Look who's back!

Well, I'm back!
For those of you who never read my blog before, welcome!
I haven't updated in 2 years but here's a brief overview of me and the blog.

I started this blog the last time I joined weight watchers, in January 2011. I used it as a place to talk about recipes I've tried, tips I've found useful, and good finds at grocery stores and farmers markets. At that time I was teaching jazzercise 5 x/week, doing yoga 1-2x/week and was a full time grad student finishing my phd.

Fast forward a few years.

I took a job as an assistant professor at a small state college in New Jersey. I love my job. I also had two beautiful twin baby boys almost 6 months ago. I love Connor and Luke more than anything I could possibly imagine. I'm still teaching jazzercise, but now its only 1-2x/week. Yoga? I wish! I'm incredibly lucky to have a supportive husband, flexible and kind department chair, and amazing babysitters. But I'm still a mom of infant twins working full time, so things aren't so easy this time around. I don't have oodles of activity points to spend on wine any longer, so weight watchers will be a bit harder. I also have a lot more to lose.

This wasn't the original plan by the way- life never is. I thought I'd have my babies one at a time (well, I always wished for twins, but wishes so rarely come true). I also thought I'd have them while I was in grad school, so I could be home with them, and then start the job search. Instead, it took years of trying, doctors, treatments, etc., before I got pregnant with my twins. So, I'm a working new mom. But life is still pretty wonderful.

Anyway, this time, I have a lot more weight to lose. I am 20 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight, 30 pounds above my pre-IVF weight, and 50 pounds above where I'd like to be. So I'm taking baby steps, but I'm hoping keeping this blog along with counting my points can keep me accountable.

As far as my cooking/eating philosophy:  I eat real food. No splenda, no smart balance, no ricedream ice cream. I cook with oil and butter in moderation. I use reduced fat dairy products and nonstick cooking spray. I eat real pasta. See this post if you want to know why.  Don't try and convince me to eat pretend food. I won't do it.

So, here's a quick and easy 1 point side dish

Fennel, Red Onion, and Carrots (serves 2, 1 pp each)
1 bulb fennel sliced thin
1 medium red onion sliced thin
2 large carrots peeled and sliced thin
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp thyme
salt & pepper to taste

Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add remainder of ingredients to pan and saute till soft. End of recipe.

I use this as a side dish with fish often. Today I'm having it with salmon and sweet potato oven fries.

sausage & pepper quiche

A while back, I posted a recipe for chicken&brocolli&mac&cheese...I kinda like combo meals.

When I was a kid, sausage and peppers was a staple meal for us all summer long. And moving to NJ, I will certainly be able to get good italian sausage again in a giant ring like I'm used to! Anyway, my favorite part of sausage and peppers was always having peppers and eggs the next day for lunch. So I thought to myself, why not combine the two and make a sausage and peppers quiche? I should also note--I had half and half and whole milk left after another recipe last week, and wanted to use it up. Normally quiches (the good ones at least) are made with heavy cream, so though these aren't the healthiest ingredients, they do lighten up a normally very heavy meal.

Well, luck had it that my local harris teeter had organic italian chicken sausage on sale, so I figured it was a sign. Wait a minute, sausage that isn't pork? Yeah, I know. Weird. Anyway, I'm sticking closely to my points plus, so I decided to keep it low cal for this recipe. If you changed it up to include pork, you'd need to add points. As an aside, my brother thinks its crazy to eat poultry with eggs together. I try not to think about it.

