4 Points for Bacon and Brie on Weight Watchers

Yesterday, I lost my job. Which, of course, means there will be more time to write. But it also means that I have no valuable source of income. Which isn't fun. But life goes on, and I know that I will find another job that I love. My best friend told me that if anyone can pick themselves up by the bootstraps, it's me. So after a few Imperial Stouts, a pile of loaded nachos, and some cheesecake at Two Brothers Roundhouse, last night...I went to bed stuffed and happy (and maybe a little tipsy).

So this morning, I weighed in at my second Weight Watchers meeting. I lost 4.4 lbs! I lost a small percentage of my body and one daily point target point. And this is just the beginning! Of course, after weighing in, one doesn't want to eat a big breakfast. I'm always inspired to eat something really healthy and small. So I had a banana and a bowl of Rice Krispies. (Hello 4 point breakfast!)

But that's boring. So it's a good thing that I took a picture of yesterday's breakfast for you! It was also only 4 points...So maybe I should have just made this guy!I was trying to make up for my relatively "bad" week. I had eaten my fair share on New Year's Eve and Monday--oh GAWD...Monday...

Monday, we went to Mon Ami Gabi for their New Year's Brunch. An off-the-menu selection of French delicacies, I was in heaven...the BF was not so much. But he survived. And we got $50 in gift cards to come back! Yay! We started with the warm Brie cheese (can you tell I'm on a Brie kick?) served with roasted garlic, hazelnuts (ick), and drizzled with honey. Oh gawd so good! I had a Bloody Mary from the Bloody Mary Bar--mix, seasonings, hot sauces, olives, blue cheese stuffed olives, roasted red peppers, lemon, lime, celery, and cheese! :D Yes! Then for actual meal, I had a Quiche Lorraine. I'd been craving this for a while, hence the other day's Omelet Lorraine. It was decadent. I was bad. Weight Watchers would not have been proud. But I still lost this week so yay me! (I did try really hard to get my activity in to consume these extra points).

That being said, here's a healthy recipe/substitute for decadence. :D Enjoy.

Weight Watchers Bacon & Brie Omelet

• 2 egg whites
• 1 slice bacon, cooked and crumbled
• .5 oz brie
• 1 apple
• fresh ground Cinnamon

 

 I had cooked up the entire lb of bacon to save it for use throughout the week. This works for me, but some people may be tempted to eat all of the pieces in one sitting. Don't fall to temptation! Use the egg whites mixed with bacon to make your omelet, and fold it over a small slice of brie (that melts perfectly and spreads itself pretty evenly). Serve with the apple cored and sprinkled with fresh ground cinnamon.

I really enjoyed this one, and will definitely be making it again.

Weight Watchers Points Plus Breakfast

So I went to my first meeting last week. Yep, a real Weight Watchers meeting. It's been a while since I did the online thing WITH the meetings, and this time it's going to stick. I'm ashamed to say that I am the heaviest that I have ever been, and it's time for a change. In college I lost almost 50 lbs doing the WW plan, so this time I'm going to keep it all off. The new plan is different--more carb based, which sucks in one respect but in another, it's not half bad. You can eat as many fruits and veggies as you want for 0 points, you have a higher point value than on the old plan, and hopefully it works the same way!

Of course, in doing Weight Watchers, the key to success is still enjoying food, and not thinking of it as a diet. It's a healthy lifestyle. And guess what, kids? I can still eat delicious breakfast foods. In fact, I can make amazing breakfasts for less than 10 points a pop. And still eat cheese. Boo-Ya!

So I've made this omelet twice already because it's REALLY good and only takes about 10 minutes from prep to dine. As well you may have noticed, I'm a big fan of Mexican breakfast. My love for Chilequiles should speak for itself. Of course, tortilla chips would drastically raise the point value of my breakfast, so no mas for now.

