Oh, my! I lost a whole Kate!

My niece Kate comes over once a week so my husband Bob can give her piano lessons and so she can help me out around the house. She is an awesome pianist and in the past two years has improved dramatically.

Besides listening to her beautiful music, I really enjoy her help. She is very versatile and helps me do everything from dusting, to stickering my Sonlight catalogs and cards, to beveling my homemade soap, to making  soap balls and helping me bake cookies.

She is also an amazing cookie tester! One time she and her sister Evelyn and I made chocolate covered oreos-and then she was more like a chocolate covered Kate. Nice as always, but a bit sweeter.

Well, today we hit a milestone. Kate weighs 55 pounds and I have now lost 55 pounds, so I lost a whole Kate! Here we are together today. I don't know how I could have stood walking up and down stairs and doing all the tasks I do with a whole Kate added onto to my body--but I did it for years!

I am much happier having Kate stand in front of me and helping me than I was having her strapped to my back. [Not really you understand, but it is still something that I could have lost a whole girl and still have my whole self left!]

So, today was a red letter day. I lost a whole Kate and still have the real Kate to enjoy and love and watch grow into a wonderful young woman. I am a very blessed woman.

Take care,
Jill

Do you do Facebook?

I would love if you would come and like my Paths to Learning Facebook Page.

Thanks,
Jill

I made a wood tote...

 We have a wood stove at our cottage and Bob cut and split  a bunch of wood this summer and fall. Then he stacked it on some patio blocks next to our walk out basement patio.

So, when we go out the farm, he brings it in the basement and then brings up the wood he put in the basement last week for me to make a fire.

But, wood is messy and when he brings up a few logs they make a mess and are used up quickly. We needed something to tote the wood in that would confine the mess as well.

I took a pair of my old jeans and sewed the legs together so that they were like one heavy duty piece. Then, I ran some nylon rope through each leg and out the top. I burned the ends of the rope so it wouldn't ravel, tied a good knot, then pulled the rope so the knot would be in one of the legs.

I then sewed across each end a couple of times so the rope handle is sewed tightly so it won't come undone. I have a pretty heavy sewing machine, but if you don't, you can sew this by hand using heavy thread.

 You can see how the top and bottom look in these photos.

 Then Bob just lays out the jean carrier and piles the wood on top. He can take more than this, but this is just to give you an idea.

 Then, he pulls up the two handles and carries it upstairs.

When he lays it down, the dirt, bark pieces and so on are all contained in the carrier and can be shaken out outside.

Very neat and it only took me about 1/2 hour to make out of old jeans and some rope. I ideally a larger gauge of rope would be nicer, but he isn't carrying it far and this is what we  had.

This has been a great invention for us and keeps the family room neat and clean. Also, it can hang on a peg or hook or just be tossed in a bucket when you aren't using it.

Take care,
Jill

Another tasty recipe...

Bob was out of town for overnight so tonight I only had to feed myself. I LOVE chicken so I decided to try this healthy recipe from Marilyn S., a friend of mine.

Bruschetta chicken [on the lower part of the photo]. I added a smashed baked potato with broccoli, cheese and sour cream and had a wonderful meal.

The potato was two organic yellow potatoes which together weighed 7 oz, raw. I poked them with a fork and nuked them in my microwave for 3 minutes. Then before serving I smashed them with a cup and peeled away the top bit of skin. I topped them with some left over broccoli, low fat cheese and 1 T of low fat sour cream. For Weight Watchers, that is 5 pp+ for the potato, 0 for the sour cream and I used 1 oz total of the low fat cheese for the potato and the chicken, so that is 2 points for that.

For the chicken, I put my Carhartt sweatshirt on and went out and fired up the grill. It was starting to rain so I am glad we are KY hicks and have our grill on our covered front porch.

For one person:
 1 boneless-skinless chicken breast, pounded slightly to even out thickness marinated in 1T Italian dressing. I used fat free Italian [it is what I had on hand] and added 1 tsp olive oil to it and put it all in a zip lock bag. Marinate at least 10 minutes. My chicken weighed 7 oz raw, so that is 6 pp+ total, 5 for the chicken and 1 for the healthy fat.

Bruschetta topping--Mix together in bowl:
1/2 - 1 tomato, finely chopped {I used a whole Roma}
2T oz mozzarella cheese {I used low fat and used 1 oz total for potato and chicken combined}
1T chopped fresh basil
garlic powder--optional

Heat grill to med [around 350 degrees] and cover 1/2 with foil sprayed with PAM.  Put chicken on uncovered 1/2 of grill and cook 6 minutes with the lid down. Turn chicken over onto the foil and top with the Bruchetta topping, grill with lid down for 8 minutes more until done.  I just used my timer and set it for the appointed minutes and didn't peek. It was done perfectly when the timer went off.

My total meal: 13 WW Points plus, and that included 1 healthy oil, a couple of veggies, lean protein and tasted great. It was also a LOT of food and was incredibly filling.

Enjoy,
Jill

Brownie Batter Pancakes...

