St. Patty's Day Aftermath....

How as your St. Patty's Day?  Mine was pretty awesome!  I spent the day with some of my grand daughters roller skating. It was fun having them together.

Brianna, Teresa, Katie and Lexi

By the time I got home I was exhausted. I was really glad that I had put my corned beef and cabbage in the crock pot before I had left with the kids. All I had to do is dish it out when it was time to eat. It turned out pretty good. I only make this once a year on St. Patty's Day, so I decided to make it the 'old fashioned way' instead of looking for ways to trim points.  

When I got up this morning I was starving. I decided that the little Weight Watcher Berries and Cream Oatmeal cups weren't gonna do the trick, so I got out the leftover corned beef and the potatoes and cut them up to make a hash. I added some diced onion and red bell peppers and cooked it up in a little olive oil. Add a couple of eggs on the side and viola'....hash and eggs. It was scrumptious .  High in points, but scrumptious. 

Then I was off to church. It was a wonderful worship service. I love going to my church. It's the same one that my Grandmother went to since the early 1970's until she passed away in 2005. Most of the older folks who knew her have passed away too, but there are still a few left and it's like sitting with my Grandmother during those services. I can feel her presence sitting there with me. While I was listening to my pastor talk this morning I looked at my black boots that I was wearing and I swear I heard Grandmommy whisper in my ear "Sweetie, you need to get some white shoes soon. You know you need white shoes after Easter". It made me smile. I love you Grandmommy and for you...no white shoes after Labor Day...and no black shoes after Easter. Strange how some things stay with a person.

But I digress......

When I got home from church I cleaned up the kitchen and started some laundry.  Lunch was pretty much non existent. Amanda, Ernie and girls showed up...and I got caught up with the kids and didn't eat. By the time they left I was feeling a bit peckish....so I whipped up a WW chocolate smoothie with a dash of instant espresso powder, a pear and a few of those Quaker cheddar popcorn bites.  Not the best lunch...but it will hold me over til dinner. 

(source)

The other day I went through my freezer and cupboards to try to figure out a menu for the week using what I had on hand. I was pretty impressed that I made a menu for 7 days and even a "lazy day meal" in case I didn't feel like cooking one day. I only needed a handful of fresh veggies from the store to get everything together. I really do need to pay more attention to what I am buying. Things are getting so expensive and it may help me to stretch a buck by planning better.  Plus, it will help me to use up what I have on hand (in the freezer) before summer veggies come into season. If I don't use it up soon...things will end up in the freezer longer than I would like. So..use it or loose it...as they say. (Sometimes I wonder who "they" are, don't you?)

So, on the menu tonight is beef enchiladas. I've made the chicken ones with salsa verde the last few times. Jim asked me a while back when was I gonna make the quote/unquote "regular" ones. So, guess what Jim...tonight is that night. I used a ton of points for breakfast this morning, so I probably shouldn't make these, but it's what's on the menu...and I'm trying to stick to the menu. 

All it needs is cheese....

 And now...into the oven 

Yummo!

Tonight the Baltimore Orioles are playing the New York Yankees on the MLB station and I can't wait.  It's only Spring Training, but I don't care...it's baseball and that's all that matters.  So, getting the enchiladas done and in the oven makes things a lot easier for me since Jim doesn't get off until the game is well on it's way. It'll be "Microwave City" for him when he gets home, but that'll be ok...he doesn't mind. He'll be happy it's the "regular" enchiladas, and I'll be happy that he's happy.  

Hope everyone has a wonderful evening...and Goooo Orioles!

What I ate Wednesday #5

Ok...I'm getting a little better at remembering to do this post about What I Ate Wednesday...but I did forget to take a picture of my lunch.  *sad face*

Breakfast was pretty usual. It was the Weight Watchers Harvest Berries & Cream Oatmeal with 1/2 cup of fresh blueberries mixed into the cup. Yummo...I mean really...yummo!  It is fastly becoming my favorite oatmeal. It doesn't fall into the "Green" category...maybe we'll do a" WIAW goes blue" one day...who knows?

