Yummy Granola Parfait

  Hey gang!    I have to share a new favorite breakfast treat today: a granola parfait.
I know, I know, big deal: throw some granola in yogurt and call it a day.
Not so, my friends, not so.
My breakfast world was ROCKED, I tell you!
This weekend Andrew and I met both sets of parents in Saugatuck. It was an absolute blast hanging out, eating and walking around the quaint town.
My Mother-in-Law bought us some homemade granola and jam from a cute store called American Spoon. The absolutely adorable jar of granola and tasty tasty jam came with a recipe. I have never tried jam in my parfaits and I usually just add fresh fruit to fat free low sugar vanilla yogurt (yum!), but wowsah this changed my world.

This morning I tried it with my favorite guilt free peanut butter and a little less granola, but I like my peanut butter alone better. I need to add fresh fruit to this instead of the jam but gosh darn it this is an awesome treat! I can't wait to try the jam on toast now, too!
Have you ever had jam in your breakfast parfaits? What kind do you enjoy?

30 for 30 Photos: Day 25

Day 25 in the 30 Day Photo Challenge is to post a picture of my day. Oops I didn't take any pictures today. However, I did have brunch with my good friend Lindsey who's in town on her Spring Break, which was a lovely start to my day. We ate at Le Pain Quotidien, one of the cozy spots on the Hill I have come to adore. I love how we haven't seen each other in two years and yet it was like no time had passed. We gabbed and gabbed and enjoyed our lovely coffee and omelets. Lindsey took the picture from today on her camera so I'll post a picture of us from when I went to visit her in Austin two years ago. And the answer to your question is yes. Yes I got an awkward sunburn earlier that day. I thought it matched my dress, don't you? ;)


The rest of my day consisted of class, boxing, cooking with Andrew, and homework. Andrew's mom got us an immersion blender over the weekend (woohoo!!!!) so we made Gina's Baked Potato Soup tonight - yum! Then we made Gina's Rice Krispy Treats again...we gave up chocolate for Lent so these treats are quite common around here. Do you have any low-fat non-chocolate recipes to share??? I do love Better 'N Peanut Butter so I really want to find a low-fat peanut butter recipe. Help!

Week 2

Hi there, readers!

It's the end of my first week back on Weight Watchers. WW claims that the program is a lifestyle change, but I think of it more as an adjustment. We realized that it really just involves more grocery shopping and cooking, less eating out, attention to portion control, and a small amount of discipline. It's been a wonderful lifestyle adjustment so far, and it has brought the bf and I even closer because we're doing it together. We have always loved to cook together, so it's been a blast trying out new recipes. It wasn't that difficult to stay on the program this week, except when we went to a party on Saturday and it was SO hard to resist the Pizza Hut! It's my favorite!! I did it, though, so go me! Anyway, here are the details that I aim to update on a weekly basis, no matter the results.

Weight loss: 5.3 pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pounds remaining to reach goal weight:34.5

Overall mood this week: hopeful, happy, and feeling good! I am so excited about the weight loss, but since I've done this before, I know that the big loss is due to basically the shock my body had this week by being healthy haha. I'm a little annoyed about my goal weight assigned by Weight Watchers. You see, if you don't know me I have a muscular build and as we all know, muscle weighs more than fat. Needless to say, when I was at my thinnest weight in college, multiple people said I looked 20 pounds less than I actually was. I'm keeping that in mind because the "healthy weight range" for my age and height worries me. I am not sure that if I reach this goal that I will be able to maintain it. But we shall see. Also, I know that the first three weeks are typically bigger loss weeks followed by losing 1-2 pounds per week on the program. This is healthy, so I know this is a good thing especially because it's healthy weight loss that will be easier to maintain. Of course I'm also keeping in mind that I may gain every once in a while and/or hit a plateau where nothing is happening.

Worked out: once...I need to be better about this!

Yummy finds: I have two amazing blogs and the Weight Watchers site to thank for the delicious recipes! The bf and I were able to find our favorite dishes with healthier options, so we're hoping this will help us to stray less and cook more.

1. Gina's Skinny Recipes is an incredible blog. We tried her Chicken Pot Pie Soup and my favorite Cuban dish Chicken Ropa Vieja this week. They were insanely delicious and we made enough for leftovers. Talk about getting the most out of our money! We also took her word for it: Ronzoni wheat pasta truly is better than your average wheat pasta :)
2. We also tried the Weight Watchers recipe for Turkey Meatloaf. WOW was it full of flavor! The ingredients include ground turkey and bbq sauce, among others - for only 4 points per serving! If you are interested in the recipe let me know and I can email it to you. I think it might only be available to online members. This was fun to make, especially because it was categorized as "Man Food" on the WW Men's site. Very clever!
3. Thanks to the blog LaaLoosh I went to Trader Joe's tonight to pick up a beef, cheese, and bean dip - at only ONE point per serving - to satisfy my Mexican food cravings (which are typically nightly haha!). I can't WAIT to try it! I laughed at myself because this low-fat dish is surrounded by really fatty foods and was why, I predicted, that the product was still on the shelves...so I bought two in case the word gets out about this dip and people go crazy buying it! I know that's silly, but I had to do it.
4. Since I was already at Trader Joe's, I figured I should browse, right? Well, I'm SO glad I did, because I came across DELICIOUS peanut butter at only 2 points per serving! It's called Better 'N Peanut Butter, and while the consistency is runnier than typical peanut butter, it tastes just as good! I cut the serving size in half, added a tablespoon of grape jelly, and put it on a slice of Pepperidge Farm Light Style wheat bread for a healthy and satisfying 3 point snack. However, a tablespoon of jelly is waaaaay too big for one slice of bread...and of course some of it missed my mouth and landed on the couch.

So that's it for Week 1. Hopefully we can keep this up, but so far so good! We need to take our measurements and should have done it last week. Anyway, maybe soon I'll document how many inches I lose, too!