Outsmart the Supermarket

Here’s the situation: It’s 7pm, you had a long day, you are starving, there’s nothing prepared yet for dinner and you’re out of milk. You stop by the Supermarket on the way home.

The place is crowded; all the quick fixes (roasted chicken for example) have sold out, you went in to get milk, you come out with $75 worth of groceries, some of it (or a lot of it!!) foods that you would normally avoid buying, but today they seemed just too tempting to pass up.

Sounds familiar? Sure does to me!

This week we’ll talk about why those situations happen, and what we can do to avoid them. If you go grocery shopping before we meet again, look around and see if you can identify helpers, and traps within your favorite grocery store. We want to hear all about your discoveries!

Tool of the week

Computer out of reach? Cell phone out of battery? HA AH! A book never goes out of power, now does it?

The Complete Food Companion has a generic list of food and a list of food by brand that helps you find the point value of anything you are eating very quickly!

The Dining Out Companion is the same thing but for restaurants. It has all the main chains in the US and Canada. That one lives in the dashboard of my car!

Let me know if you need the Companion, I will bring some extras!

What’s going on?

The Lose for Good Campaign is still going strong! We are losing it! Literally!!

Keep coming to the meetings and add your weight loss to our super total. Remember that Weight Watchers is giving $1 to Share our Strength for every pound we lose up to 1 MILLION.

You are doing absolutely wonderfully well, keep going!!

Food drives:

For the travelers (JCCSF and Century Club) and the At Work meetings. I will be bringing my super Matrix around all week to carry donations back to the centers this week.

Please make sure not to put in any glass bottles, and if you could use a box if you have more than 2 items, that would be helpful also!

If you can’t bring your goodies to the meetings, stop by a center or donate to your favorite charity. It’s all about sharing the goods!

In the Kitchen

This recipe is from a Weight Watchers cookbook from a few years ago called Simply Bueno. I haven’t made if for a while, but I came across it yesterday and will surely do it again soon. It’s delicious and so easy!

I use plain non-fat yogurt instead of half & half just because fat free half & half sounds spooky to me. If you like it use it!

Here it is:

Spiced-up Pumpkin Soup

6 servings, 2 pts/serving

Ingredients

2 limes

2 tsp olive oil

1 large Spanish onion, chopped

2 tsp ground cumin (roast and grind yourself, so much better!)

½ tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp cayenne (I put more)

5 cup vegetable broth

2 cans (15 oz) solid-pack pumpkin puree (not pie filling!!)

½ cup unsweetened apple sauce

1 TBSP sugar

¾ tsp salt

3 TBSP fat free half & half (I use fat free plain yogurt)

Zest one of the limes, then squeeze enough juice from the limes to equal 2 TBSP. Set zest and juice aside.

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring frequently, until golden about 6 minutes. Add cumin, cinnamon, and cayenne; cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Remove the mixture from the heat and let cool about 5 minutes.

Transfer the onion mixture to a food processor and add 1 cup of the broth; puree. Return to the Dutch oven; add the remaining 4 cups of broth, the pumpkin, the apple sauce, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, about 2 minutes. Stir in the reserved lime juice.

Ladle the soup into 6 bowls. Drizzle each with ½ TBSP half & half (or yogurt) and swirl lightly with the tip of a knife. Sprinkle with the reserved lime zest.

That soup is truly delicious and keeps well for a few days!

At Work corner

Supplies are getting low my friends! If there is anything you need, let me know and I’ll bring it. If you don’t email me, I don’t know you need it.

That’s what we talked about last week, if you don’t ask, you don’t get!! ;o)

Have a successful week!

Never be afraid to email me if you need. I am there for you!

If you can’t make your regular meeting, check out my meeting schedule and stop by somewhere. We have a good Momentum going, keep it going! Together we can do anything!

Melanie Bourgeois

Leader

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plan.”

~ Robert Louis Stevenson

You don’t know until you ask!

