Recipe - Tasty Tuesday

Tasty Tuesday:   

AVOCADO SALSA

Here's a little treat my fitness instructor made for us on our last night of class.  Feel free to eat alone or use with your favorite point friendly chip!  Approximately 30 servings.  each serving is 2 ppv

 (BTW I don't even like avocados and I loved this dip)

INGREDIENTS:
1  16 oz bag of frozen corn kernels (i like the white & yellow mix personally)
2  2.5 oz cans of sliced ripe olives
1  red bell pepper, chopped
5  cloves of garlic, minced
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
3  TBSP apple cider vinegar
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp black pepper
3  avocados - peeled, pitted and diced:


DIRECTIONS:
1.  In a large bowl mix the corn, olives, red pepper and onion
2.  In a small bowl mix garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, oregano, pepper and salt.
     Pour into the corn mixture and toss to coat.  Cover and chill for 6 hours in the fridge.
3.  Cut and Stir in avocados before serving to keep them from browning

MY STORY… BEYOND THE SCALE & REAL LIFE TOO

Thank those that have served our country so selflessly!

FREEDOM RINGS

Bode at 8!

Turning One

This morning as we honor our veterans, many of us are bustling around preparing the house & yard for a picnic!  Did you sleep in? Have the day off?  I hope so!  But, for some of us our Memorial Day started a few days ago.  Mine started Sunday, with my son’s Bode’s 8^th birthday.  It was just easier to order pizza, cut up some fruit and open a bag of chips then to grill or cook healthy.  I also had a co-worker (the fantastic Laura from N. Aurora) that happened to text me a recipe for “Death by Chocolate” to make for dessert! Notice I am being nice and NOT posting a picture of the dessert!  Let’s just say it held up to its name and I had most of my in-laws passed out in the kitchen to full too even go home!  

Since I am being honest I should also admit that this dessert included broken up Heath Bars.  I had one extra that didn’t go in the dessert and late last night it came running into my room, unwrapped itself & jumped in my mouth!  I have no idea how many points it is and I don’t want to know!  Now, I have 2 choices.  I can continue eating off plan and chalk it up to yet another holiday or I can look at today as a “normal” Monday except the kids & hubby are home. 

        Yep, I have left over pizza in the fridge, but I also have some beef thawed out.  Yep, I have a mouthwatering chocolate dessert left in my fridge but I also have a half of watermelon and cut up strawberries.  Do you see where I’m going with this?  As Weight Watchers our goal should not be to white knuckle it through holidays, parties, potlucks, festivals, etc. Or to deprive ourselves of all good things.  It IS about gaining awareness of what we really want and need the most – then following through! I’m going to be ON PLAN today, with a few measured out and pointed indulgences. 

 It’s about being proud of yesterday, at peace with today and optimistic about tomorrow! 

May begins YOUR SUMMER TOOLKIT:

May is the gateway to summer!  School will soon be out, the weather is getting warmer, burgers are on the grill - this is the best time to start prepping for the challenges & fun of this next season!  Our May meetings are designed to help you stock your WW “tool box” so you can enjoy all that summer has to offer AND stay on Plan!

Last Week:      ”YOUR SUMMER EATING GUIDE”

Summer and nice weather typically means a lot of opportunities to eat out – at friends’ houses, for BBQ’s, outdoor restuarants, & fast food while on the go!  In our meeting we discussed how to satisfy your reasons for eating out in Plan friendly ways.  What strategy seemed to be most helpful for you?  Be ready to share what you learned about your eating behaviors in the meeting!

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This Week:  ”THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE”

Are you stuck in a rut with meals?  Getting a little Ho-Hum?  For various reasons this happens to us and we tend to stick to what we know when it comes to our meals.  It’s safe & sometimes easy.  That being said, enjoying food, especially in the face of moderation is crucial to sticking on the Plan!  This week we will focus on making your meals more enjoyable.  Do you have a go to strategy for when boredom kicks in?  Bring your thoughts and ideas to the meeting so we can have fabulous meals this week! 

 What’s Happening This Week!

ON SALE THIS WEEK: 

Smoothies:   $4.95

Starter Kit:  $24.95

 

 

Lose 10 On Us!

Help Us Spread the Word! Join and purchase a Monthly Pass subscription plan between April 28 and June 1, 2015, lose 10 pounds within your first two months and W.W will pay you back for two months!

