Strange But Good~It’s In The Bag

I love the whole idea of Strange But Good that Laura has created at Sprint 2 The Table.  I don’t think my food is strange, but I know there are others who sure have big question marks on their faces when I eat out with them!  At home it’s usually just Ralph and Me so I’m safe…he just cares that I’m satisfied and get enough protein.  I’m doing well in that capacity!

So here we go…

Don’t you love Laura’s logo?  I do!

So, I was whining that I was out of veggies.  Wednesday I made the trek to the produce market to stock up.  I was proud that I was in control and didn’t over buy, which I tend to do when I go for produce.  I made good choices, calculating what I had room for and what would go with what. I do over buy sometimes and then have to grumble for 45 minutes while I try to arrange the fridge so I can get the door closed!

One cool thing I found and the basis of Strange But Good is this…

California Slaw.  I’m pretty sure that the intention for this product is to be made into a salad type of dish.  No, No…not at my house!  Besides the slaw type pieces there were wonderful chunks of fresh broccoli florets.  I also found some broccoli florets in the freezer which I also added in.

Of course, I started with onions and garlic.  Then I added cabbage, veggie broth and cottage cheese for protein.  With sufficiently warm veggie broth, I added three-quarters of a cup of dry couscous, my new save a step trick.

 

 

Topped with a little grated Romano cheese that I found for an absolute steal at the produce market!  Boy was I excited about that.

So that’s Strange But Good for today.  Someday I should do a Strange But Good Covered in Cheese edition, but for today, this is what you get.  Be sure to check out the other linkers over at Sprint 2 The Table and Leave some comments!

Happy Friday!! Just ’cause it’s Strange doesn’t mean it isn’t Good!!

Disco Rewind

I have to say Thank You to all of you!  Thank you for not thinking that my Disco Days post yesterday was totally cringe-worthy.  Thank you for all of you nice comments, I love it!  Now if I can just put my fingers on some of those old photos of me with my Donna hair…you will all be in Disco heaven with me!  When I find the pictures, I’ll tell a few stories.  Nothing creepy or Studio 54-ish…My Disco past was actually quite boring…mostly about the music and the dancing.

It’s been a busy week and not the best week in regards to food and Weight Watchers.  Since I didn’t go to my meeting last Saturday because of the Relay for Life, I’m a little anxious about what my result might be tomorrow.  Again I’m considering opting out of a weigh-in which is my choice as a Lifetime Member.  I’ll probably cave and weigh in any way.  I truly do better when I know what I’ve done, good or bad.  We’ll see.

I have been off track but I’m trying hard to get back on track.

This I think was Tuesday’s dinner in the Big Purple Bowl.  See I know I’m off track when I don’t remember what day it came from.  This was made with the very last of my salad fixings, not much romaine but lots of celery, red and green peppers, tomatoes, home-made dressing and Morningstar Farms veggie burger.  Adding all that crunch is becoming my new favorite thing to do.  Because there was so much crunch involved, it took me 45 minutes to eat this.  Less time for snacking later!

When the apples are getting a little funky…

I call this still life…Six Apples and a Pear… While I was cutting these up, a torrential rain and wind storm came up and the curtain kept whipping around smacking me in the face.  Finally had to close the window…very weird.

We know it’s time to bring out Crock-ette!!

There’s magic inside…

Added some apple pie spice, cinnamon and Splenda.  These so good and make a wonderful dessert/treat when I need it.   Good with oatmeal too.  Mmmm…sounds like breakfast!

Dinner last night…

This was delicious, made with the last of my cooking veggies… olive oil, garlic, 2 yellow squash, 3 small red frying peppers, snow peas, veggie broth, low-fat cottage cheese and spinach.  Topped with shredded cheese and sriracha sauce.  I really do need to get to the produce market today.  With the holiday weekend coming up it will be crazy there too.  I need to get out early.

So this caps off a busy, emotional week.  It’s been a good week in spite of everything. Again thanks to everyone.  This is shaping up into a busy weekend.  I have my fingers crossed for weigh in at WW tomorrow.  Maybe if I kept my fingers crossed, I wouldn’t eat things I shouldn’t.  Hmmmm….something to consider…

Happy Friday!!

Please Hold

As I got up to get on my exercise bike at about 6am, Ralph said “I want to take you out to breakfast.”  I was shocked he was awake, and we had just gone to breakfast on Sunday.  I said “ok, but I have some things to do first.”  He smiled and went back to sleep.

