Trials of a Long Haired Girl

Our dinner plan for this week, although, as I always say, these are subject to change without notice. Monday: Twice Baked Potatoes and salad Tuesday: Taco Casserole Wednesday: Lazy Man Lasagna and garlic bread Thursday: Chicken and Broccolli Rice Casserole Friday: Fish Sticks and Mac and Cheese and a yet unnamed veggie. For breakfast, at least 2 days this week, I made a variation of the Birthday Cake Overnight Oats using what I had on hand.  I think I may have to adjust the recipe a little bit as it may be a little too sweet.  Most likely eggs for the rest of the week. Lunches for me, probably salads or sandwiches. Snacks, garlic hummus, veggies and fruit and yogurt/vanilla yogurt mix. If you want to see me talk about it on video, you can find that  here .

Happy Hump day friends!  It's time again for a What's Cooking Wednesday!  Today I am sharing with you how I changed up this  Easy Slow Cooker Taco Pasta  for the crockpot.  Between trying to use up stuff in my freezers, pantry and fridge and allergies for those in my house, I modified the recipe to make it fit better for us.   I modified it as follows: 1 cup uncooked bell pepper(s), d iced 3 Tbsp  reduced sodium taco seasoning 12 oz.  uncooked whole wheat pasta 1 cup,   uncooked onion(s), c hopped 20 oz  uncooked ground bison 3 cups h omemade chicken stock (skimmed of fat) 15 oz can of  Simple Truth Organic black beans 1 cup of  Trader Joe's Mexican style shredded cheese Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the beef and season with salt and pepper. Cook the meat, stirring often, until browned. Drain and then transfer beef to slow cooker. Add the bell pepper, onion, tomatoes, salsa, taco seasoning...

Happy Monday friends!  I hope that you have had a wonderful weekend!  I was determined to have 5 Blue Dot days this past week.  I had a loss of 2.8 pounds this week. Unfortunately, while I did make some progress with using some things up, I didn't stop to think about how many servings those recipes would make.  We wound up having leftovers because there was just too much food. I planned the following: Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Recipe - Crockpot Copycat Slow Cooker Sausage and Potato Casserole Slow Cooker Pesto Ranch Chicken Easy Slow Cooker Taco Pasta Crispy Baked Cod with Cheesy Potatoes & Roasted Broccoli Stromboli We had: Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Recipe - Crockpot Copycat Slow Cooker Sausage and Potato Casserole Easy Slow Cooker Taco Pasta Stromboli Here's what I can tell you about the new recipes I tried last week.   The Zuppa Toscana soup was a winner!   👍👍 Easy Slow Cooker Taco Pasta was also a winner!  ?...

Happy Saturday friends!  Hope y'all have had a good week!  This week I managed to get 5 Blue Dots this week, which is a good thing.  In focusing on the Blue Dots this week, I managed to see a loss on the scale!  I was a little shocked but I managed to get down 2.8 this week.  Did I hit 16 points everyday this week?  No, I did not.  I was over several days this week, but I did manage to get a Blue Dot Monday through Friday.  Gearing up and trying to focus on staying on plan this week so I will maybe see a loss next week.  If I lose 0.5 this coming week, I will be in a whole new weight decade!  This is an all new low for me since we have been married. I am super excited! 

Happy Hump day friends!  It's time again for a What's Cooking Wednesday!  Today I am sharing with you how I changed up this Olive Garden Copycat Recipe for the Zuppa Toscana for the crockpot.  However, I am trying to use up stuff in my freezers, pantry and fridge so I modified the recipe using what I have on hand and trying to purchase as little as possible. I modified it as follows: Simple Truth Traditional turkey sausage, 16 oz. browned uncooked onion(s),  3/4 cup Kirkland Signature Sliced bacon,  6 slices, diced minced garlic,  1 tsp chicken stock, 4 cups Simply Potatoes Diced potatoes,  1 cup Kale/Spinach Mix - 2 cups Kroger Half and Half - 3/4 cup Cook your sausage in a large skillet and brown over medium heat. Drain and set aside Place your onion and bacon to the skillet and saute over medium heat until the onions are translucent. Place sausage, onions, bacon and garlic in your crock pot along with broth and potatoes. Cook on...

