Yup, I like to eat.

One of my Instagram buddies asked me about creating a Weight Watchers friendly meal plan.  So for the past few days I've been thinking about it, and...well, basically I decided to just tell you a few things I eat a lot of because let's be honest, it's the easy way out.  Ha.  Just kidding.  But it is what's worked for me -- I mean, I've lost (or had lost before vacation) 90 pounds without exercising so it can't be that bad.

Breakfast

• Plain oatmeal (Quaker Oats) w/ 1 tsp brown sugar (or Splenda) and cinnamon (4 pp)
• Cheerios (1 cup), fat-free milk (3/4 cup), a banana slices (4 pp -- one of my faves!)
• Dannon Light & Fit vanilla greek yogurt with a banana and a toasted light english muffin with spray butter (5 pp)
• Sliced hard-boiled egg and light english muffin breakfast sandwich (5 pp)
• "Fried" egg sandwich -- egg cooked on top of stove with cooking spray, 2 pieces of Sara Lee 45-calorie whole wheat break, and 1 tbsp fat-free mayo (4 pp)

Lunch

• Salad (whatever veggies you like) with 2 chopped hardboiled eggs and a tablespoon of fat-free dressing (about 5 pp depending upon your dressing)
• Plain sweet potato (medium), sliced turkey breast (3 oz which, for me, is usually about 3 slices), Sargento ultra thin sliced provolone (3 slices), raw veggie (like baby carrots) or apple slices (8 pp)
• PB2 (2 servings) & banana sandwich made with Sara Lee 45 calorie bread and a Yoplait or  Dannon Light & Fit greek yogurt with a fruit or raw veggie (6 pp)
• Leftovers -- I usually just have what I ate for dinner but try not to exceed 8 or 9 pp 

Dinner

• Emily Bites Deep Dish Pizza Casserole (8 pp)
• Baked ziti -- pretty sure the recipe is on my IG, but I'll try to get it up on here soon...you basically just sub the pizza casserole dough for whole wheat pasta (9 pp for 1/4 of the whole thing)
• Chicken parmesan -- 1 Perdue lightly breaded chicken breast cutlet (cooked), then add a tablespoon of tomato sauce and 1/4 cup fat free mozzarella cheese and stick back in oven until melted; serve with veggies...I like green beans and broccoli (5 pp for 1 piece of chicken and toppings)
• Chicken taco bowl -- 3 oz crockpot salsa chicken (chicken, taco seasoning, salsa), 1 cup brown rice, 1/2 cup black beans, 1/4 cup fat free cheddar, 1 tbsp fat free sour cream (about 11 pp)
• Cheeseburger Macaroni (9 pp)
• Chicken Tetrazzini (8 pp)
• Chicken burger -- WW Chicken Burger, sandwich thin, 2 tbsp of goat cheese, lettuce, onion, pickles, Heinz 57 -- with sweet potato (10 pp)
• Emily Bites Pizza Logs (2 pp per log, but keep in mind it's one of those weird values where it's like 5 pp for 2 logs or something like that)

Snacks

• Kellogg's Fiber Plus antioxidants chewy bar with protein -- I like the mixed nut with chocolate (4 pp)
• Smart Pop mini popcorn bag (2 pp)
• Apple slices (0 pp)
• Grapes (0 pp)
• Sliced navel orange with salt (0 pp)
• South Beach Diet Good To Go bars with extra fiber -- I like the chocolate of course (3 pp)
• Popchips -- 1 serving (3 pp)
• Sliced strawberries, 2 tbsp of Hersey's sugar-free syrup, and 3 tbsp of fat free Cool Whip (0 pp)
• Unsweetened apple sauce with cinnamon (0 pp)
• Dannon Light & Fit or Yoplait greek yogurt (2 pp)

I get 26 points a day so whatever I have left over after I track my breakfast, lunch, and dinner (yup, I pre-track everything), I use on snacks.  I eat a lot of snacks.

Sooooo hope that helps!  :)

No Box Cheeseburger Macaroni

So with it being the end of the month (and payday doesn't come until the last day of the month aka I'm a poor teacher for real right now) I was trying to think of more budget friendly meals to have this week.  I was walking down the aisle at Wal-Mart last night and came upon the Hamburger Helper.  Now, I hadn't eaten HH in about 10 years (i.e. college) but I remembered looooving Cheeseburger Macaroni.  I picked up a box, thought about it, but decided I could probably make a much healthier version for about the same price.  So after a bit of googling what spices go into it (literally, in the middle of the aisle, blocking the boxes of mashed potatoes) -- thanks, Food.com -- that's what I did.  Oh, and it's totally Simply Filling friendly for those of you on that train.

No Box Cheeseburger Macaroni

Servings: 4

Serving Size: 1 cup

Weight Watchers: 9 PP / serving

Ingredients

1 pound 93% ground beef

1 1/2 cups (or 6 oz) uncooked whole wheat elbow macaroni

1 cup of hot water

2 cups of fat free milk

1 cup of fat free shredded cheddar cheese

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp sugar

1 tbsp cornstarch

Directions

Brown the hamburger meat in a really large pot.  Drain the grease when cooked, then throw it back in the large pot and add all the spices (including the cornstarch and sugar), water, milk, and pasta.  Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.  Lower the heat so it is simmering.  Cook until the pasta is done.  Add the cheese and stir until melted.  Makes about 4 servings if you dish out 1 cup per serving.  And it's delish!

Skinny Chicken Tetrazzini

You know what I love?  My mama's cooking...more specifically, my mom's chicken tetrazzini, which is definitely not Weight Watchers friendly.  Good news though -- my mom and I revamped the recipe this past weekend to make it skinnier and ALMOST Simple Start friendly.

Skinny Chicken Tetrazinni
Servings: 8
Weight Watchers: 8 PP / serving

Ingredients
1/2 cup diced bell pepper
1 medium diced onion
1 small jar of mushrooms
1 small jar of pimento
1 cup of fat free chicken broth
2 cans of 98% fat free cream of mushroom
3 cups of diced chicken breast (cooked -- just boil it!)
1 small box of whole wheat spaghetti (cooked!)
8 oz fat free shredded cheddar
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Saute onion and bell pepper in broth and simmer until tender.  Add the cans of cream of mushroom as well as the jar of mushrooms. Add the cooked chicken and pimento.  Fold in salt, pepper, cheese, and spaghetti.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

The only thing not Simply Filling friendly is the cream of mushroom -- I'm doing SF right now and gave myself 1 point per serving when I had this earlier today.