Week of November 30, 2009 - Surviving the 2010 Holiday Circuit!

This week I was actually down a bit (a VERY little bit)…but a loss is a loss, even though I am still in the red.  Yes, I am frustrated, but NO I am not quitting.  This too shall pass.  The upside is that I showed a loss over the Thanksgiving holiday, which in itself is a victory. It’s also about time to have Steve take my measurements again.  I try to do this at least once per month to keep my motivation going, especially since the scale and I are on the outs of late!

I did enjoy cooking my Thanksgiving dinner this year.  I did want to make a couple of corrections on last week’s email. 

1. The POINT® count on the cranberry sauce is 1 point per ¼ cup serving.  I left that off.
   
   
2. The POINT® count on the sweet potatoes is 3 per 1 cup serving. I left that off too.
   
   

As many of you may know, I am out on Facebook.  My husband suggested it back in October of last year, and now I am in apparent need of a 12-step program to help me quit!  J.  I have been able to reconnect with many friends going as far back as my elementary school days on Long Island, NY to Graduate School classmates in Orlando.  I have been my journey out there as well, through pictures, this newsletter (which is also online at http://elissasweightlossjourney.blogspot.com/) and through status updates on my Facebook page.  What I never expected from all of this is to end up having my own cheering section. I have people ranging from my Weight Watchers leader, coworkers and friends commenting and cheering me on, and I also receive feedback on these newsletters from time to time.  All of this goes a LONG way to help keep me focused on my long term goal of reaching Lifetime!

I am striving each day to make good choices and to get in my activity, even when it’s hard to do it.  I have established healthy habits along this journey and I know that I will do what I need to in order to continue on track.  Like I said, not perfect, just on a mission.  We all fall from time to time.  The great thing about this program? It’s okay to fall occasionally.

Since the official beginning of the holiday party season is upon us, I wanted to share with you some party navigation strategies.  These next few come from my good friend Sonya:

       Eat something filling beforehand (some soup or some veggies/fruit)

       At the party, load up on the veggies.

       Use small plates

       Use the strategy of treating your portions like islands rather than continents. Keep the rim as decoration!

       Drink spritzers instead of full glasses of wine

       Take something healthy to the party, if you are asked to contribute

Below are some of Hungry Girl’s strategies for party navigation!  

HG's holiday party tips 'n tricks

What's the rush?
Don't start chewing until you've been at the party for at least 30 to 45 minutes. By then, you'll be so involved with the festivities you'll be less likely to go food-crazy.

Don't get caught empty handed
Keep a diet soda, glass of water — and maybe a cute purse — in your hands at all times. You'll be less likely to overeat if you keep your hands full.

Be generous
Did someone give you a box of chocolates or a basket of goodies for the holidays? Take them to a party so you can share the deliciousness — and the calories.

Fork it over
Instead of grabbing something each time the tray passes you by, fill a small plate once and use a fork. It's easier to control your intake when you can see how much you're actually eating.

Cocktail party super sippers

Diet soda

Water

Wine

Vodka shot with club soda/diet soda

My Holiday HOT List	My Holiday NOT List
Roasted chestnuts	Eggnog
Gingersnap cookies	Hot-buttered rum
Shrimp cocktail	Mini egg rolls
Candy canes	Mini quiches
Grilled chicken or beef skewers (no sauce)	Pigs in a blanket

Happy partying!

Week 4 of the 7-Day Challenge is to once again eat three different colors of fruits/veggies each day for the week.  Not that daunting of a task if you think about it!

Today’s recipes deal with the utilization of holiday leftovers.  I made both of these and they are fantastic.  Wanted to share with you all.

I want to leave you with this quote. It’s one that I live by.  I am NOT perfect, but I don’t give up.  Hope you find it inspiring!

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail. 

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

GLUTEN FREE CORNER;

During one of the Central Market freebie promotions (one where you buy a product and you get some others at no extra cost), I got free soup from Imagine.  The packaging indicated that the soup was Gluten-Free.  Best part? The soup was 1 POINT® per cup, and it was absolutely delicious!  The website is: http://www.imaginefoods.com/.  Check it out.  We also have the butternut squash soup to try out as well.  I had the creamy tomato, and it was fantastic! We just made a meal out of the soup, and it was great.  We split the container, and for over 2 cups of soup, it worked out to 2 ½ POINTS® -- so not bad!

