Tea Time

Today I had the most delightful time lunching with one of my good friends over tea.

Yet another thing I love- tea, tea rooms and all things girly.  I went to a tea room that was new to me today and just had a lovely experience.  I may have swooned a little when they brought out that dessert.  :)

I'm a bit sentimental when it comes to tea because growing up it was a tradition for my mother, grandmother and I to enjoy tea together(as weather permitted) on the back deck in the early hours of the morning, sometimes watching the sunrise.

It was a way to greet the day and savor the moment and each other.

I remember steamy summer mornings watching the bumble bees just getting started as they congregated around the hollyhock bushes.

I remember cool, crisp fall mornings bundled up in blankets and jackets, watching my breath in the cool air, the smell of damp Earth and chimney smoke tickling my nose and the sound of crunching leaves.

While we don't have tea every morning now we still enjoy it when we can.  What's even more special is that now my son enjoys tea and sunrise with his Gran and I as well.

It's a joy to me to see him truly appreciate God's work in each day's sunrise.  He always finds something beautiful in it, no matter how dreary it may seem to anyone else.

It's a great reminder to stop and smell the roses and appreciate all the smallest moments in life.

In the end those are the ones we remember and cherish most.

Adventures in Cooking

Some recipes are a bit of work and some are just plain tricky.

When I was at Barnes and Noble today I was browsing several cookbooks and food magazines when I found a recipe for crepe lasagna.  I found this in a book called The Gluten-free Kitchen by Pamela Moriarty.

It's no secret that I like it when my food looks pretty and this was one pretty picture.
Just reading the ingredient list made me salivate so I knew I had to try it.

Keep in mind that this isn't a low cal recipe.  I decided to use my weekly's on this although I did cut a few calories and some fat where I could.

I don't know if I've ever really cringed while cooking a dish but I did today.

This lasagna is layered in a spring form pan and I had visions of releasing the form to watch my lasagna ooze out onto the pan underneath in a big pile of liquid goo.

Think layers of meat sauce and cheese between paper thin crepes.

Fortunately it didn't fall apart but my final product wasn't quite as attractive as the picture in the book.

It did taste wonderful though, very decadent.

Would I make this again?  Probably not.
But even though it didn't come out as I'd hoped I'm glad I tried it.

Cooking should be adventurous and fun and creative and this was all those things.

Celery Root Soup

I know what you're thinking... "really?  Celery root? Gack!"  

Keep an open mind!  This is really good, low in calories and points.  

Here is the quick and dirty on what I did to make this -

First supreme and dice two celery roots into one inch cubes(about 2-2.5 c).  If you haven't bought a celery root before they look like an ugly, hairy root ball.  Cut off the green leafy parts first.  Supreming means you take a knife and cut off that hairy outer layer.  Be careful!  No cut fingers please.
Here is a video on how to if you're feeling intimidated.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABa58-HAeRY

I diced a whole yellow onion and cooked it using chicken broth until it was well done(15-20 min).  I then added about 2 oz of white wine.  Doesn't everything taste better with wine?  Um.... yes.  

Then I added the cubed celery root plus one celery rib finely diced and cooked it for 20+ minutes until soft. 

Next take a hand blender and carefully blend in the pan until it's a nice smooth, creamy texture.  

Now at this point you can do a lot of things- sometimes I add a little cayenne and smoked paprika(this is a miracle spice if you haven't figured it out yet).

What I did recently though was add a whole 10 oz can of low fat cream of mushroom soup along with 4 oz of shredded rotisserie chicken and 4 tablespoons of Hormel real bacon bits.  

I let it simmer for ten minutes or so.  There are six servings.  

With the cream of mushroom soup it's 2 Smart Points, without it's 1 Pt.  

Voila!  So yummy!  And it tastes like a rich, delicious potato soup.  It's just good comfort food.  

Happy cooking 

Summer Love Pasta

I've never made pesto before today but it turned out well so I'm sharing it with you all.  

I changed quite a bit in an effort to make it WW friendly(regular pesto is a total calorie bomb!).

I found this recipe on the laaloosh site and just tweaked it a bit and then added it to another recipe.  

http://www.laaloosh.com/2011/05/31/low-calorie-pesto-sauce-recipe/

For the pesto I substituted nutritional yeast for the grated Parmesan.  I also didn't have the fresh parsley so I used a couple teaspoons of dried parsley.  I used 2 tablespoons of almonds since I didn't have pine nuts on hand.  I also added a 1 tsp of dried chives and a pinch of dill.  I would also decrease the salt in this!  Next time I make it I'm going to use 1/2 tsp instead of a full tsp.  

