Emily Jones

Weight Watchers Wednesday, 4/28/10

This weeks' WWW is going to be a short one because I am getting ready to go have a movie marathon with the hubs...so, I thought I'd share the amazing dinner we had tonight...

PAELLA!

Now, I know you're thinking paella is sooo not WW friendly, but when you subtract the andouille and chorizo it can be!

We did a chicken, shrimp, and clam paella and it was divine!

Recipe is as follows:

POINTS® Value:    6 Servings:  8 Cooking Time:  40 min Ingredients: 1/2 pound(s) Tyson Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (cooked)    2 cup(s) canned chicken broth  (hot)  1 large onion(s)    2 Tbsp minced garlic    1 tbsp paprika    1 tbsp table salt    2 Cups frozen peas  1/3 cup(s) jalapeno pepper(s) (seeded)    1 cup(s) cooked shrimp 1/2 cup(s) canned clam juice  (hot) 1/2 cup(s) canned clams    2 cup(s) uncooked aborrio rice   1/2 cup white wine 16-20 strands of saffron 2 bushels of cilantro, with stems removed 3 roma tomatoes 1tbsp chili powder Instructions: Heat a large (deep) oven-safe pan on medium/high, add chopped onion and stir until onions become golden brown.  While onions are browning, boil white wine and saffron in a small sauce pan.  When onions are done, add the rice and spices, stir until well blended.  Add white wine/saffron mix to the large pan as well as the clam juice and stir.  When the rice has nearly absorbed the mixture, add 1 cup chicken broth to mixture and stir, when this has also been nearly absorbed, add the 2nd cup of chicken broth, and repeat this process again with 4 cups* of hot water, adding one cup at a time *You will add all your meat and vegetables into the pan after the second cup of water has been nearly absorbed. When the 4th cup of water has been halfway absorbed, place the pan in the oven under the broiler until the top has become crisp. Enjoy! (sorry the formatting is wonky, it's being weird and I don't know why!) I forgot to take a picture before we dug in, but there are leftovers and I'll try to take a pic tomorrow! Have a great Wednesday!

Week In The Life - Sunday

Phew! The last of the WIL project photos!

Here we go!

9:30am- Eating breakfast...we were getting ready to head out to the lake for the day...

 

11:30am- The road to the lake...so pretty!

 

 

12:30pm- Lily and her BFF Burton hanging out on her dinosaur chair.  They were so cute together!
 

1pm- Jake made a friend who was also named Lily!  They were inseparable the whole day.
 

coloring....
 

Playing on the playground at the lake...

 

5:30pm- We went to pick up Joey from my parents house, and they had cooked me a birthday dinner...
 

Yummy WW recipe for Salmon Chowder (2.5 pts a cup, sooooooo good!)
 

My momma...
 

My nephew Marquee, hanging out with Miss Lily...
 

Lily eating her treat...a gluten free angel bar, made by her Nana.
 

Me and the big boy.  LOVE.
 

My birthday treat: Skinny Cow Peanut butter chocolate ice cream sandwich (3pts) with fresh strawberries
 

My crazy sister singing a horrible off key rendition of "Happy Birthday".  LOL.
 

Blowing out the candle...
 

And the best picture of the day...Papa reading to Lily...they are besties.

This was a super cool week...I loved taking all these pictures (though it was EXHAUSTING to get them uploaded and edited every night!) but I am so glad I stuck with it.  Now I can get the pics printed and put the album together!  Hopefully I can get some time soon to do that.

Please leave me a link to your WIL project if you've got one!

Week In The Life - Saturday

Happy Monday Y'all!

Saturday and Sunday were kind of a blur, Saturday was spent running many an errand...

10:30am- Lily eating her sucker from the bank...sometimes the kids ask specifically if we can go to the bank just so we can get a sucker. LOL.

11am- At Safeway again...picking up supplies for poker night...somehow ended up forgetting half my list and doubled back to Safeway again later that night...lol.

Lily was enjoying her hot chocolate, I love that Starbucks is inside the Safeway, but I usually never escape having to get some treat for the kids.

 

Jake took this pic, he wanted to use the camera (he was really into WIL!) I think it's a pretty good picture considering a 4 year old took it!

 

3:45pm -Jake and Lily playing Ponies in Lily's room...

 

8pm-ready for poker night, kids are down, and friends are arriving!

