Day 24: A new topping for pancakes and Points-Friendly Appetizers?!?!

I decided to have pancakes for breakfast this morning,  I made them from Bisquick Heart Smart mix, and added cinnamon to them.  I cooked them with a half teaspoon of butter.  I have found that using a small amount of butter is just as good to me as using a lot.  So, what I've done, is take a stick of butter, and cut it into tablespoons.  Then cut each tablespoon into thirds (teaspoons), then cut those in half.  So, for each tablespoon of butter I end up with six little 'chunks' of butter.  I find it a lot easier to know how much I'm cooking with that way, without having to cut it up each time.

I tried something new this morning to put onto my pancakes.  I put some frozen strawberries into a pan, along with a sliced up banana, a teaspoon of sugar and a little bit of water.  Put the burner on low and covered them.

I checked on them in a little while and they were looking mighty good!  The liquid seemed pretty thin in the pan, so I drained a little of it out and mixed it with a little bit of cornstarch.  I then mixed the cornstarch 'slurry' into the pan and let it come back to a boil in order to thicken it up.

 I stacked my pancakes on the plate with the strawberry banana mix I made.  As you can see, they were quite delicious!!!  The pancakes were 7 points, my luscious fruit mix was 0 points, and the two cups of milk I had were 4 points.  That brings breakfast to a total of 11 points.



Like most, I didn't believe there was such a thing as Points-Friendly Appetizers....until I started looking for ideas.  See, I was invited to a New Year's Eve party on Friday, and was told that it's basically going to be appetizers all day and pizza for dinner.  So, I went on a mission to find points-friendly appetizers that I could bring, and something to bring for dinner, rather than the pizza.  I love pizza, but it's high in points, and lately I get horrible heartburn/reflux when I eat pizza (but not pasta sauce - go figure).  I did some searching online and ended up finding this post about Southwestern Egg Rolls, and this one about baking egg rolls in the oven (rather than frying them), and let my brain mull it over for a while.

What I came up with were baked taco bites.  Seemed simple enough to me...I basically used the recipe for the Southwestern Egg Rolls but used ground beef instead of the chicken.  Then, instead of frying the wonton's, I baked them in the oven.

I took a pound of 85% lean ground beef and cooked it up in a frying pan with two teaspoons of taco seasoning and some onion powder.  Once that was done, I drained it in a colander to get some of the fat out of it and let it cool off.

Then I cooked a cup of frozen corn with a half cup of black beans (drained and rinsed) and two teaspoons of taco seasoning also.  I added a little bit of water to the pan, and cooked them for about 5 minutes or so.  Then I drained them and let them cool off.







Once both the meat and the vegetables were cooled off, I mixed them together in a bowl and added 8oz of finely shredded mexican blend cheese.

 

I then opened the package of wonton wrappers.

Placed one on the counter, and put a generous teaspoon of the filling in the center.

Painted the edges of the wrapper with water.

Folded it up like a triangle.






 

I then wet two of the points and folded them together.








There was A LOT of filling!  I ended up having to use two packages of the wonton wrappers.  I never thought I was going to get through all the filling.   Here's the bowl at about the halfway point!

Here is a quarter of them on the pan waiting to go into the oven:

I finished with the first package of wrappers, and noticed there were recipes in the package.  Imagine my surprise when I saw "Tex Mex Won Tons"!  I, however, think mine sounded better, lol!

You have to keep wonton wrappers covered and not let them dry out.  If you do happen to take the dog outside and forget you have a wonton half finished on the counter, this is about how it ends up looking!






I entered the recipe into the Recipe Builder on eTools, and it came out to 1 point per taco bite.  I am also bringing salsa and sour cream for those that wish to have it.



Besides the taco-bites, I also plan to bring a fruit tray.  I looked online for a fruit dip that might be point-friendly.  I found one, then modified it as I saw fit.

I used one 6oz container of Stonyfield Farms Low Fat French Vanilla yogurt, a quarter cup of Polaner All-Fruit, about a quarter cup of canned crushed pineapple, and some cinnamon.

