Good Meals and a Good Week

It's been a great week so far.  Nothing really special or remarkable, but any week that I do well with staying on track and eating right, according to the Weight Watchers guidelines, I feel great.  It's Friday which means it's the last day of my week, before my 10am weigh-in tomorrow. I've made a lot of good, healthy, balanced meals this week and I wanted to share some more with you!  I know it's tough to think of healthy things to eat sometimes, especially if you get bored of eating the same thing over and over again. I know a lot of people eat the same meals all week so they know they're staying on track etc, but I just can't do that. I do like leftovers, for a day. But I can't seem to get excited about something after the 2nd time, sometimes I can do 3 meals if it's really good.

This morning I made a brunch like meal for a late breakfast, pictured below.

Brunch (Weight Watchers Points Plus Values in brackets): 9pts


Orange wedges - (0)
Grapes - (0)
100 Calorie English Muffin - (3)
Thin n' Trim Oven Roasted Turkey 2oz - (1)
Weight Watchers spreadable garlic & herb cheese (1 wedge, on english muffin) - (1)
Nonfat store brand mixed berry yogurt - (2)
Fiber One Cereal, 1/2 cup or 30g - (2)

Breakfast/Brunch was filling, balanced, and delicious.  As I said in a previous post, fiber was the focus of last week's meeting, so I tried to think about that while meal planning this week.  The 1/2 cup of Fiber One cereal as 14g of fiber, which is a really great amount to start the day! I had some extra orange wedges, not pictured, as well.

Hamburgers were on last night's menu.  Kristi said she was craving a McDonald's hamburger, so rather than give into the craving, I told her I'd made hamburgers one night this week.  I decided to make them on the grill outside, and I put corn on the cob on the grill too! I had to ask Heidi for some grill instruction since I've never owned a grill and therefore have never had to start a grill up. It was pretty easy, but thanks Heidi for the help! :) 

Dinner  (Weight Watchers Points Plus Values in brackets): 21 pts

Fresh cut veggies (cucumber, celery, red pepper, carrots, dill pickles) - (0)

Red pepper hummus (1.5oz) - (3)

Corn on the cob, made on the grill with some seasonings in tin foil - (2)

Sweet Potato Fries (homemade, cut up sweet potato, a little oil and seasonings) - (4)

Hamburger, 1/3 pound patty - (5)

Wheat hamburger bun - (3)

Lettuce, tomato, ketchup (1tsp) - (0)

American cheese - (2)

2 small slices of center-cut bacon - (2)

So, that was dinner. Dinner was amazing. The corn was possibly the best corn I've ever had.  I used about 1/4 teaspoon olive oil, over 2 ears of corn, then added small amounts of salt, pepper, garlic powder, and vegetable seasoning then wrapped them individually in tin foil about 2 hours before cooking.  They were seasoned perfectly.  They were on the grill for about 15 minutes and that was a perfect amount of time.  The burgers were preformed store-bought 90% lean ground beef, and I added some pepper, Montreal burger seasoning, and Worcestershire sauce, also about 2 hours before cooking. They were perfect.  I was very pleased with the meal.  The sweet potato fries were a little crisp on the outside, and warm and soft on the inside.  I'd like them to be a bit more fry like, but these were pretty darn good!

