Everything is better as a panini

A couple of days ago I got a panini maker as a free gift from a program through my work. Why does everything taste better as a panini? I think I am addicted and it's only been a few days. If you pay attention what you are putting in there you can pull off a panini for a measly 4 points. Last night I had a rye bread(1 pt a piece), tomatoes marinated in a smidgen of balsamic vinegar (0 points), a slice of mozzarella cheese(2 points) and some basil. Count it up....4 points total. So I had two! YUMMMMM! And I still stayed well within my points budgeted for the day. So well in fact I wanted to try a new recipe I found for lower fat pumpkin pie. I found the recipe on Snackgirl.com. It's a fabulous website and if you are looking for some creative, tasty alternatives you should check it out. Ok back to important stuff...the lower fat pumpkin pie. Well technically I guess you can't call it pie, it has no crust. It's basically for people who love the middle of pumpkin pie and don't care about the crust. That would be me! According to the website a regular piece of pumpkin pie packs around 320 calories per slice! I know, I know I was shocked too! This version still gives you that pumpkin pie feel but only for around 180 calories per serving. AWESOME! Here's the recipe if you don't have time to check out her site:

2 cups of pureed pumpkin
1 8 oz package of Neufchatel cheese (it's just like cream cheese with 1/3 less fat) you will find it right in the same section where the cream cheese is.
1/4 cup of sugar (start with that and add more to your desired sweetness) 1/4 cup was good for me
1 and 1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring Neufchatel cheese to room temp either by leaving it out on the counter or unwrap and microwave for 30 seconds. Use a mixer and blend cheese in a bowl till fluffy. Add pumpkin, sugar and spice and taste. Add more sugar at this point if you desire. Mix in eggs and spoons into ramekins. I used the 7oz size and was able to make 7 servings. Bake for 40 minutes or until the center of the pie is firm.

I tried this last night and it was fantastic. All the taste of pumpkin pie without all of the calories. The only thing I will add the next time is a little dollop of cool whip. It will definitely make an appearance on this years Thanksgiving menu.

A Minor Setback

It was bound to happen at some point in this journey I'm on. Yes, I had a plus at my weigh in this week instead of a minus. Really I was not all that surprised. Last weekend I had a stomach bug so I was probably a little light at weigh in time. Plus that in combination with some Halloween candy and less exercise I mean really what did I expect? It's ok though I am not discouraged. It was a measly 1/2 a pound. Whoopie. I will get back on track this week and reset my focus.Life is hectic, family is good. Work is calling. Eat well!

The journey continues

Well it's been a while, it has been so hectic lately with all the Fall festivities I haven't had a chance to blog. Richard and I have still been keeping up with the WW. We are both doing well. This weekend we both came down with a 24 hour stomach bug, so let's just say it was really enjoyable at our house! Ha! Nothing like a little vomiting and diarrhea to jump start weight loss.Hee Hee. Well Monday was my last weigh in and my total lost is 9.5 lbs. WOOOO HOOO! 3 weeks and 9.5 lbs I'll take it. Halloween candy is my next struggle to face Ughhhhh. Maybe I'll take some to work and pawn it off to patients who have to sit in the waiting room. We have so much of it Darien would never notice. If fact I am sending a bag of chocolate with him to school today because his class is putting together a basket for a silent auction at their fall festival. Hey it's going for a good cause and it gets it out of my house. To me that's a win win situation. This weekend we will be trying a new resturant for our free day. Today is our 9th anniversary so we decided to splurge a little more than normal for our Saturday free meal. I'm excited cause I've heard good things aboout this place. Then we plan on rounding out the evening with a scary movie. It should be fun. Well I've gotta run, work is beckoning me. Till next time, Eat Well! ~~~

Grandma's Pizza

Today we (Richard and myself) treated ourselves to a pizza. We went to this fabulous place in downtown Knoxville called Dazzo's. YUUUUMMMY! Our favorite kind is the grandma's pizza. I'm quite sure we probably consumed our whole days worth of points, weekly flex points, and next weeks flex points but it was well worth it. It's only one meal so don't think I've gone off the deep end. Sometimes you just gotta have something you like and throw caution to the wind. Other than the pizza, I've been doing really well on WW. I exercised 4 out of 5 days last week and when i weighed in  this am the scale said i am down 7lbs total. I am satisfied with that. I didn't gain this weight in 2 weeks, it will take more than that to lose it. Tomorrow we are planning for a motorcycle ride in the afternoon. The weather has been so beautiful and Richard has been itching to get out there.
I forgot to mention we won a cake at our fall festival last night at the kids daycare. Proudly I can say, I did not partake in any and really didn't want to. I love plain white cake with butter cream which is what this cake is. But I've got my focus set and my goal within sight. Take Care all. Eat well!

