Friday, October 31, 2014

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Costco frozen chicken breasts, butterflied. Hopefully you can see what I mean by butterflied.. because I don't know if that's really the real cooking term, it's an Emily term.


Stuff them full of awesomeness.
Bacon, broccoli, onion, mozzarella cheese, garlic, salt/pepper, spinach...the combinations are endless. My favorite combo is cheese, broccoli and bacon. The points really depend on how big your chicken breast is. I would say mine is usually about 8 points for the chicken. The 1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese is 1 point and the bacon is about a point per slice. You can easily make these with no extra points. I like to lightly coat the chicken with olive oil or spray. The olive oil does cost you points, but you don't end up using much.
 
Fold it over on top of itself to cook. I usually use my Cuisinart grill or the BBQ. Cook until you have good grill marks and then flip it over. Cook time really depends on how thick your chicken is.


 
 I used to tell everyone I was a terrible cook. A few years back I made it my new years resolution to follow directions, especially in cooking/baking. It was crazy what a big difference that made, just to read the instructions before I started.  Goals are good and working on improving yourself is awesome. I am officially retracting that statement about being a terrible cook, I didn't say I was the world's best cook....but I am not a terrible cook anymore. So if you're in the terrible cook club too, don't give up all it takes is the desire to want to be better.
 
 

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Breakfast Dinner

Monday night is breakfast dinner at the Coe household. Pancakes from mix.. not that bad for you. You know what's bad for you? All the "stuff" you put on them. Bisquick pancake mix is 2 points per pancake. Now, this is not a pancake the size of your plate, it's made with 1/4 cup as your ladle.
I make them according to the box.



Topping ideas:

Sliced bananas (free) and 4 pecans halves (1 point)  I put a gathering of sliced bananas on the skillet then poor my pancake batter over it. Or you can just slice them on top.. I do both. =)

Fresh sliced peaches (free), frozen would probably be good too!

Blueberries (free). I just got some frozen blueberries and they are so good.

Strawberries, berries.. go crazy with those fruits. Not the fruit syrups though. haha Not the same!

Syrup is so bad for you and the worst part is how much you put on without even noticing. I dip my cakes in the syrup to make the syrup go farther. This stuff is great, it's 1 point for 1/4 cup. My original syrup was 6 points for 1/4 of a cup, I could have 3 more pancakes for that, but if you don't like the idea of sugar free syrup maybe just try the dipping your pancakes instead of drowning them in syrup. I don't do butter, because honestly I can't taste it and why waste points on something that isn't critical to your taste buds.


I used to eat my pancakes slathered in peanut butter and syrup! 2 tablespoons of peanut butter is 5 points and I know it wasn't just 2 tablespoons that I put on it. I really don't miss eating them like that when I have such a yummy alternative. 

Saturday, September 20, 2014

My super boys

I love weight watchers, but as promised this blog will be a little bit of everything.

I happen to LOVE taking pictures of my kiddos. My boys often get the short end of the camera these days, so I found some really cute ideas on pinterest. This morning just the 3 of us went to the park to do a super hero photo shoot. We had so much fun. =) Here they are.





this one is my favorite! 



The fight scene! Their favorite.


Aidan really sells that punch! haha






 These boys are polar opposites, yet love being together! So cool, I hope they stay best buddies. 




Friday, September 19, 2014

What's for dinner?

Life can get pretty crazy around the Coe household. Dinner kept sneaking up on me so we sat down and planned out the days of the week. We sat down with our boys and let them pick their favorite dinners. Gavin picked breakfast dinner, which everyone loved the idea of. Monday's are hard so Monday's are breakfast because it's easy. Usually we have pancakes, Gavin and I either have banana or blueberry. We decided that Tuesday had to be Tacos (lego movie), which can be straight up tacos, taco soup or fish tacos (my fav). Aidan picked hamburger night, which I also love. Thursday has been named WHATEV night or grill night. Friday is little caesar's pizza night. Two slices of pepperoni is 15 points.

I love  having a set meal schedule, it makes grocery shopping so much easier. Have I told you that planning and being organized is so important when dieting?  Well it is. =) If I know it's pizza night then I don't eat any extra points, I stick to core foods. We're pretty flexible so if we don't feel like Taco Tuesday then we ditch it for the night. The only night that we can't ditch is breakfast dinner night, the kids love it too much.

