đŸ„Ź Spaghetti with olives and capers in tomato sauce. 11/4/19

Posted on November 5, 2019 by Beebamom

Here is another vegetarian/vegan (if you leave off the parmesan cheese) dinner entree. I think we have a total of four vegetarian, two pescatarian, and one omnivore (chicken) dinner this week.  Tonight’s dinner is a real pantry type dinner where everything you need you probably have on hand.

Instead of totally making my own sauce anew, I used some sauce that I froze this past summer and added a can of tomatoes to it. While the sauce heated up I added some capers, sliced and pitted some Castelveltrano olives, and adjusted the seasoning by adding some chili flakes. John cooked the whole grain spaghetti al dente and added it to my sauce. A few moments of cooking the sauce and the pasta together and it was ready for the table. The pasta was finished with chopped parsley and basil, parmesan cheese, and a drizzle of olive oil.

Spaghetti with capers and olives in tomato sauce

Posted in Easy, Italian, Pasta, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged | Leave a comment

đŸ„š Eggs. 11/3/19

Posted on November 4, 2019 by Beebamom

When you are tired and cannot think of anything to fix for dinner, think of eggs! Seriously, eggs do not have to be only for breakfast. John made himself an omelet and I made some scrambled eggs. I like to cook my scrambled eggs on the soft side. Along with the eggs I had a Morningstar vegetarian breakfast patty and an English muffin. It was a nice, light but filling dinner. WW=5 points

Two scrambled eggs with a Morningstar original vegetarian breakfast patty and a toasted English muffin

Posted in American, Easy, Eggs, Healthy tips, Kitchen tips, Vegetarian, WW points | Tagged | Leave a comment

Weekly Menu 11/3-9/19

Posted on November 3, 2019 by Beebamom

This week’s menu is full of interesting and healthy meals. The dinners are not assigned a day of the week and we just choose a meal that appeals to us on any particular day. I have added an eighth pantry-type meal (linguine) to give us some flexibility. We go to the grocery store and buy the ingredients for all the dishes on Sunday or Monday. By watching the amount of oil or butter and controlling portion size, I can easily stay on my weight loss plan.

Posted in Weekly menu | Leave a comment

🩃 Lentil soup with turkey kielbasa. 11/2/19

Posted on November 3, 2019 by Beebamom

According to my menu for the week, we are supposed to be eating tuna sandwiches tonight. However we went to the Habit Grill for lunch and two tuna meals seems like one too many. Special hint about dieting and eating at Habit—you can order the tuna sandwich as a lettuce wrap. Bring along a toasted half pita, take off any excess lettuce, and stuff your tuna, a little of the lettuce, and the tomato in. You probably will not be able to fit all the tuna in so when you finish your delicious tuna pita you still have a salad of the leftover lettuce and tuna. Avoiding their roll and also the teriyaki sauce means way fewer calories and WW points.

To get back on topic what we made for our dinner for two was lentil soup with 4 oz. turkey kielbasa, onions, celery, and carrots. Healthy and filling!! WW=2 points

Lentil soup with turkey kielbasa

Posted in American, Easy, Healthy tips, Legumes, Poultry, Vegetables, WW points | Tagged , | Leave a comment

đŸ„Ź Grilled portobello mushroom and coleslaw 11/1/19

Posted on November 2, 2019 by Beebamom

A long time ago I used to work for Weight Watchers, now known as WW. It was up to me to explain how the system worked and inspire people to try to keep on the plan from week to week. I talked to hundreds of people each week. Now that I am eating the WW plan myself, it helps me to think back to all the advice and tips I gave to my clients. I am not trying to advocate for any particular weight loss program but I must say that this incarnation of WW is the easiest to follow thus far.

Tonight’s dinner is one of my favorites and vegetarian to boot. (Vegan if you use a vegan mayo.) John grilled the mushrooms and I made the onions for on top and the coleslaw. WW = 5 points

Grilled mushroom and coleslaw

With the exception of some of the things I posted in my “Off the Rails” post everything I have pictured over the past five and a half weeks have been on my current diet plan. And I have lost 12 lbs.

Posted in American, Easy, Grilling, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian, WW points | Tagged | 2 Comments

🍗 Costco rotisserie chicken=chicken fajitas

Posted on November 1, 2019 by Beebamom

We are going on our second meal from the Costco rotisserie chicken.  They are only $4.99 and are really big! The chicken has also tided us over in the late afternoon when we have needed a little protein to make it through to dinner without snacking. Plus after we have eaten tonight’s dinner there will still be enough left for John’s lunch tomorrow and our daughter’s dinner. Wow, what a bargain!

