Menu & Recipes - WW Points Included (week 1)

As promised, here's my first week's attempt at planning a menu using the point system.  This is cool because I now know the points BEFORE I eat instead of after (what a concept, right?).  My daily point goal is 31 and I have 49 extra to play with during the week plus any activity points I earn from exercise.

Here's what I did - I made the slow cooker sloppy joes AND the ravioli casserole ahead of time so that I don't have to worry about cooking dinner on Tuesday & Wednesday.  The Thursday & Friday meals are super simple and Saturday is Subway day so hopefully there won't be a need for my Fallback plan.

If you've ever done the WW thing, you may think that some of my numbers are off.  That's because I'm still using sugar, butter and real creamer.  They make you pay the points for that stuff, but it's yummy so I make the point sacrifice.  Eventually, I'm sure I'll go to more healthy versions of those or just give them up altogether.  Not sure about the sugar though - maybe I'll use honey or maple syrup or agave.  I just can't do the zero calorie stuff.  Even the "non-bitter" sugar substitutes taste bad to me.  Is there anyone else who feels that way?  It can't just be me (I hope).

Tuesday (TOTAL = 31 points)
Breakfast:  Bran Flakes w/banana & 2% milk, coffee w/pumpkin spice creamer (9 pts)
Lunch:  Ham Sandwich on wheat w/mustard & 1 TBS lite mayo, fruit & carrots w/ranch dip (11 pts)
Snack:  Pita Chips & WW Jalapeño cheese (4 pts)
Dinner:  Skinny Slow Cooker - Turkey Sloppy Joes from Skinny Ms, Side Salad w/ranch (11 pts)
UPDATE:  As I was cooking this tonight I realized I had missed where it said "not including buns" so I've changed the dinner points from 8 to 11 to include 3 points for the bun.  Good thing I missed my snack today!  I'll have to change out that snack to fruits & veggies so it'll be zero in the future.

Wednesday (TOTAL = 31 points)
Breakfast:  Healthy Pop Tarts from Chocolate Covered Katie, coffee w/pumpkin spice creamer (8 pts)
Lunch:  Leftovers (4 pts)
Snack:  Fresh fruit & celery mixed w/walnuts & FF vanilla yogurt (10 pts)
Dinner:  Mom's Easy Alfredo Ravioli Casserole from Simple Nourished Living (9 pts)

Thursday (TOTAL = 32 points)
Breakfast:  Grapenuts w/berries, 2% milk, coffee w/pumpkin spice creamer (8 pts)
Lunch:  Leftovers (9 pts)
Snack:  Pita Chips & WW Jalapeño cheese (4 pts)
Dinner:  BBQ Meatballs with Cauliflower mixed with whole wheat pasta & cheese (11 pts)

Friday (TOTAL = 32 points)
Breakfast:  Grapenuts w/berries, 2% milk, coffee w/pumpkin spice creamer (8 pts)
Lunch:  Leftovers (11 pts)
Snacks:  Fruit & carrots w/ ranch & WW Lemon snack cake (6 pts)
Dinner:  Skillet Tostadas on my recipe page (7 pts)

Saturday (TOTAL = 32 points)
Breakfast:  Omelet w/bacon & cheese (10 pts)
Lunch:  Leftovers (7 pts)
Snacks:  Fruit & white cheddar popcorn (3 pts)
Dinner:  Subway Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki on Flatbread (10 pts)

Fallback Plan (just in case of crap or I get lazy and don't want to cook)
Spaghetti w/Olive Oil spritz & Parm w/Spinach & Strawberry salad plus Raspberry Vinaigrette (6 pts)
WW Frozen Dinner (6 pts)
BLTs on wheat (7 pts)

You'll notice I've only dipped into the weekly points by 4.  That means I can pretty much eat whatever I want on Sunday with a whopping 76 points left (45 weekly +31 daily).  I still like to think of that as my "Free Day" leftover from my Body For Life days.  That day is a huge psychological thing for me and I still look forward to it.

So, do you have any great recipes that are super low on points?  Do you incorporate a "Fallback Plan" in case of "emergency"?  Do tell...

Picky Eaters - Trying new foods

I'm happy to report a TWO POUND loss this week!! (Ok, actually it's 1.9, but still!!).  YES!!!  Tracking food really helps me stay focused on what I'm eating.  I am liking the points system better than tracking calories.  When I was tracking calories, I wasn't getting near the fruits & veggies that I am now.  Since they're 0 points with WeightWatchers, I eat a lot more of those so I'm not as hungry and I'm forming some healthy habits.  I do have to plan a bit more, so I'm in the process of re-vamping my menus to be more point-friendly.  There are so many WW friendly websites out there with so many recipes, I'm looking forward to trying some new stuff.

