M&M’S® Pretzel Chocolate Candies: 3 ww pts per pack!

A crunchy pretzel inside milk chocolate inside a colorful candy shell.

150 cal, 5g fat, 1 g fiber

Donna, remind me again what that chocolate was at T.J's.

No-Cook Raspberry Sauce, 1 pt

For those that don't have the Momentum Healthy Cooking Recipe Book, here is the recipe Kim was talking about.

2 cups fresh or thawed frozen raspberries
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon orange-flavored liqueur, such as grand Marnier (optional)

Puree all ingredients in food processor until smooth. Push puree through a strainer; discard seeds. Cover and refrigerate up to 1 week.

Per serving (2 Tablespoons): 46 Cal, 0 g Fat, 1 g fiber

*Drizzle this sauce over store bought angel food cake, fat-free vanilla frozen yogurt, or fresh sliced melon.

Anyone else thankful it's Wednesday?

I've done "pretty" good this week and need to do good today. I'm ready for my new round of 35 points!

Starbuck's Chicken & Vegetable Wrap

Calories: 290 Fat: 9g Fiber: 4g WW pts: 6

Slices of white chicken with vegetables, Kalamata olives and roasted pepper hummus in a wheat wrap.

Anyone making any positive changes?

I know I get on and post all of these good ideas but often I exit the computer and that's the last I think of them. Goal this week: Positive thoughts journaling, try on of those easy to assemble lunches and pick out one new/old recipe I haven't used in a while.

Treetop applesauce

1/2 cup for just 1 pt!

Eating out this weekend?

If you plan on eating out this weekend, please post where you went and what you had. We all need more ideas on how to enjoy eating out. As for me? I had panera last night: 1 bowl onion soup with cheese and croutons and a baguette. 6pts!

A worthy 1 pt snack/treat? :)

I have these all the time and yet they have never made it to the blog! A delicious 1 pt snack/treat.

A quote worthy to stand on it's own:

"You will not do your best to improve yourself unless you feel self-worth and have respect for yourself."

Free Ice Cream Anyone?

Click HERE for a skinny cow b2g1 ice cream cup coupon!

Improve Your Self-Esteem with Journaling

This might be the best article I've posted yet! It was just what I needed to read today.

-- By Elizabeth Evans Fryer, Health & Fitness Writer

On one episode of last season’s The Apprentice, "The Donald" gave team members, and viewers alike, a lesson in life: You can’t successfully sell what you don’t believe in. Similarly, you can’t improve on what you don’t respect

...If you have trouble remembering your good qualities or complimenting yourself throughout the day on jobs well done, perhaps an exercise in journaling will help turn your self-doubt into self-determination. Keeping a journal focused on your positive traits and accomplishments will bolster your esteem and satisfaction in yourself. After awhile, you'll be high on self-respect and realize that you are worth the effort of self-improvement.

Keep your journal on your bedside stand. Before you turn off the lights for the night, write a minimum of five self compliments in the journal. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Eat a good breakfast? Way to go! Write it down.

Did you let the guy in a silver Neon out in front of you during rush hour? How courteous! Write it down.

Somethin's gotta give!

I've decided that there are going to be weeks in my life that the extra 35 points just aren't going to cut it. On those weeks, my goal will be not to gain weight and to get in as many xp's as I can. Ugh, ready for the scale to start moving in the downward direction!

7 Strategies for Weight-Loss Success:

Start Small

Quite possibly the biggest mistake people make is pushing the accelerator too soon. You can’t lose 20 pounds in one week. But you can lose one. Just as a plant has to start as a tiny seedling, you have to start with small steps and expect small results, which add up to bigger results over time.

Check out this link for all 7 strategies:SparkPeople SlideShow

If You Need a Push...Irresistible Motivation

The Victim Trap
Stephen Covey: Author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness

Half of us spend time on urgent things—and not important things. It's like an urgency addiction: We need what we're doing to be pressing, or we feel guilty about it. But to succeed at change, you must become the creating force of your own life. That means instead of focusing on the urgent thing—it acts on you—you must focus on the important thing and making it happen—you act on it.