I made the pesto and then set it aside.

Then I made the following:

I chopped one med yellow onion, one medium yellow bell pepper, one medium red bell pepper, one medium orange bell pepper, one fresh jalapeno and added those to a skillet with 1 tablespoon of hot olive oil.  Using chicken broth I cooked until well done(15 min or more).  

Then I added 4 cloves of minced garlic and 2 oz of white cooking wine.  

Next I added two medium to large sized spiralized zucchini, a pint of halved cherry tomatoes and 15 oz of shrimp.  Did I mention I LOVE shrimp?!

I covered it with the homemade pesto and voila- summer in a dish.  

This was a bit of work so if you don't like to cook you won't like this but I was in the mood today.  

I felt like I was eating summer on a plate.  It was sooooo good and pretty and healthy!  

I gave myself 6 pts for 1/4 of the whole batch.  It kind of begs to be paired with a beautiful white wine.  I didn't have it on hand but it would be fabulous if you don't mind spending the points.  

I had fresh watermelon for dessert and I feel oh so satisfied right now .  

It's one of those meals to enjoy on the porch(if it's not too hot) with a loved one.  

Who says healthy eating can't be an exquisite experience?!

Carrie

Life After Binge

So, this weekend besides making the lovely Hungry Girl cauliflower tots I also decided to make WW Gooey Rocky Road Bars.


I have looked for the chocolate wafer cookies common to many WW dessert recipes to no avail until my WW friend, Carol told me where to find them.

Here's a link to the recipe on a public site so everyone can view it.

These were not good, they were FANTASTIC!  Oh my gosh!  The only problem was that they were too good.

I could not seem to stop myself and just plowed through over half the pan before I finally hit the panic button and took the rest of them to my mother's.  At 6 Smart Points per serving I don't even want to tell you how many points that was.

They taste like the Magic Cookie Bars your mom made when you were little but the crust is chocolate instead of Graham cracker and they're thinner.

In my opinion they were way better!

So, the recipe is a keeper but this will be reserved for times when I have company to share it with.

After I got over wallowing in shame and guilt I picked myself back up and started over.

We're not defined by our falls.  It's what we do after that really defines us and I am the girl who picks herself back up.  :)

Today I made better choices.  I got my exercise in and I made a new recipe for vegan meatloaf I got from my friend Mary.  This serves 6 and is 6 Smart Points per serving.

You can find it here.

I've tried other vegan meatloaf and I think this was the best I've ever had.  It's a bit of work but it's worth it.

Everyone has bad days, days you miss the mark and wish you'd done better.

The good news is that everyday is a new day and we can start over.

My New Favorite Snack- Cauliflower Tots

I love cooking and trying new recipes.  I also love finding healthy snacks that I love and that I don't have to feel guilty about.

Today's recipe is from Hungry Girl.  These are Cauliflower Tots and they are oh so good.

At only 2 Smart Points per serving this is a really delicious and satisfying snack.

When I made the recipe I didn't note as much water as she indicated there would be.  I also felt like it was a bit difficult to get them to hold their shape when I was forming them.
However, once they were cooked they held together well.

I made the piece of pottery these are sitting on.  It's a little misshapen but I made it! ):

ADDENDUM:
So I addended this post and I made just a couple changes.

I had a happy mistake this time around.  I forgot to put on the blade on my food processor that rices the cauliflower and just threw it in with the regular blade.  It worked really well.  It was more like a fine meal consistency instead of being riced but I think that works better for this recipe.

I don't like having to dry the cauliflower on a towel.

It's a huge mess!

Instead of microwaving the cauliflower and having to deal with the mess of drying it on a towel I threw it in a skillet and cooked it for ten minutes on medium heat.  No towel drying necessary this way, which I prefer.

I also added the spices more liberally as well as adding a dash of cayenne.  When you add the smallest amount of cayenne it can really bring out flavor without too much heat.

It tasted so much better!

Lastly I would mention that I made a double batch this time.  Towards the end of cooking these in the oven I got lazy and the tots got a lot bigger.

It makes it easier but they don't taste as good when they're that large.  Keep it small and they're more likely to stay crisp and delicious.


These are perfect for a Friday night movie date with my Honey.  :)

The Magic of the Late Day Power Snack

No breakfast.

Protein shake for lunch and then ...

DINNER!!!!  

As I've mentioned before, this is how I used to eat.  It works too, uh, if you want to gain weight that is.  

I don't know how many nights I'd come home from work "hangry", a combination of hungry and angry.  I had that frantic, crazy energy that feels it can only be satisfied with a binge.  

