ration all my points carefully so I can have the worlds most naughty salad dressing - Blue Cheese!)
Perfect after running dinner!  My kids love this idea!

Try your own salad bar and let me know what special ingredients your family enjoys! Happy Halloween everyone!!!

More Peaches!

Ok so maybe I am not as cheery today as usually on Fridays.  Truth is I gained some weight. I haven't been doing what I need to do for success which is count points so as bad as a weigh-in like today feels it just reminds me if you want that good feeling from weight loss you need to keep up your end of the bargain and count your points.  I also need to keep up with the running!! I feel much better when I get at least 3 in a week, last 3-4 weeks we have been only getting in 2.  Yup slacking.  So back on track today and looking forward to another good week.  (I am saying extra positive words because I am still bumming and figure the more I talk and think positive the more I will stop wallowing and get moving!)

OK we had some really yummy chicken the other night and lest you think that we dared to eat a meal that didn't involve peaches, don't worry we paired the chicken with broccoli and peach jello with 3 peaches chopped into it.  Yummy I love peach jello, it's my favorite jello!

Buffalo Ranch Chicken

Marinade:
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 TBS paprika
2 TBS hot sauce (or more or less depending on how spicy you want it)
3-4 chicken breasts

To cook: grill or broil 5-7 minutes each side
add ranch dressing (or blue cheese dressing - I am more of a traditionalist with buffalo stuff so I used this, the kids opted for ranch), a few drops of hot sauce (adults only!)  and Gorgonzola or Blue Cheese to the top of each piece of chicken and cook until the cheese melts!
I really like this because it is easy to customize. For instance, my husband likes his with more hot sauce and cheese than I do and I usually just put ranch dressing on top of the kids’.
(Gorgonzola cheese is pretty much a milder Blue cheese so the kids may like it better, my kids as you know by now are weird and gobble up blue cheese)

My husband and my kids all loved this, me too!!! I am a HUGE buffalo fan.  You could throw it in a bun with lettuce and tomato and you have buffalo chicken sandwich or cut it up and put it in a wrap.  Great this way too though, less carbs doesn't hurt!

OK now on to peaches...

So I know I told you I wanted to taste test everything before I gave you the recipe so I have a few more for you!

Freezer Jam

Rather than regurgitate the recipe right here I will just tell you a few things I learned, when you buy Sure-Jell from the store (in a box with canning supplies) inside the box is a paper that tells you exactly how to make Freezer Jam for every single type of fruit.  I will probably try different fruits too. It wasn't perfect. Even though I measured everything exactly my second batch didn't seem to set up as much as it should.  I still put some on toast this morning and it is DELIGHTFUL!!! But a little drippy! It would make a good ice cream topping too since it's a little "looser".  Anyways the other advice I would say is have A LOT of sugar on hand.  These 8 jars were 2 batches and took 9 cups of sugar! Yikes! Good thing you only need a Tbsp to make a delicious piece of toast!! 

Next!

I have been making this one for years so I don't need to taste test it before I share it! This is the original version...

Bruschetta with Peach Salsa and Melted Brie



Ingredients

• 2 cups chopped peeled peaches (about 4)
• 3/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper (about 1)
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• Dash of ground red pepper
• 1 (8-ounce) French bread baguette, cut into 24 slices
• 4 ounces chilled Brie cheese, cut into 24 pieces

Preparation

• Preheat broiler.
• Combine first 7 ingredients; set aside.
• Arrange bread slices in an even layer on a baking sheet. Top each bread slice with 1 piece of cheese; broil 3 minutes or until cheese melts and bread is toasted. Remove pan from oven. Top each bread slice with about 1 1/2 tablespoons salsa; serve immediately

This beauty is from Cooking Light magazine also, 2 slices 3 pts.  Now back in the day my Mom's friend Sue (Love you Sue) came up with a yummy easy way to eat chicken.  Marinade in Lawry's Lemon Pepper and grill and then right before it's finished you melt a piece of provolone on the chicken.  We had this all the time when I was growing up, it was so yummy.  My dad is the most amazing grill master too (love you Daddy!) So I was a big fan of this peach salsa so I thought, what if you grill a chicken breast, melt some provolone cheese on it (I wasn't really sure about using brie on the grill) and then top with the peach salsa.  So good.  So I made a big double batch of this peach salsa and put them in freezer bags so I can either have a yummy app or yummy entree at a moments notice!

