Great Website for WW Recipes w/ points ilsted

Chec it out: http://www.joycesfinecooking.com/weightwatchers.htm

Back on Weight Watchers

Well......I gotta go back on Weight Watchers because I need a little focus again......I was doing it before I got pregnant and lost 14 pounds....then I got pregnant and didn't do it, but I did make sure I was eating according to the new food pyramid and trying to get a balanced diet...I managed to gain pregnancy weight that was within the healthy range of 25-35 (I gained 30)......and then after having the baby the eight started to come off really easily, almost too easily and I quickly lost focus because I was eating ice cream, full fat dairy products and huge burgers and pizza and the weight was still coming off......but recently I seemed to hit a plateau and put back on 3 pounds (when I only had 6 pounds to go to ger to my pre-pregnancy weight).....so, I needed a little focus on my portion control and choices and decided it was best to go back on weight watchers....I am breastfeeding, so I need to add 10 points to my points and I should be able to lose a 1/2-1 pound a week without compromising my breastmilk production.

So, tonight I am going to make whole wheat spaghetti with pesto (WW recipe) and tomatoes. I am leaving out the pinenuts simply because I don't have any, and I don't need then anyways. By leaving out the pinenuts I get to take off a half a point per serving, making this pesto 1.5 points per serving.

Wish me luck -- I would like to be back to my pre-pregnancy weight at the end of October. Hopefully I will be able to start fitting back into more of my pre-pregnancy pants.

Lavender Tea Bread

Lavender Tea Bread

Ingredients:
3/4 cup milk
2 Tbsp. dried lavender flowers, finely chopped, or 3 Tbsp. fresh chopped flowers
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
6 Tbsp. butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs

Directions:
Grease a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Heat milk with lavender almost to a boil, then steep until cool. Mix flour, baking powder and salt together in bowl. In another bowl cream butter and gradually add sugar, then eggs, one at a time, beating until light and fluffy. Add flour mixture alternately with lavender milk, in three parts. Mix until batter is just blended, do not overbeat. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool. When completely cool, drizzle with a simple sugar glaze or sprinkle with confectioners' sugar. Garnish with sprigs of fresh lavender.
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I made this for breakfast one day when my parents were here visiting. It was pretty good. Light on the lavender flavor. And when you eat it, you just feel like you should be drinking tea of coffee with it. I also made fresh squeezed lavender lemonade, but I didn't care for it. It was too strong on the lavender.

Lentil Tomato Sauce

I am making this Lentil Tomato Sauce tonight. I will let you know how it turns out. I saw the recipe in Body & Soul magazine and just had to try it. It looks so good. Smells good coooking right now. I like that magazine.

It's about 8 WW points (8.18) for the whole thing - sauce & pasta.

I used FF yogurt & whole wheat pasta, so it is probably closer to 8pts. The sauce is very thick and filling and you get quite a bit of it. It's actually more sauce than pasta (or maybe it's 50:50.)

But I am not doing WW right now, so I am going to sprinkle some cheese on top.

The other great thing is that you get 23g of protein in a serving. And because you are eating the lentil with pasta it is a compelte protein (bonus!) I am actually serving broccoli on the side, which combined with pasta or lentils also makes a complete protein. You can figure out how much protein you need here. It all depends upon how much you weigh, but typially Americans eat too much protein. But you can figure you need around 100g, so this one meal will give you 1/4 of your protein needs for the day.

Peanut Butter Banana Bread

So, this is in the oven right now. So I will have to comment later on how it tastes. I had some bananas to use up and have been craving peanut butter, so I went searching for a recipe and this sounded good. Although I altered it to make it healthier and more natural (less processed.) I try to use organic ingredients whenever I can. So, what you see is how I made it.

Peanut Butter Banana Bread

1 3/4 C whole wheat flour, sift before measuring
2 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 C apple sauce
3/4 cup peanut butter, crunchy or smooth (I used crunchy)
1 t vanilla
1/3 C honey
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup mashed bananas

Sift together flour, baking powder, soda, cinnamon and salt; set aside. Cream apple sauce, vanilla and peanut butter, then beat in honey and eggs. Alternately add dry ingredients and bananas, stirring with a wooden spoon.

Pour batter into well-greased and floured loaf pan and bake at 350° for 1 hour.

Cucumber Cilantro Salad

This would have NO WW points. Woohoo! But you have to like cilantro. I will type out the recipe I used to make the salad for 6-8 people, but I think it needs half as much cilantro as the original recipe, so I will be typing it up with half as much. I really liked it. This is a great alternative to the traditional cucumber salad. I made it with cucumber & cilantro from my own garden. BTW - I planted some cilatro, as it is an annual, but it had re-seeded itself from last year too. I didn't know it would do that.

Cucumber Cilantro Salad

4 cucumbers
4 T fresh lime juice
2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 T chopped fresh cilantro


Peel cucumbers, slice lengthwise into quarters, and cut into 1 inch pieces; place in large bowl. Sprinkle with lime juice, chili powder, and salt; toss. Toss with cilantro. Refrigerate until chilled.