A Hallowe'en Milestone!

I knew I was close but I wasn't sure if I was going to make it this week. I was so delighted to see as I stepped on the scale today that I have now lost more than 100lbs since I had my son. I am really, really excited and proud of myself. I feel very positive about my progress. I still have a ways to go but I'm getting there!

I also bought myself a brand new dress for my mother's wedding in a few weeks. I love it- it is my favourite colour, on sale, and it looks like it was made for me. I can't wait to wear it and I will definitely post a picture here when I do!

I didn't realize until a couple of days ago that I haven't written anything about Hallowe'en. I hope you all are surviving this crazy holiday! I used to be one of the people who raided the November 1 sales and bought tons of candy at half price or less, and my husband and I would keep a big bowl in the house and constantly snack on it. Not exactly a great habit to get into!

This year, I can honestly say that Hallowe'en hasn't bothered me at all. I bought the candy for us to hand out but kept it sealed until tonight when I threw it into a bowl, and I'm giving out the "good" stuff first. But really, I don't feel deprived of chocolate and candy so I don't really feel an urge to eat it. I get chocolate every day if I want it (for up to three meals!) so why do I need to pig out now? If you're really finding that you want an extra treat, the Nutrisystem dieticians say you can occasionally substitute your afternoon snack of a dairy/protein + fruit with an additional dessert, so if you really need that chocolatey treat, have it, but stay on program!

Don't forget to stop by the Thanksgiving Giveaway post if you haven't yet entered! You can earn up to 5 entries and right now your odds of winning are pretty good!

Thanksgiving Giveaway!

Here's your chance to win something cool just in time for Thanksgiving. I am very excited to be doing my first giveaway here at Stomach Rumblings!

CSN Stores has offered to give one of my readers a $35 gift certificate which can be used at any of their more than 200 online stores which sell everything from modern bar furniture to stylish accessories to cookware and great gadgets!

I was browsing through one of their sites, Cookware.com, and they have lots of neat items that would be great for cooking in a healthy lifestyle. If you don't have a puff pan yet, here's your chance to get one absolutely free!



This morning I used mine to make Strawberry & Cream Cheese Stuffed Puffs. I made the Nutrisystem Pancake Mix as directed (substitute 1/3 cup of whole grain pancake mix if you don't have any) by adding 1/3 cup of fat free milk, and then filled the wells on the puff pan 1/2 full. I added a dab of cream cheese in the centre of the puff batter, and then a piece of strawberry before I covered them with more batter. These were so yummy and filling with sugarfree syrup! Plus you still get a dairy serving and the rest of the strawberries. This recipe made 12 large puffs.



If you already have a puff pan, they also have some neat gadgets like this potato slicer, which is perfect for your faux fries recipes! Or you can pick something like this onion chopper, which comes in handy if you have trouble slicing them. I have one myself and except for it being a trifle hard to clean, I love it since it chops all kinds of veggies very quickly.

So the winner of this giveaway will receive a $35 gift certificate to be used at any one of their sites- you don't have to get cookware if you don't want to (although I highly recommend the puff pan if you don't have one!)

How do you enter? You'll receive one ballot into the draw by commenting here with your email address and telling me what you would choose from CSN Stores. Followers of my blog will receive one additional entry. If you write about my giveaway in your own blog or on Facebook and you post a link here, you'll receive three additional entries for each place you post it.

I'll draw the winner on November 12th at 10:00pm EST, using Random.org to select the winning post. The winner will have 48 hours to claim their prize or I will draw another winner. The contest is open to US and Canadian residents.

Good luck!

Working Down the List...

I've still got several items left to review, but I'm getting there! Hopefully I'll be finished before the NEW items come out. Yes, you heard me- there are new Nutrisystem menu items on the way! We haven't been told when they will arrive but I will do my best to get them and review them ASAP once they are available. What I have been told is that we are getting Southern Style Biscuits and Gravy for breakfast, some kind of chocolate wafer cookies for dessert, and popcorn for another dessert. I am not sure if there will be more items, nor do I have any other details- sorry! Hopefully they will be released soon so we can all give them a try!