 

9pm- My guy.  I love him so much.

 

Marty!

 

Nick!

 

Across the table...

 

1am- tirrrreeeddd and time to say goodnight...

It was a good Saturday, good friends, good times...the boys were so sweet they brought me Birthday cards since my birthday is the 27th...Nick even got me a very nice book with daily inspirations. 

WIL Sunday soon!

Week In The Life - Friday

Yay!  It's the weekend!

I honestly didn't take as many pics today as I wanted to...it was kind of a busy day, so here's what I did capture...

9am- Snuggles with Daddy before he heads off to work...

 

9:30am- Ummm...how did this happen?!  Kindergarten Registration for Jake!  I'm a little sad that my boy is going to be a big Kindy boy next year!

10:30am- Jake and Lily are snuggling in Jakey's bed...so cute!
 

11am- Mommy and Jakey reading "Wild About Books"...fun book, we love this one. :-)
 

12:15pm- My super yummy lunch today...Arugula/Spinach/Romaine mix (0 pts) Turkey breast (2pts), tomato (0pts) 1/2 avovado (4pts) one serving cucumber dill dip (1pt) 2 crisp n' thin wasa crackers (0.5pts) total: 7.5pts for a big yummy salad!

1:20pm...thinking....(I know, don't hurt yourself, right?) ;-)

2:30pm- These are the sculpture trees outside Joey's school...I always think they are so beautiful...his whole school is just so pretty. <3

4:15pm- All the kids were hiding out under the bunk beds...they do this often...they have secret meetings and I hear lots of giggling. :-) *note to self- scrape off residue from stickers from bottom of bunk...eek, you don't notice it when you aren't eye level with it!*

6:15pm- after dinner Jake and Lily went outside to play with sidewalk chalk while Joey played computer games and waited for his Nana and Papa to come get him for the weekend!  Nana and Papa take the kids in rotation for special weekends..and this weekend was Joey's turn...they are headed to the Museum of Flight tomorrow, my dad takes a lot of pictures, so I'm sure I'll have some from the museum to add to tomorrow's WIL post.

Jake wanted to draw Lily's outline on the patio...and I'm thinking it's going to look sort of morbid, like a homicide chalk line, lol...
 
 

Turns out, nope...it looks more like Casper the friendly ghost! HA!

 

6:45pm- Nana and Papa arrive to get the Jojo, and Joey is immediately ready for his fun weekend...while we are chatting and getting ready to say goodbye we find that he is in the car and buckled into his booster seat waiting....LOL!

Lily says good bye to Nana, and seriously...how gorgeous is my momma?  She is stunning!
 

Group hug!  Papa and Nana say bye-bye to Lily...she was so cute, she reached her hand out and whimpered: "Papa." with a sad little face when he left. <3
 

Well, that's it for today, it's been a loooooonnnggg week! 

Tomorrow I will be dutifully taking pics, but tomorrow night is poker night in celebration of my birthday next week, so I HIGHLY doubt I will be available (or sober!) to make a post tomorrow night, but will surely get it done first thing Sunday...

Happy Weekend!!!

Week In The Life - Thursday

Here we go again!

Today I took more photos than yesterday, definitely felt a renewed sense of passion in this project...

Here are today's pics:

8:15am- Joey hops out of the car at school and says: "Hey Mom, wanna take another picture of me?!  How 'bout I pose on this thing?"  Too cute. 

 

10am- Jim and Molly sharing a tender moment.  She's such a "Daddy's Girl" :-)

 

10:15 am- Jim walks into the hall and motions for me to grab the camera, Lily is dancing away to "I'm A Little Teapot" So cute!  I wish these weren't blurry, but her spazzy dance is hard to catch on film!  So funny!

 

11am- I thought this was cute, Jake feeding his doggy (also named Molly) He filled her dog bed with the play food from his kitchen. :-)

 

11:30am- Lily snuggling with Daddy...she is the biggest Daddy's girl of them all.

 

11:45pm: Weight Watchers online...it's like second nature now...gotta log in my points!

 

12pm- Lunch for the monkeys.  Wasa crackers, turkey pastrami, pepper jack cheese and carrots sticks.

 

12:15pm- Lunch for me: Turkey sandwich on Sara Lee 45 calorie bread (2pts) One carrot cut into sticks

(o pts) one serving Cucumber Dill dip (1pt)

 

1:50pm- Red face and wet hair after a run and a shower.

