So, like most humans, I love pizza! And when I saw a recipe for a Weight Watchers pizza crust with Greek yogurt and self-rising flour, I was skeptical, but now I’m a believer!
Since I’ve discovered this pizza dough recipe, I’ve made 2 kinds of pizza: Pepperoni and Buffalo Chicken, and my, my they were delicious. Who said you can’t have your pizza and eat it too?!
Plain and simple…Weight Watcher’s works. It gives me all of the flexibility that I need and I can stay on target. Although I really do enjoy Keto, I was having a hard time eating all of the required fat intake and it was causing an upset tummy. I did not experience that before, but my weight and health have changed since then.
Speaking of health, I have a confession…I had my first honestly scary doctor’s appointment at the beginning of this year. I have very minor high blood pressure that was causing severe dizzy spells and headaches. I then started a blood pressure medicine that made me sleep all of the time. I don’t want to live my life this way. And then my last doctor’s appointment in early March, I got on the scale and reached the highest weight I have ever been. The doctor’s scale said 305. I said impossible, my home scale has never been above 298. Who was I kidding…that somehow it wasn’t real if my scale never went over 300. No, I was just adding to the long list of excuses. The very next morning I got on my own scale, determined to prove the doctor wrong of my 300+ weight to sadly discover that my trusty scale revealed the truth…I was over 300 pounds.
Weight is just a number, so I am not saying that you should be a slave to the scale, but I’m tired of this overweight life. My blood pressure is high, my knees ache, I have chronic plantar fasciitis, my low back hurts, and those are just the physical parts. What about all of the other parts like I want to fit into normal clothes, I don’t want to hide from pictures, I want a life that I can live. And I haven’t been living.
I made the choice to start over. I started with a quick 3 day cleanse, then keto until I decided that Weight Watchers (where I have always had the most success) is where I needed to return too. I’m down almost 13 pounds according to my scale and I am motivated.
I hope that you will continue to be patient with me on this journey because that is what this is. I need help staying motivated on the days I don’t want too. How can we do this together? Time, this will take time. As they say, the slower you lose it, the longer you can keep it off because you are changing your lifestyle and the way you think about food. I am committed to no longer being a slave to food, are you?!
Each pizza serves 1. The recipe can be doubled or adjusted to make larger. Just remember to recalculate your points.
2 Ingredient Crust:
Ingredients. Makes 1 Crust.
Directions:
Pepperoni Pizza
Ingredients:
Directions:
Total points (including crust) = 9
Buffalo Chicken Pizza
Ingredients:
Directions:
*Check your hot sauce/Buffalo sauce – some add points
**I used precooked chicken that was 0 points. Check your label because some have other ingredients that add points.
Total points (including crust) = 6 with no ranch, 8 with ranch
If you read my post about my love for pizza, you already know my love of this food group and how I stumbled upon a 2 ingredient recipe that I was skeptical about. Now that I have tried this over and over, I am a true believer and have a way to give it a little pizazz.
I don’t know about you but I HATE plain greek yogurt! It is tart and weird (no offense to those that love this stuff). So call me crazy when I was craving pizza and came across a recipe for pizza dough that included it. I wanted a pizza bad and I was willing to try this because I wasn’t going to spend a lot of time and effort to try and make a cauliflower crust (although I will try at some point).
The recipe is simple: 1 part self-rising flour to an equal part of 0% Greek yogurt. For a personal size pizza, you use 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup yogurt (equals 3 WW Smart Points). Now I wanted something that tasted authentic and like a pizza crust, because I was afraid, “what if I can taste the Greek yogurt,” so I added a dash of dried oregano and garlic powder. I got absolute perfection!
Ingredients. Makes 1 Crust.
Directions:
With Easter right around the corner, I was craving some yummy home cooked casserole that would hit the spot and still be low carb and fit into my macros. I discovered this recipe online and decided to give it a try. Simple ingredients and can be made in under an hour.
You will need to have on hand chicken, butter, onion, cauliflower rice, heavy cream, broccoli, mayo, lemons and cheddar cheese. I was in a rush when I was making this recipe and didn’t have time to have pre-cooked chicken done so I picked up a rotisserie chicken at the store. I put half in the bottom of a 9×13 pan and saved half for later.
