Meal Plan/Grocery List

Okay, so this week, I am going to be reverting back to a previous meal plan for you to enjoy. This week was one of those weeks where we just ended up being gone a lot and having to eat on the run or at someone else's house, sometimes you just have those times. So, to say the least, I only made a couple of things on my meal plan and therefore, much of this week's meal plan will be spilling over into next week's meal plan. Next week, hopefully I'll be posting the new meal plan. Until then....here's the link to the post for meal plan #3, where you will find links to recipes and to the grocery list. Enjoy!

Happy Easter to you all!!!!

Meal Plan/Grocery List 3

Meal Plan/Grocery List 8

Another week...another grocery trip. At least that's how it is at my house. I don't know how people manage to only get to the grocery store once or a twice a month. When we weren't buying as much fresh produce, I was doing it. I was much more organized with exactly when we would eat each meal and I stuck much of it in the freezer so things wouldn't go bad. However, it feels like much of the time, our fresh fruit and veggies don't even make it for half of the week, let alone two or three weeks. Here's another menue plan for this week with grocery list included. I made a few last minute adjustments...the brownies that I originally had on the menu for dessert were a new recipe, a peanut butter brownie. Well, we made them last night, and....they were a little blah. As promised, I don't post recipes that I don't love, and I didn't love these, so I changed it up and put the warm cinnamon bites on as a dessert again. They are so good, I just don't get sick of those. Also, for the pork chops with mashed cauliflower recipe, the recipe I'm linking to it is for the mashed cauliflower. The baked pork chops were pretty standard baked pork chops. I was trying to be adventurous and try out a few new seasonings, and mine weren't that great, so go with it from what you like. We've all made pork chops before. In hindsight, I would have done a little teriyaki sauce on them or something, that would have been good. Anyway, here you go!

Meals:
Seasoned Baked Pork Chops with Garlic Cauliflower Mash
Chicken 'n Biscuits
Spaghetti Squash Pizza Casserole (I made this one, and it was DELISH!!!! But I forgot to take a picture, so I don't have the recipe written up yet....put it towards the end of the week of your meal plan. I'll do my best to get it up asap)
Italian Marinara Chicken (Am making this one tonight...recipe to come)
Enchilada Cupcakes

Dessert:
Warm Cinnamon Bites

Snack:
Banana Chocolate Chip Donuts

And here's the shopping list for it all:
Meal Plan/Grocery List 8

Enjoy!

Garlic Cauliflower Mash

Garlic Cauliflower Mash

This recipe is focusing on the side dish, rather than the main dish. For dinner, we made a seasoned, baked pork chop. It was good, fine, nothing spectacular. I'd definitely use different seasonings the next time around, I was just playing around with some different things. The cauliflower mash was definitely a different take on a side dish. I wish I had an immersion blender to really have gotten it creamy, I think it would have tasted much more like mashed potatoes, but they were still good. I had a hard time figuring up the points for this one because it was pretty much all vegetables, with the exception of a little milk and one tablespoon of butter, and vegetables are free, so if I go into weight watchers and mark each ingredient separately, it would have been like 1 3 points for the whole pot of them. However, if you use the recipe builder on weight watchers, it doesn't necessarily count fruit and veggies free like the PointsPlus system does, it figures up the nutritional value of every ingredient then divides it out by servings, so according to that, it was like 2 points a serving. Either way, it's low points, I went with the 1 point, because it was eating a lot of vegetables and I felt good about that.

Ingredients:

1 large head of cauliflower

3 cups water

4 garlic cloves

1 tsp salt

1 bay leaf

1 T. butter

½ c. skim milk

Salt and pepper 

Directions:

1.   Cut cauliflower into florets and place in slow cooker.

2.   Add water, garlic, salt, and bay leaf.

3.   Cover and cook on high 2-3 hours or low 4-6 hours.

4.   Remove garlic and bay leaf and drain water.

5.   Add in butter and let it melt.

6.   Then using a potato masher or immersion blender, mash it up adding the milk as needed. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Yields 4 servings – WWP+ 1 per serving

Shown here with a 1 point salad: lettuce, tomatoes, mushrooms, cucumbers and 2 T. fat free Caesar Italian dressing, and a 5 point seasoned, baked pork chop.

