Weekly Menu With Grocery List - St. Patty's Edition!

As promised, here is my menu plan for this week.  My Weight Watchers points plus target is 30 points per day and Justin's is 52 so I try to target dinner around 10-12 points per serving when possible and he eats 1.5 or 2 servings and I eat 1. 

I will try to add more pictures throughout the week as I make these!!

Sunday:  Corned Beef, boiled cabbage and carrots, and Irish Nachos (Hey, it IS Saint Patty's Day!)
Monday:  BBQ Chicken Breasts with Pea's and Carrots
Tuesday: Turkey Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and side salad
Wednesday: Tomato Pesto Chicken with Pasta and Steamed Broccoli
Thursday:  Turkey Breast, sweet potato, green beans
Friday: Chicken Cobb Salads (Friday is always light since we weigh in on Saturday mornings)

Grocery List:
Meat: I buy all my meat from SAM's Club:  Corned Beef with spice packet, Chicken Breasts, Jenny-O 93/7 Ground Turkey (2 lbs), Jenny-O whole turkey breast, Chicken Tenderloins.  If you are just feeding one or two, you can buy just the chicken breasts and cut them into the longer strips for the salad yourself if you'd like.  Chicken and turkey also freeze well before or after cooking.

Veggies: Green cabbage, Whole or baby carrots, russet potatoes, green onions, 2 yellow onions, organic spinach, tomatoes, green bell pepper, mushrooms, broccoli, sweet potatoes, avocado.

Other: Fat free cheddar cheese (shredded), fat free sour cream, cooked turkey bacon, BBQ sauce, Frozen Peas, Frozen carrots, Frozen Green Beans, 1 small can tomato sauce, ketchup, eggs, saltine crackers, butter, fat free milk, Marie's Raspberry vinaigrette salad dressing, Pantry Club Tomato Pesto spice mix (thePantryclub.com), Whole wheat pasta, half and half, Cherry Pecan salad topping, low-sodium fat free chicken broth.

Monday:
- Follow directions on corned beef package.
- Cut cabbage into 6 pieces, quarter an onion, boil it in the chicken broth and add spices, salt, pepper as desired.
- Slice russet potatoes into thin "chip" like rounds.  Place on cookie sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake in 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, top with cheese and turkey bacon pieces, put back in over until cheese has melted.  Top with sour cream and chives.  I used 2 small potatoes, 1/2 cup cheese, 1 tbsp bacon, and 2 tbps sourcream per pan.

As pictured, Irish Nachos are 7 points plus per pan, corned beef will be a per oz calculation - 1 point plus per ounce if you trim the fat off, and the cabbage/carrots are FREE!


Tuesday:
Mix turkey, 20 saltine crackers (mashed up), salt, pepper, can of tomato sauce, and 1 egg in a bowl (I use my hands).  Put in a loaf pan and top with ketchup.  bake at 375 degrees for about 45-55 minutes.
Boil potatoes (I leave the skin on) for about 30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.  Drain water and put potatoes into mixing bowl.  Mash with hand mixer.  Add 1/4 cup skim milk and 2 tbsp butter.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Use spinach and desire veggies and salad toppings to make as side salad.

Wednesday:
In a saucepan, whisk 2 cups of half and half (fat free) and one package of pantry club tomato pesto seasoning mix.  Simmer on low heat for 30-40 minutes stirring frequently.  Let stand to thicken.  While that is cooking, in a skillet, pan fry thin chicken breasts until golden brown and cook noodles according to package directions.  Pour desired serving of noodles into bowl, add sauce and top with desired amount of chicken.  Top with some fat free Parmesan cheese if you want.  Broccoli can be steamed in a steamer and salted to taste or added to the dish.

Thursday: Warm turkey breast on a cookie sheet in a 300 degree oven for about 20 minutes.  During this time, cook sweet potatoes in microwave until tender.  Cook green beans in boiling water with chicken or beef bouillon cube, salt, pepper, minced garlic (1/4 clove), and Italian seasoning (2-3 shakes). 

Friday:  Grill chicken on outdoor grill or use indoor pan fry method.  Prepare salad using spinach and desired toppings.  If you like boiled eggs (we do!) you can boil some eggs a head of time and add those to the salad as well.  Place chicken on top of salad and you have a good, light dinner.

Saturday:  Leftovers for lunch and then Kitchen is closed for the rest of the day!  We eat out on Saturdays!

