Yum in my Tum

These my friends are DELICIOUS!!!!

Dole Apple Cinnamon Fruit Crisp and Apple Pear Fruit Crisp 

Thank you Dole for making a snack that's not only yummy but healthy too!

....and did you notice?

I even got in some whole grains when enjoying these little cups of wonderfulness!

Pizza Anyone?

I found this new product in the organic section at the grocery store recently. I thought what the hell, I'll try it. I need variety in my diet.  I'm not usually a huge fan of prepackaged oven baked pizza, but this one is pretty good (and no they are not telling me to say that).  I just needed to add some green and red pepper and some onion and Bam, I had myself a meal! I ate two pizzas  for 12 points. Good Friday night treat and I can still say I stayed on program!

Zoglos

First off, Zoglos has no idea I'm writing this. They didn't ask me to review anything, I just decided to share my feelings on a product I found at the grocery store!


I recently found out about the company Zoglos. I was shopping at my local grocery store and just so happened to find some of their products. I've been looking for new quick vegetarian meal ideas and I thought I'd give these a try. I honestly thought I might be wasting my money, but if you don't try it, you'll never know!  I did like the fact they were very easy to cook in the oven or in the frying pan  and they are a pretty good sore of protein, so I thought what the hell, lets try them!   I ended up buying their Corn Cutlets, broccoli patties, mixed vegetable patties and their meatless mini loaves.

Zoglo's Corn Cutlets

So far I've tried the corn cutlets and their broccoli patties. The corn cutlets are my favourite by far, but I sort of accidentally burnt the broccoli patties when cooking them so I shouldn't judge them too much just yet. They are low in WW points after all!

Last Night's Meal

Last night (and tonight for that matter) I ended up cooking them up in a frying pan with a bit of EVOO. I ate them with a cup of minute rice and some roasted peppers and it came out to be a very satisfying meal. Very tasty and very filling.

I am happy to report I've managed to track for the 2nd day in a row. I truly am trying to keep my promise!  I do have to admit though,  I have gone over my daily points both days, but that's not a big deal. That's what those extra 35 points are there for, right?

I'm getting back on track folks. Slowly but surely I am!

My Thanksgiving...a week late.

I'm a bit afraid to say it, because I know you guys were cheering me on, but that lovely plan I had went down the toilet.

Friday after working my 12hr shift, I was exhausted (I have been sucking at taking my vitamins again and can feel the difference) I really tried to push myself to do something, but it wasn't happening. I ended up going to  bed and as soon as my head hit the pillow I was out.

Yesterday I slept in (cause I needed it) and then cooked in the afternoon. It ended up taking me longer to cook everything, so I had no time to do anything with regards to exercise as I had to race over to my parents for our thanksgiving dinner.

Today however, I still do have my date with a friend and here's hoping I can burn some awesome calories.

I swear it's  not burnt, it's just the spices on top! 

My thanksgiving was wonderful. I ended up buying a tofurky feast from my local grocery store. It included the tofurky of course, along with some stuffing filled dumpling, vegetarian gravy and a tofurky wish bone! I  followed the instructions on the box on how to make everything of course as it was my first time making tofurky. My tofurky turned out great! Now my Mother made the majority of the meal (which was all lovely), but I brought my own tofurky and a few other things. One of those other things was stuffing!!!! 

Yummy Vegetarian Stuffing!

I found a vegetarian stuffing recipe online and really wanted to try it so I told my Mother I'd bring my own. I found the recipe on about.com. It's called Sweet Cranberry Vegetarian Stuffing. It was FANTASTIC!!!!  I ended up using WW white bread and as WW bread is thinner than regular bread, I added more of it. I also used less celery than it asks for. (1.5 stalks rather than 2), as two seemed like too much for this girl. I did use the whole onion and garlic though, and ALL the spices along with the right amount of dried cranberries and apple juice of course.  It was so good! I recommended it for everyone. Vegetarian or not. Stuffing is my favourite part of thanksgiving so I was one happy girl!