Do you have support from people around you? Or do you feel that your weight loss journey is one that you have to take alone?

It is true that our weight-loss efforts are our own, and that the responsibility of it can not be passed on to someone else. This being said, that doesn’t mean people around you can’t give a helping hand here and there along the way.

Asking for help can be challenging. For one thing, I don’t know about you but for me pride used to get in the way. I used to feel that asking for help was a sign of weakness, a sign that I’m not good enough to figure things out on my own. I know, it’s silly, but still that’s what I thought. I know differently now.

It’s all in “how” and “who” you ask; there are ways to get people around you on board without starting a war within the family or your group of friends. It just takes a little thinking about it.

Tool of the Week

Cookbooks! What can I say? I love them, all of them!

The recipes are delicious, easy, and family friendly. I learned to cook with the Weight Watchers cookbooks (I could not cook eggs when I got married and this is the truth!) and have never found a recipe in them I couldn’t cook.

Make your life easier, and your plate inviting!!!

What’s going on?

Lose for Good:

The campaign is still on!!!

For each lb we lose Weight Watchers is giving $1 to Share Our Strength!

There are Food Drives at the Weight Watchers centers, share what you can. Somebody somewhere needs your help!!

Next week ( Sept. 26th to Oct 2nd) I will be bringing my car close by for my At Works and Travelers so that I can gather food donations. If you are planning to bring a large amount of food, please drop me an email so I can prepare for it. :o)

It would be greatly helpful if you could put your donations in boxes, to make carrying them around easier for me.

The campaign will go on until October 23rd.

In the Kitchen

Ok, usually I go for useful, healthy “meal” recipes. I figure everybody can easily find treats anywhere, right? No need to tempt people. Well, this is different!

This recipe is a mix of a recipe that has been doing the round at Weight Watchers dot com for years, and an idea I saw in Food Network Magazine this week. It’s a little labor intensive, but I think it’s the perfect treat for the Fall!

It is 6 pts, you can save 2 points by skipping the Graham crumbles, or you can turn this into 6 servings. You know, there’s always a way. I think it’s worth the 6 pts!

Pumpkin Mousse Parfaits
Makes 4 parfaits, 6 pts each

15 oz can of pumpkin puree
3 cups cool whip free, divided
1 cup skim milk
2 small boxes of sf/ff vanilla pudding
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (to taste)

1 cup Graham crumbles (divided in 4)

Mousse:

Beat pumpkin, milk, pudding mix and spice together with a whisk. Fold in 1 cup of the Fat Free Cool whip.

Putting it together:

Brush the bottom of each of your parfait glasses with butter substitute (ICBINB or something like that). Pour in each ¼ of the graham crumbs and pour out whatever doesn’t stick.

Delicately put in 1/8 of the pumpkin mousse, add ¼ cup of Cool whip (try not to mix it up so it looks cute), sprinkle with ½ of what’s left of each ¼ cup (after you coated the bottom of the Parfait glasses) of Graham crumbs, then add 1/8 of the Mousse again.

**I cover and refrigerate at that point for about 1 hour to let it set, and finish it up just before serving so it looks prettier.

Just before serving: Add ¼ cup of the Cool whip again and sprinkle with the rest of your Graham Crumbs. I stick a cinnamon stick in there to make it look fuffier. :o)

At Work Corner

If you need anything, let me know! The best way to get to me is always to drop me an email at willow@seamountains.net I will read everything and answer as soon as I can.

If for any reason you can't make your meeting at work, you are more than welcome to attend a meeting at any center - traveler. You have paid for it already!

You can find meetings close to home or to your vacation site at:

www.weightwatchers.com

Here are my meetings:

http://seamountains.net/mtg.html

Fall is there!

Can you believe it? Summer showed up and in came the fog, the cold, right on June 21st. Now Fall is there and we have a heat wave coming. Ha ha! I love San Francisco!!

