Among the missing!

Pin It I can't believe it's been almost a week since I posted...shame on me!  Not much to report.  Still contemplating the whole doctor's goal vs ww goal thing and am feeling more comfortable with the doctor's goal idea...at least for now.  Making a new recipe tonight - Adzuki Butternut Squash Soup - this is the basis for the recipe, although I reduced the oil and omitted coriander (didn't have any!).  I'll let you know tomorrow how it turns out.  Well, I better go tend to supper.  Sorry for the short post - I am having an issue with my right thumb (swollen, trouble bending it...not sure why) and typing is a bit difficult.  Oh yeah, 5 more sleeps til I leave for England!! Yay!  Pray we have no more hurricanes or volcanic eruptions between now and then (flying through Iceland...).

'night all!

Relief or more anxiety?

Pin It So my new goal weight, according to my doctor, is 11 pounds above the WW goal - so about 11 pounds (give or take) from where I am now.  I'm not sure if I'm happy about this or if it just makes me more anxious.  A friend of mine who has gotten to know me through WW and my blog suggested that she didn't think I would be content until I got to the WW goal weight and a large part of me agrees with her.  Then there's part of me that just wants this battle to be O V E R!  I know, I know, I will battle this all of my life, but as I've said recently, I'm just sooo tired of trying to lose!  So there you have it folks.  Eleven-ish pounds from goal.  I should be elated.  I have not, however, decided if I will give the doctors note to the folks at WW...there is still that part of me that feels like I won't have truly reached goal until I reach the WW goal.  Ok, I'm beating a dead horse now - sorry.  I am going to change my ticker goal on here and will decide soon what to do about my WW official goal weight.  I think I will take until I get back from England to decide...have a good think on things :)

As Porky Pig would say....That's All Folks!

Meatless Monday - the verdict

Pin It So here are my three meals for today:

Breakfast:

Oatmeal with peanut butter, half a banana, a small peach and some fresh raspberries and maple cinnamon coffee...yummm

Lunch:  Omelet with veggies and cheese in half of a WW pita

Supper:  Crockpot Barley and Red Beans (see this morning's post for recipe link), broccoli and green beans

Breakfast and lunch were great.  Supper... hmmm, I didn't HATE it.  But I also didn't love it.  The recipe made 6 servings, but I really think this would be best served as a side dish, in which case you would get 12 servings from the recipe.  Believe it or not, my entire supper (given I only ate half the serving) was TWO points!  A bargain...but, again, I didn't love it.  My plan for the leftovers:  pawn as much as I can off on friends!  Just kidding....sort of.  With some of the leftovers I think I will make my stuffed peppers.  To the mix I will add some leftover steak that I have in the fridge from last night and I will top them with cheese and bake in the oven.  I think this will turn out OK.  It'll still be a low point meal even with the beef :)

So my final verdict for Meatless Monday is....meh, I might do it again, I might not.  I would have to find some REALLY great suppertime meals in order to try it again.  I suspect it was psychological, but I kept thinking about meat all afternoon :)  I missed it! 

So there you have it folks - my take on Meatless Monday.

I will leave you with some photos of food from the past couple of days:

crystal light popsicle

Donut peaches

Skinny Cow minis - 4 points...yum! note the size compared to the blackberry :)

Meatless Monday

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As promised, I am giving Meatless Monday a try.  I figured today was a good day to try it since I am off and have more time to think of meatless meals and prep for same.  So far I have had a meatless breakfast (um...I do every day!) of oatmeal, low fat peanut butter, half a banana, a small donut peach and a small handful of raspberries (and don't forget the coffee...my new favorite flavour is maple cinnamon!!).  For lunch I will make an omelette with cheese (reminder: this is MEATless Monday NOT Vegan Monday, so eggs and cheese are OK) and a couple slices of Ezekial bread.  Supper that is planned for tonight is Slow Cooker Red Beans and Barley (mine has black beans 'cause that's what was in my cupboard) which is a recipe I found on the Weight Watchers site.  A serving of this is about 1 1/3 cups, so should be very filling.  I will have green beans on the side and maybe some sauteed mushrooms and peppers.  So that's it!  One day of meatless meals all planned out.  No mention of my snacks here, but rarely do I chow down on a steak or a chicken leg for my snacks - my meat primarily makes an appearance at lunch (sandwich meat or salad topping) or dinner time. 

