Another Sweet Tooth.

I LOVE ME SOME CHOCOLATE. No weirdos. Like actual chocolate. So delicious. So I decided to make more own chocolate sauce that I once again got from Cooking Light. I poured it over some fat free vanilla ice cream and BAM...a little piece of awesomeness.

Ingredients
6 ounces finely chopped bittersweet chocolate
6 tablespoons water
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
Dash of salt
6 cups vanilla fat-free ice cream
 
Preparation

1. Place chocolate in a large bowl; set aside.
2. Combine water, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan over medium-high heat; bring to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Pour hot sugar mixture over chocolate; stir gently until smooth. Spoon 3/4 cup ice cream into each of 8 bowls; top each serving with 2 tablespoons sauce.

 

Pizza Powah.

Pizza is so easy to make and can be saved and eaten for lunch the next day. Don't be afraid of making pizza. Super duper easy. My boyfriend doesn't like mushrooms so I went with Italian sausage I had left over from my sausage and shrimp stew. I followed the recipe from Cooking Light App that's a no-brainer.

(You will also notice there's not sauce. Still tastes amazing.)
Kevin Wright wants credit for this dish but he did nothing. EXCEPT put a delicious amount of oregano. He's a good guy.

Ingredients


1 (11-ounce) can refrigerated French bread dough
2 teaspoons yellow cornmeal
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 cups vertically sliced onions (about 2 small)
1 (8-ounce) package presliced cremini mushrooms (Italian Sausage instead)
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded white cheddar cheese
6 bacon slices, cooked and coarsely crumbled
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

 Directions

1. Find lengthwise seam in dough. Beginning at seam, gently unroll dough into a rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Stretch dough into a 12-inch circle on a lightly floured surface; transfer to a round pizza pan or large baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal.
2. Preheat oven to 425°.
3. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add olive oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion; sauté 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Place chopped onion in a bowl. Add cremini mushrooms to pan; sauté 8 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates. Add mushrooms to onion mixture; toss. Spread onion mixture evenly over prepared dough, leaving a 1/4-inch border. Sprinkle evenly with white cheddar cheese and bacon. Bake at 425° for 15 minutes or until crust is lightly browned. Sprinkle with parsley. Cut into 12 wedges

So simple. So quick. You can also run out to Trader Joe's for their whole wheat pizza crust. 

Nutrition

Calories: 316
Fat: 14.9g
Saturated fat: 6.6g
Monounsaturated fat: 5.5g
Polyunsaturated fat: 1g
Protein: 15.6g
Carbohydrate: 31.1g
Fiber: 0.9g

Great Expectations.

In all of weight loss journeys, we expect to lose weight and lose it quickly. I know it's a long journey and I'm building my arsenel of weapons against fat. I remember my friend Hayden used to say, "Wouldn't it be awesome if we could just take our fat off our bodies and throw it onto to someone else. Like someone you hate." Yes Hayden. In my perfect world I would have the ability. Right now, I would throw my fat at Casey Anthony. But we all want to throw other things at her so we'll save that for later.
I downloaded the Cooking Light App with the expectations it would change daily but it doesn't. The recipes are wonderful but I need variety. They also don't have a search button. You can't look for recipes which is sad considering I paid for it! I also got rid of my Weight Watchers app and subscriptions for two reasons: 1. I was paying $18 to stress about points. 2. It taught me what to look for when I'm deciding what to eat and how to create appropriate portions for my meals. I think we need to practice patience. I want to lose weight so bad but it's not going to happen by willing it or complaining about it or paying for it. I have to practice good habits of cutting out the unnecessary and bringing in the necessary. I posted some websites I use but I am asking for your help in finding more resources in healthy eating/living. Be patient and understand it will happen with time and A LOT OF HARD WORK.
On a side note...I am also working on losing debt. I downloaded an App from Mint.com that was recommended by my friend Julia. It's amazing and helps me plan and budget. I'm not ready to share my debt solutions yet but when I get there, I'll tell you about that GIANT weight loss.

I have a sweet tooth.

I know it sounds like a bad pick up line but it happens. It sucks. You want everything. EVERYTHING. Fruit is a great thing to help with that craving but it doesn't satisfy you completely. I found this recipe but I modified it to keep costs down. I took the concept of the recipe and applied to my own. Here's the original from Cooking Light.

Ingredients

1/4 cup crushed amaretti cookies (about 4 cookies)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 large ripe peaches, halved and pitted
Cooking spray
4 teaspoons butter
1 ounce bittersweet chocolate, shaved



Directions


1. Preheat broiler.
2. Combine cookie crumbs and sugar in a small bowl.
3. Hollow center of peach halves using a melon baller. Arrange peaches, cut sides up, in an 8-inch square metal baking pan coated with cooking spray. Broil 2 minutes. Remove pan from oven. Carefully fill each peach half with 1 rounded tablespoon cookie crumb mixture. Place 1 teaspoon butter on top of each filled half. Broil 2 minutes or until butter melts. Sprinkle evenly with chocolate. Cool 5 minutes before serving.

I decided to use Special K (about 1/4 cup) instead of cookies and I used cinnamon (1 tsp) instead of chocolate. I did everything the exact same just different ingredients.

This might be lower in calories and it's SUPER SWEET AND TASTY!! I love it. I can be addicted to it.
Here's the original nutritional facts. Each one is 5 points which is totally cool for a dessert!


Calories: 132
Fat: 7.4g
Protein: 1.6g
Carbohydrate: 18.6g
Fiber: 1.7g

I've seen the Light.

That's Cooking Light. I was extremely frustrated with the taste and directions by the Weight Watchers App. Their recipes are not as tasteful as I wished. I want food that is tasty but health. Their motto is "Making healthy taste great." I was inspired to check out Cooking Light by my friend Kait. Her blog (I Can Cook That) is about cooking for yourself and she uses TONS of recipes from that website. I downloaded the Cooking Light App and began to build my menu. I am also trying to stay away from red meat so I decided to go with shrimp. If you have ever deveined a shrimp...you understand the carnage that as on my counter. I decided to go with a Shrimp and Sausage Stew.

Ingredients

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 cup thinly sliced turkey smoked sausage (about 6 ounces)
1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic
3/4 cup fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
1 (10-ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chiles, undrained (such as Rotel)
8 ounces peeled and deveined medium shrimp
1 (15-ounce) can organic kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

 I used SWEET Italian sausage and I used diced tomatoes with SWEET ONIONS. I did this only because of availability. I bought fresh white shrimp from Florida and local grown bell pepper. I am making an effort to buy locally grown produce. I'm not perfect but I'm working on it.


Directions

Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add bell pepper, sausage, and garlic to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until bell pepper is tender, stirring occasionally. Add broth and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Stir in shrimp and beans; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 6 minutes or until shrimp are done. Sprinkle with parsley.

This was INSANELY delicious. You can add whatever spices you want to add. In fact, I say don't. I think it had plenty of flavor but obviously it's your tastes. You can add any Creole seasoning which would really spice it up.

One serving of this is 5 points. Here are the nutritional facts.

Calories: 191
Fat: 6g
Saturated fat: 1.7g
Monounsaturated fat: 2.7g
Polyunsaturated fat: 1g
Protein: 21.3g
Carbohydrate: 13.2g
Fiber: 3.5g

Make your healthy taste great people. You don't have to sacrifice everything. You can eat well and have taste too.