I topped this with 2 packs of steamed broccoli.
In a large saucepan, I sauteed the onion and garlic together over medium-high heat until the onions were clear. I then added 2 bags of frozen cauliflower rice to this (you can use fresh, again I was in a hurry), garlic salt and cook until softened. Then I added the chicken broth, covered and cooked this for 10 minutes. Afterward, I added the heavy cream + lemon juice and reduced the heat to medium-low for another 10 minutes uncovered. At the end of that 10 minutes, I added the mayo and stirred well to combine.
Mix the other half of the chicken in.
Once thoroughly mixed, layer on top of the chicken and broccoli in baking pan.
Top with cheddar cheese.
Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove foil and cook for another 10 minutes.
Viola! Yummy chicken and broccoli casserole.
Ingredients:
Directions:
Recipe credit: simplystacie.net
Meal prep this week is meant to be easy and delicious.
My grocery haul this week was around $70. I spent roughly $55 at Walmart and stocked up on a bulk size of frozen wild blueberries and frozen dragon fruit at Target for about $15.
I’ve been following the Medical Medium for over a month now. He recommends that to help maintain good health and keeping your metabolism running smoothly to keep your liver detoxed consume 16 ounces of celery juice on an empty stomach every morning thirty minutes before breakfast. I have been doing this consistently for about two weeks and I was having great success with digestion. I’m sad to report, I broke my juicer last week and I have to wait a couple of weeks to get another.
BUT, one of his other suggestions is either a Heavy Metal Detox Smoothie or a Liver Rescue Smoothie. I have chosen to incorporate the Liver Rescue Smoothie into my morning routine and I am so happy that I did.
I also have been incorporating mini meals every two to three hours throughout the day to keep my metabolism fired up and stay full longer. I’ve never been good at the mini meals but the way I have laid out my meals seems to be working quite well and I’m pretty pleased with myself!
My meals are looking like this for this week:
Day Starter – Liver Rescue Smoothie
Breakfast – Chocolate Covered Strawberry Overnight Oats – around 2 hours after smoothie
Lunch – Burrito Bowl with ground turkey, guac & pico de gallo – around 12 noon
Snack – Cucumbers & Sweet Peppers with Garlic Hummus – around 3p
Dinner – Spaghetti Squash with Meat Sauce – between 5-6p
Here’s to good eating and getting healthy!
I don’t know about you, but I know I LOVE sweets! On bad days I have found myself eating an entire 4 pack of cupcakes while I watch my favorite show. Not my proudest moment, I know! BUT…I also know I’m not the only one out there that has been there before. Here is my way to combat those sweet cravings…DON’T DENY THEM! Now let me be clear, I’m not encouraging you to run out to Walmart and get cupcakes, or whatever your vice is…I’m saying it is about BALANCE and making a HEALTHIER choice. One of my favorite meals that is not only healthy but also satisfies that sweet tooth that causes me so much trouble! So what if I told you this week I ate chocolate covered strawberries for breakfast and that it was healthy?! You may question my sanity but stay with me. This week for breakfast I made a quick, easy, and healthy overnight oatmeal recipe that is my take on chocolate covered strawberries.
It’s a great grab-and-go option to help make mornings less hectic all while trying to make better choices.
First, I grabbed all of my ingredients and measured everything to make things go quick.
A friend taught me that mixing all of your dry ingredients and then adding the wet in a large bowl is so much easier than trying to measure everything out per serving in mason jars. So I mixed my dry ingredients first and then added my almond milk. Once everything was combined together I separated the mixture into my Mason jars. I used about ¾ cups of the overnight oat mixture per jar. After that, I topped them with chopped strawberries. Sealed them and threw them in the fridge for my grab-and-go breakfast this week.
Now, to some this doesn’t look like much, but you will be pleasantly surprised how full this fiber-filled recipe will keep you.
I hope you enjoy this recipe! Leave me your feedback or comment with your favorite overnight oat recipe.
