A New thing in a New Year (no pictures...)

You guys...I just want to post this because we are proud of ourselves...

This week Alan and I have cooked at home every night.  We've had fabulous meals with leftovers for Alan to take to work.  I've stayed within my weight watchers points and my stomach hasn't been upset (except for little bits here and there...thanks a ton IBS).

Here's what we made...

Monday, January 12, 2015 - Tacos
Alan was finishing up his month and year end stuff at work and I had a meeting in Sherman, so we decided to go pretty quick and easy for dinner.  I used ground turkey (I find I prefer it over the beef) and I forgot to pick up a taco seasoning packet, but I had some Tex-Mex rub (Pampered Chef spice) that I used instead.  We had whole wheat tortillas, onions, salsa, sour cream and cheese for toppings and away we went.  We made it, ate it, and cleaned it up in record time!
For the weight watcher type, it was 7 points for 2 tacos.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - Chicken Fried Rice
Nothing pressing to do at home tonight, other than clean up our room and closet -- those places become a mess soooo quickly!  I'm planning to try a Pampered Chef recipe that I found in my stash of cookbooks.  It actually calls for pork, but Alan and I both agreed, we prefer chicken.  I don't think it will take too long to make and when I calculated points it was 8 per serving, but I'm thinking since it will have chicken instead of pork it might be less..I'll let you know!  If we get everything cooked and cleaned up in the kitchen AND in our room, we might hang a few pictures. EEK!

Wednesday, January 14, 2015 - Shepherd's Pie
Truly a favorite in our house!  I used ground turkey again.  I browned it and added onions and frozen veggies.  Then we added our 'Savoury Mince' packet that I picked up in Ireland (gonna have to get some more of that!) and let it simmer.  Then put in my stoneware baker (Pampered Chef) and put mashed potatoes (just potatoes...no butter, no milk, no nothing....it's an Irish thing) and some cheese on my part (Alan won't eat it).  Into the oven for a bit and VOILA, Shepherd's Pie.  It was like 10 points for a HUGE serving and I couldn't finish it!  I ended up with 2 points leftover for the day...

Thursday, January 15, 2015 -- Leftovers
This is one of my favorite nights of the week! This LeaAunt went to see her 9Peas (though only 7 were there...2 aren't home anymore)!  We had a sausage, spinach, black bean, potato soup that was SOOOOO good.  SO GOOD.  I decided it was 10 points for that I ate and then I ate 2 oatmeal chocolate chip cherry cookies.  I decided that were probably 3 ish, but that left me with a point....so I did what anyone would do...I ate another! :) Oh well, 2 points over is ok!  Alan ate the leftover Shepherd's pie.  After eating, Kathy and I get to girl talk the night away...I love this part of my week!

Friday, January 16, 2015 - Fajitas
We used to go out to eat on Friday nights and eat Fajitas at a Mexican food place in Sherman.  This week I thought perhaps we could just make our own.  We have some friends coming over because we are babysitting for them and they may eat with us before they go. I will make chicken fajitas in the microwave in 15 minutes.  They will be juicy and yummy!  We will use the same sides as earlier this week (based on our personal preferences).  Then we will play with our friend for the night and all go to bed.  I suspect that Alan and our little buddy will have donuts in the morning, but it is more likely that I will have oatmeal or a cereal bar. :)

Saturday, January 17, 2015 - Chicken Casserole
Tomorrow night we will have our wonderful friends, The Byrd's, over for dinner.  When they come over we use our China (we only have 4 place settings so we each get one and we eat fancy.  The menu may or may not be 'fancy' but it will be yummy!  I am making our famous family recipe: Chicken Casserole.  It's so easy (once you prepare the chicken) and SOOOOO yummy!  I am going to ask Cynthia to bring a fruit salad and will likely do green beans to go with it.  Then I don't know what I will do for a dessert.  After dinner we will brew some tea and enjoy ourselves while drinking yummy teas!

Sunday, January 17, 2015 - Lunch out
I get an extra 49 points a week on top of my daily allotment.  I'm down to 43 and will likely be at 40 by Sunday, but that's ok!  Last week we ate at Cotton patch and I had like 55 points or something...crazy - but yummy!  That said, we will eat out for lunch, wherever our little hearts desire.  I will *try* to be good-ish.  Then we will have leftovers or fruit smoothies for dinner.  This is also when we will plan for next week and shop.

There ya have it -- a whole week of cooking...and I'm excited about what we can do for next week.  I'm feeling a pot roast coming on....