It’s not safe to leave me unsupervised …

It was around this time a year ago when Dan left me unattended and I took his crowbar to the cabinets which resulted in my redesigned kitchen; one would think he’d know better by now that when left alone, I get fun ideas and without a voice of reason there, I just go ahead and do whatever I’m thinking which typically results in A LOT of hard work … one would be wrong.

Fast forward a year: it was a normal Sunday morning in spring; we were going to rake the front yard, trim the hedges then go shopping for some annuals and veggie plants so I could spend the afternoon planting while Dan did whatever it is Dan does when I’m not looking, usually something non-destructive like playing with the dogs. We finished raking, Dan bagged leaves (the tree in our front yard drops leaves like it’s October, all.year.long!) while I weeded my flower beds and mourned the loss of my perennials that barely came up, bloomed way too early and didn’t last nearly as long as they should have. Dan went inside to refill our waters so I picked up the hedge trimmers to get started on that task … and it all went downhill from there.

By the time Dan came back outside, I’d “trimmed” off about half of one of our enormo hedges!! Dan sighed, shook his head, went into the garage and emerged with a super fun power tool for me to use to finish “trimming” off the hedges. Once I’d removed all the branches, he started tying them up into bunches for the trashmen to take away and I grabbed a shovel to dig out the root balls. Each of those massive hedges was 4 individual bushes that had grown together, who knew? Definitely not me, I was not aware that I’d be digging out so many root balls! While I was at it, I took down this ugly tree that I hated and tore out about 10 miles of nasty vines that I’m pretty sure were responsible for strangling and killing my perennials. I also tore out about 2ft worth of St. Augustine across the front of the house so I could extend my flower beds, yay!! The only things left are the cactus garden, some greenery along the driveway and our enormo 100yr old tree, everything else is gone!

By Sunday evening, after ~7hrs in the yard, I could barely lift my arms over my head so the last thing I was ready to do was cook and prep for my week. Thankfully I had some frozen tamales (thank you Bedford Farmers Market) that I could heat for dinner. Come Monday, I could barely walk. Thanks to the miracle of modern medicine (yay drugs!) and skipping the gym, I was able to get all my cooking and prep done for the week so that I don’t get off track. We have a lot to do this week, there are still two root balls that were just too strong for me that I need Dan to dig out and I need to figure out what the heck I’m going to do now that I’ve ripped everything out of my yard! It looks so clean and pretty that I almost just want to leave it that way, but we all know better than that … I think I’m going to do all pink and white with a splash of red (shhhh, don’t tell Dan) across the front of the house with bluebonnets in the little L shaped space by the porch, yellow and orange marigolds in the ring around the tree and maybe some nice greenery along the side of the house where I ripped out anything and everything that appeared to be growing there. The first step will be to get dirt, lots and lots and lots of dirt!! I want to build a short 4-6” retaining wall, out of what I still have no clue, and do raised beds across the front. I also need a bunch of dirt for the two raised garden bed boxes for my veggies in the back. Oh and we also have to paint; those enormo hedges were hiding the poor, poor shape of our shutters so we’ll be stripping and painting the shutters and once those are all fancy with a fresh coat, we’ll have to strip and paint the trim along the house and front entrance to match, right?? Sorry honey!!!!!!

So while we’ll be hard at work, I’ve planned a hearty (but healthy) menu to keep us going. Breakfasts, as usual, will be egg casserole; lunches will vary based upon leftovers and the contents of my freezer; dinners will be mostly grilled except for Thursday because the weather is supposed to be crappy.

Monday – pork tenderloin kebabs/kabobs – I threaded pieces of peppercorn marinated pork loin on skewers with chunks of zucchini and red pepper … fantastic!
Tuesday – flank steak with sweet potatoes & green beans
Wednesday – grilled blackened chicken with hungry girlfredo & peas
Thursday – chicken stuffed with ham and swiss (kind of like chicken cordon bleu but not), with roasted new potatoes, broccoli & carrots
Friday – grilled pizzas! We were supposed to do this last Friday but I had a really tough run and wasn’t in the mood so instead we made a simple whole wheat linguine with peas in a ricotta pesto sauce (1 cup ff ricotta + 2tbsp pesto = yum!) and grilled chicken

I also got a wild hair and tested out healthifying my normal recipe for scones and they were quite yummy. You may not know this, but I am 100% obsessed with the royal wedding and I am starting to test out the recipes for what I will be serving at the formal English tea party I’m having in its honor that morning. Of course, the only attendees will be Fredo and Gus as most normal people will be asleep or at work, but it will be fabulous nonetheless and yes, Gus will be wearing gloves and a hat. I still need to tweak the scones recipe some before I post it because I’d like them to be just a touch sweeter so stay tuned!!

YAY!!! Yay for Opening Weekend!!!

Ok, so baseball is super exciting and all (and I’m super excited both our teams swept opening weekend), but what’s more exciting for me is the beginning of grilling season!!! From now through Labor Day, we will be grilling the majority of our meals … grilling season means casserole season is oh-vah! Which also means my Sunday prep goes from spending all day in the kitchen to only needing to spend an hour or two, mostly oven-free, prepping meals instead of fully cooking them. Today, aside from making my breakfast casserole and some mac n chz, all I did was cut up vegetables and mix spices together for my homemade seasonings to get ready for the week.

Some of why we grill so much in spring/summer is for survival purposes because really, who wants to turn on the oven or stove in 100 degree weather when your a/c is already working overtime?? But MY main reason for grilling (almost) everything, is because I really do just love that grilled flavor on EVERYTHING! There are also some other benefits like it’s much quicker than baking, and most of the fat cooks off the meat vs. almost stewing in its own fat like when you bake or roast. Everything else aside, let’s get down to the flavor. I often use very little marinade or flavoring on my meats. I may lightly spray some olive oil and sprinkle some seasoning on my meat, but it’s rare that I soak my meat in a calorie-laden marinade and there's no need to cover it in any sort of breading.

