Skinny Twice Baked Potatoes and Weekly Menu

What an amazing weather weekend we had!  Not only was the weekend gorgeous, but this was the first full weekend I’ve had off in the longest time – I think since last May?!  I worked the weekends at the farmers markets over the summer, then at The Chopping Block on the weekends.  One of the first things I did was call my Mom up and ask to get on her social calendar.  She’s a busy woman!  All I knew was that I was going to her neck of the woods and we were going to lunch and a movie. 

We never discussed where we were going, so to be on the safe side, Saturday morning I made a 4 point smoothie – a Premiere chocolate protein shake, 1/2 a frozen banana, 1 cup of coffee and 1 cup of ice and used Hannah’s Ninja blender to blend it all up. 

In my pajamas, no bra – thanks for the great photo Hannah!  Aren’t these mason jars amazing?  They hold 24 ounces and for $5 at Wal-Mart you can get a set of four lids with a straw for a grab and go breakfast. 

Hannah was off on Saturday and offered to do my hair and make up.   Hair done, before makeup.  I see more and more grey hair but I am not at the point where I want to die my hair because I know I’ll be horrible with the upkeep.

Sunroof open – check!  Eyebrows on feel – check!  Makeup on – check!  AND JEWELRY – check!  Hannah was actually my stylist.  If she could just get up every day and make me look good, I would appreciate it.  It’s not too much for a Mom to ask, right?!

We settled on Prasino in LaGrange because it was right across the street from the movie theater.  Perfect!  That way we wouldn’t feel rushed.

Super cute restaurant.  The service was excellent and I really liked the mediterranean plate that I got.  My Mom’s short rib tacos were a bit on the dry side before she got to the avocado side.

How cute is my Momma?!   I had to try the sweet potato and coconut bisque – it was delicious and I need to recreate a healthier version of this at home, because I am sure it used full fat coconut milk or heavy cream.  I only ordered a cup and my Mom and I split half of the cup.

My plate, which I ate 3/4 of and called 12 points.  I wasn’t sure how much olive oil was in the hummus.

We saw the movie Lion.  I won’t do any spoilers in case you have it on your list of movies to watch, but we both enjoyed it a lot.   And of course I had to take a picture of the two of us together to put on Facebook just to remind my brother and sister who Mom’s favorite is.

As I was downloading my pictures, when I got to the one above, I thought “I think my face looks a little thinner.”  While I am wearing a size smaller pants, I really haven’t “felt” that much of a change in my body since I’ve been recommitted to Weight Watchers.  I went back and found a picture from late November for comparison.  Is it just me, or can you see a difference?

The kadults were up early yesterday morning to open the coffee shop.  After the dogs settled in bed with me for a bit, I got up at 7 a.m.  It’s so crazy because I never used to be a morning person.  I’d stay up until 2 in the morning on the weekends, then sleep until noon.  What a waste!  I got so much done before 10:00 a.m. yesterday morning:  made a batch of granola using prunes and a bit of brown sugar for sweetness (recipe coming later this week – Errign, you are going to love it!), a batch of very berry sauce for parfaits later in the week; another batch of cashew milk waffles for sweet/savory breakfast sandwiches later in the week and the rest for the freezer; and I cooked off the rest of the overnight naan dough that’s been in my fridge.  This time using Everything but the Bagel seasoning from Trader Joe’s – I want to put this on everything!

After Hannah and I went grocery shopping and ran a couple errands, I was all prepared to go on a walk/run, but my blood sugar was only 77.  I ate a banana and some strawberries, but could only walk for fear of having my blood sugar tank on me.  I managed to hit just over 10k steps yesterday.  Short sleeve shirt in February #love.

It was still light out by the time I rounded the corner to my house at 5:15 – look at how tall my pine trees are in front of my house!

Here was my grocery total this week, which included a $13 chuck roast that’s going to be a dinner this week for all three of us:  $42.84

Meal Ideas This Week:

Breakfast:

• breakfast baked potato
• steel cut oats with fruit and eggs (maybe Starbuck’s sous vide again – which my friend Beth pointed out are 5 points, not 4, but still worth it!)
• mini bagel sandwich
• egg white and spinach pita pocket
• parfait

Lunch:

• grilled chicken picky plate
• leftover crockpot Italian beef salad
• zucchini lasagna boats
• mini pork tacos with avocado and refried beans
• leftover Friday

Dinner:

• grilled pork chops with skinny twice baked potatoes
• crock pot Italian beef on naan bread
• meat ravioli with homemade marinara
• grilled chicken Caesar salad
• Thursday is leftover night
• Nancy Silverton’s pizza dough – I am thinking garlic/pepperoni/spinach*

*Nancy Silverton is the famed baker of Le Brea Bakery in California, but if you have Netflix, you have to watch her episode on Chef’s Table.  I love these cooking documentaries on Netflix.  It’s funny because as I was writing part of this blog post last night, my sister messaged me on Facebook and asked if I had seen it – of course my response was, “duh!”  I liked the detail in the pizza dough link above – my plan is to make the dough on Tuesday night for Friday night pizza.

I was so happy to light up my grill for the first time in 2017!  Sadly it was nearly dark out by the time the coals were ready, but Hannah hung some lights up on the gazebo frame and that helped.

I already grilled up the meat for a pork chop dinner last night, and to have pork later in the week, and I grilled four bone in chicken breasts for the later in the week.  Here’s my meal prep tip to you though – if you plan on grilling meat to use later in the week, cook it about 80%, that way when you use it in a dish later, the chicken won’t be dried out.  And always try to grill bone in – the flavor is so much better.

My brother and his family sent me Robert’s Reserve Texas Style Hatch Marinade, and that’s what I used to marinate my pork in for about 6 hours before grilling, as well as a drizzle over the top right before eating.  It’s delicious – spicy flavorful and only 15 calories for 2 tablespoons.  Texas folks can find the marinade at HEB.  (Tony used to call the store HIV when we visited his son – and it used to drive Joe crazy whenever Tony said “why don’t we stop by the HIV on the way home and pick up some beers!”

Here is the “skinny” twice baked potato recipe – still 6 smart points but a very generous serving for 6 points!

We will have temps in the 60s the next several days and a slight chance of rain on Thursday, which I will take all day long.  Hopefully my sister and I can walk again together this week – we walked together three times last week and it’s nice to catch up with her without distraction.

I also did all my laundry – folded it and put it all away!  I took the Weight Watcher’s weekly focus of Clearing the Clutter challenge seriously, as did my sister when she Facetimed me on Saturday night showing me that she was getting rid of clothes that don’t fit (some to me!) and giving the rest away to Goodwill.  It will be nice to have everything in order this week clothes wise this week. 

Alright, time to get this show on the road – make it a great day!  And I had to laugh at this – my friend Allyson sent this to me over the weekend, and it literally made me laugh out loud – love it!

Make it a great day!