RECIPE (Makes 4 servings):
2 cups rolled oats
2 1/2 cups plain or unsweetened vanilla almond milk (I used vanilla almond milk)
¼ cup organic cacao powder (or can substitute unsweetened cocoa)
4 T powdered peanut butter
4 T organic chia seeds
2 T pure maple syrup
1 cup sliced or chopped strawberries (tightly packed)
In a large bowl, mix all ingredients except for almond milk and strawberries until thoroughly mixed. Add almond milk and mix. Measure ¾ cup of mixture into Mason jars or another storage container. Top each with ¼ cup of sliced/chopped strawberries. Seal and store in the refrigerator until ready to eat. (Make sure that before you eat the first serving that it has stayed in the refrigerator overnight or at least or 6-8 hours).
I don’t know about you but I love Chipotle and Moe’s! And I LOVE burrito bowls. To keep my cravings at bay, I have found an awesome recipe that is Whole 30 approved (minus any non-whole 30 toppings) and where I initially where I came across the recipe.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons avocado or extra virgin olive oil
3 cups broccoli slaw
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped bell pepper
1 stalk chopped celery (I left this out because I forgot to grab celery)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ground beef, ground turkey or ground chicken (I’ve used beef and turkey)
1 can petite diced tomatoes
1 small can diced green chiles
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons smoked paprika (do not substitute regular paprika)
Cooking Instructions
Enjoy!
Recipe Credit: https://www.katrina-runs.com/whole-30-day-20-pass-the-cheese
I love starting my day with this smoothie. I have adapted it from the Medical Medium for ease and for one serving. The Medical Medium says that this is an important recipe “because it offers such powerful healing support for the liver, which makes it helpful for every kind of chronic illness and symptom.” Read more about this here.
Here is the recipe I use:
1 banana
1 cup frozen wild blueberries (not regular)
1 cup frozen dragon fruit or pitaya (found mine at Target here)
½ cup purified water
Blend and enjoy!
Hi, my name is Jessica. I am 32 years old and I have struggled with my weight since I was 10 years old! For some of you, you may know what that story feels like. For others, it may be a more recent struggle. No matter how or when your struggle started, I understand your pain and disappointment when you have tried every “diet” under the sun. I can remember my mom putting her and myself on a “diet” when I was 10. We did the cabbage soup diet, we did the we are going to starve ourselves for a few days diet only to then binge eat diet and even tried diet pills together.
I remember in high school that I wasn’t super large, but I weighed more than everyone else. I had some success with Weight Watchers the summer before my senior year of high school and I felt great, until sometime in college when I fell off the bandwagon. That led into years of yo-yo dieting through my twenties. I did the HCG diet and lost a good amount of weight only to gain double back. Yo-yo dieting, mixed with stress and depression help get me to where I am now. And for a long time, I think I sort of just gave up and just wanted to accept that this is who I am and I am never going to lose weight no matter how hard I try.
BUT, I didn’t really want to accept that and knew that in the bottom of my heart, that was just an excuse. Last year, I felt compelled to start a new journey through blogging to help hold me accountable, but more importantly, help others learn to love themselves. I did and I started off doing pretty good. I started incorporating healthier choices that were livable and I was feeling great that I did the hardest part, which was to take the first step. I had the blog up and running for just about a month, and then…
Last spring, I started the keto diet and was excited that I was able to stick to it longer than three to four days. I was feeling good about myself. I was into week three when my world as I knew it, fell apart. I had worked for an organization that I had poured my heart and soul into for almost eleven years, but this place that was such an immense part of me had become a toxic environment that I didn’t even recognize it anymore. Ultimately, I had to make the decision that I had in my mind been trying to make for years and that was to leave. In June 2018, I packed my car to the brim and moved from East Tennessee to Charleston, South Carolina. I took a job at another organization that has brought me new friends and an upbeat and positive atmosphere, which is what was lacking in my world before.
It has taken this long to heal, and I’m not completely there yet, but Charleston has soothed my soul in so many ways. I’m rediscovering who I am, my purpose and what I want out of life. For months, healing has looked like beach trips, wine, discovering things in my new city and eating a lot of unhealthy food. I made the decision when I went back home for Christmas that the blog had to be relaunched because I felt like I finally knew the direction I wanted my life to go and I was ready to make goals and reach them.
I started the year off at my heaviest weight ever, 298 pounds. I have in mind my goal weight, but I’m not focusing on that as much as I am making small goals. The first goal is to lose 10% of what I weight now, so rounding up = 30 pounds. Let’s do this together!
Eat, Pray, and Love Yourself 