Well, here we are at the end of Week One. I've been following my program about 80% of the time, had a couple of PMS-related Oreo episodes and a glass too many of vino at a certain happy hour, but otherwise I've been doing pretty well.  I guess the scale agrees because I am down 1.8 pounds! Not bad, but I know I can do better. 

I've been thinking back to the last time I lost weight, when I was following Jenny, and pondering what it was about that program that worked so well for me.  Well, duh, it was a no-brainer: Go to meeting. Weigh-in. Buy food. Eat food. Repeat.  I had little to think about, I just heated up the meals, ate the food, and the weight came off.  Though I certainly don't want to go back to that way of eating, and honestly I missed my own cooking, I can't beat the convenience.  So, how to implement that into the way I live & eat now?

I started out by planning my weekly menu, as I've been doing, preparing my meals as usual.  Then, after dinner, I portion out the leftovers into individual containers and label them.  These become lunches for the next couple of days. If there's more left over than I can safely store in the fridge, or if I'm tired of a particular meal (that rarely happens, I don't mind repetition), I freeze those portions instead.  Same thing with breakfast, have a few containers of Tofu Scramble stacked in there.  I also have a big tub of Vegetable Soup to accompany meals or even as a mid-day snack.  Speaking of snacks, I took a cucumber & a head of broccoli,chopped & divided them up into little ziploc bags and labeled each one with the contents and weight so that logging into Sparkpeople would be a breeze.  These went into a handy-dandy Snaptight container (on sale this week at Publix, if you're in my neck of the woods), so easy to grab & go!




Lastly, I mixed up a batch of hummus and divided it into tiny tubs.  Now, when the snack attack hits, I can open my fridge, grab a bag of veggies and a pot of hummus, I'm good to go! You can see there's also a big bin of crunchy apples there, and a fruit bowl of bananas sits on the counter, nearby, perfectly portable health food.  I also have some cooked chickpeas and pink beans in there, easy to toss onto a salad or into a soup for added protein.





Also this week, I baked several sweet potatoes in the oven, used two of them for the Sweet Potato Beginnings breakfasts..



the other I mixed in with my Spicy Vegetarian Chili. So delicious, filled with fiber and nutrients. Dr. McDougall would be proud.




So, that just about wraps up Week One.  I have a simple pasta dish on the menu for tonight, will share that tomorrow so hope to see you then!

Have a beauty-full day,

Michele~

Planning My Thanksgiving Hearth: Day Two

Here's another veggie-friendly side dish that will be adorning my Thanksgiving table.  Once again, Kali will be preparing this one for us.  I'm really looking forward to the flavor combination in this recipe - the sweetness of the cranberries combined with the savory onion, balsamic vinegar & parsley - delicious!

Photo courtesy of Southern Living

  Balsamic Root Vegetables

For a delicious twist, top with a sprinkling of cooked and crumbled bacon just before serving.

Yield: Makes 6 to 8 servings
Total: 4 Hours, 25 Minutes

Recipe Time: Total: 4 Hours, 25 Minutes

 Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes 
• 1 pound parsnips
• 1 pound carrots 
• 2 large red onions, coarsely chopped
• 3/4 cup sweetened dried cranberries 
• 1 tablespoon light brown sugar 
• 3 tablespoons olive oil 
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper 
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Preparation

• 1. Peel first 3 ingredients, and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces. Combine parsnips, carrots, onions, and cranberries in a lightly greased 6-qt. slow cooker; layer sweet potatoes over top.
• 2. Whisk together sugar and next 4 ingredients in a small bowl; pour over vegetable mixture. (Do not stir.)
• 3. Cover and cook on HIGH 4 to 5 hours or until vegetables are tender. Toss with parsley just before serving.

For those of you "counting," here's the nutrition information from my Mastercook program:

er Serving (excluding unknown items): 252 Calories; 7g Fat (25.6% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 45g Carbohydrate; 9g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 400mg Sodium. PointsPlus Value: 4

Have a Beauty-Full Day,