I really feel bad that I haven't done a darn thing that I said I was going to. I said I was going to do the Calendar Girls challenge, and I've done terribly at that... mainly because I haven't stayed within 5 pts/day over Core.
I haven't been blogging here every day, and I really haven't been posting my daily food journal.
I haven't been back here since Friday to post that soup recipe that I promised.
I haven't cleaned up and added links to make this blog easier to navigate (and find older recipes).
And... I haven't been on plan. At all. I've been ignoring this diet all weekend and I have a feeling I'll pay for it at WI. Thank goodness I have a few days to make up for what I've done (or haven't done).
So yes, I think I suck... but I know I'll do better.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Facelift, Week's worth of updates
So what do you think? Do you like the new look?
Honestly, I was trying to make some bigger changes, but it turned out that I'd bit off more than I could chew- this was enough of a facelift for now; but I AM still going to be typing out recipes.
I have been really busy and really wiped out all week- haven't had any desire at all to sit down at night and write about my day. I'm very sorry, because I've not been doing anything towards my goal of blogging my daily food journal... let's see...
Sunday night we went out for dinner with my family, after a stressful afternoon at the assisted living center with my grandma. I did not stick to Core, but I did limit my portion size and split a lettuce/chicken wrap with my mom. (I did eat the onion rings that came with it, and drank a hard English cider- totally not OP!)
Monday night I made a recipe that hubby had copied down at a WW mtg- pasta with broccoli, cauliflower, and lemon. It's Core if you sub FF cheese for the regular cheese... but I've never seen FF parmesan in the store, have you?!? So it was almost Core. Hubby liked it, but I was really not impressed... I'm not even going to give out that recipe. :(
Tuesday the kids and I went grocery shopping, hoping to get back in time to make dinner early enough that hubby could join us before he had to leave for a meeting. He'd asked that we pick something up for him to eat if we didn't think we'd be home in time... so I got Hy-Vee Chinese (really great Chinese food, right there and made fresh in the store!) and caved, buying Chinese for all of us (instead of the low-point-but-not-Core soup I'd planned).
Later that evening, I realized that the Prince had a nasty case of pinkeye, and I freaked out about it. I know that this is very contagious and I went a bit nuts, washing my hands after even touching him- trying NOT to get it myself. The pinkeye really grossed me out and I knew that I didn't want it to spread through our whole house... can you imagine giving putting eye drops into the eyes of a 21-month-old?!? We went to the Dr. Wednesday morning and got him on the prescription, but that meant no school for him.
I decided that since I'd be at home all day Wednesday, not having to worry about taking 3 kids to and from preschool (and waking 2 of them from their naps to do it), I'd do some prep work and some cooking. I made about 12 quarts of marinara sauce, added browned ground turkey (and beef bullion cubes to make it "beefier"), and pre-made 3 baked spaghettis and 2 lasagnas- all Core except for the cheese on top. My busy season is fast approaching, and it will be nice to be able to pull these out of the freezer without having to put in the time of putting them together.
For dinner last night (still Wednesday), I made the soup that I'd planned on for the night before (until I caved for Chinese!). I will edit this post (hopefully 1/25) with that recipe... The recipe is not mine, but came from a friend of my mom- she says that it is 1 point per cup, but I've never done the math. I've made it as written, but I think it's too time consuming, so I usually tweak it a bit. I use all frozen vegetables, the whole pound of cheese, and about 4 ounces of extra chicken broth. I usually skip the potatoes, but yesterday I remembered that I had about a half of a bag of hashbrown potatoes in the freezer- I dumped in about half of that. I also usually skip the Butter Buds, but I'd recently bought a shaker, so instead of an envelope of BBs, I gave it a few shakes. Really, anything to follow the "gist" of this recipe, but to make it easier. Still tastes great, and is fine to freeze and reheat! Unfortunately, neither of the kids liked this soup (just means more for me!)
Tonight I made a pot roast with a top round cut, cooked it all day in the crockpot with carrots, chopped potatoes, onions, and green beans. My dad and brother joined us for dinner, and the adults all gave this two thumbs up. The kids did not.
I did not do well on my 35 WPAs for the upcoming week... today I went overboard on them... an ice cream cone at home (I'm counting it as 8 pts), a medium-sized chocolate shake and roughly a medium order of fries from McDonald's (the fries were in the bottom of the bag, they'd all dumped out... I DID buy them for the three kiddos that NEEDED snacks while we were out running today... and the shake just sounded SOOO good...) I really don't want to know how many points I consumed in the car today, because of that little McD's stop. Thank goodness it was on the starting end of my week and I can work to compensate for that the rest of the week!
