Here's my weekly weigh in, a recap of what I’ve posted this week, recipes and articles on other websites and blogs that I’ve bookmarked, a brief assessment and reflection of the week, and my plan and motivational quote for the upcoming week.
I find it helpful to pause, assess, and reflect and do a little planning each week. It helps keep me on track and moving forward.
This was another busy one with Weight Watchers. I added 2 more meetings to my schedule on Tuesdays at lunchtime 🙂 and attended two health fairs Wednesday. I'm continuing to love this work and learn something new each and every day. I feel so grateful for the opportunity to do work I'm passionate about.
Enjoy!
On Simple Nourished Living This Week:
Lightened-Up Lemon Cream Cheese Bars - quick, easy and delicious lemon cream cheese bars that begin with a cake mix (4 PointsPlus)
Enlightened Carrot Cupcakes Recipe - Lighter, healthier carrot cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting that are just as moist and delicious as traditional carrot cake, in a perfectly portion controlled package. (6 PointsPlus)
Lightened Up Red Potato Salad Recipe - made with nonfat plain Greek yogurt and light mayonnaise (3 PointsPlus)
Easy Whole Wheat Pizza with artichokes - easy, healthy and delicious using store-bought whole wheat pizza dough (7 PointsPlus)
What I Bookmarked This Week:
Weight Watchers friendly recipes and tips from other blogs and websites that I liked and found helpful and thought you would too:
Shrimp Pad Thai on the Lighter Side - I love pad thai, but have never made it myself. I plan on changing that soon. (SkinnyTaste)
Steel Cut Oatmeal Walnut Cookies - Plan on making a lightened-up version of these soon. (Cookie Madness)
Indian Watermelon Salad - a savory watermelon salad with radishes, lime and chat masala (Jeannette's Healthy Living)
Yogurt Scones - I love scones but have never made them with yogurt. The next time I do want to use this recipe (Chocolate & Zucchini)
2 Minute Mango Citrus Sorbet - what's not to like about a yummy recipe that takes about 2 minutes to make? (Healthful Pursuit)
*PointsPlus® and SmartPoints® calculated by Simple Nourished Living; Not endorsed by Weight Watchers International, Inc. All recipe ingredients except optional items included in determining nutritional estimates. SmartPoints® values calculated WITHOUT Weight Watchers Zero Points fruits and vegetables using the WW Recipe Builder.
What's On the Menu Next Week:
I don't plan out a week's worth of menus at a time. I tried and it just didn't work for me. Life and my appetite are too erratic to plan more than a day or two at a time. But I do keep a running list of recipes I want to try posted on my cookbook holder in the kitchen. Here's what's on it at the moment:
- Whipped Cream Chocolate Pie - as a Father's Day treat on Sunday
- A simple chicken and white bean soup using salsa to use up the leftover rotisserie chicken from last night.
- Salmon Cakes/Patties - on top of a salad or with steamed broccoli, sliced tomatoes and a simple Asian cucumber salad, I haven't quite decided
- Eggplant Parmesan Melts from 5 Easy Steps to Healthy Cooking: 500 Recipes for Lifelong Wellness by Camilla Saulsbury, one of my favorite cookbooks of the moment
- Breakfast Bars with just 6 ingredients that look and sound delicious. May change my mind once I calculate the PointsPlus! (Nigella Lawson)
- Chilled Asapargus Soup with Spinach and Avocado from Power Foods: 150 Delicious Recipes with the 38 Healthiest Ingredients for Friday's 38 Power Foods Group.
The Good & Not So Good This Week:
- Met my goal of trying 2 new healthy recipes: Easy Whole Wheat Pizza with artichokes and Enlightened Carrot Cupcakes Recipe
- Met my activity goals of walking Francie 6 days and getting on my yoga mat most days
- Had lunch out with Mom on Monday, at Q'doba where I had their pick 2 (new mango salad and tacos, tossing out one tortilla for about 12 PointsPlus). They have a fun menu builder that lets you pick and choose ingredients with all the nutritional details. Friday we went to Sweet Tomatoes, which I hadn't been to in years. Focused on the veggies at the salad bar, avoiding all the prepared salads which can be really high in fat and calories. Treated myself to a little nonfat vanilla/chocolate swirl frozen yogurt for dessert (3 PointsPlus) I find it really hard to estimate my PointsPlus values and NOT overeat when I go to a buffet, even when it's relatively healthy, which is why I only do it a few times a year.
- Led two new Weight Watchers AT WORK meetings on Tuesday at lunchtime.
- Learned that my sister, who lives in Denver but is planning to move as soon as her house sells, thinks she has a real offer!
- Finally got my June Simple Nourished Living newsletter out.
- Most people might find my life boring, but I love it's steady rhythm. I'm a creature of habit. I've lived in a warm and loving home, with virtually no drama and little angst for more than 10 years and couldn't be happier or more grateful.
My Expectations and Plans for the Coming Week:
- Get ready for this week's meetings. The topic is Why You Should Eat What You Love (affiliate link). This should be a fun one for me since I feel like I've spent the past few years really embracing this and learning not to waste my PointsPlus values on foods that didn't please me.
- Track my food and activity everyday.
- Walk Francie for 30 minutes at least 6 days this week and spend at least 20 minutes on my yoga mat at least 4 days.
- Try at least 2 new healthy recipes.
- Blog at least 4 days.
- Begin compiling recipes for my next e-cookbook.
- Have lunch with mom at least 2 times.
- Enjoy my sister's visit if she comes to town this week as she's planning
Quote For the Week:
"To Eat is a Necessity. To Eat Intelligently is an Art."
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