6 {Weight Watcher Friendly} Hotel Room Snacks

Happy Monday, everyone! Normally I would be sitting at home creating my menu plan and shopping list for the week, but this week I'm enjoying a little R & R at the beach with my family! Silas remembers his last visit to the beach, but little Liam was only 4 months last time we hit the sands of the gulf shores. Needless to say, he is soaking it all in and loving every minute!

 
So, of course, no cooking for me this week! Instead, we're enjoying hot lukewarm hotel breakfasts, quick sandwiches for lunch, and fun dinners out. But just like at home, we need a few fillers in between to keep our tummies happy. We have two little guys, so we have our fair share of fruit snacks and pudding cups lying around, but we've also got a stash of healthy snacks to keep us full without breaking the calorie bank. Here's what you'd find if our hotel pantry chest of drawers if you stopped by...

{1} Family Favorite :: Smartfood Popcorn (White Cheddar)

{2} Salty Fix :: Dry Roasted Edamame
  
{3} Fast & Fresh :: Assorted Fruit

{4} Hold Me Over :: Assorted Granola Bars

{5} Chocolate Fix :: Fiber One Brownies

{6} Mama's Must-Have :: Complimentary Coffee from the Hotel Lobby

Happy Snacking!

General Tso's Chicken

If I'm not munching on Mexican food it's likely that you'll find me savoring a delicious Asian dish. Last week I tried a new Weight Watchers recipe for one of my favorite Asian dishes--General Tso's Chicken. I had my doubts about how this recipe would turn out, but I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. It was super simple to prepare and the whole family loved it (well, except for my picky eater, of course). Sometimes when I try a new recipe, even though it turns out delicious, if it was too time-consuming or if it required hard-to-find ingredients, I don't put it on our regular dinner rotation. Neither was the case with this recipe. It was just my style--quick and easy-- and I will gladly add it to our regular dinner rotation!

General Tso's Chicken
 (adapted from weightwatchers.com)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup of chicken broth
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoon olive oil
2 medium scallions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 pound uncooked boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 cups cooked white rice

Instructions:

In a bowl, whisk together broth, cornstarch, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar and ginger. 

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add scallions, garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add chicken to skillet. Cook until chicken pieces are begin to brown, about 5 minutes.

Add sauce to the skillet and simmer until sauce thickens and chicken is cooked through.

Serve chicken and sauce over rice.

This recipe makes 4 serving. Enjoy about 1 cup of chicken with sauce and 1/2 cup of rice for 8 Weight Watchers points plus values. 

10 Ways to Get out of a Dinner Rut :: Part 2

Today's post is part 2 of the 2-part series "10 Ways to Get out of a Dinner Rut." If you missed part 1, click here!

 

 6 :: Keep a Dinner Diary

This may sound a little funny, but it's an incredibly simple way to document not only what you have for dinner every night, but also to make notes on how you'd change the recipe next time or how your family enjoyed the meal. After a few weeks of documenting, your dinner diary will be a great resource for getting out of a dinner rut! (My dinner diary is pictured above picture)

7 :: Get Your Hands on a New Cookbook

I absolutely love cookbooks. I'm not a collector, but I would say that I have a fairly large cookbook collection going right now. The best part is that over 80 percent of my cookbooks were either free or really cheap! I love stopping by thrift stores or flea markets to hunt for unique cookbooks when I'm in need of a little inspiration. I'm also a Kindle owner, which means I have tons of free cookbooks at my fingertips. By searching Amazon's kindle library for "cooking" and then sorting your results using the "Price: Low to High" tag, you'll discover many new and interesting cookbooks that you can download with no cost to you. Now there's some inspiration! 

8 ::  Peruse Pinterest Boards

My friend Emily over at the Louisiana Bride blog did an awesome post a few weeks ago about using Pinterest to stay out of a meal planning rut. She does a great job explaining the in's and out's of using Pinterest to meal plan, so head over take a read!

9 :: Search a Hashtag on Instagram

My favorite social media outlet is Instagram. I'm a highly visual person so it didn't take long for me to dive in and begin documenting my life in pictures. When I started Weight Watchers last year I began using Instagram to take photos of what I was putting into my mouth as a way to track my points (sort of like a visual food diary!). Well, it turns out that I'm not the only one who loves Instagramming food! By using the Instagram "explore" menu, you can search hashtags (words or  phrases prefixed with the symbol #). My favorite ones to search are #weightwatchers, #dinnerisserved, and #favoritemeal. I can always gather interesting meal ideas with a quick search on Instagram!