I think the biggest mistake most people make is forgetting that grilling isn’t just for your burgers and hot dogs, grilled veggies are fantastic too! Do you own a grill basket? If not, please head out to your nearest Wal-Mart or Target and pick one up, most retail for $5-$10. The simplest weeknight dinner, ready in 30 minutes or less, is throwing some chicken or pork chops on the grill with a grill basket full of peppers, onions, asparagus, mushrooms, squash, eggplant, even tomatoes taste great on the grill (and I am not a tomato person). Want some corn on the cob? Grill it! Want some baked potatoes or sweet potatoes? Wrap them in foil and grill them! Aside from bacon and eggs, I’m not sure there is anything out there that can’t be grilled!! Even bacon and eggs, if you have a grill like mine with a side burner, can be made outside to keep from heating up your house unnecessarily.

So here’s our plan for the week:
Monday – pork tenderloin in southwestern seasoning with sweet potatoes, peppers, mushrooms & onions
Tuesday – turkey burgers, green beans and mac n chz
Wednesday – chicken in mango chipotle seasoning with squash, zucchini & asparagus
Thursday – bacon wrapped filet with Yukon gold potatoes, broccoli & cauliflower
Friday – make-your-own pizza night … yes, pizzas on the grill!!!

One thing to note is that it’s perfectly acceptable, easier and more flavorful to rub your meat down with the seasoning the night before you get to grilling and leave it covered in plastic in the fridge overnight. Another thing to note is that Dan is not allowed near my grill. He is the one that lights it (because I hate that fwoom! sound when the propane catches), but once it’s preheated and ready (yes, you should always preheat your grill, takes less time than the oven but equally as important), he is to back away from the grill and let the master (ME!) take over. He is also allowed to place foil-wrapped potatoes and corn on the grill, because you can do that while it’s still preheating, but that’s pretty much the extent to which he is allowed to grill. Sooooooo our plan is for Dan to light the grill when I get home from the gym, it’ll preheat while I shower, then I will grill our dinner. Remember, grilling is way quicker than baking/roasting so unless it’s a thick piece of meat, dinners will be ready in about 15-30min tops!

Happy Birthday Honey!!

Tuesday is Dan’s birthday and I have a very special day/night planned. It’s tradition that we take off work for each other’s bdays and spend the day together and this year is no different. I plan to get up early to take the boys for a run so Dan can sleep in for probably the second time ever; he normally pulls morning duty with the dogs since I am not a morning person whatsoever. After the boys are nice and worn out, I’ll let them jump in bed and snuggle Dan while I make breakfast. While it may not seem like a big deal to get up and make breakfast for most people, it’s a huge deal in our household. I have a tendency to sleep until noon when I don’t have to go to work AND Dan’s pretty self-sufficient in the mornings; on a normal no-work day, he’s up, showered, had breakfast, played with the dogs and is working on something or other long before I even roll out of bed. On a normal weekend, by the time I get up and make breakfast, it’s Dan’s lunchtime.

For his special day, I’m going to make his favorite breakfast treats: apple-pecan pancakes with sliced banana, real scrambled eggs (not eggbeaters/eggwhite combo) and real bacon (not turkey, ps this is twice in the same week, he will be overjoyed!) with an asiago bagel from Einstein on the side for his guilty pleasure. Not sure if I’ve ever mentioned this before, but Dan has a sandwich obsession, he can (and will) turn any meal into a sandwich. This happens most at breakfast; he casually piles everything from his plate onto his toast and forgoes his silverware to eat his sandwich with his hands. I swear he doesn’t even know he does it anymore. Side note: I once saw him sandwich a huge hunk of lasagna between two enormo pieces of garlic bread … he’s obsessed!!

I had planned for us to picnic in the park for lunch with the dogs but now the weather forecast is iffy so I’m not sure if we’ll still be able to do that. Dan’s idea of a perfect day is a mix of lounging and playing with the dogs; therefore, I thought it’d be great to take a picnic (pick-a-nick) basket over to Lake Grapevine for a fun afternoon with the pups so we could play fetch in the lake. There is no funnier sight to see than my Gus’ head barely bobbing above the water while he swims hurriedly back to shore with a ball in his mouth while Fredo splashes around crazily trying to steal the ball back before they reach us. Fredo always reaches the ball first but Gus usually steals it from him and Fredo won’t push Gus under water so he rarely is able to steal it back, a wrestling match in the muddy shore occurs shortly thereafter. Note to self: pack blankets to cover the inside of the car for the drive home. So that is what I hope to do Tuesday afternoon, weather permitting.

For Dan’s special birthday dinner, I made reservations at his favorite place for a 4 course wine dinner!! So that’s 4 courses of his favorite foods with 4 wine pairings, can’t wait! Shhhh, he doesn’t know yet, I offered to tell him but he wanted to be surprised. Then to close out Dan’s special day, I’ll let him pick what movie to watch and we’ll cuddle up under the blankets with a huge tub of popcorn, watch whatever terrible movie he’s sure to pick out, and call it a night.

The rest of our week is going to be a bit hectic, and aside from Monday night, our regular plans are totally shot. Wednesday evening, I have plans to go out for a friend’s birthday and Thursday evening I have a company event. In order to try to stay on plan, I’ll be packing my gym bag and shower things with the hope of making it to the gym for at least a short workout before both events. I’ve also already fully cooked both nights’ dinners and will be packing them in my lunch bag so that I can eat before I go out and (hopefully) don’t indulge on something fatty and non-points friendly. The upside is I’ve really planned ahead of time to try to stay on track; the downside is the dinners for both nights are pretty boring and repeats of recent meals. After over-indulging all weekend long for Dan’s bday weekend, I really do need to stay on track but we’ll see what happens. Soooooooo, wish me luck!