RECIPES

Cranberry-Nut Turkey Salad - Adapted from www.weightwatchers.com

This recipe was posted in the meeting room as a way to use up leftover turkey.  I actually had all ingredients on hand except for the lettuce, so I made the recipe sans lettuce, and we had on Sandwich Thins.  For a sandwich, you don’t even need much more than ½ cup and the points would be cut by 2/3!  Definitely a great use for any leftover poultry. I’d even use this recipe with rotisserie chicken meat! Give this one a try. SO worth it!  As the Weight Watchers site said, this recipe definitely beats the endless parade of ordinary turkey sandwiches!

Yield: 4 (1 ½ cup) servings at a POINTS® Value of 5 Per Serving

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cup(s) roasted skinless turkey, chopped or diced

1/3 cup(s) fat-free mayonnaise

1/4 cup(s) low-fat plain yogurt

1/4 cup(s) scallion(s), chopped

1/4 cup(s) chopped walnuts, toasted

2 Tbsp dried cranberries

1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

1/8 tsp table salt, or to taste

1/8 tsp black pepper, or to taste

4 cup(s) romaine lettuce, torn

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients, except lettuce, in a medium bowl; mix well and serve over

lettuce. Yields about 1 1/2 cups per serving. If serving on a sandwich? Cut back to 1/2 cup of the mixture and save 2/3 of the POINTS®!

Herbed Sweet Potato Cheese Puff

This recipe was another great find.  I had some leftover sweet potatoes in the fridge, and wanted to repurpose them.  This seemed like the perfect recipe!

Yield: Makes 8 servings at a POINTS® Value of 2 per serving

Ingredients:

2 cups mashed sweet potatoes

1 (8 ounce) package low fat cream cheese, softened (I used fat free and it worked out fine!)

1/4 cup milk

2 large eggs

1/2 cup sliced green onion

1/2 teaspoon basil

1/2 teaspoon thyme

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Sour Cream, for garnish (optional…I left it out!)

Fresh sprig thyme or parsley, for garnish

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.   

Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl and blend with electric mixer at medium speed until well combined. Then beat on high until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Spoon mixture into a greased oven-to-table casserole dish.

Bake uncovered for 35 to 45 minutes or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 2 to 3 minutes.

Optional:  Garnish with a dollop of sour cream and a sprig of fresh thyme or parsley. Serve immediately.

Makes 8 servings.

calories 126 protein 6 g. carbohydrate 11 g. fat 7 g. cholesterol 71 mg. sodium 356 mg. Vitamin A 7,000 IU fiber 1g

Happy Thanksgiving....and may you not feel as stuffed as the bird!

This week I actually used my no-weigh in pass, for the first time in the year and 3 months I have been back “On Plan” this go around (again, not another go around for me, this is my LAST time…). I had another crisis of motivation this week.  I know I am doing everything right, but the spike I encountered after the Arbor Day Run has really been throwing me for a loop.  I keep trying to remember the three keys to success that Coach Dwayne preaches…commitment, consistency and PATIENCE.  I keep forgetting about the latter though.

I am enjoying the prospect of cooking Thanksgiving Dinner in my own house for the FIRST TIME since we moved to Texas in 2005.  Two years in a row, we were invited to my cousin’s house and the last two years we spent Thanksgiving in Orlando with my parents.  It will be nice to plan the meal and enjoy the day with family and some close friends.  My Tuesday activities included stopping by the Central Market after work to pick up my turkey.  I decided to have them brine it for me (so I took a shortcut this year!).

Thanksgiving for me is somewhat of a time for reflection and thinking about those things for which I am thankful.  For me, I am truly thankful for my friends, my family, my health, and my job!

