Sunday, January 27, 2008

Sunday night recipe

Okay, so this is my 3rd post in 24 hours. That's more than I made the last two months of 2007. Please make sure you read the third post down ... my 100th post! The top two are just recipes. This will be for the recipe I made tonight for Sunday Night Family Dinner. The ones that follow in the 2nd post is me catching up for those of you who have wanted to know what I'm cooking.

This was really good. I served it with Spanish rice (from the box; Goya brand) and the Greek tomatoes I made for supper club last night (recipe in the next post). It was a perfect size for us ... 2 big servings with 2 leftover servings for tomorrow's lunch.

Tamale Casserole
Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook, 2006

Makes 4 Servings

4 teaspoons canola oil
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 red onions, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded, deveined, and minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 pound ground skinless turkey breast
1 cup tomato sauce
1 cup frozen corn kernels
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2-1 teaspoon hot Mexican chili powder
2 cups water
2/3 cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal
1/3 cup shredded fat-free Monterey Jack cheese

1. In a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, heat the oil. Saute' the bell pepper, onions, jalapeno, and garlic until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the turkey and cook, breaking apart with a wooden spoon until browned, 5-8 minutes. Stir in the tomato sauce, corn, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, and the chili powder; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, stirring only once or twice, until the sauce thickens slightly, about 15 minutes. Transfer to an 8-inch-square baking dish.

2. Preheat the oven to 350F. In a medium saucepan, bring 1 cup of the water and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt to a boil. In a medium bowl, whisk the cornmeal into the remaining 1 cup water. Slowly pour the moist cornmeal into the boiling water in a thin steady stream, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes back to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and begins to form large bubbles, about 5 minutes. Spread over the turkey so that it is completely covered. Bake 25 minutes, then sprinkle with the cheese and bake until the cheese melts, about 5 minutes longer. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Per serving (1/4 of casserole): 300 calories, 6 g fat, 6 g fiber, POINTS: 6

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Recipes

I just made my 100th post, so don't miss it! It's just below this really long post. Some of you have been asking for my Sunday night recipes. Here's what I have made so far. Let me know if you want me to tell you the other measurements (cholesterol, sodium, etc.)

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Apricot-Ginger Sauce
Cooking Light, May 2001

3/4 cup apricot jelly (can also be peach or apple)
2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 to 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 (1-pound) pork tenderloin, trimmed
cooking spray

Prepare grill.
Place first 7 ingredients in a blender or food processor; process until smooth.

Place pork on grill rack coated with cooking spray. Grill 16 minutes or until center is 160 degrees, turning pork occasionally. Place pork on a platter, and let stand 5 minutes. Serve pork with sauce.

4 servings (4 ounces pork and 1/4 cup sauce)
Calories: 290; Fat: 3.4 g; Protein: 24.2 g; Fiber 0.5 g


Stromboli
Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook, 2006

Makes 4 servings

1 (10 ounce) tube refrigerated pizza dough
1/3 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup thinly sliced artichoke hearts
3 roasted red peppers, sliced into thin strips
1/2 cup thinly sliced turkey salami (I used Canadian bacon)

1. Preheat the oven to 375F; line a baking sheet with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. On a lightly floured surface, turn out the dough; press into an 8 X 12 rectangle. Sprinkle with cheese, leaving a 1-inch border along the edges. Top with the artichoke hears, peppers, and salami. Starting on a short end, roll up the dough jelly-roll style to enclose the filling. Crimp the edges to seal.
3. Place the stromboli, seam-side down, on the baking sheet. I decided to brush the top with olive oil to make it brown and crispy. Bake until golden brown and crusty, 20-25 minutes. Cut into quarters and serve piping hot.

Per serving (1/4 of stromboli): 262 calories, 5 g fat, 5 g fiber POINTS: 5

Italian Sausage with Peppers
also from the WW New Complete Cookbook

Makes 4 servings

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 Bermuda onion, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced (I used regular onion)
1 red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced (I used 3 green peppers since they're cheaper)
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1 green bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1 fennel bulb, trimmed and thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 cup canned diced tomatoes (I used the ones that are garlicky)
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/2 pound cooked hot Italian pork sausage (I used turkey sausage)
2 cups penne
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil. Saute' the onion, bell peppers, and fennel until the vegetables turn golden, 8-10 minutes. Add the garlic and saute' 1-2minutes longer. Stir in the tomatoes, salt, and pepper. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes.
2. Cut the sausage on the diagonal into 1-inch slices. Add to the vegetable mixture; simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until the flavors are blended, about 20 minutes longer. If the sauce becomes too dry, add 1-2 tablespoons of water.
3. Meanwhile, cook the penne according to package directions; drain.
4. Add the basil, parsley, and penne to the sausage mixture; toss to combine.

