Diet? What Diet?

Well I havent mentions Weight Watchers in a while, which is because frankly I blew it off. That is the bad news. The good news is, I maintained. If I hadn't blown it off I could have potentially lost over 20lbs by now. Too bad for me, i'll have to remember that when I feel like falling off. I have a long ways to go, and in some ways I wasn't entirely ready to fully commit. I'm not always sure I am now. One day at a time. I came out of Christmas only 1lb heavier- and I give myself a pat on the back for that!

I restarted my WW treck a few days ago and am trying to have fun with it and not fall into boredom with the dishes. I went shopping and spent 90% of my time in the outside sections gathering up as many fruit, veggies, lean meats and dairy I could think of. I took my calculator with me so that when I was in the centre isles and something caught my eye I could see how much it was worth. I found myself in the cookie aisle- I turned around and avoided the torture. I found a few things I have never cooked with before and will be experimenting with them for the next couple weeks.

Another form of food I have been working with is SUPPERWORKS. Supperworks is awesome! It is a meal assembly business that features monthly menu's. You select what you like, and want to make. You show up, they give you an apron and you go around a prep kitchen putting together meals with pre washed, cut foods etc. Then you freeze it all and as you need them you take them out and bake-slowcook- saute as directed.


I have found that by using this service I ...

A) have something just for me that is fun and relaxing

B) Get time to myself OR get time to bond with family or friends that come with me

C) have more homecooked, healthy balanced meals ALOT more often. Especially since baby arrived.

D) Have better use of my grocery budget as I am using exactly what I paid for with no wasted foods that expire etc.

When I got home from the store I was starving! Luckily hubby was home to play with baby while I whipped up some deliciousness. What I came up with was delicious and felt nothing like diet food. It was incase you cant tell from me saying it again, DELICIOUS.

CHICKEN AND CHEDDAR TOSTADA

(I dont know what constitutes a tostada besides the giant chip...)

2 Tostada Chips
3oz chicken breast, cut into small cubes
granulated garlic
salt
pepper
1 tsp Olive Oil
4 tbsp marinara, divided
2 oz old cheddar, grated, divided
1 tbsp crumbled feta, divided

cook chicken in olive oil with spices until cooked. Layer remaining ingredients onto both chips with chicken under the cheeses.

Chip, Marinara, Chicken, Cheese.

Broil on middle rack until melted. Yum! Simple! fast! I had mine with fresh veggies and my other new obsession- Kraft Asian Sesame dressing. The Tostadas worked out to 4.5 pts each and the dressing was 2pts. Thats 11 pts. 4.5 each tostada and 2 for the dressing. Tomorrow I will probably make it again! i need to incorporate more veg though!

Cupcakes Galore

A small post from a tired mama.!!!!

Hey all. I wanted to get back to my sad lil blog that has been missing me. My son is 9 months old and a wee handful. He`s so sweet and fun but he`s also teething which makes him in need of LOADS of mommy attention. So when you are following a lil cruiser around all day trying to stop him from bashing his head on coffee tables and finding things to shove in his mouth, you dont get so much done.

THAT SAID! I have concentrated on cupcakes for celebrations recently and there have been 3 specifically. Miles' baptism, my grandmothers 80th and a friends babyshower. Here are photos of all three endeavours.

The Baptism Cupcakes



The 80th Cupcakes


Baby shower- Quilted Buttons and Giraffes



I'm sorry this is such a boring ass post! and im sad half of these photos are blurry but that's ok!
I'll post more of my weight watchers recipes soon! Promise!

Chowdah

Well its week 4 on weight watchers. 8.8lbs- victory! Last time I did this diet I lost 15lbs the first month. But I was 17, and at the gym everyday and age can make a big difference. Still Im pretty happy. Will I be able to lose 30lbs by christmas? Who knows! But as long as i keep losing at least a lb a week, I can stay motivated and not be mad at myself. Matt has lost over 10 since he started WW, 15lbs overall.

ACTIVITIES

Baby and I have been attending "Diaper Swim" at the local community centre. Its AWESOME. I've only been once because baby got a cold and we havent been able to go back but I plan to make it a 1-2x a week thing. Its basically a mommy and me water aerobics for moms. Your baby sits in a giant fish shaped flutter board with toys, attached to a rope that you hold onto. Its so cute and Miles really loves it. He laughs and giggles and has a great time. I go with my sister, and if she didnt go I wouldnt. I dont 'do' public swim so for me this has been a big step. When i have lost enough that I am comfortable being in a class with lost of people (this program only has a couple ppl currently) then we will sign up for baby swimming lessons. Maybe in january.