I am thankful for my friends and family because without them, I’d have no support system at all.  Everyone has been so great in helping me achieve my goals and to lift me up when I faulter.  I am thankful for my health, as my bloodwork is doing MUCH better than when I started with Weight Watchers and my overall state of well being is awesome.  I feel better at 42 than I did at 32.  I owe a debt of gratitude to both Weight Watchers and to Coach Dwayne for helping me keep on the path toward fitness and my ultimate weight goal! I guess I should be thankful to myself as well, for finally opening my eyes and realizing that something needed to be done.  I realized over the last year and a quarter that you really do have to take care of yourself.  We are given one body and one life.  The most important thing we can do for ourselves is to take care of ourselves.  What a precious gift health is. 

We didn’t get here overnight, and we need to remember that we won’t get back to our goal weight overnight.  I really need to make an effort to remember this and practice what I preach (sometimes I am bad in the patience department).  I am human and I do slip up on occasion, but not once have Iost sight of what I need to do, or what I need to accomplish in order to get there. I remain focused on my efforts and want to be there for each of you so that if you need support, I can help! Trust me, we can ALL use a cheering section sometimes. 

I enclosed three of my side dish recipes for you to use at your next Thanksgiving celebration or other holiday gathering.  Wanted to show that eating healthfully doesn’t have to be boring!

In our meeting this week, we dealt with the emotional side of the holiday, or “Handling the Emotional Quotient”

>       Be Assertive. Say no to seconds if you want!

>       Practice the helpful habits (manage your environment, ask for help, etc…)

>       Use positive self-talk

Week 3 of the 7-Day Challenge is to read something Weight Watchers for 10 minutes each day, and write down what you read. Bring back to the meeting. Examples include weekly materials, cookbooks, Weight Watchers Magazine, or even the Website.

I hope that each of you had a terrific Thanksgiving, and remember:

"Face your stuff….don’t stuff your face!"

-this was posted on the meeting room board! Loved this!

RECIPES:

Fresh Cranberry Sauce

Out of habit, every year I tend to just open a can of the jellied or whole-berry variety cranberry sauce.  I really made an effort this year to look for healthful side dishes, and found this one on the Weight Watchers Website.  I modified it to exclude the dried apricots, as I had none on hand.

Yield: 10 (1/4-cup) servings at a POINTS® Value of 1 Per Serving

Ingredients:

12 oz cranberries, fresh or frozen

½ cup dried apricot halves, chopped

½ cup unsweetened applesauce

½ cup water

¼ cup spreadable fruit, orange-flavor

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a medium pot. Cook over medium-high heat until cranberries have popped, about 10 minutes. Allow to cool and serve at room temperature. Yields about 1/4 cup per serving.

Lightened Broccoli Casserole

Yield: 6 servings at a POINTS® Value of 2 Per Serving (points verified on e-Tools)

Ingredients:

16 oz bag frozen broccoli cuts, thawed

1 can Campbell’s Healthy Request Cream of Mushroom Soup (98% fat free/lower sodium)

½ cup French’s French Fried Onion Rings

Directions (not really rocket science here…it’s a snap!)

In a large bowl, combine broccoli and soup until mixed well. Sprinkle in onion rings and fold in.  Spread mixture into 9” x 13” pan and smooth out top. Bake in 375 degree oven until heated through.

Candied Sweet Potatoes

This recipe was another great find, when faced with the calorie-laden side dish of Thanksgivings past.  I wanted to keep the essence of the dish, yet find a calorie-friendly alternative.  Again, Weight Watchers came through for me. 

Yield: 4 (1 cup) servings at a POINTS® Value of 3 Per Serving

Ingredients:

2 large sweet potatoes, about 2 pounds, peeled, halved lengthwise and cut crosswise into 2-inch thick pieces

¼ cup orange juice

2 Tbsp packed light brown sugar

2 Tbsp maple syrup

1 Tbsp reduced-calorie margarine; melted

½ tsp table salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Place sweet potatoes in a large saucepan and pour in enough water to cover potatoes. Set pan over high heat and bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium and simmer 10 minutes, until potatoes are fork-tender. Drain potatoes and arrange them in a single layer in bottom of a shallow baking dish.

Whisk together juice, sugar, syrup, margarine and salt; pour mixture over sweet potatoes.