I know I said I would make something with TVP, but when trying to find a recipe for it I came across so many negative comments/posts that I could not bring myself to make anything with it.  I chickened (no pun intended) out :(  I think the biggest thing for me is I don't want to waste all the nice produce I have in my fridge on a recipe I'll end up throwing away!  So I think I might gradually introduce TVP into a recipe...maybe 2/3 ground beef + 1/3 TVP in my next "beefy" recipe.

Stay tuned for photos and taste reviews of tonight's meatless supper...I dunno, but I think this new recipe might need some chicken... ;-)

This week's nominees are...

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The nominees for potential recipes for this week are:

1) TVP Stuffed Peppers
2) Adzuki Butternut Squash Soup
3) Bulgur and Mushroom Burgers
4) Chocolate Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

The first three are my effort to go a little more meatless in my diet this week.  The last one is just...well, because I love chocolate!  Oh, sorry for no recipe link for the stuffed peppers - I have no recipe in particular that I'll use, but my thought is to make some sort of spaghetti sauce and to use barley and TVP to thicken it up a bit and to stuff it into orange peppers...it will, of course, be spicy!

So that's it.  I'm off for the next two days so I have NO excuse not to make at least TWO of these recipes - if all goes well, I will make all four!  My goal for the next two weeks before I go away is to not eat out and to not buy my lunch at work once.

OK, I'm off to have steak for supper!  Stay tuned for Meatless Monday tomorrow to see how the winning (in selection only) recipe turns out.  Let me know your meatless favorites too :)

Perhaps it wasn't the scale's fault

Pin It After gaining two weeks in a row, I was disappointed to only lose 0.8 pounds yesterday.  Yes, I know I should not say ONLY...but that's how I feel :)  I have been using a new food scale all week, so I'm guessing that the untimely death of my old WW food scale wasn't the biggest problem.  Now to figure it out.  My leader is perplexed as well and suggested I follow the same plan I followed last week.  I will continue strength training this week (twice as per my promise to Kellie) and will continue my cardio - I really can't bump it up any more - I just don't have time!  I am considering cutting my fruit back to may be only 2 servings per day and seeing if that makes a difference - although I can guarantee you I did not get fat by eating too many apples or bananas!  Just playing around with things a bit I guess...I have it in the back of my mind that Jillian Michaels says there are no real plateaus - if you are plateauing, then something has changed - you've gotten lazy with measuring/weighing food (nope), your exercise has dropped off (nope) or there's a medical issue (dunno...don't think so).  I know she's not the ultimate expert on these things, but she does make a lot of sense... 

Yesterday's WW meeting was about going meatless for a period of time (meal, day, whatever).  Fiona challenged us to try something new this week.  I think I will try textured vegetable protein (TVP) as a hamburger replacement.  I have some peppers I want to stuff, so I think this would be a good time to try it...anyone ever tried TVP?  Do you do a meatless day?  I think this week I will do Meatless Monday.  Stay tuned for tomorrow's post to see how it goes!

Speak to yourself as you would a good friend

Pin It I read this quote (author unknown) yesterday and thought it was very fitting.  A friend of mine and I had just been talking about this very thing.  I had been talking (again) about the possiblity of changing my goal weight (with a doctor's note) and saying that the thing I am struggling with the most I think is actually getting up in front of the WW meeting to accept my lifetime status when I'll be at a weight higher than the WW recommended weight.  I said that if I saw someone else up there at my size claiming lifetime status, I'd question the validity of it.  The truth of the matter is if I saw you or someone else up there claiming lifetime status I would NOT judge them or question the validity of it - if I were up there with a mirror looking back at myself, however, I would totally judge myself.  Why is it that we judge ourselves so much more harshly than we would judge someone else?  Why can't we (me!) just look at all that we have accomplished and say "well done, self!"?  I look at others who have accomplished similar feets and am SO impressed by them and how far they have come, yet I look in the mirror and criticize what I see - my boobs are too saggy, my thighs are flabby, my belly is wobbly, my arms look like wings... *sigh*  Ok, so now I need to go follow my own advice...