In the meantime, here are some more entrees!


Chicken Noodle Soup (Lunch):



As you can see from the French writing on this label, this can has been around since the time I was on the Nutrisystem Canada program back in February. Yes, there's a reason for that! I just can't think of chicken noodle soup as a meal. As a side with a nice grilled cheese sandwich, maybe. Also, I find that although I don't like salty things and never add salt to anything, I feel that chicken noodle soup should be salty, and this doesn't taste salty. When I'm sick and don't feel like eating, I choose this entree. Other than that... it'll be one of those meals sitting in the back of my cupboard behind the stuff I really like.


Peanut Butter Cookie (Dessert):



I always loved the taste of rich peanut butter cookies, warm out of the oven. I know peanut butter is really high in fat so obviously the amount used in the recipe would have to be limited, but I found this somewhat lacking. The texture of the cookie was right but the flavour just wasn't there. I find it is much improved if you microwave it for a few seconds to mimic the just-out-of-the-oven feel and spread your 1 tsp of peanut butter on the top (save your fat serving for this- PB2 just didn't cut it for me this time). Would I eat it again? Yes, but there are so many other desserts that I much prefer that this is way down the list.


Tuna Salad (Lunch):



I hate tuna. I hate the smell and the texture. I knew I wasn't going to like this one, so doing the review would be pointless because even if it was the finest tuna in the world prepared by a 5 star chef, I wouldn't eat it. I passed this one off to my mother, who thinks tuna is a daily staple. Her verdict? It's a little more mayonnaise-y than she likes, but she adds a dairy/protein serving worth of canned tuna to it and puts it over a salad. She saves the carb serving for later. She orders about eight of these a month, so it's definitely one of her favourites. I still won't eat it, though! So keep in mind that all these reviews are based on my palate; some things I love you might hate and vice versa. It's always best to try everything for yourself (twice!) to find out what you like.

So Close...

I'm getting so close to another major milestone... can't wait! Hopefully next week but we'll see. I was excited to see that I now have less than 50lbs to lose!

I lost 2lbs this week and I feel great. I'm trying to finish reviewing the current Nutrisystem menu ASAP so I can get on my next project, which will be Pumpkin Week! Stay tuned... I'll try to have recipes posted in time for American Thanksgiving!

How Did I Get Fat?

It's such a hurtful word- even now, at 27 years old and down over 70lbs, I still flinch when I hear it or think it. But it's true- I was fat. I still am fat. But at least I'm on the road to getting healthy!

Today though, I really started to wonder how I got this way. To go a little off topic, I love Starbucks' frappuccinos. I don't drink coffee, so I always got the blended creme ones which are sky high in calories and sugar. I had not had a single one since I started Nutrisystem on February 1st.

However, I love pumpkin- one of my vices during my pregnancy was Dairy Queen's pumpkin pie Blizzards. When I saw Starbucks' advertising a Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino, I instantly started craving one. Finally, today, I gave into that craving- I figured I'd have one and be done with it, and get right back on the wagon tomorrow.

So you must be wondering, if I loved stuff like frappuccinos, why am I wondering how I got fat? Well, the answer is that I took one sip of it and didn't really like it. I felt stupid for spending $5 on it. I had a few more sips and realized that I wasn't enjoying it, and I wasn't getting my money back whether I drank it or not, so why bother. I threw it away.

That makes two times that I've gone off program- this drink, and the pizza I wrote about before. Both times, I've found that it didn't taste as good as I remembered, and I was really disappointed that I made a poor decision and didn't get anything for it. Taste is acquired, and I no longer have one for fatty, salty, sugary food. I'd much rather have something that is healthy and weight loss friendly.

Eating healthier has really changed my taste buds and the way that I enjoy food. The things I used to like, that I psychologically think I like, I don't actually seem to anymore. They just aren't worth it to me. And that's the biggest reason why I know I will be successful at losing the weight this time and how I'll keep it off; I just don't want those things anymore and wonder how I could have eaten so much of them that I got this far overweight.

Keep it in mind next time you have a craving- it probably doesn't taste as good as you remember!