 

2:10pm-Jake put letter for daddy in the mailbox...

 

2:30pm- waiting for Joey to come out of school..working on a knitting project to pass the time...I'm making a periwinkle blanket for Lily...

 

4pm-folding TONS of laundry that I have been neglecting!

 

6pm- Dinner is wild rice pilaf with carrots and chicken and a light soy sauce, and mandarin oranges on teh side. YUM...am thinking the dish was delish, though it could have used some slivered almonds or water chestnuts.

 

7pm: This is my favorite picture ever, lol...Lily and Jake playing with their ambulance in the hallway...it moves by itself, so they would turn it on, and then let it go between the "bridges", their legs...I snuck around the corner to catch this shot, I don't think they saw me. :-)

So there ya have it, Thursday pics done!

Looking forward to tomorrow!

Week In The Life - Wednesday

Here comes Wednesdays photos!

I took decidedly less pictures today..mostly because I was exhausted today, and it was a boring day...lol...it started off rainy and drizzled all day...

7:55am- getting in the car to take Joey to school...the rain is coming down in fat drops....

 

8:10am- Dropping Joey off at school, he waves goodbye.

 

8:30am-Lily and Jake wake up and eat breakfast (daddy was home this morning)

 

Jake in his SpiderMan PJ's...

 

9am- Lily got a "boo-boo" and needed some Mommy snuggles.

 

12:30pm- Joey had a half-day and was out of school at noon.  He came home and wanted to "relax before homework time"

 

1pm-Today was a stay in PJ's kind of day, just yucky out....I'm a little sad this came out blurry, it's such a sweet moment between Jakey and Molly.

 

5pm-The sun finally came out, and the kids were sent out to play while I cooked dinner.

 

Joey wanted to skateboard down the hill....he looks wicked cool in this shot, but in the next frame you would have seen him on his butt. ;-)

 

Jake said: "Hey!  Take a picture of my skateboard too!"

 

6pm- Dinner is served...the boys BEGGED for Green Eggs and Ham, and we have a little tradition when Daddy works late...we do Breakfast for dinner...I used to do the same thing with my mom when my Dad was on business trips...we'd always have scrambled eggs with cheese and ham and English muffins.  It was the BEST.  I kind of felt bad for such serving such an un-nutritious dinner (which of course, they were ecstatic about!) but I figured, we had chicken stir fry last night, and halibut and asparagus on Monday night, so it all evens out. ;-)

 

7:30pm-After the kids picked up their rooms, they were treated with fruitsicles!  YUM!  Lily is wearing her "Hanna Tanna" shirt today. :-)

 

And just because I couldn't resist...my little Lion with her mane....she has the CRAZIEST, WILD hair, and I LOVE it.  Her curls are beautiful...

Happy Hump Day!  Phew!  Halfway done with the week! 

I'm looking forward to finishing this week up because, it is honestly exhausting to remember to take pics all day, then upload and edit, then blog!  LOL!

If you are participating in Week of the Life, leave me your blog address in the comments..I'd love to see what you are doing!

Weight Watchers Wednesday,4/21/10

Here we are again, Wednesday, and time for WW Wed!

Today I thought I'd share some of my favorite "points friendly" foods and recipes that I've been enjoying...

without further ado...

Fiber One cereal..the original...I love this cereal!  1/2 cup is 0 points, and it's surprisingly does not taste like rabbit pellets!  Yay!

 

Thomas Bagel Thins..these are awesome if you are in need of a bun...these are super thin bagels, and only 1 point for the top and bottom...They toast well in the toaster too if you want to spread a little reduced fat peanut butter on them! YUM!

 

Jennie-O Turkey breast deli meat..this is my favooooorrrritteee lunch meat it's 1point per ounce and is the BEST tasting turkey...it's a dry turkey, not a sweet turkey and it makes the BEST sandwiches.
 

Pistachios are an awesome "good fat" snack...really any nuts are good, but I happen to love pistachios. <3  they are 1 point for about 10 pistachios and come in handy when you are having the munchies in the afternoon because they take effort to shell so it helps you eat them slowly...
 

Gorton's Grilled Fillets are AWESOME...they are only 100 calories per fillet, about 2 points...they come in great flavors like lemon pepper, Italian herb, and garlic butter..they also have really good salmon fillets.
 