Another trip to the farmers market proved delicious. This week for less than $40.00 I purchased

Cauliflower Broccoli Brussel Sprouts Red Peppers Apples Carrots Sweet corn Farmers Strip Bacon Mild Italian Sausage Asiago Ciabbata Bread

unfortunately some greedy gus bought ALL the ham steaks the farmer brought so I had to buy my ham at the grocery store...but thats ok! I've done my best to utilize all these ingredients this week- except the bacon which im saving for the weekend.

I made Winter Chowder with the brussel sprouts it was awesome possum. I made sausage, peppers and potatoes (a fam fave), and cauliflower mash. I still need to use the broccoli and carrots. Soon, soon. Here is the recipe for the Winter Chowder, which I found in Taste Of Home's Heart warming Soup Edition. Slightly modified, as always.

Winter Chowder

3 Medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4" pieces
1 chopped onion
3 cup Chicken stock (Recipe called for one...yeah NO)
3/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
2 shakes hot sauce of choice
1/2 Cup fully cooked, cubed ham (I used fat free blue menu)
1 cup fresh or frozen brussel sprouts, quartered
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup monterey jack cheese

In a large saucepan, saute potatoes and onion for a couple minutes using cooking spray OR you can add a lil EVOO and butter. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and let boil for 10-12 minutes. Do not drain, mash up potatoes. it will be chunky and thick. If this bugs you, puree it and add an extra amount of stock. Stir in all the seasonings.

While the potatoes are boiling, heat a large nonstick skillet and spray with non stick spray. Saute ham and brussel sprouts for 5-6 minutes or until sprouts are tender. You can add a bit of broth here once ham is browned to aid in cooking the sprouts.


Stir sprout and ham mixture into the potatoes. Add milk, bring to a boil and then reduce heat; Simmer, uncovered for 5-6 minutes or until heated through, stirring occasionally.

Gradually stir in 1/2 cup of the cheese; cook for 2-3 minutes. Serve up the soup with the remaining cheese and if you want some colour- add chives.

This was DELICIOUS. Not gonna lie, it was a gassy house afterwards but hey, thats the danger in potatoes and sprouts. Next time I will probably leave out one potato so its not so thick, and add something like dill or chives.

Only 4 pts a cup to boot!

Bonus picture- I had my second cake decorating class which conveniantely was a morning after i had zero sleep. Therefore, I got tired and hasty and rushed through my cake. so its...not to speck but still cute. Voila, my wilton cupcake transfer cake.

2 diet friendly soups

First off- Weight Watchers week 2 is over and im down 6.5lbs. Not too shabby. The best part of this is that I am not feeling deprived and Im not having my usual psycho grease and chocolate freak outs. Go me! I am losing at a perfect pace, and I have eaten Tiny Tom Donuts and a froster from Macs milk- I just learned how to moderate my treats.

Secondly- Miles is over 5 months old now and started cereal this week. He made some truly disgusted faces on day one but now he is into it, can eat from the spoon, opens wide and swallows well. We're just a couple weeks away from first veggies. Baby food blogs are not too far away now.

This was soup week at home. Its been pretty dank and chilly, and I havent had alot of time to cook because the little man is at that 'hold me love me play with me' stage of infancy. I find soups quick (mostly) and alot easier to walk away from when someone else needs attention. I made 2 soups. One just for us and one for company on saturday night. Both were cheap, easy and cost minimal amounts of points.

APPLE AND ACORN SQUASH SOUP

All organic or farmers market ingredients. Sorry I forgot to take a picture of the final puree

2 apples, unpeeled, cored, cut in half
1 medium acorn squash, cut in half
2 tbsp (30 ml) olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic
4 cups (1 L) chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste
Parsley, optional

Preheat oven to 400° F (200° C). Place apples and squash upside down in a shallow pan with 1/4 inch of water. Bake for 35 minutes. Remove apples and set aside. Flip squash over. Drizzle with 1 tbsp olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. Broil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

In saucepan, heat remaining olive oil. Add onions and sautee for 5 minutes. Add garlic and sautee for 1 minute. Add chicken stock, apple and peeled squash. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Puree in blender to desired consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve topped with freshly chopped parsley.

I added milk and flour to thicken the soup- gave it that teeny little bit more richness and creamyness.

