Monday Morning Check In - Week 3

I love how a little sunshine and warm weather makes me quickly forget about the rainy, cold winter we had. So far, April has been a lovely month.  Some beautiful riding weather, our 6 month long house renos are almost done and Weight Watchers is going great!

A few weeks back I brought Penelope out of her winter storage, always one of my favorite things to do when Spring comes. Last year I put over 10,000 kms on her and I've been busy planning some good trips for this year already.  I think this year I'll stay in BC and explore where I live.  Besides, I'm still recovering from my 3 weeks in the US last year and that damn poor Canadian dollar!

Yesterday some friends and I had a quick little ride around town, I always have such a great time with the ladies I ride with!  Some days I wish we lived in a bigger city so there was more road to ride on.

Last week I picked up a sick bug and near the end of the week I started sounding like and old man who's been a heavy smoker for 60 years!  The frustrating thing is that I feel fine but I sound like I should be quarantined.  I laid low on the weekend and worked on getting better with the help of David's Tea and my doTERRA essential oils.  I was introduced to these fabulous essential oils a few months ago and I've been pleasantly surprised at how many uses I find for them.  At least 3 or 4 times a day I find myself using them, either to clean with, cook with, rub on sore muscles, help with cramps or adding to my diffuser.  You can get more info on them here.

I had been weighing in on Mondays but I've switched to Sundays now.  It's much easier for me to get to my mom's to weigh in on a Sunday rather than a Monday when I'm at work.  I find that doing the on-line Weight Watchers I miss being accountable to someone when I weigh in so I make sure to do it in front of someone. I have still been faithfully tracking my food on the Weight Watchers app I have and was very happy to find I was down another 4 pounds yesterday!  That bring my weight loss in the first three weeks up to 11.9 pounds!  Yay me!  

                        

I've been experimenting with dinner bowls this past week.  start with fresh greens then add a grain such as quinoa, brown rice or couscous.  Add a protein; chickpeas, tofu, chicken or nuts.  Then some veggies, my favorite so far was fried leeks, onions, bell peppers and swiss chard.  You can add a little kick with some chilli flakes, cayenne pepper or grated ginger.  Sprinkle some sesame seeds or feta cheese on top.  I like to add the dressing onto the greens before I add the rest of ingredients.  I simply mix some grainy mustard with cider vinegar and drizzle that on top.  

I just found a yummy looking Buddha Bowl recipe this morning with Roasted Garlic Tahini Dressing that I'm dying to try.  The dressing looks simple to make and having it made ready to go in the fridge will be a treat when I'm cooking dinner.  

Week 2 Done and I'm Still Smiling :)

I just had my weigh in for week 2 and I'm down 1.2 pounds.  I was of course hoping for a bigger number but what with me still struggling with my Vodka coolers I'm not surprised!

I'm using the new app to track all my meals and weight.  It's been relatively easy to remember to track, I even used it at the grocery store last night to scan UPS codes to choose foods with the least points.  I love that feature!  There was such a difference between bacon, the points ranged from 7 up to 12 for just 2 pieces (gone are the days of me eating 6 pieces of bacon for breakfast :o )  Now I can easily find out which is the better choice.

I picked up a new cookbook on the weekend and I'm so happy with the purchase.  'Weight Watchers Family Meals'.  I had a hard time decided what meal to cook from the book so in typical Jo-Al fashion, I cooked for 6 when it was just boyfriend and I eating lol.

I choose the Warm Spinach Salad with Bacon, Chicken and Feta (5 points) with a plate of Sweet & Spicy Drumettes (4 points) along with a side of Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Moroccan Spice (1 point).

Seriously, would you have been able to choose from those three? 

I've always wanted to try roasting a whole cauliflower and it couldn't have been easier!  I tried finding a recipe I can link here for you but they all had far too many steps.  Here's what I did...I just peeled the outer leaves off, cored it, and topped it with a mixture of 1/3 cup of greek yogurt and 2 TBSP Moroccan spice.  I baked it at 400 for just under an hour. Depending on the size of your cauliflower it may need longer to cook, just stick a knife in it to check if it's done.  I mixed the yogurt and spice together and spooned it on top.  You can actually use any spice you enjoy if you don't have Moroccan spice.  

It was so tasty I wanted to share the photo again.

This coming week I'm going to continue working on my water intake and keep up with my meal tracking.  I feel a good Week 3 is coming.  

Weight Watchers Week 1 Complete!

Today was my weigh in day and I'm happy to say I'm down 6.7 pounds!