 

Let’s Clap the Big Hands!

Celebrate the Scale & those Non Scale Victories too!

This week we want to give a big Shout Out to the 30 members that showed up to the Struggling Member Workshop in Geneva!  Don’t forget to celebrate those small goals you set!  

(if you’d like to share your success, post under comments or let me know you’d like to be added in the blog)

Quote of the Week:

This newsletter is and the views shared are not affiliated with weight watchers international, inc.  It is meant to be a motivational tool.

Recipe of the Week: Salad in a Jar!

RECIPE OF THE WEEK:

Shared by Erin in North Aurora.  For more ideas search Pinterest

What is great about these jar recipes is that you can prep for the week & know they will be fresh come Friday.  Best part is they will fill you up for a small amount of points plus values.  At lunchtime just turn your jar upside down and shake to mix the dressing throughout.

ERIN USED:

 

Put your dressing in the jar first ~ 3TBSP vinegarette -1pps

1 TBSP corn -1ppv

1 TBSP Black beans -1ppv

2 TBSP quinoa -2ppv

Cucumber-0ppv

Grape tomatoes-0ppv

3 oz of chicken breast - 3ppv

Stuff with lettuce or spinach – 0ppv

Total 8 points = very satisfying

MY STORY… BEYOND THE SCALE & REAL LIFE TOO

Holidays? Or eating to fill the void?

This past Sunday was Mother’s Day.  If you are a mom to children or even to fur babies then you may have had a day of spoiling; a lunch you didn’t need to prepare or clean up and possibly a gift or two.  Most of my crew is still on the young side (you can see a photo of them on the FAMILY page) so I was given a scavenger hunt to search for my home-made cards, cups of grass, breakfast made by little ones not old enough to turn on the stove accompanied by a vase of tulips that were cut from the only flowering plant in my yard.  So now I have stems.  I had to pull the two older girls aside and remind them that a true Mother’s Day gift would mean I didn’t have to get out of bed at 6:30 to “find” my gifts but for this season of motherhood the little ones rule & I will revel in their love for me, no matter how early it is.  There is also a young woman in my life has turned this “holiday” into a day where I am blessed to have the chance to raise her babies as my own.  As I think of her on this day with longing arms.  Wishing for cups of dandelions and little voices whispering “I love you” I had another thought… 

For some of us this day may have felt like a freight train without brakes heading right at you!  A day where emotions crash into our hearts with such a heaviness that is hard to even breathe.  You may be one of these people.  People who dread a holiday that celebrates a woman you have a broken relationship with. Or you may be a woman desiring to carry a child and can’t, or haven’t.  Have you lost your mom & can only celebrate her memory?  Have you suffered the awful tragedy of having buried a child?  Or do we remember the women, like our birth mom that has given up her child(ren) for adoption? 

Boy I didn't mean for this to be a downer of a newsletter!  I just want to acknowledge that the “days” in our lives can be felt differently by those around us.  Gosh, now add into the mix being a Weight Watcher! Yikes!  How well do you respond to these days?  The days where LIFE just throws a wrench into our plans.  Did you take a WW “holiday” and eat till you were sick?  Did you eat until you were numb to avoid all the hurts this past weekend?  Or are there any of you that were able to fit the holiday into your plan – and although you ate with a little less structure - Monday came along and you are on track today?  No matter which way you acted let’s remember that even though Mother’s Day is over there will be more “days” in our future.

Take time this week to evaluate and reflect on how you did.  Learn from what worked and what didn't.  Are there things that can adapt next time we are faced with those challenges?  What can be celebrated?   Remember that all the food in the world will not change our realities.  But how we respond to our realities can be life changing!  So put on your armor and be ready.  Life is coming!

May begins YOUR SUMMER TOOLKIT:

May is the gateway to summer!  School will soon be out, the weather is getting warmer, burgers are on the grill - this is the best time to start prepping for the challenges & fun of this next season!  Our May meetings are designed to help you stock your WW “tool box” so you can enjoy all that summer has to offer AND stay on Plan!

