Thanksgiving (Part Two)

I feel like Thanksgiving has been upon us for an entire week now, but it’s finally here! Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Today I’m traveling to my Aunt’s house  in Connecticut to see 18 of my family members. The catch is my entire extended family is vegetarian and nuts about eating healthy like me! It figures that I would be in charge of cooking all the desserts even though I’m the person on the actual diet, but of course everything that I made was low-fat and hopefully yummy! I baked my apple crumble, apple and herb stuffing, and two Libby’s pumpkin pies (find these recipes in a previous post here). My Aunt is making two tofurkeys, some vegetable side dishes, sweet potatoes and an eggplant dish. I’m not sure what to expect because I’d take meat any day over tofu and love me some mashed potatoes with butter, but I also like to try new things and feel comfort in the fact that I probably won’t go over my points.

This year I’m thankful for many things, but most of all for my health and my happiness. I’m thankful that I have the support of my family and friends to achieve all of the things that I want to do. I’m thankful that I have a sister who challenges me to be a role model. I’m thankful that I’ve found a community (you guys!) to relate to on all sorts of levels.

What are you thankful for this year?

 

Thanksgiving (Part 1)

On Saturday night my best friend and I made Thanksgiving dinner for our entire apartment! It was sooo yummy!

My best friend, Ali is a wonderful cook (she takes after her mama!). She made mashed potatoes, gravy, the turkey with roasted vegetables, and truffle brownies for dessert. I made stuffing, corn, cranberry sauce, cornbread muffins, and apple crumble.

Here is a picture of our buffet!

This is our yummy turkey

Here is my plate! I tried to make good decisions by eating lots of vegetables and skipping out on the cornbread muffin, but I couldn’t resist the mashed potatoes or the stuffing!

The stuffing that I made was a Herb and Apple stuffing by Ina Garten that I found on foodnetwork.com (click here for the full recipe). It was delicious! Maybe not the best stuffing that I’ve ever had – last year I made this wonderful dried fruit stuffing that was incredibly labor intensive – but it was simple and cost-efficient. My advice to you is to cut the bread into very small pieces and use more chicken stock than the recipe suggests. Also, don’t skimp on the butter because the vegetables won’t be as soft. Instead, I used smart balance blended butter stick to cut down on the fat! I also added some dried cranberries which made the dish more festive and colorful! This stuffing is about 4-5 points per serving, depending on what type of bread you use.

My pride and joy was my apple crumble. It’s my own recipe that I modified from an old Jewish cookbook. I call it a crumble instead of a pie or a crisp because it’s somewhere in between. I make my own graham cracker crust for the bottom of the crumble, and sprinkle the crust all over the top like a streusel. This crumble is my dad’s favorite dessert and one of mine as well. This recipe makes about 10 servings, and each serving is about 5-6 points. Serve with one scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt and you’ve got yourself a show stopper! Below is the recipe:

Crust:

38 items (19 full crackers) low-fat honey maid cinnamon graham crackers

2 tablespoons sugar

3/4 stick butter (I used smart balance blend)

Filling:

7 medium granny smith apples

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons white flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

Crush the graham crackers in a plastic bag until very fine. Mix in the sugar. Add butter small amounts at a time to form a crumble. Spray baking dish with Pam. Press about 1/2-2/3 of mixture into the bottom of baking dish (just enough to cover bottom of the dish) and bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes (until set). Slice apples into small pieces. Combine with rest of filling ingredients. Pour onto cooled down bottom crust and top with remaining crumble. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes (crumble will start to brown on top and apples inside will be soft).

Next week I’m going to my Aunt’s Thanksgiving and will be making this apple crumble! I’m also making a pumpkin pie and another, healthier dessert (what it will be is yet to be decided!). If you’ve got any yummy and healthy dessert Thanksgiving recipes leave them in a comment!

p.s visit Ali’s blog here

 

Couch Potato

I’m afraid I might be turning into a couch potato! I don’t know what happened but my motivation for exercise went from super pumped last week to extremely lazy this week. My best guess is it’s because I’m always more motivated to get to the gym when I have some date in mind that I want to look extra good for, like my birthday. This week all I can think about is going home for the holidays. I’m so excited to sit on my giant couch in front of the fireplace and snuggle with my mom.

Ironically one of the things that I look forward to most about going home is working out. I know I just completely contradicted the rest of this post but my gym at home is so nice it’s more incentive to go. Although I have no complaints about the gym at school – in fact it’s probably one of the nicest college gyms in the country – I don’t like walking in the cold to get there or waiting in line behind a million skinny girls in their sports bras to run on the treadmill. At home the gym is never really busy and the people who go there aren’t Barbie. In fact, most of them are closer to my parents age so I can outrun all of them and it makes me feel good about myself.

So, the lesson I hope you take away from this if you’re turning into a couch potato like me then light a fire under your butt and get going! The holiday season is fast approaching so both you and me need to work out in order to work off that turkey!

Happy exercising!

