Sunshiney day

Hi friends!

I am in an unusually good mood today. I believe is a combinations of reasons:

1. It's absolutely gorgeous outside. Sunny, blue skies, crisp and chilly!
2. I'm wearing my new Ray-Ban geek-chic glasses I got yesterday at LensCrafters (only took an hour!?!) and I absolutely LOVE them.
3. Also wearing my new City Chic skinny jeans that I picked up for a DOLLAR, and they make my ass look fantastic!
4. My boyfriend is coming over tonight for a romantic homecooked meal and a movie - we both crush on Leo DiCaprio so we're going to see J. Edgar!
5. I lost this week, so after a little Thanksgiving gain I'm only 1 pound away from where I was.  Also, only 1.4lbs away from reaching my first big goal - 10% body weight lost!

Last week's weight: 206.6

This week's weight: 205.2

-1.4lbs for 21.2 total

I made some really tasty recipes this week, supplemented with some good frozen stuff from Trader Joe's those days I didn't have a premade lunch.

First up: this is a tweaked version of Skinnytaste's Cilantro Chicken Salad. First of all, I had an entire rotisserie chicken sitting in the fridge so I used that instead of cooking fresh breasts. I'm not a huge fan of cilantro so I subbed in dill, and I also didn't have light mayo so I used less regular and left out the chicken broth. I like my deli salads on the drier side so it worked out perfectly for me. I LOVE this chicken salad, and I'm usually very picky with mine! To take it up even a notch further, I'm planning to add some celery next time to give it some fantastic crunch! My tweaked recipe is below - click here for the original.

14oz rotisserie chicken, shredded/chopped

3 Tbsp mayo

3 scallions, chopped

Juice of half a lemon

4 Tbsp chopped dill, more or less to taste

salt, pepper, cumin, garlic powder, and chile powder to taste

Makes 4 servings, 6 Points Plus each.

Next is another spin on a Skinnytaste recipe. Her beet salad also called for cilantro, and more mayo than I'd like. I halved the mayo, replaced the cilantro with dill again, and added a sprinkle of sugar to sweeten the beets and vinegar for some tanginess.

2 cans of sliced beets
1 Tbsp mayo
1 Tbsp fat free sour cream

3 Tbsp dill
1/2 small onion, sliced thin
1/2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
3 servings, 1 Point Plus each

Both recipes can be lightened further - just use low fat or fat free mayo, and poach chicken breasts instead of using rotisserie chicken for the chicken salad :)

One lunch I had two servings (so 4 pieces) of Spicy Shrimp Bao from Trader Joes, they're only 3 points for 2 and quite delicious!

Another night's dinner was Trader Joe's Pork Gyoza Pot Stickers - 1 Point each, with a crap load of steamed broccoli with a little soy and ponzu sauces :)