I saw another recipe on Facebook and decided to try it. Sugar Free Banana Muffins. It would be banana bread if you put it in a loaf pan instead of muffin tins. I wasn’t terribly impressed with them – although when they were warm and right out of the oven, they were pretty good. But they’re also on the dry side – just a little – which is not how muffins should be.
The base is a sugar free yellow cake mix. Then use very ripe bananas, eggs, and sugar-free chocolate chips.
I like these baking chips. It comes out to just a few chips per muffin. So I chopped them in order to spread out the chocolatey goodness more.
The muffins turned out more cakey than I prefer. I’m going to add some unsweetened applesauce next time to try to change the consistency and moistness.
Almost 6 weeks into WW – And here is a photo taken yesterday on my 71st birthday. Same photo – one is just cropped. I am posting the photos so that I can see changes as time passes.
I just made some delicious chili – and it’s less than 1 WW/Blue point per serving. The recipe is at the end of this post.
Once you have your ingredients assembled, this chili takes about 10 minutes to put together, and then you’re free to do something else while it simmers on the stove. Although it is less than 1 point per servings, I log it as 1 point to make sure I cover all my bases. I’ve used ground turkey to make 0 point chili, and that’s good. However, the beef gives it a little more flavor and more traditional chili taste. I’m willing to use a point for that!
Quick & Easy Chili
1 lb. Lean Ground Beef (96% Lean)
1 qt. beef broth
3 cans diced tomatoes
4 cans beans (I use the Tri-Blend that Kroger sells – but most any bean will do – black beans, pinto, kidney, navy, great Northern, etc.)
Dried diced onions, bell peppers, celery, garlic (to taste) I get these at an Amish store near us. I keep plenty in my pantry because they make meal prep so much easier. However, you can also substitute fresh veggies instead.
Seasonings: salt, pepper, chili powder (to taste)
Brown the ground beef in a large pot. No oil or cooking spray is needed. Then dump everything else in. The amounts for the vegetables and seasonings depend on your taste. Cover and simmer for about 45 minutes, and it is ready to go.
I went through my points faster than usual today, and by dinner time, I had 3 points left. I try not to dip into my weekly points, and so I thought of a quick meal for 3 points.
I sprayed a small frying pan with butter-flavored PAM. Then, in a bowl, I mixed 3 eggs with salt and pepper and 2 tablespoons of fat free Greek yogurt (0 points for all that). (Note: I always add something like yogurt or sour cream to scrambled eggs or if I’m making an omelet. As the yogurt/sour cream heats up, it releases steam which makes the eggs fluffier). On a small dish, I measured out exactly 1 tablespoon of shredded cheddar cheese (1 point), and removed the packaging of one laughing cow light Swiss cheese triangle (1-point). I very finely chopped a little bit of fresh onion (about 2 Tablespoons), and chopped up a fresh tomato – I removed the seeds and used a paper towel to pat it dry. I added the onion and tomato to the small dish with the cheeses. I toasted one slice of light bread (1 point). In the photo below, I used a small dessert plate. The quantities look larger than they are. The shredded cheese is exactly 1 tablespoon.
I turned the oven to broil. Then, on the stove, I cooked the egg in a frying pan like I would an omelet – using the spatula to move the cooked portion to the middle, letting the uncooked egg fill in the spaces – going round and round the frying pan. I kept the heat fairly low so the egg wouldn’t brown. Once it was mostly cooked, I sprinkled the onion, tomato, and cheeses on top, popped it under the oven broiler and let it finish cooking.
I guess that makes it a frittata. Ha! It was absolutely delicious. Yum yum!! Great meal – very quick – only 3 points – very tasty – very filling.
I’ve been wanting to make pumpkin muffins with a chocolate cake mix. However, none of the local stores I tried had sugar-free chocolate cake mixes. So I ordered some from Amazon. Here is the result. They’re 3 points each on the WW Blue plan. Unlike the ones I made with a SF yellow cake mix, these taste like chocolate – not like pumpkin. These are definitely another win!
Again, I added to the 2 ingredients. I dumped the cake mix and the 15-ounce can of pumpkin into a mixing bowl. Then I added two eggs – to increase the protein value and to also make the batter less stiff. I used a hand mixer to blend it well. It filled the 12 cupcake paper well and rose nicely in the oven.
So my recipe is: a Pillsbury Sugar Free Devil’s Food cake mix, one 15-ounce can of 100% pure pumpkin, and 2 eggs. Blend well. Divide evenly between 12 cupcake tins. Bake about 20-22 minutes in a 350 degree oven. I ate one tonight, and so did Ron. I will leave out a couple to eat for breakfast tomorrow. The rest I will wrap individually and freeze for treats in the next couple weeks. They’re really tasty!
Tonight’s dinner was straight from the farm stand – except for the tuna. The ONLY points came from the light mayonnaise I used in the tuna salad. I also used a little Fage plain Greek yogurt in order to limit the amount of mayo. It was a delicious dinner – and I couldn’t finish it all.
I made these pumpkin muffins tonight because I happened to have the ingredients already on hand – and, more importantly, I had exactly 3 points left and I wanted something sweet and baked. These were REALLY good. The batter is very thick so it doesn’t spread out in the cupcake liner. You have to take the spoon and kinda spread it out.
