WW Smart Ones Santa Fe Style Rice & Beans Review

I'd slept pretty good last night, but I didn't get to sleep as late as I would have liked. I got up and fixed coffee ( mostly decaf) and breakfast was the last piece of birthday cake. I didn't bother turning on my computer. I tend to get more done that way. I got started on the house while my coffee was brewing. 

Breakfast was not very filling, so lunch was not far behind. I had two open faced egg salad sandwiches with a jalapeno dill spear.

I finished off the shortbread cookies. I was still working on my second cup of coffee. Coffee always takes me longer to drink when I'm cleaning. I keep setting it down and moving to another room, remembering it 30 minutes later. I finally just drank it as I found it, instead of reheating. It was too hot for hot coffee anyway. 

I made a WW Smart Ones meal for dinner. I had the Santa Fe Style Rice & Beans. I'm pretty sure I've eaten this before, but I don't remember if I've done a review or not. I searched the archives to find one, but I can't seem to find one. This dinner was pretty good. 

I cooked in 2 parts, cooking as directed, but the second part was a little delayed, because I got busy with laundry and forgot I was cooking it. It was still warm when I remembered. I finished cooking it and added some tortilla chips and a pinch of salt. 

I used the tortilla chips for dipping. It was pretty cheesy. It not spicy at all, but it does have a good flavor.  I'm giving it 4 stars.

I'd eaten dinner early. Afterward I went out and used my reel mower to mow some grass in the back yard. Unfortunately dinner didn't stick with me until bed time. I had a couple of handfuls of raisins, which wasn't enough, so I heated some of Lucas' leftover fried potatoes and added some shredded Colby and some salsa. 

Now it's late and I need to get to bed. Have a great night/day!!! 

Two Days In One

I've decided to get this mess caught up and out of the way in one fell swoop. Because I am behind, I am suffering and the blog is suffering. I'm not sure yet how this will turn out, but it will be done and I will feel much better. 

Breakfast will be the easiest of course, because I ate the same thing basically on both mornings. I had a fruit and yogurt cereal bowl, with dried wild blueberries, which I'd gotten on sale half price. I also used half a pink lady apple, Dannon vanilla yogurt, cheerios, bran flakes, and life cereal. On Friday, I also threw in a few frosted mini wheats.

 

On Thursday, I went with Mom and Lynda for a GDO. We went to Fresh Market, Panera's Goodwill, The Restore, and Walmart, not necessarily in that order. We got a few goodies from Fresh Market and tried a couple of samples. My first sample was their chocolate cherry coffee. Normally I'm not big on flavored coffee, but occasionally I find one I like. This was one that I liked.

I added a little raw sugar and cream to mine. I even managed to get just the right amount of sugar, but just a little too much cream. It still tasted very good. I'm giving it 4 stars (no star photo this time).

 My second sample was their edamame salad, which I didn't care for and forgot to get a photo of. It had cranberries and what tasted like rosemary along with the edamame, which didn't appeal to me. 

We went to Panera's for lunch, Mom & Lynda also got bagels. I had the same thing I had last time. You just can't beat their Mediterranean Veggie on tomato basil bread and the creamy tomato soup. It was sort of cool and rainy, a perfect day for soup. I also got an apple with it to eat later and a bottled water.

Once I got home I did some sampling of my goodies I'd gotten. I had a bit of the Men's Omega 3 Energy Mix while I fixed a bite to eat. For dinner I had the Smart Ones Pasta with Ricotta and Spinach, which I wasn't sure about. The photo didn't look all that great to me.

The dinner prepared actually looked better to me than the photo, unusual right? I also had a piece of the garlic herb focaccia I'd gotten at TFM, with a couple of sliced marinated mozzarella balls, also from TFM. The Focaccia was delicious, but we weren't impressed with the mozzarella. I was expecting the marinade to taste like more than just olive oil and Italian seasoning. You know mozzarella is a sort of a flavorless cheese compared to other cheeses, even marinated apparently. The pasta with ricotta and spinach needed a pinch of salt, but was not bad. The sauce sort of reminds me of gravy. I'm giving it 3 stars.

I had one of the Russell Stover coconut cream eggs that Lynda gave me, after dinner and threw the other one into the freezer for safe keeping.

 Now on to Friday.

 

You already know what I had for breakfast, so it's on to the next thing, which was a cup of green tea, the White Mangosteen and Peach flavor with a dab of honey, two bags.

Next was lunch. I had a tofurky sandwich with more of the mozzarella on the focaccia bread.

 

The tofurky was their Italian Deli flavor with sundried tomato and basil. Unfortunately it wasn't as good as I had expected it to be. It wasn't bad, but it just didn't have the flavor I was expecting. It was sort of like they'd added a little sundried tomato to the peppered version. The pepper in it was over powering and you could hardly taste the tomato or basil.

