Link Luv

Hey guys! Happy Saturday! A few months ago I was having some issues with LINK COOTIES from fellow bloggers being infected with possible viruses on their blogs. I made the decision to remove my blog roll and it made me sad! I really think that it helps people connect and I really want to give it another try and get the list back up.

Ok so here is where I need your help.... I want to add you, I want to share your blog with my readers. SO, if you don't already see your blog over on the lower right hand side (might need to scroll down) PLEASE leave me a comment with your blog name, & the link to your blog so I can (slowly) try to re-build my blog roll.  I am really hoping that this time I can leave it up and share the luv.

Speaking of luv....one of my favorite bloggers named Jack, ok so he is the only blogger I follow named Jack, but he has been doing posts titled W.I.D.T.H that are so inspiring! I'm actually a lil jealous that I didn't think of the idea! LOL Not sure what I am talking about?  GO SEE for yourself over at Jack's blog, & then send him your photo!

Oh & yeah....long ago I sent in mine-

Have a GREAT weekend everyone!
BYE!

Lighter Cooking Light Recipe!

 

Last weekend Sean and I were meal planning. I also like to call it cleaning out the magazine pile! lol I gave him a stack of magazines and he picked out a couple of dishes. He also said, “can you please make something that I pick out this week.” making me feel a little bad. Ya see the thing is that Sean ALWAYS picks out pasta. lol This time it was no different. Mushroom lasagna was his choice. Yes, it was from an issue of Cooking Light, but it was a creamy sauce and according to the stats listed was going to be one of those small portion- high PointsPlus meals. Sigh.

For those of you who know me, and have followed my blog for any length of time- you know that I like more bang for my buck! I enjoy sitting down to a large portion. Call me greedy, but I do. So when it comes to a pasta dish that I know I wont be able to have a nice size portion of, I normally pass.

I wanted to make Sean a happy camper so I set off to make the recipe he picked out LIGHTER! Yes, a Lighter Cooking Light Recipe!

THIS IS THE ORIGINAL RECIPE-

MY CHANGES ARE IN RED

From Cooking Light Magazine

Mushroom Lasagna
Ingredients

1 cup boiling water
1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms –I skipped this ingredient entirely. never used it before.
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided- 1 teaspoon
1 1/4 cups chopped shallots (about 4)
1 (8-ounce) package presliced cremini mushrooms
1 (4-ounce) package presliced exotic mushroom blend- I used white mushrooms and added another 4 oz. to make up for not using the porcini’s
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
6 garlic cloves, minced and divided
1/2 cup white wine
1/3 cup (3 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese- 3 light laughing cow wedges-original flavor
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives, divided
3 cups 2% reduced-fat milk, divided- Fat Free Milk
1 1/10 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1/4 cup)
Cooking spray
9 no-boil lasagna noodles- 4 ounces Whole Wheat
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese- 1 TB just sprinkled on the top

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Combine 1 cup boiling water and porcini. Cover and let stand 30 minutes; strain mixture through a cheesecloth-lined sieve over a bowl, reserving liquid and mushrooms. I skipped this step- did not (have these mushrooms.

3. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil to pan(I left out the oil on this step); swirl to coat. Add shallots to pan; sauté 3 minutes. Add cremini and exotic mushrooms(or white, like I used), 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; sauté 6 minutes or until mushrooms are browned. Add thyme and 3 garlic cloves; sauté 1 minute. Stir in wine; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute or until liquid almost evaporates, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Remove from heat; stir in cream cheese- or add Laughing cow like me! and 1 tablespoon chives. Add reserved porcini mushrooms.skipped

4. Heat a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add remaining 1 tablespoon (I used 1 teaspoon)oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add remaining 3 garlic cloves to pan; sauté 30 seconds. Add the reserved porcini liquid(SKIPPED THIS) , 2 3/4 cups milk, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper; bring to a boil. Combine remaining 1/4 cup milk and flour in a small bowl; stir with a whisk. Add flour mixture to milk mixture, and simmer 2 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring constantly with a whisk.

5. Spoon 1/2 cup sauce into an 11 x 7-inch glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray, and top with 3 noodles. Spread half of mushroom mixture over noodles. Repeat layers, ending with remaining sauce. Sprinkle cheese over top. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until golden. Top with remaining 1 tablespoon chopped chives.(I didn’t have more chives- so I topped with fresh Italian parsley)

**I also decided to make these in smaller stoneware serving pieces.

Are ya ready for the stats?

