Yams and Apples

I got this quick-and-easy recipe from the "Curves Fitness and Weight Management Plan" book a couple of years ago. I make it several times a month.

This recipe is:

• delicious
• inexpensive
• EASY
• highly nutritious
• did I mention that it's EASY??

Ingredients:

1 29-oz can of yams

2 small or 1 large apple diced

1 Tablespoon cinnamon

1 1/2 Tablespoons butter

Directions:

Mash the canned yams in a casserole dish.
Add diced apples and cinnamon, stir.
Top with dollops of the butter.
Cover and cook in microwave on High for 5 minutes.

Leftovers keep well in the refrigerator.

Makes about 8 servings

I just can't say enough about this recipe. It provides all the sweet yumminess of candied yams without all the sugar. It is sooooo good!

So go write "big can of yams" on your shopping list right now, and make the recipe this week!

Chicken, Vegetable, and Orzo Soup

Mark and I both love this Weight Watchers recipe I tried out last week.

Chicken, Vegetable and Orzo Soup

(click on the title for the recipe)

One of the vegetables in the recipe is fennel. I haven't cooked with it much before, but I'm finding that I like it. A lot. It cooks up kind of like onion, has a mild flavor. Mmmmm....

Another little trick to the recipe is to add 1/4 cup of lemon juice to the soup just before serving. Gave the soup a lovely little tangy flavor.

I bought one of those little roasted chickens at the deli section - Mark helped me cut up the meat and we used that in the soup. It was really delicious.

I also added 2 cups of spinach leaves, cut up, just before adding the lemon juice. It added some nice greens, and I will definitely do that again.

This recipe makes 8 servings, which is quite a lot for just the two of us, but it kept well in the fridge all week and made for delicious, healthy "left-over" lunches.

I made a batch of my favorite bran muffins to go with this wonderful soup.

Easy Healthy Fruit & Yogurt Parfait

Katie featured her Easy Healthy Fruit & Yogurt Parfait over on The Red Kitchen blog this week.

It makes a delicious, filling, healthy, lo-cal breakfast to eat at home or on the go.

Thanks for a great idea, Katie!

Looking for a healthy new granola to try? Mark picked this one up in the health food section at Fred Meyers this evening. He likes it because it contains molasses instead of honey.

210 calories per 3/4 cup serving
6 Weight Watchers points

Easy Berry Smoothie (2-4 points)

Easy Berry Smoothie (2-4 points)

• 2 cups mixed berries*
• 1 cup fresh spinach
• 2 cups fat free milk

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend to desired texture.

The entire blender full of smoothie is 4 points.  The glass you see above has about 1/2 that much.  So if you only have one glass, it's only 2 points!

*I bought a big bag of frozen mixed berries from Costco which made this really easy (and much cheaper than buying all those berries fresh).

Okay, so maybe you noticed that I snuck in an entire cup of spinach.
But can you see it now?
Me either.
Nor could I taste it.
So pack it in and give yourself some extra nutrients for no extra points and no funny taste!

Aside from the couple of spoonfuls I snuck in before I took the picture, this is the entire amount of smoothie it made.

Also, this is random, but if you have a lame blender (like me) and it dissuades you from making smoothies, just add more liquid.  Chances are, it'll run just fine.

Homemade Coconut Macaroons!

I love coconut macaroons. But with the average store-bought cookie clocking in somewhere between 3 and 5 Weight Watcher points (up to 160 calories per cookie)...and those are the ones without the chocolate dip...it's hard to justify them as a healthy snack choice!

Enter this healthy Coconut Macaroon Recipe. It's been on a 3x5 card tucked into my cookbook forever...I don't know who to give credit to, but I tried the recipe this weekend, and it's a keeper! After I calculated the recipe's points and figured out that these cookies are only 1 point each, I decided to whip up a batch.

You know what's even better than being low in calories/points? Super easy-peasy to make!! I kid you not. You can whip them up in 10 minutes or less, then sit back and wait for the timer to go off.

Yummy!!

OK, I know this photo makes them look like white blobby puffballs, 

so you are just going to have to take my word for how good they are.

Slightly crunchy on the outside, fluffy and moist on the inside...mmmmm!

Coconut Macaroons
2 egg whites
1/2 tsp vanilla
dash salt
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees, and spray a cookie sheet with Pam.
Beat the egg whites, vanilla, and salt until soft peaks form.
Gradually add the sugar, beating until soft peaks form.
Fold in the coconut.
Drop from a teaspoon 1/2" apart on the greased baking sheet.
Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes.
Cool on wire rack.

Makes 20-24 cookies.

