Weight Watcher Friendly Websites

I recently had a meeting member friend, Joyce, ask me about which websites I use.

I did a post about this a while back which you can find here.

In addition I'm going to add one I hadn't before.

That website is dailydoseofpepper.

I have the most familiarity with the recipes on skinnytaste and, in truth, I think they taste the best.

I'm also a sucker for packaging and her pictures are mouth-wateringly perfect.

Also keep in mind that many of the authors of these websites have cookbooks that you can buy or check out at your local library.

If they offer ebooks those would be even cheaper.

Sometimes we just get in a rut and need new inspiration to keep things fresh.

Check out these websites and I think it'll help you answer that age old question, "What's for dinner?".

WW Friendly Websites & Podcasts

I've posted my favorite websites before.

You can find them here.  Just scroll down toward the bottom of the page to see it. 

However yesterday I came across two websites that were new to me.

They are mindovermunch and dailydoseofpepper.

These are both WW friendly sites that list point values for the recipes they post.

I've also just discovered the joy of listening to Podcasts.

The first one I listened to was a WW with the username of @fatdag whose Podcast is called Why's Advice.

He also has an app at the app store you can download for free to listen.

In addition, he has his own website which you can find here.  This Podcast has become HUGE and I believe he is expanding this.

More recently an online WW pal of mine introduced me to @liquidshano who has a Podcast called coffee talk.

You can also find his website here.

You know with so many people blogging and posting and podcasting you'd think a lot of this would just be repetition but it's really not for me.

I think we each have a different perspective and every perspective is valuable.

These folks really help sort through the mental clutter.

Remember that you can search for their apps or podcasts without being a Weight Watcher.

These are open to the public.  So if you have a friend who is struggling or can't afford going to meetings, you might consider sharing these with them.

We're definitely better together.

Happy Surfing! ;)

My Favorite Websites

Whenever and wherever possible I try to set myself up for success.

This is similar to a quote I love "Do something today that your future self with thank you for"(I couldn't find the author on this or I would mention it).

This, in part, means surrounding myself with people, things, products and information that support my goals, priorities and values.

I try to make sure that those in my peer group don't enable my bad habits but rather that they help support me and the behaviors and habits I want to embody.

One of the many things I use to help set me up for success is using WW friendly websites.

Today I want to share with you the websites I use which are listed here in order of most to least used.
The last two are actually new to me but I'm filled with excitement thinking about exploring them more.

1.  Hungry Girl(I also subscribe to her daily e-mails which are wonderful!)

2.  Skinny Taste.

3.  Emily Bites.

4.  Laaloosh.

5.  Skinny Kitchen

6.  Slender Kitchen.

7.  Dash of Herbs.

8.  Drizzle Me Skinny.


Many of the authors of these sites have their own cookbooks too.  I get these from the library of course. ;)

If any of you have any other WW friendly sites you like please let me know!  I'm always looking for new inspiration and ideas.

After you've been on plan for a while you get to the point where you can look at the full Fatty McFatty recipes and come up with your own ways to slim them down.

And it just gets more and more fun as you get better and better at working the Plan and feeling good about your choices and yourself.

Hope this helps get your creative juices flowing!

Mexican Sweet Potato Casserole & Fruit & Yogurt Jello Cups

One of my favorite WW friendly websites is skinnytaste.

It's author, Gina Homolka, has so many creative ideas and I love that she has the Smart Points and nutritionals listed for every recipe.

I recently tried her recipe for Spiralized Mexican Sweet Potato and Chicken Casserole.

This is 9 Smart Points and I thought the portions were really generous.

It is a bit time consuming but it's worth it.  I didn't have the guajillo peppers she mentioned and, in fact, I've never heard of them and wouldn't know where to get them.

I substituted chipotle peppers in abdabo sauce instead.  My husband and I like things spicy so it worked out well for us.

I also didn't have fresh tomatoes on hand so I used two 15 oz cans of diced tomatoes.

Take a look at my final product-

This was amazingly delicious and satisfying.  I didn't feel hungry enough to eat the rest of the pan afterward and that's pretty amazing for me!  

This is also one of those recipes that tastes even better leftover!  

I love that smoky flavor from the chipotle peppers.  

I really love coming home from work knowing dinner is already prepared, I don't have to cook and I already know the points!

Of course we can't forget dessert.  I found this 1 pt dessert on another of my preferred websites emilybites.  

Fruit and yogurt Jello cups are an easy and inexpensive recipe.  I wouldn't say it tasted great but it was good and at 1 pt it tasted even better.  