Ok well this original recipe serves 6 for 10 PointsPlus.

My version: Serves 4 at 9 PointsPlus each! Whoohoo! High five for lightened up recipes!

Just goes to show you that SIMPLE changes can equal BIG changes. Just a few swaps of ingredients made this dish lower in PointsPlus and a heartier serving size. We enjoyed this dish with a simple side salad. Oh and I must say, it was quite tasty too! Good choice Sean! 

Do you lighten up already lightened up dishes too? I was kinda shocked that the small changes I made had that much of an effect on the nutritional stats on this dish. I loved making it even healthier!

Have a great day everyone!

BYE!

GUEST POST! Cheesecake Factory recipe re-created at home!

Hello! The other day I got a text from my friend Tina telling me that she had re-created a dish that we ordered out. I sent her a text back that she needed to do a guest post for me! I love making meals at home that I enjoy out at restaurants and LOVE when my friends and family try it out too! Great job Tina!

You might remember Tina was my date to our 20th High School reunion just this past October! Whoohoo!

Take it away Tina!

 

Hello Everyone!
 
My name is Tina, I am TJ's long time childhood friend. First let me begin by saying TJ is one of my best friends. She truly has been through all of my life's up and downs and has stood by  and supported me even when she didn't always agree with my choices. I am so proud of her and all that she has achieved in all areas of her life (plus its nice having a friend that cooks as well as she does).
 
I have struggled with my weight my entire life. I was a fat kid, fat teenager, fat young adult, fat through pregnancy...yada yada yada. At age 32 I decided to take a radical approach to weight loss and had a Gastric Bypass surgery. I am not here to advocate this choice for anyone, it was just the right choice for me. I was very successful and lost over 135 lbs very fast. Due to hard work and dedication I have kept off the majority of that weight.
 
Its been five and half years and I still struggle everyday with food....I Love it...everything about it. I have learned so much about food and nutrition throughout this this time. But the most important thing I tell myself everyday is "I am worth it". I still struggle with about 25 lbs but I guess most of us do.
 
TJ has taught me so much about "food swapping" you know... swapping bad stuff for the good healthy stuff. Might sound boring but its really fun and challenging.
 
A few weeks ago TJ and I went to lunch for her Birthday...BTW She's getting OLD! LOL  I love to tease her because she is one month older than me!We went to The Cheesecake Factory.  I know it sounds like calorie and point overload right? Not for us! We went straight for the lighter menu-didn't even look at the regular menu. That's a really good tip! Why temp yourself! We chose to share a Mexican chicken salad thing (it was good) and a flat bread...this was amazing! I re-created it for lunch yesterday and wanted to share my recipe with you all.
 
 

Gorgonzola and Pear Flat bread

**FAKE Cheesecake Factory RECIPE!**
serves 1

(added to the recipe builder- 6 PointsPlus)

1-Trader Joe's whole wheat Pita
1-T Gorgonzola cheese
1-T chopped walnuts
5-6 pieces of thinly sliced  pear (less than 1/4 of the pear)
10-15 spinach leaves (Cheesecake factory used arugula..I didn't have any so I used spinach)
 
 
Preheat oven to 375. Put all the spinach leaves of first. Place the pear slices on. then sprinkle the cheese and walnut. bake 10-12 min.
 
I really enjoyed this, next time I would do a little less pear and maybe a little more cheese!

Never Give up! Happy eating and weight loss to you all.

Tina

Technorati Tags: Weight Watchers,PointsPlus,Cheesecake Factory,Food Swap,Healthy recipes at home,Lighten up meals at home

Creamy (but no cream!) Cauliflower & Roasted Garlic Soup

 

Hey guys! I opened my spare fridge today and 3 heads of cauliflower were staring at me. I picked them up last week because they were on sale and I never thought of anything to make with them. Today I tackled them! I think it turned out pretty well!

TADA!

Thanks Mom for the set of cute ceramic crocks! They are adorable and the perfect size for a cup of soup!

Not only is this recipe DELICIOUS, but it is also VERY Weight Watcher friendly! I added everything to the Recipe Builder on E-tools and I was SHOCKED at how LOW in PointsPlus this one is!