Speaking of new stuff, I have to share this experience.

First off, if I haven't mentioned it before, I don't like onions.  I don't mind certain onion flavor (i.e. onion salt, onion powder, etc.) but the texture is awful.  To me, raw onions are very bitter and cooked onions, while mostly flavorless, are slimy little worm-like bits of ewww.  Every time I go out to eat, I ask the server "no onions please" or "does this have onions?" and special order those dishes as necessary.  If the onions can't be taken out, I'll sit there and pick out onions for several minutes before I start to eat.  Crazy, right?  Maybe with a sprinkle of obsessive, I'm not sure.

Lately though, I've been trying to step out of my comfort zone where food tastes and textures are concerned.  So, last week, when we went out to Texas Roadhouse, I ordered the 6 oz sirloin.  My daughter apparently inherited my distaste for onions and ordered the "Roadkill" sans onions and mushrooms.

Well, I love mushrooms, so I asked if we could just get her mushrooms on the side.  I said nothing of the onions.  When they brought our food, guess what they brought in the cute little side dish bowls... yep, mushrooms AND onions.  Ah well, I thought, such a waste.

But as I'm eating my yummy steak and mushrooms, I had a thought - why not try one?

The texture sensitive part of my brain screamed "WHAT?"

And before it could react further, I slid one of those slimy little buggers on my fork and stabbed a mushroom and a piece of steak and ate it.

Hmmmmm, interesting - it's sweet.  The steak and mushroom hid the texture nicely.  Ok quick, try just onion and steak!

Wow!  It's really sweet.

"Claire, try this!" I say as I'm shoving a bite of steak and onion at her face.

"What was that?" she asks, "that's pretty good."

I tell her what it was and she gives me the evil eye for a second.  Then the scrunched brow look.  Then the "humph" shrug along with a quiet "Not bad."  HAHAHA!! Two for two!

Is it a flute?  Did they sugarcoat those onions?  What the heck just happened?  I ate onions and liked it. Ok, it's official, the world has ended.  The closest I ever come to eating onions are those little fried onion straw deals and that's only if they aren't too thickly sliced.  But now, I've ventured into new territory.  What could possibly be next?

Well, it looks like this post is already long enough, so I'll post my new Weight Watchers Points Included Week 1 dinner menu tomorrow.

Junk Food Day Points - Incredible!

We tried the WW Chinese Pineapple Chicken recipe tonight for dinner and it was fantastic!!  I'm looking forward to cooking this one again.  It took me a bit longer than the 15 min prep and 13 min cook times though - almost 45 minutes total.  Guess I'm slow.  I did have to cut up the pineapple though since I used fresh instead of canned.  But seriously, it was a very good meal - we enjoyed it.  I wonder also if they include the rice cooking time - it doesn't seem to since the recipe calls for "cooked rice" - so maybe I'm not as slow as I thought!

Plans for the weekend anyone?  I'm just thinking about taking in a movie or something.  If the weather isn't too terrible, I'd like to do something outside too.

In considering a movie, it reminds me of what I used to consume in one weekend day.  First, McD's Sausage Biscuit and a large sweet tea.  Lunch would be something like a Five Guys burger and fries plus soda.  For dinner, maybe 2-3 slices of pizza.  If I did go to the movies, we'd probably skip either lunch or dinner and have popcorn and soda at the theater.  Wow, that's a lot of food when I write it out like that!  Actually, maybe it's not so much a lot of food as it is a lot of calorie/fat dense foods.  

I tried to check the points on all that and I come up with something in the neighborhood of 75-90 points!!!  Holy smack-in-the-face Batman!  My daily points = 31.  Let's do some quick math...

Take the middle of the road for points and say this junk food day is... 82 points

82-31=51

I get 49 weekly points to spend however I want.

However, I tend to go over points by 2-3, several days a week, so I'd already have used approximately 9 of those 49...

51-40=11

What does all this mean?

It's just my reality check.  If I want to eat like that, I have to be prepared to workout/get active to earn back those 11 points.  Btw, those foods up there could possibly be what I'd consume on my previous Free days =(

Of course, I should be ultimately trying to get away from all those sorts of foods and eat healthy full time.  Well, I know that's not going to be the case anytime soon.  SO!  In the meantime, I'm going to be sure to get more active and start earning those extra points off!!