Happy Monday friends!  I hope that you have had a wonderful weekend!  After my gain this week, I'm determined to have a good on plan week!  I have reviewed some recipes and I'm also trying to use up some of the food that we have in the fridge and freezer and pantry before I try to get some meal prepping done later this month.  While I am sharing the recipe links to the ones I'm using, I am modifying some in order to use up some of the foods I currently have in my fridge and freezer.  Admittedly, I will have to buy some things at the store, I don't think it will be a really expensive trip. Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Recipe - Crockpot Copycat Slow Cooker Sausage and Potato Casserole Slow Cooker Pesto Ranch Chicken Easy Slow Cooker Taco Pasta Crispy Baked Cod with Cheesy Potatoes & Roasted Broccoli Stromboli My plan is to make some of the 2 Ingredient Dough bread sticks as shown by Kathy over at  Kathy's WW Journey   I have been hes...

Happy Saturday Friends!  I hope everyone had a great week.  I have been sick this week.  I finally called my allergy doctor when her office reopened after the holiday since she takes care of me from the waist up (to include the lungs) as I have gotten upper respiratory infections and such pretty much every year around this time and I take allergy shots these days to help with this problem.  Thankfully my sweet husband took care of our New Year's Day dinner.   Honestly, most days I was within my points.  However, the night before weigh in, my sweet husband said I still want pizza, can this be a thing?  Yes, we got pizza.  It was very tasty but I ate too much.  I am proud of the fact that I tracked though.   Overall, I'm not sure that this weigh in is a great representation of what I have done this week, but it's okay because it will catch up.   I am also pondering doing 5 nights of dinners or some "fr...

Happy Saturday friends! It is time again for weigh in!  To be honest, after all the Christmas eating and such, I wasn't sure I wanted to weigh in, but I committed to do it so I got up and went to my WW Studio.  Apparently listening to my body helped a lot this year!  I was down 2.2 lbs!  I am a bit in shock because I did indulge on some candy and desserts and some bread, but for the most part, I listened to my body and when I was full, I handed the plate off.  This is a big thing for me.  As of almost a year ago today, I was 182.4.  As of today, I am down to 171.2.  I have lost 11.2 pounds this year.  I know that doesn't seem like a lot, but considering everyday was not an OP day and I did indulge here and there, living life and enjoying some ice cream and desserts, I will not complain.  This means I am almost halfway to my goal weight of 135.  I am at my lowest weight during my married life.  My mindset is changing which is ...

Happy Hump Day friends!  I am back for another edition of What's Cookin Wednesday!  Some day I will figure out how to make my kitchen more recording friendly, but right now, I'm just trying to figure it out.  I actually picked out a couple of recipes that I wanted to try.  We're expecting some cold weather around my area, which I'm sure some of my northern friends would laugh about, but it's cold to me.  The first one I decided to try was the Skinny Chicken Fajita Soup .  Sometimes I really just feel like recipes are a suggestion that worked for someone else and might work for you.  I definitely tweaked it a little bit for our family.  Honestly, my chicken wasn't cooked so I decided I'd just use my canned chicken.  Here's what I did: 2 - 5 oz. cans of chicken breast 2 - 10 oz. cans of Rotel Tomatoes 1 - 15 oz. can of Black Beans 1 - 32 oz. container of chicken stock A couple of shakes of taco seasoning because it was handy and I did...

Happy Monday friends!  I hope everyone had a great weekend!  Ours was busy but good!  DD performed at our "Santa's Village" in our city.  Saturday, my sweet husband took me to see It's a Wonderful Life on the big screen!  It's not his favorite movie, but he knows how much I love it.  Then a get together with my church family and church today to watch our kids perform.   Breakfast:  Likely another breakfast casserole like last week because it really was good.  I am in debate about making the 2 ingredient dough, just a small batch and using that in place of the biscuits, but haven't decided yet since I'm not feeling 100% today.  It may be easier just to use the biscuits this time.  Lunches this week: Chicken Fajita Soup, I may do a cook with me, but haven't decided yet since this is a first time recipe. Egg Roll Soup, I also may do a cook with me on this one, but again, new recipe. Dinners this week: Macaroni and Ch...

Happy Saturday friends!  It's the most wonderful time of the year!  Some fellow YouTubers have taken some time out of their schedules to share some cookies or other sweet treats together for you.  When I got invited to this collaboration by Joan (Joan's Pointed Plate), I was not really sure what I wanted to make.  Since I do not use some of the ingredients that others do, such as light butter, I decided I needed to find something that didn't have a lot of butter in it.  So I did a search of Pinterest and found a TON of great recipes, but not all of them had been updated for the new plans.  I choose a Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookie  as it really seemed like I had most of these ingredients on hand anyway.  Here's my recipe, using my substitutions. Tracey's Variation of the Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie 35 grams Lily's Semi-Sweet Baking Chips' 2 tablespoons Butter 1/2 cup Granulated Monkfruit Sweetener 1/2 cup Truvia Brown Sugar...