This week’s meal plan:
Monday – Indian-spiced grilled chicken with asparagus and red peppers
Tuesday – 4 course wine dinner!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday – turkey tacos with black beans
Thursday – meatloaf with roasted veggies and oven fries
Friday – grilled pork chops with broccoli and carrots

Apple-Pecan Pancakes
Makes 6 large pancakes / 1 pancake = 5 points (normally I’d laugh at something where 1 serving is 1 pancake but these really are filling enough that I only want one)
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup regular flour
1/6 cup cornmeal
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg (you could also add ginger but I don’t because Dan’s not such a fan of ginger)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup non-fat plain greek yogurt
2 eggs
1 tbsp safflower oil (or canola)
1 large apple, cored, peeled and chopped into itty bitty pieces
3/4 cup pecans, chopped into itty bitty pieces (I just buy the bag of already itty bitty pieces)

- whisk the eggs, yogurt and oil together
- mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl
- slowly add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture, whisking slowly until fully blended
- fold in apples and pecans and stir well
- drop by ladleful onto hot, greased skillet
- enjoy!!

Allergy season is upon us!

Let me start by saying I am not an expert or a doctor so please don’t fault me if you do not agree. I must share that I have been virtually allergy-free for a few years now and I 100% credit my daily teaspoon of local, raw, unfiltered honey. Honey has been touted as an allergy vaccine of sorts for a very long time, long story short: bees pick up the pollen and turn it into honey which you consume, thereby building up your natural immunity to the pollens used by the bees. By eating local honey, you are ensuring that you’re building up your immunity to your local pollens. Honey you buy in a regular grocery store is pasteurized, the honey is boiled and filtered to make it clear and to give it a long shelf life. The boiling kills all those fabulous antibodies that you want to consume to build up your immunity though.

There are reports and studies on both sides of this statement so please research further if you are so inclined; I read both sides and figured “eh, why not give it a try?” and here we are. I started eating honey as an allergy vaccine after my first spring in Bedford. My allergies were so bad that I was missing work to stay home, in bed, in complete and total darkness and silence with a tissue shoved up my nose hoping that the Benadryl and Excedrin would eventually kick in or just knock me out. I was a lifelong allergy sufferer and had tried prescriptions, herbs, various OTC meds, even chiropractics and acupuncture but nothing really worked. I figured honey couldn’t make anything worse, so why not just give it a try.

Now, after a few years of taking 1tsp of local, raw, unfiltered honey daily, I can awaken with a clear head and eyes, completely fine, despite the fact that the pollen counts are through the roof and Dan and most of my coworkers are suffering. Honey doesn’t work like a pill or liquid, it is not an immediate solution, and it takes a year or so to really start experiencing significant results. After a few days, you’ll notice a slight improvement; after a month or so you’ll notice more, but it’s a long commitment. BUT since it’s not a pill, it’s also not a big deal if you miss a day or two (or month) either. That first year, I didn’t notice a huge difference but by the second year, wow! This is my fourth spring and I feel great!! [knocking on wood] I will admit that I’m dragging a bit today, but that could also be because it is a Monday, I am not home, in bed, with a pounding migraine and loss of peripheral vision like how I was for many years.

I still have bad allergy days from time to time, but now it’s only 1 or 2 per allergy season (vs. once/twice a week) and I hope in time those go away completely. Also, I feel terrible that Dan is suffering, but this is another one of those “if he’d just listen to me” situations so I am reminding (torturing) him daily (with a smile) that I’m right, he’s wrong, and he should just eat a tsp of honey and stop being so stubborn (it’s so fun, right Shan??). Side note: Dan doesn’t believe that eating honey will cure his allergies, but he also refuses to admit that he suffers from allergies. Second side note: crushing up a Benadryl tablet or two and serving it to your honey in his sweet tea so that his nose stops running, he stops clearing his throat so loudly that you can’t hear your tv show and (if you’re lucky) he passes out is not “drugging” him, it’s taking care of him when he’s not feeling well and too stubborn to just swallow a goshdarn pill. Last side note, promise: if you stir it into the tea before adding the ice, it dissolves completely and is 100% unnoticeable. (shhhhh, don’t tell Dan)

Ok back to my original story … I like eating a tsp of honey straight out of the jar; however, I know not everyone can handle that much biting sweetness. I also really enjoy stirring it into my morning tea, when I actually have time to make myself a morning tea (although don’t stir it into boiling water, see note above about making sure your honey is raw; I heat my water in the microwave to warm it just enough to make the tea steep but I don’t heat it to anywhere near boiling). Dan, who is normally a sweets freak, surprisingly doesn’t like honey all that much, so I’ve been experimenting with hiding it in different things to get him to eat some. He has unknowingly been consuming raw honey in his salad dressing, sweet tea and sauces for almost a month now and I must say that this allergy season doesn’t seem to be as rough on him as it has been in the past. Today’s pollen count would have made him SO cranky and sleepy this time last year but he got up and went to work without too much complaint this morning and he seemed fine when I checked in on him mid-day, and here it is almost 9pm and he's still going strong. I plan to keep this up through this allergy season and most of the summer, hopefully by fall his allergy suffering will decline at least a little more; wish me luck!!

Honey Mustard Citrus Dressing
Makes about 1 1/3 cups; 1tbsp = 0pts, 2tbsp = 1pt
1/2 cup light orange juice (I buy the Minute Maid one and it’s good)
1/3 cup grapefruit juice
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon local, raw, unfiltered honey
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger

Mix this all together in a blender or whisk vigorously until fully blended; chill at least 1hr before serving and enjoy! You can also add a little orange and lemon zest; garlic works really well in place of ginger but don’t use both or it is nasty. Dan really likes this one over spinach with grape tomatoes and walnuts.

I get my local, raw, unfiltered honey from Father’s Bees in Colleyville; you can find their honey at Bedford, Colleyville and I think Hurst and NRH farmers’ markets. The Cooper St market in Arlington sells raw, unfiltered honey from Waxahachie, which is semi-local but Colleyville is just up the street and the bee farm is only about 7-10min from my house, now THAT’S local!