After finishing my 45 minutes on the bike, I moved on to quite a few phone calls.  Calls to our health care provider for some info on a change in our insurance and then calls to various doctor offices to set up appointments we’ve (I’ve) been slow in scheduling.  Nothing earth shattering, just regular check up things.  After about 15 minutes, everything was lined up.  Now we just have to remember to go!! 😉

After waking Ralph, we headed off to Dunkin’ Donuts.

I had my favorite veggie flat bread sandwich and a small iced coffee.  We had a coupon for the iced coffee and I really do enjoy it.  When summer gets here, I will probably be making my own.

Got some sorting done.  I decided that I should probably rethink some of the books I had packed.  I was not as good at getting rid of them when I originally packed.  I’m being much less sentimental about what I pack and what I donate.  I need to spend a little time over at our storage unit to go through the books there.  I can probably reduce my load by several boxes once I get started.  I’ve GOT to get things going!

Dinner was quick and really a clean out of the fridge.  I still had a stir fry in the bag left in there.  Sadly, it was a little worse for wear.  I rescued most of the broccoli and some of the snow peas.  I hate to waste food and I felt a little better about it because it wasn’t a total loss.

I added some MorningStar Farms beef style veggie strips.  They don’t make these anymore and I recently found a package of them while working through my freezer stash.  These were one of my favorites and I’m sorry to see that they’re no long available. 😦

I served it over bulgur wheat.  I’d never made that before.  The directions I got for making it said to pour 1 3/4 cups of boiling water over 1 cup of bulgur and let it sit for 20 minutes.  It sat for 30 minutes and there was still water in. there.  My stir fry was almost ready by that time so I put the bulgur in the microwave for about 4 minutes and when it came out it was all fluffy and really very tasty without anything on it.  I only used 1 cup of it after it was cooked which is 4 Points on Weight Watchers.  I have about 2 more servings left so I’m happy that I’ll be able to use it throughout the week.

I wanted to share a fun little thing I got at Goodwill over the weekend.  It’s one of those things that cries out for you to buy it.  You know you don’t need it (because you’re sorting and donating…) but you just can’t resist it.  Besides, it was only 49 cents!!

It’s a bowl…

…with a face…

…and a nose…I’m in love.  I think it needs a name.  😉

Somehow I think that breakfast in this little guy will just be more fun.

It’s rainy and dreary and cold.  😦  Hopefully it will improve.  One of today’s projects is moving a car load of stuff from Alice’s house into the Church for the next Rummage Sale.  Hope the rain stops…

Happy Tuesday!!

Back On Track and Raring To Go!

After what could be called a “challenging” food Weekend (no, ya’ Think?!?) my plan was to get back on track with my eating and with exercise. 

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Weight Watchers, and something I always tried to tell my members when I was still a leader, Do Not let a challenging day or even a challenging week get the best of you!  The difficulty with that is, sometimes you can convince yourself that is the way to approach it and sometimes you can’t. 

I have to admit, I was really down after facing my gain on Saturday.  I had been doing so well over the last few weeks with small but steady losses.  That smacked me in the face.  I suppose that might have been what I needed!  I also admit that I was not as good as I could have been at the wedding and it seemed to carry over to Sunday.  😦  😦   😦

But I am back and I will get this under control!  I have to get both my mind and my body back into this. 

Monday morning I got dutifully on my exercise bike (as I always do…) and instead of my usual 30 minutes I did 45 minutes.  My housing arrangements are not as conducive to exercise as some other house may be or as my NM house will be.  This is where I do my exercise bike…

Cramped, right?! Messy, Right?!?  Yes to all.  I’ve never had a lot of room, that’s the way it is in a tiny house.  Now with the packing I’ve been doing and nowhere to put what’s been packed, it’s very…shall we say cozy.  But it does the trick!  The mile counter on my bike died several years ago, so I have no idea how many miles I’ve done but 30 minutes a day, 6 days a week (sometimes more) adds up.  Looking to the positive, I suppose I should give myself credit for that. 

 I’m going to try to keep up with the 45 minutes every morning.  I should probably try to add in some walking in preparation for the Relay For Life next week.  I need to figure out how to work that into the day.

I was on track for food yesterday too.  I had oatmeal with almond milk for breakfast.  I hadn’t had plain oatmeal for a while because I was concentrating on oat bran.  I’m almost out of oat bran and I have a lot of oatmeal so I went with that yesterday.  I enjoyed it!

