WIAW~The “Did I Use This Already?” Edition

Ok, I’m Ready! It’s What I Ate Wednesday again! That’s where the fun food bloggers gather to share what they’ve eaten all week long or on a particular day.  I never remember to photograph my food for an entire day.  Maybe I should try that for next week. Besides, I sometimes can’t remember if I’ve used a photo already.  Regardless, it’s hostessed by Jenn over at Peas and Crayons.  Check out what everyone else is sharing when you finish here.

I don’t have a lot to share, but I do have a few tasty treats.

Last Thursday was a birthday celebration for one of Ralph’s sisters, Kathy.  We went to the usual restaurant and I get a little bored with their choices but I do have one favorite that I seem to get regularly.  But first I thought I’d shake it up with my salad choice.

 

I chose the Caesar salad this time and I was very pleased.  The dressing was tasty and they added lots of fresh grated Parmesan cheese.  It was delicious!

My entrée was one that I’ve gotten several times before, but I like it.  It’s called Penne Mediterranean.

 

It has spinach, onions, tomatoes, feta cheese and pine nuts in a light garlic sauce.  It is very good and it seems to be my go-t0 choice at this restaurant since we’re there so often.  At least I’ve found something I like!

Last but not least is another salad. There’s a pizzeria/restaurant that we’ve been going to a lot lately.  They have an excellent Greek Salad.

 

This is one of the best Greek Salads I’ve found in our area.  Lots of olives and feta with garbanzo beans added in.  They don’t mind that I ask for the dressing on the side and it’s a nice light balsamic vinaigrette.  I just love it.  I did have some of their wonderful bread which I showed last week.  That always gets me!

That’s What I Ate Wednesday for me this week.  Be sure to check out what’s going on at Peas and Crayons.  You’ll be glad that you did!

Happy What I Ate Wednesday!!

WIAW~Feeling the Fall

It’s finally starting to feel like Fall and I’m finally starting to feel the Fall and I’m liking it!  Of course this all fits into What I Ate Wednesday.  That’s the fabulous food party started by Jenn at Peas & Crayons.  Be sure to check it out after you’re finished here!

Let’s see what’s been on the food agenda this past week?

First…soup made from my leftover barbecue beans.  Just cook up garlic, onions, carrots and celery.  When they’ve softened add some water, but not too much and the leftover beans.  It is so flavorful…warm and satisfying!

I wanted something heartier over the weekend, so I cooked up some pasta and used the barbecue bean soup as the sauce.  Topped with some parmesan cheese…yummy!

Breakfast eaten on the hood of the car!  I brought breakfast to Ralph where he was camping out. This was my egg, cheese and sweet pepper sandwich.  One of my favorites…Coffee on the side of course!

One of my favorite quick breakfasts…pomegranate kefir and Fiber One.

Doing my best to stay on track by having carrots and celery ready to use as those healthy snacks that are on our minds at WIAW this month!

One of my favorite meals in quite some time.  Cous cous topped with a sautéed mix of garlic, onions, zucchini, red pepper, snow peas, crock pot black beans and cottage cheese, topped with Locatelli cheese.  This was so delicious and certainly filled me for the evening.  I love finding things that fill me up.  It’s so strange, but I almost need to eat more than I really want in order to be full and stay fill so that I don’t go looking for something to snack on.  It doesn’t seem right that I have to do that, but it seems to work best that way.  That’s why I make such huge salads…They Fill Me Up!!

That’s What I Ate Wednesday for me today.  I continue my quest to stay on track and stay full at the same time! Be sure to check out the fun over at Peas & Crayons, read some blogs, leave some comments.  You’ll love it!  Fall into the habit!

Happy What I Ate Wednesday!  Stay Full, My Friends!!

WIAW~Happy Anniversary!

As I prepare to write my What I Ate Wednesday post, I realize that it’s going to look as though I’ve fallen off track.  To be honest, it sort of felt that way.  But I’m telling myself that it’s just one day and I will be on the (very) straight and narrow until next Saturday (after weigh in at WW) when I’ll be celebrating my birthday.  Besides, I HAVE to be good…I only have 7 Weekly Points left!!!

So welcome to the Happy Anniversary edition of WIAW sponsored as always by the lovely Jenn at Peas & Crayons!  I guess I have to hope that our theme is still Fall into Good Habits… 😉

Ralph and I decided that we would go out to lunch for our anniversary.  What could be better than a restaurant where we had gift cards to use?! So we were off to Olive Garden.  A bit hokey, perhaps and not always my favorite food, but…the dessert always makes up for it!  😉

We probably shouldn’t have but we started with bruschetta which is one of my favorite things.  In fact, I think the next time I go, I’m ordering this and salad and that will be it!  The world’s largest piece of basil!!