Force of habit

Pin It Do you ever find yourself doing things or eating things just out of habit?  Or just because that's the way society says you should to it?  I realized tonight that I always feel like I have to have something carby with my dinner.  Potatoes, sweet potatoes, quinoa, pasta (rarely) or something along those lines.  Tonight I just didn't feel like having the quinoa I had in the fridge, nor did I feel like cooking a potato.  I ended up having a baked chicken breast (leftover...if I'd been making fresh I'd have BBQd since the sun finally decided to make an appearance!) with a whole orange pepper (yum!) and a cup of cucumbers with a couple tablespoons of hummus on the side.  It was so good!  Why do I feel like I need starch?  Is it necessary do you think?  Or just something we always do because we've always done it that way.  You know what they say "if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got"!  So true...change is in the wind :)

An old companion has died

Pin It This companion has been with me through thick and thin (literally...well, almost thin) and has been a constant sidekick for the past nearly two years.  Sadly this companion has recently failed me.  I guess I never questioned it's loyalty - I took it for granted that it was being honest with me over the years.  I guess part of me wanted to believe it was telling the truth...

My Weight Watchers food scale (circa sometime in the last 15 years or so) has begun lying to me.  I discovered it last night as I was weighing out shrimp for supper.  The amount I was weighing seemed to be an awful lot of shrimp compared to what it was saying on the scale.  After doing this for nearly two years (this time), you come to know the look of certain measurements of food (although I never rely on sight - I weigh/measure everything) - this did NOT look right.  I re-weighed it and got a different measurement.  Weighed it again and got yet another one!  How long has this been lying to me???  As you may recall, I've been struggling a lot lately with slow losses and most recently with gains (two weeks in a row).  I am hoping that this lying, cheating scale is partly to blame!  So I will head off to WW tomorrow after work to pick myself up a new scale.  I sure wish this one had died a few months back when I had a coupon for the new WW scale!!!  Grrr  I debated buying one from Canadian Tire, but the price is not that different from the WW one, so I might as well stick with the WW brand...it has (for the most-part) been good to me over the years :)  Even though I suspect that this may be the problem with my gains, I am still planning to follow the "staggering my points" plan this week as suggested by a friend of mine.  If this doesn't work (combined with a new scale), then next week my plan is to try the simply filling technique - if I don't lose my mind by then!

Going in reverse

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Gained again this week.  Another .3 pounds for a total gain of 2.1 pounds in two weeks with no logical explanation.  I am going to look at some options for the upcoming week and will blog about them later once I've sorted everything out.  Something has to be done - there's no way that my body can be content with staying at my current weight - maybe 10 pounds from this weight, but certainly not the current weight.  There must be something I'm missing.  A couple options I am looking at are the Simply Filling technique from WW and also a friend suggested alternating high point days with low point days (low being eating my points target for the day though, not going below).  I think the simply filling option will take some major planning, so I might save that for next week.

Stay tuned.

Perhaps this would be better with chocolate

Pin It I was reading Shauna's blog today over at The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl (if you haven't read her book, you should - it's fantastic!).  Shauna mentioned that her brain had sector reserved for thoughts such as "perhaps this would be better with chocolate."    I loved this!  It also got me thinking.  This week I am "back on sweets" if you will, after two weeks of no sugary treats (on weekdays), but the funny thing is that I haven't craved sweets nearly as much as I did in the past.  Perhaps I've broken the vicious cycle of eat sugar, want sugar.  I hope this continues :)

I've just completed my second strength training workout for the week, as per my promise to Kellie.  My arms are SO sore...but a GOOD sore, not sore like when my shoulder acts up.  No more strength training til next week!!

Supper tonight is a veggie and salmon stir-fry with VH Sweet Chili Thai sauce...yummmmm and no, I don't think this would be better with chocolate...although there are so many things in this world that would be!!

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step...

