MIDWEEK MINUTES October 26, 2013


Midweek Minutes
October 26, 2013
Hello, Winners!

It's now official...this is the scariest time of year for those of us who have the potential to abuse food! Seriously, that's what we do. We abuse food, and we abuse ourselves with mindless eating, especially at this time of year, and we need each other even more this time of year. Yet, it's a busy time of year, and we're missing some of you. It's getting colder. Oh, heck, might as well wait until after the holidays to go back to Weight Watchers. Nuh-UH! The time for action is right now!

I know that people who are overweight have feelings which range from denial to desperation. I know that change is very scary. I also know that no matter what I say to encourage someone, if he/she isn't ready to embrace a new lifestyle, nothing will change. Think of those sweets that feel so good going down but look so bad on the thighs. Think of how unhappy you are when the holiday parties come up and you feel like the biggest one in the room.

Is it worth that extra chocolate you "inhaled", that holiday dip you didn't track, or those second helpings you had because "it's only once a year"? If you think Tracking is tiresome, think how tiresome it is to waste your money paying for a program you aren't working! (Oh, I agree...if you aren't working the program, you are wasting your money).

If you think it's too much trouble to weigh, measure, and look up POINTS for what you eat, think how you will feel in January from now if you DON'T work the program and learn to manage food now? As the holiday season progresses, will you wish that you had made time for exercise? Will you be thinner and healthier by wishing? Isn't it time to start living a new future now?

No need to stress about Halloween or this holiday season because we are all together in this, and we can do it!

Come to your meetings, and we can blast our way through New Year's! Your meeting is the place where you can not only talk about food and exercise, but also, we talk about what makes us eat out of control and turn to food for comfort. We work on ourselves from the inside out. No, we don't have quick fixes, magic potions, or stupid diets at Weight Watchers. What we have is a smart program which is livable. What we have is support. What we have is success! Don't you want to be a part of that? Sure you do!

See you in the meeting room. (Superior...it's potluck Monday!) I might even be in Geneva on Wednesday! --Zig
Member Milestones!

5 lb. star
Rochelle D. (H)

10 lb. star
Marlene S. (S)

15 lb. star
Tricia K. (S)

10 %
Joanne F. (S)

Beat Late-Night Eating

Discover easy temptation tamers and satisfying, Plan-friendly snacks.
Article By: Weight Watchers

It's 8 p.m. and Jane is relaxing in front of the TV ready to watch one of her favorite shows. She ate a healthy and satisfying dinner about two hours ago and she's proud of how well she stayed on Plan during the day. And then a TV commercial comes on for a new chocolate candy. The image is captivating. The description is enticing. Her mouth starts to water and suddenly all she can think about is chocolate. If you can relate, don't beat yourself up. There's actually research that proves eating for pleasure is hard to resist! This desire to eat high-calorie, high-fat foods even when you're "full" from dinner is called hedonic hunger. (Want a quick primer? Check out this video.)

To beat that nighttime snack monster, it's helpful to understand what awakens it before we learn how to slay it!

4 reasons your nighttime snack monster is on the prowl
  1. You're still hungry
    Maybe you skimped during the day, or you chose foods with less staying power, like white pasta with tomato sauce, which is primarily composed of quickly absorbed carbs.
  2. You want a reward after a tough day
    Your after-dark ice cream or cheesy chips could feel like a consolation prize for slogging through another crazy day.
  3. You're stressed
    Maybe it's just something to do. Maybe you're looking to food for comfort. (And that Halloween loot bag on the counter looks awfully comforting.)
  4. You're feeling deprived
    It's human psychology: The more we feel we can't have something, the more we want it! If we tell ourselves that certain foods are taboo, we set ourselves up to feel deprived, and are more prone to indulge later on.
3 ways to regain control of your evenings without feeling deprived
  1. Make over your snack stash
    Stock up on sensible treats that will satisfy your salty, chocolaty, crunchy, (fill in your favorite) urges. If you can get rid of trigger foods, do so. But if you can't clean house (because your kids love Rocky Road) then push tempting foods to the back of the fridge, and cupboard. Remember, out of sight, out of mind.
  2. Eat your dinner free of distractions
    Do you watch TV or text during dinner? Eating without paying attention can cause us to overeat. Slow down. Take smaller bites, chew each one thoroughly and take a sip of water before raising your fork again. Engage all your senses. How does the food look and smell? Anticipate that first taste and really savor each mouthful as you go.
  3. Start your dailyPointsPlus® Target with dinner
    You'll have plenty of PointsPlus values to spend since you're starting with a clean slate. And this smart switch-up may also help you with planning how many PointsPlus values to allot for breakfast and lunch; meals which are typically easier to control.

