Tag Archives: smartpoints

One Pot Meal – Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes

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Sometimes you just need a little comfort.  That comfort can cost you in the waist line big time.  This is one of my favorite comfort meals, and it is so healthy!

I also make it with only one appliance .  My Instant Pot.  I’m always surprised by the lack of activity on the Weight Watchers social media platform Connect about the Instant Pot.  It is such a great tool and is probably one of the most important tools in my weight loss arsenal.

I always recommend reading a recipe first before even attempting it, but you really want to make sure you do that with this one.  This recipe makes 4 servings, but you could double it and not make the mini loaves.  I’ve never done it so I’m not sure on the timing, but I think your potatoes and carrots would be over done because you would need to lengthen the cooking time, and the carrots come out pretty soft as it is.

I like them that way, so be warned if you don’t!

This recipe will yield two mini loaves, 4 cups of mashed potatoes, and 4 – 4 oz servings of carrots.

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Easy Healthy Tuna Casserole

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Man, or Woman cannot live by lean protein and vegetables alone.  At least I can’t.  I need something with some substance, something that provides a bit of comfort every once in awhile.

I was inspired by this recipe for Cream of Mushroom soup on Skinnytaste, which is like my favorite cooking inspired blog/website.  I changed it up but had never tried making a cream based soup with the blending of flour and water.  It turned out to be a pretty cool technique!

Fish is probably the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to Smartpoints, so this is loaded with it!

I have to admit that this is going in my every once in a great while category because it was so good, so comforting, so delicious, that I wanted to eat more than I should.

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Instant Pot Polenta?? Yes Please!

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So I learned the love of Polenta when it was included as a no count food when I was doing the Core program with Weight Watchers back in the day.  It’s a complex carb and a great replacement for some of those starchy sides made up of simple carbs.

It takes on flavor wonderfully and you can really place around with herbs to find what you like.

Making it on the stove top can be tedious, but in the Instant Pot it’s a breeze!  The thing I love about it (besides the fact that it’s delicious!) is that you can mold it into shapes – it will hold any shape once it’s cool!

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Food Find – Werther’s Original

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So it’s no secret that I have a sweet tooth.  More like Teeth, like all of them are sweet.

Those sugar cravings are way less now, almost non-existent.  One of my secrets to staying on track is having these Werther’s Original Caramel Coffee sugar free candies on hand.

You get five of these babies for one Smartpoint!  One!

I try not to make it a habit, but when I’m having a really hard day these help big time.  It takes a long time to eat five of these, so I’ll spread them out through the day and have one whenever I’m really getting a craving for something that is outside my point range that day.

Peanut Butter “Ice Cream” Sandwich Cookies

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So every once in awhile I need something sweet…and creamy….and cold.  I decided to go in my way-back machine and pull out a recipe that made the rounds of Weight Watchers back when I did it the first time, the early 2000’s.

Basically you put cool whip between two graham crackers and froze it.  Trust me at the time this was about the best thing ever invented because it was like a point or two if I remember correctly.

Times and tastes change, and as I’ve gotten older a little frozen cool whip doesn’t exactly cut it, and those graham crackers are way more points then they used to be.

I’m also a peanut butter addict.  Did I ever tell you that?  I could sit and just eat peanut butter out of the jar.  I love it that much.

So I decided to replace the graham crackers with Pizzelle cookies, and Italian waffle cookie that is a bit more Smartpoint friendly.  They are also way better in my opinion.  And bigger…lol

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Food Find – mini Babybel Light Cheese

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So I work ungodly hours.  I get up at 3 am and don’t get home from work until after 5 pm.  I’m usually not a snacker per say, but that time between breakfast and lunch gets to me.

I love these Babybel Light Cheeses.  At only 1 Smartpoint they give you a boost of protein to get you through.  I usually pair them with some kind of fruit, usually an apple or cherries and it’s delicious.

Economically the best way I’ve found to buy these is at Costco.  They have big honking bags of them and I put keep part of them at home and take the rest to work.  These are also awesome crumbled and put on things like tacos.  I’m going to have to try these in a sauce too, I bet it’d be delicious!

Easy Chicken Egg Rolls

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As a serial Weight Watcher I know one of the biggest mistakes is to let yourself get stuck in a rut.  You know what the Smartpoints are of certain foods/meals, so you eat them over and over again.

And you will get bored.  I know a lot of people don’t like to cook like I do, but once you start turning out some really good dishes it becomes more fun.  Also if you don’t get to use your creative side normally it can really come out in your cooking.

I like to consider recipes “guidelines”.  I don’t think I ever follow any specific recipe.  In the middle of it I always think, “oh but if I did this it would be really good.”  Experiment with your food. Have fun!

So me experimenting with food got me to come up with this.  It might be my favorite Weight Watcher friendly recipe yet.  I mean it was damn good.  And easy.  And low in Smartpoints.

Winning.

Coming it at a whopping 3 Smartpoints these egg rolls are seriously filling.  I ate two because I had a boatload of points and was stuffed, and trust me, I can EAT.