Scary Stats!

In honour of Hallowe'en, I have a few things that might be a little scarier to see than ghosts and witches on your doorstep!

Even when you're doing your best to stay on plan when you eat out, you might think that a food you are choosing is a good choice, without realizing how bad it really is for you. This is why I highly recommend researching restaurant menus and nutritional information before you go out, so you can find out what the truth really is. We've all ordered salads before only to find that they somehow managed to pack 1000+ calories in it!

I remember when I was trying to lose weight a few years ago, I went to the movies with my mom. We both wanted a treat and we were trying to decide between ordering a frozen yogurt or sharing a small bag of popcorn. We decided the popcorn would be more satisfying since it would take longer to eat, and since we'd skip the butter, it couldn't be that bad, right? Microwave popcorn is about 260 calories for 14 cups and that's a LOT of popcorn, so we thought this would be OK.

Imagine my surprise when I found myself up half a pound on my weigh in day that week. I was hoping it was just sodium retention, but it wasn't. Then I found this Nutrition Action article about movie snacks recently, and I wanted to share this information with you in case you make the same mistake.

It was really scary to read that depending on how they prepare their popcorn, even a small could have as much as 34g of saturated fat! Not total fat- just the bad kind! And the study found that movie theatres habitually serve a larger portion than they claim to, so who knows how many calories and fat grams you are actually ingesting?

My suggestion if you're going to a movie? Make your own yummy snack and bring it with you! If you have a carb serving, you can start with 3 cups of air popped popcorn (if not, you can still have 1 cup as a free food), then add Chocolate Rainbow Delights, your favourite dried fruit serving (I like blueberries), and your favourite nuts for a fat serving. If you want to bulk it up even more, add some soy nuts for a dairy/protein serving and make trail mix!

But the bottom line is, be educated about your decision. Sometimes you'll be happily surprised, like when that salmon salad has more calories than a personal vegetarian pizza!

Pencil Shavings

I always thought that line from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was hilarious- where Willy Wonka, being asked about breakfast cereal, says something like "Breakfast cereal? Who would want to eat that? Breakfast cereal is like those curly little shavings you find in pencil sharpeners!".

I've always kind of stuck to that, too. I don't drink milk so eating cereal has never really been part of my lifestyle. I did like Multigrain Cheerios dry as a snack, but never really as a breakfast item. It's not surprising that the Nutrisystem cereals are among the last of the items on my list to be reviewed. I'm plugging away, though!


Whole Grain O's Cereal (Breakfast):



These look like pretty deformed Cheerios, and have about as much flavour as those pencil shavings Mr Wonka was talking about. I could deal with eating them dry as a snack but I find them pretty lacking as a breakfast. They just don't feel as filling as some of the other options.


Nutricinnamon Squares Cereal (Breakfast):



I was expecting something more along the lines of a diet version of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, but saw this mixture instead. Now this, I think, would make a nice trail mix snack- add some raisins for your fruit, nuts for your fat, and maybe soy nuts for a dairy/protein serving. There was a nice cinnamon taste to the squares and the other bits had a satisfying crunch. Again though, I wouldn't want to eat it as cereal but may order it to have as a dessert replacement during the day.


Nutrifrosted Crunch Cereal (Breakfast):



This wasn't bad but it didn't have any qualities that stood out to me. I did eat it, but it didn't strike me as something I'd order again. It was pretty bland and boring.

Some More New Entrees

I made a list of how many of Nutrisystem's current offerings I still hadn't sampled, and was a little taken aback at how many there were! That doesn't even include the discontinued items that I have in my cupboard. So I am now on a mission to try them as quickly as possible.

I had some good surprises, and some not so good ones. But now at least I know!


Vegetarian Chili (Dinner):



This was surprisingly good- it has the same flavour as the Chili with Beans and I didn't even notice the missing meat. I probably wouldn't order it instead of the one with meat, simply because I like meat, but if you're looking for a vegetarian meal you won't go far wrong with this one.


