Four Months Later...

Methinks you'll have to get used to once-in-a-while appearances from me from now on... I just can't keep up like I did before!  It might be a mix between having a toddler and not trying as many new recipes now that I have some cooking skill.

Since Thanksgiving, the hubs and I have been calorie counting and really trying to whittle down our weights.  I've been looking for lots of low-cal, delicious recipes and have tried a few things recently I thought I'd share with you.  So far I've lost about 16 lbs and am officially back down to pre-preggo weight (it sure took me long enough!).

Southwestern Egg Rolls

Alissa's Alfredo Lasagna

Okay, so this might sound like it's not-so-healthy.  It really depends on what you put in it.  I made it with RF ricotta cheese, a TON of spinach, lean ground beef, mushrooms, light alfredo sauce, and no-bake noodles.  If you portion it out, it's delicious and you don't have to feel guilty about it!  :-)

Pretty picture, right?

I have discovered the secret to yummy, light scrambled eggs... and I'm going to share it with you right now.  Are you ready?  Laughing cow cheese.  I've had this lunch almost every day for the past two months and it's filling, full of protein, and worth every calorie.

I use 1/2 c. of egg beaters, 2 wedges of any kind of laughing cow cheese, Old Bay, and pepper.  Sometimes I add mushrooms, spinach, a touch of lean ground beef... really, anything your heart desires in scrambled eggs is okay.  I like to put it on an English muffin (high fiber) with a Mushroom Lover's Morningstar veggie burger on the side.  I'm addicted.

Top with fresh salsa and a little guac or fresh avocado.  Heavenly.

Seriously.

Quinoa Pizza Bites

These were good, but I would recommend using pepperoni slices as suggested in the recipe.  They were good without, but needed something!  I also didn't have a tiny muffin pan, so I just baked them like cookies.

Alissa's Split Pea Soup

I made this with a bag of split peas... which I didn't realize would actually split or explode all over the pot as they started cooking.  I didn't take an after picture, but I should have!  I added potato, corn, chicken/veggie broth, mushrooms, and some spices.  It ended up thick and pretty tasty.

Next up...

Green Smoothies!  I've started having these more often lately.  Usually I add whatever we have in our house... banana, apple, strawberry, blueberry, etc.  Then you load it up with spinach or kale and add ice to get it the thickness you want.  I've been making them with soy yogurt and vanilla soy milk so that Liv can drink some, too.  Always yum.

Tilapia with Salsa and Black Beans

This is exactly what it says.  I made brown rice and mixed salsa into it, added black beans, and topped with tilapia (seasoned however you like).

Homemade Mexican Pizza

We are huge fans of Cheeseburger Pizza and just switched the toppings a bit to make it Mexican.  On this pizza, I used taco seasoned lean ground beef, fresh avocado, grape tomatoes, black beans, corn, and shredded cheese.

Broccoli, Cheese, & Potato Soup

Tomato Soup

I couldn't find the exact Taste of Home recipe that I used for the tomato soup, but there are so many there!  I might have to try some others.  :-)

For Christmas, I got an immersion blender... and it's AWESOME!  Here I am using it!  :-)

Smooth soup!

Sorry that this post was so random.  I'll try to post new recipes as I make them so I don't have to have crazy posts like this one!

Hopefully you see something you'd like to try... enjoy!  :-)

Spinach!

Spinach.  Super food!  It's so amazing for you... full of nutrients, good source of protein, high in vitamins, full of iron, low in calories, versatile... Popeye loves it.  Click here to read more about the benefits of spinach.  :-)

I will say that when I was pregnant I hated spinach.  Couldn't touch it.  Now that I'm not, I'm back to loving me some spinach.  Here are two recipes I've tried recently that are chock full of the healthy green stuff.  Both are WW friendly, too!

Yay, got to use my food processor to make this delicious concotion!  Mmm... Jim and I ate it with some random things we found in the house... carrots, crackers... and then decided to splurge and get some chips for dipping.  All worked well.  Obviously if you go with veggies, it's even less points. 

Spinach and Artichoke Dip (WW recipe)

 The following pictures I took of our dinner tonight.  It looks like a jumbled spinach mess, doesn't it?

 

 

Cheese Enchiladas (WW recipe)

The recipe calls for bigger shells, but I did smaller ones... I thought it actually worked out pretty well.  After baking, it smelled soooo good with the fresh salsa.  Yum!  I think next time I may add some meat or mushrooms... something else to add to the texture a bit.  They needed something more, in my opinion.  Just not sure what!  Any suggestions? 

How do you like to eat spinach?!  :-)

Emily Bites!