***Recipe adapted from www.momswithcrockpots.com***

 

Parmesan Crusted Tilapia

Parmesan Crusted Tilapia

This was a very simple and fast fish dinner recipe and it was so tasty, Tessa even ate a whole piece! I was shocked!

Ingredients:

4 (4 oz) tilapia filets

2/3 c. parmesan cheese

1 T. chopped fresh parsley

2 tsp. paprika

1 lemon (cut into wedges)

Directions:

1.   Heat oven to 400.

2.   In a shallow dish, combine the cheese, paprika and parsley. Moisten fish slightly with water or cooking spray then dredge in cheese mixture.

3.   Place on foil lined baking sheet and bake until fish is opaque, about 10-12 minutes. Serve with lemon wedges. 

Yields 4 pieces – WWP+ 3 per filet

 
Shown here with a 1 point salad: lettuce, tomatoes, mushrooms, cucumbers and 2 T. fat free Caesar Italian dressing, 3 points (1/2 c.) of brown rice and steamed broccoli.

 

Recipe adapted from RachaelRayMag.com

 

Meal Plan/Grocery List 7

I hope you all have had a great week and hopefully you are seeing the numbers on the scale going down! This week I was done 22.4 pounds!! I'm almost to my goal and I'm so excited. I went out shopping with my mom this week and got a few new clothes and a new swimming suit for the summer...who'd have thought I'd be excited about a swimming suit, but I love it! It was so much fun trying on clothes when I feel like things look good on me! The next thing I really need is a pair of jeans that fit, but I'm waiting until I hit my goal, then going to buy a nice pair that really look good and make all my hard work feel worth it! Enough about me...I'm ready with another meal plan for this week! I really enjoyed these recipes this past week, there is only one that I haven't gotten to yet, and will post the recipe as soon as I do...planning to make it tomorrow night.

Meals:
Easy Baked Chicken
Mexican Baked Spaghetti Squash
Parmesan Crusted Tilapia (will link recipe as soon we try it out)
Cheeseburger Cupcakes
Chicken Alfredo Pizza

Dessert:
Warm Cinnamon Bites

Breakfast/Snack:
French Toast Muffins

And here's your grocery list to go along with it:
Meal Plan/Grocery List 7

Happy Shopping and Happy Cooking!

French Toast Muffins

French Toast Muffins

A new muffin recipe to add to the list and a major bonus, they are only 2 points as compared to most of my muffins which are 3 points each! These were very good, but I will say that they had a little different texture than a normal muffin. No flour in them, but with the 4 egg whites, they had just a bit more of a souffle-esque kind of feel, very much like french toast...that kind of eggy-bready kind of taste. I really enjoyed them. I re-heated one this morning for my breakfast and it was just as good today as it was yesterday. If I wanted to use an extra point, they would be really good dipped in a little warm maple syrup. Yum!! Don't be scared by the ingredient list, I was a bit intimidated myself, but I found everything (except the sugar free syrup) at Aldi...even the Stevia packets and almond milk. And here's a little fun tip, the almond milk comes in a bigger carton, and you only need a half cup, so if you aren't going to use the rest of it (my husband loves it and was more than willing to finish off our carton) but if your family won't drink it or put it on cereal, pour it into ice cube trays, then when frozen, toss them in a freezer bag and you'll have them ready for the next time you need almond milk, then you won't have to buy it again! I do that with buttermilk and other liquid ingredients that I don't use too often.

Ingredients:

½ c. unsweetened almond milk

½ c. unsweetened applesauce

½ c. sugar free maple syrup

4 egg whites

1 tsp. vanilla (or maple…I just couldn’t find maple) extract

2 c. old fashioned oats

12-14 packets Stevia

2 tsp. baking powder

1 ½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. cinnamon 

Directions:

1.   Heat oven to 350. Spray 14 muffin cups with cooking spray.

2.   Put all liquid ingredients in a blender and blend well. Then add all the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.

