Honeybells!

My Honeybells arrived from QVC! Don't they look fantastic? Plump and juicy? Unfortunately, they did NOT live up to the hype and the testimonials I listened to. Yeah, they were juicy, but not sweet, and tasted stale. And at over $2 each, they are not a value for me. Sorry QVC. Refund, please!

Carpaccio-Style Sirloin Salad with Arugula

My weight watcher leader Jacki had a fantastic idea at our meeting last week. She introduced "Tesche's Travelling Cookbook". She purchased the Weight Watchers "Under 20" cookbook (available only in the meeting rooms), and asked us each to take turns bringing it home, choose a recipe to make, add a photo to the cookbook, then bring it back in with our critique at the following meeting. Well, of course you know I had to be first! After recovering from the realization that there are NO baked goodies/desserts in this book, I flipped to the list of recipes that qualify for Simple Start. There are over 70 of them! There were 3 I was trying to decide on, but when shopping for the ingredients, Albertson's doesn't sell tuna steaks, and I forgot to buy sherry vinegar, so I was truly left with just one recipe to make without running all over town to gather the last 2 ingredients.

I'm glad I made this one! It was quick to make, delicious, and made 4 servings, so I had 4 nights of dinner done. I will make this again! The recipe actually says to put the arugula on top of the steak, but I sliced the steak an put it on top for its photo. I think I'll make this again tonight!

Reduced Calorie Whole Wheat Bread Bread

Sliced reduced calorie whole wheat bread

Well, now I'm hooked! I got a wild idea and decided I wanted to grind my own wheat, and bake some reduced calorie bread that I could use on Simply Filling. I almost think that was a mistake because now I do NOT want commercially baked bread again!

It was so easy. I bought the grain on Amazon, from Palouse Brand. I love this company! I purchased a sample pack of soft white wheat berries, hard white wheat berries, and red wheat berries. Tossed them into the dry blending container of the Vitamix, and voila! Whole wheat flour!

in the container, ready to grind

Poof! Flour!

I used my bread maker to take it through the dough step, then turned it out, kneaded it a few times, put it in a silicone loaf pan, and baked it in the oven. Delicious!

cooling

Taa-daaaa!

 I had so much fun I baked more mini-loaves for my Cypress WW girls!

Mini loaves for sharing!

Then I made some whole wheat pasta. What an ordeal. A LOT of work, and it tasted awful. I threw it away. Anyone want to buy a Farberware Pasta Machine? All the parts are there, including the original instruction book (which you won't find on the ones selling on eBay for $80+), and an additional pasta recipe book. All this for $20!

I'm trying Simply Filling!

Well, maintenance has been OK, but it sure isn't as fun as my weight loss journey was. And not as successful! After making my goal, I continued to lose, ending up about 13 pounds under my "official" Weight Watchers goal. That was in April of 2013. Everything was fine for months, so fine that I got a little cavalier with my food choices starting in October, my birthday "month". Then came the holidays. And 6 pounds! Argghhhhh!

So, at our December 29, 2013 meeting, "Simple Start" was launched, and got everyone, both old and new members, talking about Power Foods. My friend Penny has been very successful, losing over 70 pounds doing the Simply Filling Technique. So I gave it a shot, and started doing the Simply Filling Technique (SFT), too. And I loved it! I ate Shredded Wheat, Cheerios, bread, potatoes, and rice, which are foods I rarely ate when counting points.

And it worked! The first week, I was down 3.4 pounds! Other than a 7.2 pound weight loss the first weigh-in after joining Weight Watchers, my biggest weekly loss had been 3.2. I was thrilled. I stuck to the SFT, eating perfectly according to plan. Then the week two weight-in. UP 1.0 POUND! WHAT????? My diet was virtually identical to the first week - except for 2 days of Cheerios instead of Shredded Wheat, and tuna for lunch 4 days instead of chicken. How can this be?? I don't want to play anymore.

But, I followed my fellow WW sister's advice, and stuck with it. The week three weigh-in came, and I was down 0.4. Hey, down is down . . . I'll take it. But I wanted more. So that means in 3 weeks my weight loss total is 2.8. I guess looking at it that way it doesn't seem as much of a failure. But I feel like I am just UP every time I weight myself at home. I know I should stop doing that, but I can't. I spent 10 months losing weight and weighed every time I passed my scale - it is just a habit now.

I have come to the conclusion that it has to be the carbs. The bread, potatoes, rice and cereal. Even though they are power food and I didn't overindulge, I had not been used to eating them. I read that you retain more water because it takes mores water to process carbs. Who really knows. Maybe that is wishful thinking.