I feel like I talk about Pinterest a lot.  Do I? 

 

I apologize if that's the direction my blog has gone.  I'm just in love with how easy it is to find recipes (and DIY crafts for that matter) there.  A while ago, I stumbled upon a great site called Emily Bites.  She basically takes recipes that she's either found in other places, or created herself, and makes them a little lighter (sometimes a lot lighter).  For those of us tracking P+ with WW, it's quite helpful because she's got it all laid out nicely.  

 

Emily, you rock.  I just think you should know that.  I've also been sort of stalking your site lately.  I hope you don't mind! 

 

Here are a few recipes I've made from her site recently.  I have plans to try many more.  :-) 

 

Mac & Cheese Muffins

I didn't use elbow macaroni for these, as you can probably tell.  I used Ditalini pasta!  First, because I didn't have any elbow macaroni and I figured any pasta might work.  Second, I wanted to make some Ditalini pasta for my little one to try (it's perfect for baby fingers). 

On that note, I would strongly recommend NOT using Ditalini pasta for this recipe.  I think using another kind might get the muffins to stick together a little better.  Don't get me wrong... these were delicious, just a little messy!




Bacon Cheeseburger Wraps

 

I know what you're thinking... 'That's not a wrap, Alissa!'  You're right.  It's not.  I didn't have any in the house the first time I made these.  They actually were more like Bacon Cheeseburger Sloppy Joes.  Not too shabby!  I was sure to get some for the second time (see below).  :-)  I didn't toast them because I'm generally not a fan of toasting... is that weird?  I do think that when I make them again I may try toasting just for fun. 

 

Actual Bacon Cheeseburger Wraps

Cheeseburger Pizza

You may also have noticed a theme... we were kind of on a little bit of a cheeseburger kick.  Cheeseburgers might be one of my all-time favorite foods.  A friend of ours suggested putting a fried egg right on top of that pizza.  So, I guess you could do that.  It would certainly add to the points, though!  ;-) 

Here are a few other recipes that caught my eye:
Cincinnati Chili - If you follow my blog at all, you already know this is my favorite chili of all time... I'm interested to try this version and see how it is!
Banana Pancake Bites - Uh... yum?
Buffalo Wing Hummus - Yeah... I might try this really soon.

Seriously, folks... Emily Bites just looks delicious every time I go there. 

Eating More Plants

Happy August!  I can't believe it's August already... once August hits, it always seems like the summer is going fast (even if it's not).  I think this summer has felt very long, partly because I've been staying home with my sweet baby girl and she's grown so much!  We've been keeping super busy, too.  It almost seems like we are busier than we were during the school year, thought I know that can't possibly be true. 

On that note, I'm sure it will seem like summer is even longer than it already has been when I don't go back to school this year.  I'm a pretty lucky girl to be able to stay home.  <3

Anyway, with summer in full swing, I've been trying to eat more plants.  Plants are tasty!  Good for roasting, grilling, salad-making, etc.  I've been thoroughly enjoying corn-on-the-cob, which I've never really appreciated before this summer.  Why?  I don't know.  It's delicious! 

Spicy Black Bean Burger, Corn-on-the-Cob, and Grilled Eggplant

I also have a new appreciation for veggie burgers.  I know, right?  Who am I?  What have I done with Alissa?  Veggie burgers?  What's the world coming to?  Yeah... so, Morningstar products (at least the ones I've tried) are pretty good. 

You're probably wondering how I cooked everything.  I'm glad you asked!  I cooked it all on my grill pan.  Have I told you lately how much I love my grill pan?  I have?  ;-) 

The picture below is dinner I made tonight.  I'm not even sure what to call it... I kind of threw some things in a pan and cooked them up.  It consists of ground chicken, cream of chicken soup, pinto beans, frozen corn, garlic, and some seasonings (cumin, cayenne pepper, poultry seasoning, red pepper flakes, and a touch of garlic salt).  It's scooped over some brown rice and next to some grilled potatoes and mushrooms. 

I must also say that that's the saddest salad I think I've ever made.  It's just baby spinach and tomatoes... but it worked.  Initially I was debating about adding the spinach and mushrooms to the chicken mixture.  It probably would have been just as good.  By the way, this was a success!  Hubby liked it and even went back for seconds.  :-)  That's always a good sign.

Untitled Dinner...

These are just blueberries covered with strawberry yogurt (it's what I had in the fridge) and put in the freezer.  I found this idea on Pinterest.  :-) 

Yogurt-covered Blueberries

I hope you're making something amazing in your kitchen!!!