Bake for 30 minutes, then stir to coat potatoes with liquid and bake for 15 minutes more, until sauce is thick and bubbly. Stir once again before serving. Yields about 1 cup per serving.

Hello and happy hump day everyone!

I guess I had big hopes for myself last week in that I really thought that I’d have lost the 4.8 I was up last week by this Monday. I did lose, but it was only a pound. I am still in the red by 3.8, but now that I understand the cause, I am okay. It will drop when my body heals the muscles that were inflamed! My legs were really sore after the race on 11/7 and after running in the treadmill relay. I think that since I am feeling better now, and totally rehydrated myself, I may have better results.

I am still enjoying the bit of running that I incorporated into my workouts. Right now, I am doing 10-11 minutes prior to my training sessions with a walk/jog combination. I started out running a lap at 4.9 mph on Tuesday, and today, I had it up to 5mph, which is a 12 minute mile. Not too bad. Next step on my list is to get into Run On and get fitted for shoes. I want to make sure that my shoes fit my foot so I don’t get injured along the way. Trying to avoid pitfalls!

True to form, Dwayne is busy stepping up my workouts and I am challenging myself to do more running (be it faster on the treadmill…or going for longer than a lap…). I am going to try to run ½ mile straight on the treadmill this Friday. Trying to jumpstart the weight loss again and 1) lose that 3.8 that showed up and 2) kick myself into the home stretch so that the last 30 come off sometime before Morgan gets married!!!

On a more serious note, earlier this week I found out that a very good friend of mine has stage 3 Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. It was like getting the wind knocked out of me. I have been sort of going around in a fog since I heard the news. I cried quite a bit last night. This is the stuff that isn’t supposed to happen to your friends and family. It’s supposed to happen to OTHER people, you know? I know that’s not how it works, but it should. You and your circle of friends/family should always be fine. Her prognosis seems to be good and she started chemo today. I am praying that she gets through this. She’s pretty strong, so I think she’ll fight. Hard.

Okay…on to less depressing subjects. This week, the meeting dealt with Thanksgiving, which is quickly approaching. The gist was this: HAVE A STRATEGY for the day. Don’t go in blind. Me? I am treating it as another meal, as I did last year. I remember the saying…it’s a Holiday. Not a Holi-week or a Holi-month! Silly, but it works!

Below is an eye-opening chart (some of you may have seen this before…and for those that are not WW members, assume approx. 50 calories per point…and you can get the drift!). Enjoy your favorites, just keep an eye on the portion size, and don’t overdo. That’s my plan

Typical Average-Joe Thanksgiving Menu Items

Item                                                  Points
Turkey Breast (1 slice, 2 oz)                   2
Brown gravy (1/4 cup)                            2
Cranberry sauce (1/4 cup)                      2
Baked sweet potato (1 lg)                      3
Green bean casserole (1 cup)                 5
Pumpkin pie (1 slice)                              9
Stuffing (1/2 cup)                                   4
Winter squash (1 cup)                            1
Mashed potatoes (1/2 cup)                    2
Steamed green beans (1 cup)                 0
Fruit cocktail, unsweetened (1 cup)        2
Broccoli-rice casserole (1 cup)              5
Turkey-dark w/ skin (1 cup)                  8
Turkey-dark w/o skin (1 cup)                2
Pecan pie (1 slice)                               12

Think of your plate this way: all foods should be islands on the plate. Not continents. Keep space between them. The rim? Decoration. Get the idea?


The second challenge that was presented to us for this week was this: weigh and/or measure every food on your plate for at least one meal each day. Jot down the meal and bring to meeting next week.

   Please enjoy your Thanksgiving this year, and remember…………………….

"Don’t worry…the turkey has more to worry about than you do!"

-this was posted on the meeting room board! Loved this!

GLUTEN FREE CORNER:

I know that it’s been awhile since I posted anything here, but I am back with some good stuff for you to try. At the Arbor Day run, they had a sponsor there from Whole Foods and they were sampling bars. I really enjoyed the one I tried (it was a mango/macadamia nut bar) and not only were they gluten free, but they tasted good and weren’t terrible in the nutrition/POINTS® department.

I think that Whole Foods carries these, and you can order online as well.