Last one for today:

Peach Raspberry Sorbet

Ingredients:

• 6 medium, ripe peaches (about 2.25 pounds)
• 6 ounces fresh raspberries (one small container)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup water
• juice of 1/2 lemon

Instructions:

1. Peel and slice peaches into cubes.
2. Combine peaches, raw sugar and water in a medium saucepan. Cover and cook on medium heat for a little over 10 minutes, until peaches are soft.
3. Remove the peach mixture from heat and let cool, stirring occasionally.
4. In the meantime, purée the raspberries in your blender. Filter out the seeds by pouring the raspberry purée through a fine mesh colander. Press the liquid through the colander with the back of a big spoon or spatula, and discard the seeds. (I skipped this step, I figured I wouldn't mind having a little seeds in my sorbet!)  
5. Once the peaches have cooled, combine the raspberry purée and peach mixture in the blender. Blend until smooth, and chill the mixture in the fridge.
6. Follow your ice cream maker’s instructions. Enjoy!

This is light and refreshing.  I love any chance to use our ice cream maker!

So a few more peach ideas to add to the arsenal, I hope you aren't completely sick of peaches yet because we have more yet to come.  Peachapalooza 2011 is still going strong...

 

PEACHAPALOOZA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ladies and Gentleman (if there are any Gentleman reading this) I have just completed a long arduous 5 day journey of peaches.  I started researching and compiling a list of peach inspired recipes, we went to an orchard and bought an entire bushel of peaches (that is like 120! Most recipes call for 2 lbs which is only like 5!) I have been cooking my peaches, er my brains out to bring you Peachapalooza 2011.  I don't know why.  I thought it would be fun. I thought it would be cool to do a flavor inspired series on the blog.  And yes, as my snarky brother in law pointed out I do realize that they sell peaches at the store.  Mostly it was a lot of fun.  I learned a lot of new things.  It was just a lot of work and as much as I planned and was organized it was hard to be truly organized when I hadn't really done this before.  I imagine Peachapalooza 2012 is going to be off the hook. 

Ok so tonight will be part one of the series. I have to give them to you in steps because I never want to give you a recipe until I have tried something and a lot of these went into my freezer.  I think I will do my best also to clump them cohesively too.  Tonight you will get 3 recipes but one of them is a recipe within a recipe within a recipe.  Sounds complicated but it's not, it's really just three for the price of one.   Ok so all week I have had this song in my head, and my husband gives me a look of complete and utter shock when I start humming or singing it, then he gets a little...um....handsy.  (He claims the song has underlying innuendos, I know nothing of these things, I am much too innocent for that) Men.  Don't they know how annoying that is when you are trying to cook.  All I know is you can't go through what I have been through the last few days and not sing "Millions of peaches, peaches for me, millions of peaches, peaches for free" So sorry but I gotta share the song!

Wow, that takes me ALL the way back to high school! Weird song but today weirdly appropriate!

So this past spring I went with my mom and sisters to one of East Grand Rapids trendy little restaurants Ramona's Table.  I don't know who in the world Ramona is, but I would eat at her table every chance I get.  The restaurant which is really a deli style also does catering and they have the most interesting sandwiches and salads.  I may have to go down the menu and recreate each one. So when I was there I had this FABULOUS peach salad so I wanted to try to make it at home.  This is your recipe within a recipe within a recipe. 

Grilled Peach Salad

OK first Grill peach halves, drizzle with balsamic vinegar while grilling.  Toss with lettuce of choice, feta, pistachios (Ramona used pecans but I have always had a suspicion of an allergy to pecans so I went with pistachios, Ramona also used onions, no thanks Ramona), when I had it at the restaurant I had grilled chicken on it (wa-la, entree) but tonight it was a side so therefore sans chicken.  Now for dressing it was a homemade Peach Viniagrette (here come the layers to this recipe!)  
Peach Viniagrette
1/2 cup peach puree (see third layer)
dash salt/pepper
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3 sprigs rosemary chopped fine

Third layer: Peach Puree
2 lbs peeled peaches
2 cups sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Puree in blender.

