I have to rant about something.

I need to get something off of my chest. I've been a member of Weight Watchers for over a year and a half. Sometimes I do well, sometimes I don't do well. I know exactly whose fault it is if I have a bad weigh in. Sometimes I eat crap. It's a fact of life. To paraphrase something that a leader said recently, "you didn't get to where you are now by eating too much fruit." No, most of us didn't. Some people got there by eating too much fried food. Some people got there by eating too much snack food. And some people got there by eating too much candy. I know, everything in moderation. But for crying out loud, who eats one cubic morsel of fudge when they've made AN ENTIRE PAN????

So I have to tell you, it really pisses me off to see them promoting a marshmallow fudge recipe. I refuse to even consider this a "healthier" version.  I don't care (actually, I do, because too many of these ingredients are processed crap) if you're using cooking spray to make each piece have fewer calories. I don't (see above) care if you're using light butter or margarine to make each piece have fewer calories. I don't care if you're using fat free evaporated milk to make each piece have fewer calories. No one needs to be eating something that has close to two cups of sugar AND 14 large marshmallows. Some of the people I see at meetings have real health issues. They're diabetic, they're on multiple medications. Eating stuff (I refuse to call it food) like this can be dangerous for them. And get real. You're pouring the stuff in to an 8x8 pan and the instructions are to cut this in to 36 pieces? They have got to be kidding. (Just how many of the uneven and irregular pieces end up on the cook's mouth, and not on a plate to "share" with everyone else in their family?? "Oh, no, the recipe only makes 24 pieces, not 36...it's all here.") And each piece is costs you 3 points?  If they want to provide alternatives, how about tell people to eat a few chocolate chips. That's the least offensive ingredient in the recipe. (It should be noted that I like chocolate chips and have, upon occasion, done just this.)

Studies show that the average person consumes over 100 pounds of sugar EACH YEAR. Is it any wonder people have health issues?

Go do yourself a favor. Don't make this. If you want something chocolate, go eat a piece of chocolate. And make it a real piece of chocolate. The good stuff. Don't waste your points on a bunch of processed crap. I have never heard anyone call marshmallows healthy.

End of rant.

Whole30 Day 1 Wrap Up - Well that sucked.

So, yesterday was day 1 of #Whole30. I ate well. I had my egg foo yung for breakfast, black coffee. For lunch I had two Applegate Farms organic (no nitrites, uncured, grass fed, etc) hot dogs and kale sautéed in coconut oil w/garlic. For dinner I had steamed chicken and broccoli, with coconut aminos and cayenne pepper. I had a peach as a morning snack and a handful of raw pistachios in the afternoon. Aside from the black coffee, I just drank water yesterday. When I plugged everything in to my eTools on Weight Watchers, I found out that I underestimated the points value for the hot dogs and was actually under my daily points. Well, that never happens. Since I couldn't make a meeting last night I went and weighed in during my lunch hour. Up from 167.7 in the a.m. to 171. This morning I was 169.9. (Yes, I know we aren't supposed to be weighing ourselves all the time, I just wanted some positive feedback after one day of clean eating and a crappy sleepless night. Didn't get any.)

I went to bed early (for me if I'm not falling asleep on the sofa, only to wake up at 2am and head to bed) so that I could get up early and take the dogs for walks before the sun came up. Didn't happen. That was one of the WORST nights sleep I can recall having in a long time. It was one of those "I'm lying here, in the dark, with my eyes closed, but I know I'm not asleep" kind of nights. When I did get some sleep, or what passed as sleep, I had these really weird dreams.

Needless to say, I'm really dragging today. Since it will be over 100 again today, I won't take dogs out until the sun sets. I just might be napping during lunch today. Or menu planning.

Whole 30 Day 1 - Dear Diary, I said I'd do what??

Dear Diary:

Today is my first day of doing #Whole30. This might not be pretty. I warned The Aussie that I was cutting a bunch of stuff out and that the first few days might be a bit rough. He's been warned. Today I'm having my coffee black. It's not too bad. I haven't used Splenda in my coffee for a month or so, so I have a head start.  I made a big egg foo yung type frittata for breakfast. Mushrooms, celery, bean sprouts (canned, because Kroger didn't have fresh), carrots, bell pepper, scallions and onion, 5 eggs, cooked in a little coconut oil.