10 :: Make Friends on the Plan to Eat Website

Several months ago I heard about the Plan to Eat website via Kat Lee of the Inspired to Action blog. Plan to Eat is a meal planning service that allows you to input or import your recipes, drag and drop recipes into a menu planner, access an automated shopping list based on your menu plan, and share recipes and menu plans with friends. Take a tour of the website here. When Kat announced that she would be hosting a Meal Planning Boot Camp to show how she uses the Plan to Eat website to meal plan in just 5 minutes (or less) each week, I decided to sign up for the free 30-day trial to see if it was something that would work for me. I fell in love with the service and have been using it ever since. I've befriended 58 folks on the website so far, which means that I have access to all of their recipes and menu plans. Plan to Eat saves me tons of time and keeps me motivated to feed my family well. I highly recommend the service!

10 Ways to Get out of a Dinner Rut :: Part 1

"What's for dinner?" I have a love-hate relationship with that question. On the one hand I enjoy cooking and feeding delicious meals to my family, but on the other hand, I often find myself at a loss for what to cook. Sometimes it feels like we eat the same things over and over and over again, which can be boring and uninspiring. When I feel uninspired it's hard to find the motivation to cook. This often leads to unnecessary trips through the drive through, which can be bad for the budget and the diet. When I see myself heading for a rut, there are several things that help to rekindle my excitement for menu planning, cooking, and serving delicious meals to my family. I hope you find these helpful to.

 1 :: Make a List of Family Favorites 

Start with the meals that you and your family actually like. Have everyone in the family give a list of at least three meals that they would like to see on a regular dinner rotation. Keep that list handy and add to it as new favorites arise. When you're planning your weekly menu. consult the list for ideas. I try to pick at least one family favorite every week. Seeing my family members excited about "what's for dinner" makes all my effort in the kitchen worthwhile.

2 :: Browse your Favorite Restaurant Menus

 

This is one of my favorite ways to gather new dinner ideas. Think about your family's favorite restaurants. Visit the websites of those restaurants and locate their online menus (most will have them available). Look through to see if anything sounds appealing. Once you've gathered some ideas, search online to see if you can find Copycat recipes or healthier versions of the recipes. With all of the food blogs and recipe sites available online, it's likely that you will have no trouble finding recipes comparable to your restaurant favorites.

3 :: Visit Visual Food Websites

 

I think the saying is true, "You eat with your eyes first." Beautiful pictures of food can spark cravings like nothing else.  Websites like Tastespotting, Foodgawker, and Healthy Aperture offer ever-growing collections of the best food photography from around the web, updated daily. Clicking the photos on any of the websites mentioned above will take you directly to the blog post or website where the recipe for that particular food is located. It's like a virtual buffet for your eyes!

4 :: Make a Desperate Plea on Facebook

 

This is probably the easiest way to get a flood of dinner ideas headed your way. People, in general, love to be helpful and give advice. A simple status update requesting new and exciting dinner ideas/recipes is a surefire way to get out of a dinner rut!

5 :: Incorporate Theme Nights

 

If you struggle with variety in your menu planning, giving each night of the week a theme may be a helpful solution for you. Some examples of themes include Meatless Monday, Italian Tuesday, Seafood Wednesday, Mexican Thursday, Pizza Friday, Slow Cooker Saturday, Soup & Sandwich Sunday, etc. I like to think of this method as a no-brainer method of menu planning. It sets you on a quick and easy path to a variety of weekly dinners.


Stay tuned for five more ideas later this week!

{Shared with Growing Home Blog's Teach me Tuesdays, Cornerstone Confessions' Titus 2 Tuesday, and Time-Warp Wife's Titus2day.}

Fresh Squeezed Lemonade with NuStevia™

Nothing says summer like a tall glass of fresh, homemade lemonade. If you haven't made any yet this summer, now is the time to get on that! I haven't always been a fan of lemonade, but soon after I got married I discovered that my husband makes the perfect homemade lemonade. I was hooked.

