Week 1 Kick Start Results & Photo Recap
Happy Thursday all! Ok, so I am a day late and a dollar short (it’s all that Christmas Shopping & Celebrating) 
But, I owe you all officially TWO days of recaps (not counting the vacation finale lol) now.
I finished off my Weight Watchers Kick Start week and lost .6 lbs (it’s down, but, I so think I earned more LOL). So there was a little chocolate celebration that happened yesterday.
I am going to continue the philosophy this week with 1 party exception. The goal is to have around 3-5 pts for breakfast, 5-7 pts for lunch, 1 or 2 2-3 pt snacks and 8-10 pts for dinner all while getting in ALL your HEALTHY GUIDELINES. You make it all work within your point range and for those following along check out page 41 on your Week 1 book.
My GOAL for this post is to mainly do a picture recap with very little words at all ~ think I can do it?! You all just might have to make a few guesses on what I ate 
….so here it goes!
Vanilla 0% Greek Chobani ~ YUM!
Banana + Vanilla Chobani + Cinnamon TJ’s Fiber Twigs + Cinnamon + Trail Mix = 4 pts
Hawaiian Sushi Roll! (9 pcs = 5 pts)
My NEW LOVE ~ a 1 point (each for TWO) Mini Ginger Spice Shortbread Boy by McTavish ~ they taste just like homemade cookies!
Dinner = Salad with Newman’s Light Lime Vinaigrette (1 pt)
Plus Healthy Chicken Parmesan (Want the recipe??) ~ AMAZING! 5 pts a svg!
Plus 1/2 c Barilla Plus Multi-Grain Pasta drizzle with a little EVOO. (4 pts)
WEDNESDAY ~ Started off in my NEW favorite bowl mug
Nature’s Path Multi-Grain Flakes, Cinnamon, Pear, FF Milk ~ MMMM! 4 pts
Honey Roasted & Smoked Turkey Breast, LF Colby Cheese, Carrots = 3 pts
FANTASTIC FALL SALAD in Winter!
Romaine
Cucumber
Cherry Tomatoes
Fuji Apple
Fat Free Feta
1/4 Diced Avocado
2 Tbsp Trail Mix
Made In Napa Valley Blackberry Pear Balsamic Vinegar
Freshly Ground Pepper
All for only 6 POINTS!
Stacy’s Parmesan Garlic Pita Crunch on the side ~ 2 pts worth
The chocolate celebration involved this AMAZING Chocolate xoxox Bar I received in my blogger exchange!
FANTASTIC STATS ~ 1/3 of the bar is only 3 POINTS!!!! The description is really how it tastes!
Funky poem on the wrapper inside.
Cute heart stamps but I was bummed that the big lumps I was feeling was not WHOLE Almonds in each bite. Still, there was plenty of almond crunch ~ I LOVE this bar!
My FAVORITE chicken tacos x 2! 8 pts
Seems so boring to not tell my story as I go, no?! Do the pictures say it all? Eh, maybe….anyway – it works for a FAST post since I chose to hang out with The Husband watching Pelham 123 last night instead of blogging. That movie is pretty good and intense – LOVED it!
You have until 8:00 PST tonight to enter and WIN your choice of KNOCK KNOCK products! Make sure you enter all 3 ways for your chance to win!
Must go work now…… See you all tonight with the KNOCK KNOCK winner!
Knock Knock….Who’s There??
Filed under: Daily Eats, Kick Start, Product Reviews, Restaurant Reviews
I have such a FUN post for you all today that includes FANTASTIC kickstart eats and some fun organizers that I am super excited to share.
My 3 Weight Watcher Point Kickstart breakfast today was Apple Cinnamon Oats in my super cool new Annie’s cup.
1/2 c Quaker Old Fashioned Oats
1 tbsp ground flaxseed
1 c water
All cooked in the microwave for 2 minutes.
Stir in 1/2 c natural applesauce and cinnamon. Sprinkled with more cinnamon and a packet of Raw Sugar ~ YUM!
I had a cup of Celestial True BLUEBERRY Tea on the side that I received in my Blogger goodie swap. I LOVE that it was actually blue ~ it was tasty and would be totally like dessert with some agave nectar added.
I pondered more shopping at lunch, but, was pretty much sold when my co-workers mentioned Mamarella’s! I LOVE this place, but, realized this was the first time I’ve ever eaten inside. We sat next to this HUGE wreath that smelled amazing ~ now I totally WANT to put something pine like on me at all times:D
Fun decor inside ~ LOVE the artwork.
Fizzy water!