BROCCOLI CHEDDAR CONFETTI SOUP

This one I made up a while ago, and used to have alot of butter and whole fat cream in it. This version is butterless and uses lower fat cream- its not as rich but its really delicious and chock full of daily vegetable servings.

1 large onion diced garlic clove, minced or thin sliced
2 carrots diced
1 celery stalk diced
1 potato peeled and diced small or shredded
2 reg or 1 large head broccoli- Stems peeled and diced, florets in a separate bowl
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp flour
6 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup half and half cream
1 cup shredded old cheddar

In your fave soup pot saute the broccoli stems and carrots in half olive oil for 5-10 minutes. Add onions and saute another 5 minutes- adding the rest of the olive oil with it. Add the potatoes and saute for a few minutes then add flour and cook off another couple minutes. Add broth and bring to a boil- add florets. Continue boil while it thickens then add cream. Use an immersion blender and blend to desired consistency- stir in cheese until incorporated. Simmer until ready to eat. The longer you leave it the thicker it will get and the more intense the cheese flavour will be. Season with salt and pepper to taste. There you have it. 2 delicious, nutritious soups.

Tilapia for 2

Well its WW day 7, and Im doing my best to have fun with it. So far so good. I felt the familiar urge to cheat, to overeat, to spend all my points on cookies but I overcame them. I had a sweet snack that cost me to only be a half point over budget as opposed to day one, when I was 20 over. I feel this week has been a great success, and the scale peeks i've taken prove it. Matt has lost 9lbs- 7 on his own and 2 on ww as he only signed up saturday afternoon. Good for us!

I've been documenting my foods- not lunches and breakfasts cause its like, eggs, breakfast wraps, cereal, fruit smoothies, salad and weight watchers frozen entrees. I do still try to get creative and put real effort into making and eating breakfast- for me, thats a huge change. I used to wait until I felt sick then eat a pile of cookies to get something fast...then when I get over feeling sick from the cookies I eat some other crap...and then starve until dinner- with crap snacks inbetween.

Last night I made an awesome meal- it should only take about 2 hours (an hour of that is an hour of baking tomato) start to finish but with Miles being a snuggle bug in need of constant mom attention it got pretty hairy. It took me more like 4 because I had to do things in pieces.
Which is why I started 2 hours earlier than I wanted to~

ROAST CHERRY TOMATO TILAPIA
With Parmesan Brussel Sprouts and Lemon Couscous

16 oz raw tilapia, 4, 4oz filets
Flour
1/2 cup chicken broth, low sodium pref
2 1/2 cup(s) grape tomatoes
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried dill
1 tsp dried oregano
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
5 clove(s) garlic clove(s) smacked open
2 Cups Brussel Sprouts, Halved
2 tsp parmesan
1 cup Whole Wheat Couscous
2 cups chicken broth
1 fresh lemon, halved

Toss the Tomatoes in the Olive Oil, balsamic vinegar, dill, oregano and 3/5 garlic cloves. Put in a shallow baking dish and bake at 375 for 45-60mins- until flat and melty. Remove- You can keep it as it is or puree it into a smooth sauce with an immersion blender.

While sauce bakes, Dredge the Filets in flour and set aside. Steam the brussel sprouts until just before fork tender. In a saucepan, add 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp margarine, with the 2 remaining cloves of garlic. as soon as it seems hot and there is the aroma of garlic, add the brussel sprouts and let them saute. When browned to your liking remove and cover with parmesan.

Bring the 2 cups of chicken broth to a boil and add the cousous- lower to a simmer and cover- fluff in about 5 minutes and remove. Add lemon juice from one half.

When all is just about done, cook the filets- using the 1/2c chicken broth to help steam the filets and stop them from getting too brown before they are fully cooked. **Dont add the broth until both sides have browned or there will be no delicious brown crust for you!

When everything is done, put it on a plate together nice nice, with the sauce on the fish- finish with lemon juice.

WW point breakdown
Tilapia with sauce 4 pts per serving
Brussel sprouts 2 pts per 1 cup serving
Couscous- 3 pts per cup cooked

Total Points- 2 Filets each= 13 Points
If you just have one filet then its a yummy 9pts..But we are hungry folk lol

Farmers Market Institution

Well, incase you may have seen from my very recent blog post- My husband and I have joined weight watchers. Why? Aside from the fact that we are definitely way overweight, I have extra baby weight on me thats become hard to adjust to. We both need to be healthy for our son and children to come. We both need to be able to play with them and keep up with them- expecially the keeping up with them...waddling after an angry two year old running around a mall is something I dont want to do! Not to mention, we want to be there to see them off to college, at their weddings, meet our grandbabies. You know,we want to live.

