Cold Day= Soup

Because it's turned cold here in Texas, I'm re-posting some of my soup recipes. So bundle up, turn on a Christmas movie and get to cooking!

Low Fat Chicken Tortilla Soup

2 cans Chicken Broth (or 5 cups homemade)
1 can of water
1/2 cup uncooked brown rice
1 can 12.5oz Chicken (or 1 cup homemade)
1 can corn (I used frozen. Remember all that corn I cooked and froze (here and here)? I still have it, a lot of it! I don't think I'll have to buy corn until the summer when I can get the good deals on fresh corn again.)
1 can Black Beans (I cooked my own.)
1tsp cumin
1/2tsp chili powder
1/2tsp garlic powder
1/2tsp onion powder
salt and pepper
I was just thinking about it and you could also add a can of Rotel (tomatoes and chilies) to it.
Bring the chicken broth and water to a boil. Add the rice and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover until rice is done. Add everything else and boil on med with lid off until the liquid has reduced a bit. This is really yummy!

Broccoli and Potato Soup

2T butter

1 Onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1lb potatoes, cubed

1 bag broccoli (I also used some cauliflower)

3c chicken broth

3c water

1/2 low fat milk

1/2 grated Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper (white if you've got it)

Heat butter in a pot big enough for all your ingredients. Cook onion and garlic until transparent. Add potatoes, broccoli, broth, salt and pepper and water. Cook until vegs are soft. Blend until smooth ( I used my immersion blender). Add milk and cheese. Cook until melted. You could leave out some of the broccoli until after you blended it up, just add it in and cook a bit longer before adding milk and cheese.

Potato and Cheese Soup

3 T butter

1/2 onion chopped

4 med potatoes chopped

2 carrots chopped

3 T flour

salt and pepper

1 T rosemary

4 cups chicken broth

1 cup water

1 cup grated cheese

milk to thin

This one is made a lot like my Scallop Potatoes. Make a roux with the butter and flour and cook for about 2 minutes. Add a bit of the chicken broth and whisk it around until it starts to thicken. Add the potatoes, onions, carrots, rosemary and the rest of the chicken broth. You can use some water if the chicken broth is not enough to cover. Cook until the potatoes are falling apart. Blend with the immersion blender. Add cheese and melt. If it is too thick you can use milk to help thin it out.

Split Pea Soup- Crockpot

1/2 bag Split Peas

1/2 bag Lintels

3T butter

1/2 onion

3 cloves garlic (or 1 tsp powder)

3 carrots diced

2 small pots diced (I used red)

1/2 pound sausage (or ham or bacon)

3 cups chicken broth

1 cup water

salt/ pepper

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp curry powder

Rinse lentils and peas and add to crock pot.
Heat butter in skillet. Add onion and garlic and cook a bit. Then add potatoes, carrots, salt, pepper, oregano and curry powder. You are not really cooking the veggies, just browning them a little. Add to crock pot.

In same skillet cook sausage. You can use left over ham or bacon, just chop it up into little pieces. Add to crock pot.

Add broth and enough water to cover all. I add some more salt because I use homemade broth and I never get that salty enough.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high 4-5 or until lentils and peas are very soft. I used the immersion blender to make it more liquid.

Beware, this soup is not very pretty. It looks a lot like you've already eaten it but it is really tasty!

****When using an immersion blender always make sure to keep it below the liquid level. Splashing of hot liquid hurts!!

Monthly Meal Planning/ Once a Month Shopping- October

Things I learn last Month-

1. Account for ALL ingredients when making Monthly Shopping List. I ran out of canned tomatoes mid month.
2. Plan for "easy" meals i.e. frozen pizza, frozen leftovers from cooking. There were some nights I forgot about dinner until it was time to eat.
3. Plan on one take out night per month. By then end of the month I wanted a hamburger and french fries so bad! Thankfully my Mom came to visit and took us out for one :) Thanks Mom!
4. Divide Monthly Shopping Budget to include weekly $ for fresh produce and yogurt. I ran out of money at the end of the month. Again, thanks Mom for the last week fruit and yogurt! I think this is where a "cash only" system comes in handy. That way you can hide away the money for the next weeks budget. 
5. Keep track of what you are spending while you shop. When you only have $X money to spend you only want to spend $X or less.

I hung my list on the fridge and each morning looked at it and decided what I wanted to cook for the day. I would mark it off when I cooked. I love that I have a list to pick from instead of having to make it up as I go.

After doing my shopping for October I had $13 left from my Budget plus my allotted $ for weekly fresh food. Of course I had forgotten a few things and had to go back the next day but over all a success.

I had 25 days to plan for this month. Once I got to the store I subed pork chops for ham because I found some on sale.

Monthly Meals
1. Hamburgers
2. Frozen Pizza
3. Spaghetti /Garlic Bread
4. Sloppy Joes, Ranch Style Beans CP
5. Pork Roast w/ Root Beer and BBQ Sauce CP
6. BBQ Sandwich CP
7. Stew
8. Chicken Curry
9. Salmon Patties
10. Chicken Velveeta Spaghetti
11. Beans and Fried Potatoes
12. Taco Soup CP
13. Burritos w/leftover Taco Soup, rice
14. Lima Bean Casserole CP
15. Chicken Mexi Casserole w/ beans, rice
16. Lentil Soup Moroccan CP
17. California Tamale Pie CP (As soon as I perfect this dish I'll share it!)
18. Stuffed Bell Peppers, Hummus, Homemade Pita
19. Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas
20. Tator Tot Casserole
21. Chicken Velveeta broccoli and Mac
22. Chicken Stir Fry w. rice
23. Porkchops w/ scallop potatoes
24. Chicken pot pie
25. Beef Fajitas

I want to share with you my Stuffed Bell Pepper Recipe. It all started with the pita bread. And then the Hummus. I'm on a real bread making kick and have explored several different types. I'll share more in another post.

But this is about Stuffed Bell Pepper goodness.

Ingredients

4-6 Bell Peppers

(I like the fat, short ones so they stand up on their own.)

1-2 Cups Cooked Chicken, chopped

1 Onion, chopped

3-4 Garlic cloves, chopped

1 can of Chopped Tomatoes and Chilies (Rotel)

1 cup Cooked Rice

1/2 cup Black Beans w/juice

(I cook my own but you can use canned.)

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

3 T of Greek Seasoning 

I was going for a Greek feel to the meal with the pita and hummus but Eli tells me that they don't use tomatoes or beans in Greek cooking. It's still good.

Directions

Saute onions and garlic in 2 T oil on medium heat until onions are almost transparent. Add Chicken, Salt and Pepper to taste and 2 T of Greek Seasoning. Stir and cook till onions are all the way done or all the oil is absorbed. Add rice and mix. Add Tomatoes/ Chilies, Beans and another T of Greek Seasoning. Stir and cook until heated.

Preheat Oven to 350.

Wash Bells. Cut tops off, about 1 in below top. Remove core and seeds. I heard on a cooking show you should never rinse the inside of the bell because it takes away from the flavor. So just tap out any extra seed. If a few stay in that's really no problem. Rub oil over outside and place "cup" side up in glass dish.

Stuff with Chicken and Rice mixture. Place lids back on and place in oven for 25-30 mins or until outside of bell is starting to turn brown/black and soft.

Serve with homemade pita chips and Hummus!

Monthly Meal Planning/ Once a Month Shopping- September

As I looked back through my old post for the recipe for Chicken Spaghetti I realized I use to write really long, detailed Meal Plan post with great recipes and photos. That was before I had a toddler and an infant!

I've been doing Once a Month Shopping for a few months now. I slacked off during the summer but I'm ready to hit it full force again and will be adding a Monthly Meal Plan to help me stay focused on what we truly need to buy.

I have 25 days to plan for this month. I don't include Fridays because we always have lots of leftovers. I also only plan for the evening meal (except on Sunday when it is Lunch). Eli takes leftovers to work and Ethan and I eat either leftovers or sandwiches and cottege cheese. I buy a ton of frozen veggies and cook them most nights.

Monthly Meals
1. BBQ Pulled Pork (CP)
2. BBQ Chicken (CP)
3. Pork Chops
4. Tuna Casserole
5. Black Eyed Pea Soup (CP)
6. Ck Mexi Casserole
7. HM Tomato Soup w/ Grilled Cheese
8. Pinto Beans w/ fried potatoes
9. Beef Fajitas
10. Spaghetti HM Sauce
11. BBQ Beef on HM Rolls
12. Hot Dogs w/Chili
13. Hamburgers
14. California Tamale Pie
15. Sloppy Joes (CP)
16. Cajun Pulled Pork Roast
17. Lentil Soup
18. CK Enchiladas
19. CK Parmesan (CP)
20. CK Curry (Box mix)
21. CK Pot Pie HM
22. Velveeta CK Spaghetti
23. CK Asparagus Casserole
24. CK Fried Rice
25. Cowboy Beans

Key
CK- Chicken
CP- Crock pot

Most of my recipes come from A Year of Slow Cooking and her first book. I also have a few other Crock pot cook books. If something on the list looks interesting just leave it in the comments and I'll post it!

I went to Target on the 1st and they had their hamburger meat 1.99/lb. I also found 3 pork roast (2lbs each) for 2.86 each! I need to find some bone in chicken to make shredded chicken and chicken broth. The only canned items I buy are canned tomatoes. I make my own chicken broth and cream of chicken and always use dried beans.

I like this method of Monthly Meal Planning instead of Weekly because I can  pick anything off my list to make. I'm not "scheduled" to make a particular meal.

After completing my shopping (it did take me two trips) I have one thing I want to work on for next month. When I plan my meals I will start with the items I already have on hand. This time around I have meat in the freezer from last month that I have no plans on cooking this month. I would spend less on meat if I was using what I had on hand before buying something different.

Here are two blog post that helped me along:

Raising Arrows- Master Grocery List
We Scream Buttercream- How I Meal Plan

Happy Meal Planing!!

Weekly Weigh In

Starting Weight: 185.6
5% Goal by April 1: 9lbs

Current Weight: 176.8

+/- for Week: -1

+/- Total: -9

Hit my 5% Goal!!!!!

New 10% Goal of 10lbs by May 5th

This week was another tough one. I didn't write down my points until the last few days. I weighed on Tuesday and had gained 2lbs so I started tracking and ended up losing 1lb.  I'm pretty sure it's the breastmilk. I always weigh after I nurse Lily.

I ate a lot of Ice Cream. And this morning I opened up Blogger and saw this:

Oh, Pioneer Woman, how you make my mouth water.

These are Chicken Tacos. Fried. With the Chicken INSIDE. I would add guacamole. 

Now onto my new goal of 10%. Is it 10% from your starting weight or from your current weight? I'm going to stick with 10lbs as a goal by May 5th, 5 weeks. I guess I won't be eating or cooking any of these tacos any time soon.

Link up with Brandy. You'll love her and she gives away cool stuff-

Bloggy Break- Soup Recipes

I'm not sure what happened or why I took such a long Bloggy Break but I'm ready to up date you on all the "Happily Homemaking" that's been going on!

Ethan started "School"!! He's going to a Mother's day out program twice a week for 4 hours a day. At first he didn't really know what was going on but now he is getting the idea. The last few times I've dropped him off he has cried as I left and then yesterday he took off running to the playground without 1 tear! The teachers say he does great during the day and he is starting to participate and play with his classmates. He eats all of his lunch everyday and comes home with art work (finger painting, stickers, etc.).

Eli got his last two remaining wisdom teeth out. Because they were already in, I thought he would be recovered with in a day or two but it took him a bit longer. I had only planned to make one type of soup, my potato and broccoli soup, so I had to scramble and make up a few more.

Broccoli and Potato Soup

2T butter

1 Onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1lb potatoes, cubed

1 bag broccoli (I also used some cauliflower)

3c chicken broth

3c water

1/2 low fat milk

1/2 grated Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper (white if you've got it)

Heat butter in a pot big enough for all your ingredients. Cook onion and garlic until transparent. Add potatoes, broccoli, broth, salt and pepper and water. Cook until vegs are soft. Blend until smooth ( I used my immersion blender). Add milk and cheese. Cook until melted. You could leave out some of the broccoli until after you blended it up, just add it in and cook a bit longer before adding milk and cheese.

Potato and Cheese Soup

3 T butter

1/2 onion chopped

4 med potatoes chopped

2 carrots chopped

3 T flour

salt and pepper

1 T rosemary

4 cups chicken broth

1 cup water

1 cup grated cheese

milk to thin

This one is made a lot like my Scallop Potatoes. Make a roux with the butter and flour and cook for about 2 minutes. Add a bit of the chicken broth and whisk it around until it starts to thicken. Add the potatoes, onions, carrots, rosemary and the rest of the chicken broth. You can use some water if the chicken broth is not enough to cover. Cook until the potatoes are falling apart. Blend with the immersion blender. Add cheese and melt. If it is too thick you can use milk to help thin it out.

Split Pea Soup- Crockpot

1/2 bag Split Peas

1/2 bag Lintels

3T butter

1/2 onion

3 cloves garlic (or 1 tsp powder)

3 carrots diced

2 small pots diced (I used red)

1/2 pound sausage (or ham or bacon)

3 cups chicken broth

1 cup water

salt/ pepper

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp curry powder

Rinse lentils and peas and add to crock pot.
Heat butter in skillet. Add onion and garlic and cook a bit. Then add potatoes, carrots, salt, pepper, oregano and curry powder. You are not really cooking the veggies, just browning them a little. Add to crock pot.

In same skillet cook sausage. You can use left over ham or bacon, just chop it up into little pieces. Add to crock pot.

Add broth and enough water to cover all. I add some more salt because I use homemade broth and I never get that salty enough.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high 4-5 or until lentils and peas are very soft. I used the immersion blender to make it more liquid.

Beware, this soup is not very pretty. It looks a lot like you've already eaten it but it is really tasty!

****When using an immersion blender always make sure to keep it below the liquid level. Splashing of hot liquid hurts!!

Scallop Potatoes

It's been awhile since I posted a recipe. Some recipes I make up as I go along, some I get off the Internet and some, like this one, I take 2 or 3 recipes and mix them all together.

Scallop Potatoes

Ingredients

4 or 5 Med white Potatoes sliced 1/4 inch

3 cups chicken broth

1 cup water (or enough to cover your potatoes)

1/2 onion chopped (optional)

fresh or dried rosemary (chopped)

salt and pepper (I add a lot of salt because I make my own chicken broth and don't salt that very much. You need a lot of salt when cooking potatoes!)

1 cup milk

1 cup grated cheese ( I use sharp Cheddar)

3 T Butter

3 T flour

Heat chicken broth, water, onions, salt and pepper and rosemary to a slow boil. Add potatoes and boil till almost done but not quite. They need to be a bit harder because we are going to bake them later. Remove potatoes and put into your baking dish. I like to use my 8x8 glass Pyrex. Reserve liquid.

Put your pan back on the heat and add your butter to melt. When all the butter is melted and the pan is hot, add the flour and whisk for about 2 minutes or until it is a light brown color. This is called a Roux. It's French.

Add 3 cups of your reserved liquid and whisk until all the flour is dissolved. It should be starting to get thick. Add some milk. You may not need the whole cup but you just want to make it a little thinner. Keep whisking until the milk is all heated up then add the cheese. Whisk until cheese is melted. This whole process takes about 5 minutes so have all your ingredients ready before you start. I get mine ready while the potatoes are cooking. I love having everything in little glass bowls as if I were on a cooking show!

Pour your sauce into your Pyrex over your potatoes. You can add more rosemary on top if you like. Cook in a 350-375 oven for about 15 or 20 minutes or until it is golden brown on top. The first time I made these both Eli and I ate 2 servings each and I had the rest for breakfast the next morning!

Bon Appetit

Growing Veggies

Our garden is growing more and more every day. We have gotten several cucumbers and a few okra and 1 pepper! The tomatoes are still growing and haven't produced yet. I think the rains we had a few weeks ago knocked off all the flowers.

I didn't know okra made such a pretty flower! The flowers don't stay very long before turning into a tiny okra.

These cuties are all over our okra leaves. I'm okay with them as long as they don't jump on me or start eating our plants.

We bought the cucumber seeds with the intent to make pickles! I'm not an experienced canner so I choose to go with refrigerator pickles. No canning involved! I used this recipe but halved it. I also added grape leaves from our "wild" grapes that grow on the neighbor's tree that happens to grow into our yard. They taste good but a bit on the bitter/sweet side. Eli suggested adding a 1/2 cup of water to the recipe next time.

On a sadder note, our Toad died. He had been living in our flower bed for about a year. He liked to hang out in my potted plants and I never knew when I would be watering and he would pop his head up out of the dirt!

I came home from Oklahoma last week to find him floating in Ethan's swimming pool (that was filled with rain water). He wasn't dead so I fished him out with one of Ethan toys (that Eli threw away later) and set him back in the flower bed. I thought maybe he had just had too much water, as he is a desert toad, and just needed to dry out a bit. The next day he was dead. I had Eli bury him in the flower bed next to the jasmine bush where he lived.

Don't worry, I cleaned out the swimming pool before I let Ethan back in it!

Ethan's Square

Ethan is really good about staying back when I open the oven door. Sometimes I don't even have to tell him to stay back, he just does. It's a different story when I cook on top of the stove. I think it's because he can't see what I'm doing and he wants to know.

Yesterday I was pan frying and didn't want him to get too close to the stove when I took the splash guard off the pan. He was having trouble staying away so I thought I would make it easier for him to visualize his boundary. Did he stay in the square? No. But it did help him understand what I wanted him to do. Every time he started inching closer to me I moved him back to his box. He even sat inside of it once without me telling him too!

As you can tell by the pic, he was happy after I was done cooking!

Meal Plan Monday

I'm going all Crock Pot again this week except for yesterday (Sunday) and Saturday.

Sunday- Pioneer Women Breakfast Burritos. Yummmy. I made enough to have leftovers. I'm going to wrap them up in tortillas and freeze so we can have yummy Breakfast Burritos when ever we want!

All these recipes come from Make it Fast, Cook it slow.

Monday- Slow cooker Sloppy Joes w/ turkey, oven fries.

Tuesday- Chili, cornbread

Weds- Tamales (w/ leftover pork from last week), Spanish rice. I'm so excited to try this one!

Thurs- Chicken Parmesan, roasted asparagus. Mom's coming to visit! Sorry, Mom, it's not low fat but it will be yummy!

Friday- Sushi!!! Eli and I are going on a date (finally!) while Mom stays with the (hopefully) sleeping baby!

Saturday- Homemade Spaghetti

I made several new things last week.

PW Restaurant Salsa I have been making homemade salsa for awhile now but always use fresh ingredients so I was a little weary of this because she uses canned ingredients. Well, I was wrong to worry because this stuff is great! I will be making all my salsa like this from now on! Beware it is on the hottest side because of the whole jalapeno but if you wanted to mild it down you could just leave that out or remove the seeds. Try it, you won't regret it!

I made my first loaves of sourdough bread. The first was okay and I must say I've been getting better and better! I also made buttermilk biscuits from scratch for the first time. They weren't as soft and fluffy as my Grandmas but I'll work on it! If anyone has any suggestions on improvement let me know.

Body After Baby: Week 5

Oh, last week. I gained. But I'm not surprised with the big amount I lost the week before. And I had a visit from Aunt Flow at the end of the week so I blame her for my weight gain. I also blame her for the doughnuts I picked up on my way home from garage sale-ing on Saturday and the burger and fries we got on Sunday and the homemade sour dough bread I made and the cookies yesterday and the pizza I made last night.........



I have a feeling this week might be like last week. I'm torn between my love to cook and my desire to lose weight. I know you can cook good, healthy, low fat food but it's not as fun as homemade oreos!! I'm sending those to Eli's work. Today's a new day though, right? Just start fresh. That's what I keep telling myself until my sour dough starter starts talking to me and just tempting me to bake something!



I did buy a cookbook at a used book store on Sunday "Secrets of Low Fat Baking". If you remember I own "Secrets of Low Fat Cooking" and I'm supposed to be cooking out of it. I'm excited to try some of the recipes and see if they taste anywhere near the real thing! I'll keep you posted.

Hope you had a great week! Check out Mama Notes for more Body after Baby 2010.

Body After Baby: Week 4

I lost 5.4lbs last week bringing my total weight loss to 10.8lbs!! Before you get all excited, I was sick from Thursday and I'm still recuperating. I had temp on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, spending the whole day Saturday in bed. I still ate but not a lot. I'm on my way to recovering so hopefully I can at least keep what I lost off this week.

Question of the Week: What is your favorite healthy snack? I love chips and salsa so I make pita chips (one pita is 1 point, salsa free). I love nuts but they are very high in points because of all the (good) fat. Popcorn is great! I think the main thing is only having a snack size portion. If I was to take a bowl of salsa and a bag of chips to the couch I would eat half the bag! So I make sure to only dish out the portion I am allotted to eat.

My shopping Tip of the week is to always take your slide to the store with you. Don't be afraid to pull it out and figure out the points value of something you're going to buy. You might be surprised at how many or how little points something may have! It will also help you only bring food into your home that are low points so you won't be tempted to "just have a little" of that high point food!





I'm not much for copying down recipes this week but I will share an easy, low point way to make pizza.

1 Pita Bread- I find a 1point per piece at Wal*Mart. It has flax seed in it.

2T Pizza sauce

Topping- bell pepper, onion, mushrooms, anything "free" of points!

Low Fat mozzarella



Put your pita bread on a cookie sheet and spray with cooking spray to make the edges crisp. Coat with pizza sauce and any spices. Top with free toppings and add a little cheese. If I don't put any toppings that have points in them I count this as 4 points. If you put any meat you will need to add points.

These are so much better then the frozen diet pizzas! The pita's are also good to tear up and crisp in the oven for chips to use with your favorite dip, salsa or beans.



Run over to Mama Notes and see how everyone else did this week!

Meal Plan Monday

I really want to use my crockpot a lot this week. I was sick last week and I'm still feeling a little weak and don't really feel like doing a lot of cooking. And it's a good excuse to try out some recipes from my new cook book Make it fast, Cook it slow.



Sunday-Mustard Crusted Salmon, roasted new pototes with rosmary, brocclli made by Eli. We didn't do this on Saturday because Eli had been taking care of the baby all day and I could tell he was too tired to do a lot of cooking!

All the rest of the meals will be cooked in the slow cooker and all come from Make it fast, Cook it slow.

Monday- Turkey Stuffed Peppers

Tuesday- Hickory-Smoked Brisket, Baked Potatoes, veg

Weds- Peking Pork Chops

Thurs- Chicken Tacos

Friday- Leftovers

Saturday- Sweet and Spicy Salmon

And because it's the end of the month and I won't go to the store before next Monday, I'll go ahead and add:

Sunday- Cajun Pulled Pork Roast

Body After Baby: Week 3

Last week went much better for me. I lost 1.8lbs bringing my total for the BAB Challenge to 5.4lbs!! I think it helped that Eli went back to work and I had all my meals planned out. Oh, and he didn't make a Chocolate Cream Pie this week. He made Blackberry Cream Cheese Tarts! And I might have eaten a few.....



It was a no go on last weeks Challenge: How many sit ups can you do? I did: 0. I just kept forgetting ;) Really, I would remember after I had already got into bed at night and I was not getting out of bed to do sit ups. But I did go to yoga on Saturday. I'm still not drinking enough water but I am trying. Now that I'm sick, I don't feel like doing any exercise but I will try to go to yoga again on Saturday and we are going to meet up with a friend to go to the park.

This weeks question: Why do you want to lose weight and/or get healthier? What is your motivation? I could go real deep with this question or real light. Right now I want to be at my goal weight before Eli and I start TTC (We are going to start after March to avoid another December baby! I don't want them all to be born in the same month:). It will make things easier on my body and easier to lose the weight after the baby is born. I also want to follow the WW plan while pregnant to avoid gaining too much weight. In the long run, I want to not obsess about my weight so I don't pass that bad habit along to my kids. I want to be able to undress in front of my husband and not be ashamed (totally not his doing, all me). I want to be able to enjoy food in reasonable amounts without over indulging and gaining weight; that only comes with practice and willpower.



I made a really great soup last week:



Broccoli and Potato Soup



2T butter

1 Onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1lb potatoes, cubed

1 bag broccoli (I also used some cauliflower)

3c chicken broth

3c water

1/2 low fat milk

1/2 grated Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper (white if you've got it)



Heat butter in a pot big enough for all your ingredients. Cook onion and garlic until transparent. Add potatoes, broccoli, broth and water. Cook until vegs are soft. Blend until smooth ( I used my immersion blender). Add milK and cheese. Cook until melted. You could leave out some of the broccoli until after you blended it up, just add it in and cook a bit longer before adding milk and cheese.



This soup was yummy!! I guessed it at 2 points per 1/2 cup and my Mom agreed that sounded about right.

Fiber 1 just came out with a new 90 cal bar that is only 1 point! It is smaller than the regular Fiber 1 bar (3 points). You can get the full size Target brand Fiber bar and it is only 2 points.

I hope you all had a great week and can't wait to read about it! Go to Mama Notes for more BAB.

Body After Baby: Week 2

Well, this week didn't go as well as last. The start of the week went well but Eli got home on Thursday night and it was pretty much all down hill from there. We ate at Dairy Queen one day and Eli cooked a Chocolate Cream Pie another day. Need I say more?



But I did manage to loose .8lbs! That brings my total weight loss to 3.6lbs. It's better then gaining, right?



I went to yoga 3 times: twice with Ethan and once by myself. I also worked the floor change at Express and that's a work out on it's own.



I have a good menu planned for this week. I'm going to be walking the mall with a friend on Tuesday and yoga on Friday and Saturday. I gotta keep moving!

Samantha at Mama Notes, our fearless leader, has posted a challenge and a question for us this week.

Challenge: How many sit ups can you do? When I was in high school I would do 200 every night. Ha!! After abdominal surgery and carrying a baby I'm pretty sure that number is way down.

Question: What is your favorite part of your work out? I would have to say the end! It takes me some effort to get motivated to exercise. Depending on what the work out is, I enjoy the act but the at the end I aways feel so good and glad that I took time for myself.



Here are some more tips on how to stay on points:

Sometimes I get pretty tired of just regular old potatoes. I love to cut them up, with the skin still on them, and bake them. Oven fries are great because you can spray them with nonstick cooking spray, add some seasonings and they aren't any more points then a regular old baked potatoes! I like to add chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

I wanted to find a recipe for chicken nuggets for Ethan so I looked in one of the cook books my Mother-In-Law gave me for Christmas. (She bought me 2 that I really wanted! The Pioneer Woman Cooks and Make it Fast, Cook it Slow. I love them! Thanks Vicki!) I made these nuggets in the slow cooker and they are so good! Ethan loves them and I love that I know what I'm feeding my baby.

For the crust I used ground up Cheerios and wheat germ. I used a smaller slow cooker and halved the recipe. After about 2 hours I checked on them and some of them were done and some I had to turn and cook longer in order to get the crust crispy.

While I was making them it reminded me of some chicken fingers I made from a low fat recipe book my Mom gave me a long time ago. Secrets of Fat-Free Cooking is a great book with low fat recipes and tips. I think the chicken fingers are the only thing I have made out of this cook book so I'm excited to try some other recipes out.

Chicken Fingers w/Honey Mustard Sauce
3c corn flakes
1/2 t poultry seasoning
1/4t black pepper
3 T fat-free egg substitute (you can also use 1 egg+2 egg whites)
3 T skim milk
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast (4 breast halves)
Nonstick cooking spray

Sauce
1/4c +2T nonfat or reduced fat mayo (I just skip the mayo all together)
3T spicy mustard
3T honey
2T lemon juice

Blend the corn flakes in a food processor until crumbs. (Before I got a food processor I put them in a ziploc bag and smashed them up!) Combine the crumbs with seasonings. Combine the egg and milk and whisk together. Cut each chicken breast into 5 long strips. Dip the strips first in the egg and then the crumb mixture, coating all sides well. Coat baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray, and arrange the strips in a single layer. Spray the tops of the strips lightly with the cooking spray, and bake at 400 for 15 minutes or until the strips are golden brown and no longer pink inside. For the sauce, just stir all ingredients together. These are 1 point per strip with 2t of sauce.

Put those together with some oven fries and a salad and you have yourself a meal!



Here's another Low Fat recipe we had last night with our Turkey burgers:



Tex Mex Sweet and Red Potato Salad (From Weight Watchers Turn Around Program Cookbook)

1lb each of Sweet and Red Potatoes

4 tsp olive oil

2 onions, chopped

6T fat free mayonnaise

3T chopped fresh cilantro

1tsp grated lemon zest

1/2tsp salt

1/2tsp cumin

1/4tsp ground coriander

1/8tsp cayenne



Cut potatoes into cubes. Toss with 2tsp olive oil and roast at 425 for 35-40 minutes. Meanwhile, cook onions in oil in skillet. Combine mayo, cilantro, lemon zest, and seasonings in small bowl. Combine potatoes, onions and sauce, mix well. Serve warm or at room temp. 2 points for 1/2 cup.


When Eli got home from work I was putting Ethan to bed so he cooked the Turkey burgers on the grill. When they were finished he asked me what kind of meat it was. He said "It almost seems like they are turkey burgers." LOL!!! I never even thought of telling him so he could make sure they were cooked all the way through. They were and with the seasoning I put in them they tasted just like hamburger meat.



I hope you all had a great week and I look forward to this one being even better! Hop over to Mama Notes to read about all the fun.

Week 1- Body After Baby

I started the Challenge on Friday 1/1. Even though it's only been 5 days (I only weigh in once a week) I went ahead and weighed this morning for our weekly update.

I lost 2.8lbs in 5 days!!!!

The first few days were hard because I always seemed to be hungry even though I had just eaten. Then I decided I was eating the wrong things. I was eating what I would normally eat, just less of it because of the points value. So on Sunday I started looking for more filling foods and things with low point value so I could eat small "snack" meals throughout the day.


Here are a few things I have found that have helped me stay on my points:



Canned Chicken. The first time I saw it on the shelf I thought "Yuck! That can't be good!". But it is if you buy a good name brand and not the Wal*mart brand! Don't get me wrong. I love Wal*mart brand stuff, just not their canned chicken. I use Canned Chicken in many ways including Chicken Salad (2oz for 3 points because of the mayo) for sandwiches or on top of lettuce and many different Chicken Soups.

Bread. I buy Nature's Own Honey Wheat Lite. It's on the cheaper side for bread and it's only 1 point for 2 pieces!!! Ethan likes it too and that's one way I can get some wheat gran into his diet. I eat it sometimes for breakfast with 1T of low fat peanut butter (2 points).



Salads. Weather I have a salad as my main meal or as a side, I try to eat it at least once a day. I use a regular iceberg lettuce with some shredded cabbage added to it for filler and fiber. Elizabeth over at Baby Signs just wrote a post Top 10 Ways to get Fit after the Holidays and #9 is Focus on Fiber. Fiber does all kinds of thing good for your body including speeding up the transit time for food to go through your body. GoAskAlice goes into more detail about the benefits of fiber. The Weight Watcher Plan is based on getting lots of fiber in your diet. I use regular dressing because I hate most of the low fat stuff. I just put a little on and count it as 2 points.



Water. I have a hard time getting in all my water. I only drank one glass on the first day and two on the second. On the 3rd, I decided when I started getting hungry, I would grab a glass of water and drink it all before getting a snack. Most of the time when you feel hungry you are really just thirsty. It's not that I'm drinking other things besides water, I'm just not drinking anything.



Beans. Did you know that 1/2 cup of cooked beans is only 2 points? They are a filling food because of all the fiber. I made a bean chili (just beans and seasonings) in the crock pot and ate on these all week. I smushed them up and made bean burritos with salsa, ate them as dip with pita chip (homemade) and even ate them on top of my baked potatoes. You could use canned but it's so easy to make beans in the crock pot.

One of the soups I made was a Low Fat Chicken Tortilla Soup. I'm not sure where I found this at but I kinda made it up as I went along.

Low Fat Chicken Tortilla Soup

2 cans Chicken Broth

1 can of water

1/2 cup uncooked brown rice

1 can 12.5oz Chicken

1 can corn (I used frozen. Remember all that corn I cooked and froze (here and here)? I still have it, a lot of it! I don't think I'll have to buy corn until the summer when I can get the good deals on fresh corn again.)

1 can Black Beans (I cooked my own.)

1tsp cumin

1/2tsp chili powder

1/2tsp garlic powder

1/2tsp onion powder

salt and pepper

I was just thinking about it and you could also add a can of Rotel (tomatoes and chilies) to it.

Bring the chicken broth and water to a boil. Add the rice and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover until rice is done. Add everything else and boil on med with lid off until the liquid has reduced a bit. This is really yummy! I counted it as 3 points for 1 1/2 cups.

The best thing about WW is that you don't have to deprive yourself of anything. Eli and I went to Sonic on Saturday and I got a Peppermint Blast and ate 1 cup (4 points) of it every day for 3 days! As long as you have the points you can eat what ever you want.

I hope you all had a good week on your Body After Baby Challenge! Don't forget to check out all the other Mama's @ Mama Notes.

Garage Sale, Homeade Yogurt and Ethan's Surprise

Unfortunately this post will be photoless. My camera's batteries are down and I don't have anymore AA in the house. Well, I do but they're the cheap kind and they don't work in the camera. But they work great in Ethan's toys. The next camera we get will plug in to recharge!
I am getting ready to have my last garage sale for this year. We still have a ton of things left over from last time and I have found many more things around the house I want to get rid of. I'm hoping to make some extra $ for our trips this month!
We are going to a dinner with Eli's co-workers tomorrow night and he just told me we are suppose to bring something! I'm thinking about my Aunt Linda's broccoli cornbread. I have won an award with this recipe:)

Broccoli Cornbread
1 10oz pkg frozen chopped broccoli, thawed
2 boxes Jiffy cornbread muffin mix
1 1/2 sticks butter, melted
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 8oz carton sm curd cottage cheese
1 med chopped onion

Mix all together and bake in 9'X13' greased pan @350 for 35-40 minutes. This freezes well and make sure to put it in the fridge because it will go bad if you don't! It took me awhile to figure out where that smell was coming from.

Do you know how easy it is to make your own yogurt?And in your crock pot??? Are you excited yet? I got this off of A Year of Slow Cooking. Where else, right?
All you need is 1/2 gal of whole milk (sometimes I use 2%) and a 1/2 cup of plain natural yogurt. After you make it once, you can use your homemade as your "starter".
Eli loves yogurt and I wanted Ethan to start eating it with his fruit (he loves it too!). But it's rather expensive if you eat as much as Eli does! I just couldn't see adding another $10 or so to our grocery bill each month just for a treat. But making my own we can save so much!

Crockpot Yogurt
Pour 1/2 gal milk into crockpot on low. Leave for 2 1/2 hours. Turn off and leave for another 3 hours. After 3 hours have passed, remove 2 cups of the warm milk and whisk in 1/2 cup of room temp yogurt. Add to crockpot, mix and replace lid. Wrap the whole thing in a big bath towel and leave over night (6-8 hours). I don't open the lid until I'm adding the starter yogurt so the crockpot stays warm. When you get up in the morning you will have yummy yogurt!
I have done this twice now. The first time I got up in the middle of the night to put it in the fridge after the recommended 6-8 hours. It was good but a little too runny. I made it again last night and left it all night until 8ish this morning. It was much thicker. I also think it helps to have the starter yogurt at room temp.
Just add a little sugar or splenda and some fruit an you have a very cheap, good for you breakfast or snack!

As for Ethan's surprise, you will just have to wait till I get some batteries in my camera!

Meal Plan Monday (Tuesday)

I haven't planned meals this week yet. I'm still doing my shopping. So I thought I'd show you all the goodies I made last week.

I made pinwheels to take to the potluck at Express when I worked for tax free weekend. These are made with flour tortillas, cream cheese, pimentos, green chilies and black olives. I always use the mild green chilies but I think I'm going to start using some hotter ones. They really need some kick to them. I'm also thinking they could use some cilantro blended into the cream cheese. Next time.

I don't have a picture to show you but I made a coconut cream pie that my Grandma has been making a lot lately. It's really easy, cheap and low fat!

1 graham cracker crust

1 box of sugar/fat free vanilla pudding

milk

coconut

lite whip topping

Make up the pudding as directed on the box. Put a thick layer of coconut in the bottom of the crust and top with pudding. Let set in fridge for a few hours then add the whip topping. Yumm.

I made a pie crust and had some left overs so I made some of my Grandma's butter rolls. These are also super easy. Just butter, sugar and cinnamon. I also added some nutmeg and they were really good. Just put all the stuff in the middle of the dough and fold over any way you want. Bake until the crust is golden.

This is what I made the pie crust for. It's a buttermilk pie. OMG! It is amazing. We had this pie in South Carolina at the Hominy Grill and it was wonderful there. I had left over buttermilk from the dumplings and didn't know what to do with it. I thought: I'll make that buttermilk pie. I am glad I did! I was afraid it would be hard to make because you had to whip the egg whites and I have never done that. But it wasn't hard at all! The recipe can be found here. I do think I let it cook a little too long. It's not suppost to be that dark on top but it was good just the same.

You know somethings good when by 2pm the next day this is all you have left:

And there were only 2 people eating it! I will be making this one again and again. I might have to make it when I go to Oklahoma next week!

And I wonder why I can't lose that last 15lbs......

Mamma's Group

Last week Ethan and I went to a friends house for a Mommy and Babies group. We had a lot of fun! We meet a lot of great mom's and cute babies. The group is going to start meeting twice a month and we will try to go to as many as we can. It's always great to meet new moms, be able to share stories and learn how different people solve problems. Ethan made lots of new friends and can't wait to go back. Thanks for inviting us!

Eli so kindly made his Dad's cheesecake for me to take. I made the blueberry topping. It was yummy and everyone enjoyed it!




Family Cheesecake (modified)

4 packs cream cheese

6 eggs

1c sugar

1t vanilla

Mix well together (Eli uses the food processor in batches). He uses graham crackers and butter mushed together to make the crust. Use a spring form. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, until top is golden. Chill overnight.

I made the topping just like the strawberry syrup but with blueberries. You could use any fruit for your topping.