Pin It A friend of mine mentioned to me today that my weight loss journey has been like a 112 kilometer walk.  I am going to quote directly from her analogy as I could not put it into better words myself:
 
"you've seen lots along the way...peaks...valleys...maybe some plateaus....so if you decide to stop here or even rest here for a bit before you pick up and carry on...or even if you like the view from here and decide to stay... the incredible distance you have come HAS to be a goal in itself. You haven't failed in any way....not society...not yourself. Your determination has been a goal and you've more then achieved it....don't attach that to a #...it's unmeasurable :-)" 

I loved this analogy! What she said was so true and made me put things into perspective.  If you're on a journey around the world and you stop to see the sites along the way, have you failed?  No!  I told her I was going to share this with you and really there is nothing else I can add to her words of wisdom.  Thanks Treena :)

Sometimes I just don't wanna

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I know some people think I'm super disciplined and that this healthy eating and fitness stuff comes easy to me (yes, those of you close to me in "real" life know otherwise!), but in fact it doesn't.  At least not all the time.  Eating-wise I am a creature of habit, so I do find that somewhat easy.  Exercise-wise...um, not so much.  If you saw my post from Saturday then you may recall that  I was having a bit of a struggle this weekend.  First of all, thank you so much to those of you who left comments, both here and on Facebook.  I'm sorry I did not reply individually - frankly I just didn't have it in me.  I do appreciate the advice and words of wisdom from those of you who have been there, those of you who know me well and those of you who just plain understand what I'm going through.

I have been on this journey for nearly two years (started Oct 3, 2009) and probably about 95% of the time my head is "in the game" and I'm keeping my eye on the prize.  Any time I think of giving up I just look at how far I've come.  As I've mentioned before, I am a repeat-offender when it comes to Weight Watchers, but I have never gotten to goal and reached lifetime status.  This is, by no means, the fault of the program or the people at WW - completely my own fault and I own that.  This past week has been the first time since I started that I really felt like I didn't want to continue this journey.  Now don't get all up in arms - the rational side of me knows that I MUST continue, but the little 2 year devil old on my other shoulder is stomping her feet saying "I just don't wanna!!!!"  Sometimes I just want to live like a normal person.  Again, the rational side of me knows that normal people don't eat anything they want anytime they want - I just think I might need a bit of a break.  That is why I am seriously considering taking the advice of WW leader Fiona and my trainer, Kellie and talking to my doctor about adjusting me goal weight.  I've gone so far as making the appointment for the 24th of this month (it's a miracle I got an appointment that soon - I figured this would have to wait for my return from vacation).  I am going to go in there prepared to lay it all out (with charts and graphs, of course) for Dr. Val and to really listen to what she has to say.  Fiona suggested that it could be that my body just won't lose enough to get me down to the WW goal weight.  If Dr. Val agrees, then I will concede and adjust my goal accordingly.  I agree with Fiona that taking this huge step (well, she didn't say huge, I did!) may alleviate some of the pressure I put on myself.  Believe me - I put a serious amount of pressure on myself to see results on the scale.  As I said on Saturday, I can always adjust my Dr Val-imposed goal weight if I find that I'm losing again.  I think I will take time away from losing to concentrate on maintaining and on improving my fitness (this will make Kellie happy!) and really focusing on strengthening and toning my body.  Weight-wise, things just don't seem to be moving - in the past 24 weeks I have lost 13.6 pounds; in the past 12 weeks I have lost 5.8 pounds and in the pas 4 weeks I have lost 1.4 pounds.  I know slow and steady wins the race, but I'm also wondering if my body is trying to tell me something.

So that's it folks - Aug 24 will determine how much further I go - whether that's all the way to the WW goal or somewhere between where I am now and Dr. Val's goal for me.  Either way, my plan is to continue blogging, attending WW meetings, tracking food/exercise, etc.  I am not giving up and throwing in the towel - as I've said, I've come too far for that.  I just need to do something to relieve some pressure from me.