Now, to wrap up this ridiculously long post, I weighed in today: down 1.2 from Saturday! (only 5 days between WI instead of the usual week!) That puts me 12.6 over my WW goal, and 10.6 over where I won't have to keep paying!!! Five weeks left in my personal challenge period (through the end of February) and I am on track to surpass my goal of losing 2 lbs per week, which would bring me to 3.8 over my WW goal. IF I can continue this good run, 2.5 lbs/week would get me all the way down to goal- this is exciting stuff!
I WILL get back here and post the soup recipe, as well as some of the others I've mentioned. And pictures from my day in the kitchen yesterday. Dinner tomorrow is lasagna, ready and waiting to go into the oven... this one has a twist, and I'll show that off tomorrow, too.
Honestly, I was trying to make some bigger changes, but it turned out that I'd bit off more than I could chew- this was enough of a facelift for now; but I AM still going to be typing out recipes.
I have been really busy and really wiped out all week- haven't had any desire at all to sit down at night and write about my day. I'm very sorry, because I've not been doing anything towards my goal of blogging my daily food journal... let's see...
Sunday night we went out for dinner with my family, after a stressful afternoon at the assisted living center with my grandma. I did not stick to Core, but I did limit my portion size and split a lettuce/chicken wrap with my mom. (I did eat the onion rings that came with it, and drank a hard English cider- totally not OP!)
Monday night I made a recipe that hubby had copied down at a WW mtg- pasta with broccoli, cauliflower, and lemon. It's Core if you sub FF cheese for the regular cheese... but I've never seen FF parmesan in the store, have you?!? So it was almost Core. Hubby liked it, but I was really not impressed... I'm not even going to give out that recipe. :(
Tuesday the kids and I went grocery shopping, hoping to get back in time to make dinner early enough that hubby could join us before he had to leave for a meeting. He'd asked that we pick something up for him to eat if we didn't think we'd be home in time... so I got Hy-Vee Chinese (really great Chinese food, right there and made fresh in the store!) and caved, buying Chinese for all of us (instead of the low-point-but-not-Core soup I'd planned).
Later that evening, I realized that the Prince had a nasty case of pinkeye, and I freaked out about it. I know that this is very contagious and I went a bit nuts, washing my hands after even touching him- trying NOT to get it myself. The pinkeye really grossed me out and I knew that I didn't want it to spread through our whole house... can you imagine giving putting eye drops into the eyes of a 21-month-old?!? We went to the Dr. Wednesday morning and got him on the prescription, but that meant no school for him.
I decided that since I'd be at home all day Wednesday, not having to worry about taking 3 kids to and from preschool (and waking 2 of them from their naps to do it), I'd do some prep work and some cooking. I made about 12 quarts of marinara sauce, added browned ground turkey (and beef bullion cubes to make it "beefier"), and pre-made 3 baked spaghettis and 2 lasagnas- all Core except for the cheese on top. My busy season is fast approaching, and it will be nice to be able to pull these out of the freezer without having to put in the time of putting them together.
For dinner last night (still Wednesday), I made the soup that I'd planned on for the night before (until I caved for Chinese!). I will edit this post (hopefully 1/25) with that recipe... The recipe is not mine, but came from a friend of my mom- she says that it is 1 point per cup, but I've never done the math. I've made it as written, but I think it's too time consuming, so I usually tweak it a bit. I use all frozen vegetables, the whole pound of cheese, and about 4 ounces of extra chicken broth. I usually skip the potatoes, but yesterday I remembered that I had about a half of a bag of hashbrown potatoes in the freezer- I dumped in about half of that. I also usually skip the Butter Buds, but I'd recently bought a shaker, so instead of an envelope of BBs, I gave it a few shakes. Really, anything to follow the "gist" of this recipe, but to make it easier. Still tastes great, and is fine to freeze and reheat! Unfortunately, neither of the kids liked this soup (just means more for me!)
Tonight I made a pot roast with a top round cut, cooked it all day in the crockpot with carrots, chopped potatoes, onions, and green beans. My dad and brother joined us for dinner, and the adults all gave this two thumbs up. The kids did not.
