Weight Watchers Vegetarian Nachos with Guacamole

I worked my portion out as 12 PP see note at bottom of recipe

Ingredients

1 large red capsicum (pepper), finely chopped
35g packet salt-reduced taco seasoning mix
400g can unsalted red kidney beans, rinsed, drained
400g can crushed tomatoes
1 small avocado, stone removed
1 medium tomato, finely chopped
½ small red onion, finely chopped
1 fresh long red chilli, deseeded, finely chopped
1 tbs lime juice
150g low-fat oven-baked corn chips
2/3cup (80g) Weight Watchers Grated Tasty Cheese

Method

Heat a large oil-sprayed non-stick frying pan over high heat. Cook capsicum, stirring, for 5 minutes or until softened. Add seasoning and cook, stirring, until fragrant. Add beans, tomatoes and ½ cup (125ml) water. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes or until sauce has thickened.

Meanwhile, roughly mash avocado in a bowl. Add tomato, onion, chilli and juice. Stir to combine and then set aside.

Preheat grill. Divide corn chips into flameproof serving bowls. Cover with bean mixture and sprinkle with cheese. Grill until the cheese melts. Top with guacamole and serve immediately.

Serving suggestion: Add a 0 POINTS value green salad. Dress with 2 teaspoons each of olive oil and balsamic vinegar and allow 1 ProPoints value per serve.

TIP: Finely chop a few sprigs of fresh coriander leaves and stir through your guacamole for more zesty flavour.

Important note! 

I used the Taco shells for my portion they worked out as 2 for 5 pp much better than the nacho's I got for 7 per 50g, I didn't use the ww cheese, just normal low fat cheese I also added mince to the recipe after I took out my portion so if you do that adjust the PP 

Link to you tube instructions http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmq4dCAktXw

BlueBerry drop Scones

2 1/2 points or 4pp (189 calories per serving) serves 4

Ingredients

100g self raising flour,sifted

2tsp caster sugar

1 egg beaten lightly

100ml skimmed milk

125g blueberries

low fat cooking spray

To Serve 

100g 0% fat greek yogurt

2tsp caster sugar

1, combine the flour,sugar and egg without overbeating,then add the milk until the mixture is the consistency of thick cream.srtir in the blueberries.Heat a heavy-based,nonstick frying pan over barbecue coals or over a camping stove (or on a hob if indoors) 

2, mist the pan with low fat sprayand drop spoonfuls of batter on to a pan. cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden and firm and risen. you should get about 16 scones in total, serve immediately with a dollop of Greek yogurt and an extra sprinkle of sugar.

we had our with some banana on the side passed my daughters approval she loved them! I think they be lovely with some maple syrup over them ! 

Recipe adapted from an old weight watchers magazine from the old points system!

Week 4 2012 Weigh In

Well its the 4th week back in weight watchers and happy to report 

A loss of 1 pound 

on target for my goal of 1 pound loss on till the 20 of May. 

 WHOO HOO 

I'm very happy with that,

We got two little books one the Prou with some stories and recipes and  the Filling and Healthy day which I'm reading through and think I will try one or two days this week and see how it goes! 

I was going to try it today but had to try blueberry drop scones for breakfast'' tasty''! recipe to follow

also had two wholegrain biscuits as well for a snack.  

Exercise: today I want to try out my Zumba DVD plan is to go to a class on Wednesday also today I'm taking the Fatfighters challenge every time I go on facebook I'm doing a set of press ups work those bingo wings :) 

its a new program following people weight loss on channel4

so far Ive done 3 sets of 20 press ups I'm trying to do at least 10 of them the right way and not on my knees hard going! to think there was a time I had no problems doing 20 of them the right way those were the days when I was horse ridding and mucking out . 

Ok so now its time for Lunch, will be posting some recipes later for any one interested or may be not :)

Exercise log! what is the best exercise for burning fat?!

So exercise, was up in my mums and talking about exercise and what you should be doing to lose weight, my dad old school, he says its'' simple'' eat less move more!!! well yea dad in theory! if only it was that easy :)

So I'm 22 days in on my exercise program, I have been doing, at least 40 minutes every day if at not at least 6 days out of 7, I try to walk lots as well and even had a go at the operation transformation resistance regime but I'm doing that in my daily work outs every day as well.
My Plan:
Plan is to do my workouts in my active fit for the wii,I  know its not the same or probably as good as a gym or personal trainer, but the best I can do for now with two small ones at home and a tight budget. I also want to keep up my walking and take it up a notch and get jogging as well, also I'd love to get back hill walking and take part in  to help Autism Ireland I'm impatiently awaiting for a reply to my email sent today to see exactly whats involved any one else interested let me know or check out the contact details on the facbook pagehttp://www.facebook.com/pages/Walk-on-Good-Friday-April-6th-2012/344716992213996?sk=wall
A good friend and a great blogger click on link to read her blog, shared it with me and I just have to share! http://looking4bluesky.blogspot.com/2012/01/6000-reasons-to-be-cheerful.htmlhttp://looking4bluesky.blogspot.com/2012/01/6000-reasons-to-be-cheerful.html

So I got a new scales : just in case I'm not seeing the results in weight loss on the scales, at least I can see my fat % go down.  