Sprout it out

Pin It Not a very clever title, I know.  So today was my day to give Brussels sprouts a chance.  I cooked two pieces of bacon until crispy and then set it aside.  In about 1 tsp (a bit less likely) of the bacon fat, I tossed the Brussels sprouts (which I'd cut in half lengthwise) and also added 2 Tbsp maple syrup and then roasted in the oven for about 30 minutes.  Here are some pictures:

The end result.  Supper tonight was a melange of cruciferous vegetables and a BBQd chicken breast.  Veggies were broccoli, Brussels sprouts and turnip (the white stuff at the top that looks like potatoes).  I have to admit that I did like the Brussels sprouts!  Not a 10/10, but certainly worthy of an 8.5/10.  I will try them again - a co-worker of mine has another recipe he sent me to try that's a bit more involved - I think I'll try that one next when I have more time.

Any suggestions on a vegetable to try next week?


I also tried a snack idea suggested by my WW leader this morning.  Mix one package of WW smoothie mix with one WW pretzel mini bar and one cup of milk, blend in the Magic Bullet (my idea) and then freeze (her idea).  Total points+ value was 6 points, BUT it counts as TWO servings of dairy (which are worth 4 points+).  It was quite yummy. Here are some pics of the treat:

To adjust or not to adjust...that is the question

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now

Then

Twice in less than 24 hours I've had health/wellness professionals tell me that I might want to consider adjusting my goal weight.  Earlier this week a co-worker of mine was surprised to hear that I was still losing - she thought I had finished (guess it really IS falling off slowly now!).  Yesterday I had a discussion with my personal trainer about it and she said that the BMI (what WW uses to determine healthy weight) is not realistic for everyone.  Today WW-leader-Fiona suggested the same thing and she also suggested I may want to visit my doctor to set a "doctor's goal" weight for WW (something in the 170s maybe).  Fiona thinks that doing this might take some of the pressure off of me and help me maybe relax a bit (yes, I'm a but OCD on this journey).  The only difference from WW's perspective is that I cannot work for WW if I'm at a doctor's goal weight and if I go more than 5 pounds below that doctor's goal weight, I have to set a new goal.  Not being able to work for WW doesn't disappoint me too much, but not getting to what the world deems as a healthy weight does bother me.  I told Fiona today that if I adjust (upward) my goal weight I feel as though somehow I've failed.  I know outwardly (with clothes on) I look "normal" now (with the right gut-suckers on), but in my birthday suit...that's another story.  I can comfortably fit into a size 12 in nearly every store I go in - and sometimes a 9/10 if it's stretchy material.  I'm a size medium top.  I don't think I'd ever be a size small on top and being a 12 on the bottom doesn't upset me too much.  There is so much to think about.  Am I failing if I give up and get a doctor's note?  I kinda feel like the kid who hates gym class so always brings a note from their Mom excusing them from class... Will I feel like a true "lifetime member" of WW?  I think I will phone my doctor's office this week and have a chat with her.  She's great to talk to and she knows me well.  The logical part of me knows that I obsess over this (often way too much) and I completely obsess over the numbers (as you can tell from the plethora of tickers I've had on this blog!).  Maybe setting a goal 10 pounds higher than the WW goal will be good for me.  I'm feeling rather emotional about all this and not sure why - I should be happy that I might be "finished" sooner rather than later shouldn't I?  When I began this journey, my goal I had in mind was actually a couple pounds heavier than what I am now (set for me by the trainer at Nubody's gym).  Maybe I'm PMS'ing. Maybe I do need to take pressure off myself and then concentrate on maintaining and strength training to tone.

Have any of you adjusted your weight with a doctor's note for WW?  How did you feel about it?  Did you keep losing or did you maintain? Happily maintain?  Can you feel disappointment and relief at the same time?

Setting a goal

Pin It My trainer has asked me to commit to strength training only TWICE per week.  I think I've mentioned before that I HATE strength training - detest it.  I don't mind so much when I work out with her, but on my own, it just ain't my thing.  I've tried putting a recurring appointment in my calendar for 3-4 times per week - up pops the reminder, out the door for a walk goes Tanya.  I'd much rather go for a walk.  But, as Kellie so kindly pointed out, strength training is going to be what shapes my body the way I want it to shape up.  Cardio alone will not do the trick (sadly).  So, here I am, setting a new goal.  Twice per week I am to go to the gym and check in by email with Kellie to let her know I've done it.  Think I can do it?  I hope so.  If I ever get my playground workout developed I can count that workout as one of my two.  I have some ideas in my head for this - I just need to work up the nerve to play it out on the playground...