I cut a piece of the focaccia bread in half and put on 4 slices of the tofurky. I grated a few of the marinated mozzarella balls over the tofurky after wiping them across the top piece of bread to leave the seasoning and drizzled on a little olive oil. I also sprinkle on some marjoram. I then popped the whole thing in the toaster oven on bake to melt the cheese, toast the bread a little and ultimately heat the whole sandwich.

Although I wasn't impressed with the marinated mozzarella or the tofurky on their own, together on the garlic herb focaccia, they were awesome. I would have thought I'd died and gone to heaven if there had been marinara and spinach involved.

I later had a bowl of Peanut Butter Multi Grain Cheerios.

We think the Banana Nut flavor is better. I'm not sure if it was the milk or the peanut butter, but after eating it, I developed the worse case of indigestion. I thought I'd die.

After eating lots of antacid, I was still battling my indigestion at dinner time. I had planned to try my new Veggie Patch Chick'n Cutlets.

My indigestion was slowly subsiding, which made it hard for me to have a good appetite. I made whole wheat pasta with some plain old Ragu spaghetti sauce to go with the cutlet. I'd planned to do something a bit more elaborate, but I just wasn't feeling up to it.

I put the cutlet on top of the pasta, added a little more sauce and grated some of the mozzarella balls on top. I was really impressed with the cutlet. It was one of the best fake chicken patties, I've ever eaten. I like that they are thin and larger than most veggie patties. The breading has that strange chicken patty color, but it was really pretty good. I'm not so crazy about the way the cheese looked, but it's one way to use it up. I can't wait to try the cutlet in some other ways. I'm giving it 5 stars.

Well, that's it for Thursday & Friday. I'm caught up. No late posts hanging over my head. Now if I can just keep it that way. I didn't get everything I wanted included, but it's done. If there's any questions, just leave a comment, love those. Have a great day and don't forget to subscribe and/or follow me on Twitter. Thanks.

Brunch & Dinner

I feel a little more rested this morning than I did yesterday morning. I didn't sleep well the night before, I assume because of my caffeine overdose (too much coffee). Luckily I didn't have to keep the girls as early as I had thought. I was up at 5am, went back to bed at 6:30, slept until 8am, only to find out that I wouldn't have the girl until 12. I went back to bed.

When I got up around 10:30, I fixed brunch. I made a potato, egg, & cheese sandwich. I used one of my multi grain sandwich rounds from the freezer along with a hash brown patty. I browned the hash brown in the toaster oven while I scrambled an egg with chopped pepper and onion. I also topped the hash brown with a slice of sharp white cheddar and taco sauce.

A little salt and pepper and I was in business. It was yummy!

I had a red velvet brownie, as well, minus the icing. I decided to skip the icing.

I had made coffee, but forgot about it until after the brownie was gone. It would have been better with coffee, but isn't everything better with coffee.

The day went pretty well. I got my coffee in before the girls arrive. Lexi was very good the whole time. She discovered games on my ipod. Oh, how I love my ipod. Mary was the one who kept me busy. My legs were so ready for a break when she finely took a nap.

I still haven't gotten my tree decorated. I did work on the branches. Those of you who have ever had a cheap tree, know that you have to do this or it looks rather scrawny. I still have a branch or two to position & shape. Maybe I can get a few decorations on today. I'll also be waiting on the phone man. If you've been following me on Twitter you may have saw where I was discussing my internet problems. Fingers crossed, right?

For dinner I had WW Smart Ones Three Cheese Ziti Marinara with a Gardein Chick'n Scallopini as a sort of chicken Parmesan.

I used a little tomato sauce with Italian seasoning, salt, & garlic to go on top of the scallopini, along with Parmesan cheese. I would have preferred an Italian blend of shredded cheese on top, but you use what you have. It was still pretty good.

Well, that was my day and I really to need to get started on this one. Comments and subscribers welcome! Don't forget you can follow me on Twitter as well. Happy Thursday!!!

Smart Ones Pasta Primavera Review

I'll be trying to make this a quick post. If you've been reading you know that lately I've been watching the girls, well, I may or may not be watching them tomorrow; it's unconfirmed, so I'm getting this post done early just in case. 

I'll get straight to point and tell you what I had for breakfast this morning. I was delighted to be able to enjoy a pineapple smoothie for breakfast. We've had a fairly warm couple of days and it was refreshing. It's 64 degrees outside right now and I'm roasting.

For lunch I tried a Weight Watchers Smart Ones Pasta Primavera.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 255g

Amount Per Serving

Calories 250 Calories from Fat 35

% Daily Value *

Total Fat 4g 6%

Saturated Fat 2g 9%

Monosaturated Fat 1g

Polyunsaturated Fat 0.5g

Trans Fat 0g

Cholesterol 5mg 2%

Sodium 610mg 25%

Total Carbohydrate 41g 14%

Dietary Fiber 4g 17%

Sugars 4g

Protein 11g

Vitamin A 15%

Vitamin C 10%

Calcium 15%

Iron 10%

* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.

