Buffalo Chicken Burger

These have fast become my husband's favorite - we literally fight over the left overs.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground chicken - I've been buying 98% fat free and very happy with it.
• 1/3 cup of hot sauce - I use Franks Hot Sauce. 
• 4 Light burger buns
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika 
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
• 4 wedges laughing cow blue cheese
• 4 tsp fresh blue cheese crumbles
• Lettuce, tomato, onion - whatever you'd like to top your burger with. Though we eat ours plain

Servings: Recipe makes 4 burgers, 1 burger per serving

Instructions:

1. In a small bowl, combine ground chicken, hot sauce, chili powder, paprika, salt and pepper. Mix well - I've found that a rubber spatula works well to blend everything perfectly. 
2. Divide mixture into 4 equal parts and form into thin patties. 
3. Cook in a skillet on medium-high heat until juices run clear, 6-8 minutes per side.
4. Remove the cooked burgers and place them on buns
5. Spread 1 laughing cow blue cheese wedge per burger
6. Sprinkle 1 tsp of blue cheese crumbles
7. Add lettuce, tomato, onion... whatever makes your burger perfect.

I'm able to make these delightful burgers for 7 WW points+ per burger. Be sure to plug your ingredients into your PP calculator or recipe builder to track how they work out for you. 

Weight Watchers Update

So back in March I was a bit optimistic with how long it would take me to lose my 25 pounds.

: )

But I'm almost there...

I've lost almost 23 pounds, just about 2-4 to go. I'm down 3 sizes, from a 12 to a tight 6. The 8's are too big, but the 6's are creating a lovely muffin top that no one wants to see.

So, I've adjusted my goal, from 25 pounds, to a size 6 - with NO muffin top.

Hopefully I'll be there by the end of the summer.

And since I'll be facing down an 8 day trip to New Orleans in October, I might need to take off a few extra pounds to make sure the muffin top does not return.

Bruschetta Tortilla Pizza

I know, I haven't blogged in forever... long story for another day.

My creativity has been diverse lately, going into a lot of new areas for me - but mostly, recipes. Which is odd. Generally, I'm not creative with food. But 6+ months on weight watchers, I've gotten creative with my meals and have had requests to share my recipes. Here is the first:

Ingredients: 

• Tortilla of choice - 1 per pizza 
  There are so many options, if you're on WW, you can find them for between 2-4 points per tortilla. They've got options for low fat, low salt, low carb. Go with what works for you.
• Tomato sauce - 2-3 tbsp per pizza 
• Diced roma tomato - 1 per pizzaIf I were making this for guests, I'd peel and seed the tomato, for myself, I don't bother. 
• Shredded mozzarella cheese - 1 oz per pizza  
• Fresh basil - 4 leaves per pizza 
• Garlic clove (minced) - 1 per pizza
• Olive oil - 1 tsp per pizza
• Balsamic vinegar - 1 tsp per pizza
• Kosher salt - 1 pinch per pizza

Servings: 1 tortilla pizza per serving.

Instructions:

1. Place tortilla on baking sheet and bake for 2-4 minutes at 425° in oven or toaster oven to get it just a bit crispy. (I'm a big toaster oven fan...)
2. Prepare bruschetta topping by combining the diced tomato, basil, garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, 1/2 of the mozzarella and salt in a bowl and set aside.
3. Remove tortilla from oven and spread the tomato sauce over the tortilla 
4. Top with brushetta and remaining cheese
5. Bake for 4-5 minutes until cheese is melted and tortilla is lightly browned around the edges. 
6. Slice into 6 wedges and enjoy!

I'm able to make these for roughly 7 points per serving. WW point values will vary depending on your ingredients so be sure to use your point calculator or recipe builder. 

New Orleans Inspired Vase

One of the things I loved in New Orleans was the iron works. I decided to bring a little of that to our house with the help of my cricut, some vinyl and a vase.

I started with this image from our trip:

Then I created a version of the pattern on my computer:

And sent it over to the cricut:

After the cutting completed I weeded out the negative spaces:

Then I removed the backing from contact paper:

And then burnished it down on top of the remaining vinyl.

After the contact paper was secured to the vinyl I pulled up both layers releasing the vinyl from it's backing.

The two layers were applied to the vase and then burnished so that the vinyl transferred to the vase.

And finally pulled off the contact paper and secured any lose edges of the vinyl to the vase.

So now I've got a fabulous little vase that reminds me of our trip.

Stepping out of the closet...

Because nothing in it was fitting.

: (

For the past 5-6 years, I've had a really bad habit of putting on 10 pounds, and then only taking off 5. I did fine the year I had my son... I put on 50 and took off 50. Ok, so maybe putting on 50 isn't good. But I do I get points for taking it off?

My point is that the extra 5 pounds per year... has added up to 25 pounds that had to go.

And thanks to Weight Watchers - I'm over 10 pounds down in 6 weeks.



I did weight watchers after the birth of my son and did well with it, but I've got to say, their new PointsPlus system - absolutely rocks. That coupled with the amazing recipes that Gina posts over on SkinnyTaste.com and I'm one very happy girl.