So good that I forgot to take the pic before I ate it

Lunch was with my daughter and granddaughter at the Waffle House...or "Waffle Place" as Katie Bug calls it. I was so into sitting with her that I totally forgot to take a pic of my meal until after it was gone. I guess I could have taken a pic of the empty plate...but what would that serve?  We've all seen empty plates before. 

Photo Credit Ciaran Griffin/Stockbyte/Getty Images 

As much as I wanted to order the waffles, eggs, hash browns and bacon I was a good girl and ordered the chicken breast sandwich.  It was just breast..no breading on a bun with sauteed onions, lettuce, tomato and a dab of mayo that I added myself. I figured around 12 points but when I looked up the info at Livestrong.com and ran it through the Weight Watcher online calculator it came up with 5 points. Can you say "Amazed"?...I knew that you could.  I checked the Waffle House site..and a few others just to make sure I had the correct info and it's true...5 points. I am more than thrilled because I thought that it was going to be higher so I only ordered the sandwich with a cup of coffee...not fries, no hash browns, nothing...just the sandwich. Can you see me smiling from where you are...I bet you can!  

Dinner is going to be my favorite turkey burgers. Actually, they are a take on Rachel Ray's Adirondack Red Wing Burger. I don't use the blue cheese or buns, but I do put provalone cheese on top of mine and eat it on the plate with some ketchup and mustard on the side. Today's side will be brought to you courtesy of Stay at home Sunday's roasted mixed veggies. I think it's a perfect meal especially the day before weigh in. 

So, that's about it for today...except for maybe a piece of home made pumpkin spice cake sometime tonight while watching some television. 

I hope you all have had at least half as wonderful a day as I have had. The temps are in the low 80's and for March that is just outstanding...to say the least. 

What did you eat today? Write me and let me know...I'd love to hear from you.

The Days of Wine and Roses....

Well, maybe not the wine, but definitely roses. *big smiley face*  

I'm up and ready to go this morning, unfortunately the fog is hanging tough.  I have plans to stay home today and work in my garden. Garden...that's giving it more credit than it deserves I suppose. I have a few flower beds, but since I live in the country, they are a little on the "rustic" side shall we say. 

I have been spending the last week or so pulling out roses and other bushes that I am just plain fed up with.  So far to the trash pile has been....

Dark Lady

1 of my Golden Celebrations (I had 3)

forsythia

gardenia

and one other David Austin red rose that I can't remember the name of (I'll change this if I remember the name)

I have moved a few others...

Marchioness of Londonderry...from the front of the house to the front arbor 

Zephirine Drouhin ....from the back of the house to the front arbor

Golden Celebration... from the front of the house to a bed in the yard

Aloha...from the front of the house to a bed in the yard

Some irises from one bed to another bed. (because I wanted all of my irises in the same spot for now)

Today's mission in life is going to be to finish cleaning out the front bed and make a command decision about what goes in there. I am tossing around the ideas of 

1. Moving all of the daylilly's in that bed or

2. Moving a one or two of my roses from the big flower bed to the front of the house and making a separate bed for the daylillys. 

I guess it depends on how ambitious I get today.  

I have a large flower bed in the middle of my front yard. I took 100 feet of edging and made an island and then filled it in with roses. Unfortunately, the creeping grass in my yard has overtaken the island and I can't get a handle on it. So the plan for this year is to select the roses that I love...and I mean love, not like...love, and move them to another, smaller, better manageable bed and get rid of the ones that I hate....or don't love. Ones that leave me more than disappointed every year. Life is too short to live with disappointment from a flower. 

Not long after writing the last paragraph I got a call from my youngest daughter Amanda inviting me to breakfast (for her and Katie) / lunch.  Even the best laid plans go awry when Katie Bug is involved....

  

How could I say no to this face.....