 

Friends, Lovers or Nothing

I probably haven’t told you about my John Mayer obsession yet, but it’s a big part of my life. I pride myself on not being a crazy stalker fan but a respectful fan. I love John Mayer because he’s a true musician. He writes his own lyrics and plays the guitar better than anybody else I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen him five times in concert). Besides that he gets me more than most people. I know I’m nuts, but somehow his lyrics always seem to match whatever personal stuff I’m going through. I’ll admit that most of his songs sound the same and recently the fame may have gone to his head based on his newest romantic relationships and outfits, but I’ll always think of him as the John Mayer who winked at me (I swear) when I sat front row at his concert in 2006 before he was super Hollywood glitz and glam.

I know this post isn’t my usual topic (no food issues or recipes.. what??) but today John Mayer releases his newest CD Battle Studies. His first single “Who Says” sucks so don’t judge the record by that song. I pre-ordered the CD *twice* and obviously have listened to every song already and am quite pleased with most of the other singles. Some of the songs really got at how I’ve been feeling lately. I don’t mean to be super emo but here are my favorite lyrics – beware they brought me to tears.

“Friends Lovers or Nothing”

Friends, lovers, or nothing
We can really only ever be one
Friends, lovers, or nothing
Don’t you know
We’ll never be the inbetween
So give it up
No we’ll never the inbetween
So give it up
Anything other than ‘yes’ is ‘no’
Anything other than ’stay’ is ‘go’
Anything less than ‘I love you’ is lying…

“Do You Know Me”

It’s just the strangest thing
I’ve seen your face somewhere
And early evening dream
A past night love affair
Do you know me? At all
Do you know me? At all

Go buy the CD now! Happy listening!

p.s John Mayer if you read this I love you.

 

Eggplant Parm – Baked Not Fried!

A couple nights ago I made the most delicious eggplant parmesan. It was so good my roommate loved it, and it’s a rare occasion that the skinny boys I live with willingly eat my weight watchers food. It was also super easy to make and lasted for a few days as leftovers. I warmed it up again and again and reinvented it by steaming different veggies each night! This recipe was originally 3 points per serving, but I spruced it up and my version is 5 points a serving. It’s well worth the extra 2 points, trust me!

Recipe:

1 spray cooking spray

1 medium eggplant

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp italian seasoning

2 large egg whites

1 1/2 cups canned tomato sauce

1 cup shredded fat-free mozzarella cheese

2/3 cup seasoned bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a baking dish with cooking spray. Combing bread crumbs with italian seasoning and garlic powder in a medium-sized bowl. Remove skin from eggplant and trim into thin slices. Dip eggplant first into egg whites and then into bread crumb mixture. Bake eggplant on a nonstick cookie sheet until thoroughly browned, about 20-25 minutes flipping once. Place a layer of eggplant on bottom of baking dish, then layer 1/3 tomato sauce and 1/3 mozzarella cheese. Repeat two times. Bake until cheese melts and sauce bubbles, about 10 minutes. Serves 3 people.

 

Birthday Recap

Thank you to all of my friends who made my 21st birthday so special!

They even gave me some really special presents. My best friend Rachel gave me this yummy smelling vanilla nutmeg lotion/soap set and a bottle of champagne. My other best friend Ali (visit her blog www.alwaysali.com) gave me the cutest undies, dark nail polish, and a Williams Sonoma cupcake stand! Obviously I had to spend the afternoon making cupcakes. Thank you Betty Crocker for the most delicious chocolate fudge treat I’ve had in a while.

Also, thanks to all of my readers for the birthday wishes! They were much appreciated!

 

21st Birthday

Today is my 21st birthday! Time to party! Tonight is all about those 35 extra points.

Tomorrow will be all about the veggies.

Plans for the day include class, lunch at the pub, margaritas & appetizers for dinner, and then it’s off to the bar with all of my friends! I’ve been pretty good all week, watching my points and exercising to make sure that I could have fun tonight and not worry about it. Besides, you can’t gain weight on your birthday, right?

I can’t believe the big 21 is finally here! I’m the last one of my friends so now we can finally all go out together and have the most amazing senior year.

 

Honest Scrap Award

I’m honored that my friend Healthy Loser Gal (her blog is http://healthylosergal.blogspot.com/ or follow her on twitter @healthylosergal) nominated me for The Honest Scrap Award! It is the best feeling in the world to know that people are reading what I’m writing and learning from my experiences!!!

Rules:
1. “The Honest Scrap” award must be shared!
2. The recipient has to tell 10 true things about themselves.
3. The recipient has to pass along this prestigious award to 10 more bloggers.
4. Those 10 bloggers all have to be notified they have been given this award.
5. Those 10 bloggers should link back to the blog that awarded them.

Ten Truths about Myself:

1. When I was first on weight watchers I gained weight. Shocking? Not really. I know a lot of people who have gone on weight watchers and originally gained weight. Let’s not place the blame on that fuzzy orange monster but we have to place it on ourselves. It took me a few weeks to realize that if I ate an extra bowl of cereal and nobody was looking I still had to count it in my points. Now I know that even if I eat something in secret it can’t hide from my hips (unfortunately).

