Greek Yogurt & Jam

I keep Plain Nonfat Greek on hand all the time now. I use it as a sour cream replacement and have used it in a few recipes. It has a ridiculous amount of protein in it, so I want to use it as often as possible. I had heard that using jam or preserves is just like buying it with fruit in it. So I gave it a try and I was pleasantly surprised!

Plain Nonfat Greek Yogurt (2 PPV)
1/4 C Kashi GoLean (1 PPV)
1 T Blackberry Jam (1 PPV)

4 PPV




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

Taco Stew? Ok.

I worked a lot on Monday, therefore I have no exciting "Adventures of Julie" stories for the day. I oddly, did not eat much, but what I did eat, was really yummy.

I will say the best part of my day was the chilly walk I took in the afternoon, and the cup of coffee I enjoyed on the deck outside afterwards. Have I mentioned, I am ready for Fall???

Breakfast
Vanilla Almond Luna Bar
French Vanilla from the Kuerig
5 PPV




Lunch
Leftover Roasted Veggies.....still great 2 days later.
5 PPV




Grapes
0 PPV




Dinner
One Rotisserie Chicken
1 1/2 C water
And these............tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, black beans, fat free refried beans, taco seasoning, ranch dressing.

I'm calling it Taco Stew. I don't usually put the refried beans in it, but they really THICKENED it up!
Taco Stew!
1 C = 4 PPV





Seriously........Stew.




Topped with One Crushed Taco Shell (1 PPV) and WW Mexican Style Cheese (2 PPV).




Perfect Fall Night Dinner! (yes, I know it is not technically Fall yet!)






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 = 5
Dinner = 7

Total = 17

Activity Points Earned Today = 2
Remaining points from my 49 Points Allowance = 0
How many glasses of water I drank today = 8

This cracked me up, because as hard as I always try to say the right thing, sometimes I can really mess up!






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

Crockpot Overnight Oatmeal!

4 PPV

I made this over the weekend and REALLY liked it! I put it in the crockpot Friday night so I would have an awesome hearty breakfast to start my weekend off!

One morning I topped it off with a sliced banana and some Better n Peanut Butter.




Or you could top it off with Dark Chocolate chips!






Or how about Cookie Butter and sliced strawberries??






Crockpot Overnight Oatmeal


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

Trader Joe's Shopping Day!

I have several items listed in the post. Everything from 1 PPV to 5 PPV. I hope you find something new that you LOVE!


Cookie Butter
Dangerous and Delicious!
1 T. = 2 PPV
Eat on toast, waffles, pancakes, apples, pears, or tortilla!
Eating right out of the jar, NOT RECOMMENDED!






Sprouted Wheat Bread
1 slice = 1 PPV
This bread is super dense and full of flavor. Love it! Makes the best toast and egg white sandwiches!






Chicken Meatballs
4 Meatballs = 4 PPV
Sure, you can eat these with pasta and sauce, but how about chopped up in you salad? Or on a low calorie wheat bun and make your own Grinder?








Banana.....Flattened
Ingredients: Bananas
0 PPV
I think you just eat them out of the bag? They have a chewy texture much like a raisin. I love bananas and was super curious when I saw them on the shelf.








GoLean Crunch
1 C = 5 PPV
This is not a Trader Joes only product, but I did buy it there, and I buy it all the time. I don't buy cold cereal anymore. It's one of those foods I had to give up. But I use this in an way I would use Granola. It's high in fiber and high in protein! I like to eat it dry in a baggies for a snack, on top of smoothies for a little crunch, or on apple slices with peanut butter.







Cliff Kid Z Bar
Honey Graham = 3 PPV
Chocolate Brownie = 4 PPV
Iced Oatmeal = 4 PPV
You just EAT em!








Luna Bar
1 bar = 5 PPV
Eat em up!








White Corn Tortillas
1 tortilla = 1 PPV
I prefer these over flour tortillas when eating tacos.








Lite Mozzarella Cheese
1 oz = 1 PPV
It was awesome on the pizza and I only had to use 4 oz. for the entire pizza.







Unsweetened Vanilla Milk
1 C = 1 PPV
It is a great milk alternative.
I like to cook my oatmeal in it for a little extra flavor and creaminess.







Honey
1 T = 2 PPV
Honey is great on a lot more things than just a biscuit!
Waffles, toast, PB sandwich, in your tea or oatmeal!







