Meal planning & grocery shopping

Is it just me or does meal planning make you hungry? Seriously. As I sit here and browse through Pinterest on my Healhty & WW Friendly Board I find myself wanting some serious food. Thankfully I have my trusty water by my side so I can chug while I salivate.

Some new recipes I've added to my meal plan, and am incredibly excited for, are:

Butternut Squash Coucous

Black Bean & Brown Rice Burgers

Crunchy Black Bean Tacos

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake in a Mug  - without the frosting, but I'll probably use some Free Cool Whip

Penne Rosa - minus the shrimp, but add chicken

WW Broccoli-Cheddar Soup - throw in some more veggies!

Pizzadillas - seriously, how did I never think of this?!

Zucchini, Black Bean, & Rice Skillet - I'll try to modify this one so I don't have to use instant rice.

Chicken, Shiitake, and Wild Rice Soup

I have included the links to the recipes in case you're interested. I tell ya, it's a good thing I like leftovers  because some of these my family won't eat. I'll update as I make them and give my usual reviews. 

Now that my planning is done, off to the gym I go!

Recipe Review :: Gina's Skinny Recipes Chicken, Shiitake and Wild Rice Soup

I happened to stumble upon a new (to me) site that was chock full of tasty, healthy low-cal/low-fat meals and haven't been able to get off the dang site since. I have found so many recipes that I can make for my whole family, some that I can make just for myself and freeze leftovers and some that even just my husband and kids might like. The site is Gina's Skinny Recipes (Skinnytaste).

I'm so glad I found this recipe. I love soup - especially a thick soup with rice, but they are always so high in points that I feel too guilty enjoying them. This is a nice, hearty soup that tastes delicious! A huge advantage is that David loves it - huge score!

Chicken, Shiitake and Wild Rice Soup

One thing to note is the rice expands the longer it sits, so you may need to add more water to adjust the correct thickness. This reheats fine the next day with a little added water. For the wild rice combo I used Rice a Roni Long Grain and Wild Rice.

• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 small onion; chopped
• 1 tbsp flour
• 8 cups (64 oz) fat free low sodium chicken broth
• 1 cups water
• 2 carrots; chopped
• 3 garlic cloves; chopped
• 2 celery ribs; chopped
• 4 skinless chicken thighs
• 4.5 oz long grain rice and wild rice combo 
• 1/2 cup long grain white rice
• 4 oz. shiitake mushrooms, sliced (I chopped)
• 2 tbsp light sour cream 
• salt and fresh pepper

Melt butter in a large pot on medium heat, add onion and saute until soft but 

not browned, about 3-4 minutes. Add flour and saute another minute.
Add chicken broth, water, carrots, garlic, celery, and chicken thighs, cover

and simmer 20 minutes. Add wild rice mix along with it's seasoning, long

grain rice, mushrooms, salt and pepper to taste and simmer on low, covered

25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove chicken from pot and shred with two forks, return to pot, add sour

cream and more water if too thick, adjust salt and pepper to taste and serve.

As a side note: I added about 1/2 cup of canned corn to it - for a little added texture.

Makes 6 servingsPer serving (1 1/2 cups): 237 calories, 4g fat, 2g fiber 

**Points Value - 5
**Points+ Value - 6

Recipe Review :: Gina's Skinny Recipes Lemon Blueberry Scones

I happened to stumble upon a new (to me) site that was chock full of tasty, healthy low-cal/low-fat meals and haven't been able to get off the dang site since. I have found so many recipes that I can make for my whole family, some that I can make just for myself and freeze leftovers and some that even just my husband and kids might like. The site is Gina's Skinny Recipes (Skinnytaste)

I absolutely love Caribou's lemon blueberry scone and get them any chance I have. Now that I am on Weight Watchers I can't just have one any old time, so I am in desperate need of finding a recipe I can enjoy enough to not crave the deliciousness from Caribou. I made these and they are incredibly tasty. My only complaint is that they taste a little too much like shortbread for my liking, but the cumbly-ness they have is perfect.

