Tweaking My Diet --- Plus 2 Recipes!

Happy Monday --- or lack thereof. My morning weigh-in didn't go as great as I'd hoped or expected since I worked out every day this past week. Down 0.8 lbs. As I looked back at the week on the My Fitness Pal app, it looks like I could cut down on my sodium intake. Lots of hidden salt in foods. Low fat/low cal dressings usually make up for the calories/fat in sodium. Plus I started having my apple each day with peanut butter, which could be contributing to this problem. So as I start a new week, my goal is to cut back on salt so I do not exceed the daily recommended goal of 2500mg. Stay tuned for my progress on the reduce sodium intake mission!


Today is my 8th day of the Bikini Body Mommy 90-Day Challenge. You can follow her challenge and try it yourself on her Facebook page --- the daily workouts are listed day by day under her photos. Today's circuit training was timing how many of her "8 count body builders" I could complete in 10 minutes. My magic number today was 38 (I did the modified push ups on my knees). Normally on days where she suggests circuit training, there's no cardio, but I may squeeze in a 20-minute Jillian Michaels Kickboxing workout or a Jazzercise DVD to burn a few extra calories today. From the Jazzercise DVDs, I own the Jazz Cardio Strength Stretch (includes three separate 30 minute workouts which are all awesome) as well as the Jazzercise Core (gives you an option of a 30 or 60 minute workout, plus bonus core workouts). Both are awesome workouts that really get you moving.

I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon in the kitchen. After doing quite a bit of flipping through my 3 Weight Watchers cookbooks, I found a few recipes I wanted to try. For the main course, a Parmesan-Turkey Meatloaf from the Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook. This cookbook has over 500 fabulous recipes but this one caught me as a good comfort food that was low in calories but still sounded yummy!  The loaf makes 8 servings (each serving has 181 calories, 9 grams of fat, 53mg cholesterol, 247mg sodium, 10g carbs, 1g fiber, 15g protein, and 64mg calcium). I'll be honest: I was skeptical in trying this. I've never made anything with ground turkey instead of beef. I love beef! And I never like meatloaf growing up. I thought it was time to give it a try (and bless my husband for being along for the ride). We both loved it!! Though I could have taken it out of the oven 5 minutes sooner... it wasn't too dry but I couldn't really tell and I figured better to be a little overdone the first time around and then when I make it again, I'll know. Here's the recipe directly from the Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook:

1 TBSP olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 1/4lbs ground skinless turkey
4 slices whole wheat bread, made into fine crumbs
1/2 cup fat free milk
1 egg white (lightly beaten)
3 TBSP ketchup
2 TBSP grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp minced fresh garlic
1 TBSP finely chopped fresh basil, or 1/2 tsp dried
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F; spray 8x5 inch loaf pan with nonstick spray. In a small non-stick skillet, heat the oil. Saute the onion until tender (4-5 minutes).

2. In a medium bowl, combine the onion, turkey, bread crumbs, milk, egg white, ketchup, cheese, garlic, basil, thyme, and pepper. Blend well. Shape into a loaf and transfer to the pan. Bake until browned and cooked through, 50-60 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes, then cut into 8 slices.

My notes: I cooked it for 55 minutes, but it would have been done in 50 minutes in my oven (I also cooked it in a Pyrex dish though so perhaps it wasn't as thick which caused it to cook faster). I prepped the dry ingredients before I actually made everything in one bowl to make it easier when I was going to actually combine everything.

To go with the delicious meatloaf, I found a recipe for Roasted Butternut Squash and Parmesan Polenta from the Weight Watchers Points Plus Cookbook. I thought since there was Parmesan cheese in the meatloaf that this would compliment the dish nicely. I was never a big fan of butternut squash but love polenta (of course, it's a starch!) so wanted to see if the cornmeal would help offset the taste of the squash if I would like it more. And I did!! This makes 6 servings (each serving is 2/3 of a cup : 151 calories, 3 grams fat, 7mg cholesterol, 497mg sodium, 27g total carbs, 5g total sugar, 3g fiber, 5g protein, 145mg calcium). Here's the recipe directly from the Weight Watchers Points Plus Cookbook.

1 (1 3/4 lb) butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium onion, cut into 6 wedges
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp freshly minced rosemary
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
2 1/4 cups water
1 cup lowfat (1% milk)
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray roasting pan or shallow baking pan with nonstick spray.

2. Combine squash, onion, oil, rosemary, 1/4 tsp of the salt, and the pepper in roasting pan; toss to coat well. Arrange vegetables in pan in single layer. Roast, stirring occasionally  until squash is slightly browned and tender, 40 minutes. Transfer squash mixture into food processor and puree.

3. Meanwhile, pour water into deep 2 1/2 qt microwavable casserole with lid; bring to boil on high. Stir in milk, cornmeal and remaining 3/4 tsp of salt. Cover and microwave on high 5 minutes. Remove from microwave and whisk until smooth. Cover and microwave on high until thickened, 2-3 minutes longer. Whisk until smooth. Stir squash mixture and Parmesan into cornmeal mixture. Cover and microwave on high until heated through, 1 1/2-2 minutes.

My notes: I bought squash already peeled and cut up --- you need about a pound of squash prepared and the container I bought was 20oz so I used most of it. I am not a fan of rosemary so I omitted it from my polenta and I didn't think it was missing anything (I actually meant to add some basil in its place but forgot). I used nonfat milk since that's what we have in the house and wonder if this could be why it didn't seem to thicken as much as polenta usually thickens. I has trouble getting my onion to puree with the squash for some reason, so I pulled some of the bigger pieces out of the squash mixture. Next time, I was to blend the onions separately to see if that helps and then combine the mixtures.

Let me know if you try either of these recipes and try anything different that works. Enjoy!