I also had a leftover crab cake to go with the pasta.  

The pasta looked very good with a light creamy sauce and colorful veggies( broccoli, carrots, & red bell pepper). I thought it would be a perfect accompaniment for my crab cake and it was.

I really liked the pasta, but thought that the sauce was slightly bland for my taste. I added a little Parmesan cheese to the top along with a sprinkle of black pepper, which gave the pasta the boost it needed, of course it also boosted the calories, etc. a bit. I gave it 4 stars and would definitely buy this again.

Feeling a bit sleepy all day and knowing I had Zumba later, I made some half caf. coffee which I'd intended to make earlier this morning and never got around to it. I added a little peppermint cocoa mix and some mint syrup to my coffee. It was so good, I poured another cup, but then realized I was a bit jittery from having drank the first cup. I pawned the second cup off on Lucas. I didn't want to waste it, but knew better than to drink it.

Before Zumba, I had dinner, an Amy's enchilada verde with black beans & rice with veggies.

This is one of my favorite frozen dinners. I love the spinach enchilada and the salsa verde. It isn't the most appetizing looking meal I've ever seen, but it is definitely tasty.

 

We had an awesome workout at Zumba. We did 4 songs back to back with weights. We also did songs without weights, thankfully, but normally we alternate between songs with weights and songs without. I'm hoping I won't be feeling it in the morning. I do think I will sleep good. 

I rode with the a/c blowing in the car on the way home. I was sweaty and it felt good. When I got home I was ready for a snack. I had a Chobani Greek Lemon Yogurt.

It wasn't enough. I also had some crackers with light cream cheese and pickles. These were very good and I could have eaten a few more, but didn't.

Not sure why, but I thought I'd also post a picture of the little Christmas tree, I had let Lexi decorate. I also have a larger tree which I still haven't decorated. I really liked the colors of the little tree, but I don't have decorations for the big tree to match. I'd basically picked the bright colors for Lexi. I thought she would like them, but after seeing it, I like them too.

Ok, so it's late and I may be watching tots tomorrow, so I'd better get some sleep. Have a great night/day!!!

WW Smart Ones Fettucini Afredo Review

No small children today. I did yesterday's post last night, so that I could sleep in this morning. I managed an extra hour, which was nice, but not as long as I had planned. I woke up to a rainy dreary day. It didn't motivate me. I had the skimpy half of a gingerbread bagel with cream cheese and dutch apple jam. I also had the other half of my red delicious apple.

I had the WW Smart Ones Fettucini Alfredo for lunch. It comes with fettucini noodles and broccoli florets in creamy parmesan sauce.

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 262g
Amount Per Serving
Calories 240
Calories from Fat 30
                                          % Daily Value *
Total Fat                   3.5g            5%
Saturated Fat           1.5g            8%
Monosaturated Fat     1g                  
Polyunsaturated Fat  0.5g                
Cholesterol               5mg            2%
Sodium                 570mg           24%
Total Carbohydrates  41g           14%
Dietary Fiber               4g           15%
Sugars                         3g                 
Protein                       12g                 
Vitamin C                                   50%
Calcium                                      15%
Iron                                            10%

* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.

I cooked the fettucini in the microwave according to package directions. The noodles and broccoli were done, but the sauce seemed a little watery. I cooked it for 30 seconds longer, which helped a little. The sauce didn't have a lot of flavor, but it wasn't bad.

I also had extra broccoli with a simple cheese sauce I made from milk, white American cheese, & grated Parmesan. I added the leftover sauce to the fettucini and sprinkled it with some fresh ground pepper. I do like the fettucini and could eat it as is and I would buy it again, but I just gave it 3 stars, since it was better with a little adjustment.

 

I had Dutch Apple snack mix for my afternoon treat.

I had breakfast for dinner or at least you could consider it breakfast. I had 2 scrambled eggs cooked with chopped onion and bell pepper. I don't normally eat eggs too often, but when I do eat them, I like to have them with sliced tomato. Tomato just seems to go perfectly with eggs.

I also had an Angel biscuit with them. 

I sprinkled my eggs & tomato with a little salt and pepper.  

  I am posting this tonight since I will be having the girls tomorrow and I'm even finishing it up with enough time to get some reading in before bed. I'm still working on One for the Money by Janet Evanovich, which I'm trying to hurry to finish so that I can start on Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Played with Fire.  I will also have Zumba class tomorrow and I'm hoping I'm not nearly as tire as I was on Tuesday. Have a great night/day!!