So here goes:

First, for the pie crust--this recipe makes 2 thin pie crusts each at 14 pts plus

6 tbsp butter

1 c all purpose flour

1 tbsp sugar

pinch salt

2-3 tbsp ice water

Cut up butter into cubes and place in the freezer till you're ready for it (at least 5 mins). Put dry ingredients into the bowl of a food processor and pulse. Add butter to dry ingredients, pulse till it looks like bread crumbs. SLOWLY add water till it all forms a ball. Form ball into 2 discs, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Sausage & Pepper Quiche- 4 servings at ~10 pointsplus each

1 pie crust

2 tsp olive oil, divided

2 links italian sausage (I used organic chicken sausage)

1 red bell pepper sliced thin

1/2 small onion sliced thin

2 cloves garlic sliced

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (in the future, I'd add an extra 1/4 cup for no difference in points per serving)

3 eggs

6 oz half and half

2 oz whole milk

salt & pepper to taste

Roll out dough into the shape of a pie plate, add to pie plate, and prick all over with a fork. Cover in foil and fill with pie weights or beans (I use lentils). Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Remove sausage from casings and saute in 1 tsp olive oil. Saute onions, peppers, and garlic till softened in 1 tsp olive oil. Once these three steps are done, put sausage, veggies, and cheese in the pie shell, scattering evenly. Beat the three eggs and add the liquid, salt and pepper. Mix till evenly combined and pour into pie shell. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

oh how I've missed you!

Hello blog readers! Its been WAY too long. Since my last post I've:

1- gotten a job

2- gone on 3 trips in as many weeks

3- done more yard work than I thought humanly possible

4- celebrated Easter (with more candy than I thought humanly possible)

5- graduated with my PhD

6- finally, gotten back on the WW bandwagon!

Yeah...I fell off for a while. Things got too crazy. But now, I have eleven weeks before I move to NJ. Yes, you heard me correctly, New Jersey. The garden state. And I can't wait. Say what you will about Snookie and Chris Christie, but I'll be in an awesome job, and only about 2.5 hours away from my family. Just 45 minustes from Philly & an hour from NYC. Can't really get much better than that. Anyway, in these 11 weeks, I plan to get back on the WW wagon! I started journaling again on Monday, and through all this craziness gained just 0.6 lbs. Not so bad at all! And this is the perfect time of year to get back started with points plus- its strawberry season! My wonderful husband picks strawberries for me on the way home from work a few times a week. I try my very hardest not to consume them all in a day or two. Normally, I do pretty well :)

So, here's a recipe. Its a simple one, but a good breakfast and starts my day with a serving of whole grains, healthy fats, and fruit.

Breakfast Elvis Wrap 5 points plus

1 whole grain tortilla (I use Harris Teeter 8 grain--only 2 pp each!)

1 tbsp natural peanut butter

1 banana

light drizzle of honey

Put the tortilla on a plate and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds. Spread most of the PB down the middle, but put a tiny dot to "glue" the edges in place. Slice the banana on top of the PB in the middle (you might have extra banana. in that case, just eat it alone. call it a breakfast appetizer) and drizzle with honey. Wrap, eat, and enjoy!

PS- somehow iphoto lost my uploaded picture.

delicious muffins...and cookies

Hi everyone. My life is full of uncertainty right now. I bake when I need to work things out in my head. I have a lot to work out. The result--some delicious muffins and cookies.

The muffins were a combination of recipes, both from Nigella Lawson books. The combination might sound strange, but the results were awesome. Here goes:

Banana Chocolate Muffins- makes 11 at 3 points plus each

1 c all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

4 tbsp honey

4 tbsp butter

2 overripe bananas mashed

1 egg

2 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Combine dry ingredients and set aside. In a heavy saucepan, melt butter & honey together till its all liquid. Beat egg, mash in bananas, and add to dry ingredients. Add butter-honey mixture. Stir till combined. Add in chocolate chips. Portion out into a muffin pan and bake for about 20 minutes. These are delish.

Also, I made these cookies today. Also delish.

and she's back

Wow, its taken me a while to post. I've been traveling, Mike's been traveling, catching up is hard...

But anywho, I worked on a fun recipe for pasta with a chickpea sauce. Mike is not a fan of beans, so I wouldn't make this for him, but its inspired by this Rachel Ray Recipe, and both easy and tasty.