Oh, and then the fun really begins.  You get home with all that crazy and then all the dichotomous thoughts of desire and shame set in.  

Somehow you literally feel like you're craving EVERYTHING in your house, at the store, and in every restaurant.  Not only that, you DESERVE to eat everything because you haven't eaten ALL DAY LONG and "I've saved up all those calories for this and don't I deserve this?!!!" 

"YES, I DO!" is the resounding cry.  And then the binge begins.  It's binging on a little of everything, because you know that "just a little" really isn't that bad.  But, of course, when it's a little of everything the little bits really add up.  

One half to two thirds of the way through your binge you hear a little voice.  

"But, wait, ...."

That more quietly emphatic voice prods, "I'm fat.  I hate the way I look.... in everything, all the time. And I'm so tired of looking this way and feeling this way about myself.  

I need to lose weight.  

I shouldn't eat that, any of it.  

I shouldn't eat at all.

I don't really deserve it."

In the middle of all that chaotic energy you can't really see that line of thinking for what it really is, crazy.    

So, for me avoiding that was a really big first step.  Fortunately making this change wasn't quite as hard as many others I've made.  

I started making myself eat breakfast, a mid morning snack, lunch, and a late afternoon snack before dinner.

This gradual buildup of food took getting used to and, if I'm honest, I really wanted to hoard my points for dinner but I made the change.

One of the things that really has helped the most is that late day snack.  Around 4:00 pm I have my yogurt snack.  

I mix 1 cup of my favorite plain Greek yogurt, FAGE( http://usa.fage/yogurts/fage-total-plain#fage-total-0), with 1 tsp of Truvia, 1 tsp of vanilla extract and a cup of cherries(I buy them frozen at SAM'S).  

This is incredibly filling for 3 Smart Points.  It's really versatile too.  

I change it up a lot.  I may use coconut extract, vanilla extract, Truvia and peaches with yogurt or any other combination you can think of.  

I made this up for one of my co-workers and she told me the next day in the most astounded tone "I wasn't even hungry for dinner".  

That's the point.  For me this snack really staves off the hangries and all the self-defeating thoughts.  

Admittedly, I have actively worked on changing my self talk to a more positive and productive chatter but not feeling like you're starving really helps it along.  

So, even if you only do ONE thing, try this.  Try adding the Greek yogurt at around 4:00 pm and see how you feel.  

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.  ;)

The Power of Habit

A few months ago my WW coach recommended I read the bestseller by Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit.  

I have to say, I loved this book!  My husband got really sick of me saying "Oh Honey, just one more thing I have to read to you.  This is really good!".

If you like to read this is definitely worth your time.  I found it very empowering.

The book talks about our habits, how they form, why we do what we do and how to make changes.  It also talks about the fact that old habits never really go away completely and that it is often easier to create a new habit by spring-boarding off of an old one.

When I joined WW I got an up close and personal look at some of my bad habits:

I'd live largely on coffee during the day(the idea of eating breakfast in the am made me feel queasy)

I would have a protein shake or bar for lunch(My mantra was "I don't have time to eat a real lunch")

I would eat 80% of my calories in the evening

I would eat a huge dinner and then just keep on grazing until I laid my head down in bed

I ate nutritionally void foods that were calorie dense most of the time

If the TV is on for whatever reason, I eat mindlessly the entire time


There are a lot more but these are some of the big ones I have and ones I see other people struggle with everyday.

The bottom line is that this type of behavior drags your metabolism through the mud leaving you feeling rotten awful.

So, lets get to a practical application of this idea.

I took a look at my habit of eating after dinner while watching TV.  I knew that the TV was my trigger and so I decided to plan for that.  I did two things, banked some of my daily points and prepared healthy snacks for that evening ahead of time.

I started making things like kale chips(0 points) and jicama "fries"(0 points).  You can find the recipe here.

I'm not going to say that I only eat healthy snacks in the evening now but much of the time I do.
I actually try to also incorporate something that has protein as well, like an egg white omelet with kale, tomatoes and 1 tablespoon of feta.

These days my dinners are smaller than they used to be but that's because I save my points for my after dinner grazing.  As silly as it sounds it makes me so happy to snack and know that I don't have to feel guilty about that any more.  You can't put a price on that.

I also changed a LOT more about those other bad habits and I will tell you it was tough at first.
I started eating breakfast every single day.  I started preparing real food for work and making myself eat a snack while I chart at the end of the day around 4 pm.

