Menu Plan Monday - June 4

Here is a picture I took of Low-Fat Zesty Shrimp and Pasta from a couple of weeks ago. I loved this dish, even the artichokes, but next time I will chop them into smaller pieces.

Grilled Bruschetta Chicken was also awesome. Both recipes will be on our "make again and again" list.

I didn't have it on my menu last week, but Friday I made the fish part of Easy Baked Fish & Chips. We've had it before and both DH and the boys love it.

Monday - Grilled Teriyaki Chicken
Tuesday - Low-Fat Zesty Shrimp and Pasta again.
Wednesday - Going to a baby shower; Need to pick a finger food to bring :)
Thursday - Spaghetti
Friday - Homemade Pizza. Our favorite crust is Garlic & Herb. We usually make everyone their own individual pizzas. I might grill them for the grownups.
Saturday - Leftovers

See more menu's at Laura's Blog.

Weekly Weigh-in

-1 lb this week. WooHoo! It's not cause I carefully followed my diet over the holiday weekend :(

My Jacob and Esau

Overhead yesterday ...

Moo Moo -

Only if you promise to be my brother forever and ever and ever and never leave me!

Little Man -

I promise.

Moo Moo -

Okay, you can have one piece of gum.

Menu Plan Monday - May 28

Last Week's hits were Low-Fat Zesty Shrimp and Pasta and Pizza Pancakes. Little Man inhaled both. Moo Moo currently declares all my cooking yucky on site, so his opinion does not count.

Thursday - School Picnic
Friday - Kroger's had marinated pork tenderloins on sale. We had teriyaki.
Saturday - The Man got home early and took us out to dinner at Cheeseburger Cheeseburger. I had the Portabello Mushroom Melt and I enjoyed it but I couldn't get the mushroom to stay in the bun.
Sunday - Grits and crab. I finally picked the crabs the boys caught last week.
Monday - Family cookout today. I brought the diet desserts. Oreo Invasion was yummy but didn't set up well for me. It was a blob instead of a pie. I made it with skim milk instead of soymilk, I don't know if that made a difference. I also made PHILADELPHIA "Fruit Smoothie" No-Bake Cheesecake. YUM! I used all strawberries instead of a mix.
Tuesday - Grilled Bruschetta Chicken recommended by Jodi.
Wednesday - New England Clam Chowder. I love soups.

See more menu's at Laura's.

Grilled Bruschetta Chicken

Thanks to Jodi for posting Grilled Bruschetta Chicken on her blog. It looks so good, I'm definitely adding it to this weeks menu. original recipe from Kraft on their website, but I recommend you view Jodi's post to get her tips on making it fast and easy to prepare. If you are counting, its 4 WW points per serving using Kraft's nutrition info to calculate.

BTW, KraftFoods.com is one of my favorite sources for new, easy recipes. If you enjoying recipe magazine's like me, their Food & Family magazine is free.

Weekly Weigh-in

It's Weigh Day. No change. Probably because I didn't exercise all last week. I stuck to my points after I recovered from my Mother's Day weekend eating disaster but my workout did not recover from my bad eating blues.

Menu Plan Monday - May 21

The boys caught 11 crabs Saturday that I cooked but forgot to clean so we could eat them.

Thursday - Spaghetti with Venison Meatballs. My kids like eating deer.
Friday - Cookout to celebrate my cousin's graduation from pharmacy school.
Saturday - Grilled Pork Chops
Sunday - Day of Rest
Monday - Pizza Pancakes posted by Laura a couple of weeks ago
Tuesday - Low-Fat Zesty Shrimp and Pasta
Wednesday - Church Supper

See more menu's at Laura's

My Mother's Day Gift!

5 Minutes For Mom has a contest to win a year's supply of bandages. Too bad it wouldn't help with this:

That's glue on Moo's forehead. After spending 6 hours exhibiting at a fair Sat (we left home at 7:15 in the morning and, yes, the boys were with me most of the day), followed by Little Man's baseball game, I put on my PJ's and crawled into bed at 7:30 ready for my Mother's Day relaxing to begin. It lasted all of 5 minutes! The boys were playing down the street at their friends' house. I heard one of the kids come in and tell The Man that Moo cut his head and he might need stitches. So I yelled out to him from my comfy spot "Don't worry, it probably looks worse than it is!" We got back from the Emergency Room around 10pm. Not a bad trip actually. No stitches, just glue! The trauma has already faded into coolness for my two boys. I just have to keep reminding them that only hospital glue can go on boo boos.

