Asian Food Quick Fix

I really love asian food but I'm very picky. I have just a few places that I like to eat Asian food at whether it be Chinese or Vietnamese food. As you know, Chinese food is FAR from healthy eating/WW friendly. My favorite dish at a Chinese place is Orange Chicken. I was really craving orange chicken one day so I thought I would look up the point value. Well, unbeknownst to me 1 cup of orange chicken was 14 points! One cup, that's it?!?! I like to eat the whole stinkin' container! Ha! I had no idea how much sugar was in orange chicken.... no wonder I like it so much! So, I set out to find an alternative. The first thing I found was this:

Let me start off by saying I've never been a huge fan of pot stickers OR peas but this meal is just delish!! I add just a little bit of low sodium soy sauce to it and it's amazing! It's a light meal with a semi-sweet sauce that fills me up but doesn't weigh me down. The meal is only 7 points and it's worth every one!

So on Saturday I had some time to kill and I went to the grocery store still on my quest to find orange chicken and I came across this:

JACKPOT!!! I have finally found what I was looking for! This orange chicken isn't Chinese food but I tell you what, in some respects it's better! The chicken is sweet and spicy, the rice is chock full of edamame and almonds, and the sauce is just as sweet and spicy as I like it! The whole meal is only 8 points! Aaaahhhhhh! Can you hear the angels singing in the background? I can :-)

COFFEE!

Anyone who knows me knows that I have to have my morning coffee.... otherwise you'll need to approach me at your own risk! Two Christmases ago my parents bought me my first Keurig Coffee Maker. I absolutely love this thing. You can ask my sister how much I love it... a few weeks ago it wouldn't work (because I hadn't cleaned it in a while) and I all but cried because I couldn't have my morning coffee. As sad as this may sound, I actually have a back up coffee pot just in case :-) Another thing that I love about the Keurig is that I can have a different flavor of coffee every day for a week. Since the coffee cups are individually packaged I never have to worry about the coffee going bad. If you're looking for a gift for the coffee lover in your life that keeps on giving, I would highly recommend a Keurig!

The other part to this story is the coffee creamer. I've found that the Coffee Mate Fat Free Creamer (in any flavor) is very WW friendly! You can have 2 Tablespoons for only 1 point. For me that's plenty even in my darkest coffees. So, if you're looking for a coffee creamer that won't eat away all your points here it is!

The day has finally come!

I woke up this morning to the most exciting thing ever! My scale. Every morning while my coffee is brewing I mosey on over to my cute little red scale and see what the magic number is for the day. Today it was 149.0! That's right... 149.0 not 149.6 but 149.0 pounds!!! I have no problem sharing my weight. I can't even begin to tell you the excitement that rushed over me! If I didn't think I would have broken the scale I probably would have jumped for joy while I was on it! LOL! This is such an accomplishment for me. I have been waiting for months to break the 150 mark and today was the day! I love that I've learned to eat everything I want, in moderation and I'm finally getting to where I'm comfortable in my own skin! For the first time in a long time I actually can't wait for summer to get here so that I can wear a swimsuit!

These are a few of my favorite things!

So as I've mentioned before.... I love to eat! I'm a notorious snacker, especially for sweets or carbs. I've found a few things that I can eat that feel like junk food but aren't. Here they are:

I'll start with the one on the left. Special K Chocolatey Pretzel 90 Calorie Bars... the perfect mix of sweet and salty! This is a really satisfying chocolate fix for only 2 points!

Next, Quaker Rice Snacks. I haven't had a bad one yet! The point value is usually about 4 points per serving but the serving size varies depending on the flavor you choose. I know 4 points sounds like a lot for a snack but if your in desperate need of a carb fix it's totally worth it!

Last but most certainly not least is the Fiber One Yougurt!

The Key Lime Pie is my personal favorite flavor! It really does taste like Key Lime Pie and it's only 1 point! That's right, 1 point! This is a great dessert if you really want to have dessert after dinner and don't have a lot of points left OR if you like to eat sweets for breakfast ;-) I wouldn't know anything about that... ha ha ha! You can also add a little bit of granola (for an extra point or two) and then it's like Key Lime Pie with the crust, YUMMY!

So, there's a few of my favorite things.... what are yours???

Ranch Dressing - The Healthier Way

I can eat ranch dressing on or with everything! I just love it! The only problem is that it's like a bazillion points on WW so I had to come up with an alternative. Here it is:

All you have to do is mix one container of Non-Fat Greek Yogurt (any brand will work), one packet of Ranch Dressing Mix and 1/2 cup of skim or 1% milk. You can add more or less milk depending on how thick you like your Ranch Dressing. With this recipe you can have 4 Tbsp for only 1 point! Compare that to the regular Ranch Dressing that has a little valley on the bottle: 4 Tbsp of their dressing is 8 points! How cool is that!

If you change the amount of milk you use or if you decide to you anything other than non fat greek yogurt it will change the point value so you'll need to recalculate :-) Now go forth and take your new knowledge of ranch and put it on everything!!!

Weight Watchers - My New Friend!

Food... I LOVE FOOD! I love to eat it, shop for it, cook it and smell it while it's cooking away! I love everything about food except... when it makes me fat (or feel that way anyways)! I really wanted to change my eating habits and learn to enjoy food in a "healthier" way. So, I decided that I was going to give Weight Watchers (WW) a try. I absolutely love it!

This has been one of the hardest yet most satisfying journeys that I've been on! I've had to retrain myself in the way that I view food and that has probably been the hardest part for me. I tend to look to food for comfort which we all know never ends up well... LOL!

Since I started WW about four months ago I've lost 23 pounds. That is a lot of extra lovin' I've been packing around! I have to say that I feel amazing inside and out. I'm getting back to a place in my life where I'm happy with my body. I'm not looking for a number on the scale or a number on the tag in my jeans to satisfy me I just want to "feel" good. It feels like it's been such a tiring and long process but the reality is, I've changed my lifestyle not just lost weight. I've learned to look at food differently. When picking what I'm going to eat I really weigh all my options now and make sure I'm not over indulging in the junk food like I used to. I've learned to substitute healthier options for the not so healthy stuff.

So, all of that to say, for all of my friends out there who are doing WW or even their own "diet" plan, I'm going to try to start posting one meal/tip a day that I've learned along the way that has really helped me to be successful! Hope fully this can help you or someone you know too!

Happy pound dropping!

New Year... New Blog!

It's a new year and time for a new blog! I've definitely dropped the ball on the whole blogging thing over the last year. With so many new things happening, my goal is to keep track of it/ share it all here :-) Many new posts to come!

P.S. Special thanks to my friend Bobbie at www.clumsycrafter.com for helping me get my blog up and running again! You should really check out her blog! It's great fun and it'll keep you laughing!