A Funeral

I've had a horrible thing happen to me. My favorite blender has died. I guess I'm going to have to bite the bullet (no pun intended - mine is a Rocket anyhow) and buy a new one. I've used it nearly every day for two years so I feel like I got my money's worth, but I am freaking out because 3 fruit & veg and 1 dairy come from my daily smoothie! That's a big deal. Good thing I have Amazon Prime!

Anyhow, my smoothie recipe is simple. I put 8 oz of skim milk in my blender and add half of a banana. I put in a handful of baby spinach and some fill to the blend line with frozen strawberries and blend. Delicious and nutritious! FREE on the SFT or count your milk points for you Points Plus people.

The color should be this nice purple color. If it's gray, you probably have too much spinach or not enough strawberries. :)

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Homemade Tortilla Chips

I’ve had Mexican food on the brain lately. I grew up in AZ and sometimes I just crave chips & salsa. Not exactly a healthy option on Weight Watchers. UNLESS you bake your own chips.

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What I do: Take 2-3 delicious corn tortillas (I prefer white corn) and use a pizza cutter to cut them into strips. You can cut them into triangles like the photo, I just think it’s easier to cut them into strips and I also prefer dipping/eating them that way. Put your tortilla strips into a bowl and drizzle your healthy oil on top of them. Rub the oil into the strips and put onto a baking sheet. You can also use cooking spray for this step. Bake at 450* for about 5-7 minutes on each side. Flip them when the top side has browned. They are done when the second side has browned and they are crisp.

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For my hot sauce, I take some Pace Salsa (or whatever I bought on sale) & blend it (just in my blender) with some El Pato Jalapeño Salsa (you can usually find this in the Mexican food section of your local grocery store and it’s worth looking for). The more El Pato you use, the hotter your sauce, so pour it to taste. This makes for some yummy hot sauce!

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Then I have a bowl of black beans with my chips and salsa and I’ve eaten a nice low point Mexican food meal! Points Plus values depend on the tortillas that you purchase. You can find tortillas that are 1-1.5 points/each. The hot sauce is FREE and the black beans are also free if you’re doing the Simply Filling Technique. Black beans are 2 PP for 1/2 C if you’re not doing SFT.

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Craving Something Sweet and Chocolatey?

I have been craving something warm sweet and chocolatey! So I hit the net and found this recipe on Dashing Dish. Oh my goodness! I thought I had died and gone to heaven!! These little 3 point sweeties are the perfect dessert or snack!

I had 1/2 a can of pumpkin in my fridge so I substituted that for the applesauce and I used fat free sour cream instead of the yogurt since that was all I had! I got 24 muffins from the recipe and I of course ate one right away, and I took 1 to my in-laws house to eat when everyone else was eating chocolate cake. I popped the rest in a freezer bag and I when I want one I pop one in the microwave for 30 seconds. Try breaking one apart on a plate (I like making it look like I have a lot on my plate) top it with strawberries and a little fat free topping!

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Another 5 Bite the Dust!

I am feeling so great right now! I visualized a specific number on the scale all week because I really wanted to get another 5 pounds star. Plus, I've had bitty losses every week for awhile so I really wanted to see that scale move!

It was amazing when I got on the scale and the exact number I'd been visualizing appeared there. I think I'll try this every week! Anyhow, I'm down 10.4 pounds in 6 weeks. I'm still averaging over 1.5 pounds/week (1.7 to be exact) so I feel really good about that. Still loving Simply Filling!

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It Matters - or, One Reason I Go to Meetings

Last night was Book Group. Book Group is at my house once a month and I love it. I have an awesome group of friends and they all understand that book group has very little, if anything, to do with the books. Love them all. Sometimes they bring treats, sometimes they don't. Sometimes I make treats, sometimes I don't.

But, last night almost every single person brought treats! It must be the chilly fall weather that inspired us all to bake because two people baked banana bread, somebody brought brownies - oh, somebody brought fruit. Weird. Anyhow, the brownies tempted me. I didn't have the points for a brownie. But a little thought came into my head. The thought was, "One brownie doesn't really matter. One brownie won't make a difference in your weight loss. It's just one brownie."

Suddenly, I was back at my WW meeting last week. My leader had mentioned a friend of hers who had lost weight on WW and her motto had been, "It matters." I thought, at the time, that motto was kinda weird. I mean, of course it matters if I lose weight. I really want to lose weight. Of course it matters what I eat, duh.

Ahem. Well, apparently the little voice in my head has been telling me for some time that it doesn't really matter what I eat. But it does. It matters. Even one little brownie. And so, I didn't eat it. I ate some delicious (FREE) plums, fresh off a dear friend's tree. I really hope I lose weight when I step on that scale tomorrow, but if I don't I still had a nsv* this week!


*nsv = non scale victory

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