Lose for Good with Weight Watchers

October 1, 2013 By Anne

I have received a free 3-month pass to experience Weight Watchers online.
 I am not being paid to use or endorse Weight Watchers and thoughts are my own. 
“People following the Weight Watchers plan can expect to lose 1-2 pounds per week.”

I recently was in a campaign with Weight Watchers. I participated for three months and while I’d like to say I lost all the weight I wanted (like that would happen in three months) I did lose 5 pounds.

But not only did I lose five pounds but I learned more about what I was eating by keeping track of everything I put into my body. I also learned more about the exercises I did and what I could do more of to help in my journey.

I did my Weight Watcher’s journey online. It was easier for me and I could do it right on my smart phone. It’s so easy to look up foods and exercises and having it on my phone allowed me to remember what I ate. It also allowed me to look up foods if I was out running errands. I could look up foods at a restaurant and make better choices.

Now that I have been off of the plan for the last couple months I realize that I want to get back on before the holiday season begins. I want to track all those delicious goodies I’ll be making and make sure I don’t over indulged.
Right now is the perfect time to join because you can join for free!!

Anne

I'm a mother of 2 who likes to get involved in too much! Besides writing here I started a non-profit, I'm on the PTO board, very active in my community and volunteer in the school. I enjoy music, reading, cooking, traveling and spending time with my family. We just adopted our 3rd cat and love them all!

Healthy Families, Helping Kids

September 27, 2013 By Anne

I am working with Produce for Kids on this campaign.

Another reason why I love shopping at Publix!!

Produce for Kids is teaming up with Publix stores for the second annual Healthy Families, Helping Kids campaign to raise money for local health and nutrition-based classroom projects through DonorsChoose.org. Beginning September 26th through October 30th, the joint campaign will help raise money for classroom projects that encourage healthy relationships with food.

So if you shop at Publix, the more produce you add to your carts the more money can be raised. All of the fresh fruit and vegetable suppliers participating will make a consumption-based donation DonorsChoose.org. More than $169,000 was raised last year which helped support 652 classroom projects throughout the country!! That is so awesome!! I have been volunteering a lot already this year at my daughter’s school and it’s amazing how much money is needed.

Be on the lookout for Produce for Kids signage, featuring characters from the popular Sprout® television show, The Chica Show, in the produce section of local Publix stores. You can also visit www.produceforkids.com for wonderful recipes and tips to help keep your kids healthy not just for back to school but all year long!

I have been trying to get my children to try new things and these kid friendly recipes are perfect for taste testing. Just last week we had pot roast and the kids tried some cooked carrots. I also made cheesecake and they each tried that as well. The Fruity Pumpkin Pie Smoothie below looks like a winner!

Fruity Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

Serves 4

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup canned pumpkin purée

2 cups lowfat vanilla yogurt

1 cup spinach, loosely packed

½ cup pomegranate juice

1 medium banana

1 medium mango, chopped

1 tsp. cinnamon

⅛ tsp. cloves

Directions:
1.Place pumpkin, yogurt, spinach, juice, banana, mango, cinnamon and cloves into blender. Blend until smooth.

Suggested Sides for a Complete Meal:

• 1 slice whole wheat toast with 1 Tbsp. nut butter

Recipe by Christine Pittman of Cook the Story

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Hearty Turkey & Kale Chili

Serves 8

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 8 hours

Ingredients: 1 lb. lean ground turkey 1 medium onion, diced

1 green bell pepper, seeded, diced 4 cloves garlic, minced 1½ Tbsp. chili powder 1½ Tbsp. cumin 2 tsp. dried oregano 2 Tbsp. tomato paste 2 cans (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes, drained 1 can (15 oz.) low-sodium black beans, drained, rinsed 1 can (15 oz.) no salt added corn, drained ¾ cup low-sodium chicken broth 4 cups kale, tough stems removed, chopped

1 cup 2% plain Greek yogurt

1 cup unsalted tortilla chips, crushed

Directions:

Add turkey, onion, pepper, garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano, tomato paste, tomatoes, black beans, corn, broth and kale to slow cooker, and cook on low 8 hours.
Top with Greek yogurt and tortilla chips.