Such a good salad, seriously my kids even ate the lettuce which usually they eat everything out of the salad but leave the lettuce behind. Yummy. 

Next item of today's peach feast was:

Peach Prosciutto Pizza

(okay okay I am way too cheap to buy prosciutto but it sounds so much more sophisticated, I went with ham! You have a big grocery budget, go for the fancy stuff!)

I saw the peach prosciutto combo idea and I made up this:
Take whole wheat pizza crust, brush with olive oil, sprinkle with chopped rosemary, use thin layer of herbed tomato sauce, cover with layer of ham (or fancy ham), take two peeled peaches sliced thin and spread peach slices all over.  Now the idea I saw called for Gruyere cheese, I am not 100% positive I know what Gruyere tastes like so I went with.....Gouda.  I grated it fine all over the pizza and then also sprinkled with parmesan cheese.  Bake at 375 for 30 min.  SOOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOD!!!!!! Oh my word each unique flavor made this so so yummy.  I limited myself to one piece A) so we could have leftovers and B) because this was coming....

Oatmeal Cookie Peach Cobbler

I am quite literally eating this while I type and it is HEAVEN in a bowl! It is melting all my Its-only-the-second-day-of-school-and-the-kids-are-falling-to-pieces blues away.  Lessened only slightly by the fact that those kids are still awake and singing loudly upstairs. Oh well the singing is better than the whining and the crying.  Back to this cobbler...

Ingredients

• Topping:
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup light butter, softened
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 4 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 cup)
• 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Filling:
• 11 cups sliced peeled peaches (about 5 pounds - I used about 15 peaches, I don't know how close that was but it more than filled my 9 x 13)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla and 1 tsp almond extracts and 1 tsp cinnamon
• Cooking spray

Preparation

• 1. Preheat oven to 350°.
• 2. To prepare topping, place first 3 ingredients in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg; beat well. Weigh or lightly spoon 1 cup flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine 1 cup flour, oats, baking powder, and salt; stir with a whisk. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture; beat at low speed until blended. Cover and chill 30 minutes.
• 3. To prepare filling, combine sliced peeled peaches, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, and fresh lemon juice and 2 extracts and cinnamon to bowl; toss to coat. Spoon mixture into a 13 x 9–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Dollop 12 mounds of chilled dough over peach mixture at even intervals. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly

Seriously, all cobbler should be made by making oatmeal cookie dough and blobbing it on top! I haven't been calculating points on all these recipes (I am sort of on overload) but it came from Cooking Light magazine, so I would like to tell myself that it is super healthy for you! (OK maybe not but it is certainly delicious!!)

So that was today's peach line up! For those of you who are picking peaches or have picked some peaches and are wondering what to do with them, stay tuned there is more of this action when Peachapalooza 2011 continues....

Opposites attract

They say opposites attract.  That is true in healthy eating.  Because if I want to eat something not so healthy I have to eat pretty good the rest of the day to make up for it.  Yesterday was a good example of this.  My parents were flying in at lunch time after a long trip away and I knew their fridge would be empty but after traveling no one wants to eat yucky fast food when they get home, you usually have to do enough of that when you are traveling, so when I picked them up at the airport I wanted to bring them something homemade and light.  So I whipped up a dish from Jillian Michael's cookbook (with a few of my own embellishments as always) which kept things light enough for the sins I would partake of later that night. 

Mediterranean Tuna Salad Wraps

1 can garbanzo beans
1 can sliced black olives
1 Tbsp fresh dill minced
2 can solid white albacore tuna packed in water, drained
2  large hard-boiled, chopped
5 stalks finely chopped celery
2 tbsp finely chopped red onion ( you know how I feel about this -- I used green onions)
4 tbsp tzatziki sauce
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp chopped capers
Juice of 1 lemon and zest
salt & pepper, Mrs Dash Lemon Pepper to taste
Romaine lettuce
Whole Wheat tortillas
Just mix it all together!
Makes 8, 6 pts each including the tortillas which are 2

Another light summer salad for these hot hot days

Then Friday night we were supposed to be camping, those plans were thwarted by extreme heat and family emergencies.  I thought the best option to not devastate those little cherub faces looking to me to save them from their total disappointment was to camp inside.  We put up a living room tent and climbed in and read books and played games and my daughter is now locked in a power struggle with my husband over the flashlights (oops!) but we had a good time overall!