The recipe that is shared so much on the WW Facebook pages just has the pumpkin and cake mix. However, I had a large can of pumpkin – so I added a little extra pumpkin and put the rest in the refrigerator for something else. I decided to add an egg (since that is a zero point WW food) to help the muffins rise better since I added extra pumpkin. I also wanted to make the batter a little less thick.
Pumpkin Muffins (3 WW blue points each) *****
1 can pure pumpkin (15 oz.)
1 Pillsbury sugar-free yellow cake mix
1 egg
optional: Spices, to taste (cinnamon, allspice, cloves)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 12-count muffin tin with cupcake liners.
Dump all ingredients into a large mixing bowl and mix well.
Divide batter evenly between the 12 muffins.
Bake for about 25 minutes.
So now I have 11 muffins left over. I plan to put a couple in the refrigerator for tomorrow and Saturday. Then I will individually freeze the others for a quick and sweet treat in the coming week or two. Ron may want to try them out, too.
I give this recipe 5 stars. Now I’m anxious to try it with a chocolate cake mix. Supposedly it ends up being almost brownie-like – and that sounds wonderful to me.
I have voices inside my head. We all do. Mine can be quite mean! I find myself muttering things like, “That was stupid!” “Why on earth did you do that?!” “You fat slob!” I still worry and obsess at times about things I did when I was a child – a teen – a young wife and mother. I think about what I “should” have or “should not” have done or said. Guilt sometimes seems to be the leading emotion of my psyche. I’m unkinder and harsher to myself than I would ever be to anyone else.
In the past few years I’ve thought a lot about “grace” – specifically extending grace to others. However, I also want to extend grace to myself. I know I’m doing my best. I know I have struggles and areas of weakness.
At various times over the past five years I’ve gone to a therapist – Melinda. She helped me a lot. She stopped doing therapy this past winter. So I won’t be returning to her. One time several years ago she said that I seemed to lack “affect.” I wasn’t sure what she meant, and I asked her to elaborate. She said that I seemed unemotional – didn’t get excited or upset about much at all. I’m paraphrasing what she said. I imagine when I described some of the unpleasant situations of my life, I didn’t appear upset about them. When I got home, I looked it up: “As nouns, the difference between emotion and affect is that emotion is a person’s internal state of being and involuntary physiological response to an object or situation, based on or tied to physical state and sensory data while affect is one’s mood or inclination; mental state.” My affect: I’ve learned to do my best to keep my outward emotions in check and neutral. I don’t see that as necessarily a bad thing. It is the way I am. As a teacher, it was important not to over-react. One of the classroom management techniques I learned was that as a class got louder, if I started talking softly, everyone would strain to listen; whereas if I tried to talk above the noise, the noise tended to get louder. I was able to get the class’s attention more quickly by whispering. As excitement rose, I purposefully grew calmer (at least outwardly). I have dealt with emotionally volatile people, and I’ve learned that it is important to do my best to stay calm and not respond emotionally since that only escalates a situation. So I work hard to keep emotions in check – to keep calm – to keep my feelings hidden. I’ve had the experience of having my words, facial expressions, and actions misinterpreted – sometimes with the worst possible intentions applied. So I have worked to keep everything neutral. That’s me – and it can be good, and it can be bad. And perhaps that is part of the reason I’m not particularly kind to myself. With myself, I can let all the emotion out. I can say what I want to say without repercussions.
I’ve been working on being kinder to myself – treating myself with the courtesy and kindness I treat other people. I want to give myself the grace I extend to others.
So I have always had a sensitive stomach. I’d get nauseated easily, have diarrhea multiples times a day, and deal with diverticulitis a few times a year. Often after a meal, I’d need to sit or lie down to rest in order to handle the stomach issues I’d have immediately after eating – or else I’d have to rush to the bathroom. Although I have my binges and lapses, in general, I’ve never been a terrible eater. I eat mostly healthy – just way too much with lots of snacking in between meals. Observation: Since beginning Weight Watchers again on July 19th, I have not had many of those issues. Definitely my stomach issues have calmed down to a great extent. I still have lots of snacks, but the snacks are mostly fruit. I still have to poop multiple times a day – but it’s 3-5 times a day instead of 9-10 – most of the time. Yesterday morning, the two youngest granddaughters (who had spent the night with us) wanted to take a walk to the end of our driveway and back. I was able to easily walk with them. The big hill coming back to the house was a challenge, but I handled it okay and didn’t have to stop to rest along the way. Food for thought. And another reason to continue with Weight Watchers.
I wanted a way to look at my goals as a “big picture” thing rather than getting hung up on whether or not I lose weight in my weekly weigh-ins. I thought a monthly tracker would be good. So I found this graphic that I liked. I love the colors and the soft and simple look of it. The first of each month, I will publish a post with my monthly and cumulative totals. I started WW on July 19, 2020. So the July total is for a week and 5 days.
I want to give myself a year to lose the weight I need to lose. No rush. It’s about making healthy eating and living a HABIT.
The new Weight Watchers plan – Green, Blue, and Purple plans – seems so much easier than before. I’m on the Blue plan. WW matched me with the Green plan, but after just a couple days, I knew that Blue was a better fit and switched to it.
A couple years ago, I read a booked titled Atomic Habits. It made a big impression on me. The book showed how developing small habits have a cumulative effect over time – like compound interest on money. So I’ve been trying to develop some healthy atomic habits.
Living Real With Carol 