It was humongous. I ate half of it, kind of wishing there was cheese in there, and it tasted pretty good. The Aussie even came sniffing towards my plate. "I thought I smelled omelet." The other half is being saved for breakfast tomorrow. 

I weighed myself first thing this morning. 167.7. Meh. Could be worse. I can't make it to my WW meeting tonight, but I'll go during lunch to weigh in. We'll see how this goes. I have a snapper filet in the fridge that needs to be used up. Might be good grilled. That could be lunch today. Not sure about dinner yet. Maybe baked chicken. I'll have sweet potato and The Aussie can have regular potato. I bought a bunch of broccoli the other day, planning on using it for a beef and broccoli stir fry, but maybe I'll use that for dinner tonight instead.  I'll keep you posted.  Bye for now.

Kyra

My adventures in tracking

Note to self: GET THE CHOCOLATE OUT OF THE HOUSE!!!

I really wish I didn't like chocolate. I wish my husband didn't either. I racked up more points in chocolate yesterday than I did in wine.

Breakfast:

coffee w/fat free half and half - 0
2 eggs - 4
2 T reduced fat cheese - 1
1 T poblano pepper - 0
3/4 cup mushrooms - 0
1 t coconut oil - 1

Morning Snack:

1/2 small avocado - 2

Lunch:

3 oz chicken breast - 3
1 T Kraft fat free mayo - 0
1 apple - 0

Afternoon Snack:

Smoothie (banana, berries, unsweetened almond milk) - 1

Dinner:

4 oz grilled steak - 5
3 oz grilled scallops - 2
3 oz grilled shrimp - 2
2 glasses wine - 9
veggies - 0

Late Snack:

Hershey's chocolate - 9

Once again, I managed to rack up 40 points.

Hopefully I'll do better today.

Ouch.

Okay, so my experiment yesterday was to not lie to my tracker. Ouch. 40 points. No wonder I am not losing weight. My daily allowance is 26 points. Those peanut m&ms cost me 6 points. FOR A QUARTER CUP! Forget those little crunchy bits of peanutty, chocolatey goodness. I'm going to save my points for something else. Like wine. Harrumph. Yesterday cost me all of my activity points and a few of my weekly points. Dinner wasn't even that bad. I made IKEA meatballs with sauce and veggies for dinner. Not good for a Monday.

So far today:
coffee with 2 T fat free half and half - 0
2 eggs - 4
2 T shredded cheese - 1
1 T poblano pepper - 0
3/4 cup mushrooms - 0
1 t coconut oil - 1

I feel like Dory from Finding Nemo, except that I'm chanting "must keep tracking..."

I'm not going to lie.

That's right. I'm not going to lie. On my tracker. I do, you know. I lie to it all the time. Don't measure, don't count things after dinner. Skip days. Don't include that extra glass of wine. Yup. I'm a liar.

For today, I'm not going to lie. I am going to track everything. The good, the bad, the ugly, it's all going to get tracked.

So far:

Breakfast: 1 cup of coffee w/ 2 T fat free half and half = 0 points
                  1 cup non-fat yogurt = 3 points
                  1 T honey = 2 points

Early lunch: 4 cups salad greens = 0 points
                     4 oz chicken breast = 4 points
                     1/2 cup water chestnuts = 0 points
                     1/2 oz crispy noodles = 2 points
                     3 T Kraft light raspberry vinaigrette = 2 points

I have 13 points left for the day. Not sure what I'm making for dinner, but I'm certain that I'll track it. I don't want to be a liar to you, too.