Weight Watchers Mexican Omelet

• 3 egg whites beaten
• 1 oz sharp cheddar cheese shredded or sliced (you can lower the point value by using reduced fat, but I don't)
• 3 tablespoons black bean salsa
• 1 medium vine ripened tomato sliced
• 1/3 cup fresh sliced avocado
• sea salt
• ground black pepper

  Pour the beaten egg whites into a small, heated pan sprayed with PAM. Let the egg cook through until the top is almost cooked as well. Then, gently flip the entire egg. Add the cheese to one side of the round egg, and fold the other half over the cheese. Slide the omelet onto a plate with the sliced tomatoes, garnish with salsa and avocado. Then sprinkle the tomatoes with sea salt and black pepper. Voila! Breakfast is served.
Weight Watchers Points Plus Value: 7

The best part about my little weight watcher's omelet is that this will fill me up for a decent amount of time. I won't be hungry until lunch. And worst case scenario, if I am hungry, I can eat an apple or two without wasting any points at all. I call that a win.

Apple and Swiss Egg White Omelet with Walnuts

 

So, after two mornings of cold Chinese food for breakfast (taking one out of the BF's breakfast book), I decided it was time for a real breakfast. But what to eat...

After trolling the fridge, I happened upon Amish Baby Swiss, from the Cheese People, of course and apples. These two delightful items happen to go very well together on a regular basis...so I thought to myself, this is a brilliant plan.

I busted out the eggs, and decided on an egg white omelet with apples and Swiss cheese. I chopped the apples into small pieces and shredded the cheese. Let's just say I was very generous with that cheese... :)
I then scrambled up the egg whites (and I cheated a little bit with just a smidge of yolk.)

Then I heated up a non-stick pan with some cooking spray (I don't trust non-stick pans) and tossed in the apples for a little warming. I poured in my egg mixture and let the magic happen.

After a few mishaps with not so perfect omelet gone scrambled eggs, I decided that I'd use this sneaky little trick I learned about omelets. After it was mostly cooked, instead of flipping the whole thing over, I piled on the cheese into half of the flat egg, folded it over, laid it on a plate, and.... I nuked it. Yeah, I put it in the microwave to ensure melted cheese and fully cooked egg... It tastes great that way, I promise. After nuking the omelet, I added a few more apple pieces to the top for garnish.

While I was taking my initial picture of breakfast, I thought to myself, I should add something and I wished I had a little rosemary to garnish it with. But I didn't. So instead, I added some walnuts to my delightful omelet of joy. It was, to say the least, happiness. The walnuts were an excellent decision. Overall, two thumbs up. Fine breakfast fun. I love a good omelet. :)

 

Breakfast Recap

Sorry kids! It's been awhile since I've had time to write for my own blog...you know getting paid to write the ImIn.com blog kinda takes a lot of my writing time...Then there's my new obsession with Yelp reviews.. You can check my breakfast section for reviews of tasty and not-so-tasty morning meal eateries. I've been doing a lot of McDonald's breakfast, thanks to Monopoly: Both McMuffins, hashbrowns, and medium drinks are all on the game piece list....So of course I make the occasional breakfast visit.

This morning was pretty rockstar breakfast though. Now that I'm on a limited budget (Oh yeah, I got T-boned by a freaking doe on Monday night...and have a $1000 deductible), I have to spend well...nothing most of the time. So no more McD's for a while...maybe ;-)  So I did an egg scramble with egg whites, red potatoes, horseradish and chive havarti (thanks to-you guessed it- Rick and the Cheese People of Beloit, and called it a meal of JOY.

Another choice meal that I created for the bf and bestie, A last weekend:

Italian Breakfast scramble with canadian bacon, tuscan herb cheese curds (Thanks again Rick!), fresh basil, and topped with a drizzle of the tomato soup I made from scratch with the recipe from Alex's Day Off. I changed a few things (I added fresh basil chiffonade, and used white wine instead of vermouth. We also didn't do the melty cheese because we had grilled cheese and steak sammiches. Yum Yum Yum.)

I promise I'll stay motivated and write more. I will I will.

