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She went to the cupboard and...

...the muffin dome was cracked and empty! Cracked because her children now did the dishes (erg but also, yeah!) and empty, cause she's not been baking because of other stuff going on. No reviews to do tonight.

I did have a pretty good week last week- losing 2.7 pounds at weigh-in and about halfway thru Christmas pounds. I only had a couple of workouts though and still need to get back to regular workouts. My goal for the week is to fit 3 workouts in before Saturday's weigh-in and to drink more water. Will let you know how that goes!

Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate

Ok. just typed a long post and lost it! argh!

I'll skip the parts about the gym and a culinary disaster (for another day!) and just share my 6 point salted caramel hot chocolate with you. It was delicious and well worth the points, but you could easily cut back on some of the points if you had to. It is a decadent chocolatey treat however!

My hot chocolate mix (pictured above) worked out to 3 pts plus. Next I added salted caramel syrup (which I found at Winner's, but you can find them at any coffee supply store) for 1 pt. It's 3 points if you use 2 tbsps, but 1 tbsp is 1 and it's still a lot (you could cut back there). I used my milk frother and 1/2 c of skim b/t my dd13's mug and mine (so 1 point), and then a drizzle of caramel sauce for 1 point (the amount again was small in terms of allowed serving size). Finally, for the salt, I used my big chunky kosher salt.

and about the salt, and things that make you go "hmmmm" -at Starbucks they are always running out of this part of the drink. Why? I ask you? seems like the last thing they'd run out of?

and on a final sidenote, my fun mug was a Christmas gift from a friend. Anyone else love True Blood? :) Have a great week everybody!

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New Cookbooks for a New Year

Happy New Year ten days in! (better late than never?) Anyway, here's to your better health and fitness in 2012! Following that idea, I FINALLY made a New Year's resolution/pledge to my personal better health in 2012 (and my family's) by pledging to planning menus and trying new, healthy recipes. I aim to plan a number of recipes on Sunday of each week, attempt to better use what I have on hand (less waste in 2012!) and make a shopping list so that I don't have to make trips to the grocery store each day after work.

I did get a number of new cookbooks over the holidays that I plan to work from- besides my favourite magazine, Cooking Light and issues of Weight Watchers magazine. I have a couple other new cookbooks not pictured (am I a cookbook junkie or what, eh?), a new Clean Eating one from my sister given to me on my birthday in November and a healthy eating one by Canadian Living from our school library fundraiser.

I had a rather fattening Christmas holiday, making many of my recipes from Martha Stewart's holiday issue and this magazine from our liquor store (eep!):

Of my recipes that I planned this past Sunday, I made Potatoes, Leeks and Carrots in Parchment from Martha Stewart's Food Everyday Light (with the yellow cover above). I skipped the optional butter and the veggies were tender crisp and tasty anyway. My family ate most of it (saw some leek bits left behind) and it was very easy. The picture looks a little bland. It was prettier in real life! I didn't have any thyme (no joke there), so that would have added a little something, something to it, too, I'm sure. One serving worked out to 3 points plus.

I also made one crockpot recipe: Chicken Tortilla Soup from the Williams-Sonoma The New Slow Cooker Cookbook. I really enjoyed it, and even my dubious family liked it overall. Only dd11 was not enamored, though even she ate quite a bit of it. I cut back on the jalapeno pepper a little (using 1/2 of one as opposed to the 1-2 suggested) and I used fire-roasted tomatoes, instead of regular canned ones. I loved the addition of avocado (mmmmm...avocado!), but my family wouldn't try it or the cilantro (my picky dh influences my children with his dislike of certain foods, but our hamster also didn't like cilantro, so dd11 was influenced by him. True story! ;) )

I guesstimated the soup to be around 8-9 points plus with the avocado, corn and the shredded chicken. The chips are extra, of course!

Finally, from Cooking Light's new The Complete Quick Cook, I tried Pork Medallions with Port Wine-Dried Cherry Pan Sauce. It was delicious! So delicious that I forgot to take a picture of it! oops! I did snap the following pic while I was cooking it. I followed the recipe exactly, except that I used regular red wine (not sweet or port) and I cooked the pork medallions longer than suggested in the recipe. The instructions were a little vague for my liking in that regard, suggesting it done on "low temperature." I did it on medium.

My family liked it, too, though no one really gave the sauce a fair shot- dh said it "wasn't bad" but he'd already slathered his with his beloved HP sauce. lol. The sauce was delicous. Trust me! Well worth the 9 points for 4 medallians and 2 tbsp of delicious sauce. :)

Mac&Cheese Love

Long time, no post again. Though offline, I have been staying on program- well, the last couple of weeks anyway! (After my summer that wasn't very ww friendly.) I feel so much better when I'm eating properly and working out.

Speaking of working out, I've recommitted to my gym membership and didn't sign up for boot camp (which moved out of my school). My goal is to try out each of the classes offered at the fancier gym of the local gym chain and do my other workouts- on days I don't have much time, at the crappy gym across the road from school. Tonight we worked out there: perfect for a good treadmill jog with time left to make supper.

Speaking of supper, I made the cover recipe from September's Cooking Light: "Creamy, Light Mac and Cheese." (10 points plus for 1 1/3 cup.) It was very good. I didn't modify the recipe at all, other than skipping the parsley at the end. I like the idea of adding butternut squash to the sauce- sneaky way to get some veggies in for my family of non-lovers of the orangey vegetable. With the sharpness of the 3 different cheeses and the tart yogurt, they never noticed the squash. Another nice aspect of the dish was the crunch on top- toasted panko, rather than potato chips, but still good. Overall, it was well worth the investment of points for a nice bowl of a favourite comfort food.

I had my mac with a serving of plain arugula (nice and peppery- good mixed with the cheesy pasta and a bit of salsa (sides with zero points, too!)

Hope everyone is having a good, healthy week.

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Summer of Fitness

Long time no post, I am well aware! This year got busy with online courses (2) and general, regular life busy stuff.

School got out on Thursday and after doing poorly at my weigh-in again this morning- no surprise there- I'm recommitting myself to Weight Watchers and regular exercise. I didn't sign up for boot camp this summer, but instead plan to make use of my neglected, already paid for gym membership and involve my family in exercise, too. Dd13 is doing both soccer and baseball this summer and wants to do weight training and walk/runs (though hopefully where no one sees her with her mom). ;P

I plan to share our progress thru the summer here and hopefully catch up with many of my favourite healthy blogs. I will also try to review at least one Cooking Light or WW recipe a week. That's my goal anyway.

And speaking of my goal: I'm aiming to make it before Christmas: 139 toned pounds.


Wish me luck!


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10 point chicken

But kinda worth it! Made this CL chicken parm recipe last night. Will post link later.






link later! much later! Sorry! Click here.

(online course done now...Janet will try to become a better blogger again!)

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