I think these things were hard because I wasn't working off of an old habit but trying to create something new.
Some things in life are just like that, they're work.  I think sometimes we feel like it should always be easy and that something's wrong if its not but that's not true.
Some things just take work and they're hard but if you stick with it the payoff is big.
And, your health and your quality of life are totally worth it!

Keep the faith friends!  You can do anything you set your heart and your mind to!

Carrie

Tiramisu Tarts

Yesterday I decided to make up a recipe for a Tiramisu Tart using those cute little phyllo shells.

 

I had previously tried the WW recipe for mini strawberry-lemon cheesecake tarts. While my mother, son and husband thought they were great I felt there was something lacking.

As I started turning the recipe over in my mind I realized I wanted something altogether different. So, I made up the following recipe and it turned out really well.

I decided to share them with my beautiful WW friends in the weekly meeting and it was oh so much fun.

It's a tasty way to spend 2 pts.

Tiramisu Tarts

30 mini phyllo shells(find them in the freezer section of your grocery store)

4 oz reduced fat cream cheese

4 oz mascarpone(one of my favorite foods in the whole world!)

1/4 tsp liquid coffee extract(such as this one)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

2 Tbsp Truvia

1 tsp cocoa powder

Bittersweet chocolate bar for grating

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the tarts on a cookie sheet and toast in the oven for 5 minutes.

Let them cool completely.

Let the cream cheese and mascarpone come to room temperature and then beat them in the mixer until well blended.

Add all of the remaining ingredients and mix until well blended. Add this to a pastry bag and pipe into the 30 phyllo shells.

Grate bittersweet chocolate shavings over the top of each tart.  

Tips:  If you love coffee you'll want to add more extract.  My son hates coffee so I didn't add quite as much as I would have otherwise.  You could also use espresso powder or some real coffee, just watch the consistency.  

I can’t keep this much temptation in my home so I chose to share them with friends.  

It's lovely with a nice cup of hot tea or coffee.

Enjoy!

Books & Coffee

Two of my favorite things in the world are books and coffee. Don't get me wrong, hot tea is great too but today I'm talking about coffee.

"Can I still have my coffee? The coffee I've been drinking is so high in points". This is often one of the first concerns I hear from new WW members and rightfully so. It's a serious matter ;)

Thankfully the answer is a resounding YES! You CAN have your coffee!

Some things do usually have to change however. Drinking coffee with whole or 2% is going to cost you. When I started WW I very slowly transitioned myself off of whole milk. I hear a collective gasp I think- yes, I drank whole milk before starting WW. At one point in time I did a low carb diet and they use whole milk.

I started making my coffee 1/2 whole milk and 1/2 2% milk. Once I got used to that I made it with 1/2 2% and 1/2 skim. Later my leader told me to try fat free half and half and I now use 1/2 of that with 1/2 skim milk.

Here comes the really good news... stevia flavored drops make the coffee taste amazing! There are just so many flavors to choose from too. I have chocolate, caramel, toffee, vanilla and hazelnut. I add around 7 drops(0 pts) of the chocolate to my coffee in the morning and it's wonderful.

I also use these drops in my cooking and they work well without adding sugar calories and points.

Here is a link to one brand's site:  http://www.shopsweetleaf.com/sweet-drops-liquid-stevia/

Onto books...

I LOVE books so it's no surprise that I adore the public library. I actually think it's highly underutilized and underappreciated.

People often don't realize that they can get almost any book they're looking for there and if they don't have it on hand they can order it. They also have music, e-books, and movies.

One of my favorite things to do is to find books I want on Amazon and then put them on hold at our public library. I've found all sorts of helpful, WW friendly books there.

Here is the latest: Skinny Dips by Diane Morgan. I just checked this book out last night so I haven't had the chance to cook from it yet but it looks great! It has all sorts of low calorie, skinnied down dips.

The best part? It's FREE because it's a library book! :)

Here is a link: http://dianemorgancooks.com/?cookbooks=skinny-dips

So go ahead and curl up with your yummy coffee and an even more delicious book and enjoy yourself!

Zucchini Pizzas

One of the number one complaints I hear about healthy eating is "it's a lot of work and it just doesn't taste that good".

I also hear complaints about cost among other things.

The following recipe is easy, relatively inexpensive and soooo delicious. I sent this to several co-workers who were pleasantly surprised and now a little more open minded to healthier foods.

The recipe is for zucchini pizzas and comes from one of my favorite, plan friendly sites, slender kitchen.

You'll find it here.

This is quick, tasty, gluten free, low in points(1 pt per "pizza") and can be easily changed to accommodate a vegetarian diet.

That's a win-win for this foodie :)