Skinny Peach Margarita

I've made a discovery that I hesitate to share with you.  Not because I don't want you to enjoy it, but because I don't want you to buy them all out of their inventory with none left for me!  :) 

I found it on a whim, bought some to just "try" and am now in love.  LOVE!  It is called Baja Bob's and it is calorie free, sugar free, carb free drink mix in a variety of flavors that include Margarita, Sweet & Sour Mix, Appletini, Mai Thai, Mudslide, and more!  I decided to try to the Sweet & Sour mix to make homemade Margaritas with and let me tell you...if the hubs guzzled it down, it's GOOD!  He's picky when it comes to drinks...

Here's my amazing "made it up myself" recipe:

EA's Skinny Peach Margarita

32 oz. Baja Bob's Sweet & Sour Mix
16 oz. Peach Schnapps
16 oz. Silver Tequila
2 Tbsp. Grenadine

Mix it all together and serve over ice!  You'll thank me for this later...

8 oz. serving Nutrition Info:
Calories - 295
Fat - 0
Carbs - 17
Protein - 0
WW Points+ - 2

Note:  A regular 8 oz. margarita has well over 500 calories and 73 carbs, so it's worth it!

Now, don't say I never shared anything with you!

Happy weekend!

P.S. It is supposed to be only 85 here this weekend with low humidity so my butt will be at the pool, sipping one of these!

Quiero Taquitos!

I'll admit I haven't been great at making dinner lately.  Dieting, just the overall desire to do nothing after work, and Jay's weird work hours and dinner break have me rely heavily on Subway, the new grilled nuggets at Chick-Fil-A (these are honestly REALLY good...their grilled sandwich is rubbery and gross, but the nuggets get a thumbs up from this picky girl!!!), and soup and salad from Panera.

So last night I decided I was GOING to cook.  Not only that, but I was going to cook something new that we had never tried before!  I consulted none other than Pinterest!  I have used Pinterest for a while now to pin all kinds of things...home decorating ideas, cute clothes and style, holiday decorating ideas, and my largest one, food!  But I have never made a recipe from my Pinterest board.  Until now!  My first thing I attempted was AMAZING and I can't wait to start cooking again and try more things!

I made Oven Baked Taquitos and let me tell you...I think I liked them BETTER than any fried ones I have ever have.  Not kidding!  And they were VERY easy.  I think I made them up in less than 20 minutes including shredding the chicken. 

So without further delay (and arriba! arriba! and all that), I give you:

Oven Baked Taquitos

• 2 cups of cooked shredded chicken breast (one rotisserie chicken from Kroger was perfect)
• 4-5 oz. fat free cream cheese (I'll be honest, I just scooped it out until I was happy, but there was about a quarter of an 8 oz. container left)
• 1/3 c. salsa verde (found this on the Mexican food aisle!)
• 1.5 Tbsp. fresh lime juice (I bought a juice press at Kroger for $3.99...it made me feel cool!)
• 3/4 tsp. ground cumin
• 1.25 tsp. chili powder
• 3/4 tsp. onion powder
• Salt to taste
• a couple of dashes of garlic powder
• 2 Tbsp. sliced green onions (we don't like these, so I didn't add them!)
• 1 c. reduced fat shredded Mexican cheese
• 1/4 c. drained and rinsed black beans (you can use more if you want, I didn't want it too beany)
• 8-10 soft taco-size flour tortillas (it made 8 for me)
• Salsa for dipping

Preheat oven to 425.
In a bowl, combine cream cheese, salsa verde, lime juice cumin, chili powder, onion powder, salt and garlic powder.
Mix until smooth and creamy.
Mix in shredded cheese.
Fold in shredded chicken, black beans, and onions (if you used them).
Microwave your tortillas 2-3 at a time so they are warm and soft and easy to roll.
Divide your mixture (about one heaping spoon each) and spread it on the bottom 2/3 of each tortilla.
Roll from the bottom up as tightly as you can and place the taquito in a Pyrex dish or baking sheet, seam-side down.
Repeat with your remaining tortillas, making sure they do not touch each other on the pan.
Spray the tops with cooking spray and sprinkle with sea salt.
Bake 15-20 minutes, turning on the broiler the last 3-4 minutes so they are toasty and crispy on top.
Serve with a side of salsa for dipping.

Side Note:  Cut in half, these would make great appetizers!

Nutritional Information (for 1 Taquitos):
Calories - 234.5
Fat - 5
Carbs - 24.5
Fiber - 3.2
Protein - 21
WW Points + - 6

Breakfast

They say breakfast is your most important meal of the day and I can honestly say I never really ate it that much until I started watching my weight.  You know what I learned?
When I don't eat breakfast, I'm not really hungry until 12:00 or 12:30.
When I do eat breakfast, I am an angry, greedy monster STARVING by 11:00 (or earlier).
I looked into this and low and behold, it's because when you eat breakfast, your metabolism is jump started for the day and you burn more calories and have more energy.  By burning those calories starting early, you're hungrier earlier.  Who knew?  So I'm all about breakfast now - no matter how small it is!  Here is what I have had almost every morning since I started May 10:

EA's Wonderful Waffles (recipe for one):
1 Eggo Nutri-Grain Low Fat Waffle (found in the freezer section) toasted - 70 calories, 1.25 g. fat
1/2 Tbsp. Nutella (just recently discovered this...life changing) - 50 calories; 2.8 g. fat
3 Tbsp. Redi Whip Fat Free Whipped Cream (in a can...yes...) - 8 calories; 0 g. fat
1/4 c. chopped strawberries - 6 calories; 0 g. fat

The ingredients all laid out and ready!

The finished product!

Photos compliments of my rediscovered obsession with Instagram.