Dinner was stir fry of the day!

Asparagus, yellow squash, zucchini (missing in action), veggie broth, Locatelli cheese and my wonderful crock pot black beans!

All served on leftover couscous.  It was really delicious and extremely filling.  So much so that I did NOT snack at all last night!  I’m really proud of myself for that.  I guess it helped that I fell asleep… 😉 but nonetheless, I didn’t snack!! 🙂

Today I’m going to do my best to add exercise in.  I wear my pedometer daily.  I wear it while I ride my bike.  I get conflicting views regarding the steps that the pedometer counts while riding on the bike.  I chose to count them.  I try throughout the day to march in place whenever I can.  When I’m cooking, I march.  While I’m doing the dishes, I march (ok, I splash sometimes, too 😉  )  It adds to my steps.  I try to do it while I’m watching TV in the evening.  Glee is on tonight and that’s a good one for marching.  The music is all peppy and gets me going.  That’s part of my plan. 

Hopefully, I’ll be going for produce today because I’m OUT OF FRUIT!! Oh, No!!  That will be a help too.

So I’m off to face the day.  This will be at my side all the way…

Yes, those are “steps” from riding the bike, but they’re mine and I’m keeping them.  I’ll update tomorrow how many I get in.

Happy Tuesday!

Rerun?

Wednesday was crazy…rainy, with not friendly Walmart checkout people and cold and damp!  It’s still pretty cold, but that just may be inside the house.  I think it’s meant to warm up today.  We’ll see…

To make up for the glitch the other day, I bring to you Stir Fry in a Bag!

I added half a zucchini too, but forgot it for the photo… 😦

I guess it’s not just my own photo I’m having trouble with! 😉

I added lots of ground black pepper and Bell’s Seasoning Onion & Herb , in the couscous while cooking and in the stir fry itself. I also added some Gardein “chicken” pieces that Gail had shared with me.  I can’t seem to find the exact ones that they were on their website.

And of course I added some Locatelli cheese!

This wasn’t as pretty as the first time, I got interrupted while cooking and it cooked a little longer than it should…but it was delicious!  The Bell’s Seasoning is really good.  Funny, it’s meant for chicken and I used it with the Gardein chicken.  I didn’t think of that at the time, but it definitely worked!  The Gardein was very tasty.  I have more of it in the freezer, but I just don’t always get around to using it.  I will from now on!

Today is May 5, and everyone thinks of Cinco de Mayo.  For our family it’s always been my Grandparents anniversary.  They would have been married 92 years today.  They were wonderful people who made a big impression on Ele and Me.  I think they played a big part in shaping us into the people we are today.  Oh…we have THEM to blame, huh?? 😉

Also Happy Birthday to my other Pop, my father in law.  We was a wonderful man, a decorated WW II veteran and a good friend and support to our family.  We miss them all, but are so lucky to have had them in our lives.

I have a dentist’s appointment for a cleaning this afternoon.  Today is my hygenist’s due date for her baby.  Hmmmm…wonder if she’ll be there? 😉

Happy AnniBirthdaydeMayo!!  Happy Thursday!

When You Least Expect It…

Ralph and I had planned to go to Dunkin’ Donuts for breakfast because his lovely niece Marie and her husband Paul had given him a gift card for his Birthday.  Will this celebration never end?! 😉  Ele called before we left and we asked her to go along with us.  We also had coupons for .99 cent coffees so we were in clover!

I had my usual, the veggie flatbread sandwich.  I love these…they count for 7 Points on Weight Watchers, but they really are worth it. The flatbread is very soft and herbed and the eggs and veggies are very tasty.  Of course, they have probably the best coffee ever!!

Ele with a mouth full!

Ralph enjoying his breakfast sandwich.  (Should I tell you there is a donut hiding in that bag?!?)

Me!  I’m getting better at this!

Spent the afternoon at Gail’s.

I came home very hungry for some reason.  On my last trip for produce, I had gotten something different.  I don’t know what to call them other than stir fry in a bag.

Monday…Did It Happen?

I hate days when I get to the evening and have no idea where the time went.

We tried to get my car registered, but it seems the Motor Vehicle department is closed on Mondays!  How nice for them.  I now have to do it on Tuesday!

