On Sunday morning, since I had the whole house to myself because my roommates spent the night in the city, I literally cooked from about 8 a.m. in the morning until 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon.  It was awesome!  I was determined to do a fridge/pantry/freezer meal plan this week because I knew I had plenty of food to eat, and it does make you think outside the box a bit.

Last week I bought a giant zucchini for .75.  I am going to make zucchini muffins tonight, but on Sunday I made these pumpkin zucchini pancakes.  I thought for sure Hannah would love them, but she gave me the stink eye at the mention of zucchini in the recipe.  Much like my Mom used to tell me about onions in a dish “you can’t taste them!” I said the exact same thing to Hannah.  

And much like I am sure I did, Hannah never even tried a bite.  It’s come full circle.  But somehow Hannah loves onions, so I am not sure where I went wrong with that child. 

 

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I used a 1/3 cup measure to make these pancakes – and got 8 giant pancakes out of this recipe.  It’s 2 points for one, 4 points for two, 6 points for three, and somehow 9 points for four.  #weightwatchermath!

But one is plenty, especially when paired with the apple filling topping.  So good!  

See how fluffy they are!  I am such a professional food photographer, you know, showing depth and detail by having my dishes drying in a rack in the background.  Classy.

One pancake with the pie filling and a hard boiled egg was my breakfast yesterday morning – so filling.

The Biz and Jenn show was back on air yesterday, although Jenn’s been fighting an ear infection, so hopefully she’ll be feeling better soon.  We walked to Mariano’s – I’ve been on the search for RX nut butters.  They had the vanilla one, so I bought it – I’ll let you know how I like it.  Still 6 points for two tablespoons, but they have interesting flavors.

While this isn’t the best picture, my creamy black bean soup is delicious and only 2 points per two cups – or 240 calories.  So spicy good.  

I defrosted a pork steak for myself.  I love pork steaks.  It’s a steak cut from the pork shoulder, and its super delicious and cheap.  I got that pork in the meat bin for $1.13, but it’s usually only like $2 a pound not on sale, so super economical.  I ate 4 ounces of the pork, and then made a quick mac n cheese on the side with some leftover pasta my roommates made.  I actually like a really creamy sauce – it was 1 teaspoon butter, 1 teaspoon flour – I melted that in a skillet then added 3/4 cup cashew milk and 1/4 cup Velvetta Mexican shredded cheese and 1/2 cup cooked fresh green beans, and 1/2 cup of the leftover pasta.  So quick and delicious!

I have been loving seeing people recreate some of my dishes on Instagram – it’s like getting a warm hug when someone tags me and likes something I’ve made.  Night before last I made these apple “roses” with two ounces of my skinny pizza dough.  I wasn’t 100% satisfied with the recipe first time around and declared it a work in progress.

I was so happy when this woman Jill tagged me with her creation – holy balls does hers look delicious!  Genius idea to microwave the apples a bit to make them pliable – she did it right and used the rounded edge of the apple (versus the sharp end of the apple I used) and made an apple pie filling – much like mine, and added that to the middle.  Great job Jill and thank YOU for your inspiration.  Can’t wait to give these another go.

My friend Kim made another batch of my Copycat Starbuck’s Vanilla Bean Scones – these are addicting!

And my friend Matt tried the apple coffee cake muffins – yum!

For those playing along, I am still counting both calories and WW points.  I ended my day with 28 points, 1 weekly left, and 1,311 calories, 158 carbs, 48 fat, and 61 grams protein.

Still keeping my #dryseptember going into October.  Turns out watching Dancing with the Stars doesn’t constitute a special occasion to drink wine. 😀

Happy Wednesday friends – make it a great day!

Oh, and can you show me some comment love over at The Chopping Block?  My latest blog post is up – Greek Meatballs with Homemade Naan.