Healthy Chicken and Dumplings

It was interesting because usually I view the weekend as “get all the shit done and keep going, going, going.”  But knowing that I only have two weeks left at my job, well, the pace felt a bit different.  Yes, I had a list of things I wanted to get done, but not all of them got done, and well, it was alright by me!

I’ve had a few people ask via email if I am still not drinking alcohol, and the answer to that is yes.  Go me!  Which is why I had no problem signing up for the 8:00 a.m. spin class on Saturday morning.

But when I reached for my phone and saw that the air temperature was 3 degrees, and the wind chill was –10, I did for a quick second think how nice it would be to stay in my cozy bed, but I am so glad I went.  Since it was my second time, I knew my blood sugars weren’t going to tank and we finished just under 60 minutes.  And I love that the gym has free coffee!

Hannah was off of work this weekend and Jacob had to work on Saturday.  I love our Mom/Daughter time!  She wanted to go to a different Goodwill, and you all know how I feel about thrift shopping!  I sent this picture below to my Instagram friend Marie, who loves second hand clothes probably even more than me.  I told her that was my signature model move, and she was like “duh – I totally know that pose!”  The top is a Michael Kors top that sells for around $50 retail (I found similar shirts, but not exactly – so in the ball park) that was $2.99 and the pants are Coldwater Creek that retail for $59 and I got them for $3.99.  My co-worker Laura gave me that turquoise necklace from Charming Charlie’s – it has matching earrings, and I love how it goes with that outfit.  Andrea, I am trying to learn from you about accessories!   (LADIES!  If you need help putting outfits together, go check out Andrea’s website – she has the best taste in clothes and I love all the outfits she puts together that are age appropriate for the 40 [ahem] crowd).

Long time readers will see that the tiny pony tail is back!  It looks like ass because I was wearing a hat, and of course, no makeup because it’s the weekend.  But I love, love the top and I think it’s super flattering since I carry all my weight in the middle like a can of biscuits that have just popped open.   When I put it all together with hair and makeup, I’ll post another pic.

After Hannah and I got home I saw I had flowers delivered!  My parents-in-law sent them to me.  First, to congratulate me on my new life adventure, whatever that will be, and also because this is already the second Valentine’s Day without my love.  Time keeps on ticking, doesn’t it?!  It was such a sweet gesture.  They also think of me as their daughter vs. their daughter-in-law, so that is special too.  I was so happy they didn’t freeze on the porch!

And then more loot in the mail!  Now how is this for a small world?!  (Shannon, let me know if this isn’t right!).  I believe Shannon started reading my blog before she “knew” who I was.  Turns out Shannon is the former sister in law of my Aunt Martha!  I think they were having a conversation about a recipe or something, and my Aunt Martha gave Shannon a link to one of my recipes, and Shannon said “I know My Bizzy Kitchen!”  And then my Aunt told her I was her niece!  We tried to get together last summer when I was visiting, but it just didn’t work out, but we hope to get together this summer.  Anywho, she’s a long time blog reader and last week asked for my address. 

She made that cute card, and gave me that bracelet.  I had just seen it a week ago (maybe the day I quit?!) and thought “that bracelet would be nice to have!”  In case I ever have any doubts about where my life is going, I can just look down on my wrist and use that as my mantra “she believed she could so she did!”  Thank you so much Shannon!

So I had some good eats over the weekend.  Still trying to keep it interesting and not keep eating the same things over and over because I know their point value.  And I also put all my food on Instagram because I want people to know you can eat really good food on Weight Watchers and not just poached chicken, broccoli and brown rice.