Yesterday afternoon I decided to try a Weight Watchers recipe that was suggested in the Weight Watchers weekly for this week. Kale and Bacon and Cannellini beans. This proved a little more difficult than I expected, with a few changes and set backs.  The recipe is below the pictures, so you can see where I subbed thins from the original list.  I ended up using dried minced garlic instead of fresh.  While the taste was just as good, I forgot that it wouldn't need to simmer as long since it isn't fresh.  I let it simmer in the bacon grease, as directed, for under a minute, but when I turned around, it was very dark , which ended up meaning it was burnt to a crisp.  Unfortunately I didn't really realize it was burnt until I added the fresh onions, so then I had to throw out everything through that step.  I ended up cooking another 3 slices of bacon, so that I still had bacon grease to cook in, per the recipe.  I used some of the extra bacon for dinner, on my burger, so that worked out.  I didn't want to chop another onion, so I ended up using onion powder.  The taste, again, is pretty much the same, but it creates less food for the recipe.  The rest of the meal I proceeded as per the recipe, but I realized I didn't have 1lb of kale, instead I probably only had 1/2 that.  Oh well.  The dish turned out pretty well, and I think I'll try again, but this time use everything fresh and follow the recipe exactly.  I think it'd be better that way.  With no onions, and not enough kale, it only came out to about 2 servings, and the recipe says each serving is 5pts, but I know each of these is more since the ingredients are only split between 2 dishes.  I don't think each one is 10 though, so I called it 7 points per serving.  I could be off, but since I haven't used my weekly points, that's fine. I've only used 8 out of 49 and today is the last day of the week, so a few extra points from varying recipes is fine to not be sure about.  I also have activity points I gained this week so I know there is no way I'm over my points.

Pictures are below of the ingredients, and then the finished dish.  It was very flavorful, maybe a little too salty, but I think using fresh onion would make that better, as the salt and balsamic vinegar would have more to mix into.

Kale with Bacon and Cannellini Beans: 7pts per serving, served 2, recipe at the bottom of blog

 

I ate this yesterday for lunch, along with a 6in Subway sandwich that Kristi brought home for me.  Heidi had some BOGO coupons that expired yesterday so Kristi got us each a 6in sub for lunch on her way home from her class at UML.  I forgot how much I loved Subway! I worked there for awhile, when I was 19, at Plymouth State College. It was a fun, and easy, job, and the perk of free subs was pretty decent!

So, a few great meals. A pretty great week.  A weigh-in tomorrow that I'm feeling good about, and not stressing like I normally do, so that's good.  I need to run to the grocery store to stock up on some fruits and veggies for the weekend, and for my salad that I'm having for dinner tonight.  I try to always eat a light meal, low on salt and heavy meats, the night before a weigh-in, so that I'm not "weighed down" when I get on the scale.  Tonight's salad will likely be with either tuna or shrimp on top. I haven't decided yet.

I hope all of you reading this have a fantastic day, and if you're doing Weight Watchers, or any other "diet", I hope your results this week are where you wanted them to be.  I'm hoping for minimally 0.4lbs lost, so I hit that 10lb goal I wanted to meet last week, but I really want it to be more than that of course. I usually feel good as long as I'm losing 2lbs per week, but we all know that just doesn't happen every week.

Happy Friday friends, family, and supporters. Have a great day, and a fun-filled holiday weekend, whatever you may be celebrating! :)  I'll be sure to post tomorrow about my weigh-in results!

Kale with Bacon and Cannellini Beans Prep time:  10 min Cook time:  32 min Serves: 4, Points Plus Value: 5 3 slice(s) uncooked reduced-fat bacon    3 clove(s) (medium) garlic clove(s), minced    1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes    1 cup(s) (chopped) uncooked onion(s), diced    1 pound(s) uncooked kale, stemmed, roughly chopped    1 cup(s) canned chicken broth, or beef broth    15 oz canned cannellini beans, rinsed and drained    1 tsp kosher salt    1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar    1 tsp sugar, in the raw    Instructions ·         Set a large, heavy pot or skillet over medium heat; add bacon and cook to desired crispness. Remove bacon from pot and set aside; leave bacon drippings in pot.  ·         Add garlic and red pepper flakes to bacon drippings; cook, stirring, until garlic becomes fragrant, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add onion; cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 10 minutes. Add kale; cook, stirring occasionally, until it starts to wilt, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add broth; cover and simmer over low heat until kale is just tender, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add beans; simmer, uncovered, until liquid is almost evaporated, about 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in salt, vinegar and sugar; sprinkle with crumbled bacon and serve immediately. Yields about 1 1/4 cups per serving.