I did not do well on my 35 WPAs for the upcoming week... today I went overboard on them... an ice cream cone at home (I'm counting it as 8 pts), a medium-sized chocolate shake and roughly a medium order of fries from McDonald's (the fries were in the bottom of the bag, they'd all dumped out... I DID buy them for the three kiddos that NEEDED snacks while we were out running today... and the shake just sounded SOOO good...) I really don't want to know how many points I consumed in the car today, because of that little McD's stop. Thank goodness it was on the starting end of my week and I can work to compensate for that the rest of the week!
Now, to wrap up this ridiculously long post, I weighed in today: down 1.2 from Saturday! (only 5 days between WI instead of the usual week!) That puts me 12.6 over my WW goal, and 10.6 over where I won't have to keep paying!!! Five weeks left in my personal challenge period (through the end of February) and I am on track to surpass my goal of losing 2 lbs per week, which would bring me to 3.8 over my WW goal. IF I can continue this good run, 2.5 lbs/week would get me all the way down to goal- this is exciting stuff!
I WILL get back here and post the soup recipe, as well as some of the others I've mentioned. And pictures from my day in the kitchen yesterday. Dinner tomorrow is lasagna, ready and waiting to go into the oven... this one has a twist, and I'll show that off tomorrow, too.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Updating Blog Setup...
I'm still here, just going to take some time and organize a bit.
I'd like to type out all the recipes I've mentioned so far, mainly because Heather's site isn't up right now. I'm also planning on tagging my old posts and adding a link list so that things are easier to find.
I've been looking at blog templates, too, mainly because I'm not sure I'm satisfied with the current one... so this blog might look a bit different the next time you check in (or it might not!).
I mentioned to Sara the other day that I need to start being better at actually COUNTING my points, and posting those along with my food journals here. I know that will help me to be successful, and that is where the accountability comes in... so I might figure out how to build a table so my food list and counting looks cleaner when I post.
I have been sticking to Core, and I've worked out a planned menu of dinners for the next few weeks. Now I need to hit the grocery store again! Tonight's dinner is NOT Core, but is a variation on one of my mom's WW recipes... very low pts.
I'd like to type out all the recipes I've mentioned so far, mainly because Heather's site isn't up right now. I'm also planning on tagging my old posts and adding a link list so that things are easier to find.
I've been looking at blog templates, too, mainly because I'm not sure I'm satisfied with the current one... so this blog might look a bit different the next time you check in (or it might not!).
I mentioned to Sara the other day that I need to start being better at actually COUNTING my points, and posting those along with my food journals here. I know that will help me to be successful, and that is where the accountability comes in... so I might figure out how to build a table so my food list and counting looks cleaner when I post.
I have been sticking to Core, and I've worked out a planned menu of dinners for the next few weeks. Now I need to hit the grocery store again! Tonight's dinner is NOT Core, but is a variation on one of my mom's WW recipes... very low pts.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Salmon tonight, and an explanation...
Tonight I made salmon, veggies, and bulgar for dinner... all Core! No pictures, as my family was starving. I made chicken nuggets for the kids instead of the salmon, but only because I only found 2 salmon fillets in the freezer- if I'd had more, they would have had it too. This was my first experience with bulgar, and although I know it is usually served IN something, I chose to serve it as a side... it is supposed to be a good substitute for brown rice, so I figured why not? Hubby was not impressed (neither was I, but it wasn't too bad), but both kids ate it. Princess wouldn't touch it, but ate her entire serving when Hubby spoon-fed it to her; the Prince said it was "his favorite". (Goofy kids!)
I mentioned I had bad news... when I went onto Heather's Recipe Site the other day, this email is posted on her front page:
Sorry, folks - Weight Watchers says game over.
From: WeightWatchers.com
Date: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 5:04 PM
Re: Warning #3
Dear Heather,
Your posts on WeightWatchers.com’s message boards have again come to our attention. Despite multiple warnings, we found that your posts were again in violation of the WeightWatchers.com Terms and Conditions. This is your third and final warning.
2 TBS all-purpose flour (1 WPA over six servings = 0 WPAs)
By registering with our site you agreed to abide by our Terms and Conditions, which outline our community standards. We encourage you to review these terms. If we find that after this warning your posts still do not comply with the Terms and Conditions, we may be forced to take further action. This may include, but is not limited to, revoking your privilege to use all or parts of our website as well as banning your user name from our message boards. If we feel your violation is egregious or if you continue to disregard our warnings, we will notify your ISP of your actions on our site and work with them to find a solution.
We hope you will give this serious consideration.