3.   Pour into 14 muffin cups, dividing batter evenly. Fill each cup a little over halfway full.

4.   Bake 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  

Yields 14 pieces – WWP+ 2 per muffin

Easy Baked Chicken

Easy Baked Chicken

I debated even writing up and posting this dinner because it's so basic that it seems completely unnecessary to post. It's a seasoned piece of chicken breast, and that's it. However, I realized that in the 2.5 months that we have been doing this, I have been so caught up in making these incredibly yummy and fun dinners that are all weight watchers pointed out that I have not once just cooked some regular chicken. So I figured if I needed the reminder, maybe someone else did too. I actually put the baked chicken on the menu at the request of the hubs. It's been frustrating for him, and me as well, these last few weeks because his weight has been coming off much slower than it has in the past. He has been doing everything right (except maybe not exercising as much as he should, he just has a busy schedule this time of year) but the weight has just been slow to come off. The only thing he could think of that was different from the last time he did Weight Watchers and dropped so much, so fast, was that we ate a lot more plain meats and less fancied up recipes. While I explained to him that I would loose my mind and my motivation if I had to go back to eating nothing but chicken breast all the time again, however, I would be happy to implement more non-fancied up proteins for meals once or twice a week, so that's what I did! I was also having a major craving for mashed potatoes, so I fixed a small pan of instant mashed potatoes, which was 3 points for 1/2 c. and 5 points for a whole cup. We still had our big salad and also served it with broccoli. As for making the actual chicken, I get these really big chicken breasts that I then butterfly so they are thinner and cook faster and much more evenly. You can use whatever seasonings you want, I used what I had on hand and what sounded good to me. The chicken broth in the pan really does help keep the chicken from drying out. And point value-wise, for the most part, unless you get up to 9-10 cooked ounces in one chicken breast, we just weighed them after they were cooked and they are one point per ounce. This meal was nothing fancy, and certainly anything that anyone could do and has done a million times before, but sometimes going back to the basics is a refreshing change of pace.

Ingredients:

4 (4-6oz) thinly sliced chicken breasts

½ c. chicken broth
Onion powder
Garlic salt
Basil
Freshly ground pepper
(or any seasoning of your choice)

Directions:

      1.   Heat oven to 350.

2.   Place chicken breasts in a 9x13 baking dish.

3.   Top with seasonings of your choice, I used onion powder, garlic salt, black pepper and dried basil.

4.   Very carefully add about ½ c. of chicken broth to the bottom of baking dish (try not to pour it right on seasoned chicken so to wash off the seasonings).

5.   Bake about 20 minutes or until chicken is done. 

Yields 4 pieces – WWP+ 4-6 per piece (1 point per ounce of cooked chicken)

Shown here with a 1 point salad: lettuce, tomatoes, mushrooms, cucumbers and 2 T. fat free Caesar Italian dressing and 3 points of instant mashed potatoes (1/2 c. serving)

Mexican Baked Spaghetti Squash

Mexican Baked Spaghetti Squash

 

The spaghetti squash obsession only continues...this week's new recipe was so good!! And possibly the best part of it all was that I didn't have to make it!!! We had this for dinner on Monday night, and I took off as soon as the hubs got home to go do a little shopping with my mom for some new clothes (since everything I have is too big!) and when I got home from shopping, this delicious casserole was in the oven ready to go, what a treat! The hubs did a great job, he doesn't think of himself of much of a cook, but he really did amazing! (I was also warned that this was not something I was to get used to happening :) This one had a bit of a kick to it, but not too much, trust me, I can't handle too spicy, and I thought it was delicious. But if you really don't like spicy, then just substitute the can of tomatoes and chilis for a can of regular diced tomatoes. We cut the 9x13 pan into 8 pieces, and they were big and only 4 points a piece! My whole dinner that night, with the salad, was only 5 points!! Spaghetti squash never ceases to amaze me!