The temperature went up into the 80’s and we hadn’t yet turned on the air-conditioning, but we decided it was too uncomfortable without it.  We didn’t turn it on until about 6pm.

In spite of the heat, I have veggies in the fridge which need eating before they turn to science experiments.   It was pretty simple.

I had leftover couscous from Friday night so that was my base.

Brussel sprouts, green bell pepper, zucchini, garlic and navy beans!

The family favorite!! Locatelli brand pecorino romano cheese!  I had been out of it for 2 weeks…I kept forgetting to buy it! 😦  I feel much more secure now! 🙂

It was SO good!  The cheese makes it, as always.   I can never be without it again!

Sadly, later in the evening I got sucked in by leftover birthday cake that I picked up from Ele’s yesterday. 😦  Amazing that it was still as good if not better than on Sunday!  It was worth the Points, but I WILL NOT EAT ANYMORE!!

I’ve got to get myself up and out to visit my friends at the Motor Vehicle department.  Hope they’re nice to me! 

Happy Tuesday!

Monday, Monday…Can’t Trust That Day

I started Monday with plans to get so much accomplished…didn’t happen!  Maybe I do need that list I was talking about yesterday! 😉

Had my oat bran for breakfast which I continue to enjoy.  When I bought almond milk the last time I bought the Silk version.  I had a coupon and how can you argue with a coupon?!  I like it just as much as the Almond Breeze.  So, I guess whoever sends me a coupon gets my business!

We had banking to do which took longer and got more complicated than I expected and I needed to stop over to my friend, Gail’s house to be on Mom duty while she went for a doctor’s appointment.  I got home about 5:15 and I was hungry (notice, I didn’t mention lunch anywhere!)

I took care of Ralph’s dinner and then went to work on one of my standbys…a stir fry!!  (could you guess? 😉  )

A box of Near East couscous,  (I just tried to search it on Google as “Far” East…wondered why I couldn’t find it…duh!!  I’ve used their products for years and I really enjoy them. ) snow peas, cabbage, one of those funny little squashes (I’m thinking they are just unique zucchini…that’s what they taste like) and some of my black beans.  I’m going to continue to make the beans by the bag in the crock pot.  It’s so convenient and comforting to know I have them in there.  I can do so many different things with them.

SO yummy, especially when topped with the Locatelli Romano Cheese.  I recently figured out that this is a better value on Weight Watchers than I originally thought.  I calculated the points on the container rather than just using the points in the WW Food Companion book.  (Yikes, I just looked the food companion up on Amazon and it costs $23.99!!  It’s only $10 at the WW meetings!)

Anyway (I think I need to focus today!), in the book it says grated cheese is 2 points per tablespoon.  When you calculate from the Locatelli container, 1 tablespoon is “0” points, 2 tablespoons are 1 point and 3 tablespoons are still only 1 point!  What a deal!  Especially since it is one of my favorite things!  I was so excited when I figured that out.  It just proves the point, if you have the packaging available, calculate from that.  Many times you get a better deal than if you just go by the generic values in the WW materials.

So, it’s Tuesday and I need to have a more productive (and focused!) day.  I have some errands to run and another visit to the bank…don’t ask.  I have a recipe I’ve been trying to make and I need to make it before I run out of black beans and the cabbage goes bad!  So I think tonight is the night.

Happy Tuesday!

Rainy Wednesday

We had to go on a sort of rescue mission yesterday.  Ralph got a call early in the day from his sister.  She had received a call from a man who had found Ralph’s brother’s cell phone.   We needed to pick it up and return it to him.  Our trip took us about 40 minutes south of us. 

We realized we had headed in the wrong direction and found ourselves driving through Rowan University.  I had graduated from there a “few” years back when it was still Glassboro State College.  As we turned onto the road that took us through the university, Ralph and I both realized that we recognized NOTHING around us.  There were huge housing complexes, new buildings and construction.  It was a very strange feeling.  A place where I spent 4 of my formative years was just not the same place anymore. 

As we drove through, I sent a text message to a friend of mine who works there.  I told her I didn’t recognize anything.  Her response was, “the times they are a changin’.” I guess she’s right.  I miss the simplicity of those sweet times many years ago. 