I started off with a cup of Tuscany White Bean Soup. I LOVED how broth like it was and the addition of fresh spinach on top was AWESOME!
Did you all guess it?! I “know” I NEED to branch out to try something else, but, when, you find something that is THAT good, why not get it again.
Grilled Beet Salad with grilled chicken added.
I actually think I ate an entire TWO roasted beets. The cheese is ricotta salata sorta like the parmesan version of ricotta. It added a great saltiness to the sweet beets and oranges.
I stole one of my co-workers chips when she said that they were homemade ~ I’ve never met a chip I didn’t like.
Since there were THREE of us, we could totally justify a GIA! One day, I will order this as a MEAL itself. Ready to hear what it’s made of???
Pizza dough stuffed with BANANA and NUTELLA and sprinkle with powdered sugar and cocoa = LOVE!!!!
I picked up a 2 WWP Decaf Fat Free Latte and drizzled the foam with honey for my afternoon snack.
Plus 2 points of cashew nuttiness.
I know you all have been wondering when I was going to get back to cooking and providing recipes, right?! Tonight, I finally whipped up a delicious NEW recipe ~ Spicy Potato and Corn Chowder ~ 6 Points a Serving! I don’t think The Husband could handle the heat, but, I LOVED it! The perfect soup to warm you up on a cold winter night and it takes minutes to cook. No worries ~ the recipe is coming soon.
After dinner, I opened up the box that had been staring me down all night. I was SO EXCITED when I saw it was the Plan-A-Meal Bundle from the AWESOME Peeps at Knock Knock.
Have you all ever heard of Knock Knock? They are this really fun company that creates interesting and creative stationary products for just about anything you can think of. I think that they have some great organizational products, like the Plan-A-Meal Bundle and HILARIOUS products like the Total Crap Folder, 2010 365 Days to Procrastinate Calendar, and the “While You Were Nifty Notes” . The Husband totally thinks I need The DECISION KIT because he would totally make me wear the PIN when I make a decision ~ whatev!
I seriously could spend hours looking at their site and cracking up ~ I LOVE that they bring humor into the organization process.
The Plan-A-Meal Bundle rocks! You get 3 things to help you DO LESS and EAT MORE ~ um, total selling point for me right there
The ALL OUT OF PAD includes little boxes that you can check off of things you run out of as you eat. It has a magnet right on it so you put in on the fridge so YOUR HUSBAND, you can mark them off as you use them up. LOVE it!
The next note pad in the kit is the WHAT TO EAT PAD. I plan out all my meals on the back of my shopping list so this will definitely help to keep me from throwing out the list of what to make. Each note pad includes 60 pages.
Even the descriptions on the back are fun and the magnet is HUGE so it won’t slide off your door!
The TAKEOUT MENU ORGANIZER takes dining out to a whole new level. I have only thought to collect menus, but, this allows you to organize them.
It comes with a set of dividers and sticking labels that are broken down by cuisine.
I LOVE the menu order forms and tip calculate on the side. I can totally see asking The Husband to “place his order” with these.
A pen attached so you NEVER need to find one. They seriously have thought of EVERYTHING you need.
The first divider has a place to put all the numbers of the places you frequently call so you don’t have to dig through menus to find the number.
Each cuisine divider has a pocket to put the menu or receipts or orders in along with a different fun quote on the bottom. This one from Yogi Berra is MY FAVORITE “You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six!”
Finally, to make you a pro at ordering out, an entire page dedicated to the process of ordering TAKE OUT ~ seriously, who knew there was such a thing?!
A BIG THANKS to the people at Knock-Knock, I am super impressed and The Husband is already trying to figure out what to order next.
I am definitely thinking that some of their things would make FUN STOCKING stuffers and gifts for my co-workers!
OHHHHH and it gets BETTER ~ I will be hosting a KNOCK KNOCK GIVEAWAY for you all beginning TOMORROW NIGHT!
I am off to type up my Spicy Potato and Corn Chowder recipe for you all then zonk out.
See you all tomorrow for some GIVEAWAY FUN!
Time flies when your getting ready for Christmas
The weekend has totally flown by but I feel SO ACCOMPLISHED! We managed to go from 0% of our Christmas Shopping complete to 90%. We cleaned, did laundry, set up our tree, completed our Christmas Cards and mailed them along with our Christmas packages! Oh, and I think I may have relaxed a little too somewhere in there
I have totally been wanting to try out this super spicy Pepper Sauce we bought in Barbados. They gave out samples that you drank out of the cup, I used my finger and well, The Husband drank it. His face was so red I just knew it had to be THAT HOT and good.
