When the temperatures are about 30 degrees I almost feel like I don’t need to wear a winter coat. The sun was shining yesterday morning, and no matter the temperature, I always feel better when the sun is out. š
It’s funny, but when you blog just about every day with everything you eat, you sometimes go into waves of eating the same thing over and over, just because you love it. Like my egg sammies and breakfast pizza. š
I had totally forgotten about breakfast nachos! This huge plate of goodness is only 9 points and kept me full for hours – 2 corn tortillas cut into 8 triangles, baked at 350 for 6-10 minutes depending on your oven – (mine take 10) just until they are crisp – be careful because they can go from done to burnt in 60 seconds.
I divided 1/4 cup refried beans between the chips, topped them with 2/3 cup cooked egg beaters, and 1 ounce of cheese, put in the toaster oven until the cheese is just melted and then topped with salsa and fresh cilantro.
I was going to go home for lunch to see Tony, but he said he could manage on his own. I knew Hannah would be back in the early afternoon from school and before she went to work. I didn’t have my work out bag, so I ended up walking for 30 minutes. Lunch wasn’t very exciting, but tasty – two turkey tacos with spinach and some skinny nachos on the side. Lunch comes in at 10 points.
When I got home from work, I decided to take our dog for a walk. In the winter he doesn’t like to be outside that long – we usually let him out the back door and he wanders our back yard and he let’s himself in.
I loved that it was still light out! Here is the last of the snow in the front yard – hopefully by the weekend it will be all gone.
Since Eddie is getting older, he really can only go to the river and back – taking it slow its only about a 20 minute walk, but he loves it. We live across the river from the oldest continuous ski jump club – I think its been around for around 105 years? You can see it on the left in this picture – and this is probably a good mile across from where I was taking this picture – its huge! They have one of the largest international ski jump competitions every year too – jumpers from Japan, Netherlands – I’ve even seen kids as young as 7 jump off of it!
And the river isn’t frozen anymore – a sure sign that spring can’t be too far away!
When I got back from the walk, Tony said he was okay with having pasta with just a little bit of butter – his appetite is coming back slowly. My plate was baby spinach, 4 ounces cooked pasta, tomato sauce and some of Christina’s Dad’s sausage – it is so good! Dinner comes in at 9 points.
The sausage made this dish though! š
Stats for the Day:
- 34 points (including my wine)
- 40 minute walk
- average blood sugar 108
Question of the Day: Do you count fruits and vegetables in WW recipes? For example – my friend built a recipe: 1 cup cooked pasta (5) 1/2 cup sauce (2) one string cheese (1) and then added 1/2 cup of fresh tomato and 1/2 cup fresh broccoli, and recipe builder said it was 10 points, not 8 like we thought.
And someone from her WW group said fruit is only free if you eat it raw, if you make a dish with a fruit in it, you have to count points for it. Do you count points for fresh fruit and veggies in recipes?
My co-worker and I have wondered that, too! And when I asked my leader, of course she was clueless. She should win the WORST WW leader of the year award. I do count them because I plug everything into a calorie counter site and then figure out the portion and nutrition stats. So sometimes I bet I am probably over-estimating the # of points, but that’s okay…I usually use plenty of my weeklies to balance it all out š
And yay for staying lighter longer, yes! The sun was showing before 7 today, and I had to wear my sunglasses driving to teach last night š Bring it on, spring!!!
Oh my goodness, those breakfast nachos look AMAZING! I know what I’m having for lunch on Saturday!
I’m slightly disappointed that you didn’t have some sort of nachos with your dinner – then you would have had the trifecta of nachos for all three meals, lol!
That would have been the perfect day! Glad your Momma is home from the hospital – she’s a firecracker! š
I can’t wait to try those Breakfast Nachos! Corn tortillas are a staple for me and I’m always looking for new ways to use them. Thanks for the tip!
Love the idea of breakfast nachos, they sound excellent!
