My favorite recipe blogs

OK, so my three month subscription/membership to Weight Watchers expired last Friday.  I fully intend on doing a post on my experience... probably by the end of this week, but despite the fact that I'm technically not "on" Weight Watchers anymore does not mean that I will go back to my old ways of eating.

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll know that I found two AMAZING blogs that were absolute life savers to me as I was adjusting to the new way of eating.

www.skinnytaste.com

www.eat-yourself-skinny.com

Why do I love these two ladies and their blogs so much?  Well, it's because they have amazing, flavorful and exciting recipes and they have already figured the Weight Watchers Points out for you, which is even more enticing to me now that I don't have the Recipe Builder on the Weight Watchers website anymore!!!  If you haven't already checked them out you absolutely should... even if you aren't on Weight Watchers.

We tried this one last night, and it was great!  I think next time I'll add some more spices, or possibly some garlic, and I'll probably leave the grated cheese off the top, but I always try recipes "as is" the first time around. It was especially great with the Chardonnay we had open from the night before  :)


Lighter Baked Macaroni and Cheese (SkinnyTaste.com)


Here is my list of recipes from their websites that I intend to try next... I have the ingredients for all of them... I just have to pick a night, and for a couple of them, pick a main dish to go with them!

Skinny Chicken Enchiladas (Eat-Yourself-Skinny.com)

Zucchini Pancakes (SkinnyTaste.com)

Cauliflower Fritters (SkinnyTaste.com)

Happy Tuesday!!!  What's on your menu this week??

Last Night's Dinner

via

So, last night, J and I had Chicken Rollatini Stuffed with Zucchini and Mozzarella from SkinnyTaste.com.

If you are looking for a healthy dinner with AMAZING flavor, I would definitely check this out!!! It's not the easiest meal to make, but the little bit of extra work and effort is WELL worth it.  I found the recipe a little confusing, but in the end, the meal tasted great so ultimately I don't think we messed anything up  :-D

I absolutely love every one of Gina's recipes I've had so far, and this website has been a lifesaver throughout my (nearly) 3 months on Weight Watchers because she has everything categorized and all the points counted for you!!  This has instantly become one of my most favorite recipes and I will definitely make it again!

Great Sunday!!

I love Sundays... even though it means Monday is quickly approaching, I tend to make Sundays all about relaxation, even when there are other things I should be doing. Today was no different. We really got NOTHING done this weekend, but it's March Madness and that's a given.

We went on a run to start the day... it was supposed to be 8 miles, but I felt like crap so it ended up being a really tough 7. I celebrated all those points I earned on my run, with a Happy Meal (and pretty much undid all the good that the run brought) and I haven't really gotten off the couch much since.

When I get bored with basketball, I tend to multitask and surf the internet. Today, I found THE MOST AMAZING FOOD WEBSITE EVER!!!! I am seriously in love with this site and have a feeling that I'll be visiting often.

It's called Skinny Taste and it has a whole bunch of recipes that are modified to be healthy and include Weight Watchers points for every recipe. I'm in love...

I've already pinned a few and you can find them on my Ring The Dinner Bell board on Pinterest. I don't know how anyone on weight watchers have ever lived without this website and I swear, the lady that writes this blog is a GENIUS! You should check it out.

So are meals are planned for the week, and the only other accomplishment of my day was to put together my spring centerpiece for our dining room table. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and hopefully you like it to...



Hope everyone has a great week!!!

Saturday on the Couch

I went to bed last night at about 8:30 pm, feeling like I was getting sick.  I have no idea what it was about yesterday, but I felt like crap.  I made it through the day (and a much needed happy hour with some awesome co-workers) and was home by 8:00 pm for a shower and in bed by 8:30 pm with a heating pad.  I definitely didn't sleep straight through the night, but mostly a sleep for the next 13 hours.

I finally got out of bed today at around 11:00 am and came down to the couch, where I vowed to stay for the day.  So, I've been here since then... I did some work, went through some emails, spent a little time catching up on what was going on in the world... mostly via Facebook, so not as much "the" world and more "my" world.  I caught up on A LOT of TV that I haven't watched (I'm currently watching The Grammys... yes... I know, that was forever ago).

I grew up Catholic, and although I'm not currently a practicing Catholic because I'm just not sure about the church and it's view on some very hot topics (a post for another time), I would still consider myself Catholic.  It was really hard for me to figure out what I was going to do for Lent this year... last year we gave up meat, and although it was hard to come up with variety in our menu, it was really not something that was all that difficult, and was not a major sacrifice for the 40+ days that are Lent (in case you didn't know, Sundays are not counted in the 40 days).  In the past, I've given up Alcohol, I've given up dessert, I've given up pop... none of those things have ever really been that hard... I guess I'm just not someone who loves any one thing all that much.  I thought about giving up Facebook, but I have to use it for work sometimes, so it's really not practical because I'd still have to be on there sometimes.

So, I decided I would do something to make myself better instead of trying to find something to give up.  I'm currently the heaviest I've ever been at 160 pounds and am totally unhappy with how I feel about myself because I've always been athletic and I've always been in good shape.  I've been running (training for a half marathon), but my hip injury has kept me from running more than a couple of times a week and while I've been able to maintain my 5-6 mile runs, the 10-12 miles a week has NOT done anything for my weight.

My mom mentioned that she wanted to try Weight Watchers and I told her I'd do it with her.  Then I was talking to my friend at work about it and she said she'd do it to, so I signed up today.  I started to look through it and I'm pretty sure I made a horrible mistake.  J's kind of a picky eater (not a bad one, there are just a few things he doesn't like that seem to be in everything), and although he tells me all the time that I need to eat what I want and he will find something else to eat, I like to cook for both of us.  It's hard to cook for one.  Well, I looked at the recipes online and first of all, they are OVERWHELMING... there are so many of them.  Then I was looking at the ingredients and I can't find many things that I think J will like.

Then I started going in and putting in some of our favorite recipes.  I'm screwed...

We have a really great Salmon and Rice dish that is about 200 calories per serving and I'd say it's on our normal rotation of meals... WELL, it's 14 points... FOURTEEN... that's more than half of my daily total!!!  A peanut butter and jelly sandwich... 13 points... for 2 pieces of bread and some peanut butter and jelly.

I was in tears today looking at this... most of the time, I don't have time to make anything more than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to take to work, unless we have leftovers, but I certainly can't "afford" to have salmon and rice for dinner and then have it for lunch again the next day.  Yes... a 6 mile run will give me about 11 points back every time I do it, but right now, my hip won't let me do that more than a couple of times a week.  How in the WORLD do people do Weight Watchers???  I'm already discouraged and I'm on day 1.

OK, we'll I think I've gone on enough for today...