Southwest Style Chicken (Dinner):



I figure that this discontinued meal was the precursor for the Southwest Style wrap. There do seem to be darn good reasons why it was discontinued, though! I used a fork in the dish so you could see there was indeed a large piece of chicken in there, but it was floating in so much liquid that it may as well have been a soup. There wasn't anything really wrong with the flavour of the sauce but there was just so much of it. Also, the texture of the chicken reminded me of bad '90s airplane food- rubbery and cardboard all at the same time. I am not sure if this is because the meal was past its date or if it really tasted that way back when it was on the menu, but I wouldn't have given it a second glance.


Homestyle Beef with Mashed Potatoes & Gravy (Dinner):



Now this was a pleasant surprise! I'm much more of a pasta person than a meat & potatoes person, as you can probably tell from the order in which I've been reviewing entrees! This meal doesn't look very photogenic but that is an enormous pile of mashed potatoes sitting in the middle of the sauce. It tasted a lot more like beef stew than gravy and I loved it. This one will definitely be on my auto delivery in the future.


Thai Style Noodles with Peanut Sauce and Tofu (Dinner):



Yeah... another entree that was discontinued for a reason! It did deliver a mild peanut taste and it was edible, but that's about it. It was bland and uninspired- those of you who enjoy Asian cooking know that it tends to have a great deal of flavour- this did not. I was disappointed since there are currently no Thai offerings on the NS menu, and in fact most of the Asian style meals are lacking.

Stall Broken!

There's a reason why Nutrisystem weight loss counselors tell you to weigh yourself only once a week! Since the day I cheated on my program, I've gotten into the very bad habit of daily weighing, and it is incredibly frustrating and demoralizing. There are natural fluctuations in your body weight during a week that may have nothing to do with what you ate or drank and you wouldn't even know about them if you just weighed yourself once a week like you're supposed to.

I've been gaining and losing the same three pounds it feels like every day for two weeks. On my weigh in days I was down, but during the week it would shoot back up again higher than what I weighed in at. I felt so frustrated and like I wasn't making any progress, though if you look at my ticker over the last 3 weeks you'll see I lost 3.8lbs, so there was definitely movement even if it's slowing down. And that included Matthew's birthday party and Thanksgiving!

I am definitely going back to once a week weighins because it's not worth the stress. I don't want to be brought down when I know I am doing well and succeeding! That's what matters... not the daily fluctuation on the scale.

New Ideas

I haven't tried any more new entrees yet but I do have some neat takes on meals I've already had that I wanted to share!


Italian Herb Flatbread Pizza (Dinner):



One of the things I used to love about Italian meals was having garlic breadsticks. I wasn't a big Olive Garden fan but I loved their breadsticks! Then I got a great idea- I made myself "pasta" with a spaghetti squash and topped it with green peppers, onions, tomatoes, and mushrooms, and saved a dairy for 1oz of cheese. Then I took an Italian Herb Flatbread pizza and brushed it with 1 tsp olive oil and fresh crushed garlic before warming it up. It was SO good and really kicked that craving! Maybe next time I will make dipping sauce with the oil and balsamic vinegar, or perhaps pesto. It's nice to have something a little different.

Keep in mind that the dieticians told me that the sauce and cheese are about 45 calories each. If you do track calories and choose to skip them, note that the entree will be 90 calories short. You could also use the cheese on the breadsticks if you wanted to, or on top of the pasta.


BBQ Sauce with Pork Wrap (Dinner):



This was just a quick fix- I used to make slow cooker BBQ pork with an Asian twist using hoisin sauce and ginger, among other items. I added a little diced ginger to the pork sauce while I was cooking it with peppers and onions, and then I put it on the wrap with a handful of broccoli slaw sprinkled with Asian Rice Wine Vinegar. It gave it a really great flavour and I loved the crunch- definitely more filling.


Grilled Chicken Breast (Dinner):



I'd written before about my Chicken Pizziola sandwich, and now I finally have a somewhat squished (since I toasted it in my Redi Set Go) photo to share with you. It is really good and definitely hits that craving.