 What scares me most at Halloween
Are my trick-or-treat supplies
These sweet treats can play tricks
Changing truth to tempting lies……

CORN candy is a veggie
Nestles CRUNCH an exercise
Almond JOY a blissful blessing
Three MUSKETEERS my kind’a guys!

Eat a Tootsie ROLL for breakfast
Pick Jujy FRUITS right off the tree
Hershey KISSES give lots of lovin’
LIFE SAVERS will rescue me

The truth is treats are triggers
They fail to satisfy
Nutritious snacks don’t play tricks
A better choice, no lie!
TREAT yourself to the best deal of the year!


A Fantastic Snack From A Scary Place
You guys been anywhere scary lately? How about Costco where all your money seems to get scared out of your wallet?

No? The inside of a pumpkin is pretty scary because if feels like your hand is covered in worm guts.

If you can tough it out - and I know you can! Pumpkin seeds are nutritious snack food for you to stuff in your purse, lunch box, or backpack.

When you are carving your pumpkin, use a bowl to collect seeds and stringy parts. Then, get your children to pick out the seeds :)

The key to cleaning the pumpkin seeds is to toss them into a colander and run some warm water on them. Then just strain the seeds through your hand as you detach them from the orange strings.

Or you can buy roasted pumpkin seeds (see below), which is cheating, but I'm not gonna tell anyone.

Pumpkin seeds are nutritious (ex: 28% of your DV of Iron in 1/4 cup) and they are easy to cook. The fun part of roasting pumpkin seeds is that you can customize the flavor.
Below, I have included a recipe that goes to the salty side of the taste spectrum. Add some cayenne and you will have a spicy and salty snack.

You could try some sugar and cinnamon, or add pumpkin spice. Whatever your favorite spice flavors - just toss them on the seeds. I suggest trying 1/2 teaspoon for one cup of pumpkin seeds to start because you might overwhelm them with spices.

My children are planning to carve TWO pumpkins each this year - so I should have at ton of seeds to roast.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds Recipe

(makes 4 servings)
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin, curry powder, cayenne, or black pepper (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with tin foil. Remove strings from pumpkin seeds and put in a small bowl. Dry with a paper towel and mix in oil, salt, and spices. Put seeds on baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes (or until golden brown). Toss seeds after about 10 minutes to cook evenly (or you can skip it).
For 1/4 cup = 217 calories, 19.2 g fat, 6.1 g carbohydrates, 8.5 g protein, 1.4 g fiber, 297 mg sodium, 6 PointsPlus


 Insider’s Viewpoint: Expert Supermarket Advice
Healthy eating on Halloween can seem impossible. Add the mass of candy that comes home Halloween night to your own handout leftovers and you’ve got sugar overload.
How do you maintain the balance of healthy eating and still end the holiday on a positive note? First of all, remember that Halloween is a special occasion. It’s a great time to relax your standards about candy eating but also a great opportunity to increase your consumption of healthy foods to offset the urges to overindulge on holiday sweets.

Check out these tips for a fun and creative Halloween filled with yummy healthy meals and treats …

Healthy Halloween-Themed Dinner
No need for ordering pizza with added calorie guilt! This year try creating a healthy Halloween Pizza Face served with Harvest Apple Salad! Shop for ingredients a few days before and prep ingredients the night before (chop & slice veggies).