It definitely gets points for looking good ;)

The instructions said to pour this into a paper lined muffin pan.  I didn't have paper liners on hand so I used a silicone muffin tin.  

This worked okay but I would say getting them out perfectly is a little tricky.  Some of the bottoms broke apart a little.  

Leaving them in the fridge longer seemed to help somewhat though. 

So 10 pts for dinner and dessert?  Not bad and it tasted great!

What to Do When You've Gained

We just got back from another Christmas celebration with family.

I've also had my work celebration, our Christmas celebration in Kansas City and on and on.

And, it's not even Christmas or New Year's yet!

Geesh!

The irritating news?

The scale said I gained 6 lbs in one week last week!

That's the biggest gain I've ever seen in one week's time.

The even more irritating thing is that I've had non-stop get togethers and junk food since.

Usually I count on having at least one week where I've got nothing going on and can just really focus on getting back on track.

Instead I feel like I've gained even more though I haven't stepped on the scale yet.

So what do I do when I've gained like this?

Well, I went browsing on all my favorite websites and found a few new recipes to try but they looked too good.

I immediately knew I'd probably struggle to not overeat those delectable dishes.

So, right now as I type I'm eating a salad.

I had an orange earlier and then we're having green beans and lean pork roast for dinner.

Tomorrow the plan is to do some major cooking and it will consist in bulk of zero to low point foods.

This way even if I have a hard time controlling myself I won't be going way over on higher point foods.

I'm also avoiding sweets for now.

I really do believe it just stimulates my appetite and I'll just keep going and going.

I strained my low back so I'm limited to stretches for a while.

All of this alone would've been a reason to get down and quit in the old days.

But these are new days and the new me.

I'm choosing to make better choices.

In fact I get to assign meaning to the events of my life and I've decided the low back strain, endless eating soirees and weight gain is just that, it's part of real life.

So I'm focusing on really buckeling down before the next get together.

I know my husband feels as bloated and gross as I do after eating so much so I'm sure he's as ready as I am to get back on track.

I have also decided to scale back the indulgences I'd planned for Christmas day.

So there you have it- real life, real people, real problems and real solutions.

We fall and we get back up and keep moving forward.

May all your Christmases be Light!  :)

Naked Eggplant Parmesan

My friend, Jodie recommended this recipe.

This one comes out of the new Hungry Girl Clean and Hungry Cookbook.

This is probably one of the very easiest eggplant parm recipes I've ever made and yet I managed to screw it up.  More on that later.

There aren't a lot of exotic ingredients or a list of ingredients that say "see recipe".

It was relatively inexpensive too.

If you're unfamiliar with Hungry Girl this is a name to know.

Lisa Lillien created the Hungry Girl name.

This is one of my favorite websites.

I also subscribe to her daily e-mails which are packed full of good info on product finds and recipes.

She also has several cookbooks.

While the above mentioned book does not list Smart Points(probably for copyright reasons) she does have each of the recipes on her website with the Smart Points listed there.

My tenacious friend Jodie actually bought the cookbook and went through and wrote the pts in by hand.

Now that's dedication!  What a woman!

Now on to the recipe...

This comes out to 4 Smart Points per serving.  One serving is 1/4 of the pan.  Woo hoo!  

If you can't find the Smart Points on her website for the book recipes go here.  Then click on the blue box at the bottom that says "CLICK FOR SMART POINTS & PHOTOS!"

Ingredients

1 (20 oz) eggplant sliced into 1/2 inch thick slices lengthwise(I also peeled mine)

1 cup of store bought or homemade marinara of choice

1/4 cup of grated Parmesan

1 cup part skim mozzarella

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp salt.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Spray both a 8x8 square casserole dish and a baking sheet with olive oil spray.

Mix together the spices and set aside.

Place the eggplant slices on the baking sheet and sprinkle with the spice mixture.
Bake for 20 minutes then flip and bake 10 more minutes.

Put 1/4 of the marinara in the bottom of the 8x8 pan and then layer on half of the eggplant slices.
Place another 1/4 cup of marinara over the eggplant plus 1/2 cup mozzarella and 2 Tbsp of the grated Parmesan.
Repeat layering ending with cheese.
Cover with foil and bake for 30 min or until hot and bubbly.
Uncover and bake an additional 5 minutes.  Let cool for 10 minutes.

So truth time~

Here's what I screwed up....