On another note, I FINALLY sat down and pointed out what I actually ate last Saturday at my food-a-palooza.  I was close in estimating I'd used all my 49 points - I had 13 remaining by my best guess.  For the past couple of months I've been eating all 49 each week, so having 13 left over isn't too bad considering my lack of exercise this week.  I did work out today, but my total activity points for the week is only 21, which is seriously lacking.  Next week will be better (and will include two strength workouts!!).

Stay tuned for tomorrow's results!

Weight loss is a bit like gas prices

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I got to thinking about this on the way to work this morning as I looked for the new gas price for the coming week.  Here in Nova Scotia our gas prices are regulated (somewhat) and new prices are set each Friday.  Sometimes it goes up a couple cents per litre, sometimes it goes down - as with weight loss, we always pray that it will stay the same or go down :)  Today gas dropped 1.3 cents per litre - next week it could go up 2.5 cents per litre...we never know.  In some respects, we have about as much control over what we see on the scale as what we see at the pumps - but over time we have so much more control.  We might see small ups and downs on the scale, but if we're doing everything "right", eventually it will all even out unless there is some medical reason for it not to.  If we eat right, exercise, drink our water and limit processed foods, hopefully that will get us to where we want to be - I wish we had that much control over gas prices!! 

Tomorrow is my weigh in day - I only hope my results are as favourable as the results at the pump today.  I'm afraid that I might go in the opposite direction though.  After last Saturday's food-a-palooza I wiped out my 49 points for the week and have been sticking to my 29 points per day, but have not exercised like I normally would.  I guess, like the gas prices, I will just have to wait and see.

Give yourself permission

Pin It Some may disagree with me on this, but that's fine.  I think some weeks you need to give yourself permission to take a few days off from exercise.  I have not worked out since Monday night and I have just decided tonight that I am not going to workout tonight either.  I've been feeling a bit under the weather the past couple of days and my shoulder is killing me, so it's official - I've given myself permission to take time off.  I will workout tomorrow as I have a PT session at the gym, but today, no way.  I feel like crap, and I sit here beating myself up because I'm not at the gym and then it hits me - I'm allowed to stay home!  I have to do laundry anyhow :)  I will do some stretching and such as part of my physio exercises, but that's it.  I may see a negative impact on the scale on Saturday, but I am prepared to live with that.  We can't all be 100% perfect 100% of the time now, can we?

On another note, I couldn't believe it - I forgot my lunch bag (a nice leather Espe one) in the lunch room yesterday with my WW baguettes in it (like 4 left I think).  I didn't worry too much as we're a small enough office that we don't normally have to worry if we leave stuff lying around - it'll be there when we go back.  I went in today dreaming about having one of those yummy baguettes with my giant salad and low and behold, someone had TAKEN my baguettes (out of my zippered lunch bag) and thrown my lunch bag on top of the fridge!!!!  I can't believe it!  I could see if I left them in a grocery bag on the counter - someone might think they're for the taking, but give me a break people - I did not leave my lunch bag on the counter (zipped) so someone could pilfer my buns!  Grrrr....they were not cheap either...  Ok, I'm off to launder my gym clothes so that I can't use the excuse of no clean gym clothes not to work out tomorrow :)

What to do when the power goes out

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photo from: kabachok.blogspot.com

Hopefully I will get this typed and posted before the power goes out again (I think that'll make 4 times).  We are having a wicked thunder and lightening storm right now.  We don't get too many around here, but the weather network is warning that "tornadoes are always possible".  I've NEVER seen a tornado - nor do I want to.  I have supper cooking and need 10 more minutes before it's all done, so I'm praying the power lasts that long, but I'm not too hopeful with the sound of this storm!

