What I eat: Part #2- Dinner and Snacks

My favorite week day dinner is home-made (mostly. I used some canned things in my meal). I cook some brown rice, usually the "boil-in-a-bag" kind. This really helps with portions, because one baggie makes 2 cups of cooked rice.

While that is boiling, I will start cooking the rest of the meal. I usually will start with red wine vinegar and lime juice, but sometimes I use balsalmic and lemon juice. I will add some minced garlic, some chopped red onion. Once the onion starts to carmelize, I add a chopped tomato, a can of rotel (usually original diced tomatoes and green chilles), a chopped bell pepper, and finally, a chopped heart of romaine lettuce.

Salt and pepper to taste. This whole process takes about 10 minutes. Then the rice is done.

Add the entire two cups of cooked rice to the mix. Stir in one cup of beans (I usually will use canned beans, rinsed off, in either black or kidney). Eat half of this entire pot for 7 PointsPlus, but it's a good idea to also add a teaspoon of healthy oil (I use EVOO) for another Point.

Save the other half for the next night, or share with someone.

A simpler version of this meal will suffice for days that you don't want to cook. The convenience foods are more costly, but some days I need a break from cooking! All you need for the simple version:

- Uncle Ben's "ready rice" in whole grain brown

-a bag of Bird's Eye "steamfresh" in your choice of 0-points veggies (I love broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots)

-some canned beans

Microwave steamfresh bag for 5 minutes. Microwave rice for 90 seconds. Add a half cup of beans. For more flavor (and to meet the GHGs) add a teaspoon of EVOO. Salt and pepper to taste. Filling, delicious, easy.

Snacks. I love them! I crave them. I need them! :-) There are some things that have remained the same for me since starting WW, and one of them is my need for snacks. Usually I will eat something between lunch and dinner, and then something else late at night after my workout. Here are some of my staples.

Blue Diamond almonds in BOLD- Wasabi & Soy Sauce. I love these! One serving is 28 almonds, and I get all 28 for a PointsPlus value of 5. It's definately a point-y snack, but it's so filling that I never need more than that. Of course, if you want just 1 PointsPlus, you can eat 7. 14 almonds come out to 2 PointsPlus. But I almost always eat the whole serving. I get so many daily PointsPlus that it works for me.

Fruit. Now that fruit is zero PointsPlus, I eat it like candy. No, I don't "abuse" the zero-point fruit, I just eat it when I really want something sweet, instead of going for cookies. My favorite snack fruits: apples, bananas, clementines, black seedless grapes, canned pineapple (no sugar added).

Redvines are amazing to me. If you like licorice, you'll love redvines. The only boo-hoo is that they have now doubled in Points, so they are an entire point for one stick. I used to get 2 for 1, but you win some, you lose some! It's still a pretty good deal when I really need some candy. I will usually have 4 vines for 4 PointsPlus.

Finally, I like to eat at least one big bowlful of steamed vegetables a day. This wards off other cravings and usually will help me get another healthy oil in, too. I am in love with these Ziploc "Zip n' Steam" bags. Put in a bunch of veggies (I usually use cut up broccoli, baby carrots, and cauliflower), add a bit of water, and microwave the bag for about three minutes. 0 PointsPlus, unless you add a teaspoon of EVOO for 1 PointsPlus.

My next post will be all about what I eat on the weekends!