Here is a pic from a previous tent-making experience, look my baby was REALLY a baby then, look at her cute pink ruffled butt crawling into the tent to investigate!!

I am sitting under it now, wondering if I have fulfilled the obligatory period of total living room destruction and can take it down or will there be catastrophic screaming and crying if they wake up and it's gone tomorrow.  Hmmmm....

Anyways, Friday night I wanted to create a camping treat without the camping so I made....

S'mores Brownies (with Reece's Peanut Butter Cups!)

Messy but oh so delicious! Bake a pan of your favorite brownies (Duh, Ghirardelli!) when they come out sprinkle with Golden Grahams cereal (or if you are a purist you could just smash up graham crackers), sprinkle with marshmallows and put in the broiler for like 30-45 sec (careful or your marshmallows with be well done and not just toasty brown) then sprinkle with chocolate, I went with PB cups but then again I am not a purist.  I couldn't resist throwing a little PB in the mix.  Cut square pan into 16 pieces.  6 pt each.  And totally worth it!   Indoor camping is actually pretty nice, no bugs, no smoke smell, don't have to get "decent" before dashing to the bathroom in the morning that isn't too far away.  All in all I had a good time, I think I'll come again!  Hope you all are having a great summer too.  Remember the sinful treats aren't too bad when you pair them with those light and satisfying meals.  Stay cool!

Sakes Alive it's a scorcher!

With a stretch of hot weather all around us it's easy to get to meal time and think, yuck, I don't really want to eat.  And I certainly don't want to cook.  Today at lunch I came home and prepared a light salad that was just perfect this evening, so when the heat index is in the 100's you don't have to worry about hot and heavy food.

 Funniest thing is that last night after running in 100 deg heat we came home and after awhile I thought "I would like some hot cocoa" so yup I had hot chocolate as a snack last night.  God bless air conditioning (even the non centralized kind).  Also my two year old keeps walking around saying "I freezing" which means it can't be too hot right?  Well the fact that my dog goes outside and immediately is barking to be let back in means it is hot! Too hot! So how about a nice light dinner? 

Grilled Shrimp Salad with Feta, Fresh Corn, and Blueberries

This one is from the Pioneer Woman and actually she made it with chicken.  But who doesn't like to substitute chicken once and awhile, mix things up a little, right? But if you either don't like shrimp or like my unfortunate brother-in-law are allergic to the sea creatures of this world don't miss out on this, I am sure it is just as wonderful with chicken and wait till you hear the best part...

• 1 lb shrimp, tails removed (I used precooked and then grilled them for a minute or two on my indoor grill pan to get a little grill flavor going)
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil, For Drizzling
• 5 stalks Celery (inner Light Green Stalks), Finely Diced
• 2 ears Fresh Corn (I used grilled)
• 1/4 whole Medium Red Onion, Finely Diced (sorry Pioneer woman, I never do raw onion, I skipped this one and did more celery than she originally called for!)
• 1-1/2 cup Blueberries
• 3 Tablespoons Fresh Dill, Minced
• 4 Tablespoons Mayonnaise (mine was fat free)
• 4 Tablespoons Sour Cream (also fat free)
• 1/4 cup Half-and-half (guess what? fat free!)
• 1 whole Lemon
• 1/2 tsp of Mrs Dash's Lemon Pepper (Oh yeah baby, I got two more flavors!!)
• 1 teaspoon Sugar (more To Taste)
• Salt And Pepper (additional) To Taste
• 3/4 cups Crumbled Feta (plus extra feta for sprinkling)

Preparation Instructions

Season shrimp with salt and pepper.
Heat grill pan and drizzle shrimp with olive oil. Grill shrimp just to get pretty grill marks (or if you had raw, until cooked).  Remove from pan. Allow to cool.
With a very sharp knife, shave kernels off each corn cob. Combine with the onion (or not!) and celery. Set aside.
Mix together mayonnaise, sour cream, feta, and half-and-half. Stir in sugar,  add lemon zest and squeeze in lemon juice, and add salt and pepper and Lemon Pepper seasoning. Stir, then taste. Add more salt if necessary; do not under-salt!
Throw shrimp into a bowl with celery, onion, and corn. Stir to combine. Pour half the dressing over the ingredients and toss gently. Add more as desired, but don't overcoat the salad; should be light!
At the end, toss in the blueberries to lightly coat them in the dressing. Serve, then sprinkle individual helpings with feta.