Barley and Spring Vegetable Risotto

Okay, I know that technically, this can't be called a risotto because it isn't made with arborio rice, but if Weight Watchers wants to call it a risotto, I will too.  My sister and I were talking recently about using barley, but I didn't have any recipes. Imagine my surprise when I opened up my WW Weekly on Saturday morning before my meeting. There it was. Barley and spring vegetable risotto. I sent her the recipe and she made it this Sunday. She said she added more vegetables, so it made 6 servings instead of 4. I am all for adding more vegetables than a recipe calls for. Zero points and I get to eat more. Yay! So I did the same, doubling the asparagus and the snap peas, plus I cooked up all of the mushrooms I had in my refrigerator and added them too. In my haste to shovel some of the finished risotto into my mouth, I completely forgot about adding butter, too. Oh well. Tasted awesome without it. The good thing about this recipe? Everything in it is on the Simply Filling Foods List. (I'm not counting the olive oil, since you're supposed to get a healthy oil that you don't count when you follow Simply Filling.)  I need to get back to following this plan. It worked so well for me in the past, and I've been in such a rut. I haven't officially started, since it's mid-week, but my new goal is to eat whole foods, nothing processed, for a week. Last night I had some of The Aussie's sandwich roll and a few Hershey's Kisses, so yesterday didn't count. Eating whole foods, not processed crap, is a good goal. So enough of my dithering on, here's the recipe!

Spring Vegetable "Risotto"

2 T Olive Oil (divided)
1 lb mushrooms (I used a mixture of baby bella, shitaki and portobella), sliced
2 cups finely sliced leeks (rinsed VERY WELL)
1 shallot, minced
4 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
3/4 cup pearled barley
1 lb asparagus, trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces (1 bunch)
1/2 lb sugar snap peas, trimmed and cut in half
1 t lemon zest (I sprinkled in TrueLemon)
1/4 t salt
1/2 t freshly ground black pepper
1 t garlic powder
1 t dried dill (I totally forgot to put this in...)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan (I just sprinkled a teaspoon on top of my serving)

First up: Heat up a large pan over medium high heat. When it's hot, drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil. Add the mushrooms and cook them down. This should take about 10 minutes, and you'll need to stir them frequently. When cooked down, remove from the pan and set aside.

Next: Drizzle in your second tablespoon of olive oil.  Add the minced scallion to the pan and cook until they start to get translucent, about 2 minutes. Add in the leeks and cook for another 7 or so minutes, stirring so they don't scorch, until they start to cook down.  Now it's time to add the barley, stirring it around so that it gets coated with a little oil. (I have to tell you, I didn't think 3/4 of a cup of barley looked like much. Wrong.) When it's coated (I won't tell on you if you add a little more olive oil), pour in the stock. Bring it to a light boil, reduce heat to medium low, cover and simmer. The original recipe says 30 minutes, but mine took closer to 40 minutes.  When the barley is almost tender, but still has a bit of chewiness to it, add in your vegetables, stirring well, and add your seasonings.  Again, the recipe says 3-5 minutes, but I still had a lot of broth left to be absorbed by the barley, and a lot more vegetables to cook. Uncovered, I cooked the risotto an additional 15 minutes so that it was the proper consistency.

Remove from heat, stir in cheese and lemon zest, and your dill, if you're using it. As I said above, I simply sprinkled a little cheese on top of my serving.  Because of all of the vegetables I used, this made 6 huge servings.

Enjoy!

Epiphany

Epiphany (feeling)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

An epiphany (from the ancient Greek ἐπιφάνεια, epiphaneia, "manifestation, striking appearance") is an experience of sudden and striking realization. Generally the term is used to describe breakthrough scientific, religious or philosophical discoveries, but it can apply in any situation in which an enlightening realization allows a problem or situation to be understood from a new and deeper perspective. ...

Epiphanies are relatively rare occurrences and generally following a process of significant thought about a problem. Often they are triggered by a new and key piece of information, but importantly, a depth of prior knowledge is required to allow the leap of understanding.



Yesterday was the celebration of Epiphany at church. The sermon got me thinking about the other meaning of the word epiphany and what the Pastor called "Ah-ha moments." Granted, he's talking about spiritual ah-ha moments, but I started thinking about other types.