Sincerely,
Brandon
Customer Service Associate
www.weightwatchers.com
There were no links and all of the links that I have bookmarked (and included in previous posts) were broken. I ended up going to the WW message boards to search for the recipe I'd planned on for dinner that night, and posted this on those boards as well. Tonight when I went to her site, the email was gone (glad I posted it elsewhere, or I couldn't have shown you!), and this was there:
Make your voice heard!
Complaints (ahem), comments, and suggestions can be directed to:
Sharon A. Fordham, CEO
Weight Watchers International, Inc.
11 Madison Ave., 17th Fl.
New York, NY 10010
The site appears to be in the process of being re-built... but all of the links are password-protected. I don't know if they will stay that way or not, but I'm going to try to contact Heather and ask. I'm also going to complain to Sharon about this!!!
If you've been using Heather's site, please voice your complaints as directed above. I LOVED her site and will be very disappointed if I can no longer use it and share those recipes and pictures with you!
I mentioned I had bad news... when I went onto Heather's Recipe Site the other day, this email is posted on her front page:
Sorry, folks - Weight Watchers says game over.
From: WeightWatchers.com
Date: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 5:04 PM
Re: Warning #3
Dear Heather,
Your posts on WeightWatchers.com’s message boards have again come to our attention. Despite multiple warnings, we found that your posts were again in violation of the WeightWatchers.com Terms and Conditions. This is your third and final warning.
2 TBS all-purpose flour (1 WPA over six servings = 0 WPAs)
By registering with our site you agreed to abide by our Terms and Conditions, which outline our community standards. We encourage you to review these terms. If we find that after this warning your posts still do not comply with the Terms and Conditions, we may be forced to take further action. This may include, but is not limited to, revoking your privilege to use all or parts of our website as well as banning your user name from our message boards. If we feel your violation is egregious or if you continue to disregard our warnings, we will notify your ISP of your actions on our site and work with them to find a solution.
We hope you will give this serious consideration.
Sincerely,
Brandon
Customer Service Associate
www.weightwatchers.com
There were no links and all of the links that I have bookmarked (and included in previous posts) were broken. I ended up going to the WW message boards to search for the recipe I'd planned on for dinner that night, and posted this on those boards as well. Tonight when I went to her site, the email was gone (glad I posted it elsewhere, or I couldn't have shown you!), and this was there:
Make your voice heard!
Complaints (ahem), comments, and suggestions can be directed to:
Sharon A. Fordham, CEO
Weight Watchers International, Inc.
11 Madison Ave., 17th Fl.
New York, NY 10010
The site appears to be in the process of being re-built... but all of the links are password-protected. I don't know if they will stay that way or not, but I'm going to try to contact Heather and ask. I'm also going to complain to Sharon about this!!!
If you've been using Heather's site, please voice your complaints as directed above. I LOVED her site and will be very disappointed if I can no longer use it and share those recipes and pictures with you!
Down 4.0!
We've had a busy few days- the last thing I've had time to do was post, let alone go and weigh in... my WI day is Thursday, and I just was able to go this morning (Saturday). Sure, I could have left the service guys at my house and taken both kids and weighed on Thursday, but I have issues with leaving strange men in my home alone.
If you want details on what's been happening around my house the last few days, please check my other blog. This one is about food and my weight loss journey. That one is about anything else I decide to ramble on about. (Big cheesy grin...)
So I think I like this Core stuff... no counting (except the 35 weeklies)... just eating healthy UNTIL SATISFIED. That does not mean eat until just past full, then when putting away the leftovers an hour later, eat another serving or two because it was just SO GOOD. Yeah, we've all been there. You know what I mean.
Let's see... Tuesday I made the awesome Baked Spaghetti that took entirely too frickin' long to prepare. I haven't offered the leftovers to anyone else in my house because I am hoping no one remembers them, and am eating them myself. Wednesday was church night... no control over what is served... this was a good week- they served sloppy joes and baked beans, ice cream sandwiches for dessert. I ate my 'joe' without the bun, and finished my kids' dinners too- I NEVER make baked beans and they were yummy. I think beans are lower in pts if they don't have pork in them... these did not appear to be "porky". Oh, and yes, I DID have dessert. 6 points, I believe.