This will be a quickie

This will be a quickie cause I have about 10 minutes before I have to leave for work. The program is going well. It seems fairly easy to manage. I just have to learn to make better choices, which I've been doing. Yesterday someone at work was trying to be nice or funny I'm not sure which and gave me a small bag of cool ranch doritos. I LOVE LOVE LOVE those. They are my weakness. Some people like chocolate. Not me, cool ranch doritos are my chocolate. But you know what, the progress I've mad in the last 10 days is a great motivator. I didn't even consider eating them, especially after I calculated them for a whopping 6 points! I left them sitting on my desk so I can look at them everyday and be proud of myself that I have power over food, and it does not have power over me. My mom always says (yes, I know I sound like Forrest Gump) eat to live don't live to eat. For many years I've been living to eat. My mindset will not change over night. Years of bad habits take time to break, but I'm working on it. Well that's my 10 minutes, have a great day and eat well!

30 point Thursday

Well earlier this week I posted to my blog I was starting weight watchers to help get rid of some extra pounds. I figured out my daily points allowed and it's 29. When I heard that I thought wow no problem! This week I have had no trouble staying at or below that number, but Thursdays are always a challenge for me because it is my day off. Usually it starts my week end back slide. I made an effort this morning to make this day a little different. Instead of rushing out this morning I took the time to get a cool 7 point breakfast in my belly. My mom and I made a trip to the Tanger Outlets over in Sevierville for a little shopping. I got the cutest new Coach purse from the outlet store and it was a fantastic price too! I got the baby stocked up with some winter clothes from Carter's and then we started to head home. We stopped at one of my favorite little home town restaurants in Townsend called Miss. Lily's cafe. I never miss an opportunity to stop in. They have THE BEST homemade Hello Dolly cookies. Simmer down Beavis...I didn't do anything rash. I calculated my points for what I ate at lunch when I got home. WOW how that 29  points seems so small. It was a 15 point lunch. I had a chicken Waldorf salad sandwich, a few Hawaiian kettle chips and a side of coleslaw. I've been averaging about 10-11 points at lunch. So you figure the math 7 + 15 = 22. That leaves a whopping 7 points for dinner. Ahhhh and then there is Applebees. They actually have WW item on the menu that are pretty tasty. Garlic Heb chicken, steamed potatoes and broccoli, to the tune of 7 ity bity little points! Whoo Hooo, I made it. Ok Ok I did get home and have a sweet craving so I had a Edy's fruit juice bar for 1 point. That still only puts me at 30 points total. I'm ok with that. Hopefully I will see some progress at weigh in next week. If not I will keep going. I'm going to start adding in some exercise next week to speed the process along. Oh BTW, I HATE HATE HATE exercise. Unfortunately it is a necessary EVIL. Well it's late and 5 am comes really early. This is still not easy, but it's definitely worth it.

Vacation is over

Well we arrived safely home from our vacation to Florida last Friday. We had a great time visiting old friends and then we made our way up to Orlando and stayed a couple days at Nick Hotel and visited the Magic Kingdom too. Let's just say when I got home I was not trying to fool myself about how "undiety" I had been on my vacation. But I had hoped the scale would not be so cruel. No such luck, I indulged and then I bulged. I had a great time eating my way through Florida but now that I'm back it's time to get down to business. I've also recruited some people to join me in this struggle. First, my husband has decided to join with me and drop a few L..B...S's as he likes to say. Which I am thrilled about, it is soooo much easier when you do not have to live in a  house divided.  My co-workers have also decided it's time for a change. Last time I lost all my weight I did it with diet, exercise and Alli. I counted every little calorie that went into my skull and every stinkin' minute on that damn treadmill or elliptical machine. It was exhausting in a days time to keep track of all of that! Whew I get tired just thinking about it. This time I am going to try something different that I've never tried before. A friend of mine at work has had fairly decent success with weight watchers and the program as she has explained it to me seems fairly simple. No more of that  exact calorie counting crap!  No more "possibility of loose or oily stools" with Alli. I know, Eww right? Read the label people, it's right there in black and white.  I am going to count points and try to get moving some. I am going to make smart choices and stick to them. If I slip up I will not let it ruin my whole day, I will just get back on track for the next meal. I am excited at the prospects! I am excited to have more energy to be able to enjoy my kids and husband more. I am excited to have more than 4 outfits to wear that "sorta" fit me. More than anything I am excited to get healthy and live a long happy life. My new mantra is.....If Jennifer Hudson can do it, then so can I! LOL Skinny girl is getting feisty again, watch out world when I make up my mind I can be pretty stubborn!