Baked Potato Soup

I love baked potato soup.  I also make a very delicious one that's often requested at work.  Sadly, it's packed with things that are bad for you.  


I've been browsing around Gina's Skinny Recipes and decided to make this recipe as my first try from her website.  I slightly tweaked the ingredients and recipe as follows:


2 potatoes (about 400 grams for calculating purposes)
1 large head cauliflower (0 points, so the bigger, the better!)
1 1/2 cups fat free chicken broth
1 1/2 cups skim milk
1/2 cup light sour cream
10 tbsp reduced fat shredded Mexican blend cheese
6 tbsp chives, chopped
salt and pepper to taste


Wash and pierce potatoes, microwave until soft.  Meanwhile, chop cauliflower and steam until soft.  Drain, return cauliflower to the pot.  Peel potatoes, add them to the pot.  Add broth and milk, bring to a boil.  Use an immersion blender to achieve desired consistency ( I like mine smooth, you might like it chunky).  Add remainder of ingredients, turn heat to low, and stir until well incorporated.  


While it's not as delicious as my fat-filled version, it's pretty darn good!  I was surprised at how creamy it is, and how the cauliflower blends in perfectly- you don't even know it's in there!


A serving of about 1 1/2 cups is 4 Points+!  I left out the bacon in the original recipe because I don't like how it turns chewy in soup, and the skim milk instead of the 1% didn't bother me.  If you add both, a cup would be 5 Points+, still a bargain for a very yummy soup.

Weekend

This weekend was a rough one, food wise.


Friday night we took my parents out for Mother's Day to our favorite Italian restaurant.  I didn't do too much damage here- started with a barley mushroom soup, and then had steak pizzaiola and a small piece of veal parmigiana.  The issue came after, when Chris and I decided to get a treat at Carvel.  I ordered a soft-serve twist, but didn't realize until afterwards that I forgot to get the low-fat versions!  Oh well, you gotta live, right?  I got over it...


On Saturday, we went over to Chris' families house to celebrate his cousins and his birthday.  I bought him his favorite pie to bring along, but he didn't want to share it!  So, we had a piece at the house, and then bought some yummy cookies to bring along.  I ate way too many cookies, they were so good (the long ones with the jelly in the middle and dipped in chocolate).  Food overdose.


I tracked everything, and didn't go over my weekly points, but I still feel guilty and gross.  My eating is back to normal, and hopefully I didn't mess up my progress.  We'll see later in the week!

Week 20 Weigh In

Current Weight: 187.8 lbs

Weekly Loss: 1.2 lbs          Total Loss: 34.2 lbs

All ready for the K-1-2 play tonight!   This is as farmer-ish as I get!

I was very surprised that I lost weight this week.  I need to stop doubting myself.

In other news, the WHB Farmer's Market opens for the season tomorrow, and I'm so excited for fresh, local produce and some great vendors!  I'm proctoring the SATs, but I'm sending Chris to get me the best pickles on the planet- Horman's Best!  YAY!!!!!

I'm back!

While I'm nervous about weighing in tonight (1 lb isn't much of a buffer- fingers crossed!), I am excited that I'm finally back into a good workout routine.  I've been kicking butt, my body is sore, and I like it!  Yoga last night was awesomely brutal.  Nick, the instructor, knows that he can push our class, and he does!  I was sweating, my heart-rate was up, and I felt great!


This summer, I plan to ride my bike much more often than I ever have.  I live close to the beach (3.1 miles), so that's my first goal.  It's not the physical exertion that worries me- it's my ACL and knee.  They are pretty strong, but I still get nervous the first few times I try something new.  I'm going to have Chris come with me for a while just incase.  


After the beach, my next goal is to ride to the library (3.3 miles), a slight bit farther away.  After that, my furthest goal as of now is to bike to my gym (5 miles).  


I'm going into the summer ready to kick major butt!!!!

The "F" Word

No, not the "F" word many of you are thinking of.  My "F" word is FAT!


I rarely, if ever, used the word fat to describe myself, mainly because it seems to carry many negative connotations such as someone who doesn't take care of themselves, or someone who is sloppy.  I was very lucky that I never really got made fun of or teased because of my weight.  I have a great personality, and I feel that no one really cared about how much I weighed.


This past weekend for some reason, I remembered the one time that someone called me fat.  I can only remember it happening this one time, and even though it was a while ago, it still bothers me a little.


It was in high school during gym class, I believe 11th grade.  We were all sitting in our spots while the teachers were taking attendance.  2 boys were talking about something, and I could overhear.  Now, they very well might have been talking about someone else, but all I heard was "yeah, she's really fat," and I assumed they were talking about me.  The boys weren't even people I cared about, I only knew one of them because we had a lot of classes together, but we weren't friends.  For some reason, that one moment stayed with me.


The fact that I remember this moment makes me really sensitive about the word "fat."  I'm officially banishing it from my life!

Happiness is a New Blender!

Since smoothie making is now a regular part of my week, I made the decision to upgrade my blender.  My old blender was doing the job, but it took a long amount of time, adding one thing at a time, and shaking it around from time to time when it froze up.  I knew either I would somehow hurt myself or burn out the motor in the near future.

I have heard amazing things about Vitamix blenders, but there's no way that I could justify spending that much money on a blender.  It's just insane!  I was able to find a blender by Breville that was within my price range and looked like it had all of the features I wanted.  Chris thought I was nuts spending that much money on a blender, but I bought it anyway!

Let me tell you, this thing is AMAZING!!!  It's a Breville Ikon Hemisphere LCD Blender.  It is stainless steel and glass, nice and heavy.  It has all the regular speed options, but it also has a smoothie setting.  I wasn't quite sure what the difference would be between a speed and the smoothie mode, but I soon found out!

The smoothie mode plans to have a mix of liquids and solids.  It starts off spinning regularly, then it pulses itself, and resumes this cycle for 60 seconds.  That's it.  60 seconds and it's done!  No chunks!  And it's super quiet!  Amazing!  I was so impressed!  Sometimes, all it takes is a blender!!!

I Wish I Could Pronounce the Name of my Post Topic!

So, walking around the grocery store the other day, I spy something interesting in the cereal isle.  Bob's Red Mill Old Country Style Muesli.  Moosley?  Myoosley?  I'm not sure!


I am sure that I have a new favorite hot breakfast!  And it's filled with yummy, healthy things!

Muesli is a whole grain cereal, similar to oatmeal, but with a lot of yummy things in it.  It contains rolled oats, wheat, rye, triticale, barley, raisins, dates, sunflower seeds, almonds and walnuts.  I'm pretty sure all of those things are on many "things you should eat" lists.


I prepared mine according to the package directions- equal parts muesli and liquid.  I chose my favorite- Blue Diamond Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk.  I combined a 1/2 cup of each, 2 packets of Splenda and about 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, stirred, and cooked on the stove.  It was so good!  The sunflower seeds provide a very good textural element that regular oatmeal lacks.  It was on the dry side, but still delicious.  I doubled the liquid the next day, but then it was too mushy, although still good.  I'm going to split the difference next time.


You can also eat it cold, letting it soak in milk or yogurt for a bit, but I haven't tried that yet. 1/2 cup of Muesli will set you back 6 Points+, and another 1 Point+ for the milk.  Very worth it!!!