Halloween Pizza Face
Use prepared pizza bread/crust, tomato or pasta sauce, light mozzarella cheese, reduced-fat turkey pepperoni, and variety of colorful veggie slices to design a ghoulish pizza face! It’ll be fun for the kids and will fill them up for an exciting evening of festivities.

Harvest Apple Salad
5 cups mixed salad greens
1 apple, cored and sliced
½ cup EACH dried cranberries AND pecans
¼ cup sliced red onion
1-2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken or sliced grilled chicken
Light Dijon or vinaigrette salad dressing, to taste
In large bowl, mix lettuce, apple slices, cranberries, pecans, onions, and chicken. Just before serving, drizzle with salad dressing.

Healthy Holiday Snack Options
Creamy Pumpkin Dip & Apples
1 cup canned pumpkin or fresh pumpkin purée
1 cup light cream cheese, softened
½ cup EACH marshmallow cream AND apple sauce
Ground cinnamon and/or pumpkin pie spice, to taste (few dashes)
Apple slices
Mix all ingredients, except apple slices in medium bowl until smooth; refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve with apple slices for dipping.

Trick-or-Treat Trail Mix
Pretzels, reduce-fat cheese crackers, dried cherries and/or cranberries, dried chopped apricots or peaches, chocolate- or yogurt-covered raisins.

Caramel-Apple Salad
3 green apples, cored and chopped
1 cup chopped banana
½ cup EACH granola AND unsalted peanuts
¼ cup chocolate or yogurt covered raisins
½ cup low-fat vanilla yogurt
¼ cup fat-free caramel sundae topping or syrup
In medium bowl, mix chopped apple, banana, granola, peanuts, and raisins. In small bowl, mix yogurt and caramel sauce. Add sauce to salad; stir to coat. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Trick-or-Treat Handouts (small individually packaged items)
Yogurt-covered raisins
Dried sweet plums, dried fruit mix
Trail mix
All-natural fruit roll-ups
Popcorn
Granola bars
Pretzels

LeAnne Heckenlaible
Food & Nutrition Specialist
Save Mart Supermarkets

 Craving Comfort Foods?
Maybe we wouldn't if they looked like that Poptart!!!
But, if the "Snack Monster" is calling, try some of these instead.



 BAD WEATHER: If there will be a meeting cancellation due to SNOW, etc., please stay tuned to NTV or KHAS-TV. I will call them to announce a meeting cancellation by 3 P.M. for Superior...and as early as I can (or the night before) for Hastings Saturday morning meetings. You can also log on to their websites where they have weather closings.
You can also call the Weight Watchers' 800 number to find out if we are having a meeting.
1-800-651-6000.

 Next Week’s Meeting Topic:
Come prepared to share a woohoo! weight-loss or maintenance success.
It can be any triumph you’re proud of — from reaching a goal weight
to passing by the candy bowl on a coworker’s desk!

 Member Recipes
Pumpkin Oatmeal
1 cup water
½ cup old-fashioned oats
¼ cup canned pumpkin
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup nonfat milk, light vanilla almond milk or light vanilla soy milk
1-2 packages Truvia, Stevia, Splenda or your favorite sugar substitute, to taste

Ingredients for Topping: Optional

Dash cinnamon
1 tablespoon walnuts, chopped (optional)
1 tablespoon raisins (optional)

In a medium saucepan, combine water, oats, pumpkin, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon. Bring to a boil.
Turn heat down to a soft boil and cook for 4 minutes.
Stir often. Stir in milk and your favorite sugar substitute, to taste. Cook 1 more minute or until desired consistency.
Pour into a bowl. Add a dash of cinnamon and raisins and/or walnuts, if desired .
Makes 1 serving @ 5 PP
Chicken Pot Pie made Skinny
3 cups Swanson’s reduced-sodium chicken broth
1½ cups onions, chopped
1 cup potato, peeled and cubed (½ inch cubes)
1 cup sweet potato, peeled and cubed (½ inch cubes)
1 cup carrots, peeled and chopped
1 cup celery, sliced
1 lb chicken breasts (boneless, skinless), cut into bite-size pieces
1½ cups frozen peas (not defrosted)
1½ cup reduced-fat milk
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped or 1 teaspoon dried
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 pkg. Pillsbury Golden Layer Flaky Biscuits (100 calories for each biscuit)

