Weigh Day

As I told you last Monday, I changed my weigh day to Friday. So, after a week of NO exercising I figured at best I would have not gained or lost anything. But to my surprise I lost another pound. That makes 8 pounds total. So, since I didn't weigh last week I lost about a pound in 2 weeks. I'm okay with that since I had some cheats last weekend. I must confess to you though that I actually weigh about 6 pounds heavier than I thought originally. When I went to the Dr last Friday evening and got on the scales my heart sank! It said I was 8 lbs heavier than what I had weighed the week before!! I knew that was not right! I knew I hadn't gained that much (I hadn't even eaten anything off my diet yet!). So the only thing I could think of was my scales are off. So, when I came home I weighed on my own scales and sure enough there was about a 7-8 lb difference than the Dr's office. Giving that it was around 6:00pm when I weighed and you typically weigh more in the evening, I decided that I'd say that my scales are about 6 lbs off. This of course doesn't change the fact that I've lost 8 lbs already but what is so frustrating about it is that it means I have about 6 more pounds to add to my total weight loss to get to my goal weight. Poo! So the original goal of 30 lbs is now 36! It sure would have been nice for my scales to be off in the other direction! And instead of 22 to go, it's 28. Sigh.


Ok, now to some better news. Food. Here are the reviews for what I tried this week:


CrockPot Beef Stroganoff - I really liked this. I did most everything that the recipe called for except for a few moderation's. I used beef tips instead of cutting a whole roast. I'm not sure if that did anything to the calorie content of the recipe but I did use the same weight of beef. I also used low sodium chicken broth instead of beef and dried parsley instead of fresh. I never have beef broth and just forgot to pick it up at the grocery store. I did add the dried dill but it could be left out if you don't have it. I think adding a little Worcestershire sauce might be good, especially if you leave the dill out. I also added some frozen peas in the last 30 minutes of cooking. The cook time for the recipe was way too long for me. After cooking it on high for about an hour, it only needed about 5-6 hours on low for the meat to be tender (not the 7-8 that the recipe calls for). I also only added about 3/4 cup of sour cream. I was just scooping and stirring and after about 1/2 to 3/4 c I stopped. I think more would have been too much sour cream taste. (And it saves calories!) I served it over a mixture of white egg noodles and wheat egg noodles (ronzoni). I actually liked the wheat egg noodles and will be using those again. They weren't much more expensive (or I wouldn't have bought them!) but were about 40 calories less per serving. I've tried the wheat pasta before and didn't like it and it's usually a lot more expensive than regular. I have tried the smart taste by ronzoni and we like it. I actually used that last night when I made Italian Chicken Pasta.




Speaking of Italian Chicken Pasta... here is a recipe I got from the Publix magazine.. speaking of Publix, I have a hilarious story to tell about something that happened one year on a trip to the beach with my family and the Hubs.. wait where was I? Oh yeah, I still get the Publix magazine sent to my house, even though I can't shop there anymore. *sniff, sniff* It always has some good looking recipes in it. I got this one from there.




Italian Chicken Pasta


8 Chicken Tenders (cooked, 2 per serving)
1 c Mozzarella Cheese, divided (or 8 slices)
2 TBS Parmesan Cheese, divided
Spaghetti Sauce (24 oz jar or homemade- about 3 cups)
Thin Spaghetti, 8 oz


First bake the tenders and make the sauce. Once the tenders are cooked, put two tenders together in a 13x9 pan. Next put 1/4 cup sauce over each set of tenders. Top each set of tenders with 1/8 cup of shredded mozz cheese (or 2 slices of mozz cheese) and 1/2 TBS of Parmesan cheese. Bake tenders at 350 for 7-9 minutes to melt cheese. While chicken is in the oven cook pasta. Mix remaining sauce with spaghetti (heat through if using jarred sauce). Serve chicken over pasta. Makes 4 servings.


Total calories is about 405. I calculated the calories using Tyson Chicken tenders (200 cal for 2 tenders), 1/8 cup mozz cheese and my homemade sauce. That calorie totals includes 1/2 cup of pasta and 1/4 cup of sauce on top. So, if you used mozz slices, different chicken (deli would be higher calories b/c they are fried) and different sauce it would be off. I think if I used sliced mozz, I'd just do one slice. Anyway, it was a good, quick meal. The Hubs really liked it. It's always the simple things that turn out the best, for me anyway! I served it with steamed broccoli and cauliflower.



I'm also experimenting with a corn bread recipe. I love corn bread! But I haven't found a 'light' version that I like but I think I've almost got it. Hopefully I'll have it mastered next week and I'll share. And lastly, on my wish list:

Yesterday, the Hubs and I were able to do some shopping. I got a wedding band! Some of you know that I lost my engagement and band months ago. It still upsets me so much. I keep praying they will turn up. Anyway, I've been wanting a plain ol' band to wear since my finger has been naked for months! After Valentine gifts from our parent we were able to go yesterday and buy me a band! I'm so excited to have a ring on that finger now! Anyway, we also went in BooksAMillion for some coffee and just too browse. I saw this book, Cooking Light 350 Calorie Recipe, Hints and Tips, and thought it looked perfect. It has 90 recipes that are 350 calories or less. I've been trying to find it on Amazon but for some reason Amazon is not working for me. I love cook books!

Oik, time to go work off some of this Valentine candy... yes, I did eat some! Any good, healthy recipes that you've tried lately??