I would highly recommend a meal plan, wish I would have implemented it earlier. Also if you can pick a broad type of meal like grill night I think it's easier to stick with and not get bored. We leave weekends open for going out to eat or whatever we feel like having. =)

I don't have a picture for this post so how about a cute one of my boys at the fair. Love these little stinkers.

Big chicken nuggets

Big Chicken Nuggets, marinara sauce and veggies.



This dinner is so versatile and fast. It's not a "pretty" dinner, but it's good. I also love it because my picky eater will eat it without the marinara sauce, score! It seems like I forget to de-thaw meat more often than I remember, so chicken patties are great. I am super picky about meat and this is not cheap spongy chicken patties, it's high quality spongy chicken patties. hahahaha

 I love Costco and I get all three ingredients for this meal there. The chicken patties come in a long sleeve and they're about $13 for 20 patties. Cook patties according to the package, I like mine a little crunchier so I leave them in longer. The kirkland marinara sauce is 2-3 points for 1/2 cup of sauce (warm on stove). I buy the Normandy blend of frozen veggies (which you can buy at walmart too).  For the veggies I put them in a casserole dish with a little water and microwave it on the frozen veggie button. Then I drizzle very lightly with olive oil, salt and pepper and pop it in the oven at 350 degrees. After about 15 minutes I take it out and stir to make sure all the veggies get a nice tan and back in for another 15 minutes. These are my back up veggies when I don't have any fresh veggies. Now that we really don't eat a starch for dinner, veggies have to step up their role and I have to have them on hand at all times.

If you have some non-dieters in the house you can make up spaghetti noddles to go with it.. or if you have enough points, 2 ounces is 5 points. Or mozzarella is really yummy on top of the sauce too 1/4 of a cup is 2 points, I think.

Point break down

Chicken patty, 7 points
1/2 cup of marinara sauce, 2-3 points
Olive oil, 1-2 points per serving

Another variation is ZUCCHINI, mushrooms, onion and garlic. Yum! My personal favorite!

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

I Love Burgers!


Oh, how I love summer time and burgers! No defrosting required, score! 13 point dinner.




Okay, lets break down the points/ingredients. 

Kroger (Freddy's brand) Wheat Bun 3 points
 hamburger patty 7 POINTS (Turkey patty is only 4 points)
Grilled onions  FREE
 1 Tablespoon of Barbecue Sauce 1 point 
Lettuce FREE

I get my hamburger patties from Dick Howard's meat market, my local butcher. If you don't buy your meat from your local butcher, I would highly suggest you start. Besides supporting local, they sell better meat for cheaper. Huh... sounds like a no brainer right, it is! The ground chicken at the grocery store is 4-6 dollars per pound, it's $2.60ish per pound. 

Corn on the Cobb 2 points (yep, corn isn't free. I started boiling the corn for less time and it is so sweet and crunchy. I put a little salt, but no butter. I know, I love butter too. )
Not enough food? What about watermelon? Cantaloupe? Strawberries?  FREE

Pickles are 0-1 point depending if you like those nasty things.. which I don't. =) 

This is one of my personal favorite meals, simple and good. Also a kid favorite, which is important. 



Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Vacation

Fact: You will cheat. The real question is: How will you bounce back? It doesn't mean that your diet is over or that you failed; just a hiccup. Recognize it was a bad choice and move on.

We went to Disneyland in April, while we were in full force with our diet and I had 10 more pounds to lose. I was petrified that I would gain weight while we were there - so many yummy treats. We decided we would do our best to eat well and indulge in some must-have treats. We bought our breakfast sandwiches to eat before we went to the park. We packed Uncrustables (frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches 5 points) or turkey sandwiches with pop chips and a fiber one bar. For most dinners we ate at the hotel, trying to stick with lean and green options - except the nights that were our turn to cook.  We had pizza and In-N-Out Burger. Yeah, don't judge me; we packed twin infants through Disneyland all day, fed them every 3 hours and tried to get some rides in too. =) After the first day I realized my ideas of making a yummy healthy dinner for a group of people was a joke and totally not going to happen. It was quite an accomplishment for us to take the girls to Disneyland; I feel like I can take them anywhere now. I stuck to my 2 slices of pizza rule and just had the burger and ate a few fries.  We ate Churros, Rice Krispy Treats and Ice Cream sandwiches. So the point that I'm trying to get across is: You can have those cheat items if you are good the rest of the day. Before I would have told myself "You're packing a 15 pound baby through Disneyland eat whatever you want". Exercise does burn calories and gives you extra points, but not as much as you would think. When I exercise I think of it more as toning and muscle building, not as a weight loss method. Yes, you can work out and lose weight, but I'm saying don't justify bad decisions because you're working out. I lost 1.5 pounds that week.