I thought it was interesting that the first ingredient is mustard since it doesn’t really taste mustard like at all.
I used the sauce to whip up a FANTASTIC veggie scramble.
1/4 c chopped yellow bell pepper
1/4 c chopped red onion
1/2 c chopped mushrooms
4 cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 Egg
1 Egg White
Splash of Fat Free Milk
Splash of Hot Sauce
Sea Salt & Pepper
Topped with 2 Tbsp Low Fat Cheddar Cheese
Preheat a nonstick pan with nonstick cooking spray over medium low heat. Add the veggies and cook 3-4 minutes. Combine egg, egg whites, hot sauce, milk, sea salt and pepper. Add egg mixture to pan and cook until done. Top with cheese.
I made up a Tropicana 100% Juice Spritzer to go with breakfast. 1/2 c OJ with fizzy water and ice.
I added extra hot sauce as I ate ~ SO GOOD! I could totally eat this all over again and it was only 4 WW points.
While The Husband slept in, I ran around getting things done around the house. I picked us up Starbuck’s to get our day started. Today I got a DIRTY LATTE! I LOVE ordering it – so fun. Grande FF decaf latte with 1-2 pumps of chocolate (depending on how much chocolate you want to taste). Each pump is 1 point and the grande latte is 3 points. YUM – it was like hot chocolate that wasn’t super sweet!
When we got home we were both starved and wanting something warm since it has been raining all weekend. I pulled out a box of the Campbell’s V8 Vegetable Blend Soup to try.
I have to admit when you pour it into the pan, it looks pretty nasty. I was surprised at how thick it was as I expected it to be a broth based soup. I honestly thought this soup was just ok ~ it was very canned tasting to me and I didn’t finish it even after doctoring it up with salt, pepper and hot sauce. (2 WWP)
The total highight of lunch were these Whole Wheat Lavish Wraps I bought at Whole Foods.
Check out these AMAZING stats ~ the entire thing is only 2 points. I totally want to use one to make a LAVISH PIZZA!
I made a Cheesy Mushroom Quesadilla to go with my soup.
1 Whole Wheat Lavish Wrap, folded in 1/2
1/2 c sliced mushrooms
1/4 c Big S Farms HOT Habenero Salsa
1/4 c Low Fat Cheese
Cooked up in nonstick cooking spray. It was AFTER I made it that I realized this would’ve been PERFECT in my new PANINI PRESS – ahhh! Oh well, next time.
I LOVE these lavish wraps – they are like a cross between and pita and a flour tortilla but super soft and loaded with flavor. (4 WWP). I had a baby organic Fuji apple for dessert that somehow went un-pictured.
After lunch, we broke out some of our Christmas decorations. We decided to go simple this year with our Charlie Brown Tree instead of re-arranging for a big tree. I LOVE our Jr TREE!
I spent the rest of the afternoon filling out Christmas cards and putting together packages to mail. I had planned on making the Potato Chowder, but, decided it could wait until tomorrow (sorry all I opted for leftovers ~ Delicious Arrabiatta Spaghetti with Meatballs a la The Husband. (8 WW Points). I skipped my veggies with healthy oil for tonight.
I am off to curl up with 1 of the 3 magazines I bought this weekend and some tea by our tree!
Nite all!
Shop til you drop….
I have been wanting to have time ALL week to make one of the Kick Start egg-y breakfasts. They all sound so amazing. I chose to have Ham n Eggs with veggies.
I started off with some mushrooms sautéed in nonstick spray with sea salt and pepper.
Plus a “browned” tomato that you cook in nonstick spray at the end of everything. It looks so cool and the browning catches all the flavor of the veggies and ham.
3 slices of Trader Joe’s Lean Canadian Bacon (only 1 pt for 3)
All together with an Egg over hard and decaf Cinnamon Vanilla Nut Coffee. I ended up making a little ham/egg sandwich – it was fun and my entire breakfast was only 3 Weight Watcher Points ~ yeah!
After breakfast and blogging, we set out on a mission in the rain to buy as many of our Christmas presents as we could. I LOVE it when The Husband wants to shop with me because he can totally help when I can’t make up my mind. I bribed him with a Starbuck’s
I had a Grande FF Decaf latte for 2 points.
I was completely focused on our mission that we never stopped for lunch. Around 2 pm I was STARVING so I managed to dig this bag of cashews out of my purse to share with The Husband. I may or may not have given into a couple of Costco samples too.
I’d totally LOVE to show you all our gifts, but, um, well, The Family would know what we got them. I am super excited about TWO NEW NY&Co Jackets I picked up for me.