So what's the best exercise for burning fat and helping aid your weight loss! any one have any tips or idea's let me know if you do please.....

My all time favourite exercise is horse ridding! some day I will get back to it! Let me know what yours is!

Setting a Goal, lose a stone for the end of May!

So! My sons communion is some time the end of May, I would say at a guess around the 20th (no exact date as yet) so that gives me 16 weeks to get a stone down! completely doable with a loss of 1 pound a week and even allows for a STS or 1/2 pound loss! Now its here in black and white! has to be done! I'm wondering am I brave enough to post before and after pictures! I tend to avoid cameras as much as I can! Think I need to get over that and take one so I can see my progress, going to measure my waist and hips etc as well. Wish me luck!

Can I do it! Yes I can

Weigh in Week 3 2012

So I forgot to update, on Thursday went to WI bright an early, expecting a loss but a good loss as well!
well yes I was down 1 pound! yay me.
Yet why did I feel so disappointed, in hindsight I think it was after watching programs were they lose huge amounts each week, also with the extra amount of exercise I have been doing, I expected to see a bigger loss.
Also because of the changes to weight watchers pp were I have 3 less to eat I expected a bit more! I think I will touch on whats the right balance of exercise and food intake to get the most out of it, in a separate post.

So roll on this Thursday for WI as I'm ready for it and  I hope for a pound loss again my it be the start of a roll!

Yummy Roasted veg and pasta salad

I made this for lunch for us during the week and have to say it was delish, really enjoyed it, but may be not one you could make in a hurry, although I managed to have it ready for when my hubby got home for lunch

Roasted vegetable and marinated chicken pasta

 Ingredients.
300g of chicken breast cut in to small chunks
300g of cooked pasta
1 to 2 teaspoons of sweet chili sauce
chop in to chunks:
half a red,green,yellow pepper (capsicum)
1 onion
4 to 5 mushrooms
half an Aubergine
1 courgette (zucchini)
1 red onion
Bag of mixed salad leaves
handful of basil chopped roughly
a couple of baby tomatoes
chopped red onion
you can add any other veg IE like Carrot, cucumber etc if you like

For the marinade:
1 tsp of Chinese 5 spice
2tblsp of balsamic vinegar
2tblsp of soy sauce
2tblsp of sweet chili sauce
1 to 2 cloves of garlic crushed
half a teaspoon of chopped finely fresh ginger
seasoning: salt and pepper
Step 1:
Combine marinade ingredients in to a non metallic bowl and pour over chopped chicken cover and set a side to marinate. for at least 30 minutes, you can do this as you cook the pasta and prepare vegetables for roasting

Step 2
cut and prepare vegetables, place chopped vegetables in to a oven dish  spay with some low cal spray oil and season with a little salt and add in a clove or two of garlic if you like. cook in oven at 200 degrees for half an hour to 40 minutes . sorry the pic is a little blurry! at about the half way mark I took the veg out and turned them over and put a little sweet chili sauce on them and put them back in the over the oven to cook

Before and after cooking:

Step 3,
while the vegetables are cooking, time to boil the pasta (so get that on) and cook the chicken, so heat a non stick pan and spray with low cal spray ( spray on a cold pan) take the chicken out a cook on a medium heat medium heat pan don't let it get to hot and burn keep turning on till fully cooked, remove from pan and leave to one side, what I done now was drain my pasta and put in to the frying pan and poured the rest of marinade left in bowl over them, I gently heated the pasta again and coated the mixture all over the pasta, mainly because I hate waste and I heated it in the pan because I have the uncooked chicken in it. well worth it as it was yummy

Last step is putting it all together, so mixed it up in a large bowl with salad leaves etc gave it a good toss and checked if it needed any more dressing, it didn't for me but you can adjust depending on you taste buds, served it out and was very tasty the chicken was so tender and yummy

My 3 year old loved it, here she is diving in and robbing all the feta cheese :)

working out the PP
I worked it out at 6 to 7 PP serving 4 adults we added 30g of feta so add on the extra PP if you do add any thing else to it. you could opt not to use the marinade if you liked or add more pasta if for a dinner instead of lunch. you will have to forgive me if I have the PP a little off, my first recipe out of my head down on paper so to speak. feel free to correct me if you like. enjoy to any one who tries it :)

Eating Out

While checking PP for some take aways, I found this on the weight watchers.co.uk page
So thought I would quickly post for future reference and if any one else ever finds it useful

http://www.weightwatchers.co.uk/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=7171

Also

from my time spent in Australia, I get regular emails from weight watchers Australia with some lovely recipes and this is one I will be trying this week.
http://www.weightwatchers.com.au/food/rcp/index.aspx?recipeid=33351

Chicken salad with wholemeal pasta

Looks yummy! and a great idea for lunch at 6 PP

Weigh In update!