Ready for the kicker....serving is 3/4 cup, makes 12 servings, 3 pts each.  Ummmm, thanks I'll take 2! I piled it up on some romaine and ate it with a roll.  So good.  So light.  So lemony.  And so DILLicious. Trust me with flavor like that you will not miss the fat I cut out of the dressing.  My two year old asked for 3 helpings however her older sister turns her nose up at shrimp so she wouldn't eat it! 

Want a closer look at all the yummy ingredients?

Oh my word I could put blueberries in everything! I hear the pickings are good right now.  Time to take my little migrant workers to the field! We need to store up for winter! With points this low I think I'll skip the low-cal hot cocoa tonight and go for some ice cream!! (Or as my little one says Ice Keem) - -  Peanut Butter cup here I come! Stay cool everyone!

Breaking through barriers...

Monday night I had a little break down. Really it was sort of like an adult pout session.  I started to cry and complain that nothing in my life was fair.  That I was tired. That I didn't want to have to be "on" all the time, to count points and plan meals and exercise nonstop to do everything that everyone else seems to do all too easy and it was feeling all too much.  Beyond that I am attempting to blog about everything and try to be inspirational.  I didn't want to be inspirational.  I wanted someone else to inspire me.  I wanted someone else to plan my meals.  I wanted a mental break.  Yeah, like I said it was a major adult pout session.

Well rather than falling completely apart and throwing up my hands and quitting I went running with my family.  We did the whole 3 miles for the first time. The kids got filthy and dirty playing on the track.  There was a whole bunch of other people on the track so I felt a little self conscious at first but we did the whole 3 miles, that's another big barrier.  Now I just need to be able to run it! We came  home and had to do a whole big rig-a-ma-roll to bathe the kids and get them to bed.  Then my husband helped me do a little deep tissue to my shins. Tuesday I was sore in my legs, but in a good way, in a I actually pushed myself yesterday kind of way. 

So this morning I should be doing great right. I should be out of my slump.  But I wasn't I was in a funk all day, again.  I didn't feel good.  My kids were whiny.  I am so tired lately, apparently I can't run and stay up late anymore, which is a habit I have been meaning to break anyways.  Ugh. I listened to everyone talk about what an awesome day they were having and I was so jealous, why am I in such a mood?  I realized I was living this song...

I was struggling to live up to this picture perfect image that I thought I was supposed to be at all times.  That's pretty much impossible, have you ever tried this?

Who are you to tell me that I am less than what I should be? Who are you?
I don't need to listen to the list of things I should do? I won't try.
You don't define me.

I am going to use God's mirror.  He loves me even when he is disappointed by my complaining, my quitting early, my eating bad, my hating how I look in the mirror, my getting too impatient with my children, my ignoring my husband.  All the things I do that show that I am not paying attention to how God sees me. 

Two important things I learned, give yourself a break and pick your butt up and keep moving.  Give yourself a break.  If you screw up, get over it, it's not the end of the world.  You need to have a Plan B sometimes.  I know you all know it is exhausting coming up with interesting food all the time.  Don't get me wrong, just because I love to cook doesn't mean I always want to do it.  Doesn't mean I don't get daunted by the thought of coming up with a meal plan and shopping list and actually executing it.  If anything the accountability of knowing that I am sharing recipes with you keeps me going.  But sometimes you need a Plan B. Here are a few of my best Plan B's.

McDonald's, gasp! Most Mom's of kids know nothing makes little one's happier sometimes than a happy meal and hey let's not kid ourselves, the appeal of fast food is right there in the title.  So I wouldn't want to deprive my children of this occasional treat right? But what should I eat? Now doing weight watchers you can still eat their regular greasy food and I have a couple of times since starting this but beware those points add up fast, a medium fry is 10pts! So are the McChicken or Cheeseburger.  What my husband and I have found that we really like at McDonald's is the

Southwest Salad

As long as you get the grilled chicken this little filling beauty is only 8 pts and has quite a bit of kick to it! It's yummy. 

Tuesday I wanted to try a different one so I went over to Wendy's to try this gorgeousness!