Italian Breakfast Scramble

Tuscan cheese curds. In my eggs? Delicious? You don't say. Well, you don't, because you don't know. You. Don't. Even. Know. But I do. And it rocked. Om nom nom. So I started with some fresh chopped red onion (a staple in the fridge) and sliced grape tomatoes from the Aurora Farmer's Market (also a staple in the fridge). Let it heat up in a pan. The add 3 egg whites, and let that cook up for a bit. Mix it up, top it with the Tuscan cheese curds, and garnish (yes, I said garnish) it with a fresh chiffonade of basil and voila! Breakfast is served.

The cheese curds, obviously from The Cheese People of Beloit, purchased at the aforementioned market...yum yum yum. Have you ever cooked relatively fresh cheese curds? Still freaking squeakin' in my dang mouth. Holy delightfulness, Batman!

I've had some pretty great breakfasts this past week, but haven't had time to log them all. Let's just say that the cheese and I are gettin' pretty creative in the kitchen. And I'm sure that you'll hear all about some of my tasty treats eventually when I remake/perfect them. *drool*

In other news, yesterday's breakfast was a homage to McDonald's Monopoly, which of course, I'm not too thrilled with...they changed the game on me. and there were kinks in the system. and it was un-fun. But last year, I won a $50 gas card to Shell...so I'll keep playing. Gotta get my SASE ready for mailin'! In case you're wondering, here is the list of breakfast items to get your grubby little hands on game pieces:

medium drink
McCafe bevs (smoothies and frappes, but not coffee!)
Egg McMuffin
Sausage McMuffin with Egg
Hashbrowns (2 for $1.49, people)
Oatmeal

I'm thrilled that I don't have to get any of the strange breakfast sandwiches and I can enjoy a less than terrible for me egg McMuffin of joy.

Tastes Like Potato Pancakes!

The fine Cheese People of Beloit have yet again brought me another delicious cheesy breakfast concoction. Actually two.

On Wednesday, I made a delightful ham and baby Amish Swiss (of course from those brilliant cheesemongers of Wisconsin) egg white scramble. It was fast easy and undeniable delish. plus, with my light cran-raspberry juice, breakfast was only 6 points on the Weight Watchers scale. (Three egg whites is a whopping one whole point!)

Yesterday was cold pizza for breakfast, which doesn't have quite as much of a healthy eating ring to it, but cold pizza for breakfast rocks! I've been eating cold pizza as breakfast food since high school...and it's always there in all of its delicious glory. Dad and I had Roundheads the night before, so it was tasty pizza. The only prob was that there were a few too many onions and I had to swipe those puppies off due to my unnatural fear of botulism, which can be caused by eating leftover onions. (Usually only once they've been left sitting out, reheated, yadda yadda yadda...but I don't care about the fine print. Hence UNNATURAL fear.)

This morning was the best , though. With another delightful cheese from the Cheese People (a caraway seed gouda), I created a breakfast treat that I'm still day dreaming about. Frozen hash brown potatoes, a little ham, this amazing cheese, and 3 egg whites made an awesome potatoe-y scramble that seriously tasted like cheesy potato pancakes with eggs on top. YUM-O.  I was incredibly happy with my breakfast choice, and I highly recommend you check these guys out.

Apricot Brie and Egg White Omelet

This morning, yet another well-timed, perfectly made omelet of joy. I'm getting really good at this. (I remember when I was a kid and would try to make an omelet and end up with eggs EVERYWHERE from trying to flip the damn thing over in the pan. I now realize that the trick to making a perfect omelet is letting it cook mostly through before flipping and adding ingredients...In order to do that without burning the egg part, you have to let the uncooked egg slide under the cooked part, thus never crisping the outer egg. Then flip. Then add ingredients. Then fold. It's that simple.)

I use egg whites when I make omelets, because why use the extra cholesterol, when I'm not really going to taste the yolky goodness anyways. I reserve my yolk eating for when its runny and delicious. :D

So the cheese obviously came from my friends at The Cheese People of Beloit (where I buy my cheese at the Aurora Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings--YUM!) A tasty brie layered with a light hint of apricot (and I believe almonds). Awesome happy goodness.

The rest of the week was tamale from the farmer's market, Honey Jam, Juicy-O, BK, and McDs....yeah it's been one of those breakfast weeks.