Without further delay…

Creamy (but no cream!) Cauliflower and Roasted Garlic Soup

Makes 14 cups of soup-

1 cup servings for 2PP, or 2 cup servings for 3PP

INGREDIENTS

• 3 heads of cauliflower, cut into pieces- mine were medium sized
• 8 Cups low sodium vegetable, or chicken broth
• 1 cup diced onions
• 3-4 whole bulbs of garlic, or about 15 cloves of already roasted garlic
• 1 15 ounce can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
• Salt and Pepper to taste

 

First off get that garlic roasting. Cut the bulbs in half and put them in foil. I roasted the bulbs for 45 minutes at 400 degrees. Let them cool and pick out the garlic cloves. If they are too mushy just give the bulb a squeeze- but make sure they are cooled off! Just place garlic aside for now.

In a small sauté pan sprayed with PAM add onions and cook until translucent; 4-5 min. Set aside.

In a large stock pot add the chopped up cauliflower. IMPORTANT- Add enough broth to just cover the cauliflower. If you don’t need all 8 cups just use what you need. This MIGHT alter the amount of cups your batch of soup makes.

Bring broth and cauliflower to a boil; cover, and lower heat. As soon as the cauliflower is soft- shut off the burner and let cool.

In a blender, I used my Vita-Mix- add in roasted garlic, cooked onions, and the drained garbanzo beans. Ladle in 2 scoops of broth from the cooked cauliflower pot. BLEND WELL! Add blended mix to another large stock pot. In batches; ladle in cauliflower & broth and blend until all mixture is in second stock pot.

Taste soup- and add salt or pepper to taste.

I think this would be delicious with a nice hunk of crusty bread! Plus with soup this low in PointsPlus- you can totally splurge on the bread! Whoohoo!

 

Off to eat a bowl!
BYE!

Technorati Tags: Weight Watchers,PointsPlus,PointsPlus 2012,Creamy(but no cream!) Cauliflower & Roasted Garlic Soup,Cauliflower soup,Healthy Cooking,Healthy Recipes,Soup ideas

NACHO NIGHT!

 

Hello! Before I share my NACHO NIGHT with you I cooked over the weekend with my Mom and we decided to make THIS recipe I saw over at Gina’s blog Skinnytaste last week. Result- It was delicious! I pretty much followed directions to this cabbage casserole- we left out the cheese and it still tasted delicious! Both my Mom and I loved it! Here’s a couple of shots from last Saturday:

Did I mention it’s super EASY and a Low PointsPlus meal too? Go check out the recipe! YUM!

I shared this picture on Sunday through Twitter and Facebook. After I get home from shopping I like to prepare all of my fruits and vegetables so I can grab snacks when I need one.

That prep is how I threw this snack together for Sean and I while he was watching football-

A little Fage0% with ranch dip seasoning mixed in makes a tasty dip!

I made a trip over to my favorite health food store- Harvest House! Check out the BIN SECTION!

I could spend hours looking around in this store…but I got there with 40 min to close! AAahhh!

Tea Anyone? WOW!

This was the reason I took a trip a few towns away…1 PointsPlus bread- or 2 for 2 PointsPlus!! WOW! Check out those STATS! The store sold it in the freezer section and so that is where I am keeping my loaf.

Panini’s for lunch the next day to TEST out the bread! YES PLEASE!

2 slices of bread, turkey, cranberry, spinach, and low fat pesto made the tastiest lunch!

My bread looked a little small next to Sean’s sandwich but I did enjoy the bread! It was good and crisped up nicely on my George Forman.

We tried these Alexia fries to go with our lunch- 24 fries are 3 Pointsplus. We enjoyed them- I thought they tasted like FRESH fries!

 

Ok ok….NACHOS!

MMmmm so YES it is possible to make this, eat this, enjoy this, AND still be on plan! With the toppings I used and the portion I ate it was about 12 pointsplus.

These EXTRA THIN corn tortillas help! I like to bake my own chips. Yes, it takes a little extra time- but I can make as little or as much as I want with NO bag of chips in my pantry whispering to me every day. lol

4 tortillas for 4 PointsPlus- Cut, sprayed with PAM, sprinkled with a little salt, and baked at 400 degrees for about 7 minutes; or until browned.