I can gripe all I want about not making any progress, but until I actually make myself accountable for what I am doing to myself, nothing is going to change. Part of the new Weight Watchers program, Weight Watchers 360, is about implementing small steps so that they become routines. I have to admit to myself that I have really been lax with tracking. The two weeks in Australia became two more weeks at home without attending meetings. Tracking went out the proverbial door for the month of November. It's been difficult getting my head back in the game, but I have to stop fooling myself. If I keep crap in the house, I'm going to eat it. When we were out on Saturday, I bought myself a Subway combo meal. The sandwich was fine, I had water, but I also selected a small bag of Cheetos. Before opening the bag, I did look up the points. 9 points for a little bag. So, I said, not worth it. But I kept it in my pocketbook anyway. Funny how that little bag opened itself and hopped in to a bowl last night. Granted, I didn't eat all of it, but I made the stupid choice to open it up and start eating Cheetos. Stupid, stupid, stupid. So an ah-ha moment is that I can't have this in the house if I want to succeed at getting healthier and losing weight. Another moment is that I have to stop fooling myself on how much I'm eating and drinking and I need to accurately track and measure what I'm eating. The program won't work if I don't actually follow it. So here's to a fresh start in a new year, new month, new week. Today's a new day. What happened yesterday doesn't need to affect what happens today.

Peace.

Kyra

Spark

Wow, I really dropped off the face of the earth. Well, not exactly, but I sure haven't been blogging much these last few months. Life happens. I can't say that I'm happy to see 2012 in my rearview mirror. I had some good times, for sure (hi Jen and Heather!!!), but I also had some really sucky times. Australia: it's a nice place to visit. The flight is hell. Add the reason we went, and it's doubly so.

So, here I am in 2013. The Aussie and I survived the end of the Mayan calendar, Texas White Christmas snowmageddon / icemageddon, had a great visit from my sister, and had a quiet New Year's Eve with The Aussie and our gang. That's over now, and it's time to regroup, get my head out of my *ss back in the game, and start treating myself better.

Mentally, I have been struggling to get my act together. I'm not the only one. My dear friend Shannon has put out the call and is rallying the troops! We all need to find our spark. I've been reading "It Starts With Food" and "Practical Paleo." I'm not sure I'm looking to go so extreme as to give up my milk in my coffee, but I do need to feed myself more  nutritious food and cut back on the processed "food" that I gravitate towards. I seldom have fast food or soda, so they aren't big concerns of mine. I do, however, like my chocolate and wine. And Chinese food. And cheese... Darn you, TJ's for those lovely little mini brie bites. 

Unfortunately, I've found that the older I get, the harder it is to get weight off.  It isn't just how I deal with food that needs a spark. I finally set up my Active Link and am getting a better picture of how much I am and am not moving. I haven't been doing too badly, but I need to do more. I signed up to run Bold In The Cold 5k in a couple of weeks. My cousin and I have done this the last two years, so it will be good to keep the tradition going. It won't be pretty. He hasn't run all year, I haven't since the summer, and we both have put on some weight. I don't care. I'm doing it anyway, won't even wear my Garmin, and all I have to do is finish.

Healthwise, I finally got myself to a doctor to discuss my owngoing health issues. I'm not looking forward to it, but I have an endoscopy scheduled. Hopefully some light will be shed as to why I continue to have a problem keeping certain foods down.

I also signed up to do Roni's diet bet challenge. I had never heard of this site, but thought "why not?" 4% in a month is a reasonable goal. I can't believe how much activity this challenge is generating!

All in all, January should be an interesting month. I wish all of you the best blessings for your health, well being and prosperity in this new year.

Peace.

Don't be an Eeyore

He's cute and huggable, but don't be an Eeyore. I think he's the Debbie Downer of the 100 Acre Woods. When it comes to your health, don't think "why bother, I lost weight before and it all came back," or "I have so much to lose that I can't imagine it ever coming off."

Why bother? Because you deserve it. I had a pretty decent week this past week. I made it to my 20 pounds down goal, and I'm getting closer to my overall goal. The funny thing is, the weight I hit at weigh in this week is what I weighed when I joined Jenny Craig about 12 years ago. And the weight I was when I started Weight Watchers last October is close to what I weighed when I moved to Texas almost 7 years ago. Yes, you might regain some weight, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try. Life is a learning process, and not all lessons are easy.