The recipe is actually for lemon cranberry scones, but I used blueberries instead (I have a supreme love for lemon blueberry baked goods) I've modified the recipe to reflect what I made. No nutritional value changed. You can see it on her site here. Since it is a lower point value for just the 1 item, I paired it with a Greek yogurt (my faves are Yoplait Greek and Chobani) and added a cup of coffee (with creamer and Splenda, of course)

Lemon Blueberry Scones

For perfect scones, be careful not to over-knead the dough and be sure your
butter is chilled. Leftovers can be stored in air-tight containers for up to two
days. I've tried these using all whole wheat flour but I prefer to use a blend of
whole wheat and white. Enjoy!


Lemon Blueberry Scones

• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice, divided

• 1/2 cup low fat buttermilk (I didn't have buttermilk so I went the backup 

           way 1/2 tbsp of lemon juice, 1% milk to the 1/2 cup line)

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon zest
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 2 cups Ultra grain flour (or 1 cup white, 1 cup whole wheat) 
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp chilled butter (must be cold) cut into small pieces (I grated it 

          with a cheese grater)

• 3/4 cup dried blueberries

Position rack in top third of oven; Preheat oven to 375°. Line baking sheet
with parchment paper. Make glaze by combining 2 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp lemon
juice. Combine buttermilk, remaining lemon juice, sugar, lemon zest, vanilla,
and egg in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk.Combine flour, baking powder,
salt, in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Cut in chilled butter with a pastry
blender, or you could use 2 knives, until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
Gently fold in blueberries. Add buttermilk mixture, stirring just until moist.
(dough will be sticky)

Place dough onto a floured surface and knead lightly four times with floured
hands. Form dough into an 8-inch circle onto baking sheet, about 3/4" thick.
Using a knife, cut dough into 10 wedges (do not cut all the way through).
Brush lemon glaze over dough. Bake until golden, about 18-20 minutes, or
until a tester comes out clean. Serve warm or room temperature.

If you leave out the dried fruit, the scones are 4 points plus each.


Makes 10 servings


**Points Value - 4    
**Points+ Value - 5

I'm in love with lemon

I don't know if you love lemon, but I sure do. I have been on the hunt for a WW friendly recipe for lemon bars and was STOKED when I saw there was one in the Hungry Girl book. Well, I made the recipe and let me tell you - it was GROSS. I'm not even going to bother posting the recipe, but just know if you come across it, it's not good and don't even try it.

Ma found a recipe for me on About.com in the Low Fat Cooking area and I wasn't hesitant to try it at all. I'm so glad I made it because these lemon bars rock!

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutesIngredients:

For the Base:

•1 cup all-purpose flour

•1/4 cup sugar

•1/2 cup quick oats

•3 tbsp butter

For theTopping:

•1 egg

•1 egg white

•1 cup sugar

•3 tbs flour

•1/4 tsp baking powder

•Pinch of salt

•Juice and zest of 1 large lemon (I used the zest of a lemon, and then about 5tb of juice from the bottle)

•Confectioner's sugar, sifted, for sprinkling

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat an 8-inch square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Combine flour, oats and sugar in a medium bowl. Using a pastry blender, add butter and blend until the mixture is crumbly.

Press crumbs into the bottom of the baking pan. Bake for 10 minutes until edges are golden.

Meanwhile, whisk egg and egg white. Add sugar and beat until creamy. Add flour, baking powder, salt and lemon; whisk until smooth.

Pour lemon mixture over pre-baked base. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until center is set.

Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 16 squares.

Per Serving: Calories 133, Total Fat 2.8g, Fiber 0.1g

Point value:: 3

Recipe Review:: MY Weight Watchers friendly pizza

If you're on Weight Watchers or just want a low-cal/low-fat pizza I have a recipe for you!!

I've made this pizza one time before and it wasn't as good, but I made it again last night and have now learned how to make it better. I'll list the ingredients I used, but obviously you can make it to suit your likes!

Ingredients:

• Multi Grain with Flax Flat Out

-For sauce:

• 1/3 cup tomato sauce
• Italian seasonings
• Garlic powder
• Minced garlic
• Garlic salt

-Toppings:

• About 2-3tb chopped mushrooms
• About 2-3tb chopped green peppers
• About 2-3tb chopped onions
• 17 slices of turkey pepperoni
• 7 medium black olives, sliced
• 1/3 cup Weight Watchers shredded cheese
• 2 tb low-fat mozzarella cheese

Directions:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees.
• Heat the flat out on a non-stick cookie sheet for 7 minutes
• While the flat out is heating, chop your veggies and create your sauce!
• Remove flat out from oven, spread sauce and pile on toppings!
• Cook in oven for 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
• Remove from oven, cut and enjoy (THE WHOLE THING!)

