Liebster Award!!!

Thank you so much to my dear friend Laura for nominating me for this award!!! I'm very excited about the potential this blog has and hope everyone enjoys it as much as I do!

The Liebster Awards is given by bloggers to up and coming bloggers as a way to spread the word about smaller blogs who deserve a larger audience. This award is an honor, but once nominated, you must earn it:

1) You must list 11 things about yourself.

2) Answer 11 questions put to you by person awarding you.

3) Choose up to 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers and list their questions.

4) Go to your nominees’ pages and inform them of the nominations.

 

11 Things about me:

1. God is my number 1!
2. My family means the world to me.
3. I'm a huge Dallas Cowboys fan
4. I love the OU Sooners football team
5. I've played soccer almost all my life and absolutely love the sport
6. I have really taken a liking to excercising more than normal lol
7. I'm a very outspoken and opinionated person
8. I have 1 cat named manny and 1 turtle named elmer as pets
9. I have a travel bucket list way too long for a normal human being
10. I'm on a mission with my best friend to travel to every state in the US together at least once
11. I watch Friends re-runs religiously every night

My answers to Laura's questions:

1. Why do you blog? I started blogging bc I was always giving friends recipes or advice on how to alter their favorite meals to make them healthier.
2. How many blogs do you have? Technically 2 but Yummaliciously Skinny is the only one I dedicate my time to.
3. Where do you see yourself in five years? Hopefully back in school with baby number 2 here or on the way.
4. If you could have any job, what would it be? I've secretly always wanted to be a police detective but i'm too afraid I wouldn't be able to avoid being emotionally effected.
5. What is your favorite meal? Spaghetti
6. How many days a week do you usually read, blog, or write? I blog daily.
7. Favorite vacation destination you want to visit? Oh man there are so many but I think my top is still Fiji.
8. Best personality trait you have? I think it would be my honesty
9. Favorite thing about blogging? It pushes me to constantly come up with new meals for my family bc I prefer not to post anything I have not tried myself.
10. Favorite Band/Singer? All time would probably have to be Pantera.
11. When in High School what social group would you consider yourself in? (jock, prep, loner, etc) None, I was an athelete but I didn't hang out with hardly anyone at my school. I had a couple of friends in each group, I didn't really fit with just one.

 My nominees (I read and love all these blogs):

 
1. Mommy, Wife, and Friend
2. The Skinny on Being Fat
3. Super Mom of 3 Princesses
4. The Book of Lou Lou

 
 
 

Stuffed Chicken

With this one i'm going to do my best to write out a recipe. I kind of made it up as I went but it was so freaking delicious :). Obviously, like many of the meals, the sides you choose are completely up to you. I just use what I have available.

What you'll need:
*4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
*1/2c fresh spinach (chopped)
*1/2c mushrooms (chopped)
*1/4c reduced fat mozzarella cheese

**Chicken Seasoning**
*1 1/2 tsp salt
*1/4 tsp pepper
*1/4tsp oregano
*1/4tsp thyme
*1/4tsp onion powder
*1/4tsp garlic powder
*1/8tsp cumin
***mix all this together and it makes a seasoning***

Here's what you do:
First, chop your spinach and mushrooms and mix them together

 

Second, with a filet knife, cut a pocket into the chicken breasts

Next, fill the pocket with the spinach, mushrooms, and some cheese

 

Next, season the chicken to taste and place in a baking pan



Finally, bake, covered at 350*F for 28-30 min and serve.



 



 This is a great, low calorie meal, perfect for families of all size. Yeilds 4 servings.

 

Weight Watchers Points Plus Value: 5

Butterfinger Pie

BUTTERFINGER!!! WHAT??? On a skinny eating blog? DANG STRAIGHT :)
I learned about this recipe in Weight Watchers and thought omg that sounds DELISH!!!! So, tonight I made ya'll a treat :) The biggest challenge is not licking the bowl clean when you mix everything up lol.

Here's what you'll need:

4 graham crackers
1 butterfinger candy bar
8oz fat free cool whip
**sugar free chocolate sauce
**sugar free caramel sauce
     ***I put the asterisks bc I chose to omit those two items on mine. ***

Here's how you do it:
First, crush up the graham cracker squares and line the bottom of an 8x8 baking dish with them.

Second, crush the butterfinger up and mix 2/3 in to the cool whip. (I find this is easier to do in a small mixing bowl than the cool whip container.)

Next, spread the cool whip and butterfinger mixture over the graham cracker. **make sure your cool whip is thawed all the way otherwise spreading will be very difficult. (I made that mistake)

 

Then, sprinkle the remaining butterfinger on top. At this point if you choose to use the chocolate and caramel syrup, this is the point in which you would drizzle them on. Remember though, you are adding calories that just really aren't needed bc this is sooo good without it.

 

Finally, stick it in the freezer for 4 hours. Cut in to 8 pieces. (I chose to do 16 pieces, that's why my serving at the top looks smaller)

 

 





Now you have a delicious low calorie treat!

Weight Watcher Points Plus Value: 4pts/piece when cut into 8 pieces.

Homemade Fish Sticks

The other day I read something about making your own fish sticks. I thought to myself this would be a great idea considering all the crap they put in processed foods these days. So I set out to the store and bought some Cod fish and some Panko and came up with this :)

Here's what you'll need:
*a couple filets of fresh or frozen Cod. (one serving is 90g cooked)
*1/4c of panko (If you're making more than 2 servings you can increase this)
*olive oil
**Add your choice of sides**




Making it took about 5-10 minutes to prep and 15 to bake, so in 20-25minutes you can have homemade, non-processed fish sticks!

