SATURDAY

I drove out to spend the day with my Mom today. They said that it was 103 degrees, but it felt a lot hotter! We ran some errands, bought some birthday presents for Sean, (Monday is his B-day) grabbed lunch, (CA Roll-forgot to snap a picture before I gobbled it up!-oopps) then went back to my parents house to chill in the A/C! I went to work making some jewelry and my Mom got dinner ready. When it is HOT no one wants to cook, let alone eat a hot meal, so we had shrimp cocktail and a salad which has now been given a new name. Jack, over at Jack Sh*t Gettin Fit, gave my crazy mixed veggie/bean concoction it's new name: JUNKYARD SALAD. My mom and I have been making salads like this for years, and a few days ago I shared one with you but here is the one my Mom made us tonight- This was full of stuff-corn, green beans, garbanzo beans, olives, artichoke hearts, beets, and tomatoes. Sprinkled with a little Lawry's Season Salt and red wine vinegar. YUM! Have a look at the shrimp cocktail. My Mom makes the best cocktail sauce!
Dinner was delicious, and for dessert we bought some Weight Watchers Cookies and Cream ice cream bars. They were 2 points, and pretty tasty. I think the giant latte bars are still my favorite so far, and for only 1 point! Can't beat that! :)

Here are a few pictures that I took of the new flowers in my Parents backyard, along with a lil gnome, boy he looks bored huh? lol


That is all from me today! Tomorrow I gotta get up early to meet up with Sean's family. We are all going in to San Francisco for the day. I packed my camera to share pictures with ya! Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!! :) BYE!

What A Week!

Never again will I schedule 3 doctor appointments in one week. I am worn out! lol I did however get a spark of a possible help to my problem. I need to have a bone scan done first to see if I am a candidate for some injections in my back, so I will keep you all posted! I am crossing my fingers for some pain relief-maybe lasting anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months. That would be nice! :)

Ok so my life revolves around food, so lets see some pictures shall we? OH! Baked Ziti! My dinner party with Sean's family went well, everyone enjoyed my dinner-however I decided that when I make this is is probably better to make it the BAD way. lol Whole milk cheese products REALLY make this meal. I promised a recipe so here is what I did- this is unlike most of my recipes with a lot of instructions and details because there really is not a written down version. Passed on to my Mother, from her Mother (my Nan) was just verbal directions that included terms such as "a pinch" or "two handfuls" so please pardon the dust. :)

Baked Ziti

2 pounds ZITI pasta (here in CA this is hard to find-strange so I used PENNE)
2 pounds Ricotta (I used SKIM)
1 1/2 pounds mozzarella cheese-grated(I used reduced-fat)
Sauce-make your own or I use trader joes canned marinara low fat sauce that I doctor up with more garlic. I used 2 large cans (some in the dish some for on the side if after you serve it people want more)
Parmesan cheese- 2 handfuls (yep thats how my Nan cooked)
2 eggs
salt/pepper-to taste


Ok so you cook pasta ( al-dente)
In a LARGE mixing bowl add ricotta, parm. cheese, almost all of the mozzarella (save some for topping)add a lil salt and pepper to cheese mix and 2 eggs. MIX WELL- with your hands :)
Add cooked pasta and 2-3 ladles of sauce into bowl with cheese mix-mix well-everything turns pink. Place 2-3 ladles of sauce in large baking pan, add pasta/cheese mix. Top with a couple of more ladles of sauce and a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese.

Bake for 45 min. at 400 degrees

sorry about the blurry pic- I was rushing!
It came out good, but I missed the creaminess of it made the traditional way. I do not eat this often so I would have to say that some foods in my life are better not messed with (making it the reduced-fat way) :) I tried!

My love of Arnolds/Orowheat sandwich thins goes on. Those things are the greatest thing since...well sliced sandwich thins!! lol While at my friend Tina's we decided to make turkey panini's with them. Fired up the George Forman grill and layered the goodness on the thins- Havarti cheese, turkey, spinach, basil, and a bell pepper and onion mix that we cooked up ahead of time. Used some PAM to spray the thins and we grilled them up. They tasted so good!