2. I love the Food Network more than you. Argue with me if you will, but can you repeat the schedule from morning until night from memory? I didn’t think so.

3. I wish it was socially acceptable and healthy to be obese because I really love to eat. I love to eat healthy not because the food tastes delicious because what’s really delicious is butter, but because of how it makes me feel. If we lived in a world where Beyonce’s stomach was as big as her butt than I could be eating butter all day long and feel great!

4. I really love running. Wait, who am I kidding. I hate running.

5. Sometimes my weight controls me. I can probably spend hours at a time planning my meals for the week and obsessing about the good health guidelines. I wish I didn’t do it.

6. I let weight watchers control me because I know if it doesn’t something else will.

7. In high school when I wasn’t on weight watchers I was super thin. Sounds like a complete contradiction, but it’s because my weight controlled me so much that I just didn’t eat. It got to the point where I had the worst stomach aches all day that I would complain about all the time. I convinced myself that I had some severe stomach problem that prevented me from eating, but looking back on it I think I was just so hungry it hurt! I looked damn good, but it’s so not worth it. My body is not meant to be that thin.

8. I have one sister and she is really thin. I’m so jealous. She is also disorganized and a major space case. I’m not so jealous.

9. I’ll probably never be completely satisfied. Even when I was super skinny and a size 2 (yes, it happened) I thought I was fat. Now if I got down to a size 2 I think I would look in the mirror and acknowledge I was thin, but I don’t know if I’d really be happy.

10. You have to love yourself before you can love somebody else. I don’t know who said this originally, but I first heard it on Millionaire Matchmaker. I love Patti Stanger because I love her message. Her TV show may be a little trashy, but I’m an addict and I’ll admit I even bought her book. These are words to live by, and the words that I repeat to myself every single day and every time I get on the scale. It’s your life and if you don’t love yourself than nobody else will love it for you.

Thanks again to HealthyLoserGal for passing this along to me! Go visit her blog if you have time!

 

Birthday Muffins

Here is a small tidbit about me you probably didn’t know: I’m obsessed with muffins. I love everything about them. The way they crumble, the way they are shaped, the way they come in so many different flavors, the way they look on my hips after I eat them…. wait.. okay so maybe I don’t love everything about muffins. Mostly, I love to bake muffins because they are such a thoughtful gift. Who doesn’t appreciate a freshly baked muffin?

This morning I woke up extra early (meaning 8:30) to bake muffins for my boss. Today is her birthday and I didn’t want to go into work empty handed. I chose this recipe from Sunset magazine that I found on myrecipes.com because I thought the name brown sugar-banana coffee cake muffins sounded so fancy I couldn’t resist.

They came out fabulous! The sour cream made them super moist and the streusel on top was definitely the best part. My original plan was to make these muffins totally low-fat with I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, egg whites, fat free sour cream and Splenda brown sugar blend. Unfortunately I didn’t plan far enough ahead and only had real butter in my fridge. I ended up using the real butter, splenda, light sour cream (instead of fat free) and whole eggs. Each muffin came out to 6 points (not bad for a very special treat if you ask me). If you do use all of the low-fat ingredients these muffins will be only 4 points a piece!! That’s crazy for something that tastes so yummy!

 

Red Light Foods

Yes, puffins are real birds. Puffins are also one of the most delicious organic cereals. You can find them at Trader Joes or Whole Foods.

Last semester when I lived in LA I used to snack on puffins all the time. They were the most delicious breakfast and perfect midnight snack. When my jeans didn’t button a few months later I realized, maybe I’d been popping the puffins a little too much. I won’t put all of the blame on puffins though – I’d also like to blame office birthdays, boredom, television, and enormous amounts of alcohol.

Tonight my roommate gave me a box of Cinnamon Puffins he wasn’t going to eat. Obviously I took them because who can turn down the cutest box of cereal on the planet?? I measured my 2/3 of a cup for 1 point and was fairly satisfied. Then, when I walked back into the kitchen I saw the box on the counter and decided to just eat a couple more puffins and call it a night. Now I ask you, who can really eat just a few puffins??????? Definitely not me, as tonight has proven.  After eating at least another cup of puffins (2.5 points) I realized what I was doing and put the culprit back in the pantry where it should have been the whole time.

This reminded me of one of the very first weight watchers meetings I attended that changed my life forever. My leader said,”there are some foods we can control, and some foods we can’t. Those are our red light foods.They are the foods that we just can never ever eat unless we can eat the whole box.”My #1 red light food is peanut butter. I cannot keep it anywhere near me or the entire jar will disappear in an hour. I also can’t keep honey bunches of oats in the house because I love them so much, or sprinkles because I will pour the ENTIRE jar on 1/2 cup of frozen yogurt (seriously, I do that). Apparently puffins are also a red light food. You think you can control it but once you pop, the fun doesn’t stop… for like twenty minutes or so when you find the empty box of cereal on the ground next to you.

What are your red light foods? Are there any foods that you just don’t keep in the house because you know you can’t stop eating them?