Shrinking Sisters

Revolution Friday: What's your favorite breakfast?

Today's tip is from celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak: Breakfast is the best way to start your day. Make sure every breakfast has a low-fat protein and a fibrous carbohydrate. Even a bowl of healthy cereal with non-fat milk and some berries is a great way to get started in the right way.

From me: Today's breakfast is what I'd call the "Weight Loss Blogger Special": A packet of low-sugar Quaker oatmeal mixed with a scoop of vanilla whey protein, a tablespoon of ground flax, a tablespoon of chopped walnuts, a giant dash of cinnamon and 6 ounces of almond milk. (Talk about healthy stereotyping, huh?) Lots of fiber, protein and healthy fats, and yes it did taste good -- thanks for asking!

Do you have a favorite breakfast?

The Revolution features a team of experts that will help complete transformations in all areas of life including body, health, style, mind and environment by providing tips and tools to motivate viewers and serve as a catalyst for change. Featuring design expert Ty Pennington; style guru Tim Gunn; celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak; OB-GYN Dr. Jennifer Ashton; and therapist Dr. Tiffanie Davis Henry. The Revolution airs weekdays at 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT on ABC. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter (@TheRevolution). For more information, visit www.abc.com/therevolution. (We were not compensated for these posts; we just like the show!)

A Thanksgiving gift: A zero Point cranberry sauce recipe

Doesn't matter whether you're doing Weight Watchers or not -- if you're looking for ways to cut calories painlessly at the Thanksgiving meal, cranberry sauce is a good place to start.

Homemade cranberry sauce is always better than the canned goo, and it's really easy to make. Make it the day before (today!) so that it'll set up for tomorrow's meal.

Here's a recipe for Cran-Blue Cranberry Sauce that, if you are following Weight Watchers, has zero PointsPlus values. If you do choose to add some real sugar, then adjust the Points as needed, but here's the recipe:

Cran-Blue Cranberry Sauce

• 1 bag of fresh cranberries
• 1 small bag of frozen blueberries, thawed
• 1/2 cup of pineapple tidbits, juice drained
• 3 packets of True Orange crystallized orange or 1 tablespoon orange rind
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 cup water
• Splenda to taste (I used 2 tablespoons)

Place everything in a medium saucepan, bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes or until cranberries start popping.

Transfer to a nonreactive container, let cool and refrigerate until it's ready to use.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

3-Point buzzer-beaters: Nighttime snack ideas

It's often hard to completely avoid the kitchen after dinner. I've tried closing the kitchen doors but I'm not the only one in this house, and the dog hasn't yet learned how to open doors.

Also, sometimes I'm just plain hungry at 9 p.m. Not ravenous or anything but (let's go British here) ... peckish.

So instead of gritting my teeth and pouring a big delicious glass of water, the Weight Shrink and I devised a plan to have 3 or 4 Weight Watchers Points (100-ish calories) left for an evening snack. Knowing that I'm going to have a "thing" has been quelling the nocturnal cottage cheese spoonfuls, plus the "thing" is more interesting than that. So I enjoy my 3-Pointer, the buzzer goes off and it's game over.

One fave is a half-cup of plain Greek yogurt mixed with a tablespoon of chopped walnuts and a couple teaspoons of honey. (Ever have that combo at a Greek restaurant? Heavenly -- but I'm guessing their yogurt isn't fat free or even lowfat.)

Other favorite 3-Pointers:

• A few tablespoons of hummus with carrots and celery
• A fruit-on-the-bottom Greek yogurt
• A packet of apple-cinnamon oatmeal
• A serving of Honey Kix (that's 1 1/4 cups -- pretty substantial)
• A rice cake (one of those "good ones" from Lundberg) with a slice of lowfat Swiss cheese
• 1/2 cup of cottage cheese mixed with 1/2 cup of natural applesauce and sprinkled with cinnamon (nevermind how gross it looks, it tastes yummy)

Of course this involves planning on the back end, so I try and plan my day during breakfast. I've mentioned before that this had been hard for me because I tend to eat by whim.

But I whimmed myself into a size 22, so eating on a whim doesn't work for weight loss. I have planned myself into a 16-and-falling.