I know I am still under my official goal, but I am over my personal goal. And I need to catch it now because I know how it works. Pretty soon you're 20 pounds heavier and wondering when that happened. Well, it can't happen - I gave away all my bigger sizes of clothes!
Tomorrow will be my 4 week weigh in. I have toggled back and forth this week between SFT and counting points this last week - switching probably Wednesday back to counting. I have not gone over my target points (even doing SFT - and yes, I checked them everyday just to see), and have never used many (maybe 10 max) of my weekly 49 during SFT, and none if I'm tracking. Wish me luck!

Wet 'n Wild 5k

Roberta and I at the finish

 

I can't tell you how much FUN this walk was! I grew up playing in this park - La Mirada Regional Park - in fact, we lived there before the park was ever even built. But after moving out of La Mirada in 1979, I haven't really been back there, other than driving by when I go to see my parents. I had no idea there was a water park there now! Splash! La Mirada Regional Aquatic Park is a very cool, pirate themed water park practically in my own back yard.

 

It was a beautiful morning for a walk - and that park is gorgeous. Tennis courts, handball courts, a Frisbee golf course, baseball fields, and a lake with ducks and geese. But - two things were on my mind -

• it is the first time I'll be walking a course that isn't completely flat. There are hills to climb, sometimes "off road" (off the sidewalk), through grass and mud
• and second - I'm all alone. No one else I know registered and I wasn't meeting anyone there. Walking and talking really makes the distance pass quickly, but I don't think that works the same if you're just talking to yourself.

I got there, parked, and wandered up to the crowd. To my horror, the event MC was leading everyone in a warm up, beginning with 200 jumping jacks! Thankfully, it wasn't mandatory. I decided to use my time checking in on Facebook and getting some photos. Then suddenly, up walk Roger and Roberta, from Weight Watchers! They had spotted me and come over. I was thrilled to see them! I don't know how it happens, but even when we don't plan on it, I bump into them at a race. The Cypress 5k, the Turkey Trot, Knott's Coaster Run, and now here. In the midst of thousands of people, how does that happen?!? But whoohoo! I was SO happy to see them. I know my pace is considerably slower than theirs, but they graciously slowed down to walk with me, and we enjoyed a great walk together.

Near the end of the race, right before the Finish Line, the course actually entered the water park for a "walk" through the Lazy River. For those who didn't want to get wet, you could opt to do the "Walk of Shame", and walk a sidewalk instead. This actually disqualified you in the timing, if that was important to you. Since I still have the old fashioned leather tennis shoes, I had to take them off and hold them through the water. (Good excuse for a new pair of shoes, if you ask me.) Was that ever FUN!! After the first 20 feet or so the current took over and helped propel you along. The water was 3 1/2  feet deep. I had my iPhone in a waterproof case, so I was taking pictures! there were different obstacles along the way, but most you could avoid. Except for what I'm calling "the Buckets". The buckets were full of water, and randomly dumped them on the people below. I got through safely, but Roget was a direct hit! I didn't want that part to end. But we got out, received our finisher's medals, and enjoyed some water, Gatorade, bananas and oranges. We lightly looked at some of the vendor booths before we got in our cars and headed home. I really hope they have this next year, because I can't wait to go again!

Just getting into the water

Roger and Roberta in the River



The Buckets



A direct hit on Roger!!

  

A new "anchor"!

My new license plate is here!

This was my Mother's Day gift from Colin this year.

BBQ Pulled Chicken



photo from my kitchen



Thank you Melissa (via Tracy) for this easy and delicious recipe! Melissa uploaded her photo to Instagram, and shared the recipe at our Weight Watchers meeting this morning.

I had everything to make it at home, so as soon as I got back to the house, that's exactly what I did. I used chicken tenders since that is what I had on hand, but Mel used chicken thighs. That goes to show you that any boneless, skinless chicken parts would probably work. Mel used 4 thighs, but to tell you the truth, I just tossed in the pack of chicken tenders, however many pieces that was. By the tine I realized I didn't know the exact amount I'd used, the package was out in the trash and I wasn't about to go fetch it. I didn't measure anything, and it came out just fine! Below is what she told me from what I can remember), but I think it is pretty forgiving if you're not exact.

Calculate your own points, based on the weight of your serving size, and the points plus in your particular BBQ sauce. It should come out to around 4-6 points/serving, depending.

 

You'll need:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken parts
• 1/2 cup (or so) of BBQ sauce
• 1/2 onion, sliced

1. Slice onion and put it in the crock pot
2. Lay chicken on top
3. Cover with BBQ sauce
4. Heat on low 3-4 hours until chicken is done.
5. Remove chicken and shred using 2 forks, or your favorite way
6. Return to crockpot and let sauce thicken. At this point, I actually just added a little more sauce, and packaged it up for the frig. To keep the PPV as low as possible, Melissa suggests thickening the remaining sauce with cornstarch. Remember to dissolve it in a little water before adding it to the remaining sauce in the crock pot. Stir until thickened, then add back in the shredded chicken.

Enjoy!!