The URL is: http://kindsnacks.com/ Definitely worth checking out.

RECIPES:

Almond-Crusted Chicken with Scallion Rice

I had some chicken breast defrosted and waiting in the refrigerator this past weekend.  I started searching for something different to do with them, but quick.  This gem came to me from Cooking Light, and it came out so fabulous that it has earned a place in my permanent weekly rotation!  I actually passed up the boil-in-bag rice for some brown jasmine rice I had on hand, but the recipe as it stands will be fine, and QUICK!

In this dish, you brown the chicken quickly over high heat, then finish it in the oven to give the chicken a golden crust without burning the almonds.

Ingredients:

1 (3 1/2-ounce) bag boil-in-bag brown rice (such as Success)

4 (4-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

3/4 teaspoon salt, divided

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk

2 tablespoons honey mustard

2/3 cup sliced almonds

1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs

Cooking spray

1/4 cup chopped green onions

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450°.

Prepare rice according to package directions; keep warm.

Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound to 1/2-inch thickness using a meat mallet or rolling pin. Sprinkle both sides of chicken with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper.

Place flour in a zip-top plastic bag. Working with one piece at a time, add chicken to bag; seal and shake to coat. Remove chicken from bag, shaking off excess flour. Repeat with remaining flour and chicken. Combine buttermilk and honey mustard in a shallow bowl. Combine almonds and breadcrumbs in a shallow bowl. Dip chicken in buttermilk mixture; dredge in almond mixture.

Heat a large skillet coated with cooking spray over high heat. Add chicken; cook 1 minute. Turn chicken over. Wrap handle of pan with foil. Place pan in oven; bake at 450° for 9 minutes or until chicken is done. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and green onions to rice; serve with chicken.

Yield:  4 servings (serving size: 1 chicken breast half and 1/2 cup rice) at a POINTS® Value of 8 per serving

CALORIES 408 (24% from fat); FAT 10.7g (sat 1.4g,mono 5.9g,poly 2.5g); IRON 3.3mg; CHOLESTEROL 68mg; CALCIUM 125mg; CARBOHYDRATE 41.4g; SODIUM 749mg; PROTEIN 35g; FIBER 3.4g

Cooking Light, APRIL 2002

Crustless Pumpkin Pie

 

It’s kind of funny that this recipe appeared in the meeting room this week.  I have been making a similar pie for YEARS. It really is as easy as it appears below, and you will NEVER miss the crust. Trust me.  Plus, it’s a nice sized piece of the pie.  There is another variation that uses fat-free sweetened condensed milk, in place of the sugar and the evaporated milk.  If you choose to go that route, and omit the tablespoon of butter (which I leave off anyway), the POINTS® count only goes up by 1.   Just thought I’d throw that out there!

Yield: serves 6 at a POINTS® Value of 2 per serving

Ingredients:

1 cup canned pumpkin

½ cup reduced-fat baking mix (such as Bisquick heart smart)

½ cup sugar

1 cup evaporated skim milk

½ cup egg substitute (it’s 3 points per serving if you use 2 real eggs)

1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (Don’t skimp here. Trust me. Use the real stuff!)

1 tablespoon butter.

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9” pie plate with nonstick cooking spray. Stir all ingredients together. Pour into plate. Bake 30-40 minutes until knife comes out clean. Cool for 30 minutes. Refrigerate for 3 hours, until cool. Points for this recipe verified on e-Tools.

Weight Watchers Newsletter - Week of November 9th - Getting in 10 minutes of additional activity each day!

Good afternoon!


This weekend, I did my fourth 5K race since August. This time it was the inaugural Arbor Day Run in Plano. From my last race to this race, I shaved another 3 minutes off of my time, managed to run over ½ of the race and felt GREAT. My first 5K was done in 56:54:79. This go around came in at 47:30:13, and that was WITH being stopped at the light at Parker and Spring Creek. Don’t ask me why they didn’t block off the course. In any case, it felt amazing. I have been saving my race bibs and printing off my race results as PDF files so that I can use this to help chronicle my journey as well. Anything to help keep the motivation up.