Here are a few other turkey sandwich pictures from this week:
If you haven't tried those Thins before-go get em! :)

Oh and I was having a snack the other day, string cheese and crackers-came across this smiling face. :) That is one happy cracker. :) He was yummy too!

So glad it is Friday! I hope all of you have a wonderful day! :) BYE!

I swear I did not touch the Cheetos! lol

My hands ALWAYS turn orange when I peel and cut up carrots. Eating the cute lil baby carrots would be a great option, but I discovered that in a recent taste test comparison, well there is no comparison. I LOVE BIG CARROTS! lol So here I sit eating my lunch: Turkey sandwich on an Arnolds/Orowheat sandwich thin with a side of carrots, with orange hands. :)

Last night for dinner I had taken out a frozen container of a recipe that I made up a while back-Mexican Bake. I used some taco seasoning that I found at the health food store and I disliked the flavor of it but when I took it out yesterday for dinner I totally forgot how nasty it was. I tossed it and took out one of the burritos that I give Sean for lunch. I know I have talked about these before, way back when, but they really are good. Amy's Kitchen is a great web site and they sell their frozen and canned food items all over. They happen to be a local family company that is more well knows here in Northern California, but I know they have food items all over. They are a very nice family, and I had the pleasure of meeting Amy and her Father at an office I used to work at. Anyway, back to the yummy burritos! I buy these at Costco- and each time I go I pray that they still carry them. They are suck a great deal there! You get 8 burritos for $9.99 when the local stores sell them for $3.49 each! YIKES! So check around for them at Cotsco or Sam's Club or look for a sale to try these out!
I added a salad to my dinner too.
Yes, it is a weird combo. lol Garbanzo beans, hearts of palm, radishes, olives, with a splash of balsamic vinegar. :) It was tasty!

I already got dinner all set for tonight. Sean's Parents, his Aunt who is visiting from Paris, and his Uncle are coming tonight to visit. I will share dinner with you all another time. I promise to take pictures and share the recipe. :) It smells so good in here, I can't wait to enjoy dinner later!

Hope all of you have a GREAT day! :) BYE!

Busy and Boring

Thats how I feel lately. I booked 3 doctor visits all in the same week and the week is here and Im mad that I planned it out this way. Oh well. Lots of nothing going on but all of the busy nothings that make my head spin. lol Am I making sense to anyone? Today was weigh in and I am up 1.2. My 6 week streak of losses came to an end. I am ok with it, I know what it is (TOM) and Im movin on. I did well as far as eating goes all week but I ate a lot of leftovers and did not cook much. Guess that is why I have been neglecting all of you lately huh? I did manage to make breakfast for dinner one night- 1 hash brown patty(3) 1 cup egg beaters (2.5) and 1 slice 2% American cheese (1) FANCY huh? lol Told you that I was boring. I am making a nice dinner for tomorrow night. Sean's family will be coming over. I like to make things that I can do in advance and not be in the kitchen the whole time guests are over. I wanted to look through some cookbooks but I went with an old standby. I will keep you all hanging on exactly what I made, so come back ok? :)
Have a great evening everyone! :) BYE!

Great Dinner

In the latest Real Simple magazine the title included KID FRIENDLY so I check it to see if it applied to my picky (almost )37 year old boyfriend. lol Yep, This dinner was delicious- and of course I made it point friendly.

Pasta With Chicken Sausage and Broccoli-serves 4

12 ounces(about 4.5 cups) Rigatoni
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion sliced
6 ounces fully cooked chicken sausage links-sliced
1 small head broccoli, cut into florets and stems sliced
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (1 ounce)

Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over med-high heat. Cook the onion, stirring often, for 3 min. Add the sausage and cook, stirring until browned. Add the broccoli and 1 1/4 cups water and simmer, covered, until the broccoli is tender, 5-6 minutes. Toss the pasta with the sausage mixture and add parmesan.

