Here I am!

Wow, it's been forever since I've written a blog entry. I don't think that anyone is reading or following this, so I guess this is more like a journal for myself. LOL

Well, I've joined Weight Watchers Online. I was anti-WW in the past, but the new points plus program intrigued me. The focus is on filling foods, whole grain, fruits and vegetables. No more good girl for having a 100 calorie pack twice a day and a vita-muffin. I am actually enjoying the program. Weird, I know. I am eating lots of food everyday, breakfast is usually steel cut oats with milk and a teaspoon of brown sugar. I splurge on the weekends and have an egg white omelet. Fruit is zero points, and I have no problem having three servings a day. Veggies are also zero points, my new favorite is roasted brussel sprouts. Yum. And olive oil is good for you too. I'm learning what a serving size actually is and only eating a serving. I already have a food scale for my bread baking, so it comes in handy for weighing meat. I was hungry the first few days, but now I find myself full, actually stuffed after most meals. I am eating less. The moving more is harder, but it's starting to happen. In the two weeks that I've followed the program I'm down 5.8 lbs.

One thing that motivates me about the program is trying to eat as closely to my daily points plus allowance without going over. It's a challenge, and I like challenges. I need to motivate myself to earn extra points with activity, now that would really be a challenge.

What's Cooking?

Yesterday, I made Tyler Florence Chicken Enchiladas, they were very good and the best part is that the recipe makes 2 pans of enchiladas. Everyone was more than happy when I suggested we have them again tonight! Yay!

I also made a batch of Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies this afternoon. There is nothing like a warm cookie fresh from the oven.

Big B went to get a snack and reminded me that the apples look yucky. I'd forgotten about those, they were not fresh and crisp when I bought them. So I have a pot of applesauce simmering on the stove. Big B will have it for breakfast on fresh whole wheat toast tomorrow morning. No recipe, just apple slices, a wee bit of water, brown sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon, simmer until done.

Tomorrow is Friday and that means Pizza Night and I'll be making whole wheat pizza dough in the morning. The basil in the garden is nice and big so I'm sure that will be tasty on the pizzas.

And that's not counting the loaves of bread that are on my weekly baking schedule.

Hmm, maybe I'll suggest that we order Chinese on Saturday?

Garden!

The Square Foot Gardens are doing awesome! We picked and ate our first green pepper over the weekend. Yummy! The squash is blooming and absolutely gorgeous. The cucumber vines are full of baby cukes. The most fun part is that almost everything was planted from seeds. Not to mention, cheap too.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies!

I've made chocolate chip cookies with whole wheat flour before and they were... well, yucky. They were dry and tasted of whole wheat flour.

Then I found this recipe, it's from a cookbook called The Frog Commissary Cookbook. The only change I made to the recipe was that I used whole wheat flour instead of white. The cookies are chewy and crunchy, what a perfect cookie. They also have oatmeal in them, the old fashioned whole oats kind. You can just pretend the butter and sugar aren't in there. I've ditched the Tollhouse recipe for this one, these cookies taste so much better.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
(from The Frog Commissary Cookbook)
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tbsp milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour (I use Whole Wheat and no one can tell!)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups oats (rolled or "quick," but not "instant")
2 cups chocolate chips (about 12-oz.)


Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the sugars until mixture is light in color. Beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the milk and the vanilla extract.
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Either by hand or with the mixer on low speed, gradually beat the flour in to the sugar mixture until just incorporated.
Stir in the oats and chocolate chips by hand.
Drop 1-inch balls of dough onto the cookie sheet, placing about 1 1/2 inches apart so they have room to spread.
Bake at 350F for 10-13 minutes, until golden brown at the edges and light golden at the center.
Cool on baking sheet for at least 1-2 minutes before transfering to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 4 dozen.

How does your garden grow?

The Square Foot Gardens are doing great! The small 4 foot x 4 foot box holds a lot.

Box 2 contains:

2 Zucchini Squash
2 Dwarf Marigolds
2 Dianthus flowers
1 Gerbera Daisy
11 Green Onions ( we planted 16)
2 Sweet red Pepper plants
4 cucumbers
1 Big Boy Tomato
1 Grape Tomato


Box 1 contains:

2 Dwarf Marigolds
1 Green Pepper
2 Diantthus
1 red pepper
4 basil plants
4 squash plants (we just planted those last weekend)
12 green onions
2 sunflowers ( one is huge and one got mangled by a football!)