And don't be a Pooh. Pooh isn't that great a role model either. A favorite poem of mine, from A.A. Milne, begins "A bear, however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise. Our teddy bear is short and fat, which is not to be wondered at. He gets what exercise can can, by falling off the ottoman, and generally seems to lack, the energy to clamber back." I was a Pooh, before I started my journey to get healthy. It was a couch, not an ottoman, but the lack of energy was there. I don't always like working out. To be truthful, I'm really not that fussed with the trainer I have at the gym, but it's a small gym without many options. But I feel better when I do work out. No, it isn't easy, but it is worth it when you know you're getting healthier and stronger.

So, don't be an Eeyore. Be a Tigger.

New Month, New Goals

Sitting in my Weight Watchers meeting Saturday morning, I realized that something. I am not alone. Many of us fall off the wagon, stop tracking, lose any mojo they once posessed. I'm human, I make mistakes, I get injured, I get sidetracked. The beginning of a month is a perfect time to begin fresh.

A friend of mine recently celebrated 14 pounds down since she got herself back on track. I mentioned to her that I've been bouncing a few pounds around my 10%. The goal that I reached MONTHS ago. What is my deal? I am within 11 pounds of the Weight Watchers upper level goal range.  And what do I do? I pretty much stop tracking for a month. I am sabotaging myself for no good reason. Reaching a goal doesn't mean the work on what I eat and drink stops, I won't miraculously become a single digit size (though that would be awesome), and it doesn't mean that the training stops.

So, in the spirit of my fresh start, I am doing something I rarely do. I am posting my weight. No more  hiding. I need to make myself accountable. (Sorry for the sideways picture, I really am an amateur when it comes to blog formating. And yes, the red line on the top of my left foot is the scar left from my "incident" last month.) I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I need to stay focused on me and my health, get back to tracking, meal planning, and making good choices that support my goal.

September has started out really well. Had a productive day Saturday(helping the local economy). I ordered a new pair of glasses and a pair of prescription sunglasses. We also got a new weedeater/trimmer. I'll admit it, I'm a dork. Sunday morning was Reunion with Communion at church. Four former members of our praise band who'd moved away in the last couple of years, returned for a reunion.The music was outstanding and moving. I cried when the former guitar player sang "You Lift Me Up." Our former pastor, who retired last summer, and his wife were there as well. I looked around during the greetings and remarked to the woman next to me that "this is the church I joined." The spirit in church was amazing. I need to keep that feeling within me.

Yesterday I had the option of working or not. I chose not, at least for my job. But work, I did, earing about 10 Weight Watchers activity points in the process. Bright and early, so as to avoid some of the heat, I headed to the community garden. I hauled up 4 large bags of organic soil, 2 large bags of soil conditioner, and 2 smaller bags of manure up to the garden (which is at the top of a small hill) so that I could work on my bed. Bermuda grass was pulled, swiss chard that I planted a year and a half ago was (finally) pulled, spent tomato plants were chopped down, soil and manure was spread, plant waste chopped up and hauled off to the dumpster, and my sweet potatoes were watered. Two hours later, I returned home, parched, tired, sweaty, and covered in dirt.  Labor accomplished, relaxation earned.

I hope y'all have had a wonderful and safe summer. I look forward to seeing you at Fitbloggin in a few weeks. September is going to be a great month! :)

You got your chocolate in my peanut butter... my take on not-Larabars

I have been known to go overboard buying Larabars when Kroger has them on sale. But when they aren't on sale? Not happening. I love them, but man, they can get expensive. I have enough expensive habits, thank you very much. Do you have any idea how much pretty batik fabric is per yard?  So, I figured, lots of people have made homemade versions of Larabars, why not me, too.

I love the combination of chocolate and peanut butter, so I mixed up a batch of fudgie bites this morning with my Magic Bullet. Gotta tell you, blended dates are super sticky. Since less is sometimes more, I made mine bite sized instead of bar sized. Your choice. This came out to 16 pieces, at 1 WW +point each. The whole batch was 15 points total.

