Cheesy Turkey Casserole

First, my apologies for being absent lately.  I will have to learn to get used to this whole blogging thing.  These few weeks have been a little crazy around the household.  Lots of eating out and little cooking at home.  I did, however, still manage to lose 4.4 pounds this past week.  That makes my new total weight loss of 25 pounds! As I treat to myself I am eating a little bag of mini eggs while typing this (only 5 points).

One meal I did cook this past week was a spin off on a recipe I found online.  It called for ground beef but I used ground turkey instead. I actually tweaked the recipe quite a bit. It wasn't bad, it was actually pretty good, and because I used leftover elbows from the previous night it took all of about 20 minutes from raw to cooked and on the plate.  Can't go wrong there.

Ground turkey, macaroni, rotel diced tomatoes with green chilies, Velveeta, and fat free shredded cheddar cheese. Add spices to your liking....
I don't remember EXACTLY how I made this but I think it went a little something like this

Brown turkey adding salt and pepper
While the turkey is browning reheat noodles and melt Velveeta
In a bowl mix ground turkey, noodles, diced tomatoes, and melted Velveeta.
Stir
Lightly spray dish with cooking spray
Transfer from bowl to dish
Cook in oven at 400 for about 10 minutes
Take out and sprinkle fat free shredded cheddar on top
Back in oven and bake until cheese on top is melted
Serve and eat

Oh and I still have mini eggs left in my bag...on to eat the rest of them :)

Birthday

You may have noticed that I was not blogging this past weekend, and the reason for this is because I didn't cook all weekend! It was SOOOOO difficult to try and stay on my diet when I wasn't cooking but I think I did alright.
Saturday night I definitely had a cheat day, or night....My friends came down to go out so we could celebrate my birthday.  I had so much fun! We went out for hibachi and got dinner and a show.  If you have never been a highly recommend going.  Everything I ate was technically ON my diet but not everything I ate fell into my diet limits.  But hey it was for my birthday so it was ok, right?
For dinner I started off having miso soup (I hate mushrooms but love this soup), followed by a salad (it isn't sounding horrible yet...), after soup and salad came the main course! Grilled chicken breast, filet mignon, fried rice, sauteed vegetables, and noodles. WOW WEE that was A LOT of food.  I actually didn't even finish the noodles or the chicken but I sure made sure to finished the rice and filet because let's face it, if I am going to have a "cheat" day (night) I am going to make sure I eat the things I hardly eat anymore.
I want to thank everyone who came down to help me celebrate.

Fat Tuesday

HAPPY FAT TUESDAY!!

Tomorrow is the first day of Lent....what are you giving up this year? Me...no idea.


Will post tomorrow with tonight's dinner

Mexican

Last night we had some friends over for dinner and I made a Mexican themed dinner.  Complete with an appetizer as well as the entree! As some of you are my facebook followers and have seen me post a picture or two of chicken with a bean salsa on top, well that is what I made last night.  I originally got the recipe off weight watchers website but I changed it up a bit to add a little more spice to it.  Spice makes you thirsty and drinking water makes you feel full which, in the long run, helps you eat less and lose more :)
As some of you may know I love Hungry Girl and I have been dying to try one of her recipes, Beany Cheesy Cups.  It is more of an appetizer than a meal and I just knew if it was just the two of us I would eat half of the recipe.  I love beans, and cheese!  I thought us having guinea pigs friends over that it would be a perfect time to make them and try them out.  I personally LOVED them.  It was the right amount of beans, cheese, and a nice little crisp from the fillo shells. One serving was 5 of them and they only cost 3 points!

 Aren't they cute?!!?

Normally in the past when I have made chicken with warm bean salsa I would serve it over orzo but last night I switched things up.  I have been craving cilantro-lime rice, and I decided to try my hand at making that for our guinea pigs friends.  The recipe was of  course not mine because I am just not that talented yet. I did however get it from a talented lady, Martha Stewert, and you can find her recipe here.  A serving of this was only 3 points! I was shocked at how little the points value was.  Although, I do not think I had a whole serving because I personally am not a huge fan of rice.

