9 point plus breakfast - Egg scramble with low fat sharp cheddar cheese and broccoli

2 eggs, 1 cup of broccoli, 1 ounce of 2% milk sharp cheddar, 1 TB cooked onion - 6 points plus value
2 slices of Healthy Life Italian bread, toasted - 2 points plus
1 TB I can't believe it's not butter light with olive oil spread - 1 point plus
1/2 large grapefruit - 0 points plus

Total: 9 points plus

Bow tie pasta salad - 9 points!

Another variation on the bow tie pasta salad I normally make:

This time it was 9 points plus value

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces of bow tie pasta (weighed before cooking) - 5 points plus
• 1/2 ounce blue cheese crumbles - 1 point plus
• 1/2 ounce feta cheese crumbles - 1 point plus
• 1/2 ounce toasted sunflower seeds - 2 points plus
• 1 cup of organic arugula, torn into pieces - 0 points plus
• 1/4 of a red bell pepper, chopped - 0 points plus
• 3 portobella mushrooms, pan grilled with non stick olive oil spray, salt, pepper and garlic, chopped into small pieces - 0 points plus

Instructions:

Boil pasta until al dente.  Meanwhile grill portobella mushrooms in a pan sprayed with olive oil cooking spray, sprinkle mushrooms with sea salt, fresh cracked black pepper and garlic powder.  Grill for about 4 minutes then flip, grill another 2 to 3 minutes until soft. 

Chop mushrooms and bell pepper into pieces (try and keep them bite size, and close in size).  Remove pasta once cooked, and drain well.  Put pasta and arugula in a glass bowl and cover with plastic wrap until arugula is wilted slightly.  Add peppers, mushrooms, cheese and sunflower seeds.  Stir well and serve.  Makes 1 serving.

This made a whole plate of food for 9 points! So filling and tasted great.  That picture is a dinner plate to give you an idea of the serving.

I'm finally back in a cooking mood!

Whatever virus took hold of our house last week is finally on it's way out.  Makayla's back to 100% and I'm close behind at about 80%.

I managed to stay within my points, even though I wasn't feeling the best and was taking care of a sick 5 year old.  We made it!

Dinner last night was an adaption of a recipe from VickisFoodies.com.

9 point plus value

2 chicken thighs - 4 point plus value
Medium sweet potato, quartered - 4 point plus value
1 small onion cut in half - 0 point plus value
2 tablespoons of French onion soup mix - 0 point plus value

Wrap all of the above ingredients in foil, sprinkle with French onion soup mix, and make a tightly sealed pouch.  Bake in the oven on a cookie sheet at 375 degrees for about an hour, until chicken is cooked through and potatoes are tender.

Then I sauteed fresh green beans (shout out to my little helper for snapping the ends off of a pound of green beans!) in 2 TB of extra virgin olive oil and 4 freshly minced garlic cloves.  After about 10 minutes of stirring occasionally, I added 1 cup of fat free, low sodium chicken stock and covered, letting them steam for another 15 minutes until tender.  They turned out great! No need for butter or salt on these green beans.  They had a ton of flavor.

A serving was:
2 cups of green beans - 0 point plus value
1/4 cup of fat free reduced sodium chicken stock - 0 points plus value
1 tsp of olive oil - 1 point value

YES! That is a bottle of wine in the background.  For the last week I have been having trouble using all my points (I know, I know, you don't want to hear it!) so I've been having celery and peanut butter after dinner, or peanut butter banana smoothies or something similar to use up the rest of my points.  Anywhere from 10 to 30 points I've had to use up!  I need to start drinking some milk during the day or something.  Anyway, last night I had 30 ppv left over at the end of the day (I get 54 per day!) and I used all 30 points on 3 generous glasses of wine after the little bestie went to bed :)