Ive done weight watchers before, when I was in highschool- ten years ago! It was a great diet but off to college I went AND poof I put it all back on PLUS oh.... another 40 lbs. Now, I have yo yo'd alot...more than anyone should. 30 lbs down, 40 back, over and over. so unhealthy! Weight watchers is the best fit for us and so, we continue forward. We like it because it teaches change of habits, as opposed to dieting. As Jennifer Hudson in her new awesome bod says, "I'm winning with weight watchers'.

I will have to eat a number of the SMARTONES weight watcher frozen meals. If i want to start getting to eat during the day (used to eat alot of cookies) as infants=starvation. But they are actually pretty decent so...

I also went to the farmers market saturday and bought all kinds of beautiful farm fresh things. For 19.50 I bought...

6 ears of sweet corn

16 Gala Apples

2 lbs of Brussel Sprouts

2 large spaghetti squash

1 acorn squash

1 large onion

I also bought pickled beets from a woman who just had breast cancer surgery and lost 4 weeks of market days. They were expensive, 9 dollars a small jar but she's had a rough summer and I wanted to support her best i could. She had sandwiches and soups and jams and jellies of all types.

My goal for the week is to take all the beautiful farmers market foods and create beautiful low point, healthy dinners with them. I also have lots of veggies left over from my Grandmothers birthday party- So I will use them up to. Waste not want not- My wallet really wants me to learn that lesson.

I plan to blog all my new recipe attempts as blogging, writing, and keeping track of everything is the best thing to help me from my usual afternoon *MUST EAT EVERYTHING IN SIGHT* freakouts.

My ideas for this are-

Tomato Soup with Corn Fritters

Spaghetti Squash Marinara with Chicken

Parmesan Brussel Sprouts

Steak with Roasted Corn and Black beans

Roasted Grape Tomatoes and Tilapia

Roasted Zucchini

Baked brown Sugar Apples

Matt will really appreciate this as he works night, and its been sandwiches and granola bars for 2 weeks and hes gonna lose it soon lol. What can I say, Babies take up alot of time and if he is in a bad mood, my kitchen has to fall to the wayside.

Wish us luck!

A letter to my Fat molecules

Dear Baby Weight,

I acknowledge the concept that all women gain weight during pregnancy. However, I must respectfully decline your attempts to move in to my neighbourhood permanently. While I do appreciate you opting not to show your face around while I was pregnant, you bold move to pile in 30+ lbs as soon as my son was born was both insulting and annoying. While over the years we have been decent frenemies, I just cant stand you anymore. Please meet my new friend Weight Watchers, she's here to take your place, and kick your ass to the curb. infact, in the 4 days I have known her, she has already managed to shed 3lbs of you. While I am at it, I will be adding your cousins- college and teen weight out on their asses as well. I hope you all have a nice dominion of hell to go to together.

Much unlove,

Angie

PS- please inform Matt's sympathy weight that WW if coming for it too- Incase they are wondering where that 7lbs of them disappeared to.

Sweet and Delicious Lemonade

NEW INTERNET! DECENT INTERNET!

The possibility to blog and it not take 3 hours an update = <3>

Lately I have had a real sweet n sour tooth. What can be considered a delicious summer (or given the time of year, end of summer) drink? LEMONADE!

Not only delicious to make for yourself, it's awesome for guests. Its something thats both fast and easy and says "I want to treat you real nice" without blood sweat and tears.

one of the so called cardinal rules of lemonade is to always use fresh lemons. But you know what? Ain't nothing wrong with mixing ready to go lemon juice with some fresh lemons. Like when for example? Like when you realize you only have 2 lemons left but have a full bottle of Realemon. Booyah!

Lemonade tip #1- 1 large lemon contains roughly 1/4 cup of juice.

Lemonade tip #2- pink lemonade is simply lemonade with Grenadine. Easily added, easily left out.

Lovely Lovely Lemonade

* 8 lemons and 1 more for decor
* 1 cup of sugar
* A splash or two of grenadine syrup
* 1 pinch of salt
* Lots of cool, clear water
* Lots of ice cubes

Start by taking out the pitcher you plan to use to store and serve this refreshing deliciousness. I use a 2 quart stone or plastic pitcher- you can do this with a punch bowl for larger parties too. (In fact, I started making lemonade because I had a beautiful pitcher and was getting aggravated trying to figure out when to use it)

The first time I made this recipe I zested all the lemons and it made for a chunky drink. DONT ZEST THEM ALL- keep it to a minimum, 2 or 3 maybe. Zest is for maximum fragrance and strong lemon flavour so do the math.

