Quick Sandwhich 6 Points

                                                  A quick sandwhich on the fancy china
 

- 2 pieces Sara Lee 45 Calorie Bread. 2 points

- 1 slice Velveeta. 1 point

- 3 oz Oscar Mayer Cracked Black Pepper Turkey lunch meat. 1 point

- 1 tbs Kraft Reduced Fat Mayo. 1 point

- Up to 8 Ritz Crisp and Thins Cream Cheese & Onion Chips. 1 point

- 0 point foods: lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions, black pepper

 

  I know 6 points is a lot for just a regular sandwhich, but I was headed out the door and hungry so I needed something super quick.  You could easily make this a more filling meal with 0 point sides like salad or veggies!

Shake and Bake Chicken Salad 2 Points

   Dinner for the family was Shake and Bake Chicken, mashed potatoes, salad and some baked beans that my son is obsessed with. So here is what I had for dinner.

Shake and Bake Chicken:

- 1 box Shake and Bake with added Kinders Blackened Seasoning

  Wow what a recipe, I know. I coat the chicken and air fry for 5 minutes, then flip for 2 minutes more. I never really know how many points this is, but up to a half a packet of the seasoning is 2 points so that's what I use.

I had mine over a salad with carrots, tomatoes, 1/4 cup fat free shredded cheddar (0 points) and 2 tbs Bolthouse Ranch Seasoning (2 points). Since this was 2 cups of veggies I earned 2 points which made the salad 0 points. 

Veggie Scramble and Pumpkin Butter Bagel 2 Points

   Veggie Scramble:

- 1 cup worth of frozen bell peppers, onions and spinach. (0 points)

- A little over 1.5 cups of frozen hash browns (0 points)

- 2 eggs ( points)

- 1/4 up Velveeta Cheddar Shreds ( 2 points)

- Seasoned with Southwest Chipotle seasoning and Trader Joe's Green Dragon Hot Sauce

- Dollop of nonfat greek yogurt (0 points)

  Pumpkin Butter Bagel

- 1 half of a Bagel Thin. 1 whole Bagel Thin is 3 points, so technically this would be 1.5 points.

- A few spritzes of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray (0 points)

- 1-2 tbs of pumpkin butter (0 points) My Mom actually made this so I'm not sure on her recipe, but here is one from The Pound Dropper.

 

  Heat a skillet up with cooking spray. Toss in the veggies and hash browns, stir in seasonings. Once cooked, add in the eggs and Velveeta shreds. I just toasted the bagel for a few minutes then sprayed on the butter. SO DELICIOUS! I am obsessed with that pumpkin butter now. 

  The total for this breakfast is 3 points, but since I ate a cup of veggies I earned a point making breakfast 2 points total.

Hot Chicken Dip 2 Points

   I just threw this together really quick for a 3 point lunch. All points are 0 unless noted.

Hot Chicken Dip

- 1 can of chicken

- 1/4 cup nonfat greek yogurt

- 2 tbs Bolthouse Farms Ranch (2 points)

- A bunch of Frank's Hot Sauce

- Seasoned with garlic, salt and pepper.

  Break up the chicken chunks with a fork, then mix everything up. I had this with 1/2 a large cucumber (0 points), and 14 Ritz Crisp & Thin Salt and Vinegar chips (2 points). Since the half a cucumber was over a cup of veggies, I earned a point making this meal 3 points instead of 4. 

WW Update! Example of a 11 Point Day

  I love the update so far! I did take the quiz a few times until I got the result that I feel would work best for me. I know I need to watch portion sizes but I feel like this will be the easiest to be able to have stuff on hand. I like how you actually earn points by eating veggies. Yesterday was the first full day on the new plan and I actually ended the day with extra points. 

I've been working out a lot more so I've been hungrier then normal so this does seem like a lot of food. I'm sure my hunger will normalize once my body gets used to all the new exercise. I DO need to drink more water though!

- Breakfast was an egg scramble with 2 eggs, almost 2 cups of hash browns, a cup of frozen bell pepper onion blend and 1/4 cup of Velveeta shreds for 2 points. But since I ate a cup of veggies, I gained a point back which makes this breakfast only 1 point.

- I normally wouldn't need a snack right then but I've been getting up at 5 am, eating breakfast around 9, then lunch around 2. I walked 3 miles today so I needed a snack! I had 1 bagel thin (3 points) 1 tbs neufchatel cheese (2 points) with pickled jalapenos on top. It was a high point snack but breakfast was so low in points I thought it was okay.