 

Me & Katie aka "The Bug"

So after spending most of the afternoon with Amanda and Katie, it was time to dig into making that decision of daylillys or roses to be moved. I chose the daylillys. Mostly because they need to be put into a bed....the roses can be transplanted willy-nilly (yes, I said willy-nilly) around the yard til I can get the island tore up..or down...or what ever.

Here is proof that I did actually do some work today.....

It's not perfect by any means...and I do leave leaves in my beds because they help with the soil. But I am too tired to put down the mulch.  It will look much better with the mulch, but that will just have to wait for another day. Maybe tomorrow...maybe not. 

I think I feel a nap coming on......

Stay At Home Sunday.....

I'm trying to do a little better with updating my blog. That being said, I never realized how much work it was to take pictures to along with the writing. Well...it's not like digging ditches or anything, I'm just learning to remember to make sure I have fresh batteries for the camera and knowing what angle to take the pics.

I had every intention of getting up and going to church, but my knees didn't want to cooperate this morning. So today was stay at home Sunday.  So since I was staying at home I thought it might help my week out to get some "do ahead" cooking for the week done.

Here is what I did to the Cast of Characters....

Peeled and cubed an eggplant
Sliced a zucchini and yellow squash
Quartered one container of button mushrooms
Quartered 4 roma tomatoes
Julienned a red and yellow bell pepper
Thinly sliced one onion
Minced 4 cloves of garlic
Chopped some fresh rosemary and thyme
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil

I combined all of the veggies, seasonings and olive oil in a large bowl to make sure everything is well coated. I poured it into a large foil lined cookie sheet and baked them at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Then I took the pan out and stirred the veggies and put them back into the oven for an additional 30 minutes or until everything was roasted.

The "Before" Shot

When they were done, I set them aside to cool.....except for one small plate. I had to taste test it, right? So I sprinkled on a pinch or so of some shredded Parmesan and viola! Instant goodness!

The "After" Shot

After doing the mixed veggies, I decided I would do up some brussel sprouts that I got from Trader Joe's. I did the pretty similar to the other veggies with some exceptions.

Sliced the Brussel sprouts in half

Drizzled olive oil 

Salt and pepper

Drizzled balsamic vinegar

Placed them on a foil lined baking sheet and baked at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Took them out to flip them over and placed them back into the oven for an additional 15 minutes. 

They're not burnt...trust me

When I took them out of the oven I let them cool before I placed them into a container and put them into the fridge.   I did take some pics of these on a little plate...but for some reason all of the pics came out fuzzy....I guess my enthusiasm got the best of me. 

Then it was time for a coffee break....

Sometimes you just have to have your coffee in a pretty cup!

I hope everyone out there had a wonderful Sunday.....Hope springs eternal here in South Carolina :)

One Saturday In Spring....

Today was a really strange Saturday for me. I guess it was because Jim had to leave to go to work at 2 and won't get off til 11pm. That left me pretty much on my own for the bulk of the day.

Not a cloud in the sky

My day started off with some oatmeal topped off with some home made cranberry orange relish that I made the other day. It keeps wonderfully in the fridge for more than a week. All I had to do is take a small bag of cranberries from the freezer and put them in a small sauce pot. Cover them with some water, add about a half cup or so of the splenda brown sugar, a shake or two of cinnamon and the zest of an orange. I section the orange and cut the little wedges into bite size pieces and put them in the pot. Heat until it comes to a simmer. Cook on low until the berries pop and cook down a bit. How long you cook the fruit is probably a personal preference. It depends on how mushy you want the mixture. Me, I like it pretty mushy because I put it in my oatmeal. You can also adjust the amount of sugar you put in too. Or even use just plain Splenda...or even *Gasp!*Heaven Forbid.... real sugar.

(source)

After breakfast I was Group Fit bound for my Zumba class. My knee was still a little sore from the digging I did in my yard the other day, but I wanted to give it a shot. Plus, I wanted to see my friend Kathleen...she works out on Saturdays and it's always a pleasure to get to see her.  I only stayed for about a half hour of Zumba because of my knee...but it was nice to see Kathleen and the little bit of Zumba was better than nothing.