We added 2%cheese, black beans, tomatoes, green onions, avocado, (tamed) jalapenos, and sour cream to make our night a NACHO NIGHT! OLE!

You can add whatever toppings you like on your nachos- that’s half the FUN of cooking at home! The other half…well that would be eating it and not feeling guilty, or sick! ENJOY!

 

I guess I had more to share with you than Nachos huh?  I kinda feel like this was a rambling post. But I hope that I gave you some ideas!

 

BYE!

Technorati Tags: Weight Watchers,Pointsplus2012,Nachos,Mexican Food,Julian Bakery Bread,Panini,Cooking at home.

Leftover Re-Invented Lunch

 

Happy Friday (the 13th!) Everyone! I had a great pool workout, gobbled up some yogurt, and ran out the door to go to my Weight Watcher meeting today. I was down .8 Something is better than nothing right? I must admit to moving kinda slow this week- my damn back is just not happy. But I am proud of myself for tracking all week and moving as much as I did. GO ME!

Before I left this morning I took out a small container from the freezer and a baggie with 2 ounces of chicken breast meat in it. The container had less than a cup of Butternut Squash Chickpea Red Lentil Stew so I planned on adding a few things to it to make it my Leftover Re-Invented Lunch!

Adding 2 ounce of chicken, a couple of Tablespoons of frozen corn, and a little cayenne powder to the pot as I heated it up made the perfect lunch! I almost tossed in some chopped fresh spinach too- So many ideas!

Just goes to show you that saving not quite a full portion of leftovers is a good idea after all!

Hey so how does that picture look?? I was getting really tired of taking pictures in low dull lighting around here so last week I Googled how to built a light box and it brought me to THIS LINK.

EASY to build-I loved the step by step instructions! But mine did end up costing a little more than they had spent. I bought everything at Lowes, but had the box in my garage! Oh and the tape, plus the tissue paper!Bargain! lol Anyway Here is my set up-

Yes it is on the floor! haha! I needed to clamp the lights up higher than the box. It works, I just need to lay on the floor to take the pictures!

I think the lighting is much better! I also love that I can change out the “placemat” or scrap piece of fabric I got at the local fabric store. Oh and I gotta say that MOST of my pictures are taken with my iPhone4s. Nothing fancy…but I think they look pretty good! Whatcha think??

Hope everyone has a fun weekend! I am making a NEW recipe with my Mom tomorrow that I saw online. I will be sure to snap some pictures & share it with you soon! I know it’s a BIG football weekend so I know I will be making some sort of FAKE version of a BAD for us food. Maybe pita pizzas or Nachos?? humm I guess I will ask the football fan of the house what he feels like!

Bye guys!

Technorati Tags: weight watchers,pointsplus,Butternut squash chickpea red lentil stew,Leftover ideas,photography,iPhone4s,Light box

Checking in….

 

Hello everyone! Happy Thursday…or as I call it, “The day before Weigh-In!” lol  I had a great week! TRACKMASTER I WAS! (remember THIS post? lol) I think I managed my PointsPlus well over the last week and I am hoping to see a loss at tomorrow morning’s meeting/weigh in!

Yesterday I made a double batch of Crock Pot Cajun Red Beans to take to Sean’s family for dinner. This is a great meal for a crowd, or make a single batch to enjoy! We served it over brown rice and had a nice big salad with it for a great dinner.

I wanted to also say THANK YOU for so many nice emails and comments on my last post. It was nice to see that you guys like all of my crazy food ideas! lol Sometimes I think my choices are a little weird, strange, stupid, boring………..ok just ODD! But I guess posts filled with EATS are just what you guys like to see!

So how are YOU doing this week? Have you been tracking? Are you a TRACKMASTER? DId you try any NEW EATS this week that helped you stay OP? Let me know! I love new ideas!

This morning I read a blog post from Tony, who bogs over at The Anti-Jared. Tony is an amazing success story! Losing over 200 pounds! I love how dedicated he is to his life, family, and his healthy lifestyle. Truly an inspiration! Well today’s post from Tony was a shout out to one of my blogging buddies Suzi Storm. Once you go READ TONY’S POST you might be saying, “hey that girl looks familiar” because you just might have seen her on the new Weight Watcher’s Believe commercials.

Yep…a whole lotta inspiration is out there!