Ingredients:

1 spaghetti squash

1 medium onion, sliced thin

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

2 cloves garlic

1 T. chili powder

1 tsp. dried oregano

½ tsp. cumin

Salt & pepper to taste

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 c. frozen corn kernels, thawed

1 can tomatoes with green chilis, drained

½ c. nonfat greek yogurt

1 c. 2% shredded cheddar cheese

 

Directions:

1.   Heat oven to 375. Cut squash in half length-wise and using a spoon, scoop out the seeds. Place halves face down on baking sheet and cook for 45-50 minutes. When done, using two forks, scrape out the insides and put all spaghetti squash in a separate bowl. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.

2.   While squash is roasting, spray skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Add the onions, bell pepper and jalapeno and cook about 5 minutes.

3.   Add garlic and cook another 2 minutes. Stir in chili powder, oregano, and cumin and cook another minute, stirring constantly.

4.   Transfer to a large bowl and add beans, corn, tomatoes, yogurt and half of the cheese. Allow spaghetti squash to cool at least 5 minutes, then add to the bowl and stir well to combine.

5.   Transfer to baking dish and top with remaining cheese. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

 

Yields 8 pieces – WWP+ 4 per slice

 

Shown here with a 1 point salad: lettuce, tomatoes, mushrooms, cucumbers and 2 T. fat free Caesar Italian dressing.

Recipe from Baked-In

Meal Plan/Grocery List 6

Hard to believe that I've been at this meal planning for 6 weeks already...doesn't seem like it's been that long. I do truly hope that at least some of you are benefitting from it and are finding it helpful and useful in making some delicious and healthy meals for your families. This week was a busy one for my family, a little more running around than originally expected and not as many meals eaten at home, so we have a couple extras to take us into the weekend. I tried another new spaghetti squash recipe this week and it was AMAZING! I am so completely sold on spaghetti squash! My new favorite thing to cook with! Here's the meals for this week:

Spaghetti Squash Lasagna
Hawaiian BBQ Cupcakes
Bacon Cheeseburger Wraps
Portobello Mushroom Pizzas
Enchilada Casserole

Dessert for this week is (once again):
Glazed Brownies

And for quick breakfast or afternoon snack:
Banana Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins

And lastly, to make your life one step easier, the grocery list:
Meal Plan/Grocery List 6

So there you are! Happy cooking this week!

Hawaiian BBQ Cupcakes

Hawaiian BBQ Cupcakes

I keep saying it, over and over, but we have yet to try a cupcake recipe that we don't love! This one was no exception AND it was super easy and fast to put together. There was only 3 layers (then repeated) and was just a quick and easy and yummy dinner to put together! I will say, they didn't hold up as well when I reheated them the next day for lunch as other cupcakes have, and I'm not entirely sure why, tasted just as good, just didn't hold shape quite as well reheated. But if that's my biggest complaint, then I think we're doing pretty good!

Ingredients:

1 2/3 c. cooked chicken breast, chopped or shredded

½ c. chopped fresh pineapple (if you have to use canned, drain, and don’t buy any in syrup)

4 T. BBQ sauce

1 T. chopped scallions

16 wonton wrappers

4 oz. (about 1 cup) 2% shredded cheddar cheese 

Directions:

1.   Preheat oven to 375, spray 8 cups in a muffin tin.

2.   In a bowl, combine the chicken, pineapple, BBQ sauce and scallions. Stir well to combine.

3.   Put a wonton wrapper in the bottom of each of the 8 muffin cups. Using half of the chicken mixture, divide evenly among the muffin cups. Then using half of the shredded cheese, divide evenly among the muffin cups. Repeat layering with remaining ingredients: wonton wrapper, chicken mixture, shredded cheese.

4.   Bake 18-20 minutes, then let sit about 5 minutes before serving.  

Yields 8 servings – WWP+ 4 per serving. 