Have a great Columbus Day Weekend!!

Fallback Plan - Launching in 3... 2... 1...

Tracked very well today and ended up right on target with my points.  There was a last minute substitution at dinner because I didn't feel like cooking.

Want to know what I did?
Did I go out to eat?  NO!
Did I have something delivered?  NO!
So what did I do?
Wait for it.... <drum roll please>

I went to my fallback plan.  Wait a sec.  My What?!?

I know right?

When I made my menu this week, I decided to list a few things that could serve as an easy substitute in case I didn't feel like cooking.  This totally worked for me tonight.  I'm so happy that I had this to fall back on.  Plus it helped me stay on target for my points because it was a lower point meal.  (btw, the fallback plan was BLTs on wheat)

Tonight's dinner was supposed to be a recipe I want to try from the WeightWatcher's website.  It's called Chinese Pineapple Chicken with Black Bean Sauce.  It serves 4 (which means 2 full servings of leftovers for us) and has only 9 points which includes a half cup of brown rice.  I may try this tomorrow night depending on how my day goes.

The reviews on the WW site sound excellent, so I am looking forward to it.  I want to share it with you but I don't know if everyone can see the stuff on WW if they're not members.  So I searched for it and found it on food.com.  Here's the link... WW Chinese Pineapple Chicken with black bean sauce.  (oh, this site lists it as 7 points/serving).

I always chuckle at people who review recipes and rate them as a 5 after they changed a bunch of stuff.  Then they leave a comment like:

"Oh this recipe is wonderful!!  It's so delicious.  I only made a few small changes - added more garlic, a bit of parmesan, 2 tablespoons of honey mustard and a quarter cup of soy sauce and it was absolutely perfect!"

Wait.  Stop.  Hold on.  They just changed the whole thing, how can they rate something a 5 if they changed or added stuff to make it suit their tastes?  Which recipe was being rated?  Anyway, while I'm not planning on formally reviewing this recipe on the WW or food.com website, I have already decided to change it up a bit.  Yep, call me a hypocrite.

First, the pineapple will be fresh not canned.  I just cut one up yesterday as it is the fruit of choice for this week and I don't see any reason why fresh wouldn't taste better. I'm also taking a suggestion from one reviewer whose husband accidentally picked up "black beans" at the store instead of the "black bean sauce."  They said it turned out fantastic.  Besides, the only black beans sauce I could find was "garlic black bean sauce."  I love black beans, but have no idea what the sauce is supposed to taste like, so I'm going with what I know.

Anyway, that's the plan.  It would've been dinner tonight, but I was just too wiped out after work today.
Speaking of work, it was very quiet - too quiet - so quiet that... well, forget the metaphor, just know that I was pretty darn bored.  The whole place will probably be a madhouse tomorrow though, that's the way of these things.

Well, hope you have a happy Friday everyone!!

The "You Gotta Be Kiddin' Me" Dental Foray

POINTS CHECK

First off, tracked food today and it was pretty good - four points over my goal of 31.  Also, with the dentist appointment today after work, I didn't get in my workout.  However, I did make the 2500 Nike fuel point goal though by 8pm - which is unusual for me if I haven't exercised.

WORK

Work was crazy busy and the day flew by very quickly.  I was so hungry by the time I ate lunch that I think everything tasted so much better simply due to hunger.  

THE APPOINTMENT - Seriously, how did you think this was going to go?

After work was the dreaded dentist appointment.  Even though I should have been calm (it's not called "sedation dentistry" for nothing, right?) I was still a bit stressed.  I was so stressed apparently that I earned myself not one, but TWO cold sores over night.  I haven't had a cold sore since like 2010!  Oh wait, right around the time I had to go to the dentist last time.  Coincidence?  I think not.

The Waiting Room

Very nice.  There were bottles of water and juice available in a fridge and some really comfy-looking chairs.  I say "comfy-looking" because there was no time to sit - I was called back before I got the water bottle opened.  Well, poo, I didn't even get to play a level of Candy Crush.  What's up with that?

The Visit

As it turned out though, I didn't even get a cleaning today - only an exam and a crap-ton of X-rays.  You'd think that's no big deal as far as pain goes, right?  But no, that stuff is just another part of the whole dental experience that I despise.  

X-rays 

The first x-ray was with a machine that circled around my face - no pain there, just a bit awkward the way you stand there and put your teeth in this plastic groove/stand thing and rest your chin on another plastic thing.  

