Let the celebration begin…
Happy Sunday all! We had a FANTASTIC weekend kicking off The Husband’s Birthday celebration…His birthday isn’t until Monday, but, he pretty much is convinced it’s his Birthday week 
It was completely AWESOME to take this weekend off and completely unplug from everything ~ I really needed it and it helped me to realize a few things I’ve been pondering for a few months now. But, more on that coming up this week!
Ok, so I wasn’t really planning on “un-plugging” that much, but, I am without my DROID now until Tuesday since their latest update made it crash :/ I never realized I’d be so sad to be without my phone, yet, at the same time….how sad is that that I am sad over my phone LOL….makes, sense, right?
I guess the brighter side of that is that it didn’t happen on vacation and I get a NEW phone free of charge!
* WEEKEND HIGHLIGHT *
We celebrated The Husband’s birthday with my family on Saturday night because he asked my Mom/Dad to have a “Poker Night” at the casinos with my Dad!
We started off at Outback Steakhouse. Have you all seen their new ONLINE NUTRITIONAL CALCULATOR?! It’s really cool because you can customize your meal including leaving butter off your vegetables, etc to get the stats ~ LOVE THAT!
I could’ve had my salad without cheese or croutons, but, I LOVE them so I left them.
I ALWAYS get their FAT FREE Tangy Tomato on the side…it’s like a spicy French and completely delicious!
I managed to eat only 1 slice of bread too – SCORE!
I added on grilled shrimp onto my entree so The Husband and I could share. I had 3 and he had 2. I think I could eat the entire plate of these spicy cajun shrimp.
Steamed Fresh Veggies without the seasoned butter.
I had a 6 oz sirloin with Teriyaki Sauce for dipping. I am not sure why they had the mustard sauce on the plate, but, everything was so delicious it wasn’t needed.
My entire meal was 15 points and 100% worth EVERY point. I felt good eating it too, not weighed down and proud that I made thought out choices.
My Parents got The Husband the CUTEST card ~ believe it or not, it got him a little choked up 
<3!
SO CUTE ~ I LOVE you Mom & Dad & Jay said he does too
Ummm, yup, I totally stole a few bites of this too
Of course after dinner we headed off to Red Hawk Casino and won some $ had fun! My mom and I ended up letting the boys play poker and escaped to watch The Other Guys. It was totally slapstick funny – I LOVE Will Ferrell – he’s a hoot!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY “EVE” TO MY FAVORITE PERSON IN THE WORLD!!! XOXO
More fun is planned for him this week, but, he doesn’t know that yet 
I can’t wait to see who THE NEXT FOOD NETWORK STAR is tonight!!! Off to watch the show!
Just FOUR days til we head to Florida & The Bahamas……um, but, whose counting
Night all!
The Pita Pit!
Happy Monday all! This weekend was awesome, but, I am not sure we were home other than to sleep We discovered quite possibly my favorite new place (and The Husband likes it too!), celebrated my mom’s birthday and scored some pretty cool things at the Antique Fair. I am actually starting to like Antiquing because you can find cookbooks for super cheap….nope, totally doesn’t help my addiction at all
SATURDAY
Breakfast was Honey Bunches of Oats with a nectarine & 1/2 cup ff Milk (4 points). I find I only need 1/2 a cup alot of the time and can save 1 point by doing so.
Anytime there is a road trip, there is Starbuck’s! Grande iced FF decaf latte with caramel drizzle (2 pts)
Lunch was at The Pita Pit! I LOVE this place for so many reasons!
One of them is of course their fun decor!
They are totally healthy, but, you can also make a totally bad pita too and they are relatively inexpensive. I was surprised The Husband agreed because he thinks Pitas are weird, but, glad he totally LOVED it!
You start off by picking what you what on the inside ~ I picked the Chicken Crave ~ Chicken plus ham!
Then, you pick your pita (whole wheat, white or fork style (one a salad)), toppings and sauces.
Majority of their toppings are 0 points because they are veggies. But, I think the BEST part is that they have a BUILD YOUR PITA online so you can build it ahead of time to know the nutritionals!
I picked pretty much everything to go inside mine:
* Chicken & Ham
* Grilled mushrooms, onions and bell peppers
* Romaine, tomatoes, pickles, pepperoncini’s
* PINEAPPLE, corn, olives
* BBQ sauce, Hot Sauce, Tzatziki Sauce
* Whole Wheat Pita
10 points of YUM!
I was too full for the Baked Lay’s I picked out so I saved them for afternoon snack (2 pts).
My Mom’s birthday celebration was at Old Spaghetti Factory. I am really digging that so many of these places now have all their nutritionals online. It definitely makes it easier to pick a healthier option.
