Recipe of the Week: Baked Tortilla Chips

I love chips and salsa. I really love that salsa is 0 Smart Points (well, most are). There is just something amazing and tasty about the salty, crunchy goodness of warm tortilla chips. You know, like the ones they bring to the table at Mexican restaurants that happen to be like a bazillion points. I love warm tortilla chips.

Heck, I love tortilla chips in general. I just don't like the store bought ones. This is because I usually end up getting white corn bite size ones because they typically are lower in points. Don't get me wrong I really enjoy them, but they just don't hit the spot sometimes. Especially when my boyfriend makes his AMAZING homemade guacamole.

Even just thinking about it is making my mouth salivate. I guess that means I need to pick up the supplies and 'surprise' him with them in order to get me some of that guacamole. I don't even like avocados, but I will eat and entire bowl of his guacamole without even batting an eye. We even fight about who gets to eat the last of it. The Superbowl is in a couple of weeks and maybe I could use that as an excuse to get him to make some. Like I need an excuse, he would make it in a heartbeat.

Anyway, I also hate that when you do find some yellow corn tortilla chips you get only 12 chips for usually about 4 Smart Points. I don't know about you, but for me 12 chips is just not enough. I want like twice that. Man, I guess I just want it all. I was thinking about ways that I could get more chips for the same Smart Points value.

That's when it hit me. Tortilla chips are just cooked tortillas! I know, shocker, but it had not even occurred to me that I could cook tortillas and come out with some chips. I usually always have corn tortillas in my cupboard as well. I keep the Mission Yellow Corn Extra Thin Tortillas at all times (well, most times) because you can have 3 of these tortillas for only 4 Smart Points and they are so yummy. Just make sure you warm them up in a nonstick skillet if you are planning on making tacos with them or they will crumble apart.

I turned my oven on to 350 degrees. While the oven was preheating I took 3 tortillas from the package. I stacked them and used a pizza cutter to cut them into six pieces. Which means I already have 18 tortilla chips for four Smart Points! This is sounding good already. I lightly sprayed a baking sheet with cooking spray and laid the tortilla pieces out  around the sheet with some space in between the pieces. I then lightly sprayed the top with cooking spray as well. Once the oven was preheated, I popped the baking sheet in the oven for six minutes. Take the chips out, flip them over and sprinkle lightly with salt. Place them back in the oven for about another 4-6 minutes, until they turn golden brown. I found 5 minutes was perfect in my oven, but yours might be different. Remove from oven and sprinkle with a little more salt, if desired. Eat warm with salsa or some amazing guacamole. Make more than one serving and store in an airtight container. I prefer to just make what I want to eat at a given particular time because I love to eat them warm. Enjoy!

Weigh-In Thursday: Week 44

I experienced another loss this week and although I am disappointed in the amount I am trying to look on the bright side. I am approximately one pound away from my next mini goal of being under 250 pounds. I am so close. Looks like I need to step it up this upcoming week in order to hit that mini goal. I do not remember the last time I was under 250 pounds. I have probably been around 250 pounds since maybe high school. That was a normal weight for me and I accepted it. Now I am working hard to change that and to keep going. Two hundred and fifty pounds will no longer be a normal weight for me. I am excited to see where this journey ends up.                                                                                                                                                                         This week's meeting was about believing in order to achieve your goals. It was about changing your attitude and how your thinking. Making small changes for positive thinking that will help you and not hinder you in achieving success. So you gained one week, no big deal, look how far you have come. This is some thing that I have learned over my many, many attempts to lose weight. However, it was not until this particular journey that I have really learned to take this to heart. Otherwise my mind would force me to stop and give up. Now those disappointments only spur me to keep going. Well, that is after I beat myself up and have a pity party. This is where my boyfriend comes into play. He always snaps me out of it and that is the best thing. It has helped me to acknowledge when I am feeling that way and then I can address it and work through it. Here is to reaching my mini goal next week. After that my mini goal is to lose 60 pounds. I got this!

Have you been thinking of joining Weight Watchers and losing with me? Now is the perfect time to Join Weight Watchers with Me. This link will give you a free gift of the Weight Watchers Magazine if you subscribe by March 14, 2016. They are also running a promotion to lose 10 pounds on them. If you join sign up for selected plans, lose 10 pounds in the first 2 months (which is very do-able) they will either refund you for the 2 months you paid for or apply a credit to the following two months. That is like getting 4 months for the price of two!!

Lets not forget:
Starting Weight: 306.4
Current Weight: 250.8
Current Week: - 0.4
Total Loss: 55.6

Recipe of the Week: Fruit & Cheesecake Dessert

This week's recipe is an indulgent bang for your buck. I LOVE cheesecake! I haven't had it is so long though because the 'good' cheesecake would use up my entire daily points allotment. Which would be okay if I could survive on on slice of cheesecake for an entire day. Guess it depends on how large that one piece of cheesecake was. Ha!