The plate after we had already torn into it!

My first of several returns to the Bruschetta Altar…yum…

Next was the salad which as always was very tasty.  It still bothers me to pay for salad in restaurants because I know how inexpensively it can be made at home.  I enjoyed it regardless!

Portobello mushroom ravioli.  They were a little dry but still tasted pretty good.

Now for the real reason I go to Olive Garden…

The lemon creme cake!!!!!  I really can’t use enough exclamation points here!  This is so delicious and makes me smile every time I eat it.  Their coffee is good to and it was a nice finish to a nice meal.

So you may ask, how this fits in to Falling into Good Habits?  It fits in because I will as I said at the beginning, be very VERY good for the rest of the week.  My plan worked last week and I intend to stick with it.  I haven’t mentioned that I have been either walking or riding my stationary bike every day.  That really does help.  Rainy today so it was the bike for me! I believe That counts as a good habit!

So that’s WIAW for Anniversary Day and the beginning of Birthday Month!  Be sure to stop over at Peas & Crayons…look around and leave some comments.  We all love them!

Happy October!  Happy WIAW!!

WIAW~I Have To Get In A Car…Again?!?!

Good Morning and Happy What I Ate Wednesday!  For any of you who don’t know what WIAW is…it’s a fun time cooked up by Jenn over at Peas & Crayons.  All of the really Fun kids (You can be one!) hang out over there, posting our fabulous foods for the week and oohing and aahing with comments about each other’s posts.  Join us…It’s Fun!!

Fall is my favorite time of year and the time when Ralph and I head out for his Army Reunion.  This year we’re heading to Atlanta.  I’m excited because while at the Reunion we’ll get to see an old friend of mine from college who I haven’t seen in many years.  So excited about that.  Of course, last year after the Reunion we drove to New Mexico.  Wonder if I can do some razzle dazzle on Ralph and make him forget we’ve already BEEN there and that we NEED TO BE there?!?!  Probably not, but I can try! 😉

So on to the food!!

One of my 3 ingredient (well…4 this time) meals ready in 7 minutes.  Whole wheat pasta cooked up and at the same time a can of Ro-Tel tomatoes with green chillies cooked up with some crock pot black beans and topped with Romano cheese.  So good, filling and Quick!

Not much in the house because we’re heading out.  Lunch on Tuesday was a sliced apple and two rice cakes with Sunflower butter.  Very good, but I think the rice cakes were getting stale.  Didn’t matter, I only really wanted the Sunflower butter anyway!! 🙂

Dinner (again because there wasn’t much in the house) was a Morningstar Farms spicy black bean burger on a sandwich thin with American cheese and pickled jalapeno.  If you told me a few years ago that I would be half way through a jar of jalapeno in such a short time, I would have said you were crazy,but I just love these!  It was a fast and easy dinner.

One of my favorite drinks the last few days? Or maybe my Favorite…

Fresh hot coffee made with the addition of pumpkin pie spice in my wonderful Big Purple Mug…second cousin to my Big Purple Bowl…I think.  You put the coffee in the filter the regular way, then shake some PPS into the coffee.  Be sure to stir it in otherwise the spice forms a barrier and the water over flows.  Who Knew?   Nevertheless…its’ Delicious!  Try it!

So that’s WIAW for me this week.  I’ll be on the road when you read this.  Hopefully I can figure out a way to post it to Peas & Crayons from the road.

Happy What I Ate Wednesday!!  Yes, we’re on the Road Again!!

The Choice Is Mine

I’ve said for years that one of the reasons I love Weight Watchers so much is because it offers me so many choices.  The problem with choices is…YOU have to make the right one, no one can make it for you.

Since we’ve been back in New Jersey, I’ve really been trying to make the right choices.  Even though my results on the scale last week taught me that I was not as off track as I might have thought, I still felt off track.  That’s not a good feeling to me.  I’ve learned over the years to most often keep myself on track and I truly feel better when I do.

That has been my focus this week…Making the Right Choices.

Wednesday night’s dinner might not look all that much like the right choice but it was for several reasons.  It tasted good and it kept me filled (translate that as I didn’t go looking for snacks after dinner!)

Very simple and easy…the way I like a dinner to be.