Did you know if you pick the Minestrone soup it’s only 60 calories?! It was too hot for soup so I went with salad with the Creamy Pesto on the side (I LOVE this dressing and it’s worth it to dip my fork to use a little over having a lot of their FF honey mustard). (3 pts)
Spinach & Cheese ravioli’s with mushroom sauce (10 pts), delicious and completely satisfying.
SUNDAY
Shocker #2 of the weekend ~ The Husband (for the first time EVER since I have known him) actually ate oatmeal with me! I have never known him to eat oatmeal!
My “Perfect Oatmeal” ~ Quaker Old Fashioned Oatmeal, sprinkle of TJ’s Berry Blend, 1 Tbsp Whipped Butter and 2 tsp brown sugar. (5 pts)
I don’t mix in the butter or the sugar because that way you get a little with each bite and it tastes like CARAMEL!
Road Trip #2 ~ The Antique Fair. Same Starbuck’s (2 pts).
The Husband bought the coolest popcorn mix at the Fair I’ve ever seen ~ Kettle PopCorn Mixed with Caramel Kettle Korn ~ HOLY!
I typically pretend he doesn’t have this when he does because I know once I start, I can’t stop. But, I LOVED seeing that they have their nutritionals on the bag and could totally justify a few handfuls for 4 pts.
Ingredients too! Fair food is getting so sophisticated – LOVE it!
After spending like 4 hours walking around, we worked up an appetite again for The Pita Pit!!!!
This time I got the Chicken Aloha! (11 pts because I had cheese!)
* Grilled Chicken, ham, mushrooms, bell pepper, onions
* GRILLED Pineapple, Teriyaki Sauce
* Swiss Cheese
* Romaine, tomatoes, cucumbers, pickles, pepperoncini’s, jalapeño, corn
* Tzatziki Sauce
DELICOUS! I actually LOVED the BBQ/Hot Sauce combo better, but, this was a good change. I honestly think I could go back to this place and try everything ~ they even make Breakfast pitas!
It’s probably a good thing it’s an hour drive away
On our drive home, we stopped by our friends for a BBQ ~ Delicious Lemon Pepper chicken with potatoes, tomatoes and corn.(5 pts)
FUN FINDS OF THE WEEKEND!
* 2 New books I got at the Antique Fair for $4
* 6 Napkins & 6 Placemats for only $9 at Kohl’s!
Now, I just need a weekend to recover from our weekend ~ I can’t wait to get back in the kitchen
See you all tonight!
On the road again…
We started Saturday off with another Road Trip I told The Husband we needed to have a little fun after busting our booties for the past 3 weeks to get our rental ready for our new tenants.
I whipped up a fast breakfast to take on the go starting with Fresh Organic Blueberries (1 pt)
Then, a simple egg sandwich on Tj’s FF Multi-Grain Bread (4 pts).
Yup, I really did take my “Kick Start” materials with me so I could do my best to make “good choices” as close to the plan as possible.
Can you believe I resisted my usual Iced Latte and got just a plain black decaf coffee (0 pts).
Road trip snackage ~ Weight Watchers Ranch Multigrain Crisps and a Mini Babybel Light (3 pts).
Is it funny that I can be bribed with food?? I can admit it. the Husband managed to get me to agree to go to Reno (I LOVE Lake Tahoe any day over Reno) with the promise of Michael’s Deli.
I really LOVED The Thai Chicken Salad I got last time and as much as I should’ve adventured out, I just had to get it again.
Holy huge salad…..Note to self, order it to go because you get like 10 x’s more. I LOVE HUGE salads.
I really need to re-create their dressing, but, what really makes this salad delicious is the Sweet Chili sauce they drizzle over the chicken.
Oh and the fact that it’s fully loaded with all types of crunch, spice and flavor ~ LOVE! (10 point estimate since it was HUGE).
Speaking of HUGE..The Husband ordered their Mile High Pastrami.
He loved it and even shared his pickles with me. I LOVE pickles.
For dinner The Husband really wanted BBQ. So, I pulled up my Urban Spoon Droid app (I LOVE this one!) and locked in BBQ. OMG….I couldn’t believe it when this showed up?!
I cannot believe that there is a Buffalo Wild Wings within driving distance and I never knew it! (Liz it totally figures I’d find it after you hooked us up)
I LOVE their Buffalo Sauce way too much to resist having a few of these. So freakin’ good! (6 pts and worth it in every way).
I traded in my fries for a garden salad with the lemons used as dressing on the side (3 pts)
Then, split this Honey BBQ Bacon Cheesy Chicken Sandwich with The Husband. Their BBQ sauce rocks too….I think I might just LOVE all the BWW sauces. (1/2 = 6 pts estimate)
I busted into my extra weekly points and it’s totally worth it when you are spending it on good food that you can’t get every day.
Off to finish day 2 of our Road Trip before heading off to finish up the business at our rental.
Happy Sunday All!
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