Soy Ginger Marinated Fish

As promised, here's my version of the amazing tuna burger I had a few weeks ago.

I kept my marinade simple- 1/2 cup soy sauce, 2 tbsp ginger paste and some chopped scallions.  I marinated some tuna as well as cod.  


I cooked them on my George Forman Grill.  Note:  despite the grill being non-stick, the cod STICKS as you can see in the above photograph!  And then falls apart.  So, if using cod or something similar, spray the fish or the grill with a little cooking spray first.  


It tasted really good.  I cooked up some extra marinade to use as a sauce.  The tuna was clearly the winner, but the cod still tasted fine.  I enjoyed this for dinner with a salad and some veggies.  

Frozen Whoopie Pie

This is a combination of my guilty pleasures from childhood- icebox cakes and mixing Cool Whip and hot cocoa powder.  Recipe below makes 4 pies, multiply as needed.  Each whoopie pie has 2 Points+.  Note:  I've never had a real whoopie pie, but I'd imagine it would taste like this if frozen!

Ingredients:

8 chocolate wafers (I used Nabisco Famous)

1/2 cup Fat Free Cool Whip, thawed

1 packet Fat-Free hot cocoa mix (I used Nestle Fat Free Rich Milk Chocolate- it's really good!)

Mix Cool Whip and hot cocoa mix.  Divide the mixture on four of the wafers and cover with the remaining four.  Freeze until firm, about 2 hours.

You can omit the hot cocoa mix if you don't want the flavor.  This does not change the Points+ value.

My house is still standing after a hurricane?  This calls for a celebratory treat!

Week 36 Weigh-In

Current Weight: 193.2 lbs

2 Week Gain: 6.4 lbs     Total Loss: 28.8 lbs

I spent 2 weeks off of the plan, including an all-inclusive week away at Punta Cana.  I honestly expected to gain MORE than 6 pounds, so I was pleasantly surprised.  I mentally prepared myself before I went away.  I didn't want to spend my vacation watching what I ate and drank because we never go away, and I wanted to fully enjoy myself.

So I did!

I ate and drank whatever I wanted to, and it was a blast!  I even wore a bikini a few days while we were there!  I was hesitant, but considering how far I've come, I decided why the heck not!  Plus, as my loving hubby reminded me, even though I've lost 30 lbs here (no small accomplishment in itself), I've lost 60 lbs since I've been at my heaviest in college (see below), so I'm gonna wear a bikini if I want to!  It felt great!

At my heaviest, about 250 lbs, circa 2003 perhaps?

Now, I'm home, and back in the swing of things.  I'm excited for the school year to start again, I seem to do better when I'm busier and in more of a routine!

Week 34 Weigh In

Current Weight: 186.8 lbs

Weekly Gain: 1 lbs    Total Loss: 35.2 lbs

AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGG!!!!!!

That is all.

Burger Joint

The other day, I was on a field trip with my grad class (hooray field trips as an adult!) and we were going to a burger joint for lunch.  Upon hearing this, I became upset, thinking that I was either going to be stuck ordering a burger and hating myself for the amount of points I would use up, or that I would have to stay away from any type of burger and be the girl who orders a salad and stares longingly at everyone else's food.

Off to the restaurant website I went, and, much to my surprise, they had a few "healthy" options.  My choice was for a tuna burger marinated in ginger, soy and scallions.  I was picturing minced tuna formed into a patty, but was pleasantly surprised when out came my plate with a tuna steak on the bun.  It was delicious, I only ate the bottom half of the bun, and got a side of sweet potato fries.  Let me tell you, this was the best thing I had in a long time, and I wasn't upset at the lack of beef in my burger.

I'm determined to recreate this marinade at home, it's my mission of the week.  Stay tuned for the recipe!

Life Without Cable

I wasn't sure how I'd do getting rid of the cable boxes.  I knew I'd be very happy about my newly lowered bill from Cablevision, but what about when I actually want to watch televsion?

Let me tell you, this decision is one of the best I've ever made!  I bought an HDMI adapter for my laptops so I can project the screen onto my televisions.  You can find most shows online for free (via the network websites and www.hulu.com).  We also have the streaming service through Netflix for when we want to browse for something to watch.  Finally, we make very good use of our library and the DVD offerings which are essentially free since we pay for the library through our taxes whether we use the service or not.  It's really nice to sit down and watch something you actually have interest in.  I never realized how much garbage I watched simply because "there was nothing else on."  The only issue we are predicting is once football season starts, we can't watch the games we want to at home.  Since the Miami Dolphin games aren't usually broadcast up here, we realized we end up going out to a sports bar to watch them, anyway.  So, Sundays, you will find me representing the Dolphins somewhere other than my house.

Have you thought about going without cable?  If so, try it for a week.  I think you'll be pleasantly surprised!

General Update

Overall, I'm feeling pretty great!  I'm down to wearing a size medium or large shirt (used to be XL or XXL).  When it comes to pants, I now wear a 12 or a 14 (down from 16 or 18).  I'm putting off buying new clothing, but I know I will have to before school starts.  None of my work clothing fits me anymore!  I'm going to buy a few staple pieces, so plan on me wearing the same outfit pretty often!


I still track everything I consume, even when I'd rather not admit to it!  I don't feel guilty about using my extra weekly points, but I try to avoid doing that.  I refuse to track anything on a vacation I have coming up.  I'm going to make wise decisions, but a vacation is a vacation, and I take them so rarely that I am going to enjoy it fully!