- Lunch was Hot Chicken Dip (2) with half a big cucumber and 14 Ritz Crisp & Thin Salt and Vinegar chips for 2 points. Since that half a cucumber was over a cup worth, I earned a point which made lunch 3 points. 

- I made spaghetti for the family so I just ate something easy for dinner. I made a wrap using an Ole Extreme Wellness Wrap (1 point), 1/4 cup fat free shredded cheddar (0 points), 1 tbs Tostito's Salsa con Queso (1 point), Tyson Blackened Chicken Strips (0 points), fat free refried beans (0 points), and onions & lettuce. I had a side salad with 1 tbs Bolthouse Farms Ranch Dressing mixed with salsa (1 point) and some butternut squash crinkle cut fries dipped in sugar free ketchup. Dinner total was 3 points but since I had a cup of veggies it was only 2 points. 

- I normally don't have dessert but I had a Reese's Ghost from my kids Halloween candy for 4 points.

  So for the day the total was 11 points, 15 with the Reese's. While I really like that the day's points are so low, I'm just worried with all the zero point food that I might not lose. We'll just have to see how it goes!

 

Trader Joe's Kung Pao Chicken, Veggie Cauli Rice, Wontons 8 Points

 

 

 

These points were calculated for WW Blue

  I'll have to make it over to Trader Joe's more often, these frozen Chinese meals are super quick and good for the points.

- TJ's frozen Kung Pao Chicken. 1 cup is 6 points

- CJ Bibigo Chicken & Cilantro Mini Wontons. 4 Pieces 2 points

- Veggie Cauliflower Rice. 0 points

   I recommend air frying the chicken for the kung pao, it gets nice in crispy. Then just heat the veggies in a pot, add the air fried chicken and stir in sauce.

  Veggie Cauliflower Rice:

- 1 bag TJ's Stir Fried Vegetables

- 1 bag frozen cauliflower rice

- Flavorings: Soy sauce, TJ's umami seasoning, garlic, pepper 

- 2 eggs (you can omit this if you'd like)

  Microwave the cauli rice for less time then the bag says to. Heat a skillet and spray it with cooking spray. Cook the Stir Fried Veggie's for a couple of minutes while the cauli rice is microwaving. Then pour the cauli rice in the skillet. I added what felt right for all the seasonings and soy sauce. Then I cracked 2 eggs and folded in until the eggs were cooked.

  Mini Wontons with 0 point sauce:

- As many mini wontons as you'd like

- Sugar free teriyaki sauce

- Red pepper flakes

- Soy sauce

  Heat a skillet sprayed with cooking spray and place in wontons. Drizzle with teriyaki and soy sauce. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes. Cover with a lid and heat until wontons are cooked, about 5 minutes.

Banana Pancakes, Toast, and Peaches 1 Point

                             Yes, this is the worst picture ever of pancakes on the internet.

  This was my first time attempting WW banana pancakes. FIRST of all, even though they are cracked and look unappetizing....they are delicious! This batter is very different from regular pancake batter I've learned, so next time I'll just make mini pancakes with it. They should stay together then.

  These points were based off of WW Blue when I had 0 point fruit. 

Banana Pancakes 0 Points:

- 1 Banana 

- 2 eggs (you could just use whites, but I was hungry so I used the whole egg)

- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

- 1 tsp baking powder

- cinnamon 

  Mash the banana up in a bowl, then add and mix the rest. Heat up griddle and pour just enough for mini pancakes. If you try to make regular size pancakes, they take forever to cook and stick to the griddle and crack when you try and flip them. Mine did at least, maybe you'll have better luck. 

  I topped it with some sugar free maple syrup and some spray I can't Believe It's Not Butter. 

  I had some Sara Lee 45 Calorie bread for 1 point, and less then a tbs of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter so that ended up as 0 points. Peaches also were 0 points. 

   I make pancakes every Sunday for the family, and usually I just have some eggs or something else WW friendly. It was nice to join in on the pancakes, so I'll be making these again!

