2 Milestone in 1 day.

So many of you are facebook friends of mine, so you know what this is already about. But I figured I would show a few before and current pictures. Because for honestly without the pictures I probably wouldn't believe it.

My first milestone is today marks 20 months of No fast food. By no fast food, I mean if you can drive thru to get it it's off limits. People have asked me if I go into places. I don't. Before I ever started this journey to lose 100+ lbs. I ate fast food 2 times a day at minimum. I can not even count the number of times that I stopped at multiple places to get food for 1 meal. Just because I wanted a taco from taco bell and french fries from McDonalds..

A lot of people have asked "Why not just make better choices, they offer them"... and here lies the problem. I would always go with the intentions of ordering less food, or something healthier. Get to the little box to order, and go with my "old favorites"... which is what got me to 100 lbs overweight. So for me complete avoidance is easier. No it wasn't always easy. Those first few months I thought about going so many times. But after that, I figured I'd gone all that time, why not go another month and another... and that has turned into 20 months. Don't get me wrong, I do eat out. But it's going to be Subway, or a sit down place. B/C I know that the sandwich I love (and have eaten at least 1 a week for 20 months) is a good choice. Also, If I'm going to go to a sit down place, then it's usually with Michael and we share something.

As for my 2nd Milestone. I finally hit my 80 lbs gone. It has taken me almost 4 months to lose 5 lbs (can you say PLATEAU). I'm not sure what finally gave up the ghost this week. It might be that I quit buying diet cokes. So I only get it 1 a week (when I get Subway) or if we go out to dinner. Or if it's that I'm actually cutting back on how much I workout... I know your scratching your head, thinking. How can you quit working out and lose weight. Well I think part of my problem is that I like to workout so much, that I don't compensate my body with food to refuel it. So my weight loss might have stalled out. Who knows, but I just hope that it keeps up.

So now for some photos..... I know that's why you've let me ramble on for so long.

This was on our Honeymoon in June 2004. Probably at my heaviest.

This was at my friend Erin's wedding. Loved that dress, just not on me. (thanks erin, I borrowed it).

Left is the day I joined WW. Right is me today! Excuse me, but does anyone actually start to see my collarbones (who knew).

Left is the day I joined WW, Right is me today.

Meatloaf Muffins and S'more Pie

Yes that is a weird combination but I would say a completely kid friendly meal. We found the Meatloaf Muffins on Aimee's Adventures. Anyone who is trying to lose weight should check out her site, she's lost like 140+ lbs and has a TON of recipes on her site. That is where we found the Mexican meatball subs. Everything we've tried off her site has been awesome including these muffins. They are perfectly portioned, and just a great version of meatloaf.

As for the S'more pie, if you guys remember I had wanted to do a S'more Pie for Michael's birthday in May, but I ended up doing cupcakes. Well apparently Tiffany at EatatHomeCooks must have read my mind, because she made up this recipe, and just reading the recipe my mouth was watering!!! So tonight I am doing a S'more Pie.

please ignore the "seasoned" look of my muffin tin. It has been good to me.

Meatloaf Muffins (makes 12 muffins)

WW pts: 4 pts a muffin

1 lb Extra lean ground beef or Ground Turkey

1 small Zucchini, unpeeled and shredded

1 egg

1 cup Ore Ida hasbrowns, Frozen (I used 1 small potato shredded)

1/2 cup Fat Free Shredded Cheese

1/2 package of Stop Top Seasoned Stuffing mix

1/4 reduced Fat Parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

1/4 cup Ketchup

1/2 medium onion diced

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix all the ingredients together. Divide evenly into 12 sprayed Muffin tins (I used a 1/3 cup measuring cup). Bake 30-40 minutes or until done.

You could make these into hamburgers and they would be good, just patty them out, and grill or bake.