Thursday I made Taco Soup, which I was very excited about (until I found out that my mom says it's an old WW recipe that she's had for years). After it had been cooking for a couple hours, I stirred and wanted to taste... and ended up having 2 little bowls of it! I loved it at dinner, too, and while the family didn't rave they did eat it all... hubby said it would be really good with cheese. I think it is more of a chicken chili than a taco soup... either way it's yum. Too bad I won't be making it again. Hubby asked me last night if I would please never make it again, and I think he was right... our family has been really "musical" lately from all of that "musical fruit". (I know, TMI!) Last night and today my tummy has been all tied up in knots, which really isn't fun.
Taco soup leftovers- I forgot to take a picture earlier
We were boring last night and just did leftovers, but this is good because I'm working on making sure that they get eaten (instead of taking up space in the fridge and eventually tossed).
lots of leftovers!
I've not been good at keeping track of my 35 pts this week, but I have been careful at what goes into my mouth. I've been craving something chocolatey and sweet, but instead of baking I've been hitting my stash. I've tried a pk of Hostess 100-calorie cupcakes (which kinda helped), and FiberOne bars (which helped a lot, surprisingly). I'm making a point to exclude bread from my diet, partly because I know that it is high in points, and partly because I don't like it plain- only with stuff like butter and cinnamon-sugar, or peanut butter... not what I need to be eating.
I did well on WW when I was on Flex, too, but I had a much higher daily pts allotment... I think it would be really hard for me to stick to 21 pts (which will probably be 20 next week!) and not be starving. I know that there are ways to do it- my mom eats a lot of plain tomato soup and veggies- but I'm running a household with young kids and don't have time to cook for them and something else for me. I want real food, and I don't want to feel like the rabbit that I would resemble if I was trying to stick to 20 pts/day. I was breastfeeding the whole time I was on Flex, so I had between 32 and 29 pts/day- that's more like it! I'm guessing that I eat 25-30 pts/day on Core, and I'm eating food that I like- I really don't understand HOW I'm losing, honestly! Flex gave me the mindset that pasta is a no-no, along with fish and red meat. I'm eating those things, so why am I losing? It's because I'm following the Core plan, and eating healthier versions of these foods... and eating reasonable portions. It's hard to stop when I'm satisfied sometimes, but nice knowing that I'll just have more tomorrow for lunch. I'm learning, but it seems to be working.
Now to my current progress on last week's goal declaration: lose 2 lbs/week for 7 weeks- the final WI of my personal challenge being 2/28/08. If I were to accomplish this goal, I would be exactly 3.8 lbs over my WW goal, making it very attainable.
I am now 13.8 lbs above goal. (7 lbs down in 2 weeks! Yippee!) I have 6 weeks left in this personal challenge. If I lose an average of 2.3 lbs/week between now and then, I will have beaten my challenge and will be at goal. At my current rate of progress, this seems reasonable. At the very least, one would assume that I would be able to be very close to that goal weight, right?
I'm not so sure. I remember how hard it was to lose those last few pounds... I really hope that I'll do ok this time around.
If you want details on what's been happening around my house the last few days, please check my other blog. This one is about food and my weight loss journey. That one is about anything else I decide to ramble on about. (Big cheesy grin...)
So I think I like this Core stuff... no counting (except the 35 weeklies)... just eating healthy UNTIL SATISFIED. That does not mean eat until just past full, then when putting away the leftovers an hour later, eat another serving or two because it was just SO GOOD. Yeah, we've all been there. You know what I mean.
Let's see... Tuesday I made the awesome Baked Spaghetti that took entirely too frickin' long to prepare. I haven't offered the leftovers to anyone else in my house because I am hoping no one remembers them, and am eating them myself. Wednesday was church night... no control over what is served... this was a good week- they served sloppy joes and baked beans, ice cream sandwiches for dessert. I ate my 'joe' without the bun, and finished my kids' dinners too- I NEVER make baked beans and they were yummy. I think beans are lower in pts if they don't have pork in them... these did not appear to be "porky". Oh, and yes, I DID have dessert. 6 points, I believe.
Thursday I made Taco Soup, which I was very excited about (until I found out that my mom says it's an old WW recipe that she's had for years). After it had been cooking for a couple hours, I stirred and wanted to taste... and ended up having 2 little bowls of it! I loved it at dinner, too, and while the family didn't rave they did eat it all... hubby said it would be really good with cheese. I think it is more of a chicken chili than a taco soup... either way it's yum. Too bad I won't be making it again. Hubby asked me last night if I would please never make it again, and I think he was right... our family has been really "musical" lately from all of that "musical fruit". (I know, TMI!) Last night and today my tummy has been all tied up in knots, which really isn't fun.