I mixed it all together and it tasted pretty good.  It looked a little thin, so I added two tablespoons of regular sour cream, and am going to add a 6oz container of Stonyfield Farms Whole Milk Vanilla yogurt.






When I entered the recipe into the Recipe Builder on eTools, the entire bowl of dip is 12 points.  Now, I'm not planning to eat the entire bowl, but can judge how much I eat and how many points it is.


Once I was done cooking I was famished!  I had a chicken thigh (2pts), half cup of mushroom rice (3pts) and two cups of milk (4pts), for a total of 9 points.  I then treated myself to a quarter cup of Breyer's mint choc chip ice cream for 2 points.

I was not hungry later at night, so did not have anything else to eat.  I ended up eating only 31 points today, leaving 5 of my daily points uneaten.  That still leaves me with all of my 49 weekly points for the week. 

Day 23; Good Health Guidelines

I suck at filling them out!  I never remember to fill them out.  I am going to try to get better at it, but I just don't know if I will.  I know I meet the milk requirements, and I'm pretty sure I make the fruit/vegetable and water one.  The oil.......that might be a little bit tough to get those in.

Today started out with scrambled eggs (4pts), two breakfast sausages (3pts) and two cups of milk (4pts), for a total of 11 points for breakfast.

After breakfast, I got ready and headed out to visit with some friends for the day.

We had spaghetti, sauce and meatballs for dinner.  Oh - and garlic bread.  I think I had about one serving of spaghetti (5pts), two meatballs (4pts) and a small slice of garlic bread (6pts).  I also had a snack of some lean ham this afternoon (3pts).  That all came to 18 points for dinner.

I came home, and was hungry a little bit later, so I made myself a packet of oatmeal (3pts) with some fresh frozen fruit, and two cups of milk (4pts).  Snack totaled 7 points.


So, I ended the day having eaten all 36 of my points, and using none of my weekly points.  I still have 49 points remaining for the week.

On Friday, New Year's Eve, I am heading out to a friend's house.  I have found out that we are mostly having appetizers to eat, and pizza.  I have found something lately when I eat pizza.  I get the worst heartburn/aid reflux after eating it.  It's awful!!!  I may have to bring myself some food to eat for dinner at her house, since it doesn't seem like eating pizza is going to be a good idea. 

I am making a few of the appetizers, which is nice, because I'll know what the points are already!

I am also heading to another friend's house on Sunday to celebrate Christmas with her family.  I know what we're having for dinner there, so that will make it a little easier to plan :)

Week 3: Weigh-In Day

Before I left for my meeting I made myself two packets of oatmeal (6pts) and added some frozen fruit to it, so that I could have something to eat during the meeting.  I also brought two cups of milk (4pts).  Breakfast was 10 points, and was very satisfying.

After the meeting, I headed out to hit the craft stores for After-Christmas deals.  Busted out at them, but found a ton at Walmart!  Afterwards I headed to the grocery store to pick up some food.  While there I bought some steaks, frozen veg and rice mix for dinner.  I had five ounces of eye of the round (6pts), a half cup serving of Knorr Mushroom Rice Sides (3pts), a cup of Green Giant broccoli and cheese (2pts) and two cups of milk (4pts) for a total of 15 points.

Later, I had some microwave popcorn for a snack (3pts).  Dinner was some leftover spaghetti (2pts) and five ounces of lean ham (4pts) for a total of 6 points.  I also had a quarter cup of ice cream after dinner (2pts).

I ended up eating exactly 36 points today, so didn't use any of my weekly points.




Oh.............and I LOST 3.4 POUNDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I was absolutely floored when the receptionist told me!!!!   Wooooo - GOOOO MEEEE!!!!!   That's a total of 11.2 pounds in 3 weeks!

Day 21: The "B" Word

What "B" word?  Blizzard.  A good one.  The first we've had up here in New England this season.  Dropped about 18 inches between Sunday morning and Monday night.  Most of it was late Sunday and into Monday morning.