Points value: 7

Recipe Review:: Hungry Girl's Sassy Veggie Egg Rolls

Have you heard of Hungry Girl? Well, if you haven't, you should go check her out here! She's a girl that likes food and doesn't want to feel deprived of her nummy food so she has found ways to make super delish recipes in a low-fat/low-cal way.

I sure love me some egg rolls so you can bet when I saw this recipe in HG's book I HAD to make them. They took a while to make, but I pretty much expected that with all of the chopped and shredded veggies that were included. They were super yummy worth my time! The only modification I made was leaving out the pineapple. 
As a side note: These egg rolls don't get crunchy like your regular egg rolls since you don't fry them. Because of this, when you reheat them you should heat them up in the oven instead of the microwave otherwise you'll get soggy egg rolls. :-(
Oh! And don't blame me if you're upset and confused with trying to figure out what the crap I'm talking about with rolling the egg rolls, that was the direction from the book, not mine! Good luck.

Hungry Girl's Sassy Veggie Egg Rolls

Ingredients:

• 12 large sqaure egg roll wrappers
• 2 cups shredded cabbage
• 1 cup chopped onions
• 1/2 cup shredded carrots
• 1/2 cup chopped bean sprouts
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup pineapple in juice, chopped
• 1/2 cup canned sliced water chestnuts, chopped
• 1/4 cup light or low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablesppons minced garlic
• salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Place cabbage in a microwave-safe dish with 2 tablesppons of water and microwave for 3 minutes. Drain water and transfer to a large bowl.
• Add all other ingredients to the bowl, except for the warppers, and mix well. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.
• Place two egg roll wrappers on a clean, dry surface. Evenly place 2 heaping spoonfuls of the veggie mixture (1/12th of the mixture) onto each wrapper, in rwos a little below the center of each square. Moisten all four edges of each wrapper with watter by dabbing your fingers in water and going over the edges smoothly.
• Fold the sides of each wrapper about three-quarters of an inch toward the middle to keep the mixture from falling out of the sides. The roll the bottome of each wrapper up arounf the mixture and continue rolling until you reach the top. Seal the outside edge once more witha dab of water.
• Repeat process with all other wrappers, making sure you have a clean, dry surface each time. Place all of the egg rolls onto a large baking pan sprayed with nonstick spray.
• Lightly spray the tops of the egg rolls with nonstick spray. Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to cool slightly and then cut each egg roll in half.

Per serving (2 pieces): 82 calories, 0.5g fat, 1.5g fiber.

Points Value:: 1 (4 pieces equal 3)

Recipe Review:: Hungry Girl's Crazy-Good Turkey Taco Meatloaf

Have you heard of Hungry Girl? Well, if you haven't, you should go check her out here! She's a girl that likes food and doesn't want to feel deprived of her nummy food so she has found ways to make super delish recipes in a low-fat/low-cal way.

I'll tell you straight out: I am an odd one - I LOVE meatloaf. I came across this HG recipe for a taco meatloaf and decided to give it a shot. It was really easy to make, didn't take a million years and tasted nummy. The only downfall I found was in reheating it. It was pretty dry in that area. My mother in law recommended I put some water in with it and cover with aluminum foil (I reheated in the oven) to help prevent that. I will certainly make it again!

I will say, I did stretch it and served myself 2 pieces and found that I was overly full since I also steamed some asparagus and ate that along with it. So 1 piece is sufficient as long as you eat something with it.

Hungry Girl's Crazy-Good Turkey Taco Meatloaf

Ingredients:

• 1 pound raw extra-lean ground turkey
• 2 slices fat-free cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded fat-free cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup canned sweet corn kernels
• 1/4 cup chopped green bell peppers
• 1/4 cup chopped onions
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 1/2 packet of taco seasoning mix, dry

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Cook peppers and onions for 3 minutes over medium heat in a pan sprayed with nonstick spray.
• In a largw bowl, combine onions and peppers with turkey, corn and seasoning mix. Spread half the mixture evenly into the bottom of a loaf pan sprayed with nonstick spray.
• Layer the two slices of fat-free cheese on top of the mixture (try to keep if away from the pan's edges) Evenly top with the remaining meat mixture.
• Pour the salsa over the top of the load. Cook in the oven for 30 minutes.
• Top loaf with shredded cheese. Return loaf to the oven and cook for another 15 minutes.