1 hike ≠ 1 milkshake

Mark and I went on a glorious fall afternoon hike yesterday. We hiked steadily--a good pace, uphill and down--for 3 whole hours!

Whew! I was a hiker grandma, for sure!

I was careful with my food choices, and carried a healthy, nutritious, low-points lunch.

Wonderful exercise and healthy food. Win-win, yes? Ummm...no.

Because by the time we got back into civilization, I had waaaay too many rumblies in my tumbly.
After hiking 3 hours, I could certainly justify a small milkshake, right?

Wrong.

When I got home and entered my exercise and my snack into my Weight Watchers points tracker, I ended up regretting my milkshake.

Hiking for 3 hours = 9 activity points
1 small McDonald's vanilla milkshake = 15 food points

Oops. Lesson learned. Next time I'll take a little more (as in, quantity) healthy food with me!

Hot Cocoa with Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (2 points)

Hot Cocoa with Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (2 points)

• 1 cup water (0 points)
• 2 TBS hot cocoa mix (2 points)
• 2 TBS chocolate chip ice cream (0 points*)

Fill a mug with 1 cup water.**  Heat in the microwave for 1-1 1/2 minutes.  Spoon hot chocolate mix into water and stir.  Top with ice cream and enjoy!

*No joke!  The ice cream really doesn't count if you only have 2 TBS.  Sweet!

**I actually used a little less than 1 cup so I could leave enough room in my mug for the ice cream.

Oatsies and Scrabbled Egg Whites (revisited) (4 points)

Scrabbled Egg Whites (2 points)

• 1/8 cup onion, diced (0 points)
• 5-6 slices fresh mushrooms, diced (0 points)
• 3 egg whites (1 point)
• 1/2 slice of deli ham, diced (0 points)
• 5-6 cherry tomatoes, sliced (0 points)
• 1/2 cup fresh baby spinach leaves, chopped (0 points)
• 2 TBS shredded Mexican* cheese (1 point)

Spray a non-stick frying pan with cooking spray.  Saute the onions and mushrooms on medium heat while you prepare the rest.  Put everything else except the cheese in a bowl and mix it up with a fork.  Remove the sauted onions and mushrooms and add them to the egg mixture.

Spray the pan again with cooking spray and then scrabble the egg mixture like you would normally cook scrabbled eggs.  Move scrabbled egg whites to a plate and top with shredded cheese.

*This is just that shredded cheese mix intended for tacos.  We had it on hand from--believe it or not--some tacos we made a couple nights ago.

Oatsies (2 points)

• 1/4 cup 1 Minute Quick Oats oatmeal (2 points)
• 1/2 cup water (0 points)
• 1/3 TBS brown sugar (0 points)

Put the oatmeal and water in a microwave-safe bowl.  Heat on high for 1- 1 1/2 minutes.  Stir in brown sugar.


Serve with a tall glass of water.
________________________________________________________

This breakfast was really yummy and satisfying.  I think I like the eggs even better today with the onion, mushrooms, and spinach.  It just gave it more color and flavor, I think.  Also, adding the spinach was an easy way to pack it with that much more veggie goodness.

I had initially planned on having some fruit with it too, but once it was all prepared, it just seemed like plenty of food already.  Also, I had already had a banana earlier during my morning walk.

Now if only I could bring myself to wake up early enough to make this for Bryan before he leaves for school...

Scrabbled Egg Whites (2 points)

Scrabbled Egg Whites (2 points)

• 3 egg whites (1 point)
• 1/2 slice of deli ham, diced (0 points)
• 1 stalk green onion, diced (0 points)
• 5-6 cherry tomatoes, sliced (0 points)
• 1/2 clove fresh garlic, diced (0 points)
• 2 TBS shredded Mexican* cheese (1 point)

Put everything except the cheese in a bowl and mix it up with a fork.  Spray a non-stick frying pan with cooking spray and then scrabble the egg mixture like you would normally cook scrabbled eggs.  Move scrabbled egg whites to a plate and top with shredded cheese.

Serve with a side of fruit and a tall glass of water.

*This is just that shredded cheese mix intended for tacos.  We had it on hand from--believe it or not--some tacos we made a couple nights ago.
________________________________________________________

This is what I ate for breakfast this morning.
Instead of a bowl of rice chex with skim milk.
There's kind of a difference between the two.

Why the big change?
I joined Weight Watchers yesterday.

I've been hearing good things about the new-and-improved Weight Watchers program from my mom, mother-in-law, and father-in-law for months now.  And being on my mom's health insurance (oh the joys of being under 26... and having really nice parents) makes it so I can be in Weight Watchers for free.