My birthday weekend we went to the coast. I made all kinds of bad choices while we were there. I did, however, try to eat my smaller portions. Lots of fried food, chowder, waffles and desserts. I'd tell you the details, but I don't remember what all I ate, but it was bad. We were so happy to get home and get back on the band wagon.  I notice that when I eat poorly I have less energy and feel gross. It feels so good to get your body fueled back up with the good stuff. I gained 2 pounds and was able to get rid of it within 2 weeks.

I also had weeks with no weight loss. This was really frustrating especially when I was really good all week - I hadn't cheated or anything. Your body isn't going to drop 1.5 pounds every week like clockwork. Well, maybe you're lucky and it does; not super likely. I went back and looked at my stats on the Weight Watchers app - about every 3 weeks I would have a poor weight loss, but then the next week I would have a great loss.

No one is PERFECT! To assume that anyone is perfect or even close to being perfect is just absurd. It may seem from the outside that it's perfect, but perhaps what you're noticing is that they are content and happy with what they have. Happiness is what you should shoot for, not perfection. I have let happiness be my guide in life and I'm really happy with where I am. With weight loss it's easy to compare yourself to others; just remember this is your journey and in the end it's all about you. Don't sell yourself short, set that goal and go get it.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Fish Tacos

Easy Fish Tacos is one of my favorite dinners, mainly because it's easy.  About 11 Points



You will need:

Fish Sticks  Costco 4 pieces is  6 points (trident is the brand) / Gordon's 4 pieces is 5 points
Bag of coleslaw without dressing
Hard or soft taco shells both are around 4 points for 3 shells
Olive Oil Mayo
Lemon Juice
pinch of sugar


Gordon's Fish Sticks are lower in points than my Costco fish sticks, but the Costco ones are bigger. For the points I like the Costco ones best. Cook up the fish sticks, I just about burn mine on purpose because they taste better that way to me.  Make up your slaw, by putting about half the bag in a bowl with 2 spoonfuls of Olive Oil Mayo a squirt of lemon juice and a pinch of sugar. I don't count the pinch of sugar against myself. Mix it all up, if it needs a little more mayo I would add it without going overboard. Now that I'm in maintenance mode I buy the kind with dressing, I have no idea how many points it is. Warm up your tortillas two fish sticks per tortilla and add coleslaw. Yummy!

 One night I didn't have coleslaw, but had to have fish tacos. At Fred Meyer's in the frozen food section they sell a corn, black bean, onion and pepper mix. I love the stuff, no idea how many points it is, probably 1-2 per serving. I love to put it on regular tacos so we tried it one night on the fish tacos with a 1/2 greek yogurt 1/2 salsa mix (also a great salad dressing that is cheap on points).. really good! I'm sure there are lots of other toppings you could do!

Picky Kid note: I often get asked if my kids eat our healthy food too. Yes they do! My youngest boy loves to eat what we're eating, but my oldest is pretty picky. I will say he's come a really long way from his yogurt, oatmeal and Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich days. I just make up some tater tots and serve him fish sticks and tots for dinner. If I remember I also hold out some of the coleslaw without sauce for him. Boom, everyone is happy! Including me because I usually have forgoten to de-thaw dinner.

On a side note this could be a really cheap point meal if you used non-breaded fish.

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Snacks

Snacks!

The secret to not feeling hungry in between meals is zero point snacks. When we first started out I would eat a banana for my morning snack and an apple and/or carrots for my afternoon snack. The first few days were rough because my stomach was so stretched out from eating way too much food. So I ate as many veggies/fruits as needed to fill the void. If I need to go to the store and only have bananas then I eat bananas for my snacks, no big deal. Some days I don't need my morning snack, which is good because even though it's "free" it's really not. It all makes a difference.

When I was working often there was yummy treats on the back counter, some I could pass up and some I could not. If I had to try something I would still have it, but just have enough for a bite or two, not a whole piece. This is when those Fiber One brownies would have been nice to have in my desk.