Last Week:      ”YOUR MEAL PLAN – ACTION PLAN”

We all know that meal planning can be a big help towards staying on track. Most of us have a few go-to meals to get dinner on the table fast, but not having a plan can cause us to scramble for a good choice. As we discussed in the meeting, life can get in the way of making meal-planning routine. What did you learn in the meeting about the “how” of meal planning? How did that make a difference in your week? Were you able to follow through? If not, what got in the way?  I can’t wait to hear about it in the meeting!

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This Week:      ”SPRING CLEAN YOUR FRIDGE”

“You can’t eat it if you don’t have it” applies to both foods that are plan-friendly and to those high in Points Plus Values. Which of these two categories is most accessible to you? Is your fridge filled with plan-friendly foods? If so, where in the fridge are they? Are there foods that call your name even though you had bought them for someone else? It might be time to spring clean our food spaces, especially our fridge!  Take a before & after photo and it may make it in the newsletter next week or on the facebook page!  Here’s a short video that may get you started or at least give you some great ideas!

http://bcove.me/sqjeje0i

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 What’s Happening This Week!

ON SALE THIS WEEK: 

Smoothies:   $4.95

Crunchy Snacks: $3.95

2 for $20 Bundle Offers:   Pick any two of the Shop, Eat Out or Weight Watchers Power Foods Guide books. Also, bundle the Salad Solution To-Go with the Salad Dressing Cruet and save $5.90!

Lose 10 On Us!

Help Us Spread the Word! Join and purchase a Monthly Pass subscription plan between April 28 and June 1, 2015, lose 10 pounds within your first two months and W.W will pay you back for two months!

 

Thea S. Geneva Member

Let’s Clap the Big Hands!

Celebrate the Scale & those Non Scale Victories too!

This week we want to holler and clap for Thea!  She walked a 5K this Saturday without stopping to sit!  Yay!

-Quote of the Week-

In memory of our founder, Jean Nidetch, who taught us that 

"It's Choice -not Chance that determines your destiny" 

1923-2015

This newsletter is and the views shared are not affiliated with weight watchers international, inc.  It is meant to be a motivational tool.

Recipe of the Week~ Berry Lemon Tartlets

Recipe of the Week~

Berry Lemon Tartlets

Servings: 30 Points Plus Values: 1 

Ingredients: 

2/3 cup(s) sugar     1 Tbsp lemon zest     2 large egg(s), whisked    

1/2 cup(s) fresh lemon juice     2 Tbsp salted butter     1 cup(s) fat free whipped topping     30 item(s) mini phyllo shell(s)     3/4 cup(s) fresh blueberries  

Instructions: 

Place sugar, lemon zest and eggs in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan; set over medium heat. Whisk constantly until mixture is combined and warmed through, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add lemon juice and butter; cook, whisking constantly, until slightly thickened and bubbly, about 4 to 5 minutes. Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate until thoroughly chilled and thickened; once chilled, fold in whipped topping until just combined. 

Preheat oven to 350°F.  

Place prebaked phyllo shells on a cookie sheet; bake until crispy, about 5 minutes. Let cool and then spoon about 2 teaspoons lemon mixture into each shell. When ready to serve, garnish each with a berry. Yields 1 tartlet per serving. 

You can use any fresh berries for the topping.

With spring in the air who can resist these simple to make tartlets?My confession= I have not tried these nor do I know what a phyllo shell is :) but they sound yummy!

MY STORY… BREATHE

Breathe…

AAAGGHHH!  Does that instill enough frustration for you?  Please cover your ears while I scream!!!!!!! 

     My MONDAY is starting off on the crappy side.  My son comes downstairs this morning in tears because he forgot to have me buy a tri-fold board for a presentation he has this week.  After the tears subsided the yelling started as I was blamed for not purchasing this board over the weekend & how he will be the ONLY student with a mom that forgot to help their son!  Really?  Laying the guilt on a little thick don’t you think?  Then came all my other faults listed by the little minions I call my children: I can’t find any clean socks, where’s my other shoe, are we REALLY out of cookies for my lunch? etc. etc.   (Insert Carol Burnett singing “Little Girls” from Annie) BREATHE…

     I hope you are imaging a calm, loving response from me but the reality is that I lost my temper, a lot.  I yelled back, yelled at the other kids and pretty much ruined all of our mornings.  So after apologizing for my “come apart” and dropping them off at school I returned home to a phone call from my new cable company.  (As you read last week I switched cable companies)  Well guess what? Long story short I have been on the phone with said company 3 different times this morning, spent 30 minutes on hold, spoke w/ 5 customer service reps, 1 disconnected call & 2 wasted hours of my life and the situation is being resolved by me “waiting” for a manager to call me back within the next 48 hours!  AAGGHHH! Oh, and did I tell you my W.W etools account was cancelled this weekend.  Have I worked for the company so long that the account was just cancelled or maybe I've been fired? (wink) Again I wait & Breathe.