Wendy's new Almond Berry Chicken Salad

This one is a little more costly, 11 pts.  But good and fresh. And easy to repeat at home if you wanted to.  But then again, the whole point is giving yourself a break.  Their chicken breast was so plump and juicy and delicious.  It really was a perfect meal.  Now beware, just because it's a salad doesn't mean it's free game.  The crispy version of the McDonald's salad adds 3 pts making it 11 like the Wendy's salad. And other restaurant chains like California Pizza Kitchen's BBQ Chicken Salad is a whopping 39 pts with a 100g of fat in the salad and Chili's Quesadilla Explosion Salad is also 38 pts.  Salad does not always equal healthy.  But the two pictured above get my stamp of approval.  So if you are going to give yourself a break, choose wisely. Another way I got a break tonight if by using one of my freezer meals.  I have done freezer meals myself, gone to a chain store to do them and most recently exchanged meals with a bunch of ladies in my church.  This one is called

Cherry Skillet Chicken

Cherry Skillet Chicken4 chicken breast
1/2 cup dried cherries, chopped
HOT water
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1/3 tsp salt

Place cherries in a bowl and cover with hot water, let sit for 5 mins. In the mean time combine the rest of the ingredients in a zip top bag. Add in chicken and cherries. Release air from bag and freeze. When ready to cook thaw and add chicken to skillet with a little oil/cooking spray cook until chicken is cooked through and juice and cherries, bring to a boil and let cook down.

Now the lovely lady who gave me these gave me 4 monster size chicken breasts that I cut into 3rds so they would cook up faster.  In the end with side of potatoes, vegetable and watermelon I only ate one of the cutlets that was a third of a breast, which means it was only 2 pts!!! Normally I would probably have eaten at least 2 cutlets but we had several sides, I was tired and hot and had just ran so 1/3 was plenty, I still can't get over that, 2 pts!!!  Freezer meals are an awesome way to give yourself a break because you take care of the planning and shopping and chopping and mixing ahead of time and then you only have to do the baking or cooking relatively easily later when you are tired and your kids need dinner now and you really want a healthy homecooked meal but have no energy.  Done.

The other important thing I mentioned was to pick your butt up and keep going.  Very important.  I am sure I will be doing that a lot over the next year.  Which although almost 4 months in already it will take another solid year of losing at this rate to be at my goal.  That sounds like such a long ways a way.  But then again not.  I have had 10 years of living (just barely) a life that was not how I wanted it, not doing what I should be doing. Not doing life.  I am just beginning to feel the transformations.  Another year is really not that bad when you think of the last 10 years.  And really all I need to focus on is today.  When my husband got home this afternoon he saw that I was frazzled and frustrated and once again near tears and he said "What do I need to do?" Make me go running.  And we did.  As we got to the track I decided to push.  We ran one lap, then two, he looked at me under a lifted eyebrow (we hadn't done more than 2 laps at a time before) "How far we going?" "I'm not telling." I paused "OK I may be crazy but I want to do one mile without stopping." "You shouldn't have told me that, let's do this!" he said.  I did it too.  All four laps I thought my legs weren't going to make it but they did.  Then we walked a lap, man walking after running feels amazing.  Then it was time to run two more.  We repeated that pattern walk one, run two twice.  A total of 10 laps, 2.5 miles.  With 1/4 mile to and from the track 3 miles done.  I felt like I was going to quite literally fall and never get up again but I kept going.  A couple of times he had to run off and leave me to rescue the girls who were getting into trouble climbing the bleachers, getting the dog tangled up, following strangers around.  When he wasn't with me the desire to slow to a walk was strong.  Sometimes I would close my eyes, the words of the songs on my running playlist wash over me and they mean so much more, like sending love and positive messages right to my brain, drowning out the other voice that tells me to quit, that I can't do it.  I can do it. Less than three weeks ago I hadn't run in YEARS and tonight I ran a mile (and then two more 1/2 miles for a total of 2 miles running).  That is pretty awesome progress for 2.5 weeks.  The last lap of running the song Dare You to Move by Switchfoot came on in my ears. "I dare you to move, dare you to move, dare you to lift yourself off of the floor, I dare you to move like today never happened today never happened before."   I am going to keep on moving. Man it hurts sometimes.  But I am going to keep going.  I kept thinking tonight "I can't wait till this just feels easy" but I know when it does I will push further. I am going to keep pushing, trusting that the rewards are worth the pain.  Feeling blessed tonight, what a difference from earlier today, thank you for allowing me to share with you!

