Monday, April 30, 2012

May is right around the corner.  I finally paid to join up again with weight watchers online and have lost 10 pounds as of today.  I also bought a new weight watchers cookbook over the weekend and really love how it is laid out.

You'll see a recipe or two in here but for now that's it.  Just had to tell somebody that I've lost 10 pounds.   Now back to regularly scheduled work.  yuck.

went back to weight watchers

I broke down and decided to go back to weight watchers.  Yeah I can follow it without paying the money for online (which is the option I chose) but perhaps by having to pay for it I'll stick to it? 

This week has been a good one so far. 

See that?  I've lost 7 pounds this week.  Yeah, I've got to brag while I can because it won't be like every week. 

I made crockpot chicken pot roast the other night  Close to it anyway.  I didn't put in potatoes.  Extra onions and carrots and used Mrs.. Dash garlic blend for seasoning.  Then put a whole chicken on top with a little more garlic blend.  I ended up pretty good.  I didn't have to cook then tonight after work is always nice.  I had a bowl of it and added in a 1/4 cup uncooked couscous..  Still haven't used up all my points for the day so that is cool.

I also found an old weight watchers cook book going back to 1987.  It is fun to go through the recipes and was happy to see that most of them are for 2 servings.  Being single that helps out a lot so that I don't have a lot of leftovers or eating the same thing for most of the week.  The WW plan has changed since this cookbook came out but since they give the nutritionals I can still figure out how many points.

pictures

Finally managed to take the pictures I was talking about yesterday.

This one is the Asian teapot BOM for April.  I think it turned out pretty good. 

Then I also started the machine embroidery for the coffee cup mug rug but then I didn't like how it turned out.  It wrinkled more than it should have even with a stabilizer on the back.  I'm not sure if my tensions is off or what.  I still might have to take the machine into an authorized dealer to get it fixed.  Well we shall see.  This is what it looked like.  I still might make it into a mug rug. Not sure yet.

Then there were two things which I had bought which are just fun non quilting things.  This is a top for soda cans and the fit on the can is pretty good.  They came in a pack of two so I have one at work and one at home.

The other thing is a battery operated little fan.  It should be good to take to work and/or have at home.  It runs on two D size batteries which I can get for $1 (a 3 pack is $1) so it is certainly affordable.  According to the box it should have 55 hours of "running time" before needing to replace batteries. 

Time to get back to doing the buttonhole stitch (can never remember the other name for it) on Arabesque and watching dvd's.  No cable so only get to watch dvd's and/or watch shows on Hulu.  Yesterday I picked up five movies at the dollar store ($1 each) so will watch them today.  It was a mixed bunch and they would have to be pretty bad not to think I got my money's worth out of them.

Starship troopers2 (which is suppose to be bad but for a buck I'll watch it)

The Work and the Glory  - a story about the start of the Mormon Church

1408 - a scary movie (a psychologically thrilling movie that leaves you gasping in the end - according to it)

Missionary Man  (It has Dolph Lundgren in it - had to get it - plays a vigilante)

Alex Rider - Operation Stormbreaker - a teenage spy movie - I'll give it to my nephew with the five kids.  It's not too bad

grilled butter lettuce with creamy dressing

I know that love wilted lettuce so I'm wondering why I was surprised when I saw this recipe.  I might have to try it some time.

Grilled Butter Lettuce with Creamy Dressing

serves 4

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for grill
1/3 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chopped fresh chives
coarse salt and ground pepper
4 slices crusty bread
1 garlic clove, peeled
2 heads butter lettuce,, such as Bibb or Boston halved

1.  Heat a grill or grill pan to medium-high.  Clean and lightly oil hot grill.  in a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, mayonnaise,, and vinegar.  Stir in basil and chives; season with salt and pepper.  (To store refrigerate in an airtight container, up to 3 days).

2  Brush both sides of bread with oil and grill,, flipping once,, until toasted, 3 minutes.  Rub with garlic, season with salt, and cut into cubes..

3.  Grill lettuce, cut side down until charred in spots, about 3 minutes.  Serve warm, topped with dressing and croutons.

per serv:  260 cal; 12 g fat (2 g sat fat); 3 g protein; 32 g carb; 2 g fiber

New look

Hmmm.  This new look to blogger is going to take awhile to get used to.  Well I just came back from walking for almost 30 minutes (what was left of my lunch hour) and it's a nice breezy day out.  Good for getting rid of cobwebs in the mind. 