Old Bananas

I had a whole bunch of old bananas that were browning today and decided I was going to make some banana bread.  I've never actually made banana bread before, so I was looking for an easy, yummy recipe online.  This is the one I found.  I printed it out and planned to use it... but... then I logged onto facebook and there was a picture of this Raspberry Dark Chocolate Banana Bread. 

Which one do you think I made?

Now, the recipe said to use a loaf pan... but that's what happened when I did.  I probably should have gone with my better judgment and used a larger pan when I saw how full the loaf pan was after pouring in the batter.  Oh well.  :-) 

YUM!  I highly recommend this.  Just use a bigger pan.  I did put a cookie sheet underneath to catch any drips.  Hehe, that was a big one!

Grilling Veggies

Check it out, two posts in two days!  Go me!  :-)

Tonight I made this:

Angel Hair Pasta with Eggplant-Tomato Sauce

It's all part of my more veggies plan... the picture is a little deceiving, though.  You grill up all the veggies and then make the sauce and toss it into the noodles.  I took the picture prior to tossing.  However, I think eating just the veggies would have been amazing... and spicy!

 Grilling eggplant...

 Grilling zucchini... (the recipe says to use strips of red pepper, but I hate pepper and I had some zucchini lying around) ...I should really make some zucchini bread or something!

 Chop up grilled veggies...

 ...and non-grilled veggies like these tomatoes. 

 Heat up some garlic...

 Toss it all together in the pan...

Season it up... mmm... I love this part!  It always smells so good!

Put it on some pasta... or don't.  Like I said, it probably would have been good by itself. 

Next time I may even be so bold as to add other veggies.  I think it would be good with squash and mushrooms, too.  Maybe a little more tomato.  Maybe even topped with some chicken or tofu.  Who knows?  Go crazy!  ;-) 

By the way, if you can't have an actual grill, I highly recommend a grill pan.  Mine was a cheap-o one from Walmart, but I love it!  You could easily spend $100 on a really nice one, though.  Just a thought!    

Mish Mash!

Hi there!  It's been a while, I know.  I've been revamping my eating/cooking again... but this particular post might be a mish mash of things I've cooked recently.  To start us off, here's a picture of some cauliflower my lovely hubby bought at the store:

While it does seem to be very fun, it kind of scares me.  Is cauliflower ever supposed to be purple, yellow, or green?!  It just doesn't seem right.  Which brings me to my current ponderance.  I've been making baby food for the past few months and thinking about what I would want Olivia to eat vs. what Jim and I sometimes put in our own bodies.  I've been trying to educate myself on what to buy organicly... here's a list if you're interested.  There are other lists out there and it seems like there are different variations, too. 

The down side to buying organic food is the price... but I guess you have to think about what kinds of chemicals you're willing to put in your body. 

Anyway, enough about that for now.  Here are a few things I've made that you might enjoy!  :-)

Avocado Grilled Cheese

I actually found this idea on Pinterest.  I heart Pinterest!  It's just grilled cheese (grilled on my fabulous grill pan) with some avocado slices.  Amazing!  If you like avocado, that is.  That link under the picture will take you to not a ton of grilled cheese ideas.  Check 'em out. 

Shrimp Creole

Straight from the Bayou to your table.  Just kidding!  I actually found a box (yes, I know, this goes against everything I was just saying about being careful about what to put in your body) of creole rice mix that you could add chicken or shrimp to... so I did.  It was in my pantry from I don't know how long ago.  Someday I'm going to try to make one of these versions of Shrimp Creole... they just seem like they would be better than a boxed version (thought it was mighty tasty and lasted me all week long!). 

Crescent Roll Pizza

Ugh.  Okay, I shouldn't start off that way.  Jimmy really liked this!  A complete Alissa original recipe.  :-)  Haha.  I thought it was kind of a flop. 

I sprayed a cookie sheet with olive oil and then put down some crescent roll dough.  Next, I added some sauce, chopped cilantro, shallots, chunks of mozzarella, bits of taco meat (because I always seem to have leftover taco meat in the fridge), and mushrooms (only to my side).  I baked it in a 350 degree oven for eh, about 8 minutes because my oven cooks everything at the speed of light. 

Don't get me wrong, this probably would have been amazing as an actual pizza.  You know, on pizza dough.  It was weird on crescent roll dough.  Jimmy scarfed it down, though.  Hehe.  So, I guess it wasn't a total flop. 

That's all for now!  I've been making lots of different salads recently... all of them good!  I'm going through a little corn-on-the-cob phase.  Does anyone make it a special way that's yummy?  I'd love to have some new ideas!  :-)