What do you do when you just gotta have it??

Well I have had quite an interesting week so far.  This weekend I had to work at the hospital, which is a major stressor for me and I was not sure how I would do with the food but honestly it wasn't too bad, my typical food at the hospital is a big giant salad which I adore and it was easy to measure all the things that had points and of course load up on the free things without points and I splurged for my favorite dressing.  I also have been eating out a little bit.  I am not sure if I will live to regret this on weigh in day and I have been counting everything but with busyness, stress, etc., this was kind of a much needed break.  We'll see if I pay for it on the scale but my theory was that if you do have an event "out" pare down your other meals that day to make it more doable so that's what I did.  So tonight I am bringing you a light lunch option if you have a night out and a light dinner option if you have a lunch out!

Friday was the start of Spring Break! Yea! Especially if you are luckier than me and you are somewhere beautiful! (Unlike me, did I mention Sunday we had rain, snow, sleet, hail, gale force winds, and a crazy thunderstorm! All in one day! To my sister in Florida right now I am sticking my tongue out at you.) Anyways having a teacher husband we were excited on Friday about the start of Spring Break despite not going anywhere so we wanted to have a celebration. We decided to have a pizza party picnic (inside of course).  OK pizza, 7pts a piece, that's costly I needed to make some room for this, hmmm.... So for lunch I found this tasty idea, Guess where? Tosca Reno's Eat Clean Cookbook, I know I hardly ever eat her food right? Try it, I am not a big fanof tuna usually but this was yummy, like Tuna Hummus as my husband nicknamed it...

White Bean Spread with Tuna

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 cup Vidalia onion

3 cloves minced garlic

1 can white beans of your choice (I went garbanzo!)

2 Tbsp lime juice
2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
1 tsp fresh dill
8 oz albacore tuna
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in frying pan and saute onions until translucent.  Do not over-brown.  Transfer to food processor. Add remaining ingredients to food processor and pulse until just blended for chunky version or longer for smooth version.  Serve with flat bread, pita bread, pita chips, wraps, lettuce wraps! 

I went smooth with mine.  I used Parmesan pita chips that one serving was 3 pts and one serving of the dip (about 3/4 cup) was 2 pts.  I literally had lunch for 5 pts and I was satisfied for several hours and let me tell you when I bit into that cheesy melty pizza hours later I couldn't believe how good it was. 

And then today I had a hot lunch date, 3 actually, my hubby and two darling girls came to take me out for lunch. It's a Spring Break tradition! So we went out to an Italian restaurant I had recommended to me and believe me there were some ridiculously good looking items that I passed over, I ordered something that was super yummy but I knew I would be able to calculate later without nutritional info.  Best estimate my lunch was 16 pts, that's a lot for lunch! So dinner can't cost me too much.  Let's turn to another one you have heard a lot from, my Cooking Light cookbook, Dinner Essentials.  You know the best thing about this one, my hubby made it, it tasted SO yummy, AND he ran the vacuum today! Sorry ladies, he's mine! 

Flank Steak with Creamy Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients

• 1  (1-pound) flank steak, trimmed
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• Cooking spray
• 1/2  cup  chopped shallots
• 1  (4-ounce) package gourmet mushroom mix
• 1/3  cup  water
• 2  teaspoons  Dijon mustard
• 1  tablespoon  Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2  teaspoon  chopped fresh thyme
• 1/4  cup  fat-free sour cream

Preparation

Preheat broiler.
Sprinkle steak evenly with salt and pepper. Place steak on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Broil 6 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness; let stand 10 minutes.
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add shallots to pan; cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add mushrooms to pan. Cover and cook 4 minutes or until mushrooms are tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in 1/3 cup water, mustard, Worcestershire, and thyme. Cover and cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream.
Cut steak diagonally across grain into thin slices. Serve with mushroom sauce.

They recommended you served it with Egg noodles and Asparagus.  You realize what this means! 3/4 cup egg noodles = 4 pts, as much asparagus as I wanted = 0 pts, and 1 serving of Flank (3 oz) and 1/3 cup mushroom sauce 5 pts! Dinner 9 pts and I am full and satisfied. 