That old Weight Watchers chestnut still applies: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

SafSlim update

Back in September, I started using SafSlim, a supplement made from high-linoleic safflower oil that is supposed to target belly fat. I'm about halfway through the 12-week plan and while I haven't lost a lot of weight (5 pounds), I am definitely down a jeans size and my abdominal area does seem flatter. I don't know whether it's the supplement or the 5 pounds but there's definitely an improvement and no muffin tops to be seen. I'll check back at the end of the 12-week period and let you know how it all turns out. The next half of the trial will be a barrel of fun, what with Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, parties, New Year's and general merriment. Best time ever to lose weight, though -- seriously! NOT throwing caution to the wind is the best prescription to avoiding holiday pounds.

How 'bout a HealthBuzz?

This week's video discusses American Diabetes Month and features Sam Talbot of Top Chef.

A Halloween-lean pumpkin smoothie

Leftover canned pumpkin has been staring me in the face every time I open the fridge. Sure, I can stir it into pasta sauce and annoy the family with my experiement but let's try it again in a smoothie.

I say "again" because the last time I concocted a pumpkin smoothie I thought "If a half cup is good, a full cup is better!" Uh, it's not. It's a beautiful orange and pretty gross.

So this time I got the proportions and flavors just right in my smoothie, which I call:

Halloween-Lean Pumpkin Smoothie

• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup almond/rice/soy/hemp/oat/cow/whatever milk
• 1 scoop vanilla whey protein
• 1 frozen banana
• 1 tablespoon real maple syrup ("pancake syrup" should be against the law)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or a combo of nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, allspice and ginger)
• Crushed ice

Blend and slurp.

 

Wordless Wednesday: Non-tubby custard

Pretty awesome snack: A 4-ounce container of Stonyfield Oikos caramel Greek yogurt and a sliced banana, served in a Teletubbies bowl. (I keep the toddler bowls around for portion control.) There's kind of a Bananas Foster vibe going on with the caramel and bananas.

Orange you glad I said pumpkin?

(Last night's dinner, thanks to Roni. Thank goodness there's leftovers.)

Last December, I bought a case of organic canned pumpkin from Amazon.com. It was crazy-cheap, and pumpkin is a weight-loss blogger's favorite food, right?

Because of that, I'm constantly on the prowl for pumpkin recipes. I dug up a fantastic pumpkin risotto recipe from an old Weight Watchers Simply the Best Italian cookbook (can't find the recipe online to link, but take my word for it, it's fantastic and the book is also crazy-cheap used on Amazon).

I was skimming the Live Well 360 website (which makes fabulous workout bags) and the company compiled a great list of 18 healthy fall recipes from various sources. Lots of pumpkin recipes there, including one from Roni Noone of Green Lite Bites (and Fitbloggin').

Pasta With Pumpkin, Sausage and Spinach -- perfect! I even had all the ingredients, but I subbed Swiss chard for the spinach because I didn't have enough spinach. I also used quinoa pasta because I'm not doing the wheat thing right now. But everything else was the same, I swear, Roni!

(Don't you hate when people comment online on recipes and say "This was great, but I subbed beef for chicken, added a can of tomatoes, changed all the spices, and used pasta instead of rice." Not the same recipe.)

It made five nice-sized servings and the creamy pumpkin-infused sauce was lovely. HERE'S the recipe on her site, which is also the source of her first cookbook, also titled Green Lite Bites.

Pumpkin is a healthy eater's best friend because it's really low in calories, full of nutrients, lasts almost forever in the pantry and can be added to sweet and savory foods. Once a can is opened, I mix it into everything -- oatmeal, pasta sauce, soup, you name it.

And while we're on the subject of pumpkin, let's talk Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Lattes, shall we? A grande with lowfat milk and whipped cream (standard issue) is 380 calories. As they say on ESPN, c'mon, man! A cuppa coffee should not be 380 calories. Make it nonfat milk and take away the whipped cream and you're still at 260 calories. Yikes.

But recently, BzzAgent sent me some Green Mountain Fair Trade Pumpkin Spice coffee to try. I haven't bought flavored coffee in years, because I enjoy coffee-flavored coffee. I don't need my morning mug to taste like cheesecake or kiwis or some other ridic flavor. 

But!

