Beware of Dragon Breath

Today's Menu

Finally, I had the long-awaited sandwich. It was so good that, well, my cat Bella wanted a bite. That's her in the background. And yes, she's on the kitchen table. While I was taking the picture I was actually yelling at her to get down, but it wasn't working very well. I actually think that's her turning around after I sternly told her I wasn't going to share the sandwich. Oh well.

The sandwich was excellent. I used Hormel's new natural ham and light mayo, dijon mustard, and baby spinach. On 100% whole wheat bread that although two slices is 3 pts, it makes a more satisfying sandwich than light bread. I could use only one slice, which is 1 pt, but it makes for a tiny sandwich that makes me automatically think--this is all I get? Besides.. tomorrow's dinner turns out to be only 4 pts for two servings (I suspect a "serving" is only half a cup or less.. but we'll see how much it really makes). So I'll have 19 pts leftover after a blow out dinner planned for Sunday (19 pts possibly?). More on that one later...


The king of all ham sandwiches....at least when you don't have long to make it!

The afternoon snack this week has been Creamy Hummus. It's VERY garlicky and I even cut some of it out. Its so bad.. er I mean TASTY.. it almost burns your mouth with garlic. I think I'm going to experiment with roasting my own garlic and then using the roasted garlic instead. Roasted garlic should have a sweeter, mellower flavor that should make my favorite homemade hummus even better. Store-bought seriously pales in comparison. Plus homemade is cheaper. Much cheaper. I think the beans cost a whopping $1.12, tops. The tahini is in a huge jar for $5. I've made maybe 4 or 5 batches from that jar and each batch makes a ton. So, it totally kicks the store bought's butt. BTW: I cut that recipe in half every time. If you make the entire recipe.. you'll eat nothing but hummus for a month. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Dragon-breath inducing hummus with baby carrots and mug of Twinings Darjeeling tea.

And it's a new mug.. for Kim's benefit. Courtesy of the cupboard at work. Also take note of the pile o' work that it's sitting on. And I wonder how all of my papers end up with coffee and tea rings on them. Honestly.. I have NO idea how they get there.

Behold the Leftovers

Today's Menu

The link above is for today's menu, which being 6 p.m., is almost over with. Just have my late snack left to eat, which I'll probably just eat after I get back from the gym.

I started my day off with one of my favorite ways to eat cereal, whole grain total with bananas and almonds. I used some of the soy milk leftover from last week's breakfast. Yum. And washed down with a gigantic mug of coffee. I'm currently drinking Trader Joe's Moka Java. Not my favorite variety of theirs, but people must have caught on to my personal favorite TJ winter-time blend: Wintry Blend. I could really use some with all this freaking cold.


Breakfast of Champions, people.

So, um, yeah. Then, I had the tortellini for TWO meals today because I forgot to thaw the lunchmeat another day in a row. Awesome. It's in the fridge now, thawing as I type. Some parts of the tortellini held up, others not so much. As you can probably see from the photo.. the spinach was extra wilty today. Didn't taste bad, though. And the bacony flavor was more pronounced today.. which is, of course, good. I heart bacon.


Behold the leftovers!

I'm just having this for one more meal.. then it's done. I swear.

The cold is not so much my friend

So...tonight I got this fantastic idea. I should create a food blog. After all, I spend a lot of time reading other people's blogs. All of them have pictures of the food they make and it all looks so good!

I've been posting a long time on the WW message boards. And sometimes, I'll share a menu and someone will say, "That sounds really good." Well now, they can actually SEE it. Well, OK. My plating skills are something to be desired. And I'm certainly NOT a professional cook. I'm a self-taught home cook.

Tonight I made Fresh Totellini with Pancetta and Mushrooms for dinner. I didn't have pancetta so I subbed center cut bacon. That's what happens when you're on a strict food budget.

It looked so good that I thought I should make it my first entry. But my camera's batteries were dead. I ate my dinner and planned to take a picture of the low fat vanilla ice cream and homemade fudge sauce. But by the time I got back from buying batteries.. I was so cold I decided my snack would be hot chocolate:

It's the yummiest 3 pts. ever, and a full dairy serving. If you prefer it to be only 2 pts., you can make it with skim milk. I just prefer 1%.

I'll have a photo of the tortellini tomorrow... it's my dinner for the next few nights. Gotta love cooking for one! Lots of leftovers.

About Me

I'm a seven-year veteran of the Weight Watchers. In my illustrious career as a paying WW-member, I've banked points for the weekends, dipped into my Flex points and eaten from the Core list. I've reached goal — twice — and regained and now all of it and then some back.

I've learned a lot through the years...mainly that diets don't work. Not that I'm not saying Weight Watchers doesn't work. It does. But it has to become a lifestyle, and that's easier said than done. And no matter what anybody will tell you, maintaining is harder than losing.

My philosophy is fresh is better. Eat real food. Snack on good-for-you items with a mix of complex carbs, healthy fat and protein. Skip the 100-calorie packs, light bread, fat free cheese and other so-called "healthy" foods with ingredient lists 100 items long. Eat foods with ingredients you can pronounce, and enjoy what you're eating.

Because life's too short not to.