So like I said I don't know what the scale will show this week, I am still not even using barely half my weekly allowance of bonus points but I have managed to eat out a few times and that at least makes you feel like you can function as a normal person in society and still live a healthy lifestyle.  And man, I haven't been hungry or eaten anything bland or without great flavors since I started this journey.  That's a good thing! So when you just gotta have it....whatever it is, if it's pizza, your favorite dressing, a lunch date or taking your kids to their favorite fast food restaurant you can still do those things but you need to pair them with more carefully regulated meals. Today I shared a delicious lunch and dinner option for you.  I will keep you posted about the results on the scale! I hope where ever you are this week even if you are basking in Florida's sun like my snotty sister (you know I love you anyways) or stuck in freezing Michigan, make healthy flavorful choices everyone!

Two for the price of one!!

Today is just a quick entry to show you how today I am taking one lovely little premade item from the grocery store and turning it into lunch AND dinner!  First I usually opt for the healthier skin off variety of chicken but every so often that skin is just super yummy.  So I like to pop over to the friendly deli-counter of my local grocery store and get one of these

Then I get my sou chef Craig to remove all the meat from the bones and put it in a bowl for me. Thanks honey! Men really love it when you give them a job you know and my husband is much more meticulous then I am at a job like this and something like removing meat from bones seems like a savage "man's job".  Gasp! I may have just set the women's movement back 20 years!  Oh well, it's one of the jobs I delegate to him.  Then from there I seperate the meat into two equal bowls.  From bowl one I created our lunch today....

Curried Chicken Salad with Naan

From Cooking Light's Dinner Tonight Cookbook

4 servings, 1 serving (including bread 12 WW pts)

 

Ingredients

• 6  tablespoons  reduced-fat mayonnaise
• 1/2  teaspoon  grated orange rind
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  orange juice
• 1  teaspoon  curry powder
• 1/2  teaspoon  grated peeled fresh ginger
• 2 1/2  cups  diced roasted skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 3/4 pound)
• 3/4  cup  seedless green grapes, halved
• 1/4  cup  diced dried apricots
• 1/4  cup  thinly sliced green onions
• 2  tablespoons  chopped unsalted cashews
• 1  tablespoon  chopped fresh parsley
• 4  (6-inch) naan breads
• 3  cups  trimmed watercress

Preparation

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; stir with a whisk. Add chicken and next 5 ingredients (through parsley) to mayonnaise mixture, tossing to coat.
Heat naan according to the package directions, if desired.
Spoon about 3/4 cup chicken mixture onto each naan. Top with 3/4 cup watercress; fold over.

It was mega delicious! Chicken salad favorites with an indian flair!
Now to use the other bowl with the other half of the chicken and think about dinner....

Chicken and Gruyère Turnovers

from Real Simple magazine (with some adaptations by yours truly)

makes 4 servings (also 12 pts each)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
• 1 1/2 cups grated Gruyère (Ok I couldn't find Gruyere and honestly I think there are enough yummy cheeses out there you can substitute any of your own preferences, I am doing cream cheese and havarti in ours!)
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 2 sheets (one 17.25-ounce package) frozen puff pastry, thawed (I went to two different Meijers, the first had the little puff pastry cups, the second had nothing, then I thought I would take reduced fat crescent rolls and make my own little pockets and it would save on fat and calories that way! So mine will be made with reduced fat crescents, 8/tube, 2/pocket)
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup Dijon mustard (I will use horseradish mustard for Craig and I but the girls aren't mustard fans so I will have to find something else for them!)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400° F. In a medium bowl, combine the chicken, Gruyère, and peas.
2. Cut the 2 sheets of puff pastry in half to form 4 rectangles and place on a baking sheet. Dividing evenly, top half of each rectangle with the chicken mixture. Fold over and seal the turnovers; brush the tops with the egg. Bake until golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve with the mustard.

I am making an often overlooked grain to go with our fancy hot pockets, I will let you know how it all turns out. I have to save something for tomorrow... The chicken salad was super yummy though so I am excited to have more of that! Enjoy the rest of your Saturday everyone and get yourself a rotisserie and experiement with new ways to use it!