What did I change? Well I used different pasta- I look for the whole grain with less calories and the brand that I used did not have rigatoni shaped pasta. Then I had 2 links of spicy chicken sausage from Trader Joe's in my freezer already so I used them. Of course portion control is also helpful when eating pasta for me. I grew up eating my Mom's Italian food, and boy could I put away a bowl of macaroni! lol So when I served this meal- I made it with less pasta than it called for and gave myself more broccoli than pasta. It really was tasty. Sean loved it, so I guess the "Kid Friendly" title wins! lol :)

Yesterday for breakfast I felt like something different- Orowheat double fiber muffin, PB2, and some low sugar strawberry jam. This jam is SO good. I love it! I actually added it to a greek yogurt last week for a snack too. It tastes so fresh.

Remember I won this case of Mix1? Well I am really bad about working in new stuff for snacks and I dont wanna drink my breakfast- I need to sink my teeth into something in the morning, Im weird, I know. lol But I needed to try this stuff- out came my Weight Watchers point calculator and all 3 flavors came to 4 points. More than I want to use on a snack so I sipped 1/2 of the bottle. I wanted to try the mango flavor- and I wanted to see the color of the drink so I poured it into a wine glass.
It was tasty. I liked the tartness of the mango flavor. I could see how these would be a handy on the go breakfast. Actually Sean has been drinking them all this past week for breakfast and he LOVES them. So special thanks to MACKATTACK over at FatBuster for the fabulous giveaway! :)

Oh I wanted to ask all of you if anyone has tried FIBER GOURMET brand pasta?? I am thinking of ordering some to try. I would love to get a review from someone that has already tried it- so shoot me over a comment or am email to tell me about it. :) I already order PB2 and Vitamuffins to help me along my weight loss journey so if I can eat pasta that is better for me- heck I will try anything! lol

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone! :) BYE!

Happy Friday!

Hi guys! I have been a little busy this week and not cooking much but managing to stay on track as far as eating healthy goes. We joined Sean's family a couple of nights this past week and then yesterday I went out to visit my Mom. Took some jewelry over to my hair dresser's shop and everyone loved what I brought over. I was super happy! :) I am cooking a new dish tonight that I will share with you another post but here is what I have been enjoying the past few days. Made a new Weight Watchers dessert for one of the nights we had dinner with Sean's family. It was good. Berry Focaccia-Simple dessert, I bought a ball of raw whole wheat dough from Trader Joes- pushed it out on a cookie sheet to form a rectangle. Then you take 1 tablespoon unsalted butter(melted) and 2 teaspoons olive oil mixed together and brush over the dough. I didnt even finish the amount of butter/oil that they called for. They also call for a lot more sugar to be sprinkled over the dough. I used 1 tablespoon raw sugar, then saved 1 tablespoon for after the berries were on it. Top with raspberries and blueberries ( I also used blackberries just because I had them) and remaining sugar. Bake for 25 min at 400 degrees. Everyone enjoyed it, tasted kinda like a berry pie to me. YUM!

Lunch with Mom- turkey sandwich on Arnolds/Orowheat sandwich thins.Some fruit with lunch too!Then dinner-Chinese Chicken Salad.Everything was on plan and very good. THANKS MOM for a great lunch and dinner! :)

Need to get busy making more jewelry and then get dinner all set. I will put my camera over by the stove so I dont forget to take pics later! I've been using my iPhone so much lately for the on the go pics- but I know they dont come out as nice. Could be worse right? :) Looking forward to a relaxing evening and weekend. Hope everyone has a great day!! :) BYE!

NSV

Wanted to share my NSV (non scale victory) with you all. I wandered over to a few stores today in search of some jeans. I came home happy, but without buying anything. Yes, I found a pair that fit, but I decided not to get them. Let me tell you my story...So I grabbed a size 12, went in to the fitting room and they went on. They were a lil baggy. All pants are too big in the waist for me but they were actually too big elsewhere. Back out to get a 10 and Im thinking no way these will fit- on they went. WOW! I was busting out of a size 20 not that long ago! I spent a lot of time in that dressing room looking at myself in the mirror. I even said a few OMG's out loud and started to tear up. However this is what I felt like in the jeans: My mind was playing tricks on me. lol Took the jeans off and decided to try again soon. It's still shorts season and my baggie shorts will do for now. :)

Came home hungry, shopping builds an appetite! :) Still working on the turkey taco meat that I made for lunches, so I baked some corn tortilla chips and decided to make a "dip".

