MONDAY BITES!

Happy Monday to you all! :) I hope everyone had a good weekend! :) I was a busy lil bee yesterday and made my lunches for this week (ok so I chopped up stuff and threw it in the crock pot- but still I planned, and that is KEY!) Here are a couple of BITES for ya!

Sweet Potato Crock Pot Chili

2 15 ounce cans kidney beans, rinsed & drained
1 15 ounce can redi-cut tomatoes
2 medium sweet potatoes-peeled & cut into bite size chunks
1 medium onion- diced
2 cloves of garlic-minced
2 small bell peppers
1 1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups water
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup corn (canned or frozen)

Basically toss everything in! EASY! :) Stir to mix it all up, cover set at low for 6 hours. I don't like to make it spicy- but add cayenne powder to my own bowl. Added to the WW recipe builder and I get a generous 1 1/2 cups for 5 points. Very filling too! :) I baked some tortilla strips to top mine with. :)
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Yesterday I also whipped up a tabouli salad. Another EASY dish to make! The original recipe calls for olive oil- I skipped that step and most recipes also call for a lot more fresh herbs than I used. It really can be made to your liking.

Tabouli

1 cup medium cracked wheat (also known as bulgar)
1 Cup boiling water
1 cup diced tomatoes
1 cup diced cucumber
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
Fresh Italian parsley & mint- chopped fine- as much as you care for. I used about 2 tablespoons of each.

Pour boiling water over bulgar and cover- let sit for 20 minutes or until all water is absorbed. After water is all absorbed place bulgar in a larger bowl and add remaining ingredients- toss to coat, refrigerate & serve chilled. YUM! :)

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Ok so I am super excited about getting a cool lil gadget yesterday!!! Sean bought me a heart rate monitor and I used it today for my pool workout!!! :) THANK YOU SEAN! XOXO We went to REI they had one that was originally $89 on sale for $59 but this one was the last of this color so I got it for $54! I was excited to get in the pool today to try it out- here is the date: Then it tells you the duration of the workout (I stayed longer than the 1hr that I am suppose to! hehe)
Then the next feature is the one that I am MOST excited about!!! CALORIES!!! OMG! Are you serious? I had NO idea that my water exercise was burning that many calories! I am beyond thrilled! For what I am able to do and to see that amount of calories MADE MY DAY! :) I was so happy to see those stats! I need to read the book to fully understand the heart rate info but I am so happy to see the calories! :) Yiippeee!

Dinner tonight for me will include some of that bulgar salad with some grilled chicken- nothing fancy. I am looking forward to it though! :)

Ever eat a Lara Bar? I love them! But I can not eat a whole bar as a snack- too high in calories for me! When I get them I cut them in 1/2. I saw around the blog world a few people making them at home and HAD to try this! CLEVER & EASY TOO! :) Ok so Check out THIS LINK for the blog site that was passed on to me for great ideas on different flavors. Here is what I did-

13 ounces dates
4.30 ounces cashews (I used dry roasted lightly salted)
3.70 ounces dried tart cherries

All of these items I ground or chopped up separately in a food processor- then mix away! Make sure you take off your rings- it was a messy one! :) I wanted to get a one point WW snack for myself so I made 26 balls out of my mixture. I put them into a container and will store them in the fridge. They came out good. Not sure if I would change any measurements, seemed like a good ratio. Excited to try more varieties! YUM!

Oh I also wanted to remind everyone, if you have a question for me and leave it in the comments but do not have a your email address available, I can not email you back. :( Feel free to email me directly if you ever have any questions I will be happy to answer them! :) tjbooboo@gmail.com

Have a great evening everyone! :) BYE!