WW Week 9

I’ve been following WW for 8 weeks and experienced 7 weeks of losses at the weekly weigh-in. At this week’s (week 8’s) weigh-in, I experienced my first gain, and while not significant, was super disappointing. I have to admit that I somewhat expected it, between taking time off from the gym and over-celebrating St. Pat’s, I was pretty sure I hadn’t lost. I had, however, hoped I’d at least maintained. I may be disappointed, but I’m not discouraged, and I’m looking forward to this week as a harder challenge: lose that pound I gained + lose another pound to get myself back on track! To do so, I’m taking myself back to how strict I was in the first few weeks; I’ll be sure to get at least 30-40min of exercise every single day and will be tracking every single sip and taste. I’m also refusing to tap into my activity points. I will definitely slip into my bonus points because I enjoy my weekend wine, but I plan not to use all 49 and those activity points are going to just sit there and remain completely unused. I’m also going back to something that worked well for me last summer when I noticed I felt super tired in the afternoons: instead of one normal lunch portion, I’m going to have two smaller lunch portions, one at 11am and the other around 230pm, with a very light snack of fruit & nuts just before heading to the gym at the end of the work day.

This week’s meal plan – breakfasts will be egg & sausage casserole; morning snacks are fiber one yogurts; early lunches will be ww-recipe corn chowder; late lunches will vary based upon leftovers. Here are the dinners I’ve planned for the week:
Monday – Chicken in a lemon/thyme marinade with grilled veggies (squash, zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes)
Tuesday – Beef stew
Wednesday – Chicken fajitas (peppers, onions, mushrooms, spinach) with black beans
Thursday – Tagliatelle Carbonara (without the alfredo-like sauce, can I still call it Carbonara??) – recipe below
Friday – Turkey burgers and roasted veggies (oven fries, baby carrots, broccoli)
--- made a deal with a coworker that if we both lose our goal at Thursday’s weigh in, we’re being bad for lunch (but still tracking) so I had to go with a super low points-value dinner to be safe ---

As a side note, I do try to get Dan’s input on the weekly meal plans but as usual, his response was “whatever” when I asked what he’d like for dinners this week. His only request was to pack him less citrus for his afternoon fruit because he bit his tongue and apparently the pineapple I gave him this morning really hurt that spot on his tongue so I picked him up a nectarine, gala apple, 2 pears and a red plum at the farmers’ market. OH I also checked out Colleyville farmers’ market this week; I’ve been a Bedford farmers’ market devotee for a long time but was disappointed last weekend when I learned they got their garlic from China!! I am a big believer in eating local produce and that just really didn’t sit well with me. Colleyville’s market is nice, and they have a pretty good selection, but some of their items seemed like they had been out a little too long; many of their red peppers were puckered and tomatoes bruised, which is fine for sauce but not so great for salad. I will be heading over to NRH’s market next week; haven’t been there in awhile since we switched dog parks but they had a fab selection last time I checked.

Tagliatelle Carbonara (without the alfredo-like sauce)
6 servings / 10 pts

1 lb / 16oz whole wheat fettuccine*
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (you can totally use less than this, but this is what I used for the points value since I learned I’m pretty heavy on the pour into a skillet)
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp faux butter (I use smart balance)
5 oz light / low-sodium deli ham (about 6 slices)
1 c frozen peas, thawed
Salt & pepper to taste
Grated parmesan – optional but tasty, adds to points value

- Cook the pasta according to package instructions, drain but reserve 1 cup of the pasta water; return pasta to pot
- Heat olive oil in skillet, add the onion and garlic and cook until onion is translucent and garlic is super fragrant, about 2-3 min
- Add butter to skillet and melt, add ham and peas, cook until peas are heated through, about 3-4min; reduce heat and simmer about 5min longer then add to pasta
- Toss pasta with sauce, add salt & pepper to taste, add enough reserved pasta water to make a light sauce (I usually end up using about half)
- Enjoy!!!

*tagliatelle is just a fancy word for fettuccine, I like using it because Dan can’t say it

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler!

The highlight of this week’s menu is of course the jambalaya I’ll be serving on Tuesday … I have a shellfish allergy so mine strays from the traditional in two ways: 1) no shrimp, and 2) I use turkey sausage. Last week, I made a perfect copycat Cajun Chicken Pasta, one of my FAVORITE dishes from Chili’s (second only to their skillet queso). Eaten at Chili’s, the Cajun Chicken Pasta is an alarming 35pts; however, lightened up and eaten at home, you can have this same dish for only 8pts!

Our menu for the week:
Breakfasts – FiberOne Yoplait yogurts and Bacon & Egg casserole
Lunches – leftovers and soups
& of course, our dinners …
Monday – roast chicken & veggies with wild rice
Tuesday – jambalaya!!!!
Wednesday – chicken enchilada casserole
Thursday – pesto & feta stuffed chicken … we had this not too long ago but Dan so loved it that he asked for me to add it on the plan for this week, it really is just that good!
Friday – balsamic marinated flank steak with hand-cut steak fries and broccoli/cauliflower

Cajun Chicken Pasta
4 servings / 8 pp each
The base for this recipe is Hungry Girlfredo
4 wedges Laughing Cow Light Original Swiss
4 tbsp fat-free sour cream
¼ c reduced-fat grated parmesan
2 chicken breasts
1 tbsp blackened seasoning
4 c whole wheat penne pasta
1 c sliced mushrooms
½ c frozen peas
Olive oil, olive oil spray
Salt & pepper

