A Tuesday That Was Truly Tasteful!

I decided that I would prove that you can eat incredibly tasty food, (not diet food) while keeping within the recommended Points for the day!

Here is how I started off the day. Truly a favorite of mine.....but I do admit it takes practice with getting the right temperature on your stove top!

Oatmeal Banana Pancake

1/2 C quick cooking oats
1/2 to 1 smashed banana, today I used one whole banana in the mix
2 egg whites
1/4 t cinnamon
1/4 t vanilla
1 packet Truvia
1 T of Better N Peanut Butter for topping
1 t of honey to drizzle





Mash up the banana, add everything but the Peanut Butter and honey and give it a really good stir........




..........pour onto a medium hot skillet sprayed with cooking spray. Cook about three minutes, then divide into four parts for easy flipping! Flip each quarter and cook an additional minute.




I divided one tablespoon of Better N Peanut Butter over each quarter, let it melt, then spread it out, and stacked them up!




Then I drizzled a teaspoon of honey on top.





I usually top it with sliced banana, but decided to try it without today since I used one whole banana in the pancake.

I LOVED MY BREAKFAST!
7 PPV




Every single bite!




You should try it.........




Here, open up!




You're not opening!!




Fine, I'll eat it all by myself. :)




Ok.....lunch today? Equally tasty......

2 slices Trader Joes Bread (2)
1 T Light Country Crock Spread (1)
6 slices Turkey (1)
2 slices Kraft 2% Reduced Fat Sharp Cheddar Cheese (2)

2 Kiwi, 1 orange (0)

Carrots, cherry tomatoes (0)

Total = 6 PPV




I love a grilled cheese sandwich. I included the turkey for a little extra protein. I used two slices of cheese to make this extra creamy and hold it all together nicely!

I have learned to love the crunch of carrots with my sandwich instead of chips. I have a hard time stopping at one serving of chips, so I just don't keep them in the house. If you have kids in the house, that can be tough! Maybe you could put them out of your sight! Who knows, maybe your kids will eat less chips too if they are outta sight!


And how cute is this little label on the top of the Cherry Tomato package?

"Going green taste a lot better when you add a little red."





Lunch was just as good as breakfast!




Look at that cheesy goodness!




Crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside.




And dessert!

0 PPV!





I had plans with a girlfriend for the evening, so I had no idea what was in store for the evening meal, but I knew I could make it work, with a little planning, of course.

I ate a large breakfast and lunch, and included lots of power foods so I would stay full throughout the day. My plan worked. When dinner time came, I wasn't starving and I knew I could fit in a couple of beers and enjoy my evening without any guilt.

Dinner with my girlfriend
Grilled Chicken Sandwich with gauc and sour cream (10)
steamed Veggies (0)
2 Mich Ultras (7)

17 PPV

I didn't take pictures of dinner, but my sandwich was delicious and I only ate half of the bread.

My plan for the day was to really enjoy some good food, maybe some beer, and still stay within my points range.

By choosing two beers, I ate 30 PPV instead of 26, but I had them available from my 49 points allowance. I'd say I had a very successful......

Tasty Tuesday!


Refresh...I can eat 26 points a day.
I can earn Activity Points by doing exercise.
I have an allowance of 49 points that I can dip into if I chose.
I should drink a minimum of 6 (8 oz) glasses of water each day.

The food I ate today and it's PPV.

Breakfast = 7
Lunch = 6
Dinner = 17

Total = 30

Activity Points Earned Today = 2
Remaining points from my 49 Points Allowance = 26
How many glasses of water I drank today = 10




"love the life you live, live the life you love"

Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer

Ok, really probably just lazy. But for some reason that song got stuck in my head and it wouldn't go away. It was an awesome Sunday doing a whole lotta nothin.

Crockpot Oatmeal DOES heat up just fine! I was glad I had it for my Sunday morning breakfast.......







I made a trip to Trader Joes on Saturday and picked up a few items I hadn't tried. I had heard of Cookie Butter, but really didn't know what it was. I'm still not sure I know what it is, but I do know it could be dangerous, and a little goes a long way! In WW world, 1 T. is 2 PPV. I really wanted to try it on my oatmeal, so I only added 1/2 T. and some strawberries. It was like Strawberry Shortcake Oatmeal! I loved it!







Creamy and Sweet!







I am loving my new frother too! My mom came over for coffee, so I had to show it off. I thought it tasted AWESOME! She said it was fine.







I'm going for low point options throughout the day. Pizza is on the menu for dinner and I know I want more than one piece, so planning is key.

After church we came home, put on cozy clothes, and literally vegged out all afternoon.

Lunch.......low fat cottage cheese topped with tomatoes....cantaloupe and strawberries.







I overheard two ladies at Trader Joes talking about the art of picking out a good, ripe cantaloupe. So I jumped right in and asked one of them to PLEASE pick one out for me. They totally hit the jackpot!






I couldn't stop thinking about my Cookie Butter. (I'm going to have to put that on the top shelf, in the back.) I decided to make Apple Sandwiches.


I originally saw this on Pinterset a while back, then I found it again recently on
Peanut Butter Fingers.

So I sliced up an apple. Don't you love the star in the middle? I didn't want to waste any, so I nibbled on the top....







Then I wasn't sure of the easiest way to get the core out, since I don't have the proper tools. I tried a beer cap. My slices were too thick! But you know you thought it was a clever idea! Then I found my tiny saw for Pumpkin carving. Perfect!







I filled up the Tablespoon, as FULL as I could get it!







I didn't see any reason to add anything else....So I licked the spoon, which was really difficult due to the shape of the spoon, but I was certain to get every single little taste of this 2 PPV of Cookie Butter!