Now with my very first vegetarian thanksgiving over, as I said before, the rest of the week I'm going to have to be super careful as to what I choose to eat.  Okay well, it's not necessarily what I eat, but how much I eat of it!!!!  It's going to be tough as I'll be up at 5am and to bed around 10pm Monday to Wednesday (WI is thursday). My points don't really stretch that well sometimes, but I'm going to try my best!  I really am trying to keep my eye on the prize. Lets hope my stomach cooperates!

Post thanksgiving dinner (which lets face it, I ate like a pig), I decided to weigh myself on my bathroom scale. I knew it would be bad, so when it showed I was down a pound I was shocked! Keep your fingers crossed it wasn't a fluke and I can keep it that way as I know weight gain can show up later. 

Busy in the Kitchen!

First off, Happy Thanksgiving weekend to all my Canadian readers!!!!  My family dinner has actually been planned for October 16th (next weekend), so tonight I made this instead......

I stole two recipes from the blog Weight Watcher Wannabe tonight.

I made Healthier Eggplant Parmesan and Weight Watcher Fudge!

I didn't have enough sauce to cover the 2nd layer, but it
matter in the end anyway

The Parmesan took awhile to make. Mostly because you have to lay every slice of eggplant on a rack and put kosher salt on them to get the 'bitterness' out for 30 minutes. After that you then have to bake each of the slices (after you dip them in egg and cover with breadcrumbs) for 7 minutes on each side. Then when you put it all together with the marinara sauce and cheese, you have to cook it again for around 35 minutes! -- freak'in long ass time in the kitchen!  I really was crossing my fingers the whole time hoping this was all worth it. I was starving and if this dish didn't turn out I just wasted a lot of time.  Well folks....I'm happy to say, it was worth it! It's a very good meal!

Didn't have quite enough for 24! 

As for the WW Fudge. I followed what WW Wannabe said, except I couldn't find fat free condensed milk at my grocery store so I bought low fat instead.  I also didn't know how many servings to make it (she doesn't say), so I poured the fudge into my 'mini' muffin tray that I just bought and it came out to 22 servings for 4 points (or so my WW recipe builder tells me).  It's kind of high (I like to keep my treats to 2-3 points), but whatever, it's fudge.

The jury is still out on this one though. I don't know if it's because my portions are a bit more than what they are suppose to be or not, but these suckers are RICH!!!!! I honestly feel like I'm biting into one huge chocolate chip. I love sweet stuff, but this might be even too much for me! I guess this is a good thing though. There is no way I could have more than one at a time, if my life depended on it!

Dinner and a bit more....

Wow...two posts in one day. What's going on????!!!!!

I just thought I'd stop by and post some pictures of my dinner for ya. I realize I haven't been doing that very often and thought I would tonight since I have the time. The meal I just had is super quick to prepare and very yummy. In my opinion anyway! It's not a casserole masterpiece, or any other type of awesome recipe. This is just a basic meal a single gal makes on a saturday night!

combination of red and green peppers, onion and eggplant.
Mixed with 2 tsp of EVOO and 2 tsp of Balsamic Vinegar and sprinkled with Club House Seasoning (see below!)

yummy vegetable seasoning for my veggies. I  totally recommend buying it. You don't have to 'grill' vegetables to use this spice!  (and club house didn't tell me to say that!)

Easy to prepare brown minute rice in a cup - hot in one minute!  Told ya it's easy! 

Chicken Nuggets? NOPE!!!!! They are Spinach Bites with three cheese from Veggie Patch.
Very Yummy! 

All together now - YUM!
Veggies on a bed of rice with my spinach bites!

What did I have for dessert you ask? Why tofu of course. I need to get more protein in after all.....

I just found out about these. Two in a pack. Kind of an acquired taste to start, but now I love them! 

In non-food news, when I was out shopping this afternoon I bought size 16 LONG Jeans from Old Navy. YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!!!! ME SO HAPPY!!!!! I also tried on an XXL shirt and they are officially too big. I'm definitely an XL now. 

How does it feel? Freak'in FANTASTIC!!!!!!! 