PB2 Chocolate Bites

1/2 cup (tightly packed 1/2 cup) of chopped dates
1/4 cup dry roasted peanuts
2 T PB2
1 t vanilla
1 T dark unsweetened cocoa powder

Put the dates in the Magic Bullet or food processor and blend until it's a rough paste. It can be a little lumpy. Add in the peanuts and blend until it's a coarse paste. I then added in the PB2 and cocoa powder and the vanilla, processed until mixed. Then I turned the paste out into a bowl and mixed until everything was blended together. When mixture is blended well, put on to a piece of waxed paper and flatten into a square. I then folded over the waxed paper and rolled it flatter, so that the thickness was even. Refrigerate for at least an hour, unwrap, and cut into your desired shapes. Enjoy!

Cook At Home Challenge - week 2 update

It's been fun trying new recipes this week as part of Kenlie's Cook At Home Challenge. This week I've made the following:

 

Grilled chicken and black bean quesadilla, made with reduced fat pepperjack cheese and reduced fat sour cream



  

Pork satay with cucumber salad and spicy peanut dipping sauce made with PB2 - awesome! (Please note that the husband got breaded pork cutlet and green beans because it was Doggy-Father's Day and that's what he wanted! He did try mine, though, and liked it.)

This is the potato torte with romesco sauce from one of the Weight Watchers cookbooks. Eh. It was a waste of the last of my smoked paprika. The cooking time on this recipe were outrageously off and it took forever for the egg beaters to set and cook. I had to cut it in half and flip over so that it was fully cooked. It did not look anything like the book picture, either. On the good side, the potatoes, herbs and tomatoes were all home grown.

I don't have pictures (well I do, but my non-phone camera has grown legs and walked away) of the awesome mixed berry dutch baby that I made on Saturday morning or the grilled salmon that I cooked last night. The dutch baby is from the Weight Watchers Power Foods cookbook and is so good.

Tonight I'm planning on grilling turkey tenderloins that I have marinating in soy, ginger and garlic marinade.

I like big bling, and I cannot lie...

Behold, the fruits of my labor. AKA the finisher's medal from Sunday's Wounded Warrior Half Marathon. Oh, yeah. And the four shiny new 5k charms I earned at Weight Watchers for having finished the half marathon. Not bad for a birthday, huh!

Curried Ramen Soup

Leave it to me to not look at how expensive a specialty publication magazine is. I was standing in line at MalWart the other afternoon when "Best-Loved Reader Recipes" caught my eye. If I'd checked the price and saw it was $9.99 I might not have bought it. That said, I've already adapted one of their recipes, the Confetti Chicken Big Bowl.  Sorry no picture. :(  It's already packed up in the fridge so that I'll stop eating it. This made a huge pot of soup. At 12 servings, it's 5 WW points.

Curried Ramen Soup

2 carrots, shredded
1 head of broccoli, broken down into florets
2 cups green beans, cut in to bite sized pieces
1 green pepper, cut in to strips
1 red pepper, cut in to strips
2 cups snow peas, cut in to 1 inch pieces
4 very large cloves of garlic, crushed
2 T ginger, grated (I have paste in a tube)
2 T red curry paste (feel free to make it spicier by adding more)
1 t canola oil
2 cans light coconut milk (recipe called for 1 but I wanted it creamier)
6 cups water
3 packs of Oriental flavor ramen, broken in to pieces
flavor packets from 2 of the ramen packs
1 T low sodium soy sauce
1 t True Lime (can use juice of 1 lime)

Heat a large pot over medium high heat. Add in the 1t of oil. After a minute, stir in the garlic, ginger and curry paste and cook for a minute. Add in the vegetables and stir to mix in the aromatics. Next, add in the broken ramen, coconut milk and water. Stir and cover. Lower the heat to medium and cook until the noodles are done and the vegetables are cooked. This should be about 10 minutes.  Before serving, add in the flavor packets, soy sauce and lime. Stir well and serve.

Note: I totally forgot about the bean sprouts I wanted to add. Bummer. I'll add them when I heat up leftovers.

My new best friend is a salad dressing. Or how to torture yourself on Sunday morning part 2.

Please pardon the sorry excuse for a food picture, but this is one delicious pasta salad. Thank you, thank you Sandwich King. In addition to the grilled veggie sandwich that I made yesterday for lunch, he put together a spring pasta salad in this weekend's episode. Obviously, you use what's on hand if you don't have yellow roasted peppers in a jar or shallots. (Actually, I did have a shallot, I just forgot to put it in the salad.) And if you'd rather use agave nectar instead of honey, go for it.