See the cute little knife in the above picture? Yeah, that died in the garbage disposal later. Ooops.

It made a perfect 2 PPV Sunday afternoon snack! Probably would taste good any day of the week, any time of the day. :)







Dinner was a favorite Pizza. I call it my Thai Chicken Pizza. I am guessing most people would call it that?

Wheat Crust
Peanut Sauce
Rotisserie Chicken
Green Onions
Shredded Carrots
Lite Mozzarella Cheese







I really like this Lite Mozzarella I bought at Trader Joes. 1 oz is 1 PPV.
I used 4 oz on the whole pizza, and it was plenty!







Ten minutes later.......







I served up two and half slices for myself along with an awesome spinach salad. It included the main ingredient.....Spinach, along with a few Walnuts, a bit of Reduced Fat Feta, Olive Oil, Cinnamon Pear Balsamic Vinegar and a Dash of Cracked Black Pepper.

1/6 of this pizza was 7 PPV.








Refresh...I can eat 26 points a day.
I can earn Activity Points by doing exercise.
I have an allowance of 49 points that I can dip into if I chose.
I should drink a minimum of 6 (8 oz) glasses of water each day.

The food I ate today and it's PPV.

Breakfast = 5
Lunch = 3
Snack = 2
Dinner = 20

Total = 30

Activity Points Earned Today = 0
Remaining points from my 49 Points Allowance = 45
How many glasses of water I drank today = 9








"love the life you live, live the life you love"

Crockpot Pork Chops

I think I found this recipe last winter. It is certainly great comfort food for those cold winter days, but I also like the idea of the crockpot for these hot summer days when you have no desire to grill out, or turn on the oven.

I am going to say it is approximately 7 PPV, but it will of course depend on the size of your pork chops, and how much sauce you serve up!




Crockpot Pork Chops

"love the life you live, live the life you love"

Turkey Skillet Lasagna

I was browsing Pinterest looking for something different, yet healthy, yet EASY for dinner. I came across a recipe for skillet lasagna. I love lasagna and was intrigued by the whole "skillet" meal, because I also like a one dish meal! When I went to check it out, I couldn't find it, so referred to my buddy Google, and of course found several options. None were as easy as I hoped, so I combined a few things from a few of the recipes that I found, and came up with my own. Success, and only 7 PPV per serving!

1 lb ground turkey, 93% lean.
1 chopped onion
2 jars marinara, or spaghetti sauce, or whatever you like best
6 whole grain lasagna noddles, broken into bite size pieces (cool, huh?)
1 C. Low fat cottage cheese
2 egg whites
1/4 grated Parmesan cheese
Shredded mozzarella (1/4 to 1/2 C)

I love this Ragu. It's Light Tomato Basil. These noodles cooked up great!




Brown meat and cook onion together. Drain. Add jars of sauce. Add noodle pieces and cook on medium high heat for 20 minutes, stirring often to avoid sticking, until noodles are tender.



Combine cottage cheese, egg whites and Parmesan cheese. Drop by spoonfuls onto lasagna and continue cooking for additional 5 minutes. Top with mozzarella for garnish.



This recipe makes 6 LARGE servings at 7 PPV.




Dinner tasted like I spent all day in the kitchen, instead of all day on my IPad looking for an easy, healthy recipe! :)




"love the life you live, live the life you love"

White chili? Yep!

I love this stuff, and so does the hubby! This was perfect for a CHILI (get it? Chili? It's cold outside? I crack myself up sometimes.) and rainy Saturday night in, spent on the couch watching the Kansas/Missouri game. I try to make most things without the seasoning packets anymore, but I really like this one, and when I'm in the mood for it, I hate to try and make my own for fear it won't taste as good. Okay, next time I will give it a go from scratch.



Anyhow, I use one seasoning packet, one rotisserie chicken, two cups of water, two cans of shoe peg corn, and two cans of great northern beans. One packet only calls for one can of corn, one can of beans and one pound of chicken, but after a little experimenting, I like it best the way I make it now.




I have been buying the rotisserie chicken at Costco, because that's the best price I've found. I'll buy a couple of them, come home and take all the meat off and stick them in a ziplock bag and freeze them. It comes in so handy when you're in a hurry for dinner, or if you're just feeling lazy and don't want to have to cook! I'll use it in casseroles, or make chicken taco's, or throw it in a big pot of soup, kinda like today! I'm calling one whole rotisserie chicken 20 PPV. The whole recipe was 60 PPV and made about 9 cups, so I'm calling 1 cup 7 PPV.




Then I HAD to have my corn muffins! I can't really remember when or why I started doing this, but for as long as I can remember, I have mixed one box of Jiffy corn muffin mix and one box of Jiffy white cake mix. I put in exactly what each box calls for, and mix them together. I like the sweetness of the cake. Too sweet for some, maybe. Yummy with a little honey drizzled on top! I made these tonight in the mini muffin pans and they were 2 PPV each.




It was kinda delicious.





13 PPV of deliciousness, devoured!


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Hearty!

I was really in the mood for something warm and yummy and filling! I typically do 3 or 4 egg whites because it increases the protein in my meal and reduces the fat which helps to reduce the Points Plus Value. I believe one egg has 6 grams of protein, and one egg WHITE has 4 grams of protein. So if I chose 4 egg whites, which I typically do, that's an awesome SIXTEEN grams of protein! But today I was really craving that yolk! So I whipped myself up a toasted light English muffin (3), made a WHOLE Egg (2) in the skillet and topped it with 1 T of bacon bits (1) and a slice of Kraft sharp cheddar 2% cheese (1). This was a delicious 7 PPV way to start off my Saturday.







Now for a little housework!


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