Like I said earlier...Jim had to go into work at 2 this afternoon, so I was left to my own devices. It was such a beautiful day and I didn't want to spend it in the house, so I went outside to "piddle" in my yard. I didn't want to do anything too major because of my knee...but I did want to get a few things done.

Dug up and potted some roses

Check out the Rosemary and Parsley already coming up with the Irises

I guess I should really clean the leaves out of the beds before I take pictures...but I wanted to get the pic and really didn't even give it a second thought until just now. Oh well...C'est la vie ;)  

All in all it was a pretty awesome day. I got some exercise and to see my friend Kathleen. I got to play in my garden and as I was writing this...I got a message to call my friend Jackie who lives in Iowa. We've been friends since the late 70's and it is always nice to catch up with her. Here's to hoping that tomorrow is even awesomer...is that a real word? Well, it is to me. 

Coming Home To Laurens Meetings....

During the winter months I had been going to the Greenville office of Weight Watchers to do my weigh ins after my Zumba classes. It was easier to do that because I didn't like driving at night after the Laurens meetings.  But spring is just around the corner and the days are getting longer, so I have decided to come back to my Laurens WW group. Besides, I missed them. They are the group of people who live close to me and I have made some good friends in this group. My leader Eunice is the leader of both groups, which is a very good thing. She does the craziest things in our meetings to get our attention. She definitely goes above and beyond....for sure!

Eunice as our Fairy Godmother

I have been stagnant in my weight loss since the holidays, but I guess that's better than putting on the 10 to 15 pounds I usually do in the winter months. However, I did put on almost 5 pounds within a couple of weeks 3 weeks ago. I was not a happy camper...but it was my own fault. I wasn't tracking. I was eating junk, and by junk I mean jelly beans. I thought that the Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays was gonna be tough, but  Valentines and Easter with the chocolate and Starburst Jelly Beans...all I have to say is "Be afraid-be very afraid".  I went through 2 bags of jelly beans in the course of 2 or 3 days. (Can we say "addiction"?  I knew that we could!)  So now when I go to the grocery store, I make a conscious effort to steer clear of the Easter candy isle.

So after I weighed in last week and was given the floor dropping news of my 4.8 pound gain...I went to Eunice and told her I needed help. She knows that I track online...so I gave her my log in info and password so she could check my tracker during the week. It's amazing if you know someone is looking at what you're putting in your mouth how much you'll change. I know I did. The good news is that when I weighed in last night I had lost 3.6 of that 4.8. I'm still behind...but I am determined to work the program to the max and get going in the right direction again.

One of my love...love...loves is peanut butter in my oatmeal. I discovered how much I loved it by trying the overnight oats in a jar (OOIAJ) recipe. The only problem with eating peanut butter in my oatmeal is the points. 5 points for 2 tbsp. plus 4 points for the cooked oats is a grand total of 9 and that's just a little more than I want to use for oatmeal...no matter how much I love it. So, I have decided to do the OOIAJ for special occasions (like when the jar is actually empty instead of plopping a heaping blob of pb in my bowl) and use PB2. Eunice offered to ordered some for us and I finally broke down to give it a try. It wasn't bad. It's not the same thing as real pb...but it was 1 point instead of 5, and that I can live with.

(source)

I have also decided to use the Weight Watcher Harvest Berries & Cream oatmeal as my 'To-Go' meal on my Zumba days.  It's quick, easy and delicious. I add about a half cup of blue berries to it after I microwave it to give it some more volume. And if I'm running late to class...I can nuke it, mix it and take it with me and eat it on the way to class. Very cool.

   

I'm sensing a theme here for my breakfasts....It's kinda strange since I used to be a 'Bacon & Eggs' type of a girl.