There's a few things I'm going to work on for Week 2 like drinking more water and less Vodka coolers.
The weather is warming up and I can feel summer is headed our way, to me that means drinks on the patio and BBQs.  I'm still working out how I can make my patio party nights Weight Watchers friendly, it will take a bit more planning but I'm positive I can do it.

I found some great YouTube channels that are amazing and helpful and give me encouragement and support. A lot of my meal ideas this first week came from Overcomingemily, she has some fantastic meal ideas and her videos are full of tips and shopping trips to help you out.

Tonight's dinner is Garlic Chicken and Broccoli

and Roasted Cauliflower with Parmesan Cheese

Doesn't that look delicious!?  And at 5 points a serving how can I go wrong!

3 Months Into 2016

I'm know I'm not alone in deciding to make a lifestyle change in January and wake up one day to realize it's almost April and I'm still waiting to start that change!

Weight Watchers worked really well for me years ago after my son was born so I signed up to get back on the plan.  They have a new program which is a bit different than what I remember but it's still the basic idea of each food being assigned a point value and based on your weight you're given a maximum number of points you can eat each day.

I signed up last week but took the weekend to plan some meals and clear out my fridge so today is my Day 1.  (If I'm honest I actually was waiting to get through Easter and all the good candy before I started!)

My most loved breakfast is Red River cereal which is like oatmeal but has a nuttier flavor. It's a blend of Wheat, Rye and Flax and it's delicious. The reason I like Weight Watchers so much is that I can continue to eat some of my favorite things and I don't feel like I'm giving up all the good stuff.  As long as you count your points you're good!

I took to Pinterest to plan lunch and found Breakfast Scrambled Egg Pizza




By the time I drive home from work and take the dogs out I don't have a lot of time to cook before my lunch break is over and I need to head back to work so this was an easy, quick idea.




Dinner is going to be Moo Shu Beef, another quick easy recipe.  We're still working on our house reno's so anything I can cook fast after work and get out to the new place is what I'm after these days!


Planning meals is a huge things for me.  I've tried to plan on the fly and come up with ideas a few hours before I have to cook but that sets me up for failure.  My goal by the end of April is to be in the habit of having a week worth of meals planned out the Sunday before.  Sounds to me like a good reason to spend more time on Pinterest!

Waiting on the sun

This was how my garden looked in January.  I've been passing the time before planting season going through seed catalogues.   I discovered this site, it lists all the Canadian seed companies.   My list is growing quickly! Stay posted for this year's progress at Maple Springs.  

Happy Birthday

Today is Monday but it's also my birthday!  This Monday has been quite enjoyable!   The boys at work had some lovely color delivered to my desk and tonight I'm going to mom and dad's for spaghetti dinner then we're all headed to the movie. 

Chicken & Wild Rice Casserole

There's nothing nicer to warm up to this time of the year than this hot, quick and easy home made meal.  My Chicken & Wild Rice Casserole will surely become be a favorite as soon as you try it!

I like this recipe because it uses ingredients I always have in the house.  Anything I can make without having to hit the grocery store first is good for me.

1 1/2 c. uncooked Wild Rice - this Lunberg CountryWild rice is delicious!  It smells amazing when cooking and has great colors that will make any dish you're cooking look even tastier.

1 Yellow Onion, chopped
3 Celery stalks, diced
1 Tbsp Butter
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1/3 c Sour Cream or cream cheese, whichever you have on hand
1/2 c Chicken Broth + more to cook your rice
3 Chicken Breast, cut into small, bite sized pieces
Parmesan Cheese to sprinkle on top.
Salt & Pepper
Thyme or Rosemary, whichever you prefer


Cook the rice according to the package but replace the water with chicken broth, it will give your casserole a richer flavor.
With about 15 minutes of cooking time left on your rice you can begin cooking the chicken and the other ingredients.
I use 2 frying pans and get everything done at once.  Chicken cooking in one pan and the rest cooking in the other pan.

Sauté the onions and celery in the pan with the butter until soft, about 12 minutes.

In your second frying pan cook the chicken with a little splash of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. ( if you only have one pan to use, cook the chicken first)

Add the chicken to the celery mixture.  Mix in the soup, sour cream, chicken broth, salt and pepper, and seasoning.  Stir together well.

Once it's all combined, add to your casserole dish.  This lovely orange le creuset dish is our yard sale find from a few years back!  It gets used a lot in the winter.

Preheat the oven to 400

Before it goes in the oven sprinkle the dish with Parmesan cheese.  These cheese petals from Costco are a treat if you can find them.

You can never have too much cheese.





30 minutes later...

Quick, easy, delicious.
Enjoy!