I made some Pumpkin Spice this morning and was very pleasantly surprised at how nice it was. Not overwhelming, just a hint of the spices that go into pumpkin pie. All I added was a couple tablespoons of Organic Valley soy creamer. But if I want to make a latte at home, I'll add a half cup of vanilla almond milk and the whole shebang will only be 45 calories -- far better than 400.

Wordless Wednesday: 60-calorie pizza

Well, it's not exactly pizza, but it is only 60 calories. Take a Wasa Crisp'n Light flatbread, spread on a Laughing Cow Light Mozzarella Sun-Dried Tomato & Basil wedge and top with a thin slice of really good tomato (this one's an orange heirloom I got on sale at Whole Foods). That's it!

Produce of the Month: Collard greens

(OK, it hasn't been monthly in months, but we'll give it a go again because we love fruits and veggies!)

The last time I bought collard greens they were a gigantic sandy mess, full of tough stems and big, dirty leaves -- yeesh, you'd think that they grew in dirt or something!

But recently, I've noticed these wonderfully wrapped and stacked leaves of organic collards in the grocery store so I figured I'd give them another try. What a huge difference!

The organic greens were pretty clean -- all they required was a little swishing in water. The leaves were a bit smaller, and therefore, more tender than larger, older leaves. Even the stems were worth throwing into the pan.

No ham hocks or bacon fat were harmed in the making of my collards. Instead, I heated some olive oil, browned some minced garlic, tossed in some red onion for flavor and color and then added the collards, which I sliced crosswise. I also didn't cook 'em to death so they stayed a gorgeous green.

The stats on collards

(Per 1 cup serving):

• Calories: 49
• Vitamin C: 58%DV
• Vitamin K: 880%
• Fiber: 5g
• Calcium: 226mg (yeah!)
• Protein: 4g

(Stats from The World's Healthiest Foods)

Here's this week's Health Buzz:

Wordless Wednesday: Go green

Here's a super-easy recipe for Mexican Chicken Salad: 6 ounces cooked and chopped chicken breast, two chopped Campari tomatoes, and a 100-calorie pack of spicy Wholly Guacamole. Boom! Done! (Serves 2.)

My most 'go-to' dinner of them all

We've already checked out my go-to breakfasts and lunches so now it's time for dinner.

I don't really have all that many tricks up my sleeve for dinner because often it's something super simple like a baked salmon fillet or chicken breast, frozen broccoli and a baked potato. (And -- shhhh, don't tell Martha Stewart -- sometimes it's salad and a frozen pizza, but something healthy like Kashi or Amy's.)

But every now and then I like to stir up a batch of chili -- yes, even in summer.

I've been tweaking my go-to recipe for years, subbing out proteins, beans and spices. My latest tweak is because of the BlogHer Knorr Four Recipe Contest. I'm one of 200 bloggers vying to become one of the Knorr Four – a panel of bloggers who will share insights and expertise to provide tips and recipes.

My entree is Confetti Chicken Chili -- "Confetti" because it's really colorful with the variety of peppers, onions and beans. It uses Knorr's new Homestyle Concentrated Chicken Stock, which comes in a four-pack of little tubs, and each tub makes 4 cups of stock.

The recipe makes 6 servings so it's great for a couple nights of dinners. Either enjoy it as is or dish it over brown rice, quinoa or a baked potato. If you're not a fan of black beans, try white ones, or pintos. (The photo below used white kidney beans.)

Confetti Chicken Chili

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large red onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced (or to taste)
• 1 pound ground chicken breast
• 1 15-oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 15-oz. can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes
• 1 15-oz. can no-salt-added tomatoes
• 2-3 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons dried marjoram
• Cayenne pepper to taste
• 1 tub Knorr Homestyle Concentrated Chicken Stock

Heat olive oil in extra-large skillet or dutch oven. Add onions, peppers and garlic and cook until translucent. Add chicken and cook until browned. Add rest of ingredients, cover and cook on medium-low heat for 45 minutes.

(If making recipe in slow cooker, add all ingredients and cook on low for 8 hours. It'll be a little soupier but it's great over rice.)

Each serving is around 375 calories each with a bountiful 12 grams of fiber per serving.

Fiber One contest deadline today

You only have a couple hours left to enter my Fiber One giveaway, so if you're interested, get crackin' over HERE.