Pasta with Spinach Chickpea Sauce- serves 6 at ~ 3 points plus per serving

1 tbsp olive oil

3 large cloves garlic

1 can chick peas, drained & rinsed

4 oz white wine

1 large can crushed tomatoes

1 box frozen chopped spinach

1/4 c grated parmesan or pecorino romano cheese

1/2 tsp dry thyme

salt & pepper to taste

Put garlic and chick peas in a food processor and grind till a paste is formed. Heat olive oil in a large pan, and add chick pea mixture. Cook ~5 minutes or till it starts to smell nice and nutty. Add wine and stir. Add tomatoes, and stir; cook till it starts simmering. Add spinach and stir till it all melts and is incorporated. Add remaining ingredients. Serve over pasta.

OK, so now for a find. At Harris Teeter, Edy's ice cream was on sale. Including the light kind. For 3 points plus--this ice cream with girl scout cookies is the deal of the year! Yum!

rich and chocolate-y

Shouldn't all things be rich & chocolate-y?

I love to bake, and one of my favorite cakes, comes from a Nigella Lawson recipe for "Pantry-Shelf Chocolate-Orange Cake," in her How to be a Domestic Goddess book. I've always replaced the orange marmalade with raspberry jam because I LOVE the chocolate-raspberry combo and HATE chocolate and orange together. In any case, this cake is easy, dense, chocolate-y, and delicious. Whenever I make it, someone asks for the recipe.

I decided to try making it over, and the results were quite good. I kept some of the chocolate, added fresh (well, frozen) raspberries to replace some of the jam, halved the butter, and used white wheat flour. The results were still dense and chocolate-y, so this one is definitely a winner.

Chocolate-Raspberry Cake--serves 8 at 6 points plus each

4 tbsp unsalted butter

1/4 cup unsweetned apple sauce

2 oz semi-sweet chocolate

4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

3 tbsp raspberry jam

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 cups frozen raspberries, blitzed in the food processor

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup white wheat (or all purpose) flour

pinch salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350, and spray a springform pan with non-stick cooking spray. Place butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan to melt. Once its nearly melted, add in the chocolate. Once its almost completely all liquid, add in the apple sauce, raspberries, jam, cocoa powder, sugar, and (after combined) eggs. Remove from heat and slowly add flour, salt, baking powder, and soda. Pour into springform pan and bake on a center rack for 50 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove edges and turn out onto a plate. Top with powdered sugar. Enjoy!

rice & beans...sort of

Hi all,

Again, I was traveling earlier this week (this is a theme that will likely continue till May), but made some yummy lunch today. After reading this post on skinny taste, I got a hankering for rice & beans. Warning: I am a white girl from Long Island. I don't know the first thing about latin cuisine, so this recipe that follows is certainly not authentic at all.

I also was averse to leaving the house this morning/afternoon, so I used what I had in the closet & fridge. I'm normally a huge fan of fresh veggies, but sometimes I have frozen on hand. Today, I used frozen bell peppers I bought a while back to use in a crock pot chili. When things are cooked for a really long time, the freshness doesn't matter quite as much. Also, in the recipe below, I threw in extra veggies to increase the volume.

skinny gringo rice & beans--6 servings at 4 points plus each

1 large yellow onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/3 bag frozen bell peppers

1 c brown basmati rice

1 14.5 oz can fire roasted tomatoes

1 14.5 oz can black beans

1 c water

1 beef bouillon cube (could use any flavor)

2 c loosely chopped fresh spinach (could sub in frozen)

4 green onions, chopped (white parts only)

1/2 tsp dry thyme

1/2 tsp cumin

1 bay leaf

salt & pepper (black & red) to taste

Coat a large dutch oven with nonstick cooking spray, and cook onions and garlic over medium heat. Once softened, add peppers. Once peppers defrost, add rice, and stir for a few minutes to coat. Add remaining ingredients, stir, and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook on very low for about 40 minutes.

The end result, pictured here was quite yummy. I topped it with 1/2 oz light cheddar cheese & 1 tbsp light sour cream for a very delicious 5 point lunch. Enjoy!