True to form, I showed a big loss last week, and it was all but obliterated this week. I think that in 15 months of being back On Program, one bad week won’t kill me. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. I am expecting to recoup my losses next week and then some. Again, I am still positive, but just a tiny bit disappointed. What did I do with the not-so-stellar results? I reflected on all he good stuff from the week, saw the positive, celebrated my victories from the weekend, and am moving forward. Not going to let this get me down and distract me from my goal. That’s why I call this a journey. We all can get off at the wrong exit from time to time, even if we are sure we followed the roadmap.

I want to share another funny anecdote. My 2 ½ year old, Adam was on a bender after not having a nap in almost 2 days. He was busy flitting from room to room and from thing to thing. When he finally was still for a minute or two, I told him that he had ADHD! He looked at me, matter-of-factly and told me, “NO mommy…I have fire trucks”. Why that was so funny to me, I have no idea, but it made me laugh, and I really needed a good laugh after dealing with the 9-year-old and the bedroom from hades.

My plans for this week? Try to change something up again..maybe a different breakfast. Like I said, although I author a newsletter, it doesn’t mean that I am invincible. I am trying to document my journey the best I can, and to take you all with me. We are all on a mission toward better health and I am convinced that what we are doing is the best way to accomplish this! Keep on keepin’ on!
This week, the meeting dealt with strategies for coping with the holidays, and more specifically making Thanksgiving more than a couch-fest. If you find yourself with a 10, 30 or 60 minute time pocket in between festivities or meal prep, make the best use of that time and get some activity in. Some suggestions? Go for a walk with the family, do some yoga with the Wii…go for a walk, do housework…it all counts!

Kathryn challenged us this week to get 10 minutes of DELIBERATE activity EVERY DAY this week added to what we already do. Write it down, and keep track! I intend to go for a walk each night this week. It can serve a two-fold purpose for me. (1) stress relief and (2) stress relief. Plus it will get me out of the house for a bit, which is always good!

I thought it appropriate to close with this quote:

"Success seems to be connected with action. Successful men keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit."

-Conrad Hilton

RECIPES:


Candied Sweet Potatoes with Pineapple

Yield: 6 (1/2 cup) servings at a POINTS® Value of 2 per serving

Ingredients:

1 ½ pounds sweet potatoes, peeled & cut into 1” chunks
8 oz canned crushed pineapple in juice
1 Tbsp Splenda
¼ tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425°. Coat 2 quart casserole dish with Pam. Place potatoes in dish. In small bowl combine pineapple, Splenda & cinnamon, add to potatoes & toss well. Bake, stirring after 30 minutes, until bubbly, about 45 minutes.
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Hot and Sour Soup

This dish was published in a prior newsletter, but since the weather is beginning to change, I wanted to re-run this one. It is fabulous and rivals the best Hot and Sour that you can buy at a Chinese restaurant.

Serving size: Approx 1-1/3 cups.
Recipe serves 4 at a POINTS® Value of 2 per serving.


6 dried wood-ear mushrooms
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 Tbs reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp chili-garlic sauce
3 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp Asian (dark) sesame oil
½ lb reduced-fat soft tofu, drained and cut into ½-inch cubes
8 ounce can bamboo shoots, drained and thinly sliced
2½ Tbsp cornstarch
3 Tbsp water
1 large egg white, lightly beaten with 1 Tablespoon water

Directions:
1. Combine dried mushrooms with enough hot water to cover by 2 inches in a small bowl; let stand 15 minutes, then drain.

2. Bring the broth, soy sauce, chili-garlic sauce, vinegar, and sesame oil to a boil in a large saucepan. Add the drained mushrooms, tofu and bamboo shoots. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Combine the cornstarch and water in a small bowl; stir in about ¼-cup of the hot liquid, then return to the pan. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture boils and thickens slightly, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat; slowly drizzle the egg mixture into the soup while stirring in a circular motion. Serve immediately.

Cooking Tips

*If you can’t find wood-ear mushrooms, just use any dried mushrooms that you can find.
**For ease in preparing mushrooms, place water in pyrex cup and heat in microwave. Then add mushrooms and soak.
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Pumpkin-Oat Bread

POINTS® Value: 3
Servings : 24
Preparation Time: 15 min
Cooking Time: 45 min
Level of Difficulty: Easy

A fabulous fall snack. You get a generous piece of cake, topped with a crunchy walnut and an underlying hint of caramel flavor.