Which one will you try?

Anne

Green Giant Veggie Snack Chips (giveaway)#MyBlogSpark #spon

September 26, 2013 By Anne

I am working with MyBlogSpark, Publix and Green Giant in this campaign.

I love chips so it’s only natural that my kids love chips. I love the salt and the crunch – YUMM!

I don’t love all the junk, fat and calories that are in chips. hey are just not a healthy snack even though they are oh so tasty!!

Thankfully, Green Giant has come out with some fabulous new chips that are full of salt, crunch and full of good stuff!! Stuff like roasted bell peppers and sweet potatoes!

If you like chips you have to check out Green Giant™ Veggie Snack Chips.

I took them to the bus stop for the moms and dads to try!!

There are four flavors to try. Try them all!!

o Green Giant™ Roasted Veggie Tortilla Chips – Zesty Cheddar Flavor

o Green Giant™ Multigrain Sweet Potato Chips – Sea Salt

o Green Giant™ Roasted Veggie Tortilla Chips – Garden Ranch Flavor

o Green Giant™ Multigrain Sweet Potato Chips – Barbeque

These are made with real vegatables and only around 17 grams of whole grain per serving depending on the flavor. And they have 40% less fat than regular potato chips. How can you resist?

The best part? They taste great!! I tried all the flavors and loved them all. My favorite though is the Roasted Veggie Tortilla Chips.
If you like to try new things I would also recommend trying these with your chicken for dinner. Just pick a flavor and crunch them pretty fine. Then coat your chicken breasts with them and bake as normal. I tried it with the Barbeque and the Garden Ranch Flavors.

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I also have some samples and a $25 Publix Gift card to give to one Mommy Has to Work reader!!
Check out Publix and Green Giant on Facebook too!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Anne

Pillsbury Crescent Rolls Make an Easy Breakfast Dinner

September 19, 2013 By Anne

School has started and so have the more strict routine. Dinner needs to be a certain time, bath at a certain time and bedtime, so important now that school has started. We usually eat the same meals over and over but I’ve been venturing outside our box for some new quick and easy meals. I even used my crock pot for the first time in a year! That is one goal – using it more often.

I want to make easy and kid friendly meals that make my family say, “Wow”. One way to do this is by using Pillsbury Crescent Rolls. There are so many different recipes to try. I was browsing online for some my family would enjoy. I came with at least a dozen recipes I would love to try but will start off with what I hope my family will like the best. One of our favorite dinners is breakfast. So I tried Crescent Breakfast Casserole.

Crescent Breakfast Casserole

Recipe Type: Dinner or Breakfast!

Ingredients

8 oz. Crescent rolls
8-10 slices of bacon, crumbled or sausage
6-8 eggs
2 cups shredded cheese (jack, cheddar, colby, whichever you like)
2-3 tbsp. milk
salt and pepper to taste
cooking spray

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and prepare either 13×9 or 11×9 baking dish with cooking spray. (use about 6 eggs for the smaller pan and about 8 for the larger pan)
Line the dish with unrolled crescent rolls, letting it come up the sides a bit. Press the seams together.
Layer the crumbled bacon or sausage and cheese over the crescent rolls. Beat eggs with milk, salt and pepper and pour over bacon and cheese.
Bake about 25-30 minutes or until center is set. Let cool for a few minutes, then serve.

I got the above recipe online. After making it I would recommend adding more meat. Maybe bacon and sausage and less cheese. Unless your family loves cheese. Mine likes it not loves it. I used 6 eggs and next time I will use 8 even with the smaller dish.

Over all everyone liked it. But I look forward to making it again with the added ingredients. I love how the Pillsbury Crescent rolls added that extra buttery flavor! I ate the leftovers for breakfast – yumm!

What have you made with Pillsbury Crescent Rolls lately?

Want a winning weeknight dinner the family will enjoy, make Pillsbury Crescent Rolls. Get Recipes at www.Pillsbury.com

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by General Mills via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of General Mills.