Weekend Update

Hi everyone!

Hope everyone had a good week on plan. I know I did! But this weekend looks a little tough. My sister is leaving for Italy on Sunday (tomorrow!) and I'm staying at my parents' house. I had my Jenny Craig cinnamon rolls for breakfast and I'm planning a low calorie lunch, but I know we're going out for dinner. And then tomorrow we're having my sister's favorite bagels for breakfast so I'll be having one of those. I know I can make good choices but there's a lot of temptations around!! I'm trying to be good!

Not sure what time I'll be able to update tomorrow but you will get your recipe, I promise! We're coming to the end of September Recipes month and I've been saving the best for last!! ;)

Stuffed Peppers
Serves: 2

Ingredients

1/2 cup uncooked brown rice
2 green bell peppers, halved and seeded
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1 pinch ground black pepper
1 tomato, diced
1/2 cup crumbled fat free feta cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet.

2. Cook rice according to package directions

3. Place the peppers cut-side down on the prepared baking sheet. Roast 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until tender and skin starts to brown.

4. While the peppers are roasting, heat oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the onions, basil, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper in oil for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the tomato, and cook for 5 minutes. Spoon in the cooked rice, and stir until heated through. Remove from heat, mix in the feta cheese, and spoon the mixture into the pepper halves.

5. Return to the oven for 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

Nutritional Breakdown

Woo Tuesday!

Tomorrow is a crazy busy day for me so I'm not doing my consultation at Jenny Craig. I'm going to run in and weigh in, they have my food all pulled for me when I get there. I bought a new bed, FINALLY!! Mine is literally falling apart because the bedframe my dad gave me it's from the 70s...and it's just shot. It was inthe basement for over 10 years and it's just all around sucky.

So I went to Bob's and I bought this bed:

It's super cute and I can't wait for it to be delivered tomorrow!! :D

Also my sister is spending my day off with me tomorrow before she leaves for Italy on Sunday! I'm happy for her but I'm going to miss her too!!

Today's recipe is simple and delicious, veggies! This is a perfect Sunday night side dish or for holidays!

Roasted Vegetable Medley
Servings: 12

Ingredients

1 cup butternut squash, cubed
2 red bell peppers, seeded and diced
1 cup potato, peeled and cubed
3 Yukon Gold potatoes, cubed
1 medium red onion, quartered
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, combine the squash, red bell peppers, sweet potato, and Yukon Gold potatoes and onion.

3. In a small bowl, stir together thyme, rosemary, olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Toss with vegetables until they are coated. Spread evenly on a large roasting pan.

4. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven, stirring every 10 minutes, or until vegetables are cooked through and browned.

Nutritional Breakdown

Monday Recipe

Hi all,

Today is the first live update I've done for a couple days. I'm writing this from my grandparents' house! It's been a tough couple of days for food. I've done okay but I definitely could've done better. My grandparents don't have a microwave and so I can't really bring my Jenny Craig food. I can't stand the salad kits, they're nasty...so I've been doing meals on my own. I packed my cereal and brought that with me and I brought measuring cups. It's just hard...my grandparents eat on a rigid schedule and they get very upset if you eat snacks. You will catch hell if you get caught eating between meals...

So I'm just doing the best I can. We'll see what the scale says on Wednesday!

I figured today that we could switch gears and try something sweet. Something to use up those end of year veggies that are in overbundance for some!!!

ZUCCHINI BROWNIES
Makes: 24 Brownies

Ingredients

3/4 cup Canola oil
1 1/2 cups Splenda for baking
1/2 cup egg substitute
1/2 cup fat free greek yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded zucchini

For Frosting:
1 cup cool whip free
1 pkg sugar free chocolate pudding mix (Jello)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Combine butter, splenda, egg and beat with a handheld mixer. Beat in yogurt and vanilla.

2. In a seperate bowl combine flour, cocoa, salt. Gradually add the dry ingrients into the wet, stirring well. Add shredded zucchini last.

4. Pour mixture into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Cook at 350 for approximately 40 minuntes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

5. In a seperate bowl combine cool whip and pudding packet, beat with a handheld mixer until smooth.

Nutritional Breakdown

Yummy brownies with veggies! Can't get much better than that!

CARROT FRIES!!!!

HOLY MOLEY WITH FRIES ON TOP!

I was reading around the JC forums and I found out about something absolutely fantastic: CARROT FRIES!!!!!!!!

After much searching for the perfect recipe I found…there wasn’t one. I combined a bunch and made my own! So here it is. JC exchange = FREEEEEEEE!

Kitchen Tools Necessary:

Cookie Sheet (with a lip) – Like this one :

Spatula –to move the carrots around

Knife – A SHARP one!

Cutting Board

Aluminum Foil (optional)

Ingredients:

1 ½ pounds of Carrots – I used whole organic carrots…yum. I’ve heard people like to use baby carrots and cut them in fours, that would probably be easier! 

PAM – no calorie cooking spray.

Crazy Salt- My own blend! Recipe follows!

Instructions:

1)     Preheat oven to 425. Cover cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray liberally with PAM.

2)     Cut carrots into sticks, about the size you see in the final product above. The thinner they are, the crispier they get!

3)     Spread the carrot sticks out on the sheet, spread out as much as possible.

4)     Spray the carrot sticks with PAM and then apply a sprinkling of crazy salt. As much or as little as you like!

5)     Bake for 15 minutes. Leave them alone, don’t peek!

6)     After they’ve baked for 15 minutes, take them out and stir them around. Spray with a little bit more PAM and then put them back in the oven.

7)     Bake for another 15 minutes. Check the fries again, I baked mine for another 10 minutes to get them really crisp.

8)     EAT THEM!

They are so. GOOD. SO GOOD! And I am not embarrassed to say that I ate the whole batch. By myself.

Crazy Salt:

1/4 cup kosher salt

1 teaspoon dried dill weed

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon minced onion flakes

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon sage

1/4 teaspoon oregano

1/4 teaspoon marjoram

1/4 teaspoon parsley

2 teaspoons orange zest

Instructions:

1)     Put all the ingredients into a food processor, blender, or coffee grinder. I used a blender.

2)     Pulse until blended into a fine powder

3)     Viola!