A Basket of Biscuits

I got it into my head today that I wanted to make biscuits. When ascribing to a weight watchers lifestyle they do not seem to be the most intelligent choice in food. But I was looking up a recipe for low point Chicken Fricassee, my mom recommended it to utilize the diced tomatoes that I have. When I looked it up online I found that it went well with biscuits and I was improvising anyway because I could not find a recipe that utilized tomatoes, only onions and peppers. So I made the following recipes:



Low Point Chicken Fricassee: 7 servings for 4.5 to 5 pts per servings



Chicken Breasts (boneless skinless) 16 oz. (16 pts)

Fiber One All Bran Cereal (1 cup processed to fine texture) (7 pts)

1/2 C egg beaters (2 pts)

3 Cans Diced Tomatoes (4 pts)

Seasoned Pepper

Red Pepper Flakes

2 cloves garlic

Salt

1 tsp olive oil (1 pt)



Coat chicken in egg beaters and then bran cereal mixed with spices.

Place Ooil in skillet and saute garlic til golden brown. Add coated chicken pieces and let grill for 6 minutes on each side. Move Chicken to separate pan that is oven safe and bake at 350 for 15 minutes (or until cooked through). Add diced tomatoes to pan with garlic and add more of same spices to tomatoes. Let tomatoes cook down to a stew like consistency.

Low Point Biscuits: Makes 16 to 17 biscuits at almost 2 pts each

1 C Whole Wheat Flour

1 C White Flour

3 T Shortening

3/4 C FF Milk

1.5 t baking powder

.5 t baking soda



Bake at 500 for 9 minutes, cool on wire rack.


They were great! We ate it for 3 days, so obviously I need to learn to cook smaller portions!

New Low Point Cake - Diet Soda is Involved

Have you heard about making a cake with low sugar cake mix and diet soda? Well, I hadn't until my sister-in-law showed me. She made one and it was quite delicious. So for Little's birthday what did I do? I made a low point cake for everyone to enjoy.

1 pillsbury reduced sugar devils food cake mix
1 12 oz. Diet Caffiene Free Coke (I didn't want to give the 1 year old a buzz)

Mix together and place in pan sprayed with nonstick spray.

Bake until knife comes out clean from center.

I then let it cool completely and topped it with Cool Whip Free mixed with Cheesecake Sugar Free Pudding and Pistachio Sugar Free Pudding. Then decorated it.

Total this cake ended up being almost 4 points per piece. It varies depending on how much Cool Whip and Pudding you use and the cake mix you choose.

It was wonderful and fudgy and delicious and the coke gave it a nice deep flavor.

How is it?

That my camera is broken? Really it's not my camera its the stupid card that stores the pictures that go in my camera. I tried to download them and three times now it has frozen my computer and I've had to just shut it down. I am frustrated by this for multiple reasons - one being that there are some stinkin' cute pictures on my camera that I wanted to post here and I cannot get them off my camera - second being that I really want a new camera and so this just adds to the list of reasons I should get said VERY EXPENSIVE new camera. I think maybe there is a virus on the memory card or something, so I'm trying to figure that out. I should have some interesting things coming up as I will be inheriting 3 extra kids for a week very soon. Should be interesting to say the least.

The whole weight thing is going ok, I've been the same for the last 6 weeks and just bounce around in a 1 lb. range. So thats ok I guess - but I think the GIANT piece of chocolate cake I had over a two day period is going to do bad things this week. Life has been crazy and I'm really getting into knitting again. I just unraveled an entire bootie today because it had a minor mistake, but I want them to look perfect. And I'm trying to finish a hat and start a baby sweater, so it should be a busy craft time over the next little while.

I will continue to try and keep it updated here. :) See you soon!

Resolute!

As the new year approaches every year I wonder why we use it as such a momentous celebration? Is there really any difference in one day that makes it so amazing because a number changed in the year. It causes me confusion for the first 6 months of the year when writing checks and filling out paperwork and for that reason alone it is slightly disconcerting. But when I really think about it I find that it is a marker in time, an opportunity to start anew with a resolute determination to fulfill your dreams and set new goals.

I hope that my 2009 will be filled with the following:

Love

Happiness

Family Fun

New experiences and opportunities to learn

A growing family

Weight Maintenance

Fulfilling relationships and growing friendships

and a great resolution found here....

to be more {becoming}

in speech in thought in deed in love

Via www.mormoninmanhattan.blogspot.com

Be Resolute - What do you hope for in the coming year?