- Lightly coat the chicken breasts with olive oil spray and season generously with blackened chicken seasoning; press the seasoning into the breasts (both sides) and allow the chicken to rest on the countertop for about 20min
- Spray grill pan with olive oil spray and heat over medium; add the chicken breasts and cook about 7-10min each side or until fully cooked through
- Lightly sauté mushrooms and peas until mushrooms are soft and peas are no longer frozen; keep warm
- While chicken is grilling, cook pasta in lightly salted water; when draining, reserve 1 c of the pasta water
- Return pasta to pot, add cheese wedges, sour cream and parmesan; add reserved pasta water by the ladleful until the sauce becomes creamy; add vegetables and toss to coat; add salt & pepper to taste
- Slice chicken breasts and serve over the pasta; dust entire dish with additional blackened chicken seasoning

Jambalaya
8 servings / 5 pp each
1 pkg turkey sausage – either smoked or hot Italian seasoning
1 lb chicken breast
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
1 small jalapeno pepper
2 celery ribs
1 onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 15oz or 1 28oz canned diced tomatoes
1 can / 2 c fat-free, reduced-sodium chicken broth
3 c cooked enriched brown rice
Cayenne pepper
Cajun seasoning
Salt & pepper
Olive oil

- Cook sausage in grill pan until cooked through, slice into 1” thick pieces (or smaller) and keep warm
- Season chicken with salt & pepper, cook in grill pan until cooked through, cut into large chunks and keep warm
- Dice peppers, celery & onion
- Heat 1tbsp olive oil in large stock pot; add diced veggies and garlic, cook until veggies have softened
- Add diced tomatoes and simmer 10min; add seasonings and cook until fragrant (I use quite a bit of cayenne but start with 1tsp or less if you’re not a spicy person); when using Cajun seasoning, it will fill your house with a sweet smell that is just fabulous, once you start to smell that sweetness, move on to next step
- Add chicken broth, turkey sausage, chicken and add more cayenne pepper, Cajun seasoning, salt & pepper to taste (if needed)
- Allow the dish to simmer over lowest heat setting for at least an hour but preferably 2-3 hours, until the chicken is falling apart when you try to pick up a chunk with your fork
- Cook rice and add to dish just before serving

Enjoy!!!!

Happy Long Weekend err I mean Happy Presidents' Day!

My two best friends, whom I’ve known since grade school, came to town for the long weekend and we had an absolute blast! I was super proud of myself for making good choices even though we were at restaurants where I’d normally have covered my plate with queso. While it was a great time, I’m very glad to have Presidents’ Day off to recover and get my week planned out. There are roughly 4 weeks until St. Patrick’s Day and I’ve promised myself that if I stick to plan and exercise at least three times per week, I get to have all the Guinness and soda bread that I want!! (side note: it’s definitely a good thing that it’s a school night, that will keep me from over-indulging on the Guinness)

This week, I’m making an egg beater & turkey bacon casserole for breakfasts and am working through the lentil, tortilla and black bean soups stacked up in our freezer for my lunches. I was super excited to go to the farmer’s market today and see SO much fresh, locally grown produce to incorporate into this week’s dinners.

This week’s dinner menu:
Monday – make-your-own pizza night!! I’m letting Dan have pepperoni on his but I made a homemade salsa to top mine
Tuesday – chicken breasts stuffed with ricotta/spinach topped with a homemade marinara, sautéed eggplant and mushrooms
Wednesday – oven-fried chicken; we were supposed to have this last week but I hurt my knee, skipped the gym, and let Dan order pizza instead so we’ll be having it this week with sweet potato fries and green beans
Thursday – shepherd’s pie; I was crazy surprised that my regular recipe for this didn’t need much tweaking to get the points value down!
Friday – healthified chicken enchiladas

Stuffed Chicken Breasts
4 servings, 7pp each
- 4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
- 1 pkg frozen, chopped spinach
- 15oz part-skim ricotta cheese
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- salt & pepper
- olive oil

1. Thaw spinach in a colander and squeeze out as much water as possible; pound out the chicken breasts to make them about ¼” to ½” thick
2. Mix ricotta, garlic and spinach in a large bowl; add salt & pepper to taste (I also add some red pepper and onion powder sometimes, when I remember)
3. Lay the chicken breasts out flat, salt & pepper the side facing up then stuff with the spinach/ricotta mix; fold the chicken breast over the filling and hold with toothpicks if necessary
4. Lightly drizzle with olive oil and bake 30-40min at 375, until cooked through

Totally optional but I’ll be adding a spoonful of marinara on top of each of mine with some sautéed mushrooms and eggplant instead of pasta, it increases the dish by about 1 pp. Enjoy!!

Valentine's Week Menu!

We aren’t really big Valentine’s people; it usually comes and goes without much fanfare in our house. For some reason, this year I decided I’d have a bit of fun with it and celebrate a little bigger (and no, not Big Love style a la 2009 when Meg, Shan and I took Dan out for vday dinner together). I didn’t mention to Dan that I was planning anything, which made it all the more fun that he made a similar decision to do things bigger this year too!! For my part, I planned a bunch of sweet treats, romantical date night and a week-long vday themed dinner menu. Dan surprised me with a 2nd fridge for the garage, something I’ve wanted for awhile but just never got around to searching (I hate appliance shopping almost as much as I hate the wireless store). The fridge was my kitchen-gift; the gift for ME was a pile of “W” stuff!! I love monogrammed items but find I rarely come across pre-monogrammed items with V or W so I was super excited; I am going to be SO obnoxious at the office, drinking out of my W mug, writing in my W notepad and using W sticky notes!! Dan also found Prosecco made by Cupcake! Cupcake wine is my current fave, and needless to say the Prosecco was amazeballs. I still don’t know what my “real” surprise is, but I’ll find out tomorrow … I can’t believe he did all this!!!!

Our romantical date night out on Saturday was fab, but not quite ww-friendly. To make up for our over indulgence, I’ve planned a very ww-friendly menu featuring some of our favorite restaurant meals, tweaked slightly of course, all meals are under 10pts total!