Those nachos look pretty AND delicious!! I love how you topped it off with cilantro – my fave. š
That ski jump is SO neat – but scary!! I’m terrified of heights…..and skiing…so obviously you probably couldn’t pay me enough to get up there!
I awkwardly am weirded out by breakfast nachos….but also super intrigued?!
Try it Errign – you’ll love them!
Breakfast and nachos?! This combines two of the best things EVER.
I love the breakfast nachoes! Still need to try those! I do the same thing w/ my blog – cook something a bunch, then forget about it. Sometimes I look through my archives and I see something that I said “we eat all the time” or is “our favorite” and I haven’t cooked it in like a YEAR!
Yayy for my dad’s sausage! We had some last week, I cooked on the grill pan for some nice grill marks. Hehe I think secretly I was dreaming of Summer!
Yum. I love your bfast nachoes. I get annoyed about “free” things in the new system. I feel like there was less confusion in the old. I routinely add things up and the points seem to jump sporadically. I haven’t been following it as of late, but when I was I was VERY frustrated about what to do with fruit & veggies because it felt like it was penalizing me for making actual meals vs. eating my foods separately. When (if) I get back to counting I think I am going to count them as free, assess my losses and go from there.
Yesterday it was almost 50 here in the B-Lo area and people were wearing shorts! Funny how 30’s and 50’s feel warm right?
Looking at that ski jump made my knees feel weak!
I read somewhere that you don’t count the first five fruits you eat but you do after that. And that they don’t count in a recipe. There’s a great discussion on it on Roni’s Weigh.
Thanks for the great comment on my blog, and here’s hoping that Tony gets better everyday!
Roni does seem to have the answers – thanks Mary! š
Your pictures of the river are just gorgeous! I am getting major cabin fever after the winter so outdoor shots are a welcome sight :).
– Beth @ http://www.DiningAndDishing.com
If the veggie or fruit is zero points by itself, than I don’t count it.
I love the Diet Dr Pepper story you told me about! I would have thought it was a trick question too! Since I don’t drink soda, do you think if I worked there that they’d stock the fridge with wine for me? š
Breakfast nachos are genius!!! LOVE.
there was a good discussion about the points and counting on roni’s weigh the other day! http://ronisweigh.com/2011/02/weight-watchers-pointsplus-recipe-calculations-any-insights.html
Thanks Kate! š
Breakfast nachos are such an awesome idea! š You’re so creative with your breakfast, Biz!
Glad Tony’s appetite is returning — good sign, for sure. š Your pasta with the meatballs looks delicious. Yum!
I don’t do WW, but I count calories most of the time, not always, but I give a huge discount to leafy greens and most other vegetables. read: don’t count them, but I do count fruit because most servings are at least 60-100 calories. I might discount a small amount of berries, but not an apple or a peach, etc.
The nachos look great and that ski jump is crazy. What an insane thing to have a view of from your house. I have never skied, but I know I should try sometime.
I just recently tried making my own corn tortilla chips and they were so good! Love the nachos for breakfast idea and I am so bored with breakfast right now.
This question about counting fruit and veggies or not seems to be an ongoing one and the answers vary depending on who you ask. I read somewhere that WW says they consider up to 5 servings of fruit and veggies a day as free from being counted. If you consume more than that and are not happy with your weight loss you may want to start counting the points for more than 5 servings. Makes sense to me. I do wish there was something in writing about this to clear up the confusion.
So glad Tony is getting his appetite back, that is a good sign!
I have been reading your blog for awhile – I’m not sure how I stumbled across it. I knew you lived in Illinois based on some posts. However, when you posted about the ski jump today, I was shocked! I grew up in Cary, which is right next door! I now live by the U of I but it was nice to read about some things at home š Glad to hear Tony is doing better!
I live in Cary! š My daughter graduated from CGHS in 2010 – small world! š
I guess I just need to stop on over.. I cant think of a better solution..plus I wont need to cook anymore!
I usually count fruit in recipes but not 0 pt veggies (corn and other starchy veggies, yes!).
