Two Days In a Row!

Scarlet (our beautiful and perfect 3 year old Granddaughter) spent the night with us last night. It was wonderful. She loved the spaghetti and garlic bread I fixed last night.

So, tonight we are having:

Salmon Cakes w/Tarragon-Chive Sauce

2 T apple cider vinegar
2 t Dijon mustard
2 t chives
1/4 t dried tarragon
1 t capers, drained and chopped
1 t olive oil
1 1/4 t black pepper
14 3/4oz canned salmon, drained
1/4 c fat-free mayo
1/4 c scallions, chopped
3 T dried bread crumbs
1/4 c dried bread crumbs
1 egg white, lightly beaten
2 c mixed greens, salad

To make the sauce, combine the vinegar, mustard, chives, tarragon, capers, oil and pepper in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Preheat the broiler. Spray a small baking sheet with Pam.

To make the salmon cakes, with a fork, mash the salmon and bones in a large bowl. Add mayo, scallions, 3 T of the bread crumbs and the egg white. With wet hands, shape the mixture into 4 patties.

Put the remaining 1/4 c bread crumbs on a sheet of wax paper. Coat patties with crumbs.

Place the patties on the baking sheet. Broil 4 inches from the heat until crisp and golden, about 4 minutes on each side.

Yield: 1 patty, 1 T sauce and 1/2 c salad per serving at 6 pointsplus.

Flavorful Mashed Potatoes

4 pounds red potatoes (about 12 medium)
6 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 c fat-free milk
1/2 c reduced-fat sour cream
2 T butter, melted
2 t dried parsley flakes
2 t dried thyme
1 t dried rosemary, crushed
1 1/4 t salt

Scrub and quarter potatoes; place in a large saucepan and cover with water. Add garlic. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are tender; drain.

In a large bowl, mash potato mixture. Stir in remaining ingredients.

Yield: 12 servings (3/5 c each) at 4 pointsplus.

Lemonade Ice Box Pie

12 oz can fat-free evaporated milk
3/4 c pink lemonade concentrate
1 1/2 c low fat Cool Whip
1 reduced-fat graham cracker crust

In a bowl, combine milk and lemonade concentrate; fold in Cool Whip. Pour into crust. Freeze 3 hours.

Yield: 8 slices at 5 pointsplus.

Enjoy!

Gonna try this again...

Yep, it's been almost a year since I posted. I'm back on WW (doing the online program) and exercising. I've lost 13.5 pounds and am feeling good about that. Tonight we're having spaghetti. The "recipe" isn't written down so kinda hard to share, but it's about 10 points per serving (1 1/2 cups) and the garlic bread I make is 4 points per 2" slice. Since I can't list that recipe, I'm going to include what we ate 2 nights ago. This recipe started out as stuffed pork chops that were grilled, but one time I wanted to fix it and it was too cold to grill out. I changed it around, but never changed the name of it. Feell free to call it whatever you want if you try it and like it.

Corn-Stuffed Pork Chops

6 boneless center loin pork chops (1" thick, about 10 oz EACH)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 medium green pepper, choppped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 Tbsp butter
1 pkg Stove Top Stuffing Mix
10 oz pkg frozen corn, thawed
1/2 c egg beaters

Sprinkle salt and pepper on pork chops. Set aside. In a nonstick skillet, saute green pepper and onion in butter until tender. Transfer to a bowl. Add stuffing mix, corn and egg beaters; mix well. Pour into a roasting pan (haven't measure mine, but it's bigger than a 9x13, but not the biggest one I have) that has been sprayed with Pam. Put pork chops on top of stuffing/vegetable mixture. Bake at 350 for about 25-30 minutes (kinda depends on how thick the chops are). 1 chop and 1/6 of the stuffing/vegetable mixture is 8 pointsplus.

I started a "walking program" (http://www.familycircle.com/fc/printableStory.jsp?storyid=/templatedata/fc/story/data/1269279551482.xml&catref=fc71). It starts out very slowly (15 minutes of walking), but by the end of 12 weeks you are walking 4 miles.

I'm making a concentrated effort to post more. One of my sisters recently wrote on her blog (http://letmethinkonit.blogspot.com/) that she felt like Facebook had killed the Blog. It's unfortunate, but true. Hopefully, I will follow through with this new commitment.

Edit Profile...

Yesterday was my birthday. I had to change my age in my profile to show I am now 45. I'm okay with getting older, but would really like to be in better shape. You know the old adage...You're only as old as you feel. Well, I feel a lot older than 45! Hopefully as I lose more weight I will feel younger.

Oh, and as a present to myself I skipped weighing in this week. I am hoping for a big loss next week though.

Taco Night!

Tonight is taco night. I love taco night. A taco is only 4 points so I can eat quite a bit and not feel guilty. I usually fix myself a taco salad using baked Doritos. VERY filling and delicious. I make the taco meat like the package says (using ground venison), then crunch up 1 point of Doritos, cover with shredded lettuce, top with 3 points of meat, 1 point of fat-free cheddar cheese and 1 point of fat-free sour cream. A huge meal for only 6 points.

What's for dinner at your house? Is it Weight Watcher friendly?

I made it to 20!

Yes, it's taken a while, but I am down 20#s! I'm so excited. I know I have a long way to go, but I'm still losing and that is what counts.

Have you tried Fiber One bars? They are delicious, filling and only 2 points. I eat them for breakfast or a snack. VERY satisfying. They are about $2.50 for a box of 5. If you have a Wal*Mart close (who doesn't these days! LOL), they have a "Great Value" brand that is very similar for $2.00. I highly recommend these.

Tonight's dinner? I have no idea. I need to figure something out. I have a package of ground venison in the refrigerator that I need to use. Any suggestions?

Feeling Good!

I'm down 18#s and am feeling good!

Tonight we are having a baked chicken dish. I put some penne pasta in the bottom of a casserole dish then boneless skinless chicken breasts on top. I poured 98% fat-free cream of chicken soup on the chicken then added 1 1/2 cans of water. I am baking it in a 350 oven for about an hour. I haven't figured the points yet, but am guessing that a serving will be between 6 and 8 points.

Continuing to lose...

I'm down 16#s! I feel great and am happy to say that I am maintaining my motivation. My clothes are already feeling loose. I'm really looking forward to dropping a size. I actually have lots of clothing in several sizes so I won't have to buy anything new anytime soon. My goal size is a 10, which might sound big, but I'm 5'11" so I feel like it's good for me.