So it's 7pm on a Tuesday night - my plan for tonight was to clean and do laundry.  Clearly these will not happen if the power goes out, nor will I be able to catch up on my DVR recordings.  I can play computer til the batter runs out, but this thing is so old that I'll only get about 30 minutes before that happens.  I just finished my last library book last night, so haven't got much to read.  So what to do during a power outage becomes the question.  Here are some thoughts:

Do my physio exercises (I need to be more consistent)
Work on developing my playground workout plan
Write a letter (yes, by hand!)
Squats/lunges
Play games on my BB til it dies
Clean until it's too dark to do - that'll be soon...it's pretty dark with this storm!

So what do you do when the power goes out?

Results of The Great Beet Experiment

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And so began the Great Beet Experiment to see if am still the beet hater I was as a child.

Scrub the beets and add S&P

wrap them up in foil and baked at 325 for 90 mins

Hmm, they still look the same

The beets get naked

Tada!  Notice the odd combo of sushi, broccoli and beets?
The sushi was my "prize" for trying the beets :)

So overall the beets were fine.  Not as detestable as I remember.  I would almost say they were good, but I have to admit that they are not a veggie I would go looking for.  That being said, if they are served to me on a dinner plate in the future, I will probably eat them :)  I think I will count this as a non-scale victory.  What veggie should I try next?  Brussels Sprouts perhaps?  I have a feeling they will get a vote from at least one of my readers... and when you DO comment Miss S., don't forget to give me your recipe that has maple syrup in it!! ;-)

A recipe and a product review!

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It's been a long time since I posted a product review, but I finally have one to tell you about today.  WW-leader-Fiona told us she had found WW mini baguettes at the Atlantic Superstore near her place and that they are only TWO POINTS+!!  I went to our local Superstore last night and FOUND them!  I had one with my chili (recipe to come) last night for supper and I put a bit of Brummel & Brown spread on it (sorry Canadian folks, it's only available in the US - picked up two tubs of B&B spread on my trip down in May) and it was delicious!  They are about the size of a small hot dog bun (not the split ones, the more rounded hot dog buns) and come in multi grain (with poppy seeds on top).  I'm not much of a bread eater, but these tasted like something that a nice restaurant would put in a basket in front of you when you go out to dinner.  They definitely rate a 5/5 in my books.  They are not cheap - I think they were about $3.69 and there are 6 baguettes in the bag - but that's OK, it'll give me a baguette to take to work with my chili or soup lunches each day this week.  I am thinking that I might even make a mini turkey sandwich out of one.  Yumm...

Ok, now for the chili "recipe".  I plugged it into the recipe builder and it came out to 6 points if I got 10 servings out of the pot, which I did.  Here are the basics, but keep in mind that I did not enter the spices - you'll have to doctor this to your own liking.  Spices I used were:  chipotle chili powder, regular chili powder, cumin, garlic (lots), red pepper flakes, more garlic, more chipotle chili powder and just a touch of salt.  My beans, chickpeas, corn and the big can of tomatoes that I used were all Blue Menu items and were VERY low sodium.  The only non-low-sodium cans I used were the mushrooms (which I rinsed...I rinsed it all except the tomatoes) and my smaller tin of tomatoes, which was the spicy red pepper blend.

This might look like a small serving of chili,
but that bowl is really big!!

Beef Chili

1 pound raw lean ground beef

28 oz canned diced tomatoes

1 cup canned diced tomatoes

½  cup celery

1 can of corn

2 cans mushrooms

19 oz cooked chickpeas

1/2 cup red onion

1 medium green pepper

1 small yellow pepper

19 oz canned black beans

½ cup chopped zucchini

Sauté raw veggies (not corn, mushrooms or tomatoes) in a deep pot (I use cooking spray).  Set aside and scramble fry the hamburger.   Add veggies back in, mix in corn, mushrooms, beans, chickpeas and tomatoes and season to taste.  Simmer for about 30 minutes or until flavours blended.  Makes 10 1 1/2 cup (approx) servings.  Enjoy!

	* Reviews expressed on this blog are for informational purposes only.  I am not paid to provide these reviews, I am merely expressing an opinion (good or bad) on a product I have tried.