2 ounces lean ground turkey taco meat
1/4 cup corn
1/4 cup black beans
1/4 cup brown rice
1 tablespoon light sour cream
2 tablespoons diced tamed jalepenos
1 tablespoon salsa
Mix & heat up- eat with baked chips! :) YUM! Im so full and I loved that it took me a while to eat this as I scooped up the "dip" with the chips.

Headed to visit with Sean's family tonight. Bringing along a salad, not much cooking to share with you all- sorry! I am headed to my craft area to get some more jewelry made. If you noticed I added a little link/sneak peek at some of the items I have listed on Etsy. Stop by the shop to take a peek! I am still working on getting a display made to put up at the hair shop that I go to. I am excited about it! :)

Hope everyone has a great day!! :) BYE!

Weigh In Day!

Hi everyone! Weigh in today brought me down another .8! Yippee! Grand total loss 62 pounds! :) I am a happy girl.

Last night Sean and I went over to his parents house for dinner. Take a peek at the yumminess! I filled my plate with a little of everything and loved it all! I wanted another plate full but with weigh in looming over my head, I went for the salad instead. :) Brought over the cake that I shared with you all yesterday but forgot to list ALL of the ingredients correctly. Yes the PUMPKIN angel food cake has PUMPKIN in it. lol Sorry! I went back and corrected the recipe on yesterday's post. If you want a full list of ideas that you use a box mix of angel food- let me know! :)

Before I left for my Weight Watchers meeting I decided to make a new breakfast recipe! WHAT? Yep, I ventured away from my beloved breakfast sandwich. lol Here is what I made:

High Protein Breakfast Pancake (3 WW points)

Non-fat cooking spray
3 egg whites
1/3 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup frozen blueberries

Coat pan with non-fat spray- set over med. high heat. Whisk together egg whites, oatmeal, and cinnamon, then fold in the blueberries. Pour into heated skillet and cook until puffed up slightly and brown on one side- flip and cook other side, just like you would a pancake. Serve with sugar free syrup.

This was really good. Kept me full all AM long! Then lunch came around and I had to eat again, go figure! Heated up 4 ounce of lean turkey taco meat and made lettuce tacos. YUM! Then I knock at the door- Look! It's my box of MIX 1 that I won from MackAttack over at Fat Buster
I just finished lunch when I got my box so I put a handful of them in the fridge so I can try one soon! I will let you know how they are when I try it! :) Thanks a bunch MackAttack! If your not already a follower over there- go check her out- her and her husband make some yummy meals! Oh, and ALWAYS leave comments for her- she gets 10 minutes added to her workout time with every comment we add! When I feel like being mean I leave a few comments on a single post just so I can make her sweat a lil. :)

Not much else happening here today. Lots of laundry and some housework. Hope everyone has a great day! Bye! :)

Shopping Day Monday

This morning I decided to make an executive decision. It's cut back time people. I can not be expected to go to THREE stores to pick up groceries for the week. I cut out the produce market that Sean and I usually go to on the weekends together. I just could not manage a 3rd trip out today. So I grabbed what I could stand to pay a little more for at either Trader Joe's or Safeway and just had to put my foot down. :) Here is what $100 bought us this week. A couple of new items- From Safeway I saw this dressing that some fellow WW members had been chatting about recently. They had ranch and caesar. Im not much of a ranch girl, so I opted to give the caesar a try.

While at Trader Joes I saw this dish in the freezer section that made me drool. There are 2 peppers in the box and I whipped out the trusty WW points calculator and saw that they were 6 points each. Whoo hoo! Maybe a side caesar salad to go with these? :)

When I came home I realize that I had forgotten an item preventing me from making my lunch for the week- spicy black bean soup. Oh well. I did buy lean ground turkey (buy one get one free at Safeway!) so I whipped up some turkey taco meat and made a yummy southwestern salad.