Not my teeth, but this is the result of the "circle" xray machine

X-rays times a gazillion

After that, we started this whole other series of x-rays in the chair.  I'm not sure why, maybe the big circle one wasn't good enough.  So, instead of those little white plastic-feeling deals they used to use for x-rays, you know, the ones that dig into the roof of your mouth and feel like the other side is slicing off your tongue at the lower gum line ?  Well now, they have this thick (about 1/4 inch) L-shaped (or maybe a "T") device that gets literally wedged in you mouth while you're being told to bite down.  Bite down?  How?!?!  You just wedged the giant freaking piece of plastic into my mouth!  It was all so awkward and extremely uncomfortable.  It's like they turned the knife around and instead of the blade you get the handle.  

Adding Injury

Oh and I even got bonked in the head by the tech moving around the stupid x-ray machine.  Nice.

Dentist oh sweet dentist

Thankfully this procedure is interrupted by the dentist who comes in and wants to go ahead and do the examination because she has an appointment or something to go to.  Sure, I said, thankful for the interruption.  Her part of this experience was actually the least painful though.  She just poked each tooth and gave the tech a description to write down in my record.  This part was over way too soon.  She also asked if I had any questions.  I did, but I couldn't recall for the life of me what they were.  I asked a couple of the stupid questions that invaded my brain, but those weren't the ones I was thinking of before I got there.

Vitals

Next up, the tech (who btw, was filling in for someone and was a bit unfamiliar with ...a lot) needed some un-sedated baseline vitals.  I am not kidding, it took like 10 minutes to get my blood pressure.  Not because I moved or anything, but because the cuff wasn't inflating.  She even tried the old-fashioned method and guess what?  Wouldn't inflate.  Hmmmmm, operator error possibly?  

More X-rays

After that, we're back to where we left off with the x-rays.  Ugghhh, will this ever be over?!?  Are we taking a picture of every stinkin' tooth?  Well, I would have wished the x-rays could've gone on longer if I'd know what was next.  The probe.  Yep, the part where they take a very sharp pointy metal instrument and jam it into your gum line at every single tooth.  I really don't know if that's what they're really doing, but it certainly feels like it.  343 333 242 and on and on and on.  There were probably 6-8 times where I winced from the pain.  Not just the "oooh I flossed too deep" pain, no, this was "someone just electrocuted my face for half a second" sort of pain.  Almost like a brain freeze but sooooooo much sharper  ...and pointy-er.  

Now, to be completely honest, she did ask if I wanted a topical anesthetic before we started.  I should've said yes!  My buddy Hindsight is screaming YES loudly in my face right now as I type.  Someone please remind me I said that next time I mention the dentist office, ok?  Anyway, I chose to wait and see.  Wait a sec, did I just type "next time" and "dentist office" in the same sentence?  Sick.

Well, after an hour and 45 minutes, I was finally done.  Talked a bit with the receptionist about setting up a follow-up plan.  We're going to see how much of what they want to to is covered by insurance.  All the stuff they want to do may require a second mortgage...

So, if you were to ask me, "Kris, are you worried about the "next time"?"

You betcha.  

Finally Back in Focus

Maybe yesterday is what I needed, because today, I was able to workout AND get my errands completed.  Also, the menu is planned for the week as well.  I think I have managed to eat within points plus or minus maybe 5.  I've included a serving of either a fruit or veggie or both with every meal, and one of each as a snack as well.  I'll start plugging in the points and let you know later in the week.

Tomorrow is the dreaded dentist appointment.  It's in the afternoon, so I don't know if I'll be able to eat dinner tomorrow night.  We'll see.  And I'll let you know how the whole sedation thing works.

Finally for weigh-in, I lost .4 pounds last week.  A small step in the right direction with many more to come!

Ever have one of those days?

It was one of those days where I just couldn't seem to get anything accomplished.  I didn't even make it to the grocery store, much less finish planning my new menu with the WW points considered.

I'm a little frustrated with myself because everything I come up with seems to be too high in points or too complicated for my busy after-work dinners.

I may have to take this a little slower and instead of coming up with new recipes, work my recipes into acceptable WW meals.

I'll be shopping tomorrow and also grabbing lots of fruits and veggies to stave off the hunger I had last week.  Menu is TBD.

I really did have all these plans for today and I just got tripped up on my menu and ended up getting nothing done.  Ugghhh I hate it when that happens.

Not really on my list, but nothing is what I got done