Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Recipe of the day 9/21/11

This is a recipe I found in Weight Watchers about a year or so ago. It was a HUGE hit at my house, which is saying a lot since my mom and little sister are the pickiest eaters I know. It seems like a lot but it is super easy to make!

                      BAKED TURKEY AND JACK CHEESE CHIMICHANGAS
1/2 lb lean ground turkey
16 oz fat free canned refried beans
1 3/4 cup salsa
4 1/2 oz canned green chili peppers, diced and drained
1 tsp chili powder
3 tbsp scallion, thinly sliced
1 C shredded reduced fat monterey Jack Cheese
8 Lg burrito size wheat flour tortillas
1 C salsa
1/2 C fat free sour cream

      Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat large skillet w/cooking spray. Coat 13x9x2 inch baking dish.
      Add Turkey to skillet and cook over medium-high heat until lightly browned, about 5 min. Drain any excess liquid from pan and then add beans, salsa, chili peppers, chili powder, and scallions. Cook until heated through, about 3 min, stir in cheese.
      Meanwhile, wrap tortillas in foil and warm in oven for 10 min.
      Assemble Chimichangas by spooning about 1/2 c of turkey mixture onto each tortilla. Fold in sides and roll up.
    Place seam side down, in prepared baking dish. Bake uncovered until tortillas are crisp and browned, about 20 minutes. Serve each topped with 2 Tbsp of Salsa and 1 Tbsp of Sour Cream.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did!
If you are familiar with Weight Watchers, the point value for this particular recipe is 5 points per Chimichanga! NOT BAD!!!!!!

There is a 1st for everything!

Hello blogging world!!!!
   This is my first blog and i'm actually pretty excited about it. My friend, Jamie, actually inspired me to do this. So a little bit about myself and why I am doing this blog. My name is Dana, I am a 24 yr old big girl (on the outside anyways). I have been on the heavy side since I can remember and on every diet pill and plan that you could think of. They all work to an extent, but it's never long term and it's a lot easier to put the weight back on then it is to lose it. In 2007, I had the lap-band surgery done. It was a success for the first year. I slowly stopped loosing the weight, which would have been okay, except after slowly not loosing I started to gain it back. As it sits today, I am the same weight I was before I started going to the weight loss clinic at UTMB. Now, I am on the path to having this lap band removed and having Gastric Bypass. Surgery isn't for everyone and it isn't a 100% cure. You still have to eat right, eat in portions, and (everyones most favorite thing to do) EXERCISE! None of which are my strong point. Okay, the eating right isn't so hard for me. I'm the first to try just about anything, and vegetables are my friend :) My problem has always been how much I eat and how often I eat. Portion control is never easy when you were always encouraged as a child to "eat more"! "Here you go honey, have another helping of Grandma's fried porkchops with mashed potatos, home made gravey, and green beans." Every big person in this WORLD knows that line! It's hard being a southern girl who loves southern food and lots of it!
    So how do you get past that? Will power. The food will always be there, but you're the one who can make the choice to choose the grilled or baked over the fried. The sugar free over the fully loaded. The food scale over the stomach scale. Have you ever heard the saying "my eyes were bigger than my stomach." It's true, but it's when you start packing your stomach to make your eyes not seem so off that you really have a problem, and I am back to this point.
   Which brings me to the reason of this blog! I need help (obviously)! I have a girl (I call her Danielle) who lives inside of me and she is about a size 10 or 12. The problem is, she is trapped inside a size 26/28 body! You know what girl i'm talking about! She can rock the skinny jeans with an amazing top and the right pair of heels and doesn't feel like it is clinging to every roll and her poor ankles are holding up almost 200 lbs of extra weight! Every BBW has one of these girls screaming to get out! I have never really felt like a big girl(mentally) with a few exceptions. Reality slaps me in the face when it comes to relationships and shopping! Well, i'm tired of reality slapping me, it's time this girl start slapping back. In this blog I will be writing about my journey to unleash Danielle! I will also be posting helpful eating and exercise tips and awesome healthy recipes. Look at it this way, you get a free dietician (I pay for mine)! I really hope you find this blog interesting, funny, and helpful! I will be posting again soon!!!!!!