Physically, my knee is holding up.  PT ends this week, and that's fine!  I'm doing the exercising on my own, and really just use them for the massage aspect as well as the electric stimulation machines.  My knee has learned to work without being 100%, and even though I know that's not what's best for me, it's going to have to work until I'm ready to have surgery, which won't be for at least a year or two.  A brace is on it's way, and that should enable me to push myself without ending up with a swollen knee.


So, the journey continues.  I'm hoping to reaching my goal weight, or what I think my goal weight is (140 lbs) by the time I turn 28 (October 8, 2012).  45 lbs to go...

Week 33 Weigh In

Current Weight: 185.8 lbs

Weekly Gain: .2 lbs     Total Loss: 36.2 lbs

Another week of pretty much staying the same, and that's okay.  I'm hoping that this means that my body has stopped playing around 190 lbs and is ready to keep heading down!  This week should be a good week since I'm going to be taking a class that will keep me out of the house all day, which means I'll only have the food that I pack with me in the morning.

Mini Meat Lasagna

These are so delicious as well!  These do have a higher Points+ value than the veggie ones I posted yesterday, but they are worth it!  You can have 6 of these for 10 Points+.  The recipe below is for 8 mini meat lasagnas, multiply as needed.  I served these with a salad for dinner.


Ingredients:
1 cup Crock Pot Pasta Sauce with Sausage (from Gina's Skinny Recipes)- I used turkey sausage and added some salt and 1 tsp crushed rosemary to her recipe- it's delicious!
8 Nasoya wonton wrappers
1/4 cup part skim ricotta cheese
1/3 cup WW Italian four cheese blend
Cooking Spray


Instructions:
Prepare sauce ahead of time.  I put mine together in the morning and let it cook all day.  If you don't want to make it so early in the day, you could cook it on low heat on the stove for an hour or two to let the flavors develop.  


Preheat oven to 375.  Take a muffin tin, spray 8 of the wells with cooking spray.  Press one wonton wrapper into each well so that it's spaced evenly.  Spread 1/2 tbsp of ricotta cheese in the bottom of each wrapper, followed by 1/8 cup of the sauce.  Sprinkle evenly with shredded cheese, and bake until the cheese is melted and the exposed part of the wrappers are golden brown.

Mini Veggie Lasagna

YOU CAN HAVE 8 OF THESE FOR 9 POINTS+!!!

OMG.  I never thought these would be as good as they turned out.  You need to make these ASAP.  As a shortcut to all of the dicing, I suggest looking into a Vidalia Chop Wizard.  They are awesome, quick, easy, and produce equal sized dices.  You will end up using it all of the time!!!


Ingredients:
Cooking Spray
1 eggplant, diced into small cubes
1 white onion, diced
2 portobello mushroom caps, diced into small cubes
5 garlic cloves, smashed
Salt, Pepper, Oregano to taste
8 Nasoya wonton wrappers
1/2 cup marinara sauce
1/3 cup reduced fat italian blend shredded cheese (I used WW brand)


Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375.  Spray a nonstick pan with cooking spray and heat over medium heat.  Add eggplant, onion and mushroom, season with salt, pepper and oregano to taste.  Stir every few minutes while it's cooking.  When the onions have softened, add the garlic.  Continue cooking until all vegetables are soft and starting to brown.  Remove from heat.


Mix 1 cup of your vegetable mixture with the marinara sauce.


Take a muffin tin, spray 8 of the wells with cooking spray.  Press one wonton wrapper into each well so that it's spaced evenly.  Put 1/8 cup (2 tbsp) of veggie sauce mixture into each wrapper.  Sprinkle evenly with shredded cheese, and bake until the cheese is melted and the exposed part of the wrappers are golden brown.

You can eat these by hand (both hands needed).  These were really fun, yummy, and filling!  I highly suggest these for hors d'oeuvres or a meal paired with a salad.  


I have so many more ideas for these wonton wrappers, watch out!

Wonton Wrappers

I'm a fan of wonton wrappers.  I've used them for years, mainly for, well, wonton soup.  You will find them in the produce section near the tofu.  This week, I've decided to make use of these in new ways!  2 wonton wraps have 1 Point+ (8 wrappers have 160 cals, .5g fat, 31g carbs, 6g protein, 1g dietary fiber, 310mg sodium).


First, I took a muffin tin, sprayed with cooking spray, then pressed a wrap into each cup.  I sprayed again, then baked at 400 until they were crispy and browned.

I had a grand idea of filling these with turkey taco salad, making mini-salad shells, but they were too small, so I ended up crumbling them on top!  These do make really neat cups, though, I just have to come up with a more size appropriate filling.  Tune in the rest of the week for creations using these wrappers!

Jicama

I'm still on the fence about this one.  Jicama is a root vegetable.  It looks like a cross between a potato and a turnip.  You peel them, slice them, and enjoy them raw in most cases.

I kept coming across recipes using jicama cut into thin slices and sprinkled with lime juice and chili powder.  Apparently this is a popular snack in Mexico.  Since I had all of the ingredients on hand, and it would be 0 Points+, I gave it a try.  I have to say that the jicama itself really tasted like nothing, so I ended up putting on a lot of lime juice and completely covering it in chili powder (the picture above was how I made it at first).  The jicama was really just a point-free way of delivering the other tastes into my tummy.  I can imagine using jicama to eat dips, but I haven't tried it yet.  I'm not ready to give up, though.  I still have half in my fridge, and am going to experiment with creating a low-point dip to enjoy with this.  Stay tuned!!!