This recipe can also be changed to suit your mood. There are many different flavors of of sugar-free, fat-free pudding mixes. The possibilities are endless. I have used the chocolate, but found this cheesecake one and it was divine. I would also like to point out the amount of pudding in the cup I used. I had enough points left so I actually had a full cup of pudding which was 4 Smart Points™. One serving is 1/2 a cup prepared pudding, which if you use a different type of milk the Smart Point™ value of the dessert may change. I would also like to point out that when using the coconut almond blend, it does not set up as much as with cows milk. However, this did not make a difference to me and the cheesecake pudding tasted like the real thing. And I loved the amount of fruit that was in it although you could use more if you wanted to. There is no suck thing as too much fruit, especially when they are 0 Smart Points™!

It was so hard not to eat any of the fruit as I sliced it. Notice how the banana is missing the ends. I may or may not have eaten them. I was also popping blackberries like tic tacks. I think maybe nest time I will try blueberries and raspberries. Maybe grapes, mangoes, or some other exotic fruit. There will be plenty more times I am sure.

Fruit & Cheesecake Pudding Dessert

2 Smart Points™ for 1/2 cup pudding. Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients

• 2cups
  Silk Almond Coconut Blend, Unsweetened
• 2Tbsps
  fat free skim milk
   
• 1packageJell-O Instant Reduced Calorie Pudding & Pie Filling, Sugar Free/Fat Free, Cheesecake
• Fruit of your choice, sliced.

• 
  
  

  Instructions

• 1. Make pudding as instructed with silk almond coconut milk and 2 tbsp skim milk.
• 2. Pour pudding evenly into 4 pretty dessert glasses.
• 3. Let set in refrigerator for 30 mins to 1 hour. Slice desired fruit.
• 4. Remove from refrigerator and place sliced fruit on-top.
• 5. Stir in fruit and enjoy.

Weigh-In Thursday: Week 43

Oh heck yes! I finally hit 55 total pounds lost! I am that much closer to hitting my next mini-goal of under 250 pounds. The working out that I have been doing at home and at school is really paying off. Man, maybe I should have started working out consistently sooner. However, I did not because I was focusing on the food that I was eating. That was the hard part about losing weight for me, or so I thought. I just know from my previous experiences with attempting to lose weight failed because I tried to make to many life changes at once. This time was going to be different though because I was going to focus on the food until 2016. That is when I decided that I would have the food part down and then I could add in the exercise portion once I had more energy and motivation.

This weeks meeting was all about using your weight watchers tools to help you succeed and stay on track. I have the monthly pass which allows me to use the online tools, the smartphone app, and attend meetings. This works out the best for me because if it wasn't for the meetings I would stop using the other tools. I have been able to stay on track because I have the e-tools and I can use the app anywhere I have an internet connection. It is the sum of everything that has helped me stay on plan and be as successful as I have been so far. My nest mini goal is so close I can almost taste it. Ha!

Have you been thinking of joining Weight Watchers and losing with me? Now is the perfect time to Join Weight Watchers with Me. This link will give you a free gift of the Weight Watchers Magazine if you subscribe by March 14, 2016. They are also running a promotion to lose 10 pounds on them. If you join sign up for selected plans, lose 10 pounds in the first 2 months (which is very do-able) they will either refund you for the 2 months you paid for or apply a credit to the following two months. That is like getting 4 months for the price of two!!

Lets not forget:
Starting Weight: 306.4
Current Weight: 251.2
Current Week: - 3.8
Total Loss: 55.2

Recipe of the Week: Chocolate Banana Oat Cookies

Here it is! My first recipe of the week post. I am planning on making this a weekly thing, or at least a bi-weekly thing. I have been craving cookies lately. Like my Mom's cowboy cookies, or my grandmothers sugar cookies to be exact. Even just thinking about those cookies is making my mouth water as we speak.

I have been looking for something easier and with just as much yumminess (is that even a word?). While looking I came across the recipe for these 2-Ingredient Banana Bread Cookies. I just wanted something a little more substantial and chocolaty. I played around with the recipe and I came up with something I liked. My 8 year old even liked them and hes pretty picky. The best part is that they only came out to 1 Smart Point™ for 2 cookies!!!!!! Yes, that was not a typo on my part and you did read it correctly. 

ONE SMART POINTS™ FOR TWO COOKIES!!!!

I hope you like these cookies as much as I did! Next time I may add some vanilla, because I think that will be good and add some depth of flavor. Let me know what you think. I enjoyed these very much. Also you might want to eat them quickly, well within a week or store them in the refrigerator. I was trying to be good and eat them slowly, but I left them in my kitchen cupboard for 2 weeks and forgot about them. When I remembered them and went to have some after 2 weeks they were moldy. I guess I will have to make more. Dang.

Chocolate Banana Oat Cookies

1 Smart Point™ per 2 cookie serving. Makes 11 servings.

Ingredients

3small

bananas (on the ripe side)

1cup(s)

uncooked quick oats

2Tbsp Mighty Nut Original powdered peanut butter

1tbsp

Hershey's Cocoa, 100% Cacao, Special Dark

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray.