Never be afraid to email me, I’m there for you!

See you in the meeting room!

Melanie

“Knowledge is power and enthusiasm pulls the switch.”

Steve Droke

Somebody stop me!!

The Lose for Good Campaign is on!

Did you find, or solidify, your goal for the remaining weeks of the campaign? What did you do this week to make sure you would show a loss at the scale?

This week we are discussing the importance of apprec

iating all losses, big ones surely, but also small ones. Every step, big or small, will take you toward your goal. It’s important to keep your eyes on the ball because those small losses really do add up!

Think about it, if you lose 0.3 lb, you have lost abo

ut a bar of soap! Who wants a bar of soap hanging off their body? Lost a lb in the last few weeks? Doesn’t seem like much huh? Well you have lost a whole can of Fat free refried beans!

Ain’t that something?

Tool of the Week

This week our tool of the week is a favorite of mine. AGAIN! The member kit is all that you really need to follow the program in one neat package!

The Complete Food companion and the Dinning Out Companion have the point value for pretty much anything you can think of. It’s all in there!

The 3 month journal is a great tool to track your food intake in a format that you can take anywhere, and work your own way! No need to wait for a page to load, you just turn it! How ingenious is that?

There are all sorts of other nifty tools and information (and savings!) in the kit. Ask us about it at the meeting, we’ll show it all to you!

What’s going on?

Oh my, so much!!

Success Stories Live!

Sunday September 19^th at 5 pm at the Stonestown center:

Jump start your motivation with a night of inspiration!

Learn from members who have successfully lost weight.

Free Registration, Give-aways, and Door Prizes.

Vendors of WW-friendly food and samples!
Bring a friend and you get a free box of 2 point snack bars plus your name will be entered into a raffle to win $100 worth of Weight Watcher products.

Lose for Good:

The campaign is still on!!!

For each lb we lose Weight Watchers is giving $1 to Share Our Strength!

There are Food Drives at the Weight Watchers centers, share what you can. Somebody somewhere needs your help!!

The campaign will go on until October 23^rd.

San Bruno

I’m sure that by now everybody has heard of the disaster in San Bruno. We have both staff and members who live in the neighborhood affected by the explosion. Friday I spend the afternoon in the San Bruno center and the stories I heard were heartbreaking. Yet the strength and resilience of the people of San Bruno is humbling.

I know that many of us want to help out. The Red Cross was saying Friday that they could not accept food and clothing anymore because they didn’t have the resources to deal with the overload of donations. Please keep an eye on the news and the Red Cross website for update on that front.

Here’s what you CAN DO: Donate blood. The word we got Friday was that the best way to help was to donate blood. As I learn more about what can be done, I will share with you in the meeting room.

More than anything though send strength, positive thoughts, anything to the people of San Bruno. It’s a very close knit community; everybody is touched by this tragedy.

In the Kitchen

Ooohhh I was looking for a quick and easy bean-ish salad for lunches and here’s what I found. It’s super simple, but it has the great advantage to being totally adaptable.

You can make it as is, or you can doctor it in thousands of ways! It’s a Rachel Ray recipe. I know not everybody likes her, but I’m not the one who’s going to snob somebody ‘cause she’s a little hyper right? ;op

I found the recipe in a cool little blog I’ve found:

http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com

Rachael Ray’s Chickpea Salad
Makes 6 enormous side servings

(I make 8 servings, 3 pts serving (2 pts/serving if you cut the oil down to 2 TBSP))

2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 small red onion finely chopped
1 small red bell pepper, finely chopped
A few ribs celery and leafy tops, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced or grated then grinded into a paste with salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons rosemary, finely chopped, a few sprigs
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a medium bowl, mix vinegar and olive oil. Whisk to combine. Add all other ingredients. Stir to coat. Salt and pepper to taste.

