Tomato Sherry Chicken and Tangy Roasted Veggies

Last night I cooked an extra special dinner for Ryan and I and we had a date night in - sort of. Between one kid going through a growth spurt and the other with a fever, it wasn't too romantic, but we did have an excellent meal. Ryan said after the meal that it was by far the best thing I have ever cooked for him. Both recipes were from the Company's Coming Low-Fat Cooking cookbook (but was also able to find the main dish recipe online). I know if I pick a recipe from a Company's Coming book, it will always turn out the way it is supposed and I liked the fact that I knew how many calories and how much fat we were eating. In the main dish, Tomato Sherry Chicken, I did substitute white wine instead of the sherry since I wasn't sure if I would react to the sherry since I have an allergy to red wine, and besides, white wine was in the house. I also substituted green onions in place of the shallots since our grocery store didn't have any shallots. Both recipes were soooo good. The sundried tomatoes and white wine created an excellent sauce together for the chicken, and the balsamic vinegar on the Tangy Roasted Veggies really added taste to the vegetable dish.

Instead of a movie (or watching episodes of Lost as we usually do), we watched the 2010 Opening Ceremonies - it was a pretty good show! I'm sure date nights will improve once Meagan takes a bottle again, but for now, it will do.

Wednesday Weigh In: Week 5

Down 1 more pound. Pretty good considering the amount of cheating I did this week and the fact I have not been moving much. In my defence, Meagan is going through a growth spurt and waking twice a night. She goes back to sleep very quickly (usually), but it still takes a lot of energy to get up twice a night and do the daily routine the next day.

Anyway, hopefully I get some energy back this week and get back to it!

Smile!

Meal Planning Monday

Last week's meal plan didn't quite finish the way it was intended. We ended up going out for dinner last night (thanks Mom!) and I did stray from eating according to my diet plan. And tonight we were supposed to have a seafood pasta dish, but Ryan is working a double so I will be pulling some frozen soup out of the freezer and dropping off some leftovers for Ryan at work. So now I have 2 leftover meals from last week I'll incorporate into this week's plan:

Monday: Frozen soup, bread

Tuesday: Fiesta Rice

Wednesday: Chicken fagioli stew

Thursday: Macaroni and cheese (I'm out for a work dinner so it's just Ryan and Kaitlyn for dinner and yes, I'll be home by 8 for Survivor!!)

Friday: Seafood tomato alfredo

Saturday: Veggie lasagne (new recipe I'm trying out)

Sunday: Salmon with dill sauce, rice, beans

Monday: Soup from freezer, bread

Meal Planning Update

Meal planning has been so wonderful. I understand why I didn't start earlier (work, new baby, etc) but I can't imagine getting through the week the way we used to. And we're trying new, healthy recipes and loving them. Here is the dinner we made last night - so good! We served it with half a whole grain loaf (bought at Superstore, the kind that you "bake at home" from the bread department) and the recipe made so many leftovers, I ended up freezing more than half the recipe. Even Kaitlyn tried it but didn't like the beef and barley.

Fresh Vegetable-Beef Barley Soup

1.5 pounds beef stew meat
1 small green pepper, chopped
3/4 c. frozen green beans (or you can use fresh!)
3/4 c. chopped onion
2/3 c. uncooked barley
2/3 c. frozen whole kernel corn (or use fresh)
1.5 c. water
1 t. salt
1/2 t. dried thyme leaves (or 1 t. fresh)
1/4 t. ground pepper
25 oz. ready to serve beef broth (I used a carton and measured it out)
24 oz. can diced tomatoes
1/2 t. garlic powder
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce

1. Mix all ingredients into slow cooker
2. Cover and cook on low 8-9 hours (or 4-5 on high) until veggies and barley are tender.

We cooked it for 9.5 hours and it turned out perfect. 200 calories and 7 gr fat per serving :)

Pics of the Girls

It's been a while since I've posted some updated pictures of the girls. Meagan especially changes so fast so I have to remember to keep the camera out and ready!

Kaitlyn is loving the basement. She spends so much time down there and really loves having all the space. And I love having her out of my hair so except for the financial aspect, it's been wonderful to have the whole home!

Here she is watching a movie with her friends. The second pic is her singing along with the movie - pretty serious stuff!





And Meagan is just so happy and easy. Last night she slept from 10 PM to 6:30 AM. No wonder she's so happy - she's well fed, well rested. Makes for an easier household.

Wednesday Weigh In: Week 4

Down another 2!! So happy to be making progress and seeing the results on the scale. Anyway, lots on my to-do list today so this is short and sweet today :)