Pancake Mix (Breakfast):



I really love my puff pan! On a suggestion from a commenter here, I tried my Cheesy Egg and Bacon biscuits with sausage instead of bacon, and I decided to make them puffs instead. As usual, the recipe made twice as many as are pictured but I get hungry so I usually eat the first batch! I really enjoyed this and it gave me an idea for another breakfast that I'm going to have to try soon. Just be careful not to overfill the wells since you still need to put the Egg Beaters on top and they'll spill out when the puffs rise if the puff well is too full- you can see mine were overfull.


Cinnamon Bun (Breakfast):



This looks really messy- I am probably not going to bother taking photos when I use Greek yogurt as a base because it's just not appealing looking.

I got this idea off the Nutrisystem boards. I cut up the Cinnamon Bun into little pieces and mixed them into a dairy serving of vanilla Greek yogurt and added a fruit serving of raisins, cinnamon, and Splenda Brown Sugar. It was really filling and I enjoyed it.


Chocolate Chip Scone (Breakfast):

No photo since it lacked visual appeal, but it was good enough to share! I cut the scone into little cubes and mixed it into vanilla Greek yogurt with a fruit serving of strawberries. There was so much breakfast and I loved the way it was creamy with chocolate and strawberry- a winning combination. And it seemed like so much!

And Some More New Stuff...

I have to start this off with a plug- I had this for a snack today and I was really impressed!

Sometimes my meals are a little erratic when my husband is out of town and my son isn't feeling well. He's cutting two new teeth so he needs a lot of my attention. So I found myself absolutely starving at 5pm and I needed something quick and easy. I decided to open a pack of GG Scandinavian Bran Crispbread and give it a try. I have to say that it didn't look very appetizing out of the package- just like big brown crackers. But they were large, and only 12 calories each so you can have 2 for a free food. I decided to use them to make a similar snack to my Turkey Herbed Crackers, and spread 1 tbsp of Philadelphia Low Fat Herb & Garlic cream cheese on them and used some fat free ham slices on top to make up the rest of my dairy serving. Sorry, no photo- I was really hungry!

Then I got busy getting the baby ready for bed and when I came downstairs at 7:30, I realized I wasn't hungry. I still felt full. I waited and waited but I just didn't get hungry! Finally at 8:30 I made my dinner since I know I need to eat it but I was amazed at how full those two little crackers made me. I really liked my turkey cracker snack but I would have been interested in my dinner if I had used plain crackers- the fiber in these crispbreads was amazing and I will definitely be using them in the future! I have also read that some people use them to make sandwiches- it says if you premake the sandwich and wrap it up in foil and refrigerate, the bread softens enough to be more sandwich-like. I haven't tried it yet but I may do so in the future.

And here are a couple more new reviews... I'm determined to review every single item that Nutrisystem offers!


Scrambled Eggs (Breakfast):



I was very dubious about these when I opened the package. I wasn't wild about the Egg Frittata so I didn't know if I'd enjoy these either. I decided to make these on the stove since I read on the NS boards that they tasted better that way instead of in the microwave. When I mixed in the water, I was even more dubious- there were little chunks that I couldn't beat out. I just gave up and poured it into the pan. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it did turn egg-y though! I decided to scramble it. I considered adding a serving of Egg Beaters for my dairy but figured I'd give them a try straight up so I could write a balanced review- I only added some black pepper.

They weren't bad! I'm not the world's biggest fan of eating straight Egg Beaters either (give me a real egg any day!) but the taste was pretty similar and there was a lot of egg to enjoy. However, I can see why they discontinued this item. It actually has only 80 calories and they don't suggest you add a carb- for the life of me I can't figure out why. Adding a low GI carb would bring it more in line with the average breakfast entree- as it is, the stats actually fit a dairy serving instead of a breakfast entree! I know that the plan is designed that you can eat any meal in each category and still come in the appropriate caloric range for your program, but if I had this meal followed by, say, the Creamy Caesar Salad Dressing with Diced Chicken, I'd probably be feeling sick by midafternoon because of the shortage of carbs (that's another entree that I can't fathom why they don't include croutons or something). So the verdict is that I would definitely eat these again, but I'd much rather have a sweet entree and add egg of my own if I'm in the mood for it so that I can have the best of both worlds.