This is not a well laid out photo, oh well…I keep working at the old photo taking thing!  Three ingredients-whole wheat pasta, a can of Ro-tel diced tomatoes and green chile, pecorino romano cheese.  While the pasta cooked up, I opened the can put it in the big blue bowl you see in the background, added some garlic powder, crushed red pepper flakes and dried basil.  Microwaved for 2 minutes.  The result…

This doesn’t look that great but it was delicious.  Best part, it took about 7 minutes to put the whole thing together.  Loved it!

Thursday’s breakfast was simple and on the run.

Black cherry Greek yogurt from Aldi.  Very tasty for a store brand.

Still working on the egg salad I made earlier in the week.  Great to have this ready in the fridge.

Got my black beans all cooked up in the crock pot today.  I made myself a little treat that I’ll tell you about tomorrow.  It’s an old favorite that I used to take to work for lunch.  I made it up Thursday afternoon and it’ll be ready for dinner.

Ralph and I got back into our routine of afternoon tea and it is a nice break in the afternoon. Had some Graham crackers with it.  Forgot to take a photo, but it’s a great combo and Graham crackers are a good deal, only 3 Points on WW for 2 of the big crackers.  Yum.

If it seems like I’m talking about food a lot the last few days, I am!  I’m trying to make myself think before I eat something.  I Will have a good result on Saturday morning!  The Choice is Mine!

Happy Friday!

Memorial Memorable

Saturday, I was privileged to attend a Memorial for one of my college professors.  I’ve talked a little about being a speech and theatre major at Glassboro State College/Rowan University.  It was one of the most exciting, frustrating, crazy times of my life.  I learned so much and met so many wonderful people.

One of my favorite professors, Dr. William C. Morris passed away earlier this year.  On Saturday, I was fortunate to attend his memorial service, held in Tohill Theatre where he directed and acted in so many plays.

It was a great celebration of the life a terrific guy.  I got to see a lot of familiar faces.

A group of our other professors who led the way.  Great group of guys!

Sadly, I didn’t take any photos of my own of my fellow students who were there.  I was too busy talking and reminiscing!

Ralph and I decided to grab some dinner on the way home.  We made the Very wise decision to stop at Italian Affair in Glassboro.  We had been here once before, but it was for a luncheon after a funeral and it wasn’t appropriate to take photos that day or to write about it. It’s been hard keeping it under my had all this time.  That’s why when Ralph suggested lunch, I jumped at the chance.

When you walk in the door, you know you’re in for a treat.  The place just smells good.  We were lucky enough to be given a table by the big windows that look out onto the terrace.  Lots of natural late afternoon light.  Very pleasant and good for photos! 😉

We started with salad.

It comes with the house dressing which is oil and vinegar and Lots of garlic.  So tasty.  So good in fact that if they had offered me a really big bowl of this and the bread…That could have been lunch for me.

Oh, yes…the bread…

Wonderful little dense rolls served with herbed olive oil.  So good, I could have eaten the entire basket.  But I behaved and only ate 2.

My entree…Eggplant rollatini with ricotta inside with a side of penne pasta.  The plain marinara sauce on the penne was delicious.  The eggplant was incredible.  So many times when a restaurant does eggplant, it’s heavily breaded and greasy.  This was very delicately breaded and cooked to perfection.  I couldn’t finish it, and brought about half of it home.  The leftovers didn’t last long once I got home though.  We didn’t do dessert, but we had coffee and I have to say as a coffee lover, it was outstanding.

Ralph had one of their specials which was a filet with crab and shrimp in a white sauce surrounded by roasted red peppers and spinach.  He insisted that I taste the veggies and they were delicious.  He thoroughly enjoyed it.

We would definitely go to Italian Affair again.  The service was great and they make everything feel special.  We spoke with the chef’s wife on the way out and told her how much we enjoyed it.  We will certainly be making a return engagement there.

It was a very emotional day, but very enjoyable.

Happy Sunday!  Tomorrow I will complete the Blogging A to Z Challenge… Hooray!!

 

J is for Joy and WIAW

Moving along with Blogging A to Z we have come to the letter J.  I chose Joy.  For me Joy is so many things but of course, since it’s Wednesday we’re going to talk about the Joy of food and What I Ate Wednesday!  When you’re finished here, be sure to make your way to the A to Z site and Peas & Crayons to check out what’s happening there.  Thanks to Jenn as always for being our lovely WIAW hostess!!

One of my favorite food combos is Fiber One combined with Greek yogurt.  It’s a Joy for breakfast…

Or for lunch…

Speaking of Breakfast…there’s no Joy like a diner omelette…

This one was mushroom and cheese with a side order of cottage cheese in place of home fries.  So Good!!