So I had been thinking about joining for a while, but then after I read this post on my sister-in-law Holly's blog yesterday, I finally made the plunge.  No offense to mine and Bryan's parents, but I think seeing somebody my own age enjoying Weight Watchers made it that much more appealing to me.  So, thanks Holly.  (And sorry to Mom and Trish and Greg for calling you old.  I didn't really  mean it, promise.)

Apparently the way it works to get Weight Watchers for free through the health insurance is that you only get 3 months free at a time.  And in order to qualify for the next 3 months, you have to actually be consistently entering in your weight and what you eat and everything.  Which is totally genius because otherwise I would be really likely to be a lazy bum about it.

When I signed up and got everything started yesterday, I was 150 lbs.
This morning I was 148 lbs.

Haha, actually, I think that has very little to do with Weight Watchers and everything to do with, I don't know, maybe Heavenly Father trying to give me a little push start.  Because last night I went to the Relief Society pie night and, ya know, ate a lot of pie.  Although I guess I have the whole Weight Watchers thing to thank for my choosing to eat really tiny pieces of each pie instead of really big ones.  And even though it just sounds wrong to join Weight Watchers and then go to pie night, I think it was actually really good.  For a couple of reasons.

First of all, eating all that pie had me majorly sugared out.  My desire to eat sweets right now is considerably lower than normal.  Nothing like a good pie binge to make you hate sugar for a while.

And, second of all, it was a good practical situation to show me that being on Weight Watchers doesn't mean I can never splurge.  Because, even though I ate all that pie, it didn't put me "over" on calories or points.  It just pulled from my flex points that I get each week.  So instead of the program telling me, "You are such a fatty and all you ever eat is pie and you should be disappointed in yourself" it said, "That was fun, but let's be good for the rest of the week, okay?"

All in all, I'm happy about Weight Watchers so far.  While the website does still seem a little intense and overwhelming to me, I've already picked up quite a bit about how to use it.  I think it's going to be a good thing.

Here's to slimming down, eating healthier, and getting that $100!

Lucky 7!

After 6 weeks of attending Weight Watchers, I have lost 7 pounds! This morning the scale gave me the happy news: 134 pounds.

I am kind of surprised that I like the Weight Watcher eating plan so much! They upgraded it a few months ago to align with the latest information about healthy living. I appreciate the guidelines toward health instead of focusing on calories. 

I get 29 "points" every day. The points are based on a formula for fat, carbohydrates, fiber, and protein. I find that I am paying more attention to those numbers now, and not just the calories. For example, both a banana and 1/2 cup of ice cream have about 100 calories. But the banana is 0 points, and the 1/2 cup ice cream is 3 points. It's a no-brainer that the banana is healthier, but now I don't feel guilty for eating it.

I really like the flexibility with the plan. In addition to my daily 29 points, I have another 49 "plus" points that I can use every week, however I like. I can save up to use them all at once for a special event, or I can spread them throughout the week.

I had a little time to myself yesterday evening, so I dropped by Goodwill for a shopping trip to celebrate my smaller self. I bought a size 10 skirt! And this adorable sweater. It is so comfortable, and I love the way it camouflages some of my neck wrinkles.

 Mark took the photo when we went with our Primary children to the temple this afternoon.

 Holly and Arora - Arora did not want to leave! Her mommy had to promise that they could go back again soon.

 The white marble spires were beautiful in the autumn sunshine.

Tonight for dessert, I'm enjoying a wonderful Cherry Cheesecake recipe from the Weight Watchers website. Mmmmmm! You can find the recipe here.

$100

Umm... does anyone still read this blog?  If so, I have something to tell you.

First off, I guess a confession is in order.  I have been a super bad example for the past many months.  As it turns out, preparing to move across the country, selling all our stuff, moving across the country, buying new stuff, having to work outside the home, and then having my husband start optometry school are, ya know, stressful.  And apparently they make me deserving of as many treats as I want.  Which is a lot of treats.  I may or may not have kept us in constant supply of homemade cookies/cookie dough for the past many moons.  Let's not talk about it.

What we should talk about is $100.

Now, to all you filthy rich folk out there who bathe in your coins each night, $100 might not seem like a lot of money.  But when you are poor students with zero income, $100 is pretty awesome.

It's also what I am going to win.

Earlier this evening I was sitting at the computer.  Bryan was sitting on the floor.  I looked in the mirror and said, "I'm getting fat."  To which my husband mistakenly replied "Me too," instead of "No you're not, you're beautiful."

So that was that.

