Cook With Me | This Week's Meal Plan

Low Country No Boil

I really wanted the Low Country Boil meal without the actual pot of boiling liquid. Instead, I sautéed some shrimp, griddled some corn, and cooked up a Aidell's chicken maple sausage. Not pictured are the roasting potatoes that took significantly longer to cook than the rest of the meal. This was very simple, and we just seasoned everything with Old Bay. 

Stovetop Chili

Having this cook on the stovetop all day was almost torture! It smelled so good. I've been making this chili for years and don't really have a recipe to share. I did use ground turkey this time. Normally, I use light and dark kidney beans, pinto beans, ground beef or turkey, diced onion, diced green bell pepper, and then diced tomato and tomato sauce. For seasonings I use chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper, and then usually a dash of cinnamon. 

Our Place Perfect Pot

Breakfast For Dinner

Do you guys ever do breakfast for dinner? I love breakfast foods, so this is always a favorite. Plus, it's a good way to use up stuff. I had extra potatoes and extra sausages from previous meals I wanted to use. I roasted the potatoes for about 20 minutes, scrambled up some eggs and cooked the chicken apple sausages. We started buying those Aidell sausages when we did Whole30 last year and we still love them. 

Cobb Salads with Grilled Chicken

We grilled steaks with my parents over the weekend, and I asked my dad if he would grill up some chicken for me to have for the week ahead. We make this cobb salad recipe all the time, but this time we used that grilled chicken and a Primal Kitchen dressing we had on hand. Just delicious! 

Santa Fe Salads

We've been making this Defined Dish recipe for ages - at least in some variation. This time we used the last of our leftover grilled chicken. The dressing is just awesome!

Hopefully this gave you a few meal ideas for your week! At the very least, my future self will appreciate this post when I get into an inevitable rut. One tool I love to use when meal planning is Plan to Eat! It's an awesome way to store your recipes, curate your meal plan, and even generate grocery lists. It is a paid app, but I have a referral link for you to use for a free trial! It's a great time to start the trial because they always do an awesome sale for Black Friday. (That's when I renew!) 

If you want more recipes ideas, you might enjoy the Recipes tag on the blog! I've got several meal planning posts, and lots of recipe ideas going way back.

-Kristen

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Cook With Me | This Week's Meal Plan

Monday, October 21, 2024

Weight Watchers One Month Check In | Some WW Recipe Ideas

Well, I'm officially over the one month mark of doing WW (aka Weight Watchers)! I should add, this is my 2nd time doing it. I was super successful with the program in 2019, but after I got my wisdom teeth out I fell off the wagon so to speak. My surgery was difficult and I had a very long recovery due to a fluke infection. I found myself just trying to eat as much as possible because the medicine was making me so sick! And, 2019 rolled into 2020 and we all know how that went.

The pandemic brought on a lot of boredom eating and drinking for us! Irritatingly, Blake used the pandemic to lose 25ish pounds and I gained a good amount of his loss. Now, 2 years later I find myself mad that none of my clothes fit. 🙄 

I know I've matured when it comes to body image because I don't feel ugly or whatever - I just want to wear the great clothes I have in my closet! 😂 And, on top of that I got a 'well that isn't good' from my doctor when we did bloodwork earlier this year in regards to my cholesterol. Rude. 

Might I add that I've been running 3 times a week or more this whole time, but haven't lost an ounce. I've always had to lose weight in the kitchen!

I tried MyFitnessPal because that's what Blake has done well with - he's on a 600 day streak!! But, I just wasn't motivated and would forget to track. WW works for me because I feel very aligned with the fundamentals. No deprivation, no entire food groups cut out, and flexibility for fun nights out with friends. 

There has been a few program changes since I did it in 2019 and I am IN LOVE with them! You get points back for eating non starchy vegetables, drinking all your water, and of course exercise. 

So here I am 4 weeks in and...drumroll!....I've lost 8 pounds. That's 2 pounds a week, and for me that's crazy good! My goal is to lose 10 more. Or maybe 12 just so I can say I lost 20 pounds, haha. 

I've got a vacation coming up in 3 weeks, so I'm hoping to get closer to the goal before that, but if not, I'm still happy with any progress! 

This time I'm joined by 2 friends, and I think that's going to help so much! It'll be easy to go out to eat or have people over who are also counting points, ya know. I've always done better when I had a buddy! 

Speaking of which: the more the merrier! I have a referral link  that get's you a whole month free. Think about it, if you lose 8 pounds your first month too, that'll be 8 free pounds! 

Here's a few recipe ideas, that are delish whether you are doing WW or not.

Fake Out Take Out

I made some delicious cauliflower rice like you do traditional fried rice. I added peas, carrots, scallions, and a scrambled egg. Plus, I found this fried rice seasoning packet that really took it to the next level! Then I made some shrimp, and a peanut sauce. The peanut sauce is made with PB2 powder and a low point sweet chili sauce. Plus points back for broccoli! This meal was just 4 points. (I get 21 or 23 a day, I can't remember) 

Greek Salad

This is a favorite lunch! I grill up some chicken in my cast iron skillet, and place it on a salad of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and a few Kalamata olives. To make the dressing you use non fat Greek yogurt and a bit of feta mashed up. So yummy and fresh! Should be about 4 points. 

Breakfast for Dinner

Who doesn't love breakfast for dinner?! We've been making scrambled eggs, fruit, shredded hash browns and avocado toast. Avocado is one of my zero point foods, so you better believe I'm eating it all the time! Also only about 4 points. But, I have to add ketchup to my hash browns so it's a little more for me. 

My Go-To Wrap

For lunch, this is a really easy thing to make at home or take on the go. It's an Extreme Wellness tortilla wrap. I spread a Laughing Cow cheese wedge and mashed avocado on it. Then add lettuce, deli turkey, and the bacon pieces you can find in the salad section of the grocery store. Then it's a bacon avocado turkey wrap! SO good and filling. 3 points!

Queso Quesadilla

I love finding the accidentally low point foods. The Tostito queso blanco dip is just 1 point per serving which I'm pretty sure is 2 tablespoons. So again, I use an Extreme Wellness wrap for the tortilla. I cook some chicken in the crockpot with a jar of salsa all day and then shred it. Then avocado, cilantro, and that queso dip and you've got yourself a delish quesadilla! 2 points, but more if you want sour cream. Which I do.

-Kristen

This post contains affiliate and referral links! | Blog Disclosure

Weight Watchers One Month Check In | Some WW Recipe Ideas

Thursday, May 19, 2022