Ingredients:

• 1 spray(s) cooking spray, flour-variety recommended
• 1/2 cup(s) butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cup(s) packed light brown sugar
• 3 large egg(s), beaten
• 2 cup(s) canned pumpkin
• 1/4 tsp table salt
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice, or more to taste
• 1 1/2 cup(s) all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cup(s) uncooked quick oats
• 2 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 24 pieces walnut halves

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat a 10- X 15-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

• Using an electric mixer, in a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and pumpkin; beat well. Add salt, pumpkin pie spice, flour, oats and baking soda; mix thoroughly. Pour batter into prepared baking dish and place walnut halves on top so there will be 1 walnut in the center of each piece of cake. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, about 40 to 45 minutes.

• Cool in pan and cut into 24 pieces. Yields 1 piece per serving.

Notes:

Spice up the batter with a dash of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pepper, ginger or allspice.

Weight Watchers Newsletter - Week of October 26th - Good Health Guidelines Part Deux

Hey everyone!

Last week and this week, the meeting topic covered the good health guidelines that we are supposed to adhere to for the long haul and to make this plan sustainable in the long run.  As you know, getting in your fruits and vegetables is an important one of these guidelines.  I attached the PDF again this week.   We attempted to plant a vegetable garden this summer, but most of the plants never produced due to the heat we had.  We did, however, have a zucchini plant that wouldn’t give up.  We got a few fruit off the plant over the summer, and we kind of forgot about it for awhile.  This past Saturday it finally dried up enough so that I could walk outside in the backyard without sloshing too much.  I wanted to see what (if anything) was left in the remains of the vegetable garden from this summer. I literally jumped back  when I saw this humongous zucchini staring back at me.

Mr. Boy (Adam, the 2 ½ year old) is shown below holding the 5 lb 5 oz zucchini that we grew.  What the HECK was I going to do with this monster?!?!?!  I started Googling.  I found a recipe for zucchini lasagna that I was willing to try.  The recipe is below in the recipe section.  It had 7 points per serving, and was absolutely fabulous.  Bad thing? I only used up ½ of the monster in the casserole! I still have half of the zucchini in my fridge. 

I found another recipe that will hopefully use up the remainder.  I found a good lightened zucchini bread recipe that I also am including in today’s issue.  I made the zucchini bread last night and it came out fantastic!  Even though the majority of the flour used was whole wheat flour, it was surprisingly light.  It made two nice loaves.  I think you all will enjoy it.

ll I have to show for it is a .4 pound loss.  It’s too bad that this particular challenge isn’t taking inches lost into consideration because during the time period of the challenge, I lost 5 inches.  This time, chest, hips and waist were the big losers here. 

My coach has been doing some things to help shake things up a bit for me to help get the scale moving again.  I am also taking a closer look at my journaling to ensure accuracy there.  I walked both Saturday and Sunday last week in Flower Mound and put in over 6 miles this weekend.  My times over the weekend were pretty consistent with the times from the Jogging for Johnson race that we did on October 17^th. 

In other news, I have submitted my blog to both dentonrc.com and to the Dallas Examiner.  What a great way to get the word out. No news back yet, but that’s okay!  I’ll keep you guys informed.  I have had some really good feedback from my readers, and I’d LOVE to be able to reach more people. 

The meeting this week dealt with the second group Weight Watchers’ Good Health Guidelines.  This was the second a two-part meeting, so we handled the second half of them this week, more specifically the ones dealing with liquids, healthy oils, multivitamins, activity and sugar & alcohol.  The first attachment this week goes into this at length.  The basic guidelines are as follows:

• Liquids – shoot for at least 6-8oz glasses daily.  All liquids (except for alcohol!) count toward this number.
• Healthy oils – 2 teaspoons daily of either olive, canola, sunflower, safflower or flax oil.  Note that a fish oil supplement does NOT COUNT toward this.  Use in it’s liquid form. Add to salads, sauté in it, add to a smoothie if you have to.  It’s really not a lot and these oils have significant health benefits, including keeping your hair, nails & skin healthy!
• Multivitamins – take one. That’s the general guideline!
• Sugars & Alcohols – limit these.  Alcohol guidelines are 1 drink for females and 2 for males, if you do enjoy the occasional alcoholic beverage.