S'more Pie (makes 8 servings)

WW pts: 4 pts a slice

Reduced fat graham cracker crust

1 box Chocolate cook and serve pudding mix (I used the instant)

1/4 cup Nutella

1/2 cup Marshmallow fluff

3/4 cup Mini Marshmallows

Make the pudding according to the directions. While it cools put a layer of the marshmallow fluff in the bottom of the pan (we both had problems with the crust crumbling-so just be gentle). Spread Nutella over Marshmallow fluff. Pour Pudding over nutella. And let cool 10 minutes. Sprinkle the mini marshmallows over the top, so all the pudding is covered. Put the pie under the broiler just until the marshmallows toast. Watch it so it doesn't burn. Cool the pie and cover and refrigerate.

My Lemon Pepper Chicken

We had Chicken and vegetables on the menu for tonight. But I didn't put down how I wanted to cook it, so I decided I wanted Lemon Pepper chicken, but something a little different. So I made up this recipe, and it's definitely a keeper for us.

Lemon Pepper Chicken (makes 2 servings)

WW pts: 4 pts a serving (2 drumsticks)

4 Chicken drumsticks, skin removed

1/4 cup Lemon juice

2 tsp lemon pepper seasoning

1 tsp pepper

1 Tbsp Garlic, minced

2 tsp Olive oil

2 Tbsp Cornstarch

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a shallow pan, spray with PAM. In a small bowl add lemon juice, lemon pepper, garlic and pepper together. Then whisk in olive oil to combine. Then whisk in Cornstarch. Place chicken drumsticks into shallow pan, and spoon lemon pepper mix over chicken drumsticks. Cook for 30 minutes, turn over and spoon lemon pepper mixture that is on the bottom of the pan onto the drumsticks. Then finish cooking about 20 minutes or until no longer pink in the center.

We served it with fresh Squash and Zucchini and Brussel sprouts. The cornstarch is what makes my recipe different than any that I've found. It makes the "marinade" more of a gravy, with out all the extra calories!!

Surprise dinner.

I love when your cleaning out the freezer and find something that you didn't know you had. Ok so that applies to anything in life. Money in your pocket, cute shoes in your closet, chocolate in the freezer. But today it was a chunk of ham that we had over Christmas 09.. Yes I realize that is sad, but who cares. It was still edible.

So I decided to make a Ham and Potato casserole. Get rid of 2 things at once, since I had some "older" potatoes sitting in the cupboard. I forgot how good a simple dish like this is.

Ham & Potato Casserole (makes 6 servings)

WW pts: 4 pts a serving

2 Tbsp light butter

1/2 medium onion, diced

3 Tbsp whole wheat flour

1 tsp Pepper

2 1/2 cups fat free milk

5 medium potatoes, sliced

2 cups ham, visible fat cut off, cut into chunks

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom of a casserole dish with PAM. Melt butter in a saucepan, then cook onion 3-5 minutes. Stir in flour, pepper. Cook stirring constantly until smooth. Remove from heat. Add milk. Return to heat, bring to boiling, stirring constantly for 1 minute.

Slice potatoes and ham, them mix together in the bottom of casserole dish. Then pour milk mixture over ham and potatoes. Cover with foil and place in oven for 30 minutes. Then remove foil and cook for 1 hour or until Potatoes are tender.

We made green beans to go with the casserole.

*The only thing that might have made it better was maybe some velveeta melted into the milk mixture to make it "cheesy"... but I didn't have any on hand.

Chicken & Spinach Enchilada Soup

I found this recipe in a cookbook that I had gotten from the library. Somehow I always forget that huge stash of cookbook the library has. But while I was there last time, I ran into that section and found a couple that I flipped through. This one did not disappoint, it was light but filling, if that makes sense.