Happy Monday friends!  I hope everyone had a fantastic long weekend!   I didn't get as much meal prepping done as I would have liked, but I do have a game plan for this week. Dinners are as follows: Hamburger Stroganoff Chicken and Dressing (no, I still haven't made it) Quesadillas, Fat Free Refried Beans and Spanish Rice Spaghetti, Garlic Bread and Salad Stromboli - I am thinking of trying a chicken, bacon, ranch one. For breakfast, I haven't fully committed to anything yet.  I think it may be varied.  Eggs in a basket, chaffles, etc.  Lunch is also varied, but I may prepare a soup for us for this week.  What are you having this week?  I would love to hear about it! :-)   

Happy Hump Day!  I hope everyone is having a great week!  I wanted to take a moment and share a recipe that I have found and tweaked a little for my family.  I found this recipe on Pinterest and thought it might be a good way to use up some of my pantry items.  Ingredients 1 pound of uncooked boneless skinless chicken breast(s) , diced 1 cup of diced carrots 1 cup of diced celery 12fl oz  Kroger Evaporated Milk (I used the Simple Truth Brand) 8 oz. package of Priano Tomato mozzarella tortellini (purchased at Aldi. 32 oz./4 cups of Simple Truth Organic Vegetable Stock, Fat Free Dice chicken into small, bite sized pieces Peel and dice carrot into small pieces Add to slow cooker along with broth and seasonings Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 Turn slow cooker to high and add evaporated milk and dried tortellini For a thicker soup, stir cornstarch with an equal amount of water until smooth and add to soup - I did not do this. ...

A big Thanks to Kim at " A Girl and her Phone "!  I used this Broccoli-Rice Casserole  recipe as my guide. 2 c. cooked brown rice  1 (10 oz.) package frozen riced broccoli 1 (12 oz.) package frozen riced cauliflower 1 small onion, finely chopped 1 (10.5 oz.) can Campbell's Cream of Onion Soup 1/2 c. milk 1 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. black pepper 1 tsp. garlic powder 1/4 tsp. paprika 2 c. shredded Cabot 75% Reduced Fat cheddar cheese, divided Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Thaw broccoli and warm broccoli in the microwave for about 5 minutes. In a bowl, combine warm cooked rice, onion, cream of onion soup, milk, salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and 1 cup of the shredded cheddar. Stir together until well mixed.  Fold in broccoli. Spoon into a greased 9x13-inch baking dish.  Top with remaining 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese. Bake at 350℉ for 35 - 40 minutes until bubbly and cheese is just beginning to get some golden brown ...

Happy Thursday a/k/a Friday eve friends!  As some of you may be aware, I follow WW and they have recently released the MyWW plans.  These plans consist of Green, Blue and Purple.  My choice may not be the same for everyone, but my hope is that no matter what journey that you choose that you will find something that works for you.  One plan does not necessarily fit all.   MyWW Green Plan, you get 30 Daily Points, but everything has a points value other than the 100 fruits and vegetables on the 0 Points food list. MyWW Blue is basically Freestyle another another name.  You get 23 Daily Points and 200 different foods on the 0 Points food list. MyWW Purple is what I choose and is more similar to Simply Filling than Freestyle in that you don't have to track up to 300 different foods that are on the 0 Points food list and you get 16 Daily Points.   Here's my take on it.  Each of the programs work and have worked for me personally, so...

Happy Wednesday a/k/a Hump Day friends!  It seems most of the folks on my social media are also experiencing cold weather.  My part of Texas is currently in the 20's at night.  I am not a big cold weather fan, but I have to say that one of my favorite things when the weather is cold...and this goes back to me being a little girl...is a nice cup of hot chocolate.  So, here is my dilemma, as many of you know, I don't eat much in the way of sugar substitutes.  Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate packet is 4 SmartPoints per serving...whaa??  Yep, 4 SP per serving.  I could have 4 and that would eat up my daily points on the MyWW Purple plan but would I really want to use ALL my SmartPoint allotment on hot chocolate?  Um, let me think about it, no.  So I have been on the hunt for something that would give me that hot chocolate fix without breaking my SmartPoint bank.  I found this low carb hot chocolate recipe  and thought it might work.  O...