Exhale.  Breathe.  Ok.  Now that I have vented, have you ever had one of those day?  I still haven’t showered yet and I feel like I want to crawl in bed, take a Mental Health Day where I watch tv, stay unshowered and only get up to get more snacks.  Can Moms get those days?  Are WW leaders allowed to say that out loud?  This morning was SUPPOSED to be a happy morning with kids readying themselves for school talking about the week, getting in a day of 5K training while the “babies” were in preschool, grocery shopping, quiet time and a load of laundry.  So THAT didn't happen…Breathe

     What DID happen, I didn't eat my feelings this morning. Not one angry, frustrated bite.  I had breakfast & I tracked it in my new paper journal Christine (thank you) picked up for me titled “ I’m doing My Best” instead of focusing on the inability to digitally track, I paced while on the phone & earned 3161 steps and I have tilapia thawing for dinner.  The best part is that I am typing in a kitchen my husband had cleaned before bed last night & the little ones are quietly sitting at the table cutting up papers to make me a new art.  Days can be rough and if we get derailed we will drive ourselves crazy and put on 5 pounds!  So Breathe & remember on those days we need to focus on what we HAVE done and just forget the rest.  So I’m Clapping the Big Hands for myself and what I did do right. YAY ME!

MAY MEETINGS - BUILD YOUR SUMMER TOOLKIT:

May is the gateway to summer!  School will soon be out, the weather is getting warmer, burgers are on the grill - this is the best time to start prepping for the challenges & fun of this next season!  Our May meetings are designed to help you stock your WW “tool box” so you can enjoy all that summer has to offer AND stay on Plan!

Last Week:      ”REDISCOVER YOUR KITCHEN”

Our kitchens can be inspiring or dreadful…Our meeting had us sharing ideas & getting creative so we could bring some magic back to our menus.  Did any of you pull that kitchen gadget out from the bottom cupboard?  Reinvent an old favorite meal?  Keep bringing your recipes & kitchen tools into the meeting room all month!  The meeting is the best place to hear a great idea and remember we're not alone if your meals have been a little ho hum lately. (and thank you Anna for sharing home-made gummy bears with the Saturday groups)

This Week:      ”YOUR MEAL PLAN – ACTION PLAN”

Do you ever think to yourself, “When summer comes things will slow down a little, I’ll plan more, & eat those fruits & veggies that are in season” only to find out that it’s just not the case?  Instead you've just been presented with a whole new set of challenges.  One way to stay the course while dodging all the “LIFE” that gets thrown at us is to plan our meals in advance.  Many of us intend to do that ….but then the week gets away from us and we've eaten fast food or frozen dinners more times than we would want to admit.  If meal planning is your forte – please come share with us how you got there!  What steps have helped you get to that point?  I'm guessing that most of us struggle in this area and are going to take notes!!

What’s Happening!

ON SALE THIS WEEK:  Haven’t tried the new gluten free Bangin Buffalo Pretzel Thins yet?  That’s ok!  We’re sampling them this week & they’re on sale!

Smoothies:      $4.95

Crunchy Snacks:   $3.95

Featured Online Tool:

Plan a Week’s Meals in 7 Easy Steps:  This article offers great strategies so that you don’t make unhealthy (& unwanted!) detours on the way to the checkout lane while at the store.

 https://www.weightwatchers.com/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=90091&sc=3022

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Let’s Clap the Big Hands!

Celebrate the Scale & those Non Scale Victories too!

This week we celebrate Rita & Becky!  This mother daughter duo rejoined, planned & pointed meals and looked forward to their weigh in!  BRAVO!  (if you’d like to share your success, post under comments or let me know you’d like to be added in the blog)

Quote of the Week:

This newsletter is and the views shared are not affiliated with weight watchers international, inc.  It is meant to be a motivational tool. - Jenn Schneider