NY&Co is having a big sale and these jackets were marked down 40%. I got an even better deal when I used my $40 off coupon plus I had a $25 credit I “HAD” to use ~ SCORE! I picked out this color and their green for fun! LOVE that store!
We literally shopped ALL day long. When we got home, we both were starving. I LOVE The Husband – he offered to cook us dinner!
The fantastic peeps at Ronzoni sent us a sample of their new Smart Taste White Pasta that has the SAME nutritionals at WHOLE WHEAT PASTA. I really think The Husband wanted to cooked so we’d have this pasta versus wheat 
Great STATS! It has 3 times the fiber of regular pasta. Drumroll please ~ for all my Weight Watcher Friends this is ONLY 3 Weight Watcher Points vs 4 – woohoo!
Plus no funky ingredients – LOVE it already!
KITCHEN TIP ~ Not sure if you all do this or not, but, if you add just a tad of your pasta sauce to your pasta after you drain it, the noodles will not stick together and you do NOT have to add any oil to the water this way.
We served up the pasta with Trader Joe’s Arrabbiata sauce, mini meatballs and fresh parmesan. YUM! I LOVE the little spicy kick of the red pepper flakes in this TJ’s sauce and the pasta is tasty too. It honestly tastes just like white pasta. So, for all those out there who have picky eaters, this might be a great solution for you to get them to eat pasta with better nutritionals.
Plus Parmesan Zucchini.
Dinner was 10 WWP – FAST, EASY and like having a personal chef 
YUM!
After dinner, I relaxed with the December issue of Cooking Light Magazine that arrived today (Thanks, Time, Inc.)! The December issue is one of my FAVORITE issues because it’s always a DOUBLE issue. I look forward to it EVERY year.
Here are a few of my FAVORITE things in this month’s issue. My Kitchen Gadget wish list!
The photography is AMAZING. Seriously – look at these pictures, I totally need to take lessons from them.
POPCORN BRITTLE What an ingenious idea ~ save on calories and fat by subbing popcorn for nuts. Part Caramel Corn and part Brittle ~ what’s not to LOVE about that combination! I NEED to try it – I heart all things that are caramel plus salty, sweet and crunchy.
12 FUN days of goodies you can make and SAMPLE too since they are lightened up. I already know I will sample more than I should so I honestly do make a few things from Cooking light when I bake. Hello, Macadamia Butter Cookies (less than 80 calories each!)
For those drinkers ~ an article about The Positive Power of Drinking
There are sooo many recipes I want to try in this issue. Here are a few that stood out to me.
Mushroom & Roasted Red Pepper Tarts (Vegetarian!)
A FUN Cuban Sandwich that I can try out on my new Cuisnart Panini Press!!!
There is also a section for 20 minute Super Fast Asian Foods which I KNOW I will be using too. Ok, I’ll stop because I could go on for days about this month’s Cooking Light issue. It’s awesome ~ check it out the next time you are at the store and I am sure you will want it.
You can also browse a sample of articles and ALL the RECIPES in this month’s issue online for FREE. Simply click HERE.
So after looking at all that deliciousness and the fact that we had dinner super early, I had a 3 point snack of Kashi Crackers and Sargento Low-Fat Colby Cheese.
Our day is going to be filled with more shopping, cleaning, setting up our Christmas decorations and hopefully filing out cards.
It’s raining again so I am definitely looking forward to the Healthy Potato Chowder we are making tonight! Be sure to check back later for THAT super easy recipe
I hope you all have a FANTASTIC Sunday.
2 days of Fun ~ Recaps & Winner!
Filed under: Kick Start, Product Give Aways, Work Fun
Happy Saturday all! I have so much fun stuff to share with you all so get ready for a 2 day recap including fun mail, our holiday party and the Campbell’s Soup Fun Pack Winner.
Ready, set, go…….Here is how Thursday started out.
My 4 Weight Watcher Point breakfast was…
1 Mango, diced
1 Low-fat Chobani Plain Greek Yogurt
Drizzle of Honey
Sprinkle of Cinnamon
Sprinkle of Trader Joe’s Fiber Twigs
It was pretty tasty, however, I think I LOVE TJ’s Greek Yogurt better. I liked the consistency of the Chobani, however, it was a bit more tart that others.
I repeated my snackage of the prior day – I think that this is my favorite combo. 3 Points ~ Kashi Original 7-grain Crackers, 1 LF Sargento Colby Cheese Square and carrots.
