Happy Monday!  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend.  It was very low key at my house this year and it was perfect.  I can’t tell you how many years I would start menu planning two weeks in advance, start cooking Saturday morning the day before Easter and get up early Easter morning to get the ham going and making Parker House rolls from scratch.  Only to have everyone sit down and eat within 20 minutes!

Not that there is anything wrong with putting in a lot of detail for a holiday meal, but I think everyone enjoyed the food just as much.  And best part – no stress!   I didn’t eat breakfast until nearly 11 yesterday knowing I was going to spend all my points on Easter dinner.  I made another batch of my of simple naan bread (that I made on Saturday and forgot the dough in the microwave!).  If you are nervous about a yeast dough, this one is the one to start with – so easy!  Here is the recipe.

Hannah made her famous buffalo chicken dip.  So not good for you, but oh so good.  It uses canned chicken!  And cream cheese, and cheddar cheese, ranch dressing, Frank’s hot sauce.   Let me know if you want the exact recipe.  I spent 17 points on this dip and Fritos dippers alone.  #worthit

I also did a baked potato bar – so easy – but check out the size of these potatoes!  My Mom and I split half of one!  These took 90 minutes to bake they were so big.  Just a touch of olive oil, salt and pepper.  We had two types of grated cheese, butter, sour cream, bacon bits and green onions for toppings.

I used my Pit Barrel to make both the turkey breast and the ham.  OMG, I love this cooker!  The ham was fully cooked, so I only needed to reheat it – but at nearly 8 pounds, it took about 15 minutes a pound to cook all the way through.  I probed the turkey breast and pulled it at 165 and let it rest 40 minutes before slicing.

Only one tiny problem.  Because the ham was so tender, when I went to lift it off the hooks, it completely fell in the coals!  I think I may put another grate above the coals in case that happens again, I wasn’t tall enough to reach and and grab the ham so I was yelling to Jacob “help!”  It tasted amazing.  

The Pit Barrel

I also made roasted whole carrots – so good!  That’s Jacob’s favorite vegetable. 

Jacob’s grandpa used to be a butcher, so I let him do the honors of cutting up the meat – I should do a tutorial on how to cut meat with his tips.  

Look at how gorgeous that turkey breast is!  It was only .99 cents a pound – I need to make that more often.  

The ham was perfect too – pretty hard to mess that one up – I didn’t even need a glaze.

My plate – that after eating 17 points of buffalo dip, couldn’t even finish – my dinner/dip came in at 30 points.  With wine, 35 points – but because I only had 5 points for breakfast, I still have 12 weeklies left for the week – nice!

Mom, always happy to have you over for a holiday – check it out Charlie and Jenn – Mom spending another holiday with her favorite child!

And thanks to Hannah for all your help prepping.  Since Hannah is trying to get me to follow her “cleaning rules” i.e., clean up as you cook, put personal belongings away at the end of the day (um, I didn’t know that I had to keep my personal items in my bedroom!) 😀 it was nice that we didn’t have to do any deep cleaning before people came over – just a quick mop of the kitchen floor and that was it!

I didn’t take any pictures until Jacob’s grandpa and Dad left, but it was nice having everyone over. 

I realize I need to update my tracker for the wine – so I ate 40 points yesterday, and will have 7 weeklies – not too bad!

Even though it was snowing when I woke up on Saturday morning, I went to Weight Watchers.  I tracked every lick and taste, even if I went over, and was -36 points for the week, and was not expecting a loss, but happily was down 1.2!

But here we are in April and I am basically at the same weight I was at the beginning of the year.  Which can technically be considered a success – I would love to be the queen of maintenance, just at about 35-40 pounds less. 

So I am for the millionth time doing a ctrl + alt + delete and rebooting.  Except for Easter, I am doing dry April.  I need to drink more water, and while I would love to go to the gym for cardio, this cough is still hanging on – its going on 5 weeks, so hopefully that will taper soon.  But that doesn’t mean I can’t lift weights, so my goal is to hit the gym 3 times a week.  

I didn’t do a full grocery shop this week, but I have plenty of healthy options to choose from.  It will be a lot of picky plates, but turns out I love those.

What are your goals for April?  Does it still feel like winter where you live?  It was 21 degrees this morning, and while I am complaining, I am just glad its not snow like the east coast got hit with again – I feel so sorry for you guys!  

We will probably be in the 80s by May 1 😛

Happy Monday friends – make it a great day!