WW Trader Joe's Chinese Fakeout 12 Points

 

  

  I've been wanting to make a WW Cheesy Gordita Crunch recipe that I found all week, but I can't find the right pita bread ANYWHERE, it's out at all the places that carry it. I had no idea what I was going to be making for dinner tonight, but my parents asked if I wanted to tag along to Trader Joe's with them.....and yes! So I ended up getting Chinese "takeout" for dinner. Here is the info:

 - Trader Joe's Orange Chicken. This is 9 points per cup, and I would not normally eat something so high in points but oh well. I air fried it at 370 for 10 minutes, stirred, then air fried it for 8 more minutes. It was cooked after that but I wanted it to be more crispy so I air fried it at 400 for 2 minutes more. Then it was perfect. I do have to say one thing......Foster Farms orange chicken is better.....the sauce is thicker. TJ's sauce was very thin. I don't know if Foster Farms is more points though. Don't get me wrong, TJs was delicious, but we've always bought Foster Farms and you can tell the difference. 

- Trader Joe's Riced Cauliflower Stir Fry. You can have up to 2.5 cups for 1 point. I did add the TJ's Umami seasoning and soy sauce because I can't stop myself from seasoning things. The best cauli rice I've had!

- Mini Wontons. 4 for 2 points. These are from Costco not Trader Joe's, but Trader Joe's does have similar mini wontons. I cooked them up in a skillet with soy sauce, sugar free teriyaki and red pepper flakes. 

5 Point Lunch with Trader Joe's Items

 

  This whole lunch was 5 points, I only counted the points for the Turkey Corn Dog from Trader Joe's, everything else was zero points. Here is the breakdown:

- 1 Turkey Corn Dog. 5 points. I microwaved it for 30 seconds to get the inside heated, then I air fried it for 2 minutes. It was perfectly crunchy and delicious.

- About a cup of zig zag butternut squash. I sprayed it with cooking spray and tossed it with Trader Joe's Everything but the Elote seasoning. I then air fried at 400 for 7 minutes, shook everything, then air fried for 4 more minutes. 0 points. Super delicious, and if it was cheaper for the amount you get, I'd be buying it all the time.

- Salad mix with 1/4 cup mozzarella (0 points), a couple shakes of Everything but the Elote seasoning (I'm obsessed), about 2 tbs Walden Farms Chipotle Ranch dressing (yuck, I'm not picky at all but this is terrible, I'm trying to use the bottle though) and some Plantain Croutons for 0 points for what I used. Oh, also some cherry tomatoes from my parents garden. 

- Sugar Free Ketchup. This is a little over a tbs and I didn't use the whole thing. 

Filling and yum :)

Weight Watchers Trader Joe's Haul!

 

 

  I've been to Trader Joe's only twice in the last 5 years, it's about 40 minutes from me and while I know it's not that far.....it's farther then I want to drive :P

 I bought some fun things that are Weight Watcher friendly! Here is what I got with the point values:

* Turkey Corn Dogs - 5 points each

* Riced Cauliflower Stir Fry - Up to 2.5 cups 1 point

* Mandarin Orange Chicken - 1 cup 9 points

* Kung Pao Chicken - 1 cup 6 points

* Shiitake Mushroom Chicken - 1 cup 2 points. 6 points whole bag

* Turkey Burgers - 3 points. I wanted to get the mahi mahi burgers or chili lime ones, but they were out!

* Plantain Croutons - 1 point per tbs 

* Roasted Red Pepper Spread - 1 point per tbs

* Butternut Squash Zig Zags - 0

* Frozen Mexican Style Roasted Corn - 0

* Stir Fry Vegetables - 0

* Hearts of Palm pasta - 0 

* I also got some seasonings: Everything but the Elote, Chili Lime, and the Umami seasoning! 

 

I did also get a few non WW things:

- Boxed chardonnay. I wasn't expecting to care for it much....but it's really good! 

- Cinnamon Coffee Cake Muffins. My son wanted these and while I did sneak a bite and they are delicious, they aren't worth the 20 POINTS! Holy cow.

- Dog treat Yaky Sticks. I buy 3 Yaky sticks once a month for my dogs on Amazon, because they are the only chews which last a semi long time. They had 2 for $4.99 at Trader Joe's! That's a steal.

 

So I think I might be making the trek to Trader Joe's more often now that I see all the WW friendly foods that I can't normally get!

 

 

Cream Cheese Chicken Lasagna with Zucchini 5 Points

 

                       Yes I know my photo does not look as tasty as the one in the recipe.

  Italian is not my favorite food (unless it's pizza), I like it but if it were up to me I'd choose other cuisines first. But my family LOVES Italian, it's their favorite. So I try and make something Italian at least once a week. 