Lunch was spent doing a bunch of last minute holiday party prep for work. We ordered in from Mamarella’s! I was sooooo excited to see that they modified their beet salad to add GREENS the way I ordered it the last time I was there. I added some delicious grilled chicken for protein and had the Citrus Vinaigrette on the side.
I LOVED the HUGE beets!
Lunch also involved “Snowman Soup”
A billion times!
Nothing too fancy, but, so fun to make! Have you all ever made up Snowman Soup? It’s so easy and fun. Here is a picture of the printout we used to make up our cups.
In addition to making up little packets with Hershey’s Kisses, Marshmallows (Snowballs), Hot Cocoa and Candy Canes, we added these super cool recycled Pens and Berry Chapsticks!
I was so busy all afternoon that I missed my snack 
When I got home I had a SUPER cool package waiting for me. A little while back Tina of Carrots n Cake had sent me a coupon for Open Sky to get $25 off any product. Well, I can’t exactly resist not getting $25 off a fun kitchen appliance and the shipping was FREE!!! Woohooo! Thanks T – You rock!!!!
I have always wanted the Cuisinart Panini Press but never bought one since I have a George Foreman. I LOVE that there are several interchangeable plates. This is soooo going to be put to use ASAP.
We had to run a bunch of errands to pick up some last minute stuff for the holiday party. So, The Husband offered to buy dinner , we sat down and then ended up having to get dinner to go because we had to go help his boss out. I managed to get the perfect Kick Start meal (minus brown rice since they didn’t have it)
Grilled Teriyaki Chicken
Veggies
Rice
AWESOME! I ate in the car as we drove LOL. While I was walking around gathering all the supplies I needed, I came across the KARATE KID!
He is such a clown ~ LOVE him!
Phew ! That was Thursday ~ busy, busy! My Body Bugg stats rocked 12,274 steps and 3,128 calories burned. I am not sure I really sat down ALL day.
**********************************************************************************************
Onto Friday ~ the day of the Holiday party! I made up a quick 3 point Egg Sandwich togo, I didn’t get any coffee or hot water and I definitely didn’t pass go and collect $200 LOL.
I scrambled around work for a couple of hours, then, it was time to set up for the party. I snapped just a few pictures of the day, but, will share more later if I get the chance.
Our party was hosted at Ristorante Allegria ~ LOVE this place and the two brothers who run it. They do an amazing job and are completely accommodating in everyway.
DECOR!! 
Snow Man Mugs, fun Annie’s Chico Bags that actually clip onto your pockets and can hold 25 lbs!
FREE Straus Organic Ice Cream!!!
All of our wine was provided by Sutter Home as well!
FUN MENU that you all saw us sample when we had to try out the places to eat at. Yes, this was my one planned meal that wasn’t going to be part of the Kickstart program, but, that’s ok – it’s all about moderation, right?!
I had a slice of bread to go with my glass of red wine.
I had 2 artichokes, 1 pea and 1 calamari dipped in the spicy chipotle sauce.
The BEST salad ever! I LOVED it and they even forgot to leave the stinky blue cheese off. It wasn’t potent so I didn’t mind
It had Baby Arugula, Red Wine Poached Pears, Jicama, Toasted Walnuts, Papaya Vinaigrette
Then, my co-worker and I decided to split 2 entrees and share. I had 1/2 of the steak and 1/2 of the chicken ~ both were AMAZING! I was sad my third co-worker couldn’t attend because I totally wanted those pumpkin ravioli’s
I had a few bites of my Cheesecake for dessert that went unpictured (oops).
We all had fun playing along in the Murder Mystery (I think) and it was great watching my co-workers totally get into their roles. I won $50 in the raffle too – yahoo!
When I got home I was completely exhausted so I opted with one of the Kick Start dining out options!
Salad with Balsamic and 2 tsp Olive Oil.
Plus a mini veggie pizza.
Campbell’s Soup Fun Pack Giveaway Winner is……
Chosen Via Random.org:
29. neicy on Thu, 10th Dec 2009 4:27 pm
My fave soup is the minestrone at Olive Garden. It is DEEEELICIOUS
Congrats Neicy! Please send me your snail mail address so I can get your Campbell’s Soup Pack sent to you ASAP.
No worries to those who didn’t win ~ I have more giveaways coming up next week – yahoo!
YEAH! All caught up! Now I am off to tackle our Christmas list and decorations ~ we haven’t done anything yet, yikes!
See ya all later!
P.S. FOR THOSE WHO HAVE A CUISINART PANINI PRESS OR ANY IDEAS ~ HOW HAVE YOU USED YOURS AND ANY FUN RECIPES?
Sponsors
MY OPEN SKY SHOP
Just a few of my favorite things