Mission accomplished, we headed back through Mullica Hill.  I wanted to stop at the Natural Harvest Market.  I went in search of the edamame burger Kristen had gotten there a few weeks back.  Just my luck, they were out of them but they would be coming in at 3pm.  Deana, the owner told me she save me some.  So I’ll be making a pilgrimage on Saturday.  I can’t wait to try that burger! 🙂

Ralph suggested that we stop at the Harrison House for lunch. I thought that was a good idea.  They had a broccoli and feta cheese omelette on the lunch menu which I thought looked good.  I asked the waiter if I could get fruit cup in place of the home fries.  He said no, but I could get sliced tomatoes.  I thought that sounded good.  I asked for rye toast, dry. 

My lunch arrived with home fries and buttered toast…sigh…  Sometimes I think waiters and waitresses get kind of numb in their job.  I understand that can happen, but when a customer asks specifically for something, I think they should write it down.  The diner wasn’t busy at that time, so you can’t use that excuse.  He said he would take it back, but I just didn’t feel dealing with that.  I didn’t eat the home fries (I hate to waste food which is why I asked for something else!)  but I did eat the toast.  The omelette was ok.

Ralph wasn’t hungry when it got to be dinner time.  He said he’d make himself a sandwich later. So I started to create…and strangely…it was all Green again!

Brown rice (not burned this time!), snow peas, the lovely little squash which might or might not be a zucchini, frozen broccoli, black beans and garlic.

Topped with some of my WW sale cheese, we have this lovely result…

It was really tasty.  I love having the big container of black beans ready in the fridge.  I don’t have to open a can, just have to scoop!  It’s great! 🙂

We had thunderstorms last night which was a little strange.  Lots of rain and it’s still wet and dreary out there now.  Lots of errands to do today.  Hopefully I’ll get some constructive things done, too. 

Rainy or not, Happy Thursday!!

Watch Out for Those Speed Bumps!

Tuesday seemed to be one of those disjointed days again.  I had done a little planning ahead.  I had soaked a bag of black beans over night so that they would be ready for the crock pot in the morning.

All finished and ready to keep me satisfied and protein filled all week!  Why do they always look “frosty” in my photos?!?

Ralph and I had to run a few errands and then I went to Gail’s house to spend a little time and help where I could.

When I got home, the mail had come and I was excited to find this hiding in the pile…

The invitation to our nephew’s wedding in May!  We’re all so excited, they’re such a great couple.  They even made a guest appearance in my very first post back in December…

Heather and Brian!  We love them so much and they are just the perfect couple together.  We’re SO happy for them!  It’s so nice to have a happy occasion to look forward to!

When dinner time came, Ralph was still working on his leftover corned beef, cabbage and potatoes.

I was very hungry by the time it came to dinner.  I had oatmeal with Almond Breeze for breakfast and only a Lemon Chobani for lunch.  My tummy was empty! 😦

I wanted fast and easy.  I started with olive oil and garlic and chopped up 2 sad little green bell peppers left in the fridge…

I was planning on serving this all over whole wheat penne pasta, but I had finished  my chopping when I realized I hadn’t even put the water on to boil let alone start the pasta cooking!  So of course, I turn the water up as high as possible and it does boil.  But then I put the pasta in and didn’t turn down the gas.  Well,  it boils over AND puts out the pilot light on that side of the stove! 😦  So I had to move the hot pasta pot over to the other side of the stove because I was already cooking the peppers and I couldn’t lift the hot top of the stove to re-light the pilot!  All this and I cut my time short and I wanted to be ready to eat when TMZ came on.  It’s very important that I eat my dinner while watching TMZ 😉 Of course they’ve messed me up because they changed the time!

I got back on track. This was supposed to be simple right?!?

I added a can of diced tomatoes with basil and oregano and leftover cannellini beans.  I added black pepper, more dried basil and crushed red pepper flakes…spicy, yum…

Sprinkled of course with Locatelli Romano Cheese.  It was so good!  And inspite of how my story sounds, I was able to get it ready in time to see TMZ!  That’s why this is such a great recipe, it’s fast even when you hit  a few speed bumps! 🙂

I haven’t mentioned my meditation practice lately.  It’s going well.  I feel such peace when I do it.  Whether I hold on to that peace throughout the day is another story.  I still have not successfully fit in an evening practice, but I’m still working on it.  I think it would be good for me. 

So sad to hear the sad news of the passing of Elizabeth Taylor…

She really was a legend.  I’m sure the TV news and entertainment shows will be full of her today and rightly so. 

It’s damp and dreary out, but I’m looking forward to a good day.  Happy Wednesday!