In honor of Baja Babe...

So I have a friend and fellow WWer who is doing something very brave and adventurous. She's packed up and moved to Baja. WAY baja... all the way down near the bottom.

I'm jealous. She's about 5 minutes from sand and surf and virtually always in the sun. I'm missing the sun, as you can see from my previous post.

I won't "out" her here, but she's welcome to if she wants. For now I'll just call her "Baja Babe."

In honor of Baja Babe, I made healthy bean tostadas for lunch today. I guess for these to be truly "Baha" they shoulc have ceviche on them, but I haven't developped a taste for fish yet.

BAJA BEAN TOSTADAS
2 Servings
6.5 Points

4 corn tortillas - toasted
1 can Progresso black beans
4 tbs fat free shredded cheddar cheese
8 tsp reduced fat sour cream
1 diced tomato
1/2 cup diced green chile

• Heat oven to 450. Spray both sides of tortillas with cooking spray. Bake at 450 for 4 - 6 minutes on each side (watch them carefully).
  
• Pour beans into pan and heat while mashing them. (I drained and rinsed my beans today and wish I hadn't. The extra juice would've been better for making "refried" beans).
• Divide the beans evenly among the 4 crispy tortillas (tostadas). Top each with 1 TBS fat free cheese, 2 tsp reduced fat sour cream, 1/4 of the diced tomato and 2 TBS of green chile.

I was hungry so I took a small head of cabbage, chopped it, sprinkled it with Knorr chicken broth and dry sauteed it in a nonstick pan for a side dish along with green pepper strips.

Very filling.

!Ole'!

Scampers, dog extraordinaire...

Hey all -

Like so many WWers, I took the holidays off.

It wasn't a conscious choice, but after driving to Texas for Thanksgiving I never did get back in the groove.

On the plus side, I only have a .4 pound gain to show for my lack of dedication, so I must have been doing something right.

Maybe it was shoveling snow.

I've never had to shovel snow in my life, but about 18 inches piled up in our yard and it still hasn't gone away.

Here's a pic of Scampers, dog extraordinaire, in his snow trench in our back yard.

PBJ, Chips & Milk - 7 Point Lunch

Okay, really. Who doesn't know how to make a PBJ? To make it work on program, though, the secret is portion control. I don't know about you but I LOVE peanut butter. I was a bit shocked to discover that I probably used between 2 and 3 tablespoons per sandwich BWW (Before Weight Wwatchers).

I was also shocked to discover that one tablespoon of peanut butter, balanced with one tablespoon of preserves was very satisfying (after I got adjusted my tastebuds' expectations of course).

My friend Monique wasn't as forgiving of 4 point PBJs. I think she adds an extra half tablespoon to hers.

LUNCH MENU - 7 POINTS

PBJ

4 points

14 Fat Free Pringles

1 Point

1 Cup Skim Milk

2 points

Weight Watchers Pepperoni Smartwich & Zucchini - 6 Point Lunch

LUNCH MENU - 6 POINTS

Weight Watchers Pepperoni Smartwich

6 points

Balsamic Zucchini and Tomatoes

0 points

WEIGHT WATCHERS FRIENDLY RECIPE WITH POINTS(R) VALUE

BALSAMIC ZUCCHINI AND TOMATOES
2 Servings
0 Points

2 medium zucchini
1 roma tomato
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
salt to taste
2 pkts Splenda

1. Dice zucchini & tomato
2. Salt if desired
3. Saute' in nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray
4. Add vinegar and 2 packets of Splenda
5. Cook to reduce vinegar (about 5 minutes)

Egg Tacos - 3 Point Breakfast

Weight Watchers Friendly Breakfast Recipe With Points(R) Value -

EGG TACOS WITH GREEN CHILE SPREAD
1 Serving
3 Points

1 egg

2 points

1 egg white

0 points

2 small corn tortillas

1 point

2 tbs green chile spread (see previous post for recipe)

0 points

1/4 cup sweet peppers

0 points

1. Scramble egg and egg white together
2. Cook in preheated nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray
3. Heat tortillas over flame, in dry skillet, or in microwave
4. Divide scrambled egg, chile spread, and sweet peppers evenly between tortillas

Weight Watchers Garden Vegetable Soup 2 Point Lunch...

This is a great lunch if you're having a big dinner later on.

Or if you're saving all of your Flex Points (R) for a special occasion like Thanksgiving.

LUNCH MENU - 2 POINTS

Weight Watchers Garden Vegetable Soup-

0 points

Multigrain Saltine Crackers-

1 point

Laughing Cow Lite Cheese Wedge-

1 point

Sweet Mini Peppers-

0 points

Green Chile Spread-

0 points

The green chile spread was more common than ketchup in my family. Of course, it was made with a lot of butter. Here is a modified, program friendly version - a zero point recipe!

The Garaden Vegetable Soup recipe is available in the Week 1 Weight Watchers member materials.

WEIGHT WATCHERS FRIENDLY RECIPE WITH POINTS (R) VALUE

GREEN CHILE SPREAD
8 Servings
0 Points

1 large onion
1 13 oz container of frozen green chile
4 cloves fresh garlic (or to taste)
3 tsp Butter Buds
Salt to taste

1. Thinly slice onion into small (about 1") strips.
2. Thaw green chile and drain liquid.
3. Mince garlic.
4. Preheat nonstick skillet and spray with butter flavored cooking spray (I like Weight Watchers)
5. Saute' onion until soft.
6. Add green chile and garlic
7. Salt to taste
8. Cook about 5 minutes over low heat.
9. Add Butter Buds and stir to dissolve..
   

Store in refrigerator.
Serving size = 2 tablespoons.
Points(R) = 0, zip, zero, zilch, nada

This spread is handy to have around. I eat it on crackers, add it to eggs, turkey sandwiches, bagles with ff cream cheese, quesadillas... you get the idea.

If you don't have frozen chile where you are, you can use canned. I prefer frozen because it doesn't have the preservatives that have a tangy vinegary taste. Here's a link to the kind I use (Bueno)

I know it's available at WalMart in and around San Antonio. Not sure about the rest of the country - let me know!

http://tinyurl.com.au/x.php?29o

I like the Autumn Roast Hot.

Any Weight Watchers In Da House?

Howdy Y'all -

Okay, that title was my lame and outdated attempt to be hip and cool. I'm hoping I'm not the only Weight Watcher surfing the 'net. If I am, this is gonna to be a lonely journey.

Well, not too lonely, my husband Joe joined Weight Watchers with me. So I'll have company, but if this goes the same as it has in the past, I'll spend week after week watching the pounds melt off of Joe effortlessly while I struggle for each ounce.

He's lucky, he can either diet or exercise and lose weight. Me? It's not an either/or situation. I have to exercise AND eat healthily to have a smile on my face when I step off of the scale.

Case in point, I just spent a week in Boca Raton on business. I was optimistic because the person I was working with is dedicated to his yoga practice and I got to join him for an hour and a half every day.

Unfortunately, I was pressed for time and didn't always make the wisest food choices. I did watch my portions though.

The result? +0.6 pounds on the scale. Sigh.

Could've been a LOT worse.

Anyway, I remember from my last successful Weight Watchers stint (lost over 40 lbs back in 2002), that the make-or-break meal was often lunch. So, I plan to post as many of my lunch recipes and Weight Watchers Points(R) values as I can (sorry Core Plan followers, it won't always be Core). I figure it'll keep me motivated.

Please join me - let's not do this alone. Leave a comment - it's moderated to prevent SPAM and offensive material, but I'd love to hear from you.