When I was cleaning out my refrigerator I forgot I had so much Chobani yogurt to eat up!  I do have a secret about Greek yogurt – I always add 1/4 cup of sugar free pancake syrup to the large container – gives it just enough sweet, but you can still taste the tanginess of the Greek yogurt.

I made yet another pumpkin granola, based off of two peas and their pod’s recipe – I modified it a bit with what I had on hand.

Pumpkin Almond Granola

  • makes 8, 3/4 cup servings, at 9 WW points (or 3 WW points per 1/4 cup)
  • 351 calories, 6 fat, 66 carbs, 7 fiber and 7 protein

Ingredients

  • 5 cups rolled oats
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1/4 cup applesauce
  • 1/4 cup sugar free pancake syrup
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries
  • 1/2 cup whole dry roasted almonds

Preheat oven to 325.   In a large bowl, combine the oats, almonds, spices and salt and mix well.  In another bowl, mix the brown sugar, pumpkin puree, applesauce, pancake syrup and vanilla extract.  Pour wet ingredients into oat mixture and mix until its evenly coated.

This will be very moist and sticky – no worries.  Evenly spread the mixture on your baking sheet – bake for 20 minutes, toss and stir, and bake an additional 20 minutes.  Remove from the oven, stir again and let cool completely.  Then toss with the dried cranberries.

I’ve added the dried cranberries to the baking process, but I find they are just too chewy, not moist like when they are fresh.

I made a parfait for myself for breakfast.  4 sliced strawberries (0), 1/2 small banana sliced (0), 1/4 cup granola (3), 1/2 cup vanilla Chobani greek yogurt (2), and a teaspoon of pom seeds (0).  This deliciousness for only 5 WW points.

The granola made this parfait. 😀

I especially liked the almonds – favorite part of the granola.

I ended up going to the fancy gym for the last time before cancelling the membership.  I ended up doing a 3/1/1 again on the treadmill, except for the first three minutes I walked fast at a slight incline, the 1 minute after that I ran at 5.2 mph, and then the last 1 minute I sprinted – and each three minute walk got slower but higher incline, and my final sprint was at 7.5 mph.  I did 45 minutes on the treadmill. 😀

I went to cancel and I was surprised that there were no questions asked!  Hannah and I will sign up at the new place probably today – if we join before January 25, there is no initition fee, and it will only be $10 a month for each of us.

AFter the gym I went to the store to pick up a few things.  I only spent $16 and think I have enough stuff in my fridge/freezer to get me through the week – it will be a challenge, but I think I am up for it.

I ended up eating a 2 ounce piece of bread when I got back from the store – it was 5:00 and I knew dinner was going to be soon.  Tony had picked up stuff on Friday night for us to have a Cobb salad for dinner.  He’s always careful about not having salty food the night before my weigh in. 😀  But since I worked late, it got bumped to last night.

I was watching Cooking Channel yesterday (shocker!) and I watched Easy Chinese: San Francisco.  She was making these battered deep fried prawns, and then battered sliced jalapenos as well.  It looked so good!  Since I was only frying one jalapeno, I just heated up a tiny bit of vegetable oil in my pan – mixed 1 tablespoon of corn startch with 1 tablespoon egg white for the batter and the fried jalapenos were the croutons on my salad.

Lovely lighting, no?! 😀  The dressing was also Asian inspired based off of one of the dressings that was on the website.  I adapted it because as written it had too much lemon and needed a bit more balance for me.

Asian Dressing  (2 tablespoons – 2 WW points – 58 calories, 4.8 fat, 4.3 carbs, 0 fiber, .24 protein)

  • 1 tablespoon hot oil (found in Asian markets – or just leave crushed red pepper in canola oil and let it sit)
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon teriayki sauce
  • juice of 2 lemons
  • juice of 2 clementines
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • salt and pepper

I put this in a jar and mixed well. 

I had mixed baby greens, 1/2 an avocado diced, 1 hard boiled egg, 3 cooked shrimp, carrots, cucumbers – if I could have licked my plate clean I would have!  Wish the picture was better, because this was a winning salad.  I haven’t figured out the points for the whole salad – going into dinner I only had 9 points, so I think I am good.

Some of the dishes on my menu this week, recipes to follow next week:

  • beef, sweet potato and butternut squash chili
  • avogolemeno soup
  • ham and cheese breakfast tarts
  • baked chicken wings and oven fries
  • Indian curry tomato soup (yum!)
  • Chinese five spice chicken with oranges

Anything new on your menu this week?  Have a great Sunday!