Food

The New Skinny Cow Divine Filled Chocolates are A.MA.ZING. #skinnydivine

I've posted about how sometimes I save up my points plus for a treat, or I'll run a little farther to earn something special. Usually that something special is filled, dipped, coated, or solid chocolate. I even saved up enough points for a chocolate chip cannoli from my favorite local bakery! That one was a lot of work, haha! I opened up my email inbox a while back and saw that Skinny Cow wanted me to give their new Divine Filled Chocolates a try. Girl, do you even have to ask me twice? I jumped on that so fast! My candy arrived and I couldn't decide which ones to rip open first! They come in two flavors: caramel and peanut butter creme. I settled on caramel, because caramel has never steered me wrong before (get it? steered? Skinny COW? I'll be here all week...) and I'm pretty sure I started salivating the second I opened the package. Let me tell you: as a former fat girl, the taste of these chocolates rivaled that of the the finest full-fat candies that I've ever had! And … [Read more...]

Super Easy Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos with Rice #Recipe

This week has been absolutely jam packed with every single thing imaginable. I started a new job, the kids started with a nanny, and life has just been crazy. Dinner rolled around tonight and I didn't have a plan. Surprise. Here's what I had in my pantry and fridge: That can make tacos, right? Right. Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos Makes 5 tacos 1 chicken breast 1/4 cup fresh cilantro Minute Ready-to-Serve Brown Rice White corn tortillas Fresh lime juice Slice your chicken breast into strips width wise, but don't go all the way through. Squirt lime juice all over chicken and into cuts. I used a George Foreman grill to grill the chicken breast. While your chicken breast is cooking, snag a Minute Ready-to-Serve single serve cup. You don't have to add water or anything -- just pop it into the microwave for 60 seconds! Once the chicken is finished grilling, fork-shred into a tortilla that you've spooned some rice into. Top with fresh cilantro and lime juice. … [Read more...]

Like fresh coffee? Try #TonxCoffee for FREE!

I don't drink coffee on the regular, but I make it more of a special treat that I get to have every now and then. Since I don't drink it often, I make sure I drink really, really good coffee! I don't want to waste my special treat on a cruddy cup of sludge, know what I mean? Freshness is key, and the quality of the beans is paramount. I heart about Tonx and I was really intrigued! Wouldn't it be amazing if you had high-quality coffee beans that were freshly roasted and delivered to your door? Tonx does just that! Everyone can sign-up for a Tonx free trial (to try the coffee). Just head over to Tonx and sign-up. Full disclaimer: Tonx will ask for credit card and automatically subscribe users to the lowest monthly subscription unless they cancel. They provide very clear messaging and reminders (via email) before moving users to a paid subscription. They believe that once you try their fresh coffee, you’ll want more! Not only do I love the coffee they sent me (I … [Read more...]

Weight Watchers Meal Plan Service – SlenderKitchen.com #Review and #Giveaway!

I have dipped my toe back into the Weight Watchers pool a little, and I am excited to say that I've found a really great resource for meal planning, recipes, and food ideas! Slender Kitchen is an amazing resource for those who are following Weight Watchers, and even for those who are just looking for some healthy meal ideas. I received a meal plan membership, and I can't even decide what to make first! I am not the best cook, and I'm an even worse planner, but Slender Kitchen is basically my white knight. They give me weekly meal plans that are all Weight Watcher friendly, and they contain a categorized shopping list to make shopping hassle free, and even two extra meals in case there is something you don’t like -- perfect for people with picky kids (or picky adults like me, haha!) Meals I can't wait to try: Gingerbread Oatmeal Skillet Pizza Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Balls (o.m.g.) What's really great is that you can download the meal plans for either 4 or 2 people, … [Read more...]

I made this Bistro Chicken Salad in under 5 minutes with Nestle Lean Cuisine Salad Additions! #BYOL #Cbias

I am always in a hurry when lunch time rolls around. I'll have just finished combating the carpool lanes at Emma's school, and I have three hungry kids on my hands. Without a doubt, they always get fed first. This is partly because I need to feed them to keep them from getting bossy (ha!), and partly because I like to have salads for lunch, but it takes forever to make them! I hit up Walmart to find some quick lunch solutions (see my entire shop here). I'd seen some advertisements for these new Lean Cuisine Salad Additions, and I wanted to give them a try. I love the concept -- just add in lettuce and bam, salad! The lettuce is the easy part -- grilling the chicken, chopping the veggies, and acquiring all of the fancy add-ins is what takes forever. Found them! We hit up the frozen aisle, and they were in there with the frozen entrees, right next to the other Lean Cuisine meals. There's four different varieties: Asian-Style Chicken Salad Bistro Chicken Salad Cranberry … [Read more...]