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large pan, add chicken broth and bring to a boil.
2. Stir in onions, potato, sweet potato, carrots, and celery. Bring back to a boil, reduce heat and cover. Simmer for 6 minutes.
3. Add chicken pieces and frozen peas, breaking them up. Bring back to a boil, turn heat to simmer, cover, and cook for 5 minutes.
4. Place a colander into a large bowl. Pour chicken, vegetables and broth into colander. Add strained broth back to the pan. Set aside chicken and vegetables.
5. In a separate small bowl, add flour. Gradually add milk to the flour stirring with a whisk, until well blended.
6. Increase heat to medium with the broth. Stir in milk/flour mixture with a whisk. Cook for 5 minutes or until thicken. Stir often.
7. Add back chicken and vegetables, along with thyme, salt and pepper. Mix well.
8. Coat an 11 x 7 baking dish (see Shopping Tip) with cooking spray and pour in the chicken stew.
9. Open the package of biscuits, separate them and place on top of chicken stew. Line them evenly over top.
10. Place the pie on a foil lined baking sheet and bake for 14 minutes until the biscuits are golden brown.
11. To serve, spoon into each bowl and top with 1 biscuit. There will be two extra biscuits for whoever desires.
Serves 8 (each serving, ⅛ of recipe and 1 biscuit) @ 7 PP
Deep Dish Sloppy Joe Casserole
Source: inspired by my Deep Dish Pizza Casserole, sloppy joe ingredients adapted from Skinnytaste
1 lb 95% lean ground beef
1 tablespoon McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning (I used the reduced sodium kind)
8 oz white mushrooms, minced (I used a food processor)
1 medium carrot, minced (I used a food processor)
1 medium onion, minced (I used a food processor)
2 cloves garlic, minced (I used a food processor)
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
1 pinch of cayenne pepper
15 oz can of tomato sauce
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 (11 oz) can of refrigerated pizza crust dough (such as Pillsbury thin crust)
1 cup shredded 2% Mozzarella cheese
1. Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. Lightly mist a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
2. Bring a large saute pan or skillet over medium-high heat and add the ground beef. Break the ground beef up with a spoon or spatula while cooking.
Sprinkle with steak seasoning and continue to cook until beef is browned. Add the mushrooms, carrot, onion, garlic, vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce and reduce the heat to medium.
Cook for 5 minutes. Add the brown sugar, cayenne pepper, tomato sauce, and tomato paste and stir together. Cover and continue to cook for another 5 minutes.
3. Unroll your pizza dough and lay it in your prepared baking dish. Push the dough down across the dish and up the sides. Pour the meat mixture from your skillet into the pizza dough.
Place in the oven for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle the Mozzarella cheese over the top. Place the casserole back in the oven and cook for 5 additional minutes
or until cheese is melted and pizza crust is browned.
Yields 6 servings. WW P+: 9 per serving (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)
www.emilybites.com