Asparagus!  I have always loved asparagus, but I'm eating it like crazy now!  O points for a cup of asparagus...I bake it in the oven with either a splash of chicken broth and Mrs. Dash, or you can even cook it with a splash of water...

Sara Lee 45 Calories and Delightful bread!  This bread is AWESOME and is only 1 point for 2 slices!  Sandwiches were never so guilt free!  I eat a sandwich for lunch with this bread and two ounces of the Jennie-O turkey, plus some mustard almost every day!

This is one of my favorite go-to lunches...Progresso makes awesome 0point and 1 point soups...of course, the serving size is half the can, so it's about 1-3 points for the whole thing..but an awesome quick lunch for the days I'm super busy!
 

And this is my favorite recipe I've come across so far...Weight Watcher's Dill-Cucumber Dip!  It's a FANTASTIC tasting dip..great for carrot sticks or cucumber slices or spreading on a wasa cracker...it tastes just like Greek tahtziki sauce, and we're going to try it on some pita's and make gyros soon...

 

1 large onion(s)
2/3 cup low-fat plain yogurt
8 oz fat-free cream cheese
1/4 tsp table salt
1/8 tsp black pepper, or to taste
2 tsp dill, fresh, or 1 tsp dried dill weed
2 large cucumber(s), peeled and cut into bite-size cubes

Chop onion in a food processor or blender. Add yogurt, cream cheese, salt, pepper and dill; whir until well combined. Fold in cucumber; chill until ready to serve. Yields about 3 heaping tablespoons per serving.

(I would like to add that the recipe SAYS it's 6 servings of 3 heaping tablespoons, but they LIE..it makes a TON of dip...think about it...one whole onion, two large cucumbers, a whole 8oz package of cream cheese and 2/3 cup of yogurt?  That's a ton of food!  The entire recipe filled my food processor to the brim, about 4 cups worth!)

Let me know if you have any WW tips, foods, or recipes that you love!

I'll be back later tonight with a Week In The Life post for today!

Week In The Life - Tuesday

Okay, here is day two of Week In The life!  Today is going to be a short post, I'm pooped and need to head to bed!

8:30am- Breakfast!  Weight Watchers Breakfast Quesadilla...4pts.

 

9:30am- We head off to the store.....the kids are getting used to seeing me with the camera all day, so they asked me to take their picture, welcome surprise!

Me in the car....

9:45am-Yay, we're here!

 

10am- I bought the kids a Rice Krispie Treat to share, pure bribery...hoping they'd be good in the store.  Half of them were.  I'll let you figure out which child behaved...and which one wandered. ;-)

 10:05am-Jake spied some Mac n Cheese with Buzz Lightyear on the box and made a beeline for it...he was a tad disappointed when I told him that it wasn't Gluten Free...bummers.

 

10:15am- Checking out....

10:25am- Groceries in the car....

 

Lily decided she wanted to take her coat off....

11:15am-lunch for the little ones...mandarin oranges, pepper jack cheese sticks, hot dog, and quaker rice snacks....

 

2:15pm- waiting for Joey at school...wasting time on Facebook on my phone...I kind of love how if you look really hard you can see me talking the picture in the LCD screen.

2:48pm- Joey!!!!!

 

3:45pm- Laundry, laundry, laundry...Jake was my helper today.

 

4pm: Dishes, dishes, dishes...no help on this chore. ;-)

 

5:45, Daddy's home and cooking Stir Fry for dinner!  Woohoo!
 

7pm- After dinner Go Fish game...Jake and I did not win the game this time, Joey and Daddy did...Lily had her own cards to play with and kept yelling "Go Fish! Go Fish Go Fish Go Fish Go Fish!"  Over and over!

 

7:30pm-bath time!  Joey showered, and then Jake and Lily took a bath...

 

8pm- After bath snuggles with daddy...I love this pic. :-)

Okay peoples, I have to hit the hay...there is AI, Glee, and Biggest Loser to be watched tonight!

Week In The Life-Monday

Hey all,

Have you seen Ali Edwards project Week In The Life?  It's an amazing and inspiring one week project where you take pictures every day for a week of your day to day life, and when you are finished you tell the story.  Click here for more details.

I tried to participate last year, but I ended up not finishing, and I regret that very much.  This year I'm committed to getting it done, and so far, so good!  I spent today playing Mommy Paparazzo, and ended up having a lot of fun doing it...

here are my shots from the day...