(Pictured above with a 1 point salad – lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, mushrooms and 2 T of fat free Caesar dressing) 

Recipe from Emily Bites

Spaghetti Squash Lasagna

Spaghetti Squash Lasagna

Last night's dinner only added fuel to the fire of my new obsession with spaghetti squash! I have yet to try anything that I don't love with spaghetti squash and it only makes it all the better that using it really fills me up and keeps the point values low!! This really tasted like a real lasagna, I couldn't believe it! I think next time, I will probably try sauteing in some mushrooms and garlic with it as well. I admit, I did give it a sprinkle of garlic powder at the last minute when I realized there was no garlic in this recipe. I will say, buy the biggest spaghetti squash you can find. This one asks for 5-6 cups, I bought the biggest one that Woodman's had and it barely gave me 5 cups. I bought an extra smaller one just incase I needed more, but decided at the last minute to just fix the one and it gave me just enough. And I love that this recipe gives me 12 servings, the hubs had 2 pieces, and I had 1, so even though he took a couple for lunch today, we'll still have plenty of leftovers!!!

Ingredients:

1 (10oz) pkg. frozen chopped spinach

1 c. onion, finely chopped

1 lb. extra lean ground turkey

1 tsp. dried basil

1 tsp. dried oregano

1 ½ c. pasta sauce

1 ½ c. fat free cottage cheese

½ c. grated parmesan cheese

2 large egg whites

1 large spaghetti squash (5-6 cups cooked)

½ c. part skim shredded mozzarella

 

Directions:

1.   Heat oven to 375. Cut squash in half length-wise and using a spoon, scoop out the seeds. Place halves face down on baking sheet and cook for 45-50 minutes. When done, using two forks, scrape out the insides and put all spaghetti squash in a separate bowl. Then turn oven temp up to 425. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.

2.   While spaghetti squash is roasting, begin preparing the other layers to the lasagna. In a large skillet sprayed with cooking spray, sauté the onions and spinach (best if it’s not totally frozen, but can be). Cook until onion is translucent and spinach is not frozen. Remove from pan and put in a bowl.

3.   In the same skillet, cook ground turkey. Drain off any excess grease. Add basil and oregano and pasta sauce. Cook until heated then add to the onions and spinach and stir well.

4.   In a separate bowl, whisk together the cottage cheese, parmesan cheese and egg whites.

5.   Begin layering the lasagna. Using half of the spaghetti squash, spread it out on the bottom of the baking dish. Then using half of the cheese mixture, spread on top of spaghetti squash. Third, using half of the meat mixture, spread over the cheese mixture. Repeat layering with remaining ingredients: spaghetti squash, cheese mixture, meat mixture. Then sprinkle the ½ c. mozzarella on the very top.

6.   Bake for 35-40 minutes.

7.   Let it sit about 10 minutes before cutting into 12 even pieces.  

Yields 12 piece – WWP+ 4 per slice

Shown here with a 1 point salad: lettuce, tomatoes, mushrooms, cucumbers and 2 T. fat free Caesar Italian dressing.

 Adapted from Dashing Dish

Warm Cinnamon Bites

Warm Cinnamon Bites

I made these for dessert last night after intending to do it for like a week and a half. I don't know what I was waiting for. I had them put together in like 5 minutes or less (because I already have cinnamon-sugar mixed up for my cinnamon-sugar toast obsessed child) and they were so delicious! I had two, which was 3 points, then I had to walk away because if I stood there, I would have kept eating. However, I did find myself wandering back over later because I had quite a few points left after dinner last night, so I ended up with 4 altogether!!! This is a new go-to dessert!!! These would also work as a sweet breakfast snack, as my child was begging for one this morning I realized that cinnamon rolls are a breakfast food as well!

Ingredients:

8 oz. reduced fat crescent rolls

4 teaspoons sugar-cinnamon

½ c. powdered sugar

2 tsp. milk

 

Directions:

1.   Preheat oven to 375.

2.   Unroll crescent and separate into 2 squares (4 crescents each). Press perforations together as best you can to make two squares. Sprinkle 2 tsp of cinnamon-sugar on each square.

3.   Roll up one section at a time, starting on the longer side and press firmly to eliminate air pockets. Pinch seams to seal. Cut each roll into 10 slices, a total of 20 slices for the whole recipe.

4.   Place rolls on a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.

5.   While baking, whisk together the powdered sugar and milk and when rolls are golden brown, remove from the oven and drizzle evenly with icing.  