Skinny Pumpkin Latte
½ cup fat-free milk
½ tablespoon canned pumpkin, see storage tip
1 package sugar substitute, such as Stevia or Splenda or 1½ teaspoon sugar, if desired
½ teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, plus more to garnish
½ cup of strong brewed hot coffee
Ingredients for Topping:
2 tablespoons light whipped cream
Dash of pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon
1. In a saucepan, whisk together milk, pumpkin, sugar substitute and cook on medium heat, stirring until steaming.
Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and pumpkin pie spice. Transfer to a blender and process for 15 seconds until foamy.
If you don’t have a blender, don’t worry about it. Just whisk the mixture continuously with a wire whisk until foamy.
2. Pour into a large mug. Add the hot coffee on top. Top with 2 tablespoons whipped cream and sprinkle with a little pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon on top.
3. Drink immediately.
Makes 1 serving @ 1 PP
Starbucks Mocha Frapuccino made Skinny
⅓ cup double-strength regular or decaf coffee, chilled, see prep tip
⅓ cup nonfat milk
2 tablespoons Jello instant chocolate pudding (dry pudding mix in a box. You don’t make the pudding)
2½ packages Splenda, Stevia, Truvia, Equal or your favorite sugar substitute
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
1½ cups ice
Ingredients for Topping:
¼ cup fat-free whipped cream
Instructions
1. Combine chilled coffee, milk, chocolate pudding dry mix, sugar substitute, vanilla and ice in a blender.
Blend on high speed until ice is crushed and drink is smooth.
2. Pour into 1 glass. Top with ¼ cup whipped cream.
3. Serve at once with a straw, if desired
Makes 1 (12 oz) drink @ 2 PP

Caramel Apple Milkshakes
3 cups frozen vanilla yogurt
3/4 cup 1% low-fat milk
1/2 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup caramel topping
Place the yogurt, milk, cinnamon, and topping in a blender.
Cover and blend until smooth.
Pour into 6 glasses. Serve immediately.
Makes 6 glasses - @ 5 PP
Ghosts-With-The-Most Meringues
8 SERVINGS
1 PointsPlus® Value
3 large egg whites (a little more than 1/3 cup)
1/3 cup granulated white sugar
1/3 cup Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (granulated)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
32 mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Directions
Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line 2 large baking pans with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine egg whites and cream of tartar. Using an electric mixer set at high speed, beat until fluffy and slightly stiff, about 3 minutes.
Continue mixing with your electric mixer, and gradually add the sugar and Splenda until completely combined. Add the vanilla and continue mixing until blended.
Using a spatula, transfer all the meringue mixture to a large plastic bag. Squeeze mixture down toward one bottom corner of the bag.
Snip that corner off with scissors. (Ta-da! Makeshift piping bag.)
Pipe mixture onto the parchment paper in ghost-like shapes about 3 inches long. (HG tip! Do each outline first, and then fill it in.)
Use the tip of your piping bag to smooth mixture and make sure the ghost shapes are filled in solidly. Continue until the mixture is gone, making 8 ghosts per baking pan.
Place 2 mini chips on each ghost for eyes.
Bake in the oven for 70 minutes. Do not remove meringues afterwards.
Turn oven off and allow meringues to set in the oven for 1 hour.
Pull meringues from the parchment paper and chomp away. Just don't eat them all at once!
Each meringue has a PointsPlus value of 1.
Candy Corn Custard Parfait
1 SERVING
4 PointsPlus Values

Ingredients
1 Jell-O Sugar Free Vanilla Pudding Snack
2 drops yellow food coloring
1/3 cup mandarin orange segments in juice, drained
1/4 cup Cool Whip Free, thawed
5 pieces candy corn
Directions
In a small bowl or parfait glass, combine pudding with food coloring and mix until uniform in color.
Top evenly first with orange segments and then with Cool Whip.
Arrange candy corn prettily on top of the Cool Whip (or haphazardly — it's your parfait), and then dive in!
Each parfait has a PointsPlus value of 4.www.hungrygirl.com


Pumpkin Pie White Hot Chocolate
2 cups fat free milk
1/2 cup pure pumpkin puree
1/4 cup International Delights fat free white chocolate mocha creamer
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp vanilla extract
Puree all ingredients in a blender until well combined.
Pour into a small sauce pan and heat on low until desired temperature is reached.
Top with a dollop of fat free cool whip or whipped cream (optional).
Entire recipe makes 2 servings
Serving size is 1/2 of whole recipe
Each serving = 3 Points +

This newsletter is in no way affiliated with Weight Watchers, Inc. It is simply a motivational tool that I offer to members who attend my Weight Watchers meetings and wish to receive it.
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our own private support group!

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