Weight Watchers Week 1

So my first week back on the program was REALLY good. I lost 6.6 lbs!!! GO ME!!! I know this pace won't last but it's great for now.

Bad thing did happen today. A couple of weeks ago, I ordered a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts from a little girl across the street. They came in today. I must confess, before I left for my meeting, I added 3 of them into my etools on Weight Watchers.com. I had the points left afterall, since I always eat light on Monday's before my weigh in on Monday night. Before the meeting I had 19.5 points left and 3 doughnuts were 16.5. But I'm happy to say that after weighing in, I didn't do it. I made one of my homemade pizzas for 5 points with a glass of milk. I did have ONE Krispy Kreme and then put the rest in the freezer to be eaten SLOWLY and not only by me. With Delmar's recent diabetes diagnosis and me on WW we didn't need a box of fresh yumminess sitting around the house. I did leave a couple out for Emily's breakfast. :)

Anywho, here's to another fantastic week.

Menu Planning/Kitchen Work

I've been working this week on getting food into the freezer and planning menus. Since Delmar was gone over the 4th weekend shooting fireworks in Southern IL, Emily and I decided to make him a special dinner last night. I loaded up 4 kids and off to IGA we went to by steaks. This was miraculous two-fold. First of all, many of you know that I don't travel too much with the babysitting kids, it just makes me nervous and secondly, I rarely buy steaks and NEVER full price... It was indeed a special day! With the steaks, I made cheesy tater tots with onions and peppers and fresh green beans - from my garden :o) - made with soy sauce, olive oil and fresh garlic. YUMMO!

I have also been freezing blueberries. Last week Kroger had them for $1.25 a pint!!! I bought 16 pints and have frozen 12 of them to enjoy later this summer and this winter. MMMMM, a cup of coffee with a homemade blueberry muffin.....sorry, I got lost there for a moment! The rest we have been nibbling on here and there.

Also, when we came back from Florida on vacation (yes, it was over a month ago), we stopped in Georgia and bought a 25 lb. bag of Vidalia onions that we split with the Shews. (I'm sure that Sharon has had hers in the freezer for weeks but I am just getting to mine.)

The time you save by chopping all at once is amazing! I've been doing this with green peppers for a couple of years now and it's so nice to be able to just grab a baggie of chopped veggies and just throw it in whatever you are making. It's also a good way to take advantage of the discounted produce at the store. Our Save-a-Lot almost always has packages of bell peppers that are on the edge, maybe with a spot or something on them. Usually they are packaged in 4's for around a $1.00 and are a mix of green, red, yellow and orange. I'll buy these, cut out the bad spot and chop, slice and chunk them for different recipes that I work with.

While working on my onions this morning, I've also prepped my onions for tonights dinner and now just have to work on the potatoes.

Gotta head for now, about time to get the kids ready for Lunch Time Bible Club!

Have a blessed day,

Being Productive

I LOVE when I have been productive. As I type:

*My tea is brewing.

*I have high-fiber oatmeal chocolate chip pancakes for Mufin's (Emily) breakfast tomorrow cooling on a rack. (Wednesdays are pancake/waffle day.)

*I started a batch of whole wheat sourdough starter to make the Ultimate Amazing Bread that Candy from Keeping the Home makes (see link to her blog on my sidebar). *I have Oatmeal bread dough going in my bread maker. I only use my maker to do the dough. I then remove it into a regular loaf pan for the second rise and bake a traditionally shaped loaf. I just don't like the shape of the pan in my breadmarker nor do I like having a hole in my loaf from the mixer paddle.

*Dinner is planned and thawing. Today's menu is grilled pork steaks, tater tot bake and probably steamed cabbage. Dessert/snack will be fresh fruit. Sidenote: I got a great deal on meat at Cub Foods last weekend. Ended up being about $1.41 per MEAL! Woohoo!

I've been making my own bread again for a couple of weeks now. I'm just starting to have a need to know what is going into the food I am putting into my family's bodies and making an effort to make from scratch anything that I can.

I spoke with Bob and mom yesterday about plans for a garden this year. I told Bob that I want him to teach me how to can as my birthday gift. I'm not sure exactly what will be in the garden but I know that tomatoes, green beans and turnips will most likely make the list. I would also like to try growing dried beans.

Must scoot, bread will be ready any minute for transfer to pans.

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Later that day....

Ready for the rise: Heading to the oven:

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM, can you smell it? Fresh baked bread. The loaves in the picture look a little dark and they are somewhat but they aren't burnt. The recipe that I am using has molasses in it so it is a darker bread. Now, this batch was kind of an experiment. The recipe calls for 3 cups of bread flour and I substituted 1 cup of whole wheat flour for 1 of the cups of bread flour. Haven't cut into it yet but we'll see how much of a difference it made texture wise. The last loaf I made was soft & fluffy. This one may be more dense. Have a blessed day,