2. Mash bananas well in a bowl. I prefer to mash all the chunks, but you don't have to.

3. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl.

4. Stir dry ingredients into mashed bananas until incorporated.

5. Use tablespoon to drop dough onto greased baking sheet about 1 inch apart. Flatten slightly with a fork. Should make 22 cookies.

6. Bake for 9-12 minutes until slightly crisp.

Weigh-In Thursday: Week 42

Wow this week flew by! I guess that is what happens since last week I weighed in on Saturday and this week I resumed my normal meeting schedule. 

It has only been 5 days since my last weigh in and I was not expecting a loss at all. I ate like all of the chocolate in my house. I don't know why, I mean I was able to abstain from the kids' chocolate stash this whole time, but since I came back from my moms I have been a chocolate hound.

At least I have been tracking everything that I have been eating. Even when I go over my points. It doesn't matter, I still track it. I have no idea why I lost. I really expected to have a gain because of all of the chocolate that I have been eating. And when I say all of the chocolate I mean ALL OF IT! It has become a willpower kryptonite for me. Oh well, all I can do is just keep trucking. I got this! Here is to a better week on plan and my last semester of college starting on Monday. 

This weeks meeting was all about Smart Points. Since the new year is beginning it is also the 'official' launch of Smart Points. You know, because of New Year's Resolutions and everything I am sure. I really hope that those who do join weight watchers for new years stick with it. It really works! I was also told by some of the members at the meetings that I go to that I should put my recipes online and share them. This is because I have a major sweet tooth and always find ways to add desserts to my plan. I hope to be able to add a recipe of the week, featuring one of my favorite Smart Points plan friendly foods.

Have you been thinking of joining Weight Watchers and losing with me? Now is the perfect time to Lose Weight With Me! This link will give you a free gift of the Weight Watchers Magazine if you subscribe by March 14, 2016. They are also running a promotion to lose 10 pounds on them. If you join and sign up for selected plans, lose 10 pounds in the first 2 months (which is very do-able) they will either refund you for the 2 months you paid for or apply a credit to the following two months. That is like getting 4 months for the price of two!!!

Lets not forget:
Starting Weight: 306.4
Current Weight: 252.8
Current Week: -2.2
Total Loss: 53.6

Weigh-In Saturday: Week 41

What a way to bring in the new year! With a gain! Previously I would have beaten myself up about a gain, but it is a new year and I am not the woman I used to be. I enjoyed some good food, good company and even slept from 2015 to 2016! It was the first time in a long time that I actually went to bed before midnight and woke up bright and early to start the new year. I was on vacation and enjoying myself. I decided that I was not going to let the scale dictate my mood. My goal was to not gain so much that it dipped into my 50 pounds lost. I did just that! I may have gained 1.4 pounds but overall I have lost 51.4 pounds! That is the real victory. Here is to getting back on track for the new year and enjoying a healthier and more active 2016!

I know why I had a gain this week and I am not proud of it. I really want to blame it on my mom and the fact that she has candies and goodies literally everywhere. I love M&M's, I mean I LOVE them! I could pop them until they were gone and not even bat an eye. I also enjoyed my vacation and the food that I ate. While I tracked everything, I also did not let myself miss out on any food that sounded good. I enjoyed it and I know that this doesn't happen often. I did try to make better choices, but I also enjoyed a burger and fries at Jack in the Box. There are no Jack in the Boxes where I live and I was feeling nostalgic because I used to eat there as a kid. I enjoyed the food, but it was to much and it ended with me having a stomach ache. I guess I really don't eat that much greasy food in that large of proportions anymore. Oh well. Time to move on and get back on plan.

Have you been thinking of joining Weight Watchers and losing with me? Now is the perfect time to Join Weight Watchers with Me. This link will give you a free gift of the Weight Watchers Magazine if you subscribe by March 14, 2016. They are also running a promotion to lose 10 pounds on them. If you join sign up for selected plans, lose 10 pounds in the first 2 months (which is very do-able) they will either refund you for the 2 months you paid for or apply a credit to the following two months. That is like getting 4 months for the price of two!!!

Lets not forget:
Starting Weight: 306.4
Current Weight: 255
Current Week: + 1.4
Total Loss: 51.4

Bring it On 2016!

 Another year has gone by and I am so happy for the progress that I have made this year. I feel better, I have more energy and I am excited to see that this year has in store. I say bring it on 2016! I will also not be making any New Year's Resolutions this year because I have a hard time sticking to them. I also am already doing what I would have resolved to do in the first place. Eat healthy, lose weight, get in shape. Check, check, and check. This is an ongoing journey and I will see it through.

I was looking through pictures from last year and found this one from my little sister's 21st birthday in Las Vegas. I know I did not take any real starting pictures but it was after this trip that I re-joined Weight Watchers. One year can make a difference if you want it to. Look how far I have come!