Thin by Disney - Meal Plans and Recipes

For Christmas, my mother in law gave us a trip to Disney World which is currently set for June.  Let's just say at Christmas, both Justin and I had relaxed a bit on our typically health conscious lifestyle. I had gained about 20 pounds above my Weight Watchers life time goals weight, which I achieved in the spring of 2004.  Justin was carrying about 25 or 30 extra pounds as well.  We knew that we had to get back to where we were comfortable in shorts before our trip so I decided to go back to Weight Watchers hard core and, to my surprise, Justin decided to join me.  So far, we've done really really well.  I got back to my life time goal weight within 6 weeks and I'm now working towards a personal goal of losing another 8-10 pounds.  Justin has lost about 16 pounds and has built a ton of muscle.  We are eating SO much cleaner with hardly any processed foods, only eating out about once a week where we still make good choices, and our kids are even loving the life.  Emme, my 16 month old screams at me to open the carrots and apple slices in the cart at SAM's and Costco because she loves them so much and Brayden is wanting to run a 5K with us this spring!  It's amazing how close we've gotten in our marriage too in the past few weeks.  Not that we didn't have a great marriage before, but there is just something really special about setting a goal with your life partner, and working hard together, through the good bad and ugly, to get there together.  We cheer each other on, keep each other accountable, and yes occasionally get into a spat here and there about who ate more points.....it's all in good intention of course!  Our goal is to be healthy, thin by Disney, but overall be a good example to our kids so that they grow up understanding the importance of good nutrition and being active but also moderation.  We don't say "you can never have any candy ever again".  We just say, once you eat all your carrots, you can have some animal crackers and a few chocolate chips to my 16 month old.  To Brayden, when she does something really good at school, she gets a "you chose breakfast"day where if she wants to eat some pop tarts (I cringe but still let her), then she gets to eat pop tarts that day.  It's once in a while, and chances are, she will chose my whole wheat chocolate chip pancakes and watermelon with some chocolate milk....all of which I can make much more healthy.  So you see, it's all in how you go about it.  Moderation, education, setting a good example, and having grace for each other and ourselves when we slip up now and then! 

At our last Weight Watchers meeting, my leader asked me if I plan our meals and I told the truth.  I do, down to the last little ingredients.  It's how I stay sane with everything I juggle in a day.  I work full time (from home, but still, I work A LOT), Justin is gone about 10-11 hours a day with work and his long commute, I have a toddler, a house and all that goes with that, I try to work in exercise daily, I still need some time to spend with Jesus, I do some small side jobs to make extra money to get us out of debt, I manage our household budget and take care of the money, I like to volunteer when I can....so you see, cooking and being healthy has to fit into my busy life, so planning is a must.  I have decided to start sharing some of my menus and some of my recipes as I go.  Hopefully this will help some of you who are struggling in this area and need some help.   Some of the recipes I make on my own, some I get from websites.  I'll give credit where it's due.  Enjoy this and share it with your friends.  I love helping people and right now, this is my means to do it!

Today's Menu:

Breakfast:  1 packet Quaker instant oatmeal original with 4 strawberries and a handful of blueberries cut up and mixed in along with 1 teaspoon of Splenda brown sugar blend.  4 TBSP sugar free coffee creamer in my coffee along with splenda.  4 Points Plus

Lunch: Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup. I make a huge pot of this on Sunday and then we can eat off of it for lunch's throughout the week and/or we can freeze it and eat it later.  I buy my chicken at SAM's in their butcher section because they usually have it for $1.99 a pound.  I also prefer to buy the large bag of whole carrots and skin them myself.  I just think they taste better.  But if you are pressed for time or don't want to go to the trouble, the baby carrots work just fine too.  I also prefer to use the Elephant garlic.  It peels SO much easier and is so much easier to mince but again, it's just a matter of preference.  I had 2 cups so that was 6 Points Plus.

Dinner: Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa and Black Bean Corn Relish.  I don't like fish.  I can only choke it down when it doesn't taste like fish.  So I buy the breaded frozen cod at SAM's which is 6 points plus per 3 oz filey (yikes, that's a lot I know) and then I drowned it in fruit salsa.  If you like fish, you could use an unbreaded fresh tilapia and be fine with less points.  If you are like me and hate fish, this is an easy way to get the good stuff you need from fish without gaging.  I usually only have it once or twice per month since it's pretty high in Points Plus values.