1. using a small bowl zest SOME lemons. Juice the living life out of 8 of the lemons, reserving the 9th. If you dont have that many- refer back to helpful tip #1.

2. Whisk in the sugar and salt. They won’t dissolve perfectly in the juice but will in the water.

3. Fill a two-quart pitcher halfway with ice cubes. Add the lemon syrup and top up with cold water. Stir in grenadine syrup until you like the color, or leave it out.

4. Slice up the reserved lemon thinly and place in the water for visual effect- and just a pinch more lemon flavour!

The recipe I had said to serve immediately. I have made it ahead just before guest arrive and then kept the leftover in the fridge. It tastes fine to me the next day. But then your ice is melted. If you need to make it ahead I would suggest either just doing the lemon bit and adding the sugar and water upon serving time or make the sugar and keep it in the fridge. I dont suggest making it the day before, to be safe.

ENJOY! This recipe is short and sweet (n sour ha) so dont be fooled by my huge bloggy jargin of over explanation. I hope you like this recipe as much as me, and I hope when my son is old enough to do the lemonade stand thing, I can whip this up for the neighbourhood.

Tarragon Dream!

So, I love pot pies. But it's one of those things that I always felt was a little time consuming and never really had to energy to try to make it from scratch. Sometimes I just have no interest in trying to play around with phillos and Puffs. I was watching Rachael Ray, and she made a chicken pot pie that had guess what? POLENTA for a crust.

DAMN! I fricken LOVE Polenta.

I make it and put sauce on it like pasta and it makes me happy happy happy. So seeing a recipe for a pot pie that not only has a new, delciously intriguing crust on top, but takes less than 45 minutes to make, I realized the time was nie...nye? Sp? anyone? Moving on.

I headed out and got the ingredients for this recipe and it was, seriously, delicious. and hearty. and heart warming. and it made my cheeks dance. And I did it all with an infant in the room. I loved it so much that when I realized at the end of the week that I still had almost all the ingredients still in my fridge I made it again! HEAVEN!

So here it is, I highly recommend you try it out. Rachael Ray's Tarragon Cream Chicken Polenta Pot Pies. Damn!

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 pounds chicken tenders, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 ribs celery with the greens, chopped
• Salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• 3 cups chicken stock, divided
• 1 cup cream, divided
• 1/2 cup quick cooking polenta, plus more, if needed*
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 6 sprigs fresh tarragon, stripped and chopped, 3 to 4 tablespoons
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 cup Gruyere cheese, grated

In a deep skillet heat 2 turns of the pan extra-virgin olive oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken and lightly brown, 3 minutes, add carrots, onions, and celery as you chop. Season with salt and pepper and cook 10 to 12 minutes to soften.

Preheat broiler. Set rack in middle of oven.

Bring 1 cup chicken stock and 1/2 cup cream to a boil, stir in polenta and whisk, 3 minutes. Turn heat low, stir in Gruyere cheese and reserve.

*Cook's Note: You may need up to 3/4 to 1 cup of polenta to fill the tops of your soup bowls or use some more of the remaining stock.

Scoot meat and veggies off to side, melt butter and combine with flour 1 minute. Whisk in 2 cups stock and combine, stir in 1/2 cup cream and bring to a bubble.

Stir in Dijon, tarragon, peas and adjust salt and pepper and transfer to soup bowls. Set soup bowls on baking dish. Form tops to your pot pies with the polenta and cheese mixture. Set under broiler and brown 2 to 3 minutes.

PERSONAL TOUCHES AND NOTES- 1. I used the instant Polenta- it takes 1 minute...not sure if Rachael used it too as she did say instant- but hers takes 3 mins...??? You basically whisk as you pour it into the liquid and it instantly is ready.

2. I used gruyere the first time- it made the meal more expensive weighing in at $8.00 a cup. Second time around I used a mix of mozzarella, Parmesan and Asiago, as that's what I had in the fridge. Booyah. It was amazing.

3. I used less celery cause im not a fan of chunks of it cooked and replaced it with more carrots.

4. I only had 2 ramekins and then a small casserole round so I made 2 individual pies and one larger.

There you go ENJOOOOOY IT. Thanks Rachael- you kick serious pot pie innovation ass.
I leave you with this Miles photo of the week- now almost 3 months old, he's smiling and giggling and melting hearts around the world.