Today's menu has consisted of:

McDonald's sausage McMuffin - 9 (weight watchers old points)
2 slices of cheese - 6 (approx)

snack:  carrots - .5

32 oz of coke zero - 1 (I think it really might be zero but will round up)

KFC original recipe chicken breast - 9
KFC original recipe leg - 3

snack size milk chocolate - 3

I still have my apple if I get hungry later but I am leaving work at 3 to take stuff to H & R Block for my brothers taxes.  Hopefully they can take the money out of his estate for it.

Back from H&R.  I left the information with them but told them if I had to pay them out of my money I'd have to do it myself.  We'll see.  They are trying to get an answer from H&R on that.  We'll see.

I went to Aldi's and WalMart and tried to buy sensibly.  That isn't easy.  Tomorrow is Lyndon's birthday and I feel like I need to take something in for him even though we are having the communal birthday celebration later in the month.  In an effort eat a little better, I bought a sugar free angel cake and frozen strawberries no sugar added and cool whip.  Think that should do ok.  Then I came home and made myself an egg scramble.  half cup of egg substitute (2), half an onion and the rest of the chicken breasts.  Perhaps a little overboard on the chicken but still it needed to be eaten up.  I'm starting to drink on my water now so we'll see how it works out.

That four letter word again.....

Ok, you are going to get bored with me writing about my food choices but it's the only way I can stay on track.  After Tony died I let myself go and am back up to max weight again.  So you get to suffer with me and I'll be tracking here as well as inserting pictures because that is the only way I can stay on topic.

So I started back with tracking on Monday.

So here's what I had for lunch today. Overall probably more than I should have but less than I normally do so that is good also.

I went to the University's food center and had their buffet. I took their black styrofoam to go containers, you know the kind that is split into three sections, and filled the largest section with shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes and black olives and shredded cheese. In one of the smaller sections I took one rounded scoop of tuna salad and in the last section one rounded scoop of cottage cheese topped with five small apricot halves. I also put in the container 10 tortilla chips.

When I got back to the office I put the tortilla chips in another bowl and put the shredded cheese on top of them. They were put aside for a snack at break time.

Then I put a packet of Kraft Free French dressing on my salad.

Overall I don't think it too bad.

Last night was a downfall for me but I think I still did pretty good. I managed to have 64 oz of liquid yesterday - 32 of water and 32 of coke zero. That was one of the best days for liquid intake in a long time.

My dinner last night was a thin chicken breast (pre weight .178 of pound), onions and carrots. I don't think it was enough because I got hungry later on so I got out my hungry girl slider wraps and put peanut butter on it and ate that. I approximate that to have been 350 calories. I know the wraps were a little under 150 but not sure exactly how much peanut butter I used but 2 teaspoons is 190 so I'm using that.

So today, the 3rd, is another day.  Today I had an egg mcmuffin for breakfast and got my 32 oz of coke zero. Still working on breakfast options but will find a solution soon. I can always have oatmeal but would like to change it up and mom wants me to bring her hot picante sauce from McDonald's so it's natural to go through there and order something. I still had a packet of buddig meat in the work frig and a slice of cheese. I brought the slider wraps. 1/3 of it (they are sectioned off in thirds) has a teeny amount of peanut butter on it so that might be a snack. The other two thirds will be for lunch. I'll use the honey ham buddig meat and cheese with that. I also remembered to bring snacks today. Mini carrots and also took out of the freezer a Dole pre portioned cup of sliced strawberries.

we'll have to see how it works today and if I'll feel hungry later on.

I had my Dole strawberries for snack before lunch.  I thought I might want to get that sweet taste out of my mouth before I ate since it seems to make me want to eat more.  I did my ham wraps and pulled out some carrots to munch on.  Still drinking the 32 oz of soda so have that.  When I finish with that I will rinse out the cup and reuse it by filling it up with water.  That all leaves me with a peanut butter slider for snack around 3 and more carrots if needed.  I'll see how it works out tonight.

Dinner tonight was leftovers.  I used the leftover veggies from last night that was mixed with salsa and then chopped up one of the chicken breasts from last night.  Nuked it and had it on a 90 cal tortilla with a slice of pepperjack cheese.  It was pretty good but I can already tell that it won't last me the night.  It's not even six PM and I'm still a little hungry.  I am even on my second 32 oz cup of water!