Approximate Calories, Fat, and Price Per Serving *
TOTAL: 1443 calories, 50.5 g fat, $4.27
PER SERVING (TOTAL/6): 240.5 calories, 8.4 g fat, $0.71

* http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com

At Work Corner

If you need anything, let me know! The best way to get to me is always to drop me an email at willow@seamountains.net I will read everything and answer as soon as I can.

If for any reason you can't make your meeting at work, you are more than welcome to attend a meeting at any center - traveler. You have paid for it already!

You can find meetings close to home or to your vacation site at:

www.weightwatchers.com

Here are my meetings:

http://seamountains.net/mtg.html

Onward and Downward!

Have a good week! If you need anything please drop me an email. I’ll be more than happy to help you any way I can!

See you in the meeting room!

Melanie

“Knowledge is power and enthusiasm pulls the switch.”

Steve Droke

Lose for Good is here!

Hello out there! I finally caught up with myself and am up and running!

It’s that time of the year again. For the 3rd year Weight Watchers is launching the Lose for Good Campaign. For the next 7 weeks our weight loss will not only benefit us, but the children in need all across the US.More about that at your meeting this week.

Helping can take many forms, we will see what we can do to help however we can. There will be food drives at all Weight Watchers Centers, where you can bring your donation any week of the campaign.

For the Traveler locations we are still working the details, but I'm thinking of having our food drives on the 4th (Sept 26th to Oct 2nd) and the 7th (Oct 17th to Oct 23rd) week of the campaign. This remains to be confirmed, but if that stands I'll be able to plan on having my super Matrix to carry the donation on those 2 weeks.

Unfortunately, I do not have the ability to carry donations around from my At Work meetings. I’m strongly inviting you to just donate to a charity of your choice or to stop by a center to drop your canned goods in the donation barrels.

Remember that Lose for Good isn’t only about donating food! We can also give by LOSING WEIGHT. How cool is that?? Step by step we can help ourselves by helping others. What a concept! Be there!

Tool of the week:

The food scale!

Ok, have I ever mentioned that I love the Weight watchers food scale? I do!! It does everything but track for you. It’s easy to use, easy to clean and will save you time and energy.

You know what’s even better? It’s on sale! $24.95 instead of $39.95!

If you want to buy one let me know, I’ll carry extras.

P.S. If you would like a demonstration let me know. I know that thing inside out, I use it every day!

What’s going on?

Obviously the Lose for Good Campaign is taking center stage.

I’ve been planning and plotting to organize little get-togethers in my various groups. Keep an eye out for invites, we might just have something planned for you!!

Labor Day marks, for a lot of us, the return of the routine after the summer slow down. Are you ready? How’s your work out routine? Your food planning?

Bring your ideas, discoveries, challenges to your meeting. We want to hear all about it! We’ll be eager to either help you, learn from you, or both!

In the Kitchen

I have a boatload of recipes that I’ve used forever and that I have no idea where they come from. The history student in me always feels very guilty to pass on a recipe without giving the origin of it, but this time I have no idea!

I’ve done this soup (or different versions of it) many many times and we love it a lot. It’s one of my many “I don’t have time to cook!” recipes. Everything in there is cooked already, except the onions, you just throw it in, warm it up, DONE!

I know it’s a little bit early for Pumpkin recipes, but I eat them all year round so there!

Pumpkin Black Bean Soup

Ingredients

1 TBSP olive oil (could use spray)

1 medium onion finely chopped

3 cups canned or packaged vegetable stock

1 can diced tomatoes in juice -- (14.5 oz.)

1 can black beans drained -- (15 oz)

2 cans pumpkin puree -- (15 oz)

1 cup evaporated skim milk

1 TBSP Curry powder

1 ½ tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper

Salt to taste

Directions

Heat soup pot over medium heat. Add oil and Sauté onion 5 min.

Add broth, tomatoes, beans, and pumpkin. Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to med. Low and stir in cream and spices.

Simmer 5 min.

How much easier can