The only benefit to snow is that I earned activity points for shoveling it.  Wet, heavy snow is no fun to shovel!

I started out the day with a cut up apple in a bowl of Multi-Grain Cheerios (two servings, 5pts), and two cups of milk (4pts), for a total breakfast of 9 points.

Then I went out to shovel the snow.  Spent just over an hour out there, but got it all done.

Had a serving of the leftover barbecue beef noodles (8pts) from the other day, two cups of milk (4pts) and one of the cake truffles that I made (1pt), for a total of 13 points for lunch.

Went to my brother's for dinner.  We had a lot of fun making pizzas.  I had two slices (9pts) and some home made french fries (5pts) for a total of 14 points.  He does not have skim milk, so I had water to drink with dinner.

I was hungry later at night, so I made up two packets of oatmeal (6pts), put some frozen fruit in them, and had two cups of milk (4pts).  My snack was 10 points.

So, I ended up eating 46 points today, using 10 of my weekly points, and still had 8 weekly points leftover.

Day 20: A taste sometimes really is enough!

So, yesterday was a lazy kind of day.  Couldn't go out and hit the after-Christmas sales cause we were snowed in with a blizzard outside.  Amazingly enough, I didn't eat the entire house out of boredom.  This is partly due to me staying out of the kitchen unless it was time for a meal.

I started the day with a breakfast of two eggs (Eggland's Best, 3 pts), two breakfast sausages (3pts), a teaspoon of butter (1pt) and two cups of milk (4pts) for a total of 14 points for breakfast.  It was a very satisfying and filling breakfast.

My next meal is probably dinner.  Breakfast was at 11:30, and this meal was at 4:30.  I tried cooking up something I made about a week or so ago.  I took a pound and a half of hamburg and cooked it up in the frying pan, added some chopped onion, pre-shredded carrots, barbecue sauce (a mix of a few different ones) and finally some frozen corn.  I used the Recipe Builder on the eTools website, and put in the number of servings as 34, since that's how many ounces I ended up with once it was all cooked.  For dinner I had a 5.5 ounce serving (8pts), a half serving of egg noodles (3pts), two cups of milk (4pts) and a slice of Arnold Oat Nut Bread (3pts) for a total of 14 points for dinner.

I decided I wanted a little dessert after dinner, so took out my Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream. I put my dish on the scale, and scooped out what looked like a quarter cup of ice cream.  Put it in the dish and it was more, so I decided I would have a half cup of ice cream, and scooped out enough to make a half cup (4pts).  Once I was done eating it, I realized that I really only enjoyed the first half of it....and that a quarter cup would have been plenty to satisfy me.  In the future, I'm going to try to stick to a quarter cup of ice cream.

I got hunger later on, so I had a snack of oatmeal (3pts) with frozen blueberries and raspberries in it, and two cups of milk (4pts) for a total of 7pts.

So, I ended the day having eaten 39 points, using 3 more of my weekly points.  This leaves me with 18 weekly points for Monday.

~Chelle

Day 19: Christmas Day

So, the big day has arrived....Christmas Day!   Complete with all the goodies that go with it.  I have been trying to save my weekly points for this weekend.  I know there are a lot of high-point value foods around at Christmastime, and I love them, so planned ahead so that I could enjoy them without overdoing it on them. 

I decided it was a good idea to start with having breakfast, so that I wouldn't be starving and tempted to eat all the appetizer-type food that is usually out when we arrive where we are going.  I decided to indulge a little bit on Christmas.  I had a portuguese muffin (5pts) grilled in a pan on the stove (in one tsp butter, 1pt), two cups of milk (4pts) and a banana....a total of 9 points.

After breakfast, we headed off to my brother's house to exchange gifts with him, then head over to some friends of the family for dinner.  We arrived, and of course, there were all kinds of appetizers: taco dip, tortilla chips, cranberry bread, and a few others I don't remember.  Normally I would have dug right in, but wanted to save my appetite and points for dinner.  Instead of hanging around the kitchen to help with dinner, a bunch of us decided to go play a new game one of the kids got: Scene-It Nickelodeon version.  Each adult paired up with a kid, so it kind of made it fair, lol.  By the time we were done playing, dinner was on the table!