After a lovely weekend away in Sligo with my hubby and catching up with some old friends. I can eventually find the time to update.
WI on Thursday,
After doing my body test on the WII Thursday morning. I watched in shock as the great loss I had showed the day previous vanished and my lovely graph was going in the complete opposite direction UP!!!

My hubby looked in amazement and just said that has to be because of our late dinner the previous evening, it will show later he reassured me your body has not caught up yet! so off I went to Weight watchers and I just knew deep down I would be up! I was 1.5 after a good chat with my leader I was more determined to keep on the wagon and carry on, motto for the week was track , track and eat the right amount of points I had not eaten my extra 7 per day for breastfeeding so on 33 pro points per day. oh and portion control!

This weekend was going to be a huge challenge, as we had booked a weekend away in Sligo and I wondered how would I stay motivated and stay with in points. I managed we snacked on fruit, went for healthier options I could point, the breakfast in the hotel was were I was worried most, the fry is what every one loves the following morning, but lucky me, the bacon and sausages were all grilled as was some lovely tomatoes and big mushrooms. So I had a taste and then a big bowl of fresh fruit. we walked loads and had a really great time and no Junk no sweets at all and I never missed them! did I mention I love chocolate!so a real big effort to think before I put any thing in my mouth.

So tomorrow back to exercising on the WII and planning my menu for the rest of the week.


 I hope this Thursday shows some progress!

Food
You just have to love it, for me if I want to do this right and for good it has to be done right, but also enabling me to maintain any weight lost long term no up, down,up, down with in reason. so on that note I don't believe in cutting loads out of your diet, IE like no bread, low carb, fizzy drinks, real butter oh and the big one chocolate (yummy) :) so my first recipie is a simple desert that the whole family can enjoy and its lovely and low. so over all a little of what you fancy with in a balanced diet does you no harm and enables you to get if off and keep it off.

Fuity Banana Sundaes

3 pp per portion 10 pp recipe 10 minutes to prepare , serves 4
Ingredients:
200g frozen summer fruit,
2 x 125g pots 1% fat strawberry yougart,
2 bananas sliced,
4 x10g squirts of light Aersol cream
25g chocolate sauce
2tsp toasted chopped hazelnuts
5g mini marshemellows

1, Place the frozen summer fruits and the yogurt in a jug or a tall - sided container and blen with a stick blender to make a rough frozen yogurt.

2, Divide the banana among 4 tall glasses or bowls, top with frozen yougart. squirt cream on top,drizzel with chocolate sauce and decorate with nuts and mini marshmellows.

Then eat and enjoy :)



OK so I will get some more up when I can for now I must attend to a very cross baby boy

Journey so far,

My weight loss journey has been an ongoing one, after having my first baby I gained some weight and lost it all on the old weight watchers plan, I then went on to have my second and third baby and just had my 5th 10 months ago. I never got back to goal and seemed to really struggle losing any weight at all. I was going to weight watchers just before falling pregnant with my little boy and as I had very bad gestation diabetes on all my pregnancy’s last one was hard going with a very strict diet and 7 injections of insulin a day. My head was in the game and I was looking forward to keeping up a healthy eating lifestyle, when I had my little man and was counting the days and to rejoin weight watchers.

So 6 weeks post birth I was back to my meetings weighing lighter than I had when I left so off to a great start. 

As I was breastfeeding my little boy I was given extra PP per week to eat, which I tried to eat on my third week on the plan, I felt it was to much food for me and was not surprised to see a gain. My leader advised I should eat the extra PP, Which is very important to allow for good milk production and to maintain a weight loss of 1 pound per week. But I decided to just use the amount recommended for weaning or supplementing with solids, so an extra 7 and its worked for me. (I am in no way recommending any one should do the same, speak with your leader for advice on PP and Breastfeeding)

Starting weight 13.2  (83.8 KG) at weight watchers WI, my own start weight from at home was 13.5 stone


So last week was first week back after Christmas and I started off the break with a 2 pound loss which I was delighted with, which had me at 11.12 gained 4.05 over Christmas which I expected and was OK with as I knew it would not be there for long if I can help it .

So Week 1 following the new little book with the 26 pp daily allowance 
Has gone very well I have upped my exercise and its hard work but I am enjoying it and looking forward to tomorrow to my meeting and WI any loss will be good but my WII fit is showing a good loss remains to be seen if it will be the same tomorrow. 

we Shall see what Weigh In shall be .....


OK so that's my lot for now, I have some nice recipes I will put up for anyone interested and for me to keep them in one place .