One habit that gets in the way of success is the victim mentality. I worked with Viktor Frankl, a Nazi prison camp survivor, for many years. His initial response at the hands of his captors was, Why do I have to suffer so? But later he began to change the question to, What is life asking of me? Each time he started to feel himself the victim, he would find someone suffering more and give half his meager rations to the person. His mantra became, "He who has a 'why' can live with any 'what' or live with any 'how.'"

I phoned Viktor before he passed away and told him how grateful I was for his life's work. He said, "Stephen, you talk to me as if I'm checking out." He was in the intensive care unit. He was blind. His wife was reading to him five hours a day. And yet he said he had two more projects he was trying to finish up.

Even if you feel like a victim of your circumstances and have no formal authority, try to create your own moral authority. Show that you have personal courage.

It's my birthday and a new beginning!

"Mini Carrot Cakes" Recipe

For those of you looking for the recipe for the mini carrot cakes I brought to share today you can scroll down to my post from April 21 for the link to the site I got it from or click on ww recipes on the right.
However, when I input the recipe on e-tools recipe builder I came out with less points. Same ingredients...hmmm. I'm stickin' with recipe builder results.
Here is the recipe I entered on ww recipe builder.

Super Moist Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

POINTS® Value: 3
Servings: 24
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Course: cakes

Ingredients
3/4 cup(s) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup(s) White Whole Wheat Flour
1 cup(s) sugar
1/4 cup(s) packaged shredded coconut
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp table salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 Tbsp canola oil
2 item(s) egg
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cup(s) shredded carrots
20 oz Dole Canned Crushed Pineapple in Juice
1/2 cup(s) chopped pecans
8 oz 1/3 less-fat cream cheese
1 cup(s) powdered sugar
You'll have to go to the original post for instructions.

Weight Watchers One-Point Hearty Chili

(I posted this recipe back on Feb. 17th but didn't have a picture at the time. I forgot how absolutely delicious this recipe is! Yum!!
A WW MUST HAVE RECIPE!!

10 ounces extra-lean ground turkey breast
1 medium onion, diced
2 (28-oz) cans diced tomatoes
2 medium zucchini, diced
2 medium yellow squash diced
1 (15 oz) can black beans
2 (15-oz) cans fat-free, reduced-sodium
beef broth
4 celery stalks, diced
2 green bell peppers, diced
1 (1 1/4-oz) package dry chili seasonings.

Spray a large nonstick skillet with nonstick spray and set over medium-high heat. Add the turkey and onion and saute' until browned, about 10 minutes.

Transfer the browned turkey and onion mixture to a large soup pot and add the tomatoes, zucchini, squash, beans, broth, celery, bell peppers, and chili seasoning. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Continue to simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes

Serves 20.

Any new food finds?

If you have any favorite foods or new food finds that I haven't posted yet, please leave a comment so I can post it for everyone else. Thanks.

Being overweight isn't the cause of my unhappiness?

One thing that it’s crucial to understand is that being overweight isn’t the cause of your unhappiness, and simply weighing less won't make you feel better about yourself and your life. It’s all the things you think about your body that make you unhappy, and it’s changing those thoughts that will make you feel better and help you lose weight.

Think about it. Imagine you live in a society where people find thinness repulsive and being fat is the marker of beauty, desirability, and good character. Everywhere you look, there are images of happy fat people wearing the best clothes, driving the best cars, getting the hot dates, and landing the best jobs. Would you still feel bad about yourself? Would you still feel like you have to lose weight in order to get what you want and need in life? Probably not. Even if you still felt bad about yourself, you wouldn't be focused on your weight, but rather on something else that your culture didn’t like—the size of your feet, or the slope of your nose, for example.
Read the full Spark People Article.

Happy Mother's Day!

We succeed to the degree we try...