Per serving (1/6th of loaf): 127 calories, 1g fat, 0.5g fiber

Points Value:: 3

Recipe Review:: Hungry Girl's Creamy Hot Apple B-fast with Brown Sugar Crunch

Have you heard of Hungry Girl? Well, if you haven't, you should go check her out here! She's a girl that likes food and doesn't want to feel deprived of her nummy food so she has found ways to make super delish recipes in a low-fat/low-cal way.

One morning I wanted apple oatmeal for breakfast but wasn't willing to sacrifice 2 points for one measly little packet of oatmeal that would only leaving me feeling hungry in a while. Thankfully, I have the Hungry Girl books and remembered there was something in there that I had bought the ingredients for. I wasn't looking forward to the prep time (cutting the apples up and crumbling the granola bar) since I was ready to eat NOW! Surprisingly it all went fast. It was maybe a 5-6 minute timeframe between prep and cooking. Not bad.

I'm so glad I tried this recipe. The apple/cinnamon flavor is perfect and the crunchiness that you get from the granola bar is great. This recipe lef tme feeling satisfied. I did need to drink some milk with it though, since it is on the sweet side. I think this could even make a wonderful dessert with a little fat-free cool whip!

Hungry Girl's Creamy Hot Apple B-fast with Brown Sugar Crunch

Ingredients:

• 1 cup peeled apple chunks (any sweet, not tart, variety)
• 1 Nature Valley Maple Brown Sugar Crunchy Granola Bar (half a 2-bar package)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar-free fat-free vanilla instant pudding mix
• 2 no-calorie sweetener packets
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstrach
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• Dash of salt

Directions:

• in a medium-large microwave-safe bowl, place pudding mix, sweetener, cornstrach, cinnmon and salt. Add 1/3 cup cols water and mix until blended.
• Add apple chunks and toss them in the liquid mixture. Cover bow and microwave for 2 1/2 minutes. Allow mixture to thicken and cool for a few minutes before removing from microwave.
• While waiting for it cool some, place the granola bar in a sealable plastic bag. Place on a flat surface and use can or rolling pin to crush the bar until you have small crumbles.
• Once apple mix is cool enough to handle, stir in granola pieces. Eat it up before it gets cold!

Per serving (entire recipe) 189 calories, 3g fat, 3g fiber.

**Points Value:: 3

Recipe Review:: Hungry Girl's Yum Yum Brownie Muffins

Have you heard of Hungry Girl? Well, if you haven't, you should go check her out here! She's a girl that likes food and doesn't want to feel deprived of her nummy food so she has found ways to make super delish recipes in a low-fat/low-cal way.

The other night I decided to go for it and whip these up. Here's another one of the ones I was apprehensive about because of the pumpkin. You see, the only part of the pumpkin I like to eat is the seeds (baked up, of course) so I wasn't too sure of what I would think of these.

Well, I put my dislike of pumpkin aside and tried them. They are delicious! I could tast a hint of pumpkin, but ma said she couldn't (but she also likes pumpkin) Maybe I was looking for it? I don't know. Either way, I like them, the kids like them, ma likes them. I guess they turned out pretty well. I would definitely make them again!

Yum Yum Brownie Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 box devil’s food cake mix (approx. 18oz)
• 1 can pure pumpkin (15 oz.)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Mix the two ingredients together. Don't add anything else that may be mentioned on the box, such as eggs, oil, or water. The mixture will be very thick and you will be tempted to add in other things to make the batter smoother. DO NOT DO THIS AS IT WILL RUIN EVERYTHING!
• Place batter into muffin tins (or mini muffin tins) lined with paper, or sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Per Serving (1 muffin or 3 minis): 181 calories, 3.5g fat, 2g fiber

**Points Value - 4

Recipe Review:: Hungry Girl's Cinnamon-vanilla French Toast Nuggets

Have you heard of Hungry Girl? Well, if you haven't, you should go check her out here! She's a girl that likes food and doesn't want to feel deprived of her nummy food so she has found ways to make super delish recipes in a low-fat/low-cal way.