Chicken & Spinach Enchilada Soup (makes 4 servings)

WW pts: 4.5 pts a serving

2 tsp Olive Oil

1 lb boneless chicken breast, diced into 3/4 inch cubes (2 breasts is what I used)

1/2 medium onion dices

2 cups fat free low sodium chicken broth

1 1/2 cup fat free milk

1- 10.5 ounce can low fat cream of chicken soup

1- 10 ounce frozen chopped spinach, thawed & squeezed dry

1/2 tsp Chili powder

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 cup Shredded cheddar cheese (I used full fat, but it might be less pts for low-fat or ff)

Heat a large non-stick saucepan over medium high heat. Pour the oil into the saucepan and swirl to coat. Cook Chicken 6-8 minutes or until no longer pink in the center. Add onion and cook for 3-4 minutes.

Stir in broth, milk, soup, spinach, cumin and chili powder. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 6-8 minutes. To serve, ladle the soup into the bowls and sprinkle with the cheese.

We made a cheese quesadilla and split it between Michael and I. All in all this one is a keeper, and the only thing I could think to do different was to add a can of Rotel, or some more Chili Powder.

Crock Pot Lasagna!!

I'm sitting here typing this with the smell of lasagna wafting through the house. And all I can think is... I still have hours before it's going to be ready. YUM and torture all rolled into one giant crockpot. I got this recipe from a coupon book from Proctor and Gamble a few years ago. Who would have thought that such a great recipe would come from a free coupon book. But hey, I got a great dinner recipe, and great coupons out of the deal. So I'll take it. Plus it's super easy to put together.

Crock Pot Lasagna: makes 6 servings

WW pts: 8 pts.

Cooking Spray (PAM)

1 lb ground lean turkey (or beef), cooked and drained

1 28 ounce can tomato sauce (you can use a jar of spaghetti sauce if you want instead of tomatoes)

2- 15 ounce can diced tomatoes no salt added

1/2 box no-boil lasagna noodles, gently broken in half

2 cloves of garlic minced

1 cup fat free ricotta cheese (or ff cottage cheese)

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp dried basil

1/2 cup onion, diced

2 cups Mozzarella

1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese

Grease the inside of the crock pot with the PAM. Combine beef, sauce, garlic, spices and onion in a medium size bowl and mix well. Then combine the ricotta and mozzarella in a small bowl, stirring to combine well.

In the crock pot, layer sauce, noodles, then ricotta mixture, repeating. Your top layer should end up sauce. I think we had 2 full layers, then topped with sauce. Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top.

Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours. then serve.

Good but disappointing.

We had another one of Eatathomecooks.com recipes. It was a Rotini with Grilled Zucchini and Chicken. I'm not sure what I did differently but ours had a lot more sauce than I think it was supposed to. I probably could have cut the sauce recipe in 1/2 again and still had enough. But it was good and creamy, and I LOVED the Gorgonzola cheese in the sauce. The disappointing part is that it was 20 pts for 1 serving... I know some people don't get that for their whole daily allowance. I even used fat free whatever I could... so I'm stumped as to why it was so high... But here is what I did. You can click the link to the right to find her original recipe.

I also changed the name to something a little shorter for my sake.

Gorgonzola Chicken Penne (makes 2 servings)

WW pts: 20 pts. (ouch)

2 Chicken breast

2 small Zucchini, diced

2 Tbsp, light butter

4 ounce Penne (It's all I had)

1 cup Fat free half and half, warmed (I did it in the microwave for 30 seconds)

4 ounce Gorgonzola cheese

1 cup Parmesan cheese

1 Tbsp, minced Garlic

1 large tomato diced

Slice chicken into small strips and saute until done. Add diced Zucchini and saute them until they are tender. Remove the chicken and zucchini from pan, then add butter and let melt. Add garlic to melted butter, and saute for a minute. Slowly whisk in Half and half. Stir that for few minutes. While the sauce is going, cook pasta according to package directions.

Then add the cheese to the sauce and stir to melt both cheeses. When cheese is all melted, add the chicken and penne, and diced tomato to the sauce, stir to coat. And serve immediately.

I think next time I would make a little more pasta, and break it into 4 servings instead of 2. Maybe that would bring the points down. Luckily my week started today... so I have all week and a triathlon Saturday to work these 20 pts off!!!!