We made a deal (and pinky swore on it) that whoever loses the most weight between tomorrow morning and the morning of December 24th (Christmas Eve), will win $100 from our bank account to spend however he/she chooses.

All I have to say is, it is so on.

Also, I need rain boots.  It rains a lot here.  Not like Oregon rain, which I am used to.  It's this crazy cold rain that you can't just dodge by avoiding puddles.  No rain boots = no walks when it rains.  Which = no exercise every time it rains.  Which is a lot lately.  Bah.

Must.  Buy.  Rain boots.

The end.

Weight Watchers Update

My first week on Weight Watchers didn't go too well. I gained a pound. I wasn't tracking my eating. I claimed I was just too busy!...but I think I was just making excuses.

The second week went better. I took the time to set up the "eTools" that you can use with Weight Watchers. Wow. I've been a great fan of myfitnesspal.com, but the Weight Watchers eTools are even better. They are free for 13 weeks with a special code for joining. I think I will be hooked by then, and will want to pay the $13 monthly fee for this tool.

On my second weigh-in, I had lost 4 pounds (really 3 pounds, since I gained a pound the first week). I'll weigh in again tomorrow, and I think it will show another weight loss. According to my home scale, I've lost another pound (maybe 2?) since last week. I'm pretty happy with a program that helps me lose 4-5 pounds in 3 weeks.

Their new program is called Points Plus. Instead of counting calories, foods are rated on a points system that takes into account the fat, fiber, carbohydrates, and protein. I get 29 points every day. The "Plus" part of the plan is that I get an additional 49 points to use however I want throughout the week. It's nice because I can splurge on a special event, or spread the Plus points more evenly throughout the week. One of my favorite things: almost all fruits and vegetables are free points. Even bananas! When I get hungry or munchy, I can eat an apple or a banana and it doesn't count as points for the day. This system is helping me think "healthier" instead of just "low calorie." For example, I can eat 1/2 cup ice cream for 100 calories and 3 points, or a banana for 100 calories and 0 points. Guess which one I choose? You're right...sometimes I choose the ice cream, if I have enough points in my daily/weekly "budget." But lots of time I choose a banana or an apple instead.

The online eTools have a calculator for recipes, which is really easy to use. I can take one of my own recipes - enter the ingredients and number of servings - and it calculates the per-serving points for me. The eTools also have an easy way to mark favorite foods, recipes, and meals, so that tracking became really fast and easy once I got a bunch of "favorite" foods marked. There is a smart phone app that works on my iPod touch, so I can track and calculate points when I'm away from the computer.

The week before I started Weight Watchers, I weighed 141. This morning on my home scale, I was 136. My pants are starting to fit better again, which makes me very happy!

A Little Help from my Friends

Remember the old Beatles tune, "I'll get by with a little help from my friends..." That's how I've been feeling lately about trying to maintain healthy weight and fitness levels. For a long time I was stuck in the 136-ish range. That wasn't my ideal weight, but it was livable. My clothes weren't too tight, and I felt pretty good most of the time.

Then we went on a long road trip this summer, and I got out of my exercise and healthy-eating habits. There wasn't a big change right away, but over the weeks, the pounds have been creeping back on, while the motivation to be healthy and fit has continued to slip-slide away.

Gah. Yesterday morning I weighed 141 pounds. I've regained half the weight I lost last year. I knew I had to do something.

Yesterday afternoon I got an email from one of the administrators at the high school where I teach. It was time to start up the staff Weight Watchers group again. We have a sweet deal with our health insurance that pays for the cost of the WW meetings, as long as we attend 10 meetings in a 13-week period.

I could have joined last year, but you know what? Last year I was a weight-loss snob. Let those other folks check in at the weekly WW meeting. I certainly didn't need that. I had lost 20 pounds, and I was maintaining just fine, thank you. (Not.) I'm writing today as a sadder-but-wiser girl. Because you know...I could use a little help when it comes to losing weight.

So I went to the Weight Watchers meeting and signed up this afternoon. I might learn some new information about healthy eating or exercising. I might find some great new recipes to fill me up without making me fat. I might finally stop sliding into too-much-junk-food-when-I-don't-need-it snacking habits.

Maybe.

I suspect that most meetings will simply remind me to follow the healthy principles that I already know. The ones I used successfully here on The Skinny to get down to a healthy weight a year ago. It's not like I don't know about healthy eating and exercise and the importance of being fit. So what do I hope that Weight Watchers will give me that I can't do on my own?