Sunday – Pork tenderloin medallions in a mushroom marsala sauce with roasted red potatoes, baby carrots and green beans (pictured above)
Monday – NY strip with a red wine reduction, asparagus and smashed potatoes/cauliflower
Tuesday – chicken breast stuffed with feta and pesto, green beans, broccoli and squash
Wednesday – hot wing turkey burgers (recipe follows) with oven fries and celery slaw
Thursday – oven-fried chicken, sides tbd
Friday – the jersey girls are coming, the jersey girls are coming!!! One if by land and two if by sea so I guess three since they’re flying? The jersey girls are coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hot Wing Turkey Burgers
4 servings, 5 pts each
- 1lb lean ground turkey (93/7), all white breast meat
- ¼ c bleu cheese crumbles (I used gorgonzola)
- ½ tsp Tabasco
- 1 ½ tbsp reduced fat buttermilk
- 3 tbsp bread crumbs

1. Place ground turkey in a large mixing bowl and break it up with your hands; add the rest of the ingredients and mix well
2. Form into 4 patties (at this point, you can wrap in plastic and freeze if you’re making ahead like I did)
3. Broil or grill the burgers until cooked through (internal temperature must be 170-180), enjoy!

Serve by themselves or on a bun, adding a bun will increase points. I’m going to top these with shredded celery, staying with the hot wings theme.

live near dallas? want a cupcake?

If you live in the DFW area and would love some free cupcakes, post a comment here or on the National D'Anthem Facebook page with your guess for how many cupcakes I'm baking this weekend to fill all the Valentine's Day orders I received. The person with the closest guess wins a dozen homemade cupcakes :)

GOOD LUCK!
(contest ends 10pmCT Sunday 2/13)

Sorry out-of-towners, I don't know how to mail the cupcakes without the frosting getting all messy

seriously ... more snow??

Due to unprecedented ice, snow and freezing weather in the DFW metroplex last week, we almost didn’t make it to Portland to visit my family and meet my new niece (#3 on my list). While there, I was also able to cross off #74 as wow, really, my niece Mallory is truly one of the most beautiful sights to behold! It was a fabulous visit and I can’t wait to go back; we had so much fun with the family and Mallory is just such a sweetheart, I miss her already! If only everything had gone as smoothly … what should have been a nice and easy trip, landing us in Portland at 11amPT Saturday morning ended with us not getting there until 6:30pm … thank you SO much DFW airport for being so ill prepared. I can’t say it’s entirely their fault, I mean we haven’t had weather this bad here in the almost 6 years I’ve lived here (the news said it’s the worst in 20yrs), but I’m still going to blame them because Saturday was pure misery!!

I will say that I had fully intended to be good, track points, and not go over my ww allowance even though we were on vacation. HOWEVER, by the third airport stop in ONE day, I gave up and fell off the wagon with heaping plates of chili cheese fries, nachos and quesadillas. I also over indulged during the Super Bowl, noshing on chips and dips, pizza, lil smokies and much much more. I’m not even going to count the wine, or that random mojito drink thing (which was darn tasty). I do wonder though, do I have to figure out the points value of Mallory’s cheeks? Because I sure smooched those nonstop and ate her up!! Seriously, look at that sweet face and those gorgeous cheeks; how could I not? Buuuuut, now that I’m back home, I’m back on track and planning to stay that way! We got home just before dinner Monday night and thankfully, I had a pre-made healthilicious dinner waiting for us in the freezer. After we ate and relaxed a bit, I went right to work and made my egg casserole for the rest of the week’s breakfasts and started prepping dinners. We are a little behind this week and Dan has a little more to do each night, but it’ll all be ok and we WILL stay on track!

While eating regular, normal bacon at Sunday breakfast, we started chatting about our favorite meals. Brett & Heather (my brother & his wife) were telling us how much they love meatloaf and I’ve been craving it ever since. Tonight’s dinner is a healthilicious take on one of our favorite comfort food meals: meatloaf and mashed potatoes.

Turkey Meatloaf
6 servings / 4 pts OR 4 servings / 5 pts
- 1lb ground turkey, all breast meat, at least 97/3
- 1 egg white
- 2tbsp skim milk
- 1/3 cup Italian bread crumbs
- 1tbsp Worcestershire (Wooster!) sauce

Place the turkey in a large mixing bowl, add all ingredients and mix well with your hands; you can use a mixing spoon but I swear it never comes out as well, just dig in there and get your hands dirty!

Form into a football shape and place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 45min at 350; check that the internal temperature has reached at least 170 before slicing into servings.

Roasted Vegetables
4 servings / 4 pts
- 1 cup chopped broccoli
- 6 small red potatoes, washed and quartered
- 10 baby carrots, halved
- 1tbsp olive oil
- 1tsp no-salt Italian seasoning

Place all the veggies into a casserole dish, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with seasoning. Bake 30min at 350 and enjoy!

snow day; day 2

Yesterday was cold and snowy and I craved soup. Today was FREEZING and the dogs and I wanted some yummy, still warm cookies!! For the doggy cookies, I made their favorite peanut butter treats and dipped them in melted carob. You know what’s not cool? Forgetting that you’re working with carob and licking what you *think* is melted chocolate off your finger only to be sorely reminded that it is carob … yuck!!!! The melted chocolate from a fresh-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookie that I licked off my finger later totally made up for it though.

Healthilicious Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes anywhere from 48-60 cookies / 2pp per cookie if you measure out 50
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup Smart Balance 37% Light Spread Margarine
½ cup safflower oil (you can use canola, I just prefer safflower)
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
2 cups whole wheat flour
¾ cup mini chocolate chips

- cream together butter, oil, sugars, vanilla and egg until well blended
- add flour a little at a time until fully incorporated
- stir in chocolate chips
- drop by rounded tablespoon onto baking sheet
- bake 8-10min at 375

Skinny Italian ... indeed it is!