So what did the dinner consist of?  LOTS of food!  I had some salad (0pts) and about three tablespoons of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing (6pts).  I absolutely LOVE Hidden Valley Ranch, but don't eat it a lot because it's high in calories, etc..., but decided it was Christmas and I was going to have some foods I don't eat all the time.  I also had approximately three ounces of prime rib (all visible fat trimmed, 5 pts), about a cup of mashed potatoes (6pts), some green beans, and about two ounce of ham (2pts).  So, dinner wasn't so bad at 19 points.

Dessert, on the other hand....there were tons of dessert!!!  Blueberry pie, cherry pie, squash pie, pumpkin pie, coconut custard pie, brownies, cupcakes, cookies, and lemon squares.  I did not eat some of everything, lol.  I had some of what I really liked, and that I don't get to eat very often.  I had made the cupcakes, so I knew how many points those were (16 each!!!).  I used melted white chocolate in them, and the frosting, so that contributed to the high points, lol.  I split a cupcake with someone (8pts) because I couldn't stomach the thought of eating 16 points for one dessert!  The eight points were well worth it though, that cupcake was heaven!  I also had one serving of blueberry pie (one eighth of the pie, 5pts), a small brownie (2pts) and a peanut butter kiss cookie (3pts).  So, desserts totaled 18 points....and at least they were less points that the real food I ate!  lol.    Dessert was a few hours after dinner, so the food from dinner had a chance to settle and start digesting.

Got home, and later last night I was hungry for real food.  I thought about what would I like that would fill me up and keep me from being hungry later.  Oatmeal!!  I love oatmeal, so decided to have two packets of oatmeal (6pts) with some frozen fruit in it, and two cups of milk to drink (4pts), for a total of 10 points.  I love putting the frozen fruit (unthawed in the microwave first) in the oatmeal, it gives it such a nice taste! 

So, how did I do?  Not bad as far as I'm concerned.  Going into Christmas Day, I realized it's more important to be conscious of what I'm eating, than to get the exact number of points correct.  I did do my best as estimating portions and such, and feel I did pretty good.

I ended up eating a total of 56 points (yes, 56!), using 20 of my weekly points.  That leaves me with 21 weekly points for Sunday through Monday.  I do not expect to use them all, but we'll see what happens.

I was supposed to go to a friend's house today to exchange gifts, etc.... but a snowstorm has put a damper on that.  We may get together tomorrow if the snowstorm is a flop though.

Day 18: Christmas Eve

Things have been a little crazy around here with Christmas and everything, so I didn't get a chance to blog the last few days.  I did, however, track everything I ate :)

Christmas Eve was a busy day around here.  I had lots of Christmas baskets to put together to give out, and wasn't nearly finished with packaging up the goodies that were going in them.

I had one egg (2pts), two sausage links (3pts) and two cups of milk (2pts) for a breakfast of 9 points, then got busy with the baskets.

For lunch I had some left over tortellini and sauce (9pts) and two cups of milk (4pts) for a total of 13 points for lunch.

Surprisingly, I got all my baskets packed up and everything done by 6:30!  That's unheard of for me.  It's usually midnight or later.  I also made two different kinds of cupcakes, icing for both, and frosted both.  For dinner I had two Van De Kamp's Crispy Fish Fillets (one serving, 7pts), a baked potato (2pts), green beans with slivered almonds (2pts for the almonds) and two cups of milk (4pts), for a total of 15 points for dinner.

I ate 37 points on Christmas Eve, using 1 of my weekly points, leaving me with 41 of my weekly points left going into Christmas Day.  I have been trying not to use many weekly points each day, and saving them for Christmas Day and the day afterwards.  I am supposed to be getting together with friends on Sunday also.