Friends. Not some random people I only say "hello" to at a Weight Watchers meeting, but people I know and interact with every day. Colleagues who are also trying to get back on a healthier life-style track. Folks who will smile at me in the hall as we pass--they won't say, "Oh, have you lost any weight today?" but I'll know that their smiles are giving me extra encouragement. Not to mention the weekly weigh-ins. Oh yes, accountability is a very good thing for me.

I'm not planning to make my Skinny posts into Weight Watchers testimonials, but I'll keep you posted from time to time.

Have you used Weight Watchers before? Any tips or hints for me? What is your motivation to live healthy, fit, skinny lives?

Zucchini Invasion

Question: What do you do with a 22-inch zucchini?

Answer: Try out some new zucchini recipes, of course!

Here are some delicious new recipes we tried out this week.

Summer Squash Casserole

Here is a delicious Summer Squash Casserole we enjoyed on Sunday. Yum! It was a quick, easy side dish. Just 234 calories / serving (3/4 cup). I borrowed this photo from the link - we ate it so quickly that we didn't get a photo!!

Zucchini Pizza Casserole

This Zucchini Pizza Casserole was another big hit. The preparation was a little more involved, but it was a delicious main dish. I cut back on the cheese a little bit. Another plus for this recipe is that it's a gluten-free way to enjoy the flavor of pizza.

You make it in 2 steps. 

First you make a base that is almost like a simple souffle. It bakes for 20 minutes.

Then you add the hamburger, cheese, and green peppers (also from our garden!) and bake for another 20 minutes. You end up with this delicious serving on your plate:

This 1-cup serving is 311 calories - not bad for a main dish serving!

Expressions of Love

Great News!

Hey Skinnies! Miss me yet? Of course you do. Well I am not completely back from my blogging break...the moving truck comes this Friday...but i had to share some great news with you!

I am in the 130s!

This was espeically great news since I had been on vacation for 10 days, without a scale and eating out a bunch. However remember that I never planned on taking a break from exercising and such, just blogging. :) My vacation even included a 5k with my 2 sisters and mom; lots of other family members ran too in the 10k, 5k, and 1 mile races. It was so fun (even if I did have to wake my sleeping baby to arrive on time!)

Anywho, my pre-pregnancy weight is 133 and I am at 139 and some ounces so I still have a way to go, but it is still so exciting and encouraging to see a "3" as the second number on the scale now- wahoo!

Keep up all of your hard work and I will be back soon! :)

I Don't Know How Much I Weigh...

Aggh - I'm on a 3-week vacation without a scale! I feel a little insecure about the whole thing. Even when I'm in a naughty phase, and the scale keeps creeping gradually up-up-up, at least I KNOW it. Now I feel like I'm floating without my anchor.

So we are on a 3-week road trip. I left the house with all kinds of promises to myself about only eating healthy. So far we've had two days on the road. The first day my promises-to-self flew out the window - munched on too much salty popcorn and too many almonds. Wait, that's better than cookies and milkshakes, right? The second day I did better. It helps to keep the food in the back of the car and out of reach as we're driving along.

Now we are at my brother-in-law's house for a two-day family reunion. This BIL loves to cook, so there will be lots of eating included in the activities. I'm reminding myself to monitor portion sizes.

I guess I'll be monitoring weight with watching to make sure that my pants aren't getting too tight, etc. We did get out for a 30-minute jog yesterday morning, and we'll be heading out for another jog in just a few minutes.

Coming Clean: Mark and I wrapped up the "Clean" cleanse last week before we left home. I'm glad we did it. Because of our upcoming trip, we only ate Clean for two weeks instead of the recommended three. I think a third week would be hard, but maybe I'd just get into a rhythm. Mark thinks we should try it again sometime, so we'll see. The first week I lost a LOT of weight (142 to 135 - wow!). The second week I maintained at 135-136. After coming off clean, I easily maintained at 136.

Now I'm traveling without a scale for 3 weeks...I don't know how much I weigh! But I do know that I want to get more exercise as we travel, and I'm going to keep reminding myself how much better I feel when I make healthy eating choices.

We camped at this little cabin on the Snake River in Idaho on the first night of our road trip.

The Civility Experiment

Moments That Matter Most

I need a break...

So life is getting a bit crazy around here...we are moving and I have started packing and the boxes keep piling up. Plus we have a baby that we are still trying to figure out- just when you think you've got it they go through a different phase, right? And next week we will be on vacation for over a week, just in time to come home and finish moving and all the fun that goes along with that.

So here it is...I am taking a break.

Not a break from exercising or trying to drink water or toning my arms, but a break from blogging. There just aren't enough hours in the day right now and I hate feeling like I "have" to do something as frivolous as blog. So keep up your good work and I will give you an update in a month or so!

Happy Summer!