Thanks to the support of friends, I've also managed since the first of the year to almost completely give up fast food, I'm calling having it 1-2 times this year, vs. 1-2 times a week a major victory. AND, I think I've finally got my stress eating under control.

So - for anyone thinking of trying out Weight Watchers - I say go for it!!!

Crossing my fingers that in another 8-12 weeks I'll be back with news that I'm back to the weight I was at before I had my daughter almost 8 years ago.

Mardi Gras Jewelry

A couple of weeks ago my husband and I took a trip to New Orleans, we just missed Mardi Gras, but that's ok - Mardi Gras isn't really our scene. But we loved New Orleans. This was my 4th trip there and his first. I have a friend there who told us all the spots to see and she was 100% right, she picked just the right things for us. 

While Mardi Gras might not be for us, the city of New Orleans and Mardi Gras is what she is all about. And I wanted to do something as a thank you - so I created these bracelet and earrings for her. 

 Here are the supplies to create this set:

•  A variety of gold, green and purple beads
• Stretch magic 
• 10mm gold jump rings
• Gold tone crimp tubes
• Ribbon
• Jewelry tools including a needle & crimper
• Tape

Step 1 - Arrange the beads as you'd like them for the strands of the bracelet. 

Step 2 - Cut a length of stretch magic to the length of bracelet plus 4". Then put a piece of tape 2" from the end of your stretch magic.

Step 3 - Then string your beads onto the strand. 

Step 4 - And then attach each of the strands to the jump rings. 

And then loop a length of ribbon through the loops and you've got a bracelet! 

And I'll admit - I liked this set so much, I made one for myself... just because I don't like the wild side of Mardi Gras, doesn't mean I don't want to celebrate it with my own style. 

I'm sad...

My apologies for not blogging better over the past 2 months... My talents have been required elsewhere. Tending to a sick kitten to be exact.

Remember those kittens I posted about last month? I can't bring myself to post a picture of them... because the day after I posted about them, the little orange one fell very very ill. So for the past 6-7 weeks, I've been nursing him back to health. Or trying to. This care has included weeks of giving him breathing treatments every 3 hours, round the clock. Countless doses of more medications than I've ever seen anyone, let along a 4 pound kitten, take in a given day. And more trips to the vet than I could imagine.

Yesterday morning, that sweet little kitten passed away in my arms.

And I'm sad.

So so sad.

I'll be back to posting all kinds of creative things in the coming days and weeks.

Thanks for understanding.

Bridesmaids Jewelry

I was so flattered, and a bit terrified, to be asked to design and create the jewelry for the bridesmaids in an upcoming wedding. The bride and I went to pick out the materials last week, and tomorrow I'm showing her the "1st draft."

This won't be what the girls wear, this was just a starting point so that we had something to work from. Which means I'll likely get to keep this one - something I'm not at all disappointed about.

The necklace has a black satin ribbon that ties behind the neck with 3 strands of cream, champaign and beige glass beads. One strand is straight strung on wire, another has the beads on eye pins attached to a silver chain and the third has the beads strung on a silk rope with hand tied knots between them...

The hand tied strand. My first attempt at something like this. 

I'm really nervous about showing this to her tomorrow - do me a favor and cross your fingers that she likes it. 

Coffee Hand Scrub

I enjoy cooking - what I don't enjoy are the smells that can end up on your hands when you cook, especially when you cook with things like garlic and onions.

Recently I heard that you can use coffee grounds to remove the smell from your hands - we don't drink coffee here so I bought a container of coffee and tried it. Sure enough it worked.

I figured I could get more, so I researched making my own scrub and thought you might like to make it too. It works great!

Materials:

• Ground coffee - I'd imagine you could use your left over grounds...
• Liquid hand soap
• Olive oil
• Jars
• Mixing bowl & something to stir with

Step 1 - Measure out enough coffee to fill your jar about 80% full... And poor it in your bowl. 

Step 2 - Add the hand soap and olive oil. I was making enough scrub to fill 3 jars, so I used about a cup of soap and 1/4 cup of olive oil. You can adjust it however you like, you might want more soap for cleaning or more olive oil for moisturizing.

Then stir:

You might find that you need to add more liquid, just keep stirring it 'till the coffee is all completely coated in the liquids. 

Step 3 - Then simply fill your jars.

Then when you've that garlic smell on your hands, simply open the jar, scoop some out and watch your hands as you normally would.

There you go! No more stinky hands - and I've got to say, the scrub feels great to wash your hands with. 

What I've Learned Wednesday: Freshening the Garbage Disposal

Around the Holiday's I'm able to stock up my favorite garbage disposal fresheners...

First - eat the clementine. My favorite part.

Then take the peel.

And put it down the drain (this only works if you have a garbage disposal. Try it on a regular sink and I'm pretty sure all you get is a bill from the plumber.) and turn on the disposal.

I throw all my peels in a zip lock back and put them in the freezer so that throughout the year, I can pull one out and throw them in the sink.