Right before Christmas, the most wonderful surprise appeared in my mail … an autographed copy of Teresa Giudice’s Skinny Italian cookbook from the bestest friend in the whole wide world!! If you don’t recognize Teresa’s name, please google, she’s fabulous and I love her, despite her inability to properly form a sentence. I must say her (not) ghost writer did a fabulous job in translating the book so that it truly TRULY reads as if Teresa wrote it herself (with better sentence structure); so much so that I’d actually believe she wrote it, IF she hadn’t given so much credit to Heather in her acknowledgements (big snaps for giving credit where credit is due). The book is hilarious, I love the little jabs at Danielle and sidebar commentary by Joe, and the recipes are fantastic!

I was a little worried starting WW that I wouldn’t be able to eat much Italian food so I’ve been researching recipes for weeks. Tonight, I’d planned on making pizzas using whole wheat pita as the crust, but since I’m working from home today, I have time for a proper pizza crust … and since it’s a snow day, I want soup! I took my already made pizza dough (courtesy of Teresa) out of the freezer to defrost and whipped open her book to her recipe for minestrone. Before I started anything, I pulled up WW e-tools, entered the recipes and found out that her pizza dough is only 3pp per serving and the minestrone is only 3pp as well! Excited is not a strong enough word to convey my feelings towards tonight’s dinner. I’m going to top my pizza with 2tbsp of pesto, sliced tomatoes and mushrooms and of course, fresh mozzarella. Total pp for tonight’s dinner = 11 (8pp for pizza + 3pp for soup).

While I can’t post her recipes here since I don’t have her permission and am afraid of getting in any sort of trouble, I will tell you that with the proper google search you can find others who weren’t so wary (my pesto sauce is from a jar, but she also has a delicious recipe for that as well). Hope wherever you are, you are warm; happy googling!!!!

stupid stupid cold!!!!!

The weather this weekend was absolutely beautiful, it is almost hard to believe that we might have snow by Tuesday. I hate the cold!!! The only part of cold weather that I don't mind is enjoying soups, stews and other comfort foods. I'd already planned to have baked bbq chicken with oven fries tomorrow night so I'm all set!

Baked bbq chicken is simply that: skinless, boneless chicken breast smothered in bbq sauce and baked. Oven fries are super simple and uber delicious! I like to make mine with red potatoes, cut into wedges/strips and seasoned with garlic and pepper. Once you've cut the potatoes into fries, place them in a mixing bowl and pour about 1tbsp olive oil, 1 clove minced garlic and plenty of fresh ground black pepper; toss to coat. Spread the potatoes out on a baking pan and lightly salt; bake 35-45min until light and cripsy and ENJOY!

Hope you all stay warm!!!

WW Week 1 = success!!

Well, I had my first weigh-in at WW today and it went VERY well!! I was quite surprised to see the number she wrote down; I know I’ve worked hard but wow, yay!! I know most, if not all, was water weight, but whatever, I’m keeping my “win.” That said, I guess it’s time to start planning my 2nd week … even though my WW weeks are Thursday-Wednesday, I still plan Monday through Sunday. Tonight we’ll be celebrating my loss with turkey burgers and healthified mac n chz (with broccoli, cauliflower and carrots mixed in), tomorrow we’re having Swedish meatballs over whole wheat egg noodles with green beans and Saturday is ricotta gnocchi in a brown butter sage sauce over baby spinach.

The Super Bowl really doesn’t mean much in my world; my team’s not playing in it so it might as well be any other day. This year, we’ll be out of town for the Super Bowl visiting my new (perfect) little niece Miss Mallory. Buuuuut since the Super Bowl is here in Dallas (technically Arlington) this year, I’ve decided to do a SB inspired menu. Sunday, Sunday, Sunday will be the start of our (almost) weeklong SB inspired menu: WW version of chili cheese dogs (turkey dogs, turkey chili and reduced fat cheese in wheat rolls). The rest of the week pretty much follows suit, I’ve healthified up some traditional tailgate foods and/or foods I’d normally serve if we were having a Super Bowl watching party:
Monday – BBQ baked chicken fingers with oven fries (mixed red/sweet potato fries)
Tuesday – tomato and basil flatbread pizzas
Wednesday – turkey tacos
Thursday – straying from the theme and serving up a healthified chicken & dumplings with LOTS of veggies added; it’s more like a chicken veggie stew with dumplings on top

Then we’re off to Portland, OR to smooch and love on Miss Mallory and enjoy a nice visit with my brother/sister-in-law!!!! I’m going to tell myself that I will be good and not over indulge on my wee-mini-vaca but well, I won’t be angry with myself if my week 3 weigh-in isn’t as successful because at least I will have had fun. I’m getting a bit ahead of myself, that’s two weeks away … back to tonight; here is my mac n chz recipe, most recently updated to fit my points allowance:

Healthilicious Mac n Chz
8 servings; 6 PP
12 oz uncooked whole grain pasta (macaroni, penne, anything you want)
½ bag of frozen veggie mix
½ cup light sour cream
1 ½ cup fat-free half-and-half
1 tbsp Dijon Mustard
1 garlic clove, minced
Salt & Pepper
1 cup low-fat shredded cheddar cheese
2 tbsp panko (optional)

- Boil water and add pasta and frozen veggies; cook until pasta is done, drain then stir in the sour cream while it’s still hot
- Whisk together the half & half, mustard, garlic and salt & pepper in a small saucepan and bring up to almost simmering over medium heat; reduce to low and add the shredded cheddar while continuing to stir until cheese is melty (note: low-fat cheese doesn’t melt as well so make sure you keep stirring so it doesn’t form a big blob in the middle; also, it’s ok if it doesn’t melt all the way since you’re going to bake it)
- Pour the cheddar sauce over the pasta and mix well; pour into casserole dish
(if cooking ahead and freezing, you would cover and freeze the dish in this state then defrost and follow final direction)
- Top with panko and bake for 30-40min at 350

Enjoy!!

always prepared!