FREE STUFF (there are lots more fruits and veggies that are free, this is just what I like to eat)

Apples (no peanut butter, you'd be shocked how many points that stuff is!)
Bananas
Oranges
Peaches
Pears
Snap peas
Purple cabbage (sliced up)
Carrots
Cantaloupe
Watermelon
Strawberries
Peppers

No canned or dried it adds points, but if you have to they sell fruit cocktail in juice and it is 1-2 points for the whole can. You can't always have fresh produce so I keep a few cans on hand. I saw on Weight Watchers that they make the mixed fruit in water, but I have yet to find it.


Some days the zero point stuff doesn't hack it and I'm just hungry so here are a few of those ideas.

7 Almonds = 1 point
7-8 small pretzels =1 point
Hot cheese (Weight Watchers jalapeno string cheese) = 1 point
Jerky (depends on the kind that you like and how much)

A few days ago I decided to eat a small handful of chocolate teddy grahams (graham crackers are a weakness of mine). My husband informs me they were 2 points for just a few! What?!?! I could have had a brownie instead, I totally should have. =)  Maybe I should change the title of this blog to my love for Fiber One Brownies.

Happy Snacking!

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Lunch time fun

Lunch is pretty boring.. I should probably work on this aspect of my diet.. because it needs some more options. haha.  My go to meal, if I'm on my A game is a turkey sandwich on sandwich thins with honey mustard and lettuce. I buy Fred Meyer brand sandwich thins (2 points) others are 3. Yes, 1 point makes a difference..=) It means I can have chips or a brownie. All good choices lead to dessert!!! Now you're not surprised that I had an extra 35 pounds to lose are you?

The Turkey Sandwich is 3 points.

3 slices of turkey = 1 point
Sandwich thins = 2
Lettuce FREE
Mustard FREE

Tuna Sandwich is 4 points

1 can of Tuna = 1 point (Bryan and I split the can, I used to eat a whole can myself)
1 tablespoon of olive oil mayo = 1 (I can't taste a difference at all! And it saves you 2 points, that's a brownie people!!)
Sandwich thins = 2 points
Lettuce or celery = FREE

I'll be honest, I really don't love the oven roasted turkey very much. I like to order Cajun Chicken at the deli counter, I charge myself the same points as the turkey. Is it the same? I don't know, but I eat it just about every day and I'm losing weight, so it must be pretty close. Ham is a point more I think, but if you like ham better than turkey go for it!

Usually, I have 10 pop chips (1 point) with my sandwich. I love pop chips, they come in 4 or 5 different flavors, all of which are yummy! Special K also makes some and I think you can have 14 for 1 point. We usually can get pop chips on sale for $1.50-$2.50 per bag so that's what we buy, both are good. My favorite are the original and sour cream.

My husband eats the sandwich, chips and a Fiber One brownie.. that is a 6 point lunch.
 I don't usually have a brownie at lunch, because I don't get a bunch of points.. so I save it for after dinner. That's my ideal lunch though, as soon as I lose these last 3 pounds, I'm having a brownie at lunch. =) Once I've lost all the weight I need to lose I will go into maintenance and get 6 more points. YES!


The lemon bar is so yummy! I usually spend a minute just huffing it before I eat it. haha I'd like to tell you that's a joke, but it's the truth it smells so good! =) The brownie ones are really good too. They make all different flavors, chocolate chip tastes like a soft cookie. The peanut butter and chocolate one is alright. Freddy's brand makes chocolate and chocolate chip for much cheaper, I like the chocolate chip, but the other is just ehh. Costco used to sell both in the huge boxes for a great deal, now they don't. BOO! We are currently buying them at Walmart in the mega box, because my boys also really like them. This is a must have for me, I freak out a little if we're out. 

If we're out of town and I have to eat out. I love to go to Olive Garden and have soup, salad and bread sticks. I get the Minestrone (2 points for a bowl), Bryan gets the Suppa Toscana (4 points per bowl). I ask for dressing on the side and dip it. I find this comical, because I used to think it was so dumb when people would do that, like it's going to save you that many calories..... who's the dumb one now. =) haha. I do this method for syrup too, it's epic, tastes the same without using so much. It all adds up really quick. I do have a bread stick (4 points each), I can't help it.  Side Note: The Tour of Italy is 38 points.. WOW! I get 26 points for my day! If you're going out to eat, look at the Weight Watchers app on your phone before you get there and pick out what you're going to eat ahead of time.  When in doubt go lean and green or meat and veggie. 

