Some things I have been loving recently…

3 Recipes

White Bean Hummus delish!! No oil required – simple to make – low in points and YUMMY!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup chopped green onions** – I left these out in hopes jimmy would try it since he hates green onions!
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons tahini (sesame-seed paste)
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 (19-ounce) can cannellini beans or other white beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 garlic clove, peeled** I used about a ½ - ¼ tsp of the pre chop ped stuff

Directions

Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor, and process until the mixture is smooth.

CALORIES 108 (30 percent from fat); FAT 3.6g (sat 0.4g, mono 1.2g, poly 1.6g); PROTEIN 5g; CARB 15g; FIBER 2.2g; CHOL 0mg; IRON 2mg; SODIUM 144mg; CALC 48mg

Turkey, Salsa, Rice and Beans!

Our go to lunch…TSRB. So easy to make – makes 6 servings – good for us for 3 lunches each. YUMMY! And has all of things you need in a lunch, protein, whole grains and a little salsa

It is as easy as it sounds to make!!

Ingredients:

-1 package of ground turkey meat (I use lean)

-1 jar of your favorite salsa

-1 package of brown rice (I use the Birds-eye Steam Fresh Brown Rice that takes 4 minutes in the microwave)

-1 can of great northern beans or any kind of beans you would like to use - rinsed and drained

Directions

Brown the Turkey in the skillet until cooked. Mix in the beans, rice and salsa!! :)

KALE CHIPS!!

ok Jeannie over at Points and Pounds talked about these…and I have read about them on KathEats.com too – and I was like YEAH RIGHT – then my WW leader talked about them in our meeting last Saturday – AND we got a bunch of them in our delivery box (more about this later) this week – so since all the signs were pointing toward me trying them AND we had the Kale in the house – I did…AND OH MY!! Just like thin crispy chips!!

And SO EASY TO MAKE! I have had them twice already and want to go to the store to buy some more! I used the directions on Kath's site above - but just sprinkled mine with a little seasoned salt...as I heart seasoned salt :)

Door to Door Organics!

So Jimmy and I were thinking about joining a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Co-op this summer to get some fresh fruits and veggies. Well I looked into it and it was going to cost us a lot more then we thought (all in one big payment) and they were full for this season, so I wrote it off. Then I read about this company on another blog (sorry right now I can’t remember which one), and looked into it. And we have now been getting our ‘Bitty Box’ for 2 weeks AND I LOVE IT! We get GREAT, GORGEOUS, delicious fresh fruits and veggies every Wednesday and we even get new things to try!

Another reason I liked them, is you pay by the week and can cancel for any weeks you don’t want them, you can get it every other week if you want! Once a month or whatever!! Also – you can put on the list things you don’t want and things you’d like them replaced with!! So since we don’t eat onions, we put on the list NO ONIONS and we get something in place of them every week!

You didn’t have any of these options with the CSA. It is great!! You also get a list of what is going to be in your box on Friday and you have until Monday morning to go online and change or substitute anything in the box! So as of right now I have 2 eggplants in my fridge, because I have no clue what to make with them and we got one each week so far, so if there is an eggplant on the list for next week, I am going to switch it out for something else! If any of you have a good eggplant recipe please pass it on!! (as you can see I added a new 'email me' button to my sidebar...as a wonderful reader pointed out I didn't have my email on here!! Thanks!! Midwest Mommy!) **I just checked my button...and it doesn't work!! If anyone knows how I can fix it please let me know!!**

A New Favorite Cup

My friend turned me on to this cup when we were at her house before we did the Muddy Buddy race. She sells Tupperware and had these cups – she too has lost some weight on WW and tries to get her water in – and I had been slacking in this department, and once she filled me up a cup I have been hooked!!

It keeps your water COLD, has a straw – so I drink more, faster – it doesn’t spill, it fits in my cup holder in my car and Charley LOVES to drink out of it! I had her order me 2 – since they are a little pricey, and a set of small ones for Charley to use.

But…the one that she let me use at her house, was in our car when we went to the Muddy Buddy race, and actually I used the water I had put in there the morning before we left for the race…after the race to clean off the mud!! Then I put the empty cup back in the car…only to find it 2 days after we got home under the front seat! YEAH! So when I get mine from her in a few weeks, I’ll return hers, but until then it is getting A LOT of use!!

1 New Toy

Jimmy bought me a Magic Bullet!! I had been complaining about the clutter on our counters, how we don’t have a lot of space and how I’d like to make smoothies in the mornings – but don’t feel like digging out the whole huge blender and how nice it’d be if we had a small one. Well my wonderful husband went to CostCo the next day on his lunch break and bought me this! The Magic Bullet Deluxe! I LOVE IT! I made my hummus with it – I pureed our salsa with it for the TSRB lunches (since we don't like chunky salsa) and I made smoothies with it!! And have more plans for it in the future…and it takes up like 5 square inches on the back of my counter – or I can put it in its nifty storage bag and pull it out when I need it!

Smoothie Mixes by Yoplait

This must be really new – because I can’t even find a picture of it on Yoplait’s website! I will take a picture of the packet when I get home and post it – though we took the packets out of the big bag and threw that away, but you’ll still get the idea!! We bought them at CostCo – I think it was like $9. And each packet makes 2 smoothies (70 cal per serving) and you just add 1 cup of milk! So it is a piece of cake, is a little sweet (which is how I like my smoothies, I’d usually add a smidge of honey, but you don’t need to with these!!) And yea, it is a little more expensive then buying a bag of frozen fruit – but it is so easy and convenient – that is why I love it!

My Wonderful Friends and Family

For donating to my Susan G. Komen Walk for the Cure! I am over $500 now and still counting (and still have a long way to go!). Thank you to all who have donated! And please click on the bar at the top if you would like to make a donation!

Also my team for the walk has had a bake sale for 2 weeks now at my old job to raise money (I used to be an instructor at a school) and we have made over $300 in donations!! The first week I made 2 dozen cupcakes…and we made $100!! Then the next week we made a bunch of stuff and made a killing! So tonight I am making chocolate covered pretzel rods for the sale tomorrow! Hopefully we will have just as much success!!

I'll be back with a 'normal' post soon!! Coming soon...Muddy Buddy Race Recap, Trapeze Lessons and Mother's Day post :) With pictures!!