Cooking in the Kitchen

I haven't slept yet, but I'm doing okay. The key is to just keep moving!  This afternoon I ended up making Pumpkin Spice Scones that were featured on Lynn's Blog The Next Chapter and (like I said I was going to) I made Mama Mia Vegetable Pie. It ended up taking me longer to make these recipes, hence the no sleep thing *sigh*, but it was worth it!

The first batch of pumpkin spice scones I made I forgot to add the almond breeze. Oops! They didn't turn out too bad though. The second batch I ran out of wheat flour so they were a bit more wet than I'm assuming they should be, but they also turned out okay too. Oh yeah, just call me Master Chef!  I have enough spice scones to last me until next year now! I'm thinking of freezing some.

Luckily I made the veggie pie without any mishaps. It was super easy to make, tastes great, and is low in points. What more could a girl ask for? It's definitely something I'll be making again. Servings = 6 pie shape slices.

Veggies, Sauce and Tofu

Whole Wheat Pasta in a Pie Dish!

Pasta, Veggie Mixture topped with Cheese! (pre-oven!)

Now does that look like a WW dish? I don't think so, but it is!!!!! 

Brunch

I took a sneak peek at my weight this morning. I'm weighing in at 242 lbs.

WAY BETTER than 247.4lbs.

My belly is feeling much better and my weight is proof of that. Not so bloated or plugged up (sorry if that's TMI for ya). I'd still like to lose more of course before WI day on thursday, so here's hoping. I'd like to get back to 240lbs for my 2nd weigh in. From there, then I'd like to kick some ass and finally get into the 230s.

Food wise I've been doing okay. I had a few celebrations this weekend, (bff graduating, nephews 3rd birthday), so it was hard, but I did better than I would have if I hadn't joined WW. I wasn't perfect, but I did better.

Today I started off the day with brunch. I woke up late so ended up not eating until about 11:00am.
My first meal of the day consisted of:

• one free range brown egg - over hard, 
• 100g of yogurt with 1cup of strawberries,
•  two slices of WW toast with 1tbsp of 95% FF herb and garlic cream cheese with sprouts and cucumber.
• Crystal Light - Lemonade

All in all, YUMMY...and most importantly these days FILLING!

I'm feeling pretty tired today from the festivities of friday night and yesterday, but here's hoping I can get something done today. I need to go for a run tonight. I've been slacking a bit and haven't gone since last monday. Not good! Maybe some green tea will help perk myself up!

In other news I signed up for two different magazines today. One being Vegetarian Times which a colleague told me about (I actually have several co-workers who are veggie heads like me, and one vegan for that matter). They told me this magazine is really good, so here's hoping! I believe it's published in the USA, but is available internationally. I ordered this one for a year (9 issues). I then went over to the WW website and ordered the Weight Watchers magazine. I meant to order 6 issues for 20-something dollars, but the sneaky website combined with my tired eyes, didn't catch that the 18 issue/3 year options is what is ticked unless you click on another option! WTF? Money Hungry website or what! As you can guess already I'm sure, I forgot to click on the 1 year option. Oops! *sigh* I just spent a combine $75 on magazines! Not exactly what I planned to do. Oh well, I'm sure they will both be wonderfully informative and inspirational. Fingers crossed anyway!

Back to Cooking!

I found the recipe! Yay!!!! I knew I had it somewhere. It's called Vegetable and Polenta Casserole and is only 189 calories per serving. Not too shabby I'd say! I was hoping to find ready made Polenta at my local Superstore, but had no such luck. Luckily a european saleswoman told me that polenta is really just cornmeal (who knew?) and handed me a package which she knew would have instructions on how to make polenta on the back! I thought, what the hell, I'll give it a try....and I did!

Making Polenta! 

Cutting out slices of Polenta

Onion, Garlic, Zucchini, Red Peppers, Mushrooms,  Broccoli and Tofu (which I decided to add to the recipe)

After 'President's Choice' Marinara was added

Making Layers

After adding Cheese!

After cooking!

YUMMY!!!!