Beany Cheesy Cups (5) = 3 points
Cilantro Lime Rice = 3 points
Chicken with Bean Salsa = 5 points

Dinner with appetizer = 11 points

A quick and easy meal

Last night for dinner we had a version of weight watchers Italian Chicken Skillet. It is quickly becoming one of my favorite meals to eat (and make). Why? Because it is super easy to make, tastes delish, and takes less than 30 minutes to cook!! When I first started making this dish I would serve it over a cup of orzo (5pts) but last night I served it over tri-color rotini (1 cup=5pts).  I must say that I really liked it over the rotini.
One serving of this is only 4 points! Well, if you add pasta than that is another 5 points but you could easy serve this over a bed of vegetables, rice, or whatever you like :)
I was able to get the camera out last night while I was cooking.  Here is a picture recipe:

 Chop up: one onion, two carrots, and one stalk of celery.

Heat in pan over medium-high heat with about 2 tsp of olive oil.

 Cook vegetables until soft

 Take 2 chicken breasts and filet and cube them.

Throw the chicken in with the vegetables and cook until

 they are cooked on the outside.

 Add about 15 ounces of crushed tomatoes (no salt added).

Add basil, pepper, and salt.

Simmer until the chicken is fully cooked.

 Meanwhile you should have cooked, drained, and added

a tsp of light butter.  

I prefer Brummel & Brown.

 One cup of pasta onto the plate (5 points)

 One and a half cups of chicken and sauce on top of pasta 

Enjoy!

A little bit more of a breakdown...

1.5 cup Chicken and sauce = 4 points

1 cup Pasta = 5 points

Meal total = 9 points

The weight watchers recipe called for about a pound of chicken with a serving size of 4 but because there are only 2 of us eating I used less.  My lessened chicken version served about 3.

I can't go a day without....

VITAMUFFINS!!! Deep chocolate actually. Mmmmm MMMMM they are SOO good.  I love chocolate and this is a perfect way to get in a snack that is chocolately and good for you.  I have one every morning for breakfast. Let me tell you why these muffins are fantastic......

• Only 100 calories!!!!
• Less than 2 grams of fat!!
• 6 grams of fiber!!
• 5 grams of protein!!!
• Filled with 15 vitamins/minerals!!!
• Takes 13 minutes to walk it off!!!

What is there not to love about all that?? Well...there is one thing I do not like about vitamuffins-the price to buy them IN STORE! Somewhere between $4 and $6 for only 4 vitamuffins.  But luckily for you I will let you in on a little secret-BUY THE MIX ONLINE AND MAKE THEM YOURSELF.  One box of the mix makes 12 muffins and the cost for a box of mix is $6 and change.  What a deal! And they are super easy to make.  I made a box last week and I am still eating them.  Check out their website here

 I had some heart shaped cupcake liners leftover from Valentne's Day, and YES those are real chocolate chips (from Toll House)

:)

Welcome to my page!

Hello and thank you for finding your way to my page.  If it was not for my facebook friends this blog would never exist :) This first blog will be short and sweet...I am going to blog daily (I will really try!) about the foods I am eating, maybe even share a few recipes here and there and keep you, my followers, up -to-date on my weight loss journey.
Growing up I was always a skinny girl-never overweight and the best part of it was I could eat anything I wanted and not gain a pound.  Well that didn't last too long.  About 4 years ago I slowly started putting on the pounds.  It was not bad at first 10, maybe 20 pounds and then next thing I know I am almost 70 pounds overweight!!! How did that happen so fast?!!? Finally I couldn't take it anymore, I was the heaviest I have ever been and SO out of shape. I promised myself that at the beginning of the year I was actually going to do something to lose some pounds.  Maybe not all 70 but I needed to lose at least 30 I felt.  I toyed with the idea of joining weight watchers several times before I actually bit the bullet and did it. It was scary at first because I am Italian and I love my carbs. The first week I never thought I would see the end of it but it came and then I made it through the next week and then the next and it wasn't so bad.  I still get to eat the food I love but they are just healthier and not loaded with fat.  I can still have my cake and eat it too and that is ok in my book.
As of last week's weigh in I have lost a total of 18.2 pounds.  Just 1.8 pounds away from the 20 pound goal.  That is like the weight of a small child. I can't speak for anyone else but I am very proud of myself for sticking with this as long as I have AND losing weight.
So this is all I am going to write today because the day is over and I haven't given much of a thought as to what I would post about until about 20 minutes ago. But I will let you know that for dinner I had classic shepherd's pie with a light casear salad. Here is a picture of the pie. Don't drool too much ;)

It was delish and only 6 points a serving!