The attachments this week are as follows:

1. Guidelines to Good Health deals with the meeting topic for this week and next week.  There are recipes in there as well!
2. Busting the top 4 cardio machine myths.  This one is worth a read

A closing quote--

“Take care of your body.

It’s the only place

you have to live.”

-Johh Rohn

RECIPES:

Zucchini Lasagna using the killer zucchini from my garden!!!

Yield: 8 servings at a POINTS® Value of 7 per serving

Ok....this recipe came about when faced with the prospect of just having to pull a ripe five pound zucchini out of the garden. I found a recipe online when searching for ideas on how to use this monster. I modified this recipe to make it more point friendly, and for lasagna, it is pretty respectable with regard to Points!  Below is an actual photo of the finished product.  It was absolutely delicious!

Ingredients:

3 pounds large zucchini, scrubbed and sliced into planks, about 1/8" thick.

1 jar Barilla Marinara sauce, or tomato sauce of your liking. I happen to think this is a superb product!

1 cup bread crumbs

1- 15 oz container of lowfat ricotta cheese (HEB or Kroger is great!)

4 eggs, lightly beaten (or equivalent in Egg Beaters)

2 Tablespoons parsley, chopped

1/2 teaspoon each dried oregano, basil

Salt & pepper to taste

1 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

8 oz shredded part skim mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Slice zucchini into long thin slices, approx 1/8". Cook in boiling water just until limp, about 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels.

Combine ricotta, eggs, parsley, seasoning and half of the parmesan cheese and half of the bread crumbs in a bowl. Set aside.

In a 9x13 pan, spoon a thin layer of tomato sauce. Sprinkle with a quarter of the bread crumbs. Arrange layer of zucchini over this. Spoon half of the reserved ricotta mixture on top of the zucchini. Sprinkle with half the mozzarella cheese. Arrange the rest of the zucchini over this, layer more tomato sauce and the rest of the bread crumbs and top with remaining ricotta mixture. Top with remaining mozzarella and parmesan.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 1 hour or until top is brown.  Let stand 20 minutes before cutting.

Zucchini Bread

Desserts

Yield: 2 loaves @ 10 slices with a POINTS® Value of 3 per slice

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 60 minutes

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

 Butter-flavor cooking spray 

 2 cup(s) whole wheat flour 

 2/3 cup(s) all-purpose flour 

 1 tsp table salt 

 1 tsp baking soda 

 1/2 tsp baking powder 

 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon 

  3 large egg white(s) 

  1 large egg(s) 

 1 cup(s) sugar 

 2 tsp vanilla extract 

 1/3 cup(s) canola oil 

  2/3 cup(s) unsweetened applesauce 

  2 cup(s) zucchini, peeled, grated, and drained* 

 1/2 cup(s) chopped walnuts 

 1/2 cup(s) raisins, finely chopped 

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat two 8- X 4-inch loaf pans with cooking spray; set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon; set aside.

Using an electric mixer, in a large mixing bowl, beat egg whites until frothy. Add egg, sugar, vanilla extract, oil and applesauce, and beat until thoroughly combined; beat in zucchini.

Add sifted ingredients to egg mixture and mix well; fold in nuts and raisins. Pour batter into prepared pans and bake in middle of oven until a toothpick inserted in center of bread comes out clean, about 50 to 60 minutes. Slice each bread into 10 pieces and serve warm or at room temperature. Yields 1 slice per serving.

Notes:

* You’ll need about 1 1/2 medium zucchinis (about 3/4 lb) to yield 2 cups shredded zucchini.

This zucchini bread is delicious as is or toasted and spread with reduced-fat cream cheese (could affect POINTS values). For a different twist, swap the raisins for dried cranberries and the walnuts for pecans.

This bread freezes well. Wrap tightly in aluminum foil and then place in a sealable freezer bag.