Per serving (1/4 of sausage-pasta mixture): 438 calories, 20 g fat, 6 g fiber, POINTS: 10

I totally changed the points value of the recipe by using turkey sausage. It ended up being approximately 5 points per serving.

Side dishes:

Greek Tomatoes (made this for Greek night at Supper Club)
Cooking Light, April 1996

3 small plum tomatoes (about 6 ounces), cut in half
vegetable cooking spray
1 tablespoon dry breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese with basil and tomato
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Preheat toaster oven to 350F.

Place tomato halves on toaster oven pan coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over each tomato half, and top with cheese. Sprinkle with oregano and pepper. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes. Serve warm.

Notes: To bake in a conventional oven, place tomato halves on a baking sheet. Bake at 350F for 25 minutes.
Try to buy flat-bottomed tomatoes.
If making multiple recipes, you'll need to play with the cooking time. 20 minutes was no where near enough for 4 recipes together.

Sauteed Artichoke Hearts with Garlic and Lemon
Weight Watchers My Turnaround Program Cookbook, 2006

Hands-On Prep 10 minutes
Cook 5 minutes
Serves 6

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 (14 ounce) cans artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 lemon, cut into 6 wedges

Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the artichokes and crushed red pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until artichokes just start to turn brown, about 4 minutes. Stir in the garlic and salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until the garlic is golden, 2-3 minutes. Serve with the lemon wedges.

Per serving (scant 1/2 cup with 1 lemon wedge): 60 calories, 2 g fat, 0 g fiber, 1 POINT

Sesame Broccoli
WW Turnaround Cookbook

Hands on Prep 10 minutes
Cook 10 minutes
Serves 4

4 cups fresh broccoli florets
3 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons Asian (dark) sesame oil
1 tablespoon grated peeled fresh ginger
1 teaspoon packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon black sesame seeds
1 tablespoon white sesame seeds

1. Put the broccoli in a steamer basket; set in a saucepan over 1 inch of boiling water. Cover tightly and steam until crisp-tender, 4-5 minutes. Transfer the broccoli to a medium bowl.
2. Meanwhile, to make the dressing, whisk together the soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, and brown sugar in a small bowl.
3. Add the dressing to the broccoli; toss to coat. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and serve at once.

Per serving (1 cup): 79 calories; 5 g fat; 3 g fiber; POINTS 1

100th Post!

Welcome to my 100th post! Just 55 weeks later.

Progress so far: I am a week away from one year at Weight Watchers. I am approximately 40 pounds lighter than I was a year ago. A year ago, I wore a size 26. Now, I'm wearing mostly 18s with the occasional 20.

In addition, I have now been dating Max for approximately 9 months. Things are going very well, and I'm still looking forward to seeing where things go from here.

Financially, I'm still poor. I used to work two additional jobs, but I decided to devote my time to my body this year. I stopped my part-time retail job as well as the tutoring I used to do. I've got to figure something out for this year. I used to make an extra $500/month with tutoring and working. I am currently paying out about an additional $200 month for WW, the gym, and my trainer. Alas, I'm still poor ... even poorer than before. It's a good investment, but I'm not sure how long I can keep it up.

So far, 2008 has been pretty good. I'm down almost 5 pounds, and I've kept up my Sunday night family dinners. Some of you have asked about my recipes. I'm going to see if there's a way for me to add them on the sidebar. If I can't, I'll do a long post next with the last few recipes. Beyond that, I'll add them each week.

Have a great week!

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Weigh-in Wednesday

Yeah! Three good weeks in a row. I'm still having a problem getting back into the swing of things mentally, but physically I'm doing most of what I need to do.