Here's what to do:
First, preheat your oven to 350*F
Second, lightly brush a small amount of olive oil onto the fish (this will help the panko stick)
Next, with a sharp knife, cut the fish into strips. (cut against the grain to keep from tearing apart)
Next, coat each strip of fish with Panko and place on to a cookie sheet.  **MAKE SURE you spray the pan or foil with a nonstick spray... not too much tho that stuff has calories too!**

Finally, place cookie sheet into the oven and bake for 15min.

I chose to serve mine with ketcup because I didn't have any relish to make a tarter sauce with but if you want to make a tarter sauce you can use light miracle whip or mayo OR plain greek yogurt for and relish for an even healthier version (all though my personal taste buds do not approve of this method haha)

For sides I chose quick canned sweet corn and green beans. Believe it or not I actually measured the corn on that plate out and that was LESS than 1 serving... I couldn't believe it, I had to check the label twice.

This meal has mine and my 3 year old sons stamp of approval. The fish sticks are delicious :) They taste way better than the frozen fried store bought kind AND are signifcantly healthier. ENJOY!

Weight Watchers Points Plus Value: 5points (including ketcup and sides)

Skinny Breakfast Burritos

YUMMALICIOUS!!!!!

So this morning while my child slept and I silently worked from my big comfy couch my stomach started to rumble. I'd been up for almost 2 hrs and I needed food pronto!!!! I walked my behind in the kitchen and started pulling stuff out and ended up with this. Call it a skinny breakfast burrito or drop the tortilla all together and call it a scramble, I dont care, but try it! It's fantastic :)

So here's what you need:
*3 egg whites
*couple of sliced mushrooms (I chop them up into small pieces)
*1/2 a serving of Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh Honey Ham

 

^^^This one! 50 calories in each serving and 98% fat free!

*1/4cup (28g) fat free shredded cheddar cheese

*For burritos, Mission Carb Balance Tortilla (1-2)

 

Obviously, your scramble can be done however you want. I would have added bell peppers but I was fresh out after last nights stuffed pepper dinner (see below) so add whatever veggies you want. Remember the points plus value for Weight Watchers folks below is based off of this exact recipe with 1 carb balance tortilla.

 

How to do it:

*theres really only 2 steps... cut it all up into small pieces and toss in a skillet.

    ** I cook my eggs half way before throwing everything else in and add the cheese in the last 30 seconds or so so it doesn't stick to the pan.

 

Now it's up to you to decide if its going to be a burrito or a scramble, either way ENJOY!

 

Weight Watchers Points Plus Value: 4 points (for 2 tortillas - 6 points)

Stuff It

Stuff it... the bell pepper AND your face :)

 

Last night I fed this to my family and it was a huge hit :) Even my 3yr old loved the it. This meal is very simple and quick.

 

What you'll need:

*4oz cooked 99% fat free ground turkey breast

*White mushrooms (up to you how much you use, I usually use 2 whole ones and chop them up to make 4 servings.

*1/4cup (28g) Fat Free shredded mozzarella cheese

*1 bell pepper (your choice of color)

 

 

Here's how to do it

Pre-heat oven to 350*F

First, brown your ground turkey and season to your taste

 

Second, with a couple minutes left on the turkey, add your mushrooms and sautee with the turkey

 

Next, cut the tops off the bell peppers and set them aside. Remove the center and seeds from the pepper.







 

Next, stuff the peppers with 4oz of the turkey, mushroom mix & add the cheese (to get an even distribution of cheese mix everything together in a bowl and then put it in the pepper setting aside a small amount of cheese to top with)



Finally, bake in the oven for 5-7 minutes to melt cheese and cook pepper
When finished plate and top with the top of the bell pepper (or leave it off all together if you choose, it's mostly for presentation)
ENJOY!

Weight Watchers Points Plus Value: 5 points

Pizza Pizza

Let's face it, there is something about one of those days that you come home from work or have been fighting with the kids all day, that makes cooking seem like climbing Mt Everest! So, what do you do... or should I say what did I do... order pizza.

Now, we all know pizza isn't exactly great for the waist line but there is a way to make homemade, healthy pizza's personalized for the whole family, and YES, they are delicious!

So lets get started here's what you'll need:

1 Flatout (found in the bread aisle of any grocery store)








1 serving Pizza Sauce (if you can find one with less sodium, even better... tomato sauce or spaghetti sauce will work too if you prefer)

1 serving Fat Free Mozzarella Cheese










PERSONLIZE WITH
veggies, meat, mushrooms, etc

The steps are simple:

*start with the flatout bread
*spread on the sauce
*add the cheese
*add your toppings (remember the more veggies and less meat the better - I like to put bell peppers and mushrooms on mine and if i'm going to meat it's usually ham)
*Put your pizza in a toaster or regular oven is fine if you dont have a toaster oven (make sure you use a tray of some sort, dont just put it on the rack) and bake for about 5 minutes until crust is crispy and cheese is melted.
*take it out and let cool and WALAH you have yourself a skinny style pizza and YES you can eat the WHOLE thing!!!

Extra Tip: Cutting the pizza up into smaller pizza will make you feel like you are eating more and you will get full faster :)

ENJOY!!!!

**Will add pics next time I get to the store and make this :)**