BBQ Sauce Over Beef, Beans, & Rice (Dinner):



I expected this to be similar to the BBQ Sauce with Pork Wrap, but was a little surprised to find out that the sauce was different. It was a little less sweet, I think, although it's hard to say for sure without comparing both entrees side by side. I remembered thinking that I liked the sauce on the wrap better though.

However, I did enjoy this entree. The beef chunks were large and I liked the seasoning on the rice. It won't make my top ten list but I would definitely eat it again. It made a nice change from my usual favourites of pasta, pizza, and burgers!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know it's not a holiday for all of you but Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian readers. I meant to make a post earlier this week about my thoughts on "surviving" the holidays while on a weight loss plan, but I've been tired and busy and just haven't gotten around to it.

Tomorrow I am having my Thanksgiving dinner and I am really looking forward to it. Last night I was just thinking about how odd it is that family oriented celebrations have come to equal gluttony. I mean, it's common for people to joke about wearing their sweatpants to Thanksgiving dinner because they want more room to stuff themselves! Is it really that bad to be around family that we need to eat until we can't move?

Thinking about it- Thanksgiving should be a really easy meal to flex. At my family's Thanksgiving dinner, we have the usual items- roast turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, stuffing, mashed sweet potato/carrots/turnip, steamed green beans, maybe a salad, and some kind of dessert. It's not too difficult to make this into an NS friendly meal as long as you continue watching portion sizes. I plan on having 3oz of white meat turkey, a small serving of mashed potatoes made with fat free milk and margarine, a little gravy as a free food, some veggies, and I'll probably have a little stuffing as a treat, which will be my going off plan. For dessert, I plan on making my apple crisp which I think will go perfectly. So as long as I don't stuff myself, I think I'll be fine.

I understand that some families tend to go more casserole style with veggies instead of eating them plain and that can cause a problem because the additives can add up really fast. If you're going to another person's house for Thanksgiving, bring at least one healthy side dish that you can enjoy. If you're cooking of course, you control the menu. We've seen how small additions can make veggie dishes much more tempting without all the fat and calories.

I think the biggest disconnect is that our society expects eating to be a social occasion. When we get together with friends, we eat. When we go out, we eat. It's become an activity, not just nourishment. While I agree that food should be enjoyed- I don't think it needs to be the centre activity anymore when I'm seeing family or friends. I see them because I want to enjoy their company. I don't want to use a family celebration as an excuse to eat anymore.

Whatever decision you make- whether you stick to your program or decide to have your favourite dishes, I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving and lots of things in your life to be thankful for.

I love Men's Health Magazine!

I know this isn't a new entree but I made it for dinner tonight and it was SO good I wanted to share it immediately

My husband subscribes to Men's Health and I think I read it more than he does. Not only does it actually have interesting articles but there's almost always a few great recipes in it- and frequently they can be made NS friendly with only a little tweaking!

I definitely recommend you give this recipe a try- I think it's going to become a new favourite!


Macaroni and Cheese (Dinner):



Grown Up Mac & Cheese:

1 pkg Nutrisystem Macaroni & Cheese
2 oz cooked ham, cubed
3 tbsp ricotta cheese
1/4 cup winter squash, cubed (I used butternut)
1 tbsp breadcrumbs seasoned with Italian spices
1 tsp olive oil
pepper

Prepare the Macaroni & Cheese according to package directions. Cover and set aside. Spray a pan with PAM and cook the squash until it softens, add the ham cubes. When the ham is heated through, add the ricotta cheese. When the macaroni noodles are soft (all the liquid doesn't have to be gone yet) pour it into the pan and stir well. Add pepper to taste. Pour the pasta into a baking dish. In a small bowl mix the breadcrumbs and oil and sprinkle them over top of the pasta. Bake in the oven for about ten minutes at 400 degrees.

The squash went perfectly with the flavours. Next time I may add onions as well but this was great the way it was.

More New Reviews

I'm continuing my quest to try everything Nutrisystem has to offer... even the stuff that doesn't sound good to me. I'm really surprised at how many things there are left for me to sample! Their menu doesn't really look that big but I guess it is bigger than I thought it was.