Not sure what dinner plans are tonight. I am waiting to hear from Sean if he can manage to leave work a little early for us to eat at his parents or if I need to work some FAST dinner magic then head over to his parents with dessert. I made pumpkin angel food cake. Did I ever share this recipe with you all? Humm Im not sure? You just take a box of angel food mix (ignore the box directions) Oven at 350 degrees. Add to the Box mix-in a large bowl; 1 14 ounce can of pumpkin, 3/4 cup water, 1 Tablespoon Vanilla, 1 Tablespoon cinnamon. Mix very well, pour into bunt pan. Cook for 40 minutes. If you cut the cake into 16 slices it comes to only 2 points. I have a whole list of angel food cake ideas that I had gotten a while ago online through the weight watchers site. If anyone wants it let me know I can email it to you. :) All wrapped up- so I cant eat any! lol If you happened to be a smarty pants and count the slices of cake on the plate- you may have noticed that there are only 14 slices. No, I did not stuff my face with two of those! Tomorrow is weigh in day people! lol I added one to Sean's lunch for tomorrow, and the other is sitting in the fridge for his lunch the following day. :) I did just eat a snack to help tide me over till dinner. One small container of greek yogurt topped with lots of berries, so many that you cant see the yogurt. lol It was yummy, perfect snack!

Off to get dressed and ready to leave, although Im not sure when. Being the planner that I am, makes this difficult for me. lol Hope everyone has a great evening! BYE! :)

FUN WEEKEND- GREAT FOOD!

I wanted to catch you all up with some food that I have been enjoying. Wow! I had some great stuff now that I am looking back at the pictures, getting them organized for you all. Get ready to salivate. lol :) We start off on Friday night. Sean wanted to take me to a taco place that was a little out of the way for a later dinner, but he rushed home, and we dashed out the door. The drive was SO worth it! These were THE best grilled chicken tacos I think I have ever eaten. Mine were sans cilantro- I'm not a fan. Lookie, lookie- No, I didn't just have one, I ate 3! :) YUM!

Next up was lunch on Saturday. We took a drive to Half Moon Bay for the day. The last time were were there it was way more crowded, and we were kinda rushed to get lunch at the first place that didn't have a line out the door. Yesterday we decided on a organic cafe that had some great looking items on the menu. We decided to share a couple of plates- Up first, Heirloom Beet Salad-Wood roasted organic heirloom baby beets, tossed with an orange glaze, aged balsamic, red onions and a touch of truffle oil, topped with feta cheese and toasted Marcona almonds. We also chose this sandwich-Portabello mushroom grilled and layered with caramelized onions, roasted peppers and braised greens, on house made focaccia bread topped with a piquillo-pecan spread. Absolutely delicious- everything! While we ate I admired the flowers on the vines that went aroudn the patio area. Usually when we dine out I make some sort of goofy thing happen. Oh like the time that I was eating a chicken wing (man that was ages ago) and I accidently flung it across the room! Yeah Im super clumsy. lol So we always expect weird things like that to happen. :) Yesterday it was Sean's turn. As we were eating the salad I noticed that I could not poke the lil tomatoes with my fork they were slippery, so I see Sean try and it flew off of his plate and made a mess on his shorts- and rolled onto the ground. We had to take a picture of it. :) Someone next to us had a dog and the dog was eyeing it but could not reach it. lol We had a good giggle, and I was happy it was not at my expense for once. :)

Off to get a drink at Moss Beach Distillery. Rumor has it they have a ghost. Go check it out HERE! Click on OUR GHOST- SPOOKY!

This place is a great place to go for a drink and get a little bite to eat, however everything is very pricy and fried. So we drank a beer out on the deck, relaxed, and had a good time. :)
See how happy I am! It's my first beer in a long time! lol





After our beers we wanted to go back to a little snack shop we saw in Half Moon bay to get some clam chowder. Sounds sinful, but this was made with NO dairy. Not exactly sure how good or bad it really was, but taste wise it was good. Sean loved his- and took my cup to finish it off too. PIGGY! lol
Back home, a little tired, and a little crispy from a mild sunburn-even with sunscreen! We headed to the local bead shop, bought some cool beads and came home to rest a bit. We were surprised that we actually felt like dinner last night after all of the great foods that we ate, so we decided to get some Wor Won Ton soup. My favorite place is about 20 minutes from us and Sean was nice enough to drive us over for us to enjoy some tasty soup. With full bellies, and a fun day behind us, we headed home- all the way with me trying to figure out the points for each meal I ate. lol

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! Bye! :)