Menu Plan Monday - May 14

My second Menu Plan Monday. Ok, so its Tuesday already. I'm working on it!

Thursday - Hot dogs at the Baseball Game
Friday - Grilled Chicken, Tater Tots, Baked Beans
Saturday - Backyard Burger
Sunday - Mother's Day Dinner at my sister's house. I was supposed to make dessert but we were busy at the Emergency Room.
Monday - Leftovers
Tuesday - Grilled Tortillas
Wednesday - Low-Fat Zesty Shrimp and Pasta

Everyday Mommy's Blog Design Giveaway

Oh, how I would love to win!

Tales from My Scale

Today begins the May Day Weight Loss Challenge.

My Goals: 15 lbs to lose. Today I weighed in at 129.5. To many of you, that might sound skinny. It's not - I'm 5 ft tall. Today's weigh-in puts me at a BMI of 25 - finally in the healthy range instead of overweight.

My History: I was underweight until I retired from running after college. I was on the Cross Country team in high school and college. I loved running, but my legs didn't. In 1999, I gave birth to a 9.5 lbs little monster baby boy, weighing in before his birth at 70 lbs more than that skinny runner I used to be. I don't even remember stepping on a scale between Little Man and Moo Moo's births. When Moo was about 9 months old, my sisters and I did Weight Watchers together. Still nursing Moo, I lost weight really easy. Then I started taking Paxil and my weight slowly crept back up. Now I am 6 months Paxil-free and want to lose that weight again.

My Weaknesses: Chocolate, The Jade Garden Chinese Buffet, Papa John's, comfort eating, reading blogs instead of cleaning my house and exercising.

Menu Plan Monday - May 7

I want to participate in Laura's Menu Plan Monday, but I menu plan on Wednesday for Thursday shopping day. And I've been a poor planner lately. So, for my first post, I have just one day.

I discovered JoAnna Lund's Heathly Exchanges recipes when I was pregnant with Little Man. I don't follow the Healthy Exchanges diet, but the recipes fit great into the Weight Watchers program. Sadly, visiting her website to find a link to this recipe, I discovered she passed away last May.

Monday - Texas Lasagna from Cooking Healthy With a Man in Mind, my favorite cookbook from JoAnna. When I make this recipe, I double it and have one for dinner and one for the freezer. Tonight was the one from the freezer.

Prayer for Olivia

Not yet 2-years-old, Olivia is a little girl in our community diagnosed with a mitochondrial defect and congenital fiber type disproportion. She recently began hyperbaric oxygenation treatments ("dives"), of which she will need at least 60 to begin to see results. They cost $200 each. Although, her family is insured, it doesn't pay for this experimental therapy.

Please pray for Olivia and her family.

I'm In

Group motivation really helps me with weight loss, so I've joined the Tales from the Scales May Day Weight Loss Challenge.

I've returned to Weight Watchers for the last few weeks and have lost about 5 lbs so far. After 4 years of taking Paxil for my social shyness (more on that later), I regained (and more), the 20 lbs I lost on Weight Watchers after Moo Moo was born.

Intro

I'm not a writer like so many of the bloggers I follow, so I can't say I feel up to this task of spilling my thoughts to the online world, but here goes nothing.

I'm a 33 year old, stay-at-home mom, to 2 beautiful boys. Little Man is 8 going on 18 (he thinks he's a teenager) and Moo Moo is 6 going on 2 (he thinks he's still a baby). I really call him Moo Moo. I remember there was a reason I started calling him that, but it the rest of the memory has left the building.

The Man and I have been married for almost 11 years. I want more children. He thinks I'm crazy. One day I will win.

We live in the used-to be small town where I grew up. My parents, brother and sisters, grandmother, aunts, uncles, and many cousins all live here. I love it.

I am not creative. I have a math and science brain. I read too much. I like to cook (it's edible chemistry) and garden (my high school science projects involved manure as fertilizer).

I'm a consultant for a direct sales company which I can't name because it's against company policy to advertise in any way online outside our company created websites. As if anyone is reading this blog who doesn't already know which company I'm with. As if anyone is ready this at all.

I so need to go clean my bathroom instead of writing this.

Getting Started

I want to blog, I really do. Its just so hard getting started. So here it is: My first post.