Taco soup leftovers- I forgot to take a picture earlier
We were boring last night and just did leftovers, but this is good because I'm working on making sure that they get eaten (instead of taking up space in the fridge and eventually tossed).
lots of leftovers!
I've not been good at keeping track of my 35 pts this week, but I have been careful at what goes into my mouth. I've been craving something chocolatey and sweet, but instead of baking I've been hitting my stash. I've tried a pk of Hostess 100-calorie cupcakes (which kinda helped), and FiberOne bars (which helped a lot, surprisingly). I'm making a point to exclude bread from my diet, partly because I know that it is high in points, and partly because I don't like it plain- only with stuff like butter and cinnamon-sugar, or peanut butter... not what I need to be eating.
I did well on WW when I was on Flex, too, but I had a much higher daily pts allotment... I think it would be really hard for me to stick to 21 pts (which will probably be 20 next week!) and not be starving. I know that there are ways to do it- my mom eats a lot of plain tomato soup and veggies- but I'm running a household with young kids and don't have time to cook for them and something else for me. I want real food, and I don't want to feel like the rabbit that I would resemble if I was trying to stick to 20 pts/day. I was breastfeeding the whole time I was on Flex, so I had between 32 and 29 pts/day- that's more like it! I'm guessing that I eat 25-30 pts/day on Core, and I'm eating food that I like- I really don't understand HOW I'm losing, honestly! Flex gave me the mindset that pasta is a no-no, along with fish and red meat. I'm eating those things, so why am I losing? It's because I'm following the Core plan, and eating healthier versions of these foods... and eating reasonable portions. It's hard to stop when I'm satisfied sometimes, but nice knowing that I'll just have more tomorrow for lunch. I'm learning, but it seems to be working.
Now to my current progress on last week's goal declaration: lose 2 lbs/week for 7 weeks- the final WI of my personal challenge being 2/28/08. If I were to accomplish this goal, I would be exactly 3.8 lbs over my WW goal, making it very attainable.
I am now 13.8 lbs above goal. (7 lbs down in 2 weeks! Yippee!) I have 6 weeks left in this personal challenge. If I lose an average of 2.3 lbs/week between now and then, I will have beaten my challenge and will be at goal. At my current rate of progress, this seems reasonable. At the very least, one would assume that I would be able to be very close to that goal weight, right?
I'm not so sure. I remember how hard it was to lose those last few pounds... I really hope that I'll do ok this time around.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Lots to say...
but it will have to wait until tomorrow. I have a fabulous new recipe to share, plus some big-bad-bummer news...
(but don't worry, I'm not going anywhere- I'll be back in a few hours to fill you in!)
(but don't worry, I'm not going anywhere- I'll be back in a few hours to fill you in!)
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Baked Spaghetti
Tonight we had Baked Spaghetti on the menu, I'd estimated that this would take about 2 hours to prepare, but it appeared that it would be a "hands-off" two hours: a little prep work, let it sit and cook, a bit more prep, cook some more, prep one more time, cook and serve.
The prep took much longer than anticipated.
This recipe starts out by making a sauce, which will sit and simmer for about an hour.
the start of the sauce
I was about a third of the way through the ingredients list when I realized that this sauce is extremely similar to my homemade sauce... so similar that I decided to eyeball the measurements and add in a few other things. I added a bit more garlic (powder, not fresh); I substituted minced (dried) onion for fresh chopped (and I'm sure I used way more than called for); I skipped the bay leaves (I've never liked bay leaves); I also skipped the green pepper (didn't feel like chopping today), but tossed in a cup or so of frozen veggies*. I also added some leftover spaghetti sauce that I had in my freezer from a while ago- maybe a cup? Also, this recipe calls for 2 cups of diced tomatoes and 2 cups of tomato sauce. A can of tomatoes is 14.5 oz, tomato sauce is 15 oz- each notquite 2 cups. I figured it would be ok, and I'd do it again at just one can of each. The tomatoes I used were the kind with garlic and onion... I never buy the plain diced tomatoes, always with flavor.
sauce is ready to simmer for an hour
*About my frozen veggies: Shortly after I started WW, I bought lots of fresh veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, squash, zucchini, onions, mushrooms, carrots) and spent an evening dicing, mixing, and bagging them into gallon-sized freezer bags. These bags of frozen veggies have been fantastic for me- it's so easy just to toss a handful or so into whatever I'm cooking to "healthy" it up a bit. (Even boxed mac & cheese tastes better with a couple of cups of veggies!) My family never minded that I was adding veggies to most of our meals, and the kids sometimes prefer to eat the veggies instead of the rest of the entree! I always have these on hand in addition to whatever other frozen/canned veggies I have, and I tend to use these way more often.