Spring Pasta Salad (makes about 10 cups)

8 oz brown rice spirals, cooked, rinsed in COLD water, and drained
1 bag of frozen peas, thawed
1 bunch of asparagus, blanched and thinly sliced
1 bunch of snow peas, blanched and sliced ( used a big handful)
1/4 cup roasted red pepper (in water), diced
1 cup grape tomatoes, quartered
1 jar artichoke heart quarters (in water), drained
1/2 cup dressing (see below)
salt to taste

Mix together in a large bowl, add dressing and gently toss to coat.

Lemon Mustard Dressing (aka my new best friend)

1 t dijon mustard
1 T agave syrup
1 large clove of garlic, grated
zest of one large lemon
juice of one large lemon
1 T fresh dill, finely minced
1/2 cup olive oil (the oil should be about the same volume as the other ingredients)

Place all ingredients in a small jar, cover, and shake.

This is such a lovely dressing. I am lucky that I have a dill plant that hasn't bolted up at the community garden. It really goes well with lemon and garlic. Our assignment for Weight Watchers this week is to try a new vegetable. I picked up a big bunch of broccoli rabe at Sprouts after the meeting on Sunday. I am thinking I will blanch it and dress it with this salad dressing. To paraphrase Dr Seuss, Oh The Places We'll Go...

How to torture yourself on a Sunday morning.

My regular Weight Watchers meeting is on Sundays, and I try not to eat much before the meeting so I don't mess up my weigh in. Normally I'm not at home for part of the time, but I was a bad person and skipped church because I was being a wuss and didn't want to go out in the torrential downpour. So what did I do yesterday before the meeting? Watched cooking shows. Dumb idea. I was getting downright stabby, but the food being made looked so good. I've never watched Sandwich King before, but I do like sandwiches, so I continued to torture myself by watching. One he made was a grilled veggie sandwich with goat cheese spread. Eww to the goat cheese, but the veggies looked good.  I don't recall what he marinated his veggies in, but I did a simple balsamic vinegar, olive oil and italian seasonings marinade and popped the sliced vegetables (yellow squash, zucchini, red onion and later I added in portobello mushrooms) in a plastic bag this morning. By lunch time they were ready to grill. One of the pluses to working from home is cooking up your lunch. Grilling it was a first for me. (Note to self, go clean up the pieces of onion that fell through the grill grate.) This sandwich was huge! I'm still full at 5:30 pm. Instead of goat cheese, I combined about 1 T of shredded queso fresco and 1 T of fat free cream cheese, and a bit more of the italian herbs. I now have a great substitute for goat cheese!  The huge pieces of flatbread really added to the points, but overall, it was worth it.

No Knead Bread

After the craziness of yesterday afternoon, spending "quality" time with the dogs and the parrot in a closet under the stairs, listening to tornado sirens blaring and hail hitting the house, I decided to try making no knead bread. I don't know how I stumbled upon this blog but I'm glad that I did. Now I love bread. Probably too much. Especially when it's warm from the oven or bread maker, slathered with butter... oops. Drooling now.... As you know, I've been doing Weight Watchers since the end of October, so it's not a treat I allow myself very often. And since I've pretty much been at a plateau since I hit my 10% goal, I probably shouldn't be treating myself now. That's life, though. I can eat things, but I'd better be prepared to exercise more and eat plently of healthy things, too.

I have a bread machine, which makes great bread. When I've tried to make it by myself, I've totally messed up. Last time, I ended up with bread that wouldn't rise, and was so tough. I think the yeast continued to rise in my stomach, which was NOT a good thing. So when I heard about no knead bread, I thought it would be neat to try. So last night, after I signed off from work, I put the dough together. Flour, salt, yeast and water. Pretty easy, huh? I'm not 100% sure my yeast was fresh enough, but it rose. The trick to no knead bread is that you don't mess with it. It sits in a bowl, on your counter, overnight. Simple.

