Pumpkin Cheesecake anyone?

So today I had a craving for pumpkin cheesecake so I went to the kitchen to experiment! I came up with this little "recipe" which turned out pretty good. Cured my cravings =)

Pumpkin Cheesecake:

1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese

2 tbsp canned pumpkin

2 equal or other sweetner packs

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Mix all the ingredients together then blend with an electric blender until creamy. Refrigerate for 1 hour if desired before serving.

Calories: 91

Comfort Lunch

Today was so cold and snowy outside. I came home from work early because of the icy roads and worked from home today. So I was in a comfort food mood for lunch! I made a huge crock pot of chili on Sunday to eat throughout the week this week so I heated up a big bowl of eat. I ate it on Natures Own Thin 100 calorie bread with a wedge of laughing cow cheese. It really hit the spot. I love chili and make it a lot. Seems I never make it the same way twice. Here's the way I made it this time:

1 chopped white onion

1 pound ground turkey breast

15 oz can pinto beans (rinsed and drained)

15 oz can black beans (rinsed and drained)

28 oz can diced tomatoes

3 cups chicken broth

chili powder, to taste

garlic powder, to taste

salt and pepper, to taste

I browned the ground turkey then added all the ingredients except for the chicken stock in a crockpot. Then I added the stock, just enough to cover all the ingredients, about 3 cups. Added the seasonings and tasted until I like it. Then I cooked it on low in the crock pot for 8 hours. One cup of chili is around 150 calories.

Week 8 Results

Last night was the weigh in for Week 8! Hard to believe the competition is now half way over!

I lost 2.2 pounds in Week 8 which I was very excited about! That puts my total weight loss so far to 31 pounds. I am ecstatic to hit the 30 pound mark in just 8 weeks. I've also gone down 2 dress sizes.

Nutritional Goals for Week 8: I don't have any big goals for this week. I plan to keep with my eating 1200-1300 calories per day of well-balenced, "clean" foods

Workout Goals for Week 8: This week my goal is to do at least 1 hour of cardio every day and 30 minutes of weight training on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

Fast Food Boycott Update: I'm still going strong on my boycott of all things fast food! Today is day 61 without having any fast food. My goal is to go a whole year! Only 304 days to go :) I actually had a bad dream last night that I accidently went to McDonalds! It was more like a nightmare!!

Special K Fruit Crisps

A friend told me about these Special K Fruit Crisps so I decided to try some. Pop tarts is one thing I miss. These are a little like pop tarts but both crisps have only 100 calories. They come in blueberry & strawberry flavors. The upside is they can cure a pop tart craving with only 100 calories. I love to dip these in my yogurt. The downside is the LONG list of ingredients including fructose. Here's the nutritional info:

PizZA BurGER!!!!!

This is one of my favorite meals right now!! A pizza burger with broccoli. I browned 96% lean ground beef and added homemade marinara sauce. I ate it on a whole wheat bread bun that I scooped the middle out of with italian cheese on top. Here is the recipe for the marinara sauce (courtesy of the Biggest Loser recipe book):

1 cup minced yellow or white onion
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 teaspoons honey
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Spray a medium nonstick saucepan and place over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until just becoming tender. Reduce the heat to low and stir in tomatoes, water, tomato paste, honey, oregano, and pepper flakes. Cover and cook for at least 1 hour.

Makes 7 (1/2 cup) servings, about 3 1/2 cups sauce

Each serving has 43 calories!

Morning Snack

Snack today was fruity again. I must be in a fruit mood today! I had a blackberry Dannon Light & Fit Yogurt. It only has 60 calories, however, the sugars are a little high so you have to be careful with it. I also had a Special K 100 calorie Fruit Crisp bar. A friend told me about these and I picked them up at the grocery store this weekend. They are really good! Will post more about them later...

Breakfast 3/1

Breakfast today was a great way to start off Monday. I had a Thomas 110 Calorie wheat bagel, toasted, with 1 tbsp fat free cream cheese. With it I enjoyed a bowl of fruit: pineapple, grapes, and canteloupe. Yummy start to the day!!