  I have been looking for new recipes that are low fat and tasty and came across this recipe on Chocolate Covered Katie . I made some this morning and decided I would make a few changes, but this was a fun and delicious way to enjoy breakfast. This is for one large serving and it is 4 Weight Watcher Points+, but that includes 1/3 serving of milk. So, drink 2/3 cup milk and for 5 points you have breakfast and get in one dairy. I topped mine with a sliced banana and 1 tsp maple syrup. The banana adds some fiber and really fills you up.

Brownie Batter Pancakes

Servings: 1 • Size: 6-8 silver-dollar pancakes  4 WW Points+
Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup flour [3 pts]
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp baking soda [if using buttermilk or yogurt]
• 1 Tbsp Hershey’s Special Dark unsweetened cocoa powder (or dutch cocoa)
• 1  tsp sugar pinch of salt (optional)
• 1 1/2 Tbsp unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/3 C skim milk, non fat yogurt, nondairy milk of your choice [1 pt]

Directions:

Mix dry ingredients very well, then add wet and stir in with a fork till everything is mixed together. Spray a medium hot frying pan with PAM [I like to use cast iron] and fry small bits of batter at a time. I did mine in about 2-3 batches and sprayed lightly between batches. There are only 130 calories in this entire recipe.  I add once sliced banana and 1 tsp maple syrup or  you could add 1 tsp of Hershey's chocolate syrup [no points] and omitted the sugar in the recipe. 2T of canned [under pressure] whipped cream would be wonderful and adds no points.

Take Care,

Jill

I am Billy...

 I have been walking every day, trying to increase my fitness level while reducing my weight. When I got stuck in my weight loss a couple of weeks back I decided I really needed to get serious about more exercise.

Instead of just doing the same route every day, I decided I would walk a certain amount of time. With Weight Watchers, I need to walk fast [3-5 mph] for 11 minutes to earn one activity point. With trepidation I increased my goal  from 12 to 21 points a week.

So far, so good. I walk like mad and then look and see how long I have been walking. I don't have a pedometer because everyone I have ever had has either dropped off my pants, landed in the toilet, been stepped or sat on. They just don't stay on all day and if I am going to use one I like to use the step counter feature and keep it on all day. [Do you know that when I am working in the Sonlight booth at convention I log around 10 miles in one day!]

At any rate this week I found a neat tracking tool on www.sparkpeople.com. I put in my zip code and can plot the route I took that day, put in the number of minutes and my weight and it tells me how far I walked, the rate of speed and how many calories I burned. It is very encouraging to see that I burn around 400 calories a day-and truth be told, probably more because of  all the hills around here.

The funny thing is, my route looks exactly like the one that Billy made above. I just about get home, look at the timer in my pocket and realize that I need to go 8 more minutes. So, I backtrack, maybe walk up and over the bridge over the rail road tracks, then come back. Or I walk all the way to the Veteran's Center, backtrack, then walk out by the college and around town, stopping at the IGA to pick up bananas or onions or something. 

So, I am Billy. Inquisitive, going where I will, and burning 400 or more calories a day in the process. Life is kind of like a circus, after all.

Low Fat Moist Scones...

I mentioned before that I love scones and also that I am on Weight Watchers and that I love to bake. Today I really wanted a scone so I modified a recipe I had and made some fantastic, low fat, low point orange-chocolate chip scones that are chewy and delicious.

A lot of  people don't like scones because many are dry and not very tasty. These are moist, a bit chewy [at least when warm] and are bursting with flavor.


I made a small recipe, but you could easily double this.

Orange-Chocolate Chip Scones

5 scones, 4 WW+ points; 7 scones, 3 WW+ points [I cut mine into 5 pieces]

Put these ingredients into a small mixing bowl and stir to combine:

• 1/2 C baking flour
• 1/2 C whole wheat flour
• 2T white sugar [you may want to save out 1 tsp to sprinkle on top just before baking]
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• zest of one small orange or 1/2 tsp dried orange peel
• 1/4 C mini chocolate chips

Make a well in the center of the bowl and add the yogurt and stir till it makes a ball. May be sticky.

• 1/2 C -5/8C fat free vanilla or plain yogurt. {I used organic Trader Joe French Vanilla Yogurt}

Mixture will be sticky. Put some flour on your counter top and turn dough onto floured surface, turning a few times to make it so it isn't so sticky. Form into a ball, then pat down till it is about 7" in diameter, about 1" thick. Cut into 5 or 7 wedges and then place the wedges on a greased baking sheet.  If you reserved a1 tsp of sugar, sprinkle it on now. [I put the dough on the baking sheet, then cut and separate the wedges so they are about 1" apart, no edges touching.]

Bake about 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve with hot tea or cold milk.


You can vary this recipe, leaving out the chocolate chips. If you leave out the chocolate chips you can reduce points by 1 per scone. You could add fresh berries, well drained, you could leave out chips and orange peel and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. You could add dried fruit like cherries or cranberries. This basic recipe can be used a lot of ways.