I have had eggplant Parm where it tasted really bitter because the eggplant slices were so thick and not breaded as in this recipe.
So, I took it upon myself to make the slices 1/4 inch thick instead of the 1/2 thick she calls for.
In doing so not all of the slices fit on one baking sheet so I was dirtying an extra pan.
Some of the slices also ended up burned and desiccated.  They were kind of like eggplant chips.
Believe it or not some of them tasted good so I may have to experiment with that someday later.

Anyway, the eggplant really shrinks down as it cooks and loses lots of moisture.  When they're as thin as I made them they can also break apart and stick easier.

The volume of eggplant in the pan was so low it looked like half-ply eggplant Parm.

But I own this mistake.  This one's all on me.

Sometimes I screw it up.

And as I've said before- sometimes you burn it and you eat it anyway!  :)

Even after my mistakes this was REALLY DELICIOUS!!!!

I have to admit that before I made this I was skeptical.

The little fat lover in me was saying "Yeah right.  Sure it tastes good without the yummy fatty breading.  Whatever!".

I really have to eat my words here.  This was so crazy good!

Don't you love it when you can find something healthy that tastes so good?!!!!

Now I can't stop thinking of just how good it'll be when I don't screw it up!

Who says healthy food can't be decadent?!

Happy Cooking!

GIANT Turkey Meatball Parmesan

I saw this recipe on one of my favorite websites, skinnytaste.

You can find the recipe here.

This recipe looked delicious but what really struck me when I read through it is that it looked really easy.

And, it is!

Here is a peak at the making of this giant meatball ~

Here's what I changed ~

I'm just not motivated to buy a new cheese for this for just 3 Tbsp.  Since I don't keep pecorino romano cheese on hand I substituted good old grated Parmesan.  

I didn't have fresh garlic on hand today.  I've had a hard time finding really good garlic lately.  I don't like it as much by the time it's really green and sprouting.  It's too strong and bitter.  

I do have the jarred, minced garlic but lately I just really feel like I'm tasting a chemical preservative taste and have really been turned off by that.  Mom says I need to try the one at our local health food store and will be doing that soon.  

But for today I just went ahead and used 1 tsp of garlic powder instead of fresh, crushed garlic.  

I also used around 1/2 cup of the marinara instead of 1/3.  I used another no sugar added brand with all fresh ingredients.  

This serves 4 and is 7 pts per serving.  

All in all this was an awesome recipe!  

So few ingredients, so easy to make, so visually appealing, moderate on the pts and it tastes great!

Woo hoo!  This is a keeper!

This is comfort food at it's best!

Happy Cooking!

Butternut Squash Gratin

I was searching my favorite websites for some good side dishes for the upcoming holiday when I found this one for Butternut Squash Gratin.

This one serves six and is only 4 pts per serving.

I found the recipe here at skinnytaste.com.

A quick word about using the squash.  I microwaved this for 4-5 minutes before I tried to peel it.

It makes it much easier to work with.

I also used my spiralizer to spiralize this as she suggests.

It took a little fumbling but I quickly got the hang of it and, my oh my, do those bright orange spiralized pieces of squash look beautiful!

I didn't really change much in this recipe.  I didn't have fresh thyme

on hand and wasn't motivated to spend the money to buy it so I used probably 1/4 tsp of the dried thyme.

I'm not really a big fan of thyme flavor so I didn't want it to be too strong.

I was also too cheap to go buy a shallot for this so I used a regular yellow onion and then cooked it well in the skillet with broth before adding into the mix.  I do this because I don't like raw onions.

Other than that I really stuck to the recipe you'll find on her site.

I will be hosting Christmas this year with my husband's family and I wanted to do a trial run of some new recipes before the big day.

You know once you make a recipe once it goes twice as fast the next time.

I've also picked recipes that are plan friendly that I would make again for just the three of us.

Here's a peek into my kitchen as I made this recipe~

One of the downsides is that my kitchen was a total mess!  It cleaned up quickly though.  :)

Oooohhhh... pretty right?

But then...

Uh oh!  I burned it a little when I broiled it AGAIN!  

Geesh!  I only put it in for 1.5 minutes instead of the 2-3 she recommended.  

Maybe someday I'll master the art of broiling without burning but it wasn't today.  

Still, it wasn't a total loss.  

So, the verdict?

Good, not great but good.  I think my hang up here was the taste of thyme.  

I probably should've just left it out altogether.  I also think the flavor needs punching up a bit.

I might even consider adding just a touch of cayenne and/or smoked paprika next time.  

Would I make it again?  Yes, with a couple small changes.  

This is definitely worth trying.

Happy Cooking!