On the Weight Watchers Menu This Week 9/8 - 9/14

I have been trying to get this post up for a couple of days now. This week is not too exciting  as we are having lots of leftovers througought the week as we get ready for Mike and I to be on back to back trips. So we skipped our Bountiful Basket this week and kept things easy with a crock pot meal.

Breakfast

• Saturday & Weekdays – Greek yogurt, Kashi Go Lean cereal with blueberries
• Sunday – egg and egg whites with mushrooms and peppers, toast with Laughing Cow spread and bacon

Lunches

• Weekdays – Bean burrito (whole wheat tortilla, non fat refried beans, low fat cheese and tomato), fruit
• Saturday – Garlic Herb Goat Cheese Pizza - I used a Flatout wrap instead of a tortilla, Laughing Cow sun dried tomato and basil mozzarella wedges and I skipped the fresh basil, because I didn't have it.
• Sunday - Leftover BJ's Brewery Vegetarian Pizza (1/2 of a mini pizza - 7 WW Points Plus)

Dinners

Saturday - Family night out BJ's Brewery Vegetarian Pizza (1/2 of a mini pizza - 7 WW Points Plus), chicken noodle soup (2 WW points plus) and 6 tortilla chips with salsa (2 WW Points Plus) **

Sunday – A normal weekend dinner for us

• Cheesy burgers with sautéed mushrooms & onions (no bun)
• Baked Chipotle Sweet Potato Fries with light ranch dip (light sour cream and ranch dip mix)

Monday – Thursday

• Chicken Chili in the crockpot - I'll get the recipe up for this tomorrow. It is 6 points for 1 cup and very filling and perfect for fall.

Friday - I'm in Dallas and Mike is on his own for the night

Snacks

• Fruit or veggies
• Pumpkin Smoothie - I have been pinning lots of pumpkin recipes lately. You
• Weight Watchers String Cheese
• Fiber One Bars
• Popcorn
• Skinny Cow Ice Cream or Bars

Want some other ideas this week? Check out the recipes I have been pinning this week on  my Healthy Eats Pinterest Board. I have lots of recent pumpkin recipe pins. Now I need to stock up on some pumpkin.

** The points I calculated for BJ's Brewhouse were based on the calorie information I received from BJ's for their California restaurants. They do not provide all of the information,  I found comparable pizza and soup  with similar calorie counts at other restaurants and used that to estimate the points. I usually don't use all my weekly and activity points in a week, so I know if I am off a couple of points I have a cushion.

Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Pumpkin

A few weeks ago I was already craving some pumpkin recipes. And apparently the stores had not realized this. We could not get canned pumpkin at any of our grocery stores. Apparently there had been large crops of pumpkins lost in a freeze and there was a shortage last year. I must have bought all I needed last year before this became an issue. The crops were okay this year, but the pumpkin hadn't started hitting the store shelves. If you love making pumpkin infused foods and you are desperate for some glimpse of fall when you live in the desert, you must take matters into your own hands.

I think you can buy anything at Amazon.com.  A few weeks ago I ordered a case of this....

Of course it was back-ordered a couple of weeks, but I wasn't taking any chances. On my doorstep last week arrived one heavy case of pumpkin. With free shipping it was just over $2 a can. But after reading about people selling it on E-Bay for $10-$15+ a can, I didn't worry about it. And it was the organic brand which is a bit more anyway. And if this shortage didn't get resolved soon, I was still having pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving.

Of course, you can now get pumpkin at the grocery store.  But, I wasn't taking any chances with my fall time favorite.

So to celebrate the arrival of pumpkin in our house we made pasta with pumpkin sauce with chicken apple sausage. Although this time we didn't make the sauce. World Market has a pre-made pumpkin sauce that I have to admit was about as good as the one we make from scratch.

On Sunday I made  Pumpkin Swirl Brownies, found on MarthaStewart.com. I increased the size of the batch so I could take some into work. I think the organic pumpkin is a bit more watery so my brownies came out a bit cakey. They are still yummy, just not fudge-y like a brownie.

We had a nice rainstorm yesterday that cooled us off in the evening. Let's see if it lasts. The weather says high 80's with some more rain for the next few days. I would like it a bit cooler, but after 100+ degree days all September, I guess we will take what we can get.

Happy Tuesday!