All in all, a yummy and satisfying breakfast for 128 calories and 3 grams of fat.  It tastes so bad for you, which is probably why I feel guilty eating it every morning.  But I've lost 7.8 pounds in 13 days so I'm going to keep doing what has worked (never mind that the hubs has lost 8 pounds in 1 week)!  Plus, it's something both me and "Tall Blonde Boy" like.  That's hard to find, y'all!

Let me know if you try it!

Creamy Italian Chicken Recipe

Had this last night at Bunco and it was delish!  Wish I had taken a photo of it, but I think you can just Google the recipe and see a million pictures if you muse "see" your food before you'll eat it.  Here are the details:

2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut in thirds
1 pack dry Zezty Italian dressing mix
1 can 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup
1/2 c. water
1 block fat free cream cheese

Put the chicken, water and dressing mix in the crock pot and cook on high for 2-3 hours.
Mix the soup and cream cheese and pour it over the chicken.
Cook another 1 hour.
Stir it up and serve over brown rice!
YUM!!!

I could have weighed in this morning if I wanted (I'm weighing twice a week instead of just once now), but after last night's festivities at Bunco with a Pioneer Woman dessert (a MILLION calories I'm sure...), I decided against it!  I'll weight again tomorrow (Friday) morning.

P.S. - Know what makes me mad?  I've been doing this a week and have lost just under 5 pounds.  Jay has been doing it for 3 days and has lost 6...

Hello out there???

Guess what happened when I abandoned my little blog here?
I gained my weight back.
How much you ask?
All of it.  Plus 1 pound.

As far as I can tell, it happened because I left the blog world, thinking I had attained my goal weight, was looking pretty great, and was just overall happy in life.  Know what happens when you're happy?  You eat.  A lot.  Then you get unhappy because you went back into a size you swore you would NEVER go back to.

Then you have routine blood work done and realize your cholesterol is at a scary level.  WAKE UP CALL!!!

So I'm back to blogging, off Weight Watchers, and onto a new plan.  I'm using the My Fitness Pal free app so I can use it on my iPhone and on my iMac at work.

So far, I've lost 4.8 pounds in about a week.  I'm sure that's just the "shock the system" loss.  When starting most plans, most people lose 5-8 pounds in the first two weeks. 

But it's easy to track and it is keeping me in control of what I eat.  My goal is low calorie (obviously, since it limits me to 1,200 a day), low fat, high in whole grain.  This should get the ole lipids where they need to be.

So I'm back and plan to be better than ever!

First goal:  10 pounds off by June 30th.

Let the journey begin (again...for the third time...)!!!

All I Want for Christmas...

Jay and I are fortunate that when we want something, we typically just get it.  We don't really wait for birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, etc.  It's the way I was brought up.  Even now, we don't really exchange gifts in my family.  We're all so fortunate and none of us "need" anything...so we use Christmas to spend time with each other and give thanks for all the Lord has blessed us with.  Instead of stressing out over finding the "perfect" gift that spends enough money so the receiver doesn't think we're cheap, but not so much money that we appear flamboyant, we stress over the perfect dressing to go with our meal.  Rather than stress out at shopping malls with the crowds on finding the right "thing" to give, we put stress on making sure we have enough love to give.  It probably sounds corny to an outsider, but to me, my family has the right idea!  No one expects anything of anyone else except a celebration of the birth of Christ, Christmas cheer and a LOT of laughs!

With all that said, Jay and I try to do something for our home together at Christmas.  A decision we make together to purchase something nice we can both enjoy together.  We do this instead of gifts for each other and it works out great!  Plus, because we use joint checking, it's hard to keep a surprise from the other.  Jay...if you're reading this, here's my short list!!!  :)

Pottery Barn Chenille Rug for under the table ~ $499.00
Honey, ours is GROSS!  Years of you living alone with it before me and my clean streak moved it have done a number on that nasty thing and I want it gone!  But, if you're in a little sticker shock over that for just a rug, how about...

This one I found on o.co for only $193?

Treble Clef Flatware ~ $79.00 (we would need two, of course...eight-piece setting and all)
Because you know Sissy needs flatware for her house and I'm getting tired of ours...I have LOVED this since we were registering for our wedding.  It's funky enough that it goes with our dishes, but not so funky it will be out of style in three months...  And we can give our current, gently-used flatware to her!  Win-win!!!

Babe? Are you reading this???  I love you...

Final Outfit...

This is the final post I will do on items I bought at the Belk Charity Sale.  I apologize for not linking the items in yesterday's post...if you really want to know how/where to get anything from yesterday's post, please email me or message me and I will get that to you...

In the meantime, here is the final post on my purchases.  I have a wedding to go to in the middle of December and while I think that is a BEAUTIFUL time to get married, it's a 4:00 wedding and that's a hard time/season to dress for.  Know what I mean??  It is too late in the day for pants to be appropriate and too early for a winter cocktail dress.  But alas, a dress I found at the sale is PERFECT!  Here are the details:

Suzi Chin for Maggy London Leopard Jersey Knit Dress (can't find a link for this AN-NY-WHERE); Black Tights; Black Bandolino Deva Wedges (these are two seasons old so you probably can't find them except with an internet search...); Silpada Sterling Silver & Cubic Zirconia Necklace (item N2302); Silpada Mother of Pearl & Sterling Silver Earrings (item W2218).
The tie waist of this adorable, subtle leopard print dress really helps create the illusion of a smaller waist and the above-the-knee hemline keeps the eye going up.  LOVE IT!

On a side note, all of the Silpada jewelry I post can be purchased through my sister-in-law.  She is a Silpada rep and can do individual sales, even though Silpada is mainly an in-home party line.  Or, you can host a party with her (if you live in North Alabama) and earn free jewelry!  Contact me if you have interest in a direct purchase from her or an in-home party and I'll put you in touch!