Lunch Ingredients and Instrucitions:
20 oz boneless skinless chickenbreast raw
1/2 large onion diced
1/2 clove garlic minced
1 tsp olive oil
10 large skinned carrots sliced into rounds (or half a large bag of baby carrots sliced into rounds)
7-10 stalks of celery cut sliced thin
8 oz whole wheat egg noodles
1 box low sodium fat free chicken broth
4 chicken boullion cubes
8 cups water
2 bay leafs
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp marjoram
1/8 tsp thyme
1/8 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp dried basil
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1.  In a large stock pot, saute your onions and garlic in the olive oil until they are roasted, slightly brown.  Stir frequently to prevent burning.
2.  Pour in chicken broth, water, boullion cubes, salt, pepper, spices, parsley, and bay leafs. Bring to a boil. 
3.  Add chicken, carrots, and celery and cook in boiling liquid until chicken is transaparent.
4.  Remove chicken breasts and use two forks to shred the chicken.  Return chicken to pot.
5.  Add noodles and cook in boiling liquid until noodles are tender, about 8-10 minutes.

Makes about 14 cups.  1 cup = 1 serving  1 serving (1 cup) is 3 Weight Watchers Points Plus





Dinner Ingredients and Instructions: 
Breaded Cod from SAM's (3 oz fillet for each person eating)
White corn Tortillas (2 for each person eating)
Fresh brocoli slaw
Tub of Fresh Mango Salsa (gluten free) from SAM's (in the meat/cheese area)

1 can black beans drained
1 package organic frozen corn
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice
1/8 cup fresh cilantro chopped
1/4 clove garlic minced
1/4 cup yellow onion minced
1 roma tomato minced
salt and pepper to taste
1/8 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp mexican oregano

Baked or regular torilla chips depending on your prefrence and points plus allowance!

1.  Bake Cod as directed.  Heat tortillas in microwave.  Slice cooked cod length wise and split fillet between two tortillas.  Top with as much brocoli slaw and mango salsa as desired.
2.  For Black Bean and Corn Relish - roast corn in a roasting pan.  I use my toaster oven on broil.  I put it in the broiling pan, cook it on 450 degrees for about 30 minutes stiring every 10 minutes to evenly brown.
3.  Mix black beans, olive oil, lemon juice, clinantro, garlic, onion, tomato, salt, pepper, cumin, and oregano in a medium bowl.  Add warm corn and mix well.
4.  Serve with tortilla chips. 

Points Plus - 2 white corn tortillas with 1 Cod fillet = 7 Points Plus.  Black Bean and Corn Relish is 3 points plus per 1/2 cup.  Points plus for chips will vary, please calculate.

Let's Play Restaurant!

So a few weeks ago we went to eat dinner with all of my family to say goodbye to my brother and his wife. They live in Florida for now and had come home to visit. We ate at a restaurant in Trophy Club called Cristina's Mexican Food. They had the absolute best avocado soup! It was brothy and light and probably one of the healthiest things on their menu...loaded with all sorts of yummy veggies and full of flavor. Being a lover of all things soup, I decided to give it a try and make it at home. I have to say, I make a darn good copy cat! Try it yourself and see what I mean.

You need 2 boxes of chicken stock; I buy the kind at Costco

1/2 large white onion diced

2 cloves of garlic chopped

2 TBSP Olive Oil

3/4 cup baby carrots sliced into thin circles

1/4 cup chopped scallions (fancy name for the bottom stalk part of a green onion)

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (you can add more if you like more intense flavor)

1 1/2 TBSP Mexican Oregano

1 1/2 TBSP Cumin powder

1 TSP Onion powder

1 TSP ground sea salt (table salt works fine too)

1 TSP freshly ground pepper

2 large ripe avocados peeled and pitted and cut into small cubes

1 cup white cheddar or Monterey jack cheese shredded

Sauté onions and garlic in olive oil for 5-7 minutes or until onions are transparent. Bring chicken stock to a boil and add in onion/garlic once they are cooked. Add in all ingredients except for the avocado and let simmer for 30 minutes covered on low heat. Be sure to stir it every once in a while. Put 1/2 of an avocado (cut into cubes) into a bowl, pour soup mixture over it, add 1/4 cup of cheese to top and enjoy. You could even throw some tortilla strips on it if you wanted to but I opted to leave off those extra calories this time.