Here are some more new entree reviews.


Berries and Multigrain Flakes (Breakfast):



Again, not really a cereal person but I like fruit so I thought, maybe this one will be OK. Well, where are the berries? I think there was maybe two chunks of berry in the whole bowl. As for the rest of it, it was just regular cereal... it was edible but I didn't really care for it at all.


Cranberry Granola Bar (Breakfast):



I was apprehensive about this as well since Nutrisystem has a pretty bad track record in my opinion with granola bars- the chocolate chip one is the only one I find palatable. Although this one actually does have chunks of cranberry in it (unlike the Apple Granola Bar), it still tasted not quite right to me. And aside from that, if I'm having a grab and go breakfast, I'd much rather have a pastry than a granola bar- it's just more psychologically satisfying in my opinion.


Cajun Style Chicken and Sausage with Rice (Dinner):



I saved a protein serving to make this into jambalaya! I chopped up onions and green peppers and faux fried them in a pan sprayed with PAM, and added Aylmer Accents Spicy Red Pepper tomatoes, Old Bay seafood spice, and 3oz of fresh shrimp. It made a huge bowl and it was pretty good. I think I need to add more spice next time because I like my jambalaya to have a bite to it and this was still on the bland side but we can work with that. When I was eating it, for some reason I was thinking it wouldn't make me full, but it did. My only question is, where was the sausage? The chicken chunks were plentiful but I don't think I got even a single piece of sausage, or if I did I couldn't taste it. This won't make my favourites list but I would eat it again.

New Reviews

So, I started my experiment of trying ALL the entrees- even the ones that I'm a little dubious of. It has been a little hit or miss, but at least I know now and I'm not avoiding them! And besides, it frees up some cupboard space for the entrees that I do enjoy.

Three Cheese Pasta with Chicken (Dinner):



This one's been hanging around since I was on the Canadian site back in February! I did try it once a long time ago but forgot to review it at the time, and it wasn't all that great then so I hadn't really been looking forward to eating it again. I avoided the lunch version as well since I was afraid it would be similar but was happily surprised by the new entree.

The dinner version? Well... it tasted to me like a "diet" version of Kraft dinner with rubbery chicken chunks and dehydrated vegetables. Since the NS Macaroni and Cheese is so good, I was surprised at how disappointing this was. Maybe that's why it was discontinued! It was edible, but I would never order it even if it was available.


Turkey Tetrazzini (Dinner):



I avoided this one for a long time because it got almost uniformly negative reviews on the Nutrisystem boards. However, I've learned the lesson that it's important to try everything for yourself, because everyone has different tastes. An entree you hate is probably someone else's favourite (case in point- I love the veggie fajita and that gets awful reviews, too).

I was surprised by this entree- not only is it one of the lowest calorie dinners, but it's quite tasty! Many NS meals have the meat shredded, but this one had nice big chunks of turkey and the sauce was quite flavourful. It looked creamy but tasted more broth based. I bet this would make a great soup with chicken stock + veggies. This won't make my top ten list, but I would definitely eat it again.


Whipped Sweet Potatoes with Cheese (Lunch):



This entree has been long gone, but I managed to get hold of one and figured I'd give it a try. It was definitely past its best before date but I figured, hey, it's powdered and dehydrated- how bad can it be?

Well... this one kind of made me realize that perhaps I should soon end my search for discontinued entrees because they are just getting too old to safely consume. It is food, after all, and the last thing I want to do is make myself sick. This entree is pretty much exactly like the Cheesy Homestyle Potatoes- add boiling water to the fill line, cover, and serve. What you see in the photo is the result- it just didn't look right so I decided that discretion was the better part of valour and it ended up in the trash can. Honestly, I was more curious about how the flavour would be since sweet potatoes and cheese seems like an odd pairing to me, but I guess I'll never know!


White Cheddar Soy Chips (Dessert):



I liked the Sour Cream & Onion Soy Chips, so I was expecting to like these and I wasn't surprised. They taste just like mini rice cakes with seasoning on them. I am more of a sweets girl than a salty one but every once in a while, these really hit the spot. I definitely recommend giving them a try.