Easter leftovers…mac n’ cheese and salad.  The Joy of the perfect combo!!

The Joy of a perfect cup of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee accompanied by a veggie flatbread sandwich.  Yum!!

I don’t really crave things, but I really was thinking hard about this next dish for a while and I made it with a twist.

The fixin’s…

Whole wheat pasta, olive oil, garlic powder, crushed red pepper flakes, pecorino romano cheese and snow peas.  The addition of the snow peas was new and I was trying to up my veggies.  I cooked the pasta and added the snow peas with just about 3 minutes left.  Tossed everything with 2 Tbsp of olive oil, liberal sprinkling of garlic powder, crushed red pepper and the cheese.

It was So good…

I could have eaten it all over again when I was finished!

That’s the Joy of cooking for yourself…you can make what you want and adjust for the things that happen to be in your fridge or cupboard.  This was one of my favorites!

So that it’s for me today.  Remember to look for Joy in your life, especially in your food!  Go check out what’s going on at Blogging A to Z and make yourself hungry at WIAW!! Be sure to leave comments at both spots after your visit.

Happy What I Ate Wednesday!!  I’ll see you all tomorrow…”K?”

WIAW~Where’s The Green?

So here we are half way through the week already.  Boy, for some reason, this one has gone quickly!  But let’s slow down a minute and smell the wonderful things cooking over at Peas & Crayons hostessed by the lovely Jenn!  Yes, it’s What I Ate Wednesday…the place for all the fabulous Foodies to meet.  Please be sure to travel over there, read some blogs, bookmark some recipes and Leave Some Comments.  We really do all live for your comments! (I’m not even kidding!)

We’re still doing our best to be Green for WIAW.  As you know, I’m vegetarian and it’s almost always Green around here.  Those of you who visit BCDC regularly, you sort of know what you’ll be getting from me in the food area.  When it comes to other things….I’m pretty scattered so you never know what you’ll find!  You rarely get one entire day of food, I’m usually covering a meal here, a meal there.  So in no particular order…

Ralph wasn’t feeling well or Monday so he actually had oatmeal for dinner!  I threw together some whole wheat pasta, zucchini, yellow squash, some broccoli which might have passed its prime, garlic, crock pot black beans and diced tomatoes with green chilies.

Topped with shredded cheese and sriracha sauce…So Good.  I’m thinking I need to buy stock in sriracha sauce, what do you think?!?

I needed an evening snack and since I had made a crock pot full of apples…

So tasty topped with fat-free vanilla yogurt! Tastes so decadent, but this only counts for 2 Points (raisins and yogurt) Yum!

Couldn’t resist some more apples and raisins for breakfast on Tuesday morning.

My recent favorite mixture of oatmeal and oatbran with Splenda and almond milk…crowned with apples and raisins from the crock pot.  This was so tasty and filling.

Breakfast was so filling, I didn’t feel like anything more than Greek yogurt for lunch.

My wonderful Chobani from my Good Deal Saturday!  Black Cherry for today.  I still have a hard time believing I get 14 grams of protein from that little pot, not that I’m complaining of course!

It wouldn’t be WIAW on BCDC without a Salad!  Looks pretty familiar.

Romaine, plum tomatoes, celery, shredded cheese and crock pot black beans.

The new wrinkle in recent weeks…

Making my own salad dressing.  I’ve done it a few times, but I think I’m going to stick with it and get creative. 1 Tbsp of olive oil, 1.5 Tbsps of red wine vinegar, 1 Tbsp of honey, 1 Tbsp of Dijon mustard and 1 Tbsp of water.  I add the water to extend it because as you can see I make a Big Salad!

So very tasty in my Big Purple Bowl.

That’s What I Ate Wednesday for this week.  Green enough for you?  I do my best!  Now all you have to do is travel over to Peas & Crayons  to savor all of the wonderful foodie offerings and leave some comments.  Make this an outstanding WIAW for some other happy bloggers.

Have a Great Day!  Happy Green What I Ate Wednesday!

 

And The Green Goes On…

Or so it seems by looking at my photos today! First I have to mention the fact that I had quite a few comments yesterday encouraging me to try a green smoothie.  Ok, You’ve got me.  This weekend I’m going to experiment with one and I’ll let you all know next week if we (Me and my Magic Bullet) survive!

Wednesday morning I started out by making egg salad.  Ralph was a little disappointed last week when I made chicken salad for him and kept the egg salad to myself.  So it’s for both of us this week.  Gotta keep him happy!