Call me retentive, but I like to have everything planned and at least partially completed well in advance to ensure proper execution and to leave little room for failure. I know that on a weekend day, it is very easy for the day to get away from me and for me to skip the gym so I like to get up early and exercise first thing before I start my day (then subsequently sleep half of it away, but that’s a different story). Enter Dan. It all started this morning, I set the alarm to get up and head over to Grapevine to walk/run 8miles. First, the dogs were against me and wouldn’t let me out of bed; then Dan promised he wouldn’t let me sleep past 10am so that I could still make it to BodyPump at the gym if I’d just turn the tv off and fall back asleep already. Around 11/1130ish, some annoying roofer/salesman came a ringing and stirred the dogs into a barking frenzy which finally awakened me. I swear Dan would’ve let me sleep past noon had that man not rang our bell. I immediately gave up on my morning exercise plan and hope to go this afternoon/evening before dinner.

After the requisite trip to Dunkin Donuts for my coffee, I sat down and planned out our week ensuring we are both within our daily point targets. Side note: I figured out Dan’s points so I don’t starve him as I go through this; he lost almost 30lbs just eating what I was eating over the past few months and I don’t think he can spare another pound. Yes, that was – three effing zero – three times my goal, without trying, while I lost and regained the same 4lbs each month … DISLIKE! Back to my point, I’ve written out my plan for all meals and most snacks for the coming week, cross referenced my list against what I already have in the fridge/freezer and pantry and am about to run to the store to pick up the fresh veggies and other random items.

I’m going to make an egg & bacon casserole for each morning’s breakfasts (add fresh fruit & toast for Dan), lunches will be a mix between leftovers and soups for me (sandwiches, baked chips, fruit and something dessertish for Dan), dinners will be fresh, new and fabulous each night so I don’t get any complaints from the peanut gallery, err um, I mean Dan. One thing I’ve learned is that if I don’t have a good variety of dinners planned and goshforbid Dan has to eat the same thing twice within a 30-day cycle, he will sabotage me with pizza and/or cheeseburgers (or worse, Bueno). We will both have low-fat, low-cal, pro-biotic yogurt for our morning snacks but our afternoon snacks have yet to be nailed down; it’ll depend on what I find at the store that looks good (suggestions welcome!). Dan will also get a serving of dried fruit and nuts each day … seriously, he gets SO many more points than me each day and it is entirely unfair!!

Eggs & Bacon Casserole / Southwestern Style!
8 servings / 4 pointsplus
6 eggs
1 cup Southwestern Egg Beaters
¼ cup skim milk
3 slices whole grain sandwich bread
6 slices turkey bacon, cooked & crumbled
1 cup Mexican cheese blend (or cheddar)
Salt & Pepper (optional)
Olive oil cooking spray

- Spray casserole dish with olive oil cooking spray
- Break bread into bite-sized pieces & layer over bottom of casserole dish
- Top bread with bacon and cheese
- Whisk eggs, egg beaters and skim milk together until well blended and you can’t see any egg white floating around; it might get a little foamy but that’s ok (add salt & pepper if desired)
- Pour egg mix over everything in the casserole dish and bake 40-45min at 350 until browned and the center is set
- Cool completely before portioning out into individual containers to refrigerate or freeze for the week

Enjoy!!

Tonight’s dinner is 11 points plus: Dijon Pork Chops with baked red potatoes and broccoli in a low-fat/low-cal cheese sauce; I’ve never made the pork chops before so I’m going to wait until I test out the recipe before I post it. I’ll only post it if it’s good!

New Year - New Points Plus!

Well, I tried to do it on my own and I give up. Today, I joined Weight Watchers because regardless of how much I exercise and watch what I eat, I’m simply not making enough progress for my liking. The good news is, I’m not doing this alone; the great news is, my company even sponsors it!! Meetings are every Thursday over the lunch hour so I truly have no reason to skip. Even if I want to skip, my coworkers will drag me, kicking and screaming, and force me to weigh-in. This means no binging and just pretending the scale isn’t there, no pretending ‘I forgot,’ and no cheating.

Today was the first day and I’m already starting to realize the difference between doing it on my own and following the WW plan … my workout tonight would normally have earned me 4 glasses of wine so I would’ve had 1 and then maybe something yummy and sweet like a chocolate square or two. Through the WW plan, my workout only earned me 1 Mich Ultra, booooooooooooo. BUT I’m super excited because when I figured out the points for my healthified chicken enchiladas that I’d already prepped for Dan to reheat, I found they were only 6 points (even under the new system)!! I posted my enchilada recipe before, but here it is again … a little bit more healtified:

Healthilicious Chicken & Black Bean Enchiladas:
Makes 8 servings; 6 PointsPlus

2 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped or shredded
2 cups (1 can) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 medium onion, chopped
1tsp olive oil
1 cup fat-free sour cream
2 cups (1 can) fat-free, reduced-sodium chicken broth
4oz (1 can) diced green chiles
1 cup low-fat shredded cheddar
1tsp ground cumin
16 whole wheat, low-carb tortillas

•Sauté onion in olive oil until clear; add chicken, black beans and cumin; sauté about 5-7min then remove from heat and set aside
•In a small sauce pan, whisk together sour cream, broth and green chiles; heat to simmering and reduce heat to low
•Add cheese to cooled chicken mixture and mix
•Heat tortillas just a little bit in the microwave to soften them so they roll up without breaking (about 15 seconds, don’t heat all at once in a big stack, I heat about 4 at a time)
•Spoon chicken mix evenly into the tortillas; roll them up and place in a casserole dish
•Pour sour cream sauce over enchiladas
•Bake for 30-40min at 375 until all nice and bubby!

As I go through this challenge to follow the WW plan, I’m going to try to share PP values and report on my progress; if you don’t get a blog from me, it’s probably because it’s not working.

OH and ps - healthilicious is the word I came up with to descibe my cooking, should I ever get my own show. It's totally fetch!