Nachos for breakfast??? I’m all in on this one! Yum!
The way i’ve decided to deal with the new weight watchers is to give myself 4 fruits a day for free and only 1 can be a banana. Over 4 fruits or more than one banana i count as points!!
I never count veggies in recipes š
Roni had a good post about that this last week. If you put the NI into the recipe builder it just uses the NI, it doesn’t know what food it is so it is counted. Plus cooking fruit changes the make up of it the same as drying fruit does.
WW say they add it as they need the complete NI when they post recipes on websites, in books etc.
oooh a little salsa on those breakfast nachos and I am good to go! Can’t wait to make those for the kids and Pooldad. YAY!
Glad Tony is getting his appetite back. And pasta with butter is a good start. Keep it up Tony! Hugs to you.
[And Bizzy the weather here is so weird – it went from 71/storms to 30s/ice/hail in one day – I am so ready for spring. :)]
Those breakfast nachos look so good! My dog isn’t able to walk as long as she used to, either, but if it’s cold she can go a lot longer. In the summer, she can only be outside10-15 minutes (after dark) before she has to go home. How old is Ed. Miss Jessie is only 6 but she used to have sooo much energy that it’s really obvious that she can’t do as much as she used to.
We adopted him, so we are not sure – we’ve had him almost 10 years though – so my guess at the oldest is 12?
OK missy, just how is it that you live in Chicago and I live in CT and you have less snow in your front yard than me!
Funny what you said about the temperature. When I left the house this morning I thought, I don’t even need a coat. I went back in and got one anyway, just in case. As I drove by the bank I saw it was 39 degrees. How funny that it has been so cold, 39 felt warm!
boy oh boy do those breakfast nachos look fab!
Ah the age old question of the calculating points for recipes on the new system…..ok…I have some experience here…when pp first came out, I wondered the same…how there were so many discrepancies between RB, nut info and manual calculations, so I contacted my leader who contacted ww corporation and was send a reply basically stating that it is up to YOU whether you decided to count them in a recipe or not…using your weight loss as a gauge. If you are losing and not counting them in recipes, keep doing it that way…but even though RB initially gives you a zero value for fruits and veggies in a recipe, ultimately, it does “count” them. If you input a veg into recipe builder it will say zero, but if you look at the bottom ( say the dish is for 4 but you haven’t changed that number yet) it gives you a point value. So it is very confusing…but I don’t think there is a right or wrong way….I think its individual. Although there is exact science behind the whole ww calculating method, it isn’t truly and exact science…. Also, keep in mind, RB often uses the top three brands of something and averages it, so the nut info can be off from your product if it isn’t exactly the same. I think manual computations for recipes is probably the least accurate, but necessary in a pinch.
Thanks Renee! š
Pasta with butter (& Parmesan) is my feel better food! š Glad Tony is doing well! š
Hey Biz! I wanted to say that yesterday I’m right there with you on the soreness. Monday I did a leg workout for the first time in a couple of weeks and could barely walk yesterday. Today I did Jillian’s 30 day shred level 1 for the first time (got it for Xmas). Ow!
I would say that counting points for fruit and veggies (I have fallen off the point wagon) – it depends. If it’s a recipe that uses a little bit of fruit/veg, then yes. For example, bean soup with veggies or a baked fruit dish. Because then it’s not a fruit or veg.
But if it’s a fruit salad with a little bit of nuts, or a stir-fry with all veggies and a little bit of tofu, then no. Is the fruit/veg the star? That’s how I approach it.
I’m so jealous you are talking about spring! It’s 3 below with a 20 below windchill here! Plus we still have a TON of snow! At least the sun is out!
LOVE those breakfast nachos!
BREAKFAST NACHOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m in love. in. love.
you rock!
I usually count fruit in recipes, but if it’s something like broccoli I tend not to count it, just depends I guess.
I forgot about breakfast nachos too, I’m so glad I found those on your blog when you first made them, they are delicious!