  I followed the recipe exactly, except I cooked the chicken in the Insta Pot instead of the slow cooker since I was to lazy to get it ready in the morning. 

  For the zero point marinara, I used this Pizza and Pasta Magic seasoning. It's really good, we like it better then regular Italian seasoning. It does have some heat from the red pepper flakes, so it might be to much if your kids are little. We buy it at Meijer. 

Click Here for the Cream Cheese Chicken Lasagna Recipe from The Pound Dropper

  For the zucchini side I just diced up half an onion, but I should of done a full one and cooked it in a skillet with a tsp of olive oil and a spray of Pam for like 5 minutes, then added 2 diced zucchini's. I tossed it with Kinders Master Salt and it took oh maybe 12 minutes to cook. I was going to dice up some cherry tomatoes to toss in that I need to use up but I was again...lazy. I was tired ok, I'm still getting used to waking up at 5am to get my son ready for school, even though he's been in school for like 3 months. But anyway, I absolutely love Kinders Master Salt, it makes everything taste amazing.

  So the lasagna is 5 points a serving, and the zucchini was free. Nice low point dinner!

 

In some sad news, the new Animal Crossing New Horizon's update came out today, and my son lost my Switch charger so I can't even play it yet. 

Quick Weeknight Garlic & Herb Red Lentil Pasta 6 Points

 

  I had planned for leftovers tonight, but there was way less leftovers then I had thought there would be! So I threw this pasta side dish together with what I had on hand. I just cooked the pasta and at the last 2 minutes of cooking time I tossed in the peas and spinach. Then once drained, I dumped it back in the pot and mixed everything together. It's not very pretty much it's healthy, tasty and filling.

- 1 box red lentil pasta. Each cup is 5 points.

- 3/4 cup of peas. 0 points.

- Half a bag of frozen spinach. 0 points.

- 5 Laughing Cow Garlic and Herb cheese wedges. 1 wedge is 1 point, so I just estimated there was a point worth on each serving.

- Seasoned with my heart these following seasonings: garlic, onion, pepper, salt, red pepper flakes, and Italian. 

- 1 splash of milk. This probably wasn't necessary but I felt like the Laughing Cow cheese wasn't quite wet enough.

- Fat Free Parm

  This could easily be a meal by adding a protein, or to make it even EASIER, just air fry some frozen Tyson chicken for like 8 minutes.

Caramel Cold Brew at home 0 points

  I've never made cold brew at home and now I'm in love, it's very smooth and a nice change from my usual hot coffee. The box says to brew it overnight or 8-12 hours, but I forgot about it and it brewed like 16 hours. Oops. I didn't water it down any extra and it doesn't taste too strong. 

  I drizzled the inside of my cup with this sugar free caramel syrup, which is not as WW friendly as I thought it would be, so I don't think I'll be buying it again. I estimated I used like a half tbs of syrup, and just that little bit is 1 point! Now that I think of it I might just save it for the kids since that little amount really isn't doing anything. I had taken a picture before I stirred my coffee and you could see the caramel swirl, but I forgot to put the caramel syrup bottle in the picture lol. 

  As for the Torani syrup, I just poured in a glug. It's zero points anyway. I also didn't count the almond milk since is 1 point per cup, and I didn't use that much. 

Big Mac Egg Rolls with Dill Pickle Salad Kit 10 Points

 
 This meal was delicious and will definitely be in our dinner rotation. I normally don't care for the Big Mac sauce (I think it's just Thousand Island dressing?) but I liked this sauce, it tasted fresher and not processed like a bottled sauce would. I was going to double the sauce recipe just in case there wasn't enough, but there is no need too.....the recipe makes a lot! 

  I feel like I filled the eggroll wrappers enough, I used 2 tbs each like the recipe said but I ended up with 19 egg rolls instead of the 12 in the recipe lol. Oh well, that just means leftovers! 

  The salad kit was really good too, but it's very high in points so I don't think I'd buy it again. 1 cup is 5 points! I normally don't do salad kits for that reason, but I'm a sucker for anything dill pickle flavored so I really wanted to try it. Maybe I can find a more homemade version with less points. 

Click here for the Big Mac Eggroll recipe by The Pound Dropper.

Point Breakdown:

- 2 egg rolls with 96% beef. 5 points.

- 2 tbs Big Mac Sauce. 1 point.

- 1 cup of the Taylor Farms Dill Pickle Salad Kit. 5 points.

So you could easily half the points in this dinner by replacing the salad kit with a lower point side dish.