Garfield as a role model?

I got this comic in my email today and thought it was appropriate to share.



Garfield has been resisting diets for decades because of the lasagna he loves so dearly (maybe if he tried my NS friendly dish he wouldn't be so averse to it!). Of course, since he's a cartoon character, he's probably never going to have a heart attack, or a stroke, or diabetes.

I just found the comic funny because I think some items in restaurants SHOULD have skull and crossbones on them because of what they are doing to you! I used to love eating at the Pickle Barrel, a delicious chain restaurant. My favourite entree there, Baby Shrimp and Crab Pasta (which even comes with whole wheat pasta!) has over 1500 calories and 85 grams of fat, most of it saturated! Have you read this Men's Health article (I love that magazine, my husband gets it) about the 20 Worst Foods in America? Nobody needs to eat like that. As we're all finding out, food can taste good without being full of fat, salt, and sugar.

So, the choice is yours- who is your role model? For now, I'll stick with Marie Osmond and Dan Marino!

I should have known better by now...

Always wait at least a day between having something like soda that makes you retain water and weighing in! I was so disappointed about my weigh in yesterday that I sneaked on the scale this morning to see if I really did miss meeting my goal.

And the result? I made it to 70.4lbs lost! Wahoo! I don't normally count middle of the week weighins because I like to use Sundays as my official day, but it made me feel really good to see that I did achieve the goal I wanted to, and I was really proud and wanted to share it with you.

So I won't be adjusting my ticker until the weekend but I wanted to let you know that I'll have a new bear on the way!

Oh, and here's a new photo of me and my son that I wanted to share- I got SO many compliments on Facebook when I posted this one! I guess it's finally noticeable that I've lost some weight :)

Birthday Party

I still can't believe my baby turned one yesterday. Where did the time go? A guest took a nice photo of our family but I don't have a copy of it yet- I'll share it when I do.

I got so many compliments on my weight loss- that made me feel really good. I am back to not having a lot to wear but given how short a period of time I've had my "new" jeans for, it feels so wasteful to buy new clothes! At least it's winter and I can wear bulky stuff and not look out of place, but I really don't want to anymore. Oh well- by this time next year I'll be able to wear whatever I want.

The party was a success- my son had a wonderful time and was spoiled rotten, lots of people came to celebrate him, and there was lots of good food and good company. Most of the food was health conscious and everyone still enjoyed it. Parties don't have to be full of grease! We served chicken and pork shish kebabs, prime rib beef burgers (those were big so were a little high in calories), my macaroni salad and squash fries, and a fresh fruit tray and a veggie tray with dip made from FF sour cream and Hidden Valley Ranch powder. The cake was also made at a special bakery- it was gluten free and made with organic ingredients- no refined sugars or white flour. It was actually pretty good as far as cakes go- not too sweet but still yummy.

Instead of having one of the prime rib burgers, I made myself a Nutrisystem Flame Broiled Beef Patty on a Weight Watchers roll, and I enjoyed some of the macaroni salad and squash fries for my lunch. I did eat not one but two slices of Matthew's birthday cake, but I'm OK with the decision I made, especially since I avoided eating other bad stuff. And of course, today I am back on the wagon.

Here's the birthday boy with his first taste of cake! I actually wasn't all that surprised to see he didn't care for it- he doesn't have much of a sweet tooth. I hope he stays that way as he gets older.



I'm a little disappointed to finish down only 0.6lb this week, but I'm still really happy with my progress and hopefully I'll gear up for a big week next week and earn my 70lb bear!

I still have a few more Fruit Week recipes to share, but my husband is going out of town tomorrow and I don't spend as much time cooking when he's away because I'm tired. Those are the times when I'm more of a "heat and eat" girl! So I'm going to save those recipes to try later and my next plan is to go ahead and eat as many as I can of the items in my cupboard that I haven't tried yet. I've been on Nutrisystem for 8 months now and there are still many items on their menu I haven't eaten! My plan is to review them all so I'd better get to it!