Also remember this is lunch people, not 1st dinner. I can say that, because it was first dinner for me. =) Lunch doesn't need to be huge, you will get to eat again! If you're worried you'll be hungry later bring a few extra snacks. Apple, Orange, Banana whatever you need to be sure you won't be starving later. It's important not to get to a place where you will eat anything in site, plan ahead. 


Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Breakfast

I used to eat 2 packets of oatmeal for breakfast with coffee. Doesn't sound too bad right? The Oatmeal is 8 points (not terrible, but really not a good choice). I had a little coffee with my creamer, about 6 TBS. I get 26 points for my day, this is pretty average for a woman. So spending 14 points on my breakfast was not going to work. I realized quickly that I needed to make my points count and the best way to do that is to focus on meat, veggies and fruit. I didn't have a bunch of extra time on my hands in the morning, but I decided scrambled eggs would be the best bang for my buck. 1 egg white is 0 points and you can have several egg whites for 1 point. I didn't really like the taste of just egg whites so I decided to do 2 whole eggs and 1 white to start off, then I weaned myself down to 1 whole egg and 2 whites. I'm not sure why I decided to try zucchini in my eggs, but I've eaten them for breakfast for the last 7 months and I love it! I slice it up spray in some pam non-stick spray to saute it. Once the zucchini is brown I put my eggs in and scramble them up. If I have other veggies I throw them in too, but most of the time I just throw a whole zucchini in there. The reason for the whole zucchini is to trick myself into thinking I'm eating a big portion.



Some days I just really don't have time to make anything, so I love the Special K breakfast sandwiches for those days. My favorite ones have eggs and peppers and pepper jack cheese. I've been known to put thinly sliced zucchini on the sandwich too. (I really like zucchini haha) When I'm away from home, omelets are the bomb! Restaurants are great about making them the way you want (egg wise), so I just ask for one whole egg and 2 whites then load it up with veggies and no cheese. I found that I didn't really miss the cheese that much it just made all the other flavors really stand out.


 There was no way I was going without coffee either or drinking it black. I weaned myself down to 3 tablespoons instead of 6. So my breakfast is 6 points. A few months into our diet my husband found Dunkin' Donuts creamer 3 TBS for 1 point! Sounds great, but it doesn't taste anything like my coffee mate. I came to the compromise of 3 TBS of Dunkin' doughnuts and 1 TBS of Coffee Mate. I have one cup in the morning and one cup at night with my dessert.. yep dessert, pretty much every night.


All these changes add up and make a huge difference!


Friday, July 25, 2014

Turning Point

First things first! I have lost 35 pounds doing Weight Watchers. Awesome right!?!? Let me tell you why I decided to lose weight.

Long story short, I gave birth to twin girls who were very premature. Might I also add, two weeks after I gave birth to my girls I was below my pre-pregnancy weight. Sounds great, right? We spent 2 1/2 months in the NICU. That's right I spent 2 1/2 months away from home eating whatever I wanted. ehhhh.. And once I got home it was a grab whatever you can when you have a minute.

Finally we got to go home. While at home one day, I bent over to get some clothes out of a dresser, lost my balance and ripped the butt of my FAVORITE jeans. Yep, blew them out. I was so upset. I found other people making excuses for me about why I couldn't lose weight. Excuses included:  I was stressed, just had twins, I just wasn't a naturally thin person. 

I just couldn't handle it anymore; after seeing a few really terrible pictures of myself, I felt I didn't even look like me anymore. I told my husband I had to do something about it and I wanted him to do it with me. I still laugh when I think back about his reaction. He didn't say anything, just gave me a look that said why do I have to diet because you're fat? Now, he would never say something like that, because he's not stupid, haha! He halfheartedly agreed that he would give it a week. 

We looked into a few different programs, but finally landed on Weight Watchers. We know a few people who have done really well with it. So we signed up and got the app on both phones. The scanner is pretty cool, but we quickly realized that our favorite snacks were making us fat.  So the husband went to the store and loaded up on good for us food. He also got us a bunch of dessert items. This is a must, helps curb the desire to cheat. 

Did I tell you all along this journey we were also raising twin infants and 8 and 5 year old boys?..... okay just checking. 
So what was making us fat? No portion control, carbs and coffee creamer. The coffee creamer sounds ridiculous right? Not when you use as much as I did. I'm going to share with you the changes I made, that made all the difference!