Freezer Friendly Weight Watchers Whole Wheat Pancake #Recipe

And the pancake saga continues... By now you guys have to have realized that I'm a little pancake obsessed. I've got recipes for lemon blueberry pancakes, for banana protein pancakes, and now these beauties. These pancakes are perfect as your go-to base recipe. They're fluffy, they're healthy, and duh -- they're delicious. Whole Wheat Pancakes adapted from Skinny Taste 2 cups whole wheat flour 4 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 2 tsp cinnamon 2 tsp splenda 2 large eggs 2 1/4 cups of almond milk (you can substitute with fat free milk) 1 tsp vanilla cooking spray (I use Smart Balance) Combine all dry ingredients well. Add in wet ingredients and stir gently. Make sure the dry ingredients are well incorporated, but don't over mix. Heat a skillet over medium heat, and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Scoop 1/4 cup of batter on to skillet, and turn pancake once it bubbles. If you'd like to add any fruit or other add-ins, do so before the first flip. I … [Read more...]

Creating a fun, healthy breakfast with #JennieO4Kids Turkey Bacon! #Cbias

Each morning, it never fails. The first thing out of my kids' mouth is "Mom, we're hungry!" You'd think I never feed them with how much they beg for food! My kids have grown to love breakfast almost as much as I do (it's hard to top me -- I'm borderline obsessed), and that means the whole nine yards: pancakes, eggs, and yup -- bacon. Emma especially is infatuated with bacon! I mean, can you blame her? It's pretty darn delicious. But traditional bacon is also pretty darn calorie and fat laden, as well. That isn't cool in my book. Especially not when I can easily make a healthier version! Emma didn't have school today, and Andrew was working at the office (he usually works from home), so I wanted to make the kids a fun, big breakfast to get some one-on-one time with them. I decided on whole wheat blueberry pancakes (recipe to come!) and Jennie-O turkey bacon. I didn't tell Emma about the bacon until I was cooking it -- I wanted it to be a surprise. Once I made the first round of … [Read more...]

Little Bit Lighter Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup #Recipe

So I really can't take credit for this recipe. My sister-in-law was at our house for Christmas, and she made it for the whole family. It was super amazing, and I've been dreaming about it ever since. When she made it, she went all out and did heavy cream, because it was Christmas, and dieting on Christmas isn't allowed. 'Cause I said so. So before I made it again, I asked you guys what I should do to lighten up the recipe, and you guys helped out a lot! May I present to you ... Little Bit Lighter Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup 1 family sized can of Tomato Soup (the lighter the better -- healthy request or what have you) 1 bag of frozen cheese tortellini 3/4 cup fat free half and half 1 bay leaf 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1 tablespoon olive oil a shake or two of onion powder a little shredded Parmesan cheese for garnish Boil cheese tortellini in a large pot, drain, and set aside. In a large soup pot, pour in olive oil and brown the minced garlic. Once the garlic is … [Read more...]

Banana Whip Ice Cream Sandwiches — Under 100 calories!

I think you'd be hard pressed to find a person who doesn't like ice cream sandwiches. After all, isn't the saying "we ALL scream for ice cream"? Problem is, I screamed for ice cream too much, and I gained weight. I still want to eat ice cream though darn it! So I beat the system, and created an ice cream sandwich that's under 100 calories. Booyah! What you'll need: A banana or two Pizzelle Italian Waffle Cookies (I found them at World Market) Slice each banana and lay them on a paper plate. Put them in the freezer for 8+ hours. I did mine for about 20 :). Once they're frozen, scrape them off the plate into a blender. Blend them within an inch of their life, scraping down the sides periodically. Eventually, you'll see this amazing soft serve texture. Yum! Scoop about 1/4 cup of banana ice cream onto a waffle cookie. Top with another waffle cookie. Each cookie is only 23 calories! Aren't they pretty? You can easily add variations to the ice cream -- peanut butter, sugar … [Read more...]

Low Calorie, High Protein Banana Pancakes – 2 Ingredients!

You all know that breakfast is my all-time favorite meal. I have been known to eat breakfast for each meal of the day, and I fly my breakfast flag high. My favorite food of all time? Pancakes. Hands down. But buttermilk pancakes aren't exactly nutritious. So I wanted to figure out an alternative! I bring you... BananEgg Pancakes! Hooray! Guys, these are so easy it's ridic. All you need are some nanners and some eggs. Check it out: BananEgg Pancakes 4 eggs 2 bananas Pam or other non-stick agent Slice your banana into a bowl. Add eggs. Whisk together until semi-smooth. You'll have some clumpy banana bits, but that's okay. Pour 1/4 cup of "batter" onto warm skillet (medium to medium high is best -- eggs are delicate!). Let 'em cook for about 45 seconds each side, and voila! Each batch makes about 15 minicakes. You don't want them to be too big, or they'll be hard to flip :). They're so good! Add a drizzle of sugar free syrup and you've got a great pancake substitute. You guys … [Read more...]