Lots of celery chopped up.  It’s actually Ralph’s idea, he loves it in egg salad, chicken salad, etc.  It’s a great idea.  It makes the eggs go farther, adds crunch so you eat it more slowly, tastes good and is good for you.  Why not add it.

Eggies cooling in the sink post boil.

Yummy lunch… 1/4 cup of low-fat cottage cheese, 1/4 cup of egg salad on Romaine topped with Mrs. Dash’s Fiesta Lime, one of my favorites.

Everyone was talking about green tea yesterday on WIAW and I decided to have some for my afternoon tea.  I have several varieties and since it’s supposed to be good for me, why not.  I already have it so it didn’t cost me anything!  This was Lipton’s pomegranate green tea.  Very tasty.  Please take note of my lovely dragonfly cup that my sister, Ele gave me, quite a few years ago now.  It’s one of my favorites!

Dinner was another of my combos.  Whole wheat pasta, zucchini, yellow squash, onion, garlic, plum tomato, red bell pepper and low-fat cottage cheese.

All chopped up and cooking…

And cooking some more…

All the steamy goodness!  I love using the cottage cheese in something like this.  I add 1/2 a cup and I get 14 grams of protein for only 2 Points on Weight Watchers.  It makes it all cheesy and gooey as if I used a higher Point cheese.  One of my faves!

We have a few things on the agenda today so we’ll be out and around.  No telling where we’ll end up but I think lunch will be involved!  We’ll see where we land!

Happy Thursday!

Lunch With A View

We had two things foremost on our agenda for Monday.  Number one was just relaxing and coming down from the Holiday Hub Bub.  Actually in retrospect, when our holiday weekend happened, it was low-keyed, peaceful, not really hectic (although I thought it would be) and very enjoyable.  Two fun days filled with people we love.

Number two on our agenda was a special lunch to celebrated Gail’s retirement.  It was decided (by Alice because she didn’t want to hear us all saying..”Where shall we go?”) that we would go to the Riverwinds Restaurant.  The restaurant is beautiful and much more elegant than we’re used to.  Check their website and you’ll know what I mean.

We asked to sit in the back room because it is bright with huge windows forming two of the walls in the room.  We had this view for lunch…

The restaurant is located along the Delaware River giving us a beautiful view of Philadelphia.  That’s why we like this room so much.

Alice, Gail-the guest of honor and Margot.

Gail’s brother, Ray and Ralph.  Ralph is wearing his “oh, you’re taking my picture again” look on his face.  I just Love that!  Ralph was trying to teach Ray how to use a compass he got for Christmas.  The tutorial continued later on back at Gail’s house.

My lunch…4 cheese ravioli with a blush sauce.  It was from their lunch specials menu and it was delicious.  I had one roll with it so I thought I was doing very well with staying on track.

The whole group, photo taken by a passing waiter who offered.  The brightness of the room made photos a little washed out.  It’s either too much light or not enough.  Hard to win with this photography thing!

It was a lovely lunch and after that we went back to Gail’s where we enjoyed some time sitting around chatting about our upcoming trip to Florida while Ralph and Ray talked compasses in the kitchen. I believe there might have been a piece of cake eaten during that time. 

I am very focused on getting back on track between the holidays.  I know that next weekend will be a challenge again, but in the meantime…

Black beans which I soaked last night are now crocking away in the crock pot.  I find it so much easier to stay on track when I have them ready and waiting to become dinner!

Ralph had his leftover lunch waiting for his dinner so I decided something easy was in order.

Whole wheat pasta, canned cannelini beans and Ro Tell diced tomatoes with green chilies. What could be simpler.  While the pasta cooked, I combined the tomatoes with the beans and warmed them in the microwave in the container the beans had been stored in.  Didn’t want to dirty another pot.  Worked well.

Topped with parmesan cheese.  Very tasty, but I should have added a few more spices.  I probably also shouldn’t have had pasta twice in one day.  Then of course there was the cheese cake that was a gift from Bill and the Boys that I ate later.  Yikes.  Did someone say she was getting back on track.  Tuesday…yes…Tuesday I’m getting back on track…

The holidays are tricky when it comes to food, there’s no denying that.  At least I’m being mindful of what I’m eating, even if it may be more than I should be eating.  I am back on track.  No more extra goodies until after weigh in on Saturday.  Then New Year’s eve and New Year’s day and I’ll be all set to be a model Weight Watchers member.  I need to do that for myself.  Weight Watchers has given Lifetime Members a wonderful new tool to make that happen.  I’ll tell you about that this week.

So I’m off and I think the gym might even be in my future today…Scary isn’t it?! 😉

Happy Tuesday!!