I'm down another 1.2 pounds this week, a total of 4.8 so far this year. I'm part of a work contest for weight loss right now. In December, we set our own goals and put $50 into the 'pot.' If we don't reach our goal by February 29, the money from the pot gets split amongst those who did make their goal. Best case scenario: I make my goal, earn the $50 I put in back, and no one else makes their goals (j/k) so I get all of their $50s. Worst case scenario: I don't make my goal and the others get to split my money up. In December (before the holidays, mind you), I set a goal of 12 pounds. After my gain in December, I think I'm down about 3. Yikes! I've got 5 weeks to lose 9 pounds. I am poor. I am determined to at least come out even. 9 pounds is a lot of weight to lose!

Sorry I'm not blogging much yet, especially commenting on your blogs. I'm still not blogging on Max's computer, and I'm there 4 or 5 nights a week. So, I either have to sneak it in at work, or wait until I'm at my own house (usually Sunday, Monday, and Thursday nights).

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Let it Snow!

Second snow this week in Atlanta, Georgia! I don't remember the last time I actually saw real snow. Sometimes we get freezing rain or sleet or ice, but it's been a long time since we had snow. It was beautiful coming down!

I lost .6 of a pound this week. Not as much as I'd like, but I was excited it was a loss!

Off on Monday for Martin Luther King's birthday. Anybody doing anything exciting for the weekend? Not much here. Tomorrow night's 'family dinner' is strombolis from the WW cookbook. I'll let you know how that turns out. I've never made anything like that!

Enjoy your long weekend!

Monday, January 14, 2008

Can't Sleep -- Might as well blog about it

I have always had a hard time sleeping on Sunday nights. It's currently almost 4:30 in the morning, and I'm still up. Yes, my alarm is going off in less than an hour and a half. Sucks.

I had the second installment of Sunday night dinner tonight. I made a weight watchers recipe called Italian Sausage and Peppers. I lowered the points value in the WW cookbook from 10 to 4 per serving by changing the pork sausage out for turkey and the regular pasta to whole wheat. It was really yummy and had Max telling me I could become a professional chef! I also used fennel for the first time. It was easy to prep once I found a how-to site online with pictures showing how to cut it. I didn't use the tops/fronds/leafy stuff, but I saved it. Any idea what I'm supposed to do with it now?

I am cooking more now than I ever have, and most of the time, I love it! I cook dinner for us probably 4 nights a week and nice breakfasts on the weekends. This morning, I took 'used' rotisserie chicken from dinner earlier in the week, put it with some egg whites and pasta sauce, sprinkled in a little low fat mozarella and put a couple of jalapenos in, and wow! It was really yummy!

I'm starting now with just doing the main entree from scratch. I hope a few months from now I'm at the point where I'm cooking the whole meal from scratch. For now, it's store-bought appetizers and desserts and easy vegetable sides that I can stick in the microwave (like tonight's steamed broccoli).

I'm enjoying myself, and that was one of the main goals here. I'd like to have a night set into my schedule for us to have friends over for dinner from time to time. I'm trying to establish Sunday as a low-key time at home. Next week, I think I'm going to make a WW stromboli recipe I found.

Then, Max heads home, and I have a hard time sleeping. It's a nice little pattern.

I haven't been great on exercise this week. I had a baby shower to attend on Thursday after work and missed my workout. Also, Max and I have both been fighting a little bit of a stomach bug, so today, I just didn't feel like doing anything physical. He came home feeling crappy on Friday, and I just felt yucky today. Yesterday, I swam laps for an hour, so I'm glad I got that in.

How's everything going in your world?

P.S. I'm catching up on reading your blogs, but I haven't quite gotten around to responding to everyone yet. I'm working on it!

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Wednesday Weigh-In

I knew I'd had a good week and I was proud of my 3 pound loss this week! I was below my points every day but one, and I logged 19 activity points that I didn't end up using. I even had more than 20 of my flex points left. It feels good to actually write my food down, which I do on eTools.

Tonight, my singing group (7 women) and I had our annual holiday gift exchange and night out. We had dinner and saw the movie Juno. I loved it! Have you seen it yet? It was fun hanging out with our little group without having to actually rehearse!

I hope y'all all had good loss weeks!

Friday, January 4, 2008

I'm back?

Just a quick post to say I'm ready to rejoin the healthy. I'd taken a little while off ... which became three months to the date since my last post.

I'll do an update soon ... with how much I've gained since then as well as what I'm going to do about it.

The short list:
*back at Weight Watchers
*back to counting points
*back to working out more than once a week
*back to blogging (I've missed y'all a lot!)

See you soon!

Kim :)