The first time I did this, I let the veggies sit out for a couple of hours before I got them into bags and in the freezer... they dried out quite a bit before I froze them. I wish I'd done that every time, because the juice from the veggies forms ice inside the bags- I have to break up the ice before I can scoop out the veggies.
my bag of veggies
After letting the sauce sit and simmer for about 45 minutes, I started browning the ground beef. Mine was stored in our chest freezer and took at least 15-20 minutes to go from really-frozen to brown, so I added it right into the sauce when it was ready.
doesn't that look delish? sauce with meat added
The sauce/meat mix is supposed to simmer for another 20 minutes, so I used this time to cook the pasta. The recipe calls for 8 oz of uncooked spaghetti, I used one full 12 oz box. (Because what am I going to do with 4 oz of pasta?) I added water to the pan I'd used for the meat and put the pasta right in- didn't worry about cleaning it first. The extra bit of grease from the meat was enough that I didn't feel the need to add any oil to the water, and I think it gave the noodles an extra bit of flavor.
noodles cooking in water and leftover beef grease
Finally- ready to prepare for the oven! This is where I was ready to call it quits and just serve it like regular spaghetti. I was ticked that it had taken so long to prepare (especially when the sauce was so much like my own, I usually add ground beef to my sauce, too!); and I couldn't see what good baking this in the oven was going to do other than take longer. The Prince was starving. But I kept working, essentially building a lasagna.
First a layer of sauce, then noodles, then cheese. (The recipe calls for 2 cups of soy or FF cheese. I used maybe a cup-ish of 2% cheddar, because I was unable to find soy or FF cheese. FF cottage cheese would probably be great in this.)
I layered until I was out of noodles, topped with sauce (the top layer was a bit skimpy on sauce), and FINALLY put it in the oven to bake for 30 min. Take it out, top with cheese, return it to the oven. Set the table, take dinner back out of the oven and serve. We sat down a little after 6, I started this project at about 3:45. My kids like to eat between 5-5:30.
ready for the oven
all done!
this took some work- it did not look this nice on the other plates!
Was it all worth it? Oh yeah- I'm actually surprised at how good this really was! I figured it would just be glorified spaghetti, nothing too exciting (and I was not happy about that, based on the amount of time involved). And it really was just glorified spaghetti, but it was gooood.
the Princess approved!
so did the Prince!
Next time, I'll use just one can each of the tomatoes/sauce (like I did today) OR I'll use 2 cans if I don't have any leftover sauce to add in- probably because I used extra noodles, there almost wasn't enough sauce. Again, I'd wing it on the sauce recipe and add in the veggies (still omitting the green pepper and bay leaves). I would use the whole box of pasta, too- that worked well. I would SKIP the cheese- I couldn't taste it anyway- or use FF cottage cheese in between the layers to give it more of a lasagna taste. If I could find WW lasagna noodles, I'd definitely use those instead and really make it a lasagna instead of baked spaghetti. No need for cheese on top, it's only really good if you use a lot so it gets ooey-gooey, and with this amount I didn't think it was worth it. Most important thing about this meal? EAT SLOWLY AND SAVOR IT- I realized when I got up for seconds that I didn't need more, but I still wanted more, so I got just a couple of bites and enjoyed those slowly.
If you try this, I really hope that you enjoy it as much as I did. Be liberal with your spices/seasonings, this might be a bit bland as written.
All-Core, all-day except for the cupcake at breakfast!
The prep took much longer than anticipated.