 

Have a great day everyone!

BYE!

Technorati Tags: Weightwatchers,pointsplus2012,pointsplus,Crock pot recipies,Cajun red beans,Red Beans.

Whole Bunch Of EATS!

 

Hey guys! I wanted to share some EATS with ya! I know coming up with NEW meal ideas can be difficult so I thought I would share some favorites of mine!

This is a breakfast idea-

3/4 C egg beaters (2)

1 Light Laughing Cow cheese wedge (1)

handful of fresh spinach

I sprayed a non-stick pan with PAM and tossed in the egg beaters- a little pepper & then added the spinach. When I added the cooked eggs to my bowl I stirred in the cheese wedge. It was tasty! Nice & cream with the cheese- and all for just 3PP! YUM!

Lunch- or dinner!

A standard mixed green salad with tomatoes & garbanzo beans- but the real star is the dressing! I love this Caesar! It’s a must try for a lower fat & PointsPlus option out there! 2 Tablespoons +2 PP

This snack hit the spot! Cuties & roasted almonds! YUM!

We love a BLTA night around here! This time it was REAL bacon! I normally use Trader Joe’s peppered turkey bacon. I must say that I missed the peppery flavor of the TJ’s brand!  

We decided to have these Alexia Sweet Potato puffs as our side. I think we both would rather have sweet potato fries next time. These we just OK :-/

mmmm blta goodness!

Another breakfast idea! I had this 2X over the past few days.

1 C Fage 0% greek yogurt (3)

cereal- granola mix (3)

blueberries

** This version did not keep me full very long  

So just to give it a try, next time I ate this combo I decided to mix in some protein powder to help fill me up a little more. Yep! Totally worked! Just one scoop for 1 PP did the trick! I get this brand at Trader Joe’s for about $9 a can.

Ahhhhh my favorite WEIRD SALADS!

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you will see my post pictures of this salad A LOT! lol

Garbanzo beans, cottage cheese,  grated parmesan cheese, snap peas, & shredded carrots! Topped with dry roasted sun flower seeds too! YUM!

Before mixing it up…and after!

Breakfast OR Lunch idea!

2 slices Fat Free Multigrain bread-toasted (3)

1 egg + 1 egg white (2)

3 slices Canadian Bacon(1)

Fruit on the side

 

Here is a NEW recipe for ya!

Tj’s Pho At Home!

Get yourself any and all vegetables that you love to eat!

In my bowl- ( I split this pile & served 2)

Mushrooms- sliced

1 small zucchini- sliced

shredded carrots

bok choy

sugar peas

green onions

bean sprouts

small piece of ginger-sliced up.

 

Ok so I got these packets of rice noodle soups- but instead of using the dry packets of broth that they come with I used my chicken bouillon & tossed in the sliced ginger & boiled for about 20 minutes to flavor the broth. 

You could totally buy a box of rice noodles and portion them out- those packets of soup were on sale so I decided to get them since it was cheaper than the box of noodles!  4 PointsPlus worth of noodles all set to go!

I put the mushrooms & zucchini in a bowl- these take the longest to cook so I kept them separated from the rest of the veggie pile.

All the other vegetables waiting to take a broth bath!

I tossed the mushrooms & zucchini in first- cooked for about 4 minutes. Noodles were up next! These cook FAST! The package said 3 minutes but I think 2 worked just fine! So 1 minute into cooking I added in the rest of the vegetables and stirred it all up!

The last thing I did was throw in the green onions & give the pot one final stir….

All set ready to EAT! The noodles came in at 4PP and I gave myself an additional PP for the broth. Totally filling and delicious meal for 5 PointsPlus!

Topped with a LITTLE squirt of HOT!

YUM! Perfect LOW PointsPlus Soup for a cold Winter evening!

YUM!

I didn’t like it…. can ya tell? lol

Once again I made a dish that I like getting out- but never really know exactly how it is cooked. When I make things at home it is SO much easier for me to figure out how many PointsPlus the recipe is, and not to mention how much easier it is to stay on track!

What do you cook at home to help you stay on plan? My list is LONG! lol I wanna hear what you make!

Have a great day everyone! BYE!

Technorati Tags: Weight Watchers,PointsPlus,Pho Rice Noodle Soup,Breakfast Ideas,Lunch ideas,Bacon