(store in an airtight container and microwave for a few seconds before eating again later)

Yields 20 servings – WWP+ 1 point each or 3 points for 2 

***I don’t know where the original recipe came from. I feel bad not giving credit where credit is due, but when I printed it from online, it didn’t print a web address with it, and I don't remember where I found it. Although I remember the girl saying that her mom got it from a weight watchers meeting, so I guess in the end we credit Weight Watchers.***

Meal Plan/Grocery List 5

Another week has passed. Are you enjoying any of these recipes? I surely hope so! We've had kinda a crazy week with cooking, I haven't gotten to some of my recipes yet because we had leftovers one night and another night I made the same recipe twice because we liked it SO much the first time! So my groceries should last me through the weekend, which is always nice. My newest addition to my cooking regiment is Spaghetti Squash!!! I've heard a lot of people talk about it, but hadn't ever tried it. I search a bunch of recipes and I found one that I wanted to experiment with and it was amazing!!! That's the one we made twice this week. It tastes really good and it's super low in points because it's mostly vegetables which is a huge bonus!! I have decided that I'm going to try and incorportate a spaghettti squash recipe into my meal plan once a week. Tessa even ate it, it really does have the consistency of spaghetti, but and great way to get tons of extra vegetables in without dealing with those pesky carbs that make the point values of everything shoot up! If you've never tried it, don't be scared of it, I'm going to challenge you to give it a try, we are so glad that we did. I was able to eat a whole filling dinner last night for only 3 points, love it! (oh, and don't let the Spicy title of the recipe throw you off, it does have a jalapeno in it, but I am a major baby when it comes to spicy food, and I just made sure to get all the seeds out and it was really, seriously, not spicy to me, just very flavorful!)

And yes, you are going to start seeing some of the meals repeating from previous meal plans. I always try to incorporate one or two new ones, but let's face it, no one makes new recipes all the time, and you wouldn't want to! When you find something you like, who doesn't want to have it again??

So here's the meals for this week:

Dinners:
Spicy Spaghetti Squash
Chicken Parmesan Casserole
Margherita Pizza
French Dip Cupcakes
Chicken Tortilla Soup

Dessert:
Warm Cinnamon Bites

Snack:
Cucumbers with cheese spread

For this snack, it's simple, just sliced cucumbers with a wedge of Laughing Cow Light cheese spread in between. You can do whatever flavor you want, although I recommend the Creamy Swiss (and bonus, it's on the grocery list anyway for the French Dip Cupcakes). I think I made about 5 little cucumber sandwiches with 1 wedge of cheese.

And here's your grocery list to complete it all:
Meal Plan/Grocery List 5

Happy Shopping and Happy Cooking!

Chicken Parmesan Casserole

Chicken Parmesan Casserole

Sorry! No picture! I took one, I swear, but it has disappered from my phone!

 

I don't know what happened to my picture, I swear I took one, but it is missing from my phone. The next time I make it (which will probably be soon considering how delicious this was!!!) I will be sure to take another picture to post with the recipe. This casserole was super easy to put together and it really did taste like chicken parmesan. We had my parents over for dinner the night we made this and they both loved it too! The only downside is that it is an 8 point dish, which is getting to be a higher point dinner for me now that I'm losing more and more weight, because as the weight goes down, so do the points they allow you for the day, but it was worth it to eat a light lunch to enjoy this dinner!

Ingredients:

2 lbs. raw boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed

2 cloves garlic, minced

¼ c. fresh basil, finely chopped

2 c. marinara/pasta sauce

6 oz. part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

2 oz. Parmesan cheese, grated

3.5 oz. garlic croutons, roughly crushed (leave some bigger chunks) 

Directions:

1.   Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.

2.   Spread the cubed chicken in the single layer across the bottom of the baking dish. Sprinkle the minced garlic and fresh basil over top of it. Spread marinara sauce over the chicken next.

3.   Divide the two cheeses into halves, sprinkle half the mozzarella then half the parmesan. Sprinkle all the croutons on top of the cheeses. Then sprinkle the remainder of the mozzarella and parmesan on top of the croutons.

4.   Bake for 40-45 minutes.  

Yields 8 servings – WWP+ 8 points  

Recipe adapted from Emily Bites