We haven't always been so calorie conscious when it comes to our beverages, so for years we stirred cups of sugar into our homemade lemonade. I was hesitant to make the switch to a zero-calorie sweetener because I really don't like the taste of artificial sweeteners. Soon after I started Weight Watchers my Mom introduced me to a new zero-calorie sweetener that she had discovered at Whole Foods called NuStevia™, an all natural herbal sweetener. She told me it was the perfect addition to a glass of lemon water. She bought me a box, and I discovered that lemons and NuStevia™ are indeed a match made in heaven. We've since substituted NuStevia™ for sugar in our lemonade recipe. We also use it in our coffee, smoothies, oatmeal, and grapefruit-ade! Unlike other Stevia products, it's non-bitter and doesn't leave an unpleasant aftertaste in your mouth. We love it!

Now for the recipe...

Fresh Squeezed Lemonade with NuStevia™

Ingredients

4 Medium Lemons (about 3/4 cup of juice)
12 packets of NuStevia™
6 Cups cold water

Instructions

Juice the lemons. I use a simple manual juicer. Combine the lemon juice, NuStevia™, and water in a pitcher and stir. Serve over crushed ice or add 1-2 cups of crushed ice to the pitcher before serving.  

Optional: place a few lemon slices in the pitcher for a beautiful garnish and added lemon flavor.

Divided between 6 tall glasses, this lemonade is zero Weight Watcher points plus per glass.

iHerb.com is the cheapest place I've been able to get NuStevia™. It is also a wonderful place to pick up other quality herbal supplements and all natural products. They offer free 1-3 day shipping on all orders over $40, and, if you're a first time customer you can use the code NUJ843 and get $10 off your first order!! Browse through the health links page while you're there. There's a lot to learn! And don't forget to add some NuStevia™ to your cart so you can make some tasty, fresh-squeezed lemonade! You won't be disappointed!

P.S. Before starting any herbal supplements, it's always important to check with your physician!

Weekly Menu Plan {Weight Watcher Friendly}

Green Onion + Red Pepper + Garlic

Tuscan Flavored Chicken served on top of a green salad, Garlic Toast

Moroccan Chicken Kebabs served over yellow rice, Corn on the Cob

One Pot Beefy Cabbage served over rice, Salad


BBQ Meatballs on Light buns, Chips

Herb Crusted Tilapia (cutting down on butter to reduce points; pick up this McCormick Seasoning Pack which includes all the seasonings you need for this recipe!), Roasted Potato Wedges, Salad


Leftovers


What's on your menu this week?



Click here for more of my weekly menus.

{Shared with Louisiana Bride's Meal Pinning Monday & Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday.}

Butternut Squash Fries

Meet my little friend, Mr. Butternut. He's been helping me to overcome my french fry addiction by offering me a healthy alternative. I highly recommend his services.

I LOVE french fries. As in, I could skip the burger and just eat the fries. They are the ultimate comfort food, but unfortunately, the ultimate fatty food. When I started Weight Watchers back in 2012, I came across Hungry Girl's french fry alternative, and gave it a test drive. To me they fall somewhere in between the french fry and the sweet potato fry, but unlike french fries and sweet potato fries, these butternut babies are ZERO Weight Watcher points plus values! Score! Almost a year later, and I'm still relying on this simple recipe to curb the fry craving.

You start out by slicing the ends off of your butternut squash and peeling it with a vegetable peeler.

Oh yeah, and now would be a good time to preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Next you slice it in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds from the round bottom half. 

From there you can cut it up into French fry shapes/spears however you please. I usually cut each half right when the neck meets the round bottom and go from there.

Once your squash is cut into french fry shapes, lay the fries out on a paper towel and sprinkle them lightly with salt. This part is pretty cool. The salt will slowly pull the moisture out of the squash fries, and they'll start to look like they're sweating. I leave mine for about 5-10 minutes. Once they're worked up a good sweat, blot them dry with another paper towel to remove the moisture.

Skipping this important step will lead to soggy fries, so no shortcuts!

Now it's time to bake them! To bake mine, I take a wire cooling rack, spray it with non-stick cooking spray, and lay it inside a cookie sheet. This helps the fries to breath better and to cook more evenly, which leads to crispier fries. If you don't have a cooling rack, just spray the cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray and lay them directly on the cookie sheet. No bigs.

Bake the fries for 40 minutes, flipping halfway through. Fries are done when they start to brown on the edges and get crispy.

Serve them with your condiment of choice and enjoy!

{shared with Homegrown & Healthy's Mostly Homemade Mondays}