Better n Peanut Butter
1 T. = 1 PPV
I love this stuff and it has come my complete Peanut Butter replacement.
This is the Low Sodium, and I love that I have that option!








Steel Cut Oats
1 C = 4 PPV
Not Trader Joe's brand, but it's where I buy this.
Check out this recipe for Crockpot Oatmeal.







Those are just a few of my favorites! I would love to know some of your favorite Trader Joe's finds!

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

Chicken Meatballs

I found these at Price Chopper.

3 meatballs are 4 PPV.

I chopped them up and added them to my salad.

I will buy them again for sure to have with pasta and red sauce....

.......or on an 80 calorie hot dog bun with red sauce for a delicious meatball sandwich!


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

VitaTops

These are Four PPV of Fabulous! I buy my VitaTops at HyVee, but I am certain other stores carry them too. They are sold in the freezer section. I like to put them in the microwave for a few seconds, and top with Better N Peanut Butter. If I am craving something sweet for breakfast, I will have one of these with some scrambled egg whites.

But they do make a great evening dessert too!

They also come in an Apple Crumb, Banana Nut, Chocolate Chip, Golden Corn.......and several others.

Click here for more info!




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

Today's Oatmeal Banana Pancake

This is a breakfast I eat often, and I always like it, but I am also always tweaking it a bit. I have made a pumpkin version recently that I liked too. This one I made without using the packet of instant oatmeal, and it turned out tasting just as I hoped it would!

Today's Oatmeal Banana Pancake (4 PPV)

1/2 smashed banana
2 egg whites
1/3 C. Quick Cooking Oats
1 packet Truvia
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Smash the banana, add all other ingredients, and mix well. Heat skillet on MEDIUM LOW. Spray with cooking spray. Pour mix onto skillet and heat about 3 minutes, then flip and cook an additional 2 minutes.




I topped mine with 1 T. Better N Peanut Butter and the remainder of my banana. (1 PPV)



Loved it!




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

Taco Soup

This is another old WW recipe that is a favorite of mine. I don't really even know why I call it a WW recipe. It's a recipe. But I do know that I received it from a WW member a long, long time a go. I have tweaked it just a bit.

1 lb lean ground beef or ground turkey
1 onion, chopped
2 cans beans, rinsed (use what you like...pinto, kidney, black, etc)
1 can corn, rinsed (I prefer frozen)
1 can diced or stewed tomatoes
1 can Rotel
1 pkg taco seasoning (Williams is my favorite)
1 pkg Hidden Valley Ranch Dry Dressing
1 1/2 C water

Brown meat and onion. Drain. Add the rest! Easy peasy! And so good!

I like to make this early in the day and let it simmer in the crockpot. Of course it's always better the next day!














I like to serve this over a bed of baked chips, then top with a little reduced fat cheddar and sour cream (plain Greek yogurt taste good too!).

This recipe makes about 8 cups. 1 cup = 4 PPV.

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

I love Pinterest,

I found this recipe on Pinterest. The site was addapinch.com

It's a chicken corn chowder and it was really yummy on a cold rainy day and 1 C was 4 PPV!

These are all of the ingredients. I think cooking can be a lot more fun and a lot easier to start with a clean kitchen and an empty dishwasher! I measured out all of the ingredients and chopped up whatever needed chopping so I could follow the recipe for the first time and know I had everything ready to go!




Celery, carrots, onion and garlic in olive oil.



Bacon, jalapeño, thyme and flour.




Add the chicken!





the cream corn thickens it up! Yum! I added a T of sour cream to each bowl ( and added the points) to make it just a bit more creamy. My husband added a little shredded cheddar with the sour cream. Soooo good!



Highly recommended!

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

Dinner In a hurry

So I have discovered these great little chicken sausages everywhere now! I picked these up at Trader Joe's. I think tonight's flavor was Spinach Asiago? Toss them in a skillet for about 10 minutes, or throw them on the grill! Dip these babies in a little Dijon and you have a great little 3 PPV deliciousness that taste like it must be a whole DAYS worth of points!



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Oatmeal Banana Peanut Butter Bar!

I found this tonight on Pinterest and it was DELISH!

Check out the original recipe......but calculate your PPV if you make it like the original recipe says to.

Oatmeal  Banana Peanut Butter Bar


I did change up the recipe a bit to make these a little more point friendly. I substituted Splenda Brown Sugar and Better N Peanut Butter, which I have purchased at Target and at Trader Joes.

This 4x4 square is 4 PPV after I made a few changes.







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad