AMAZING skinny recipes…

… courtesy of Gina at http://www.skinnytaste.com. She posts the most delicious looking low fat recipes that I think y’all will like.
I have no clue how many ww points any of these recipes are, but not everyone is on that diet so this is still a great reference.

If you cook anything from her website please let me know how it tastes!

 

 

Apricot Dessert Quesadillas (Weight Watchers) Recipe | Key Ingredient

Here you go Regina! You asked for a dessert, and this is what I found for you. Unless you’d like something more chocolatey?

½ cup(s) light cream cheese, whipped

1 Tbsp sugar

½ tsp lemon zest

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

OPTIONAL: 1 T candied ginger, finely minced

4 medium apricot(s), sliced into thin wedges

1 spray(s) cooking spray, butter-flavored

1 Tbsp powdered sugar

1 serving(s) butter-flavor cooking spray

4 6-inch tortilla, flour, fat-free

Stir cream cheese, granulated sugar, zest and lemon juice together in a medium bowl. Spread ¼ of mixture on one half of each tortilla, layer each with ¼ of apricot slices and fold each tortilla in half.

Coat a 12-inch nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Arrange 2 folded tortillas in skillet; cook over medium heat until golden brown, flipping once, about 4 to 5 minutes on the first side and 1 to 2 minutes on the other side. Remove from skillet, cover to keep warm and repeat with remaining 2 tortillas.

Cut each tortilla in half to form quarter wedges, place on a serving platter, dust with powdered sugar (use a sieve) and serve.

Yields 2 wedges per serving.

Flavor Booster: The hot-sweet bite of ginger adds an exciting taste dimension to the quesadillas. Halve the sugar in the cream cheese spread and mix in 1 tbsp finely minced candied ginger.

4 points.

via Apricot Dessert Quesadillas (Weight Watchers) Recipe | Key Ingredient.

Low Point Meal Ideas!

Hey y’all! I’ve been super busy lately with my job starting up, but I haven’t forgotten to take pictures of what I’ve been eating to give y’all ideas.

First, I’m happy to report that after a two week long plateau, my weight has finally dropped again. If you have experienced a plateau, or are experiencing one currently, don’t feel bad! It happens to all of us. Rest assured you’ll get out of it. My only word of advice is to tighten the belt a bit; sometimes plateaus happen because we get a little careless in counting points or maintaining our exercise schedule. If you have problems counting your points, a really helpful tip is to keep a journal of what you’re eating every day and how many points each item is. This is doubly helpful because then you have a quick reference for foods you like to eat often. I kept a journal the first six months of my diet and it helped me a lot in regards to staying on track and making sure I didn’t go over my daily point allowance on accident.

I have a dirty little secret though. I am TERRIBLE at exercising regularly. I admit it. I maybe do the elliptical once in a while. If you’re like me, and hate going to the gym, make sure that whatever you do during the day keeps you fairly active. I have a bad habit of sleeping in, and I notice that when I wake up earlier I lose weight faster. Make small changes like taking the stairs instead of the elevator! Every little bit helps. I also work with kids all day, so that tends to help.

So here are some meal ideas for y’all:

If you are in a rush one morning and don’t have time to cook a breakfast, either grab a fiber one bar or indulge in an 8 point Maple and Fruit oatmeal cup from Mickey D’s. Yup, you read me right. McDonald’s is a dieter’s worst nightmare, but they do offer one item that I get a few times a month. Their oatmeal is pretty good, and it’s great when I’m in a hurry. It’s full of fruits and raisins, which I LOVE. For those of you not on the WW diet, nutritional facts are available on the outside of the cup.

Total Weight Watchers Pointsplus value: 8

I want to apologize in advance for the next pictures. I was so hungry coming home from work that I started eating before I realized that I hadn’t taken pictures of my meal. I tried to get y’all semi decent pictures when I realized

😦

First up is Hummus. For those of you that love hummus, high five. For those of you that don’t, bear with me. I promise you this stuff is delicious. I was SO sure that this food is super yummy that I even fed it to some of the fifth graders I work with. And guess what: they ate it. Proof enough for you? I think so.

Sabra Supremely Spicy Hummus is supremely awesome. For those of you that like a kick to their food, like me, this stuff is amazing. Don’t worry; it isn’t actually supremely spicy. I could probably do with a little more, but it still has that nice after burn to it that I crave.

For those of you that don’t like spicy foods at all, Sabra offers a wide range of flavors. I mean, the super-market local to Florida has an entire section for these babies. And best of all? It’s only two points for two heaping tablespoons.

But what will you eat the hummus with, you ask? Simple: go to the bread aisle of your grocery store and get a package of this:

Super thin slices of crispbread that have delightful undertones of garlic and onion. I absolutely love this brand. It’s perfect for dipping without all the added calories/points of normal chips and breads.

Total Weight Watchers Pointsplus points: 1 point for two slices.

Last, but definitely not least, is the main course. If you haven’t figured this out yet, extra lean pork loins are nomtastic. They average around 1 point per oz., maybe less. The one we had for dinner was a whopping 3 points for 4 oz. Considering I have a 30 point a day allowance, you can see how this is potentially a large portion.

Here’s the brand we bought, but most extra lean pork loins are extremely tasty:

Again, sorry it’s an empty wrapping. I was really hungry o.O

Here’s what it looked like cooked:

This is the portion leftover after my husband and I ate our faces off, so you can see it’s actually quite a large pork loin. It’s great for leftovers when you don’t feel like cooking a low point meal.

Total Weight Watchers Pointsplus value: 3 points for 4 oz.

Whelp, that’s all I have for y’all today! My posts might be coming a little slower now that I’ve got an actual job in the works. Rest assured I brainstorm in my free time about new ideas to share with y’all 🙂

Frozen Grapes and Gummy Bears

I don’t know about y’all, but I have a bad habit of not knowing when to stop eating something. I’ll tell myself, “Oh, I’ll just have five gummy bears,” and then end up eating 30. Gummy bears aren’t actually all that bad for you (they’re about 3 points for 17), but anything in excess is no bueno.

So, here’s how I remedied this problem.

Frozen gummy bears! Freezing them makes them harder to just eat one after another, and they last longer. Always measure out your serving size before you eat; never just eat them straight from a bag. Doing so makes you just eat more than you normally would, because you have the whole bag in front of you. Another fun freezing trick is this:

Frozen grapes! I love frozen grapes because they taste like mini popsicles. They’re great on a hot day, but more importantly they limit how much you eat. Grapes are zero points, of course, but the theory behind the idea is still sound! I also put these little duders in drinks to act as ice cubes (I especially love them in sprite zero).

What other foods can you think of that would taste great frozen?

Dog food.

We realized after eating dinner that our puppy had run out of food, so we made a quick trip to the Mart of the Wal to pick some up. I realized as we were looking through the big bags that they actually weighed LESS than my total weight loss so far. So naturally I took a triumphant picture of me holding a 40 lb bag of dog food. (Before you freak out, no we don’t feed Mishka Iams.) I can’t even imagine now walking around with this much weight on me! No wonder I got tired just going up the stairs.

Also, here are some pictures of the chicken recipe I posted before. We ended up having it for dinner tonight.

Omnomnomnomnom!

Anne’s Fruit Dip!

I might be spamming some recipes these first few days so I can get them down before I forget. My friend Anne gave me a really awesome recipe for some fruit dip that she swears is the best thing since sliced bread.

Here’s what you need:

16 oz. of fat free cool whip

16 oz. of fat free sour cream

1 large packet of sugar free vanilla pudding

Mix them all together and start dipping your favorite fruits! I can’t attest to how good this actually tastes because I haven’t actually  made it myself, but I plan on going to the store tomorrow and remedying this situation. I’ll let y’all know how it turns out 🙂

 

Total Weight Watcher Pointsplus Value: Approximately 3 for the entire thing. It’s ridiculously low on points. I’ll get a precise value tomorrow when I go to the store and plug in the numbers to my calculator.

Recipe of the week!

I got this recipe from my mother-in-law and I’ve eaten it almost every night this week. It is absolutely delicious and so simple I could smack myself for not having thought of it first. If you aren’t a fan of vegetables (sans the cheesy goodness that I used to slather them up with) this is your new best friend.

Bake chicken thighs in the oven at 350 BUT throw your veggies in there with the chicken. Sprinkle it all with garlic salt and whatever else you feel like throwing on there (we tend to put lemon pepper on the chicken as well). The yummy juices from the chicken soaks into the vegetables and gives them an awesome flavor. If your broccoli and green beans come out a little brown, it’s okay because they’re DELISH this way. We also throw in some brussels sprouts because they’re so dang good for you.

Total Weight Watcher Pointsplus Value: 4 per chicken thigh. Vegetables and fruit are virtually ALL zero points! (There are some exceptions. Avocado, for example, is extremely high in fats and therefore high in points.)

I hope y’all give this a try! Tell me what you think 🙂