I used two of my favorite kitchen appliances to make this, but you could do it just with your oven and stove if you wanted.  I’ll include both versions here.

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Weigh in 6-10-17, Stages of Weight Loss, and Popsicles oh my

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So weigh in went well this week, I lost 2.8, pushing me over that 45 pound loss mark.  Yeah!  Thirteen pounds left to goal!  I can’t even believe it!

Speaking of that 45 pound mark, I have found that there are certain stages of weight loss.  Let me illustrate them for you with my dear friend Oprah:

  • stagesof2

I’ve been getting the “but you are wasting away” comments.  The “you don’t want to get to thin” comments.  I’m a 10/12 right now so I most certainly am not wasting away or to thin thankyouverymuch.

I see a lot of people in that under 20 pound range that have hurt feelings because no one has noticed, and I’m here to tell you a story that will make you feel better.

I had a friend that I hadn’t seen in awhile and I commented on how she had lost weight and looked great.  She hadn’t.  Maybe it was the outfit, maybe it was because I hadn’t seen her in a long time, but she hadn’t lost weight and demanded to know if she looked fat before.

Uh…Uh…yeah awkward to say the least.  So asking people if they lost weight ranks up there with asking someone if they are pregnant.  Unless I am positively sure, or if they mention it, I do not say a word.  Not. A. Word.

And make sure you enjoy that 20-30 pound stage.  It’s about the only time someone won’t be critical of you!

I also wanted to share with you an easy swap for pudding pops with low smartpoints since it is hotter than the seventh layer of hell today.

It’s so easy.  You just make your sugar free/fat free pudding and pour them into Popsicle molds.  Freeze.  That’s it.

sugar

I normally use my metal mold from amazon.

You can find them anywhere, I just like the way the metal ones come out.  I have a set of plastic ones that I don’t like as well, but they do the trick!  I think I found them at Target in their clearance bin, so keep an eye out!

pop2

You can even do cool stuff like put fruit in them!  The picture above used vanilla pudding with strawberries and it was delicious!

So get creative and beat the heat without breaking your smartpoint balance!  Mine usually come out to about 2 points a pop, which for a dessert/ice cream like item is awesome!

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Fettuccine Alfredo Lightened Up

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For me there are two dishes that are my go to comfort foods.  The Queen Fettuccine Alfredo and the Queen Mother homemade baked Mac and Cheese.  I’ve seen a couple of different recipes for Fettuccine Alfredo that cut back on the Smartpoints using laughing cow cheese, but they were missing something.

I don’t play when it comes to my Alfredo.

Even before Weight Watchers there was a product I had to ban from my home because my ass was expanding at an alarming rate and I just wanted to eat it all the time.

alfredobottle

This product easily makes an awesome Alfredo sauce – and it does it easily.  I found that if I had it in my house I could have one of my favorite comfort foods in no time, so I stopped ordering it.

Then Weight Watchers happened, and once I felt secure enough I ordered some more to see if I could use it without all the butter and higher smartpoint ingredients.

I started this blog because of Weight Watchers Connect.  I’d post pics of my recipes and people would want the recipe, and on Connect you can only post on your phone.  I didn’t want this site to become a walking advertisement for my business, I already have a community for that, and I always try to put substitutes in so people can get the ingredients they need from the grocery store.

I don’t know if there is a sub for this one though.  I’ve never used a powered mix for Alfredo before, but you could try it.  You could also try the recipe without any powered mix at all, but it is so much better with it!

This makes 5 7 smartpoint servings.  9 if you add the chicken.  I’ll tell you this now, it does not reheat well but never fear!  Cut the recipe by 1/5 to make a single serving (just go with one laughing cow wedge) and it comes out just as good to make enough for one!

Ingredients:

1 cup fat free milk
6 The Laughing Cow Light Garlic and Herb Wedges
2 tablespoons Wildtree Alfredo Extraordinaire
1/8 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
10 oz Carba-Nada Egg Fettuccine Noodles

Put a big pot of salted water on high heat for the noodles and bring to a boil.  In a separate sauce pan, add you milk and laughing cow wedges, stirring occasionally over medium until your wedges melt.  Whisk in your Alfredo powder and add your pepper and Parm.  Stir occasionally over low heat while you wait for your noodles to get done.

Once water is at a boil add your noodles and cook for 3-4 minutes.  strain, put back in the pot, and add your Alfredo sauce.  Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally for a minute or so – until all the noodles are covered in sauce.

The chicken was just some left over chicken I had that I had marinated in roasted garlic grapeseed oil and our California style Garlic and Pepper blend. and baked.  You could use your favorite chicken recipe if you’d like to add meat.

You get about a cup and a half a serving, or you can weigh it and it comes to about 2 1/2 ounces per serving.  7 smartpoints!  That’s it!  Olive Garden Fettuccine Alfredo is like 56 smartpoints and your first born child!

Is this as good as Olive Garden?  No, but it’s damn good and stands on it’s own!

If you’d like to try Wildtree products you can visit my site here.

Click here to view my disclosure statement.