The other morning I made these for breakfast. It was easy, fast and super tasty. My kids even loved devoured them! I would definitely make them again in the future and when doing so, I would probably either stick the other 8 in the fridge and reheat in the oven the next morning or just toss 'em over to the kids.

While the 16 were very filling, I'm not about to sacrifice 6 points for these in the future. I would probably pair it with a Fiber One Yogurt (1 point) or something.

Hungry Girl's Cinnamon-vanilla French Toast Nuggets

 

Ingredients:

• 2 hot dog buns
• 1/3 cup fat free liquid egg substitute
• 1 tsp Coffee-Mate Sugar Free French Vanilla powdered creamer
• 2 dashes cinnamon
• Optional topping: sugar-free pacake syrup (I only dipped mine in the syrup, rather than pouring over them)

Directions:

• Split each bun in half, cut each of those halves into 4 pieces, leaving you with 16 pieces of bread.
• In a small bowl, dissolve powedered creamer n 1 tablespoon warm water. Add egg substitute and 1 dash of cinnamon, stirring until mixed well.
• Bring a large pan sprayed with nonstick spray to medium-high heat. Dip or soak bread pieces in egg mixture, covering them completely. Place egg-dipped bread pieces in the pan and cook for 3-5 minutes, flipping occasionally to cook all sides.
• Remove from heat and plate your nuggets Sprinkle with another dash of cinnamon. If you like, top with some sugar-free pancake syrup.

Makes 2 servings (I didn't see this when I made them and thought 'man, this is a lot!' No wonder!)

Per Serving (8 nuggets): 151 calories, 2.25g fat, 1.5g fiber.

**Points Value - 3

**NOTE** I added a little bit of vanilla extract to the egg mix to give it some more flavor. Not changing the point value of it.

Recipe Review:: Hungry Girl's Big Bad Burger Wrap

Have you heard of Hungry Girl? Well, if you haven't, you should go check her out here! She's a girl that likes food and doesn't want to feel deprived of her nummy food so she has found ways to make super delish recipes in a low-fat/low-cal way.

Today for lunch I tried her Big Bad Burger Wrap and it was so tasty! I was a little apprehensive at first based on one of the ingredients I had to use. See, I get a little weird about new things sometimes, but I have learned I need to try new things to not be so bored with my food.

I decided not to post the picture that has been supplied by HG because it really doesn't look all that appetizing. I didn't think to take a picture until I was done. Oh well, trust me - it was good! Next time I have it (probably tomorrow!) I will take a pic of it.

I added a Just for 1 broccoli & cheese dish (0 points) and I was stuffed!

Hungry Girl's Big Bad Burger Wrap

Ingredients:

• 1 large La Tortilla Factory Smart & Delicious Low Carb/High Fiber tortilla
• 1 Boca Original Meatless Burger
• 1 wedge The Laughing Cow Light Original Swiss Cheese
• 1 pickle spear, chopped
• 1 teaspoon mustard
• 1 teaspoon ketchup
• 2 dashes Frank's RedHot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce

Directions:

• Prepare Boca patty according to box directions. Chop patty into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.
• To make sauce, combine mustard, ketchup and hot sauce in a small dish. Set aside.
• Warm tortilla in the microwave for 10 seconds. Lay tortilla flat and spread cheese wedge on top.
• Place chopped burger and pickle in the center of the tortilla. Top with sauce. Roll it up and eat!

Per serving (entire recipe): 199 calories, 5.5g fat, 1,368mg sodium, 27.5g carbs, 16.5g fiber, 4.5g sugars, 23.5g protein. !

**Points Value - 4

**NOTE** I made a couple modifications that actually still kept it at a value of 4 WW points. It changed the nutrition value listed above, but not in a way to modify it's value.
I couldn't find the tortillas called for so I actually bought the Multi-Grain FlatOut Pita Wraps, which have the same point value of 1. I also added some lettuce and tomato to mine - again, not changing the point value since they aren't worth anything in such a small amount.