Success is the opposite of failure. Fact: From quitting smoking to skiing, we succeed to the degree we try, fail, and learn. Studies show that people who worry about mistakes shut down, but those who are relaxed about doing badly soon learn to do well. Success is built on failure.
These words of wisdom come from Martha Beck's 10 life lesson's you should unlearn. It's when I don't have success or experience stress or set backs that I really don't feel motivated to follow the program completely. Yet, somehow I know that's what I'm going to need to do to get back on the right track. Here's to never giving up...because that certainly won't get the result we want!

BARBECUE SAUCE

Are you tired of paying 3 to 5 dollars for barbecue sauce? I found this recipe in the WW Grill it cookbook pg. 39. Barbecued Beef on a Bun, I only used the barbecue recipe but I want to try the full recipe.

1/2 cup grated onion

1/4 ketchup

2-tsp dark molasses I used unsulfured.

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. steak sauce

Super easy and I double it. Next time I am adding pepper flakes for when I make beef jerky in my dehydrator.

These ingredients are all condiments do we have to count any points? I don't! Making grilled pork chops and this sauce is going on them Yummy!

Trader Joe's "Frozen" Brown Rice

Do you ever avoid making brown rice because it takes longer or because you are the only one who will eat it? I have. I was so happy to find tj's frozen brown rice. It's EASY, it's small portioned and it tastes great! And, it's only around $3 for a box. I am starting to keep this on hand!
Look for it in the frozen section. Each box has 3 pouches which contain 2 cups each (6 cups total per box). You can heat the bags in the microwave, or even toss the contents in directly with veggies in a saute pan.

Strawberries and Blackberries 1 1/2 - 2 pts!

1 cup of strawberries are .5 pts
1 cup of blueberries are 1 pt
I like to add 1 -2 tsp sugar on my cut berries and leave in the fridge for a light glaze. 1/2 pt for the sugar.

Berries only, 1 1/2 pts. With sugar glaze, 2 pts. Mmmmmmmm!
I just love spring and summer fruit and veggies! Anyone good at bbq veggies?
P.S. This is my own picture, not copied from anywhere, doesn't it look good?! :)

Sorry no posts recently...

I guess I've just taken the week off. Not intentionally, just haven't had much worth posting. I know you all have great ideas for posts, please feel free to share a thought, idea, recipe or anything that has helped you or you think might help someone else!

Another eating out option!

When dining at Island's make sure to check out their bikini menu. They have 4 "lighter" options. Today I tried the sleek greek salad and really liked it. I would recommend not going in overly hungry. While it's something I'd order again, it is lighter and not overly filling.

Sleek Greek Salad™ (341 Calories, 16.6 fat, 5 fiber= 7 pts!)
A half-sized salad w/ grilled & chilled chicken breast, hearts of romaine, kalamata
olives, feta cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers,& red onion tossed w/ our own low fat balsamic vinaigrette )

(again, couldn't find a picture. You'll have to go try it out yourself!)

Chicken Taco Soup

This is one of my favorite recipes. It's not weight watcher's but is totally healthy! I can't believe I didn't post this one yet. I've had it on my etools recipe file for a long time!

Again, sorry no picture. Will add one, next time I make it again.

Chicken Taco Soup

main meals
POINTS® Value: 4
Servings: 10
This is SO easy!

Ingredients
1 1/2 pound(s) Chicken breast, skinless, boneless, raw
2 cup(s) canned yellow corn
2 cup(s) canned white beans
2 cup(s) canned black beans
4 cup(s) canned diced tomatoes
1 cup(s) canned tomato sauce
2 cup(s) water
2 serving(s) Lawry's chicken taco seasoning
Instructions

Dice chicken into small chunks (can add onion) and cook with one pack of seasoning as directed on package. Put all the rest into a crock pot and add chicken. Cook on low 4 8 hours. Garnish with sour cream, cilantro, chips, cheese, olives etc. Enjoy!
Make sure to adjust points for any garnishes added!-

Light(or reg) Sour Cream, 2 tbsp=1 pt
tortilla chips, 8 =2 pts
2% cheddar cheese, 3 tbsp=2 pts
(regular cheddar, 3tbsp/3 pts)
I think these amounts are really generous and you probably won't even use that much sour cream or cheese and maybe not even all the chips.