12 Days of Christmas Baby Mama Style

The Husband and I decided to {splurge} and provide the 12 days of christmas for a family in our area. The prospect of doorbell ditching someone (the same someone) for 12 days in a row did not seem so daunting, that was until we realized there were young boys in the house that sprint faster than we do {especially in the SNOW}.

So far the goods delivered to our 12 Days house have been pretty easily pulled together but as the number escalates so does the difficulty of finding a coordinating {insert anything here}. And we have run into the problem of me wanting to make double of everthing so I can have one for myself. The process of deciding who we were going to bestow our deliveries upon was quite a trial, we love to give and we couldn't decide until {the night before} who it was going to be. We finally decided and made our first terrifyingly exciting jaunt into the cold night air.

I wrapped Little up tight and we waited in the car while the Husband {ran} through the snow after depositing the gift on the stoop and doorbell ditching. We didn't expect to feel like such teenagers with the rush that we felt after committing such a {crime}. And we almost got caught! We should have ordered up floor plans for the intended house or something because those kids made it to the door faster than Husband could reach the end of their walkway. Luckily Husband had on his nifty disguise of {a grey hoodie and his winter hat} to keep them from knowing who it really was.

The gifts for these 12 days have been very fun to come up with. We decided that for our first day we would give a {special ornament} featuring a swaddled baby Jesus. The second day was a 2 liter of Pomegranate 7up (delicious and fresh tasting). The third day we delivered 3 special ornaments featuring a clay polymer ornament I made, a cross-stitched pillow ornament I made, and a gold bell.

On the fourth day we delivered {Chocolate covered candy canes}. On day number five we delivered my childhood favorite Chocolate Waffle Cookies now affectionately deemed {Wookies} by the Husband. On Day number 6 we delivered a box of Swiss Miss with a cute little elf/gnome made by my sister-in-law. Our house guests (the Husbands cousin and adorable wife and little boy) were so kind as to help us in our deliveries and it made it all the more fun for day six and seven.

On day number seven we delivered 7 pairs of knit gloves, the ones I used to wear as a child and accidentally leave in the {snow}. On day number 8 we left my favorite fruit (competeing with pomegranates), mini {clementine oranges}. On Day number nine we delivered 9 glass ornaments perfect for embellishing a tree just right. And seeing as today is day number 10 I will have to fill you in later on what we are leaving tonight.

Our chosen family left us a note that brought me to tears. It was simple and humble and grateful and brought to my heart the true {spirit of Christ} and giving. I hope that we can do this every year to show our children how wonderful it is to give to others. We have a very awesome day 12 planned so you will have to {come back} and check it out.

I will post the waffle cookie recipe later if someone leaves a comment that they want it. I also have a stuffed pasta shell recipe that is low point and will be appearing here later. It was {DELISH}!

Weight Watchin' and it feeels so good!

I will never forget the first day I walked into Weight Watchers and discovered all the ways I could make myself a healthier, happier person. And even through all the ups and downs (literally) I have stuck with it and for the first time I reached my lifetime weight! That momentous day was back in October and I have since maintained and even lowered my wieght a little more by following the flex plan that has worked so well for me all these years. Whisperings in our weekly meetings have been that there were changes on the horizon and today when I stepped to the scale (I still weigh every week so I can stay right on top of that!) My cute leader handed me new materials for the Weight Watchers Momentum Program 2009. So it felt kind of funny being back at square one refiguring my points (which they have changed for nursing mothers in a very positive and helpful way) and learning how to incorporate some techniques from core plan (which I had been so hesitant to try) into my flex life, which I guess is now my life full of momentum!

I'm excited for the changes and improvements and I always love conquering a challenge. When I talk to people at meetings and they look at my 5'6" frame at my happy lifetime weight they tend to immediately judge me and decide I must not have had that much to lose. I can attest to the fact that getting healthy after weighing 265 lbs. is a struggle! It took me 2.5 years to get down to within 10 lbs. of my lifetime weight and within my healthy BMI range. After 2 miscarriages and a successful pregnancy and birth in which I managed my food intake pretty darn well I have finally battled a great number of my food demons and they only rarely rear their ugly heads! We'll see where this new program takes me over the next few months and all the while I'll be trying to discover all the new little details of how I can become even more healthy.

If you are interested in joining me and lots of my family that I have recruited into the WW way of life click here and learn how you can journey to a healthier place in your life!