Starting the morning off right...with my coffee...mmmmm

Then, off to the office to put in a little scrapbooking time...

The little ones wanted to make pictures for Daddy, so I set them up with their little table and chairs in my office and some supplies...

Jake declared today, "Happy Friends Day" so he made a picture for Daddy with that as the title.

 

Lunch Time!  The kids asked if they could have a "pic-mic" in the living room, and I obliged...just don't tell Daddy that Mommy let you eat in there! hehe! 

L 

On the menu?  Gluten Free multicolored Rotini with Chicken, Sun dried Tomato and Parmesan, and on the side, pineapple.

After lunch it was naptime for Miss Lily...

 

And running time for mommy...I love my old Adidas...they are so comfy and broken-in, I'm going to cry when I have to buy new ones!

 

After naptime we checked the mail...

 

Picked Dandelions...

 

And got ready to go get Joey at school...Lily has started to want to buckle herself.....

 

First things first, more coffee... ;-)

 

Messing around in the car...listening to the radio...I'm pretty sure we heard "Hey Soul Sister" by Train about 6 times....

 

Mister Jakey bear in his seat...having kicked off his shoes and chillaxin'. lol.

 

I think Miss Lily is over mommy taking her picture every two seconds...

 

The dreaded line in the school parking lot!

 

Jake finds some leftover bunny ears in the car....cuteness ensues.

 

There's Joey!

 

After dinner (we had grilled lemon pepper halibut, asparagus, and a brown/wild rice pilaf) we cleaned up and decided to play some battleship...

Daddy and Joey were on one team, Jake and I on the other...Lily was Switzerland and had the most fun out of all of us by keeping us entertained by continuously stripping off her clothes and running around naked. LOL.

 

You lose!  (okay, that's not what she was really saying, but they did lose, Jake and I won!)

 

Lily looking all over the freezer for a glimpse of a Popsicle (sorry peanut!  I put them in the deep freezer in the garage! MWAHAHAHA!)

Destruction!  This is what happens when you play Battleship and the two year old entertains herself.

The boys were sent off to bed with permission to watch "The Rescuers Down Under" and I retreated to the office with some popcorn and pink lemonade.  Sigh, it's been a long day (and night!) and I need to head off to bed...looking forward to tomorrows pictures already!

 

Friday Five....

One of my favorite bloggers, the adorable KA, started a feature on her blog called "Five For Friday", in which she shares five random facts about herself, and has encouraged the rest of her blog readers to participate on their own blogs.  So, I am going to see if I can keep up with it, it may not be every Friday, but for today, here are my five:

1.  When I was a kid my best friend and I would pretend we were witches.  We would concoct potions consisting of lotion and tree bark, make up spells, and pick herbs in the woods behind her house.  Sounds like typical play for young children, until I tell you we were twelve.  Yeah, we were just slightly cooler than the kids who played Dungeons and Dragons.

2.  Sometimes I forget that Julie Andres isn't my mom.  WTF, you ask?  I don't know, I grew up watching The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins obsessively, my mom used to sing me to sleep every night, either "Stay Awake" or "Feed The Birds" from Mary Poppins, and apparently that confused me when I was young and impressionable.  Hence my unnatural attachment to Julie Andrews.  Whatever, I'm weird, I know.  

3.  I'm OBSESSED with Neuschwanstein Castle, like OBSESSED.  To the point where this is my number one destination on my Bucket List.  Like, I might actually cry if I see it in person.  I don't know why, I just am drawn to this castle on a visceral level.  Perhaps I lived there in another life?!  ;-)

4. Another obsession?  Inara George.  She is the female singer of The Bird and The Bee, and also has her own solo career.  She reminds me of a modern day Karen Carpenter, the tone of her voice is so beautifully rich and hypnotizing.  I haven't been moved this much be an artist since I discovered Michael Jackson at age 8. :-) This song is currently on repeat on my iPod.

5.   And lastly, I am weird about the pillows in my living room.  As in, they have to be perfect.  Certain pillows go in certain spots.  If Jim moves one, or puts them in the wrong order, or on the wrong couch....I can't handle it.  I will immediately "fix" it.  I think I have pillow OCD.

Wow, I'm totally insane. 

You should totally play along too so I don't feel alone in my neuroses. Happy Friday!