Recipe Contest

Clap your hands - I just did Zumba for 40 minutes! WooHoo I just earned 5 more points for the week!

Ok like I said I have a contest for everyone. I have been giving you what I eat along with recipes I think you need to try. I am running out of ideas on what to eat. Now I know you all have your favorite WW friendly recipes so now is the time for you to give back and share with me. This week please email me any or all of your WW friendly recipes to everybitecounts@yahoo.com  (please put the word "recipe" in the subject line) My family will try every recipe and I will post the recipes here for you to try as well. Once all recipes have been tried we will pick our favorite. The winner will recieve the WW Fruits and Veggie A-Z cookbook! If you already have that one you will win a different one. You may submit as many as you like and they can be breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks....anytype of recipe you like. Just make sure it is WW friendly. Deadline for all recipes is Sunday March 11th.

Ok start sending me some recipes!

I do have recipes I want to share with you but I am tired and want to go to bed. So tomorrow I will post some for you!

Counting every bite today:

Breakfast - Egg and cheese sandwich (5 points)

Snack - banana

Lunch - Turkey sub (7 points)

Dinner - roasted chicken, mashed potatos, milk (8 points)

Dessert - cheesecake (7 points)

Ending the day at 27 points!

What did you bite today?

Polar Bear Swim - 1 Year Later

I'm back! Sorry it's been so long. I will start my normal posts tonight. I have some great recipes to share with you that I have made over the past two weeks!
Update on my WW adventure: I weighed in on Sunday and am finally back to my goal (well over by .4 pounds but I will take that!). So now comes the fun part of maintaining it.
Yesterday I did my annual Polar Bear Swim! My friend and I decided we were going to wear hula skirts for the jump this year. I started thinking - "you can't wear a hula skirt and a one piece suit." So I was going to buy a two piece. I tried it on and looked at my stomach and thought no I can't wear this. However with the hula skirt up on my waist you couldn't see my stomach so I figured I will just borrow a bikini top rather then waist money on something I will never be comfortable wearing.
Then my brain started to rethink things. If I buy a two-piece it will be my incentive to work out and tone more. So I did. I spent $40 on one that I liked and said this is it, now I have to work out! With that being said my new goal is to work out at least 3 times a week. Baby steps... If I say everyday I know that wont' happen. So let's start with 3 days and we will work up from there. And by this summer I WILL feel comfortable enough to wear it in front of people.

March 6, 2011

March 4, 2012
1 Year later at
Polar Bear Swim

October 5, 2011
Goal has been hit!

 Come back tonight or tomorrow morning for some recipes that I will post after the kids go to bed!



Junk Is Out of the House

Good morning everyone!

I have good news, all of the cake and chocolate is out of the house. As are the chips. So today should be a good day. And this should be a great week! I said it in the beginning and I will say it again. Why was it so easy to lose the weight and now is so hard to maintain the weight? Same plan, I know how it works, so just follow it already!

Wednesday I brought my peanut butter dip into work and everyone loved it. I have the recipe for you below. My coworker even said she would make this for her kids to dip their fruit in. We said the only thing is we wouldn't make it healthy for them as it would have too much artificial sweetener for kids. At least in our opinion. We also said to make it into pie by just putting a crust down filling it with it and then topping with a fat free hot fudge sauce. Or make a chocolate pie and put this on top. Or make a cake and put this as a filling. Oh my gosh we were thinking of everything to do with it. But still my favorite idea - eat it with a spoon!

Counting every bite yesterday!

Breakfast -
3 pancakes (10 points)
glass of milk (2 points)

Lunch -
Left over rice filling from Stuffed Cajun Pepper (2 points)

Snack -
Apple with peanut butter dip (1 point)

Fluffy Speckled Peanut Butter Dip

Adapted from Hungry Girl

1/2 cup is 1 point

1/2 cup prepared fat free sugar free vanilla pudding

3/4 cup Cool Whip Free

1/4 cup Reese's Puffs cereal

1 tbls reduced-fat peanut butter (I used my powdered peanut butter that is only 1 point per serving)

1/4 tsp vanilla

1 no-calorie sweetener

1 - Put cereal in a bag and crush it completely with a rolling pin.

2- In a bowl combine pudding and peanut butter, stirring until completely mixed.

3 - Add Cool Whip, vanilla and sweetener, stirring until mixed well.

4 - Sir in cereal crumbs.

5 - Place in fridge for at least 10 minutes.

6 - Enjoy. Dip strawberries, apples, pretzels, a spoon....

Dinner -
turkey club panini (20 points)

Ending the day at a yukky 35 points! Today is a new day and I will start it off right and hopefully end it great!

So what did you bite yesterday?

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Lots of chocolate things to stay away from today! Treat yourself to one piece and put the rest in the freezer.

I baked 10 chocolate cakes yesterday! That means I had scrap pieces of cake and frosting at my disposal. I didn't touch any of it. I even made Bob try the frosting so I wouldn't lick any. If I would have tried it I wouldn't have been able to stop.

I wanted to make Eggplant Parmesan for dinner last night so I looked up some recipes and called my Mom and Uncle for help. So I combined things my Mom and Uncle suggested and two recipes and came up with my own Vegetable Parmesan Recipe. And it turned out good.

Counting Every Bite Yesterday:

Breakfast -
Egg and Cheese Sandwich (5 points)

Lunch -
1.5 cups of Creamy Cauliflower Soup (3 points)

Dinner -
Vegetable Parmesan (6 points)
Milk (2 points)

Vegetable Parmesan

8 Servings at 6 points a serving

Eggplant, cut into 1/4 inch slices

1 onion, cut into thin rings

1 red bell pepper, cut into thirds

1 yellow bell pepper, cut into thirds

1 orange bell pepper, cut into thirds

olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

3/4 cup flour

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 1/2 cups plain breadcrumbs

3 eggs

2 1/4 cups spaghetti sauce (I used my homemade sauce)

1 3/4 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 - Spray your vegetables with oil mister and salt and pepper both sides.

2 - Put your flour in a large zip lock bag.

3 - Beat your eggs in a bowl.

4 - Combine your breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese in a bowl.

5 - Place your eggplant and peppers in the flour and shake.

6 - Shake off excess flour and dip veggies into the egg and then into the breadcrumb mixture.

7 - Fry veggies in a large pan until crispy on both sides. Eggplant took about 5 min per side, peppers I did longer because I wanted them to get a little soft.

8 - Put about 3/4 cups of sauce into a 9X13 pan

9 - Put a layer of eggplant on top of the sauce, then sprinkle some mozzarella on top of them.

10 - Put another 3/4 cups of sauce on top of that and then a layer of onion and then place your peppers on top of that.

11 - Cover with the rest of your sauce and cheese and then top with some of your leftover breadcrumb mixture.

12 - Drizzle some olive oil on the top

13 - Bake at 375 for about 35 minutes. Let stand for 10 min before serving.

Enjoy!

Dessert -

Piece of Better Than Sex Cake (5 points)

Ending yesterday at 21 points!

What did you bite yesterday?

Lots of Gifts

Yesterday was my Birthday and I had an awesome day. My family is the best. Not only did I have a great time with everyone I love, I had a great day with points!

As you know I couldn't figure out what to serve everyone for dinner. I decided on soup and grilled cheese. Nice comfort food. Everyone laughed at first but then they all truly enjoyed it.

I got a lot of great gifts to use in the kitchen. An immersion blender, now I won't have to transfer my soup to the food possessor to blend it, I can just do it right in the pot! I already used it to make a marinara sauce. 200 sheets of pre cut parchment paper, they fit perfectly in my cookie sheets. Used this too to cook my mozzarella sticks on. A new blade for my mixer, it scrapes the sides of the bowl as it is mixing. Used it this morning to start making my Valentine's Day cakes. 100 cookie cutters, lots of fun for me and the kids. Cut the kids french toast yesterday morning into shapes. My son had fun flying his airplane french toast around. Little cake pans that leave an indent in the cake so I can fill them with something. I can't wait to use these!

Thanks again to everyone for the awesome Birthday. Here's to another great year!

Counting every bite yesterday -

Breakfast -
2 slices of French toast (4 points)

Lunch -
Left over stuffed cajun pepper (4 points)

Snack -
1 Mozzarella stick (1 point)
I highly recommend these!!!! Everyone at the party loved them! And they were super easy to make.

 http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/02/skinny-baked-mozzarella-sticks.html

Dinner -
Grilled Cheese (4 points)
1 cup of chicken soup (2 points)

Dessert -
Better than Sex cake (5 points)

Better Than Sex Cake

24 servings at 5 points a serving

1 box of chocolate cake mix

10 oz diet coke

1 egg white

6 oz fat free caramel ice cream topping

7 oz fat free sweetened condensed milk

3 heath bars, crumbled up

1 container fat free cool whip

1 - Preheat over to 375

2 - Grease 9X13 pan

3 - mix cake mix, egg white and diet soda

4 - Bake for 35 min or until toothpick comes out clean.

5 - During the last few minutes of baking, put caramel and condensed milk in a sauce pan and stir on medium heat until smooth.

6 - Take cake out of oven, and poke holes all over the top.

7 - Pour caramel mixture over warm cake, filling in the holes.

8 - Sprinkle some of the heath bar crumbs over the top, but save some for the top.

9 - Cool completely.

10 - Cover with cool whip and sprinkle remaining heath bar crumbs over it.

Ending the day at 20 points! And that was on my Birthday with a party and cake and everything!!!!!!

What did you bite yesterday?

What to eat for Birthday Dinner?

Good morning everyone! What a great weekend this will be. Started it off right last night with my hubby taking me out for a Birthday dinner. And then topped the night off with a slice of Peanut Butter Mud Pie which we shared.

Tomorrow is my Birthday and I have to come up with what I want for dinner. And I am stumped. I have no ideas. Do you? I am looking for suggestions. My parents and my sister and her family are coming so I need something that everyone will like. I know it's my Birthday and I should just pick something I like, but I aim to please everyone. So please help me pick something!!!!!!

Counting every bite yesterday:

Breakfast -
Egg and cheese sandwich (5 points)

Lunch -
Cauliflower soup (2 points)

Snack -
pretzels (3 points)

Dinner - (I went out so these are just estimates)
Steak (8 points)
Mac and Cheese (11 points)
Margarita (9 points)

Dessert -
Peanut Butter Mud Pie (6 points)

Ending the day at 44 points - but let's remember I was celebrating my Birthday and I do get the 49 extra points each week! So I am very OK with this!

So what did you bite yesterday?

Stress Eater

I am a stress eater. Anytime I am feeling down I eat. I don't understand why, it doesn't make me feel good. Well I guess I feel good while I am eating. But once done I feel even worse. Then I am mad at myself for eating all that! So why do I do it? I need someone to stop me mid food binge and tell me it's not going to help, in fact you will feel worse in about an hour. Would anyone like that job? Bob told me to call him at work and he will tell me to stop. Yeah, like I am going to stop eating, call him and listen to him over the phone. I need someone to see it happening and physically take the food away from me. Next time I am feeling down I will put an ad out for anyone who is interested in the job.

With that said it has been a rough week. But I am back on track now. AGAIN! I am back to eating correctly, blogging and taking care of myself. Even for my Birthday this week I requested a WW friendly cake. Have you ever had the Better Than Sex Cake? It is just as it sounds. I will post the recipe Sunday for you.

It is going to be tough the next couple of days. I have a lot of cake baking to do. I have a strawberry cake to make for Sunday, and so far 3 (I am sure that number will go up) Valentine's Day cakes to make. Do not lick the frosting, I repeat, do not lick the frosting.

That is what I will keep telling myself because on March 4th I am doing the polar bear swim again. That is when my before picture was taken one year ago. I want to look hot jumping into the cold water. I want to look like I could sign up and win the Polar Bear Queen Contest. I won't sign up but I would like to think I could! By the way I am always recruiting people to jump in with me. This year will be an easy one as the lake is only 37 degrees. It's like bath water!

Anyways....Do NOT lick the frosting!!!!!

Counting every bite yesterday:

Breakfast -
Banana

Lunch -
Double Cheeseburger from BK - 12 points
French Fries - 6 points

Dinner -
Cajun Style Stuffed Peppers - 4 points
Milk - 2 points

Cajun Style Stuffed Peppers

7 points per stuffed pepper (bob and I get away with eating just 1/2 a pepper)

recipe from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cajun-style-stuffed-peppers/detail.aspx

The only thing I do different is I use turkey sausage instead of the andouille sausage. And I just use our homemade tomato sauce instead of canned. I have also made it without the shrimp and it is still really good! Oh and I cut my peppers in half and fill the halves with the mixture. And like I said Bob and I are always full after 1/2 a pepper. We have added cheese to the top and once did breadcrumbs on top. Both ways were good but add points.

I only fill 2 peppers and then use the leftover mixture as a side dish later in the week. The leftover mixture is also good on tortilla chips, I have done that as a snack many times.

Ending the day at 24 points!

So what did you bite last night?