No Knead Bread

3 cups AP flour

1 3/4 t salt (Note: this was too salty. I'll reduce to 1 t next time)

1/2 t yeast

1 1/2 c water

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt and yeast. Stir in the water, mixing enough to ensure that it's worked in. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 12-18 hours on your counter.

This is what it looked like this morning, after 13 hours. When you're ready to bake, heat up your oven to 450. When it reaches temperature, put your dutch oven and lid in to heat for 30 minutes. (Note: I read that my dutch oven lid can only be safely heated to 400 because of the handle, so I heated the bottom for 15 minutes at 450, reduced the heat, and when it hit 400, I put the lid on and heated for another 15 minutes.)

While the oven is heating, dump out the sticky dough mixture on to a heavily floured counter and shape in to a ball. Mine didn't really come out as a ball, more like a blob. Cover with the plastic wrap and let it rest while the oven and the pan are heating. After the pan has heated for 30 minutes, remove from the oven. Pick up the blob and put it in to the pan. Cover and stick in the oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove. At this point, I removed the lid and stuck it back in for a few minutes to get it a bit more brown. When it's baked, carefully remove from the pan and let cool on a wire rack.

Isn't it pretty?

Now all I need to do is figure out how many WW points this loaf is so I don't eat the whole thing!

Top O' the morning to you

Naw, this isn't a Saint Patrick's Day post. I just like that phrase! Plus, I'm trying to generate happy thoughts and stay positive, and what better to put you in a cheerful mood than a happy greeting? :) And a lovely, HUGE, mug of tea and a piece of pumpkin cake?

I was scouring the interwebs for recipes for pumpkin chocolate brownies after a friend mentioned them on FB recently. Too many of the recipes posted were simply boxed brownie mix made with pumpkin. Delicious, I am sure, but full of sugar and preservatives, too. Besides, it's not what you mix in to the brownie mix that's not good for you, it's the brownie mix, itself. So, I played recipe mash up and came up with these. Techically, I guess they are brownies, but there's almost no chocolate flavor here, so I'll consider this to be spiced pumpkin cake. Probably more suited to fall baking, but it's a tasty treat, nonetheless, and not too sweet. Recipe Builder calculated this at 4 +points. If you like sweeter, you could add more sugar, but the points would change.

Spiced Pumpkin Cake (12 servings)

1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup low fat buttermilk
1/4 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup egg beaters
1 1/4 cups white wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar (not packed)
1/4 cup splenda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 Tablespoons of dark cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350. Spray an 8x8 baking pan with non-stick spray. Mix the wet ingredients, including the brown sugar and splenda, together until smooth. Mix the dry ingredients together and add to the wet mixture. Pour into baking pan and back for about 35 minutes.

Weight Watchers - week 17 update

So, I didn't do too badly this week at weigh in. This is a good thing, considering I was up 1.6 last week after finally getting to my 10% mark. I was back down that 1.6 and a little more, for a total of 2 pounds down. It's really strange being this weight, because I haven't weighed this little in years. I'm actually going through my closet and finding things I can finally fit in to again. Not everything, mind you, but I'm getting there. Ideally, I'd like to fit in to a little black dress that I bought to wear to a New Year's Eve party in Australia many years ago. That's still 25 pounds off though, which is less than my official goal weight. I'd like to fit in to my wedding dress again, too! Anywho, slow progress is good progress.

Nothing new cooked this week, so far. I'm actually back to tracking this week. I need to reign myself back in. I was cooking with mostly power foods, so I wasn't eating badly, but I don't want to get too far removed from tracking and accountability. Speaking of tracking, I had to suck it up and write down that I ate pizza last night. We were getting our taxes done, and our accountant was running behind schedule, so we took advantage of the delay to go get some dinner at a nearby pub. The Aussie had his beloved fish and chips, and I splurged and had one of their naan bread pizzas. It was strange, but tasty in it's own non-pizza way. It was topped with garlic spread, apples (they weren't carmelized like the description said, though), bangers (a sausage sliced up) and brie. And I had a Harp lager. O.M.G. that was tasty. So a few points (about 7) came off of my weekly points allowance. That pizza and beer was worth it. All in all, it was a good night. :)