This recipe starts out by making a sauce, which will sit and simmer for about an hour.
the start of the sauce
I was about a third of the way through the ingredients list when I realized that this sauce is extremely similar to my homemade sauce... so similar that I decided to eyeball the measurements and add in a few other things. I added a bit more garlic (powder, not fresh); I substituted minced (dried) onion for fresh chopped (and I'm sure I used way more than called for); I skipped the bay leaves (I've never liked bay leaves); I also skipped the green pepper (didn't feel like chopping today), but tossed in a cup or so of frozen veggies*. I also added some leftover spaghetti sauce that I had in my freezer from a while ago- maybe a cup? Also, this recipe calls for 2 cups of diced tomatoes and 2 cups of tomato sauce. A can of tomatoes is 14.5 oz, tomato sauce is 15 oz- each notquite 2 cups. I figured it would be ok, and I'd do it again at just one can of each. The tomatoes I used were the kind with garlic and onion... I never buy the plain diced tomatoes, always with flavor.
sauce is ready to simmer for an hour
*About my frozen veggies: Shortly after I started WW, I bought lots of fresh veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, squash, zucchini, onions, mushrooms, carrots) and spent an evening dicing, mixing, and bagging them into gallon-sized freezer bags. These bags of frozen veggies have been fantastic for me- it's so easy just to toss a handful or so into whatever I'm cooking to "healthy" it up a bit. (Even boxed mac & cheese tastes better with a couple of cups of veggies!) My family never minded that I was adding veggies to most of our meals, and the kids sometimes prefer to eat the veggies instead of the rest of the entree! I always have these on hand in addition to whatever other frozen/canned veggies I have, and I tend to use these way more often.
The first time I did this, I let the veggies sit out for a couple of hours before I got them into bags and in the freezer... they dried out quite a bit before I froze them. I wish I'd done that every time, because the juice from the veggies forms ice inside the bags- I have to break up the ice before I can scoop out the veggies.
my bag of veggies
After letting the sauce sit and simmer for about 45 minutes, I started browning the ground beef. Mine was stored in our chest freezer and took at least 15-20 minutes to go from really-frozen to brown, so I added it right into the sauce when it was ready.
doesn't that look delish? sauce with meat added
The sauce/meat mix is supposed to simmer for another 20 minutes, so I used this time to cook the pasta. The recipe calls for 8 oz of uncooked spaghetti, I used one full 12 oz box. (Because what am I going to do with 4 oz of pasta?) I added water to the pan I'd used for the meat and put the pasta right in- didn't worry about cleaning it first. The extra bit of grease from the meat was enough that I didn't feel the need to add any oil to the water, and I think it gave the noodles an extra bit of flavor.
noodles cooking in water and leftover beef grease
Finally- ready to prepare for the oven! This is where I was ready to call it quits and just serve it like regular spaghetti. I was ticked that it had taken so long to prepare (especially when the sauce was so much like my own, I usually add ground beef to my sauce, too!); and I couldn't see what good baking this in the oven was going to do other than take longer. The Prince was starving. But I kept working, essentially building a lasagna.
First a layer of sauce, then noodles, then cheese. (The recipe calls for 2 cups of soy or FF cheese. I used maybe a cup-ish of 2% cheddar, because I was unable to find soy or FF cheese. FF cottage cheese would probably be great in this.)
I layered until I was out of noodles, topped with sauce (the top layer was a bit skimpy on sauce), and FINALLY put it in the oven to bake for 30 min. Take it out, top with cheese, return it to the oven. Set the table, take dinner back out of the oven and serve. We sat down a little after 6, I started this project at about 3:45. My kids like to eat between 5-5:30.
ready for the oven
all done!
this took some work- it did not look this nice on the other plates!
Was it all worth it? Oh yeah- I'm actually surprised at how good this really was! I figured it would just be glorified spaghetti, nothing too exciting (and I was not happy about that, based on the amount of time involved). And it really was just glorified spaghetti, but it was gooood.
the Princess approved!
so did the Prince!
Next time, I'll use just one can each of the tomatoes/sauce (like I did today) OR I'll use 2 cans if I don't have any leftover sauce to add in- probably because I used extra noodles, there almost wasn't enough sauce. Again, I'd wing it on the sauce recipe and add in the veggies (still omitting the green pepper and bay leaves). I would use the whole box of pasta, too- that worked well. I would SKIP the cheese- I couldn't taste it anyway- or use FF cottage cheese in between the layers to give it more of a lasagna taste. If I could find WW lasagna noodles, I'd definitely use those instead and really make it a lasagna instead of baked spaghetti. No need for cheese on top, it's only really good if you use a lot so it gets ooey-gooey, and with this amount I didn't think it was worth it. Most important thing about this meal? EAT SLOWLY AND SAVOR IT- I realized when I got up for seconds that I didn't need more, but I still wanted more, so I got just a couple of bites and enjoyed those slowly.
If you try this, I really hope that you enjoy it as much as I did. Be liberal with your spices/seasonings, this might be a bit bland as written.
All-Core, all-day except for the cupcake at breakfast!
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