1. So the thing about diabetes is well, it’s complicated.  It’s taken me a long time to figure it out, but exercise in the morning acts like food without insulin in my body.  It has something to do with my body at rest, maybe Nicole could chime in on this.  In any event, if I wake up with a blood sugar of 159, like I did on Saturday morning, and didn’t eat or take any insulin, after my one hour spin class, it would jump to 300.  Alternatively, later in the day, at lunch or after work, it’s the exact opposite.  I’ll need a higher number because it will drop 100-150 after a workout.  So Saturday morning I ate half a Nature Valley bar (one of 2 in the package for 3 points) and gave myself 10 units of fact acting insulin.  After my one hour class, my blood sugar was 170.  Nice!  When I got home I was hangry!  I made 1/2 cup Simply Potato hash browns, two turkey sausage links, 1/2 cup egg whites scrambled with baby spinach and 1/8 cup cheddar cheese and topped with diced tomato.  My second breakfast was 7 points, so with the granola bar, my total breakfast was 10 smart points.  (271 calories, 11 fat, 11 carbs, 1.7 fiber and 32 protein).
2. I wasn’t going grocery shopping until Sunday, so we used what we had on hand.  Hannah had bought some of Trader Joe’s orange chicken, veggie gyoza and we picked up their green beans on Saturday when we were out and about.  I didn’t realize until we got home that one serving (one cup) of the orange chicken would be 9 points, as well as 5 pot stickers for 9 points!  Not kidding, in the past I would have had one cup of the chicken, 5 of the potstickers AND rice!  So I only used one packet of the glaze from the frozen package, had 2/3 cup of the chicken (6 points) two of the potstickers (which I am calling as 4 because of the oil it cooked in) and garlic green beans which were zero.  So not a bad 10 point dinner that tastes like takeout!   (346 calories, 16 fat, 32 carbs, 5 fiber and 18 protein.
3. On Saturday when Hannah and I were out all of a sudden we were hungry!  We weren’t in an area we frequent very often so we just drove in a direction to see what we could find.  Um, it was all fast food.  But I was determined to make a healthy choice!  Thanks to my Weight Watcher app, I saw that two chicken tenders were 7 points, so I got a side salad (0) and used half the container of fat free sesame ginger dressing (1).  The chicken is actually really good – all white meat and not a whole lot of breading and the dressing was good too.  Not going to lie though the snickers shake that was on special was very close to being insulin worthy!  (379 calories, 15 fat, 31 carbs, 2 fiber and 22 protein).
4. Sunday morning I lounged.  It was awesome.  I was in my comfy couch, had a blanket on, heating pad on my back (damn cramps – so over with that!) hot coffee in my hand, spotify playing accoustic music – perfect!  I didn’t eat breakfast until nearly 11 and didn’t get back from grocery shopping and errands until almost 4.  I was a bit hungry, but since dinner was just a couple hours away, I didn’t want to eat too much.  My store has a grab and go section by the deli.  They have everything from Italian beef sandwiches, to Momma’s meatloaf and mashed potatoes.  On the weekend they have roasted meats, and they had roasted pork loin for $3.99.  Um, yes please!  When I got home I weighed out 3 ounces (3 points) and put them on sliced cucumbers, chopped red cabbage, and Trader Joe’s avocado salsa and some hot sauce – which were all zero points.  This was a delicious snack – the meat was so tender, but I loved the crunch of the cucumber and cabbage.  Not bad for a 3 point snack!  (245 calories, 14 fat, 3.1 carbs, 1.4 fiber and 23 protein.)

When I was meal planning yesterday morning, I nearly fell out of my chair when Hannah asked if I could make chicken and dumplings for dinner.  What the what?!  My mostly non-meat eating daughter was asking for chicken?!  I guess someone at her work brought in his version of it – although he added chicken fat to his dumplings, so I am sure there are a million not so healthy versions of chicken and dumplings out there.   I took inspiration from this recipe, and altered it just a bit to make it a bit more WW friendly.  I also figured out the points for the chicken part and the dumpling part – because I wanted to know how many points the dumplings were each – and the answer to that is 2.  Then 1/4 of the chicken mixture was 5 WW points, so with my two biscuits it came in at a delicious comfort food total of only 9 smart points.

That’s how the dumplings looked right before the lid went on top.   After the 20 minutes, I popped the whole pot under the broiler to brown the biscuits a bit.

My plate:

Comfort food at it’s best!  Super flavorful and ready in just about 30 minutes thanks to rotisserie chicken.   Jacob told me it would be okay if I made this every Sunday night when it’s cold out.  And Hannah went back for seconds!  #winning!

I nearly forgot it’s WI day!   Last week I was 170.1.  Today I am . . .

So –1.4 for the week!  Slow and steady wins the race.  So I’ve lost 9.2 pounds in six weeks – not too shabby!   I had a few issues with night snacking last week, so I need to just go back to “the kitchen is closed” and drink some mint tea after dinner to tell my brain I am done eating for the day. 

Time to get my stuff together – ONLY TEN MORE WORK DAYS UNTIL MY NEW LIFE!  Yep, that was worth a shout.  

Make it a great day!