I sliced up some onions and bell peppers which John sautéed before adding the shredded chicken breast. Then he added a packet of fajita mix and some water.

Chicken fajita mixture on the stove

We served the chicken fajitas taco style with charred corn tortillas and crema made out of Greek yogurt, salt, and cumin. This great dinner which was only 5 WW points per serving did not taste anything like dieting!

Chicken fajitas

Posted in Easy, Healthy tips, Mexican, Poultry, Vegetables, WW points | Tagged | Leave a comment

đŸ€ Shrimp to the rescue! 10/30/19

Posted on October 31, 2019 by Beebamom

I once went on a cross country road trip with John during what we called “the long diet.” The one food item that was on almost every menu were grilled shrimp. Eat them in a taco, have them on a salad, eat them skewered with rice and vegetables. I ate shrimp in every possible way except for fried. For six weeks we traveled eating out three meals a day. I lost 6 1/2 lbs. during that time. I knew I could count on shrimp to come to the rescue. Tonight it is helping me get back in control.

John is a super shrimp cook. He made a rub and then sautéed our shrimp in 2 teaspoons of olive oil. I heated up some leftover basmati rice and sautéed snow peas dusted with cumin and salt in butter spray. Day 2, back on track.

Shrimp, basmati rice, and snow peas

 

Posted in American, Easy, rice, Shellfish, Vegetables | Tagged | Leave a comment

Off the rails! 10/29/19

Posted on October 30, 2019 by Beebamom

I have been doing pretty well on my weight loss journey. I lost 11 lbs. in the first 5 weeks. But then, dunh, dunh, dunhhhh, my sister came to visit. I tend to be quite the pushover when it comes to social eating.

It started innocently enough enough with pasta fagioli. Of course I needed to buy some good Italian bread and red wine to go with it. And I needed to finish it with Parmesan cheese and olive oil.

Pasta fagioli

On Tuesday my sister mentioned that she could eat pasta every day of the week. Ooh, me too!

Penne with meat sauce

On Wednesday we went out to eat at our favorite Ethiopian restaurant, Zeni’s.

Ethiopian veggie combo and yebeg tips (crispy lamb)

Thursday we spent in Wine Country and ended up drinking wine and eating snacks for dinner.

Friday we went out for tea.

Tea with lots of goodies

Saturday we went to visit our son who had bagels and lox and chicken liver pate for a lovely brunch. This is a picture from our Christmas breakfast but the food is the same!

Bagel with cream cheese, capers, onions, and lox plus Schneider’s Weissbier

I finished up my week by having friends over and making a lasagna.

Lasagna

After a week of eating and wine drinking I managed to gain 1.8 lbs. which isn’t too bad considering how much I went off the rails. After finishing off the lasagna on Monday, I am back on track and have lost 1 lb. of the weight I gained. My old friends chicken breast, rutabagas, and broccoli put the brakes on my skid.

Chicken breast with gravy, rutabagas, and broccoli

So what I am saying is that everyone has a bad day or week now and then. Don’t beat yourself up! What’s done is done. Move forward.

 

Posted in American, Beef, Desserts, Dining out, Italian, Pasta, Poultry, Vegetables | Tagged | Leave a comment

A grilling favorite. 10/21/19

Posted on October 21, 2019 by Beebamom

We really love having these portobello mushrooms cooked on the grill. It is now our favorite hamburger substitute meal.

Grilled mushroom with a simple salad

Posted in American, Easy, Grilling, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged | Leave a comment

Fishawarma. 10/19/19

Posted on October 20, 2019 by Beebamom

This combination of Chilean sea bass with the spices of the Roasted Chicken Shawarma that I made about 10 days ago turned out delicious! John marinated the fish briefly in olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, turmeric, cinnamon and red pepper flakes. Instead of lemon juice he used lemon zest so the fish would not cook in the acid. The lemon juice he added to the part of the marinade that the vegetables, red onion, tomatoes, and broccoli, cooked in.

The vegetables started first on a sheet pan in a 425F oven. After about 15 minutes we added the fish for another 12 minutes. When the fish was done everything came out. The broccoli got a bit over-roasted but the sea bass, tomatoes, and red onion were wonderful. Yay for fishawarma!

Fish in shawarma spices =
Fishawarma!

 

 

Posted in American, Fish, rice, Vegetables | Tagged | Leave a comment