Today's lunch was salad greens, mushrooms, cucumber, grape tomatoes, walnuts and Marie's Blue Cheese Yogurt Dressing (2 points for the dressing) and a Weight Watcher Chocolate Smoothie with a good helping of instant espresso powder for good measure.

It was a little overcast this morning....but it wasn't raining. So here is a pic of Me & Charlie. He's my new walking bud. Every time we head out I hear Miranda Lambert's song "Me & Charlie Talkin'" go thru my head...but I change the words to "Me & Charlie Walkin'". Hahaha!

What do you do for exercise? Do you walk? Zumba? Do you do it alone or go with a pal?  I'm trying to find fun ways to get in some exercise....any suggestions?

What I ate Wednesday {#4}

For some reason I seem to have a problem in documenting what I eat on Wednesdays. But, today I was on the ball. I made a conscious effort to take pictures and make sure that I got this written down right away. So, without further ado...

Breakfast was a WW Harvest Berries & Cream Oatmeal with 1/2 cup of fresh blueberries mixed in. Totally delish!  

I had gone through a total craving of oatmeal with peanut butter mixed in with bananas...but the points were very high. One cup of rolled oats and 2 tbsp of peanut butter = 9 ppv, which isn't too bad "occasionally" but it is kinda high to have it on a regular basis.  My WW leader and others have been raving over PB2, so I thought I'd give it a shot in my oatmeal to cut the points way back. I'll let ya know how it is when it arrives next week. 

Lunch was some left over sauteed veggies. A combo of zucchini, yellow squash, roasted red peppers, onions and garlic. Along with some turkey kielbasa and a couple of those little "Cutie" oranges. I also made myself a smoothie from one packet of WW Vanilla Smoothie mix, 1 cup of FF milk and 1 mango.  

Dinner was a Rachel Ray recipe that I made some changes to. It was a Marsala Chicken and Mushroom Casserole. I took out the butter and heavy cream and substituted them with olive oil and fat free half & half. I also added some leeks to the recipe.  I thought it was totally awesome.  I served it with green beans. I forgot to take a picture of plate. But here is a pic of the casserole dish.

What I Ate Wednesday is going "Green" this month...so I guess you could say the green beans and the zucchini at lunch were my "green things" for today. I'll try to remember to do better next week.

Spring is around the corner

I was in dire need of fresh veggies so I went out to the grocery store to grab a few until I can get to Trader Joe's tomorrow. When I rounded the corner at the end of my street I noticed the Bradford Pear trees were in full bloom. So beautiful....

I'm glad I got to see these because they are calling for a freeze warning tonight *extremely sad face* And that always make the blooms look like they have mud thrown on them.  Bummer....

Baseball season is just around the corner too. I am a die hard-life long Baltimore Oriole fan. I get the MLB package from Directtv every year, and I watch all of the games.  Yuppers...every one. My husband will attest to that fact, much to his dismay.  But lets face it...there isn't anything on tv over the summer except reruns...at least the ball games are live. That's my story...and I'm stickin' to it.  

The Orioles are coming to Atlanta this year and I am hoping to be able to go to at least one game with my Dad. We usually go to Baltimore to see the O's play the Yankees, but my Dad's health isn't all that great and that's a long trip up to Maryland. So I am hoping he will be up to coming with me to Atlanta. It's only a two hour drive...so I am hoping.   Here is a pic of the jersey my Dad got me for my birthday last year. I think it is a little on the large size for me now.....but I'll wear it anyway.

I was craving some sauteed veggies for dinner, so tonight it was zucchini, summer squash, onions, garlic and roasted red peppers that I roasted yesterday myself. Yummo!

Do you crave any veggies? If so, I'd love to know what you crave and how you prepare them. Does it make a difference on how you fix them if it is cold outside or for the spring/summer months?  Lmk!


Well, the Orioles are on tv this evening...the first spring training game, and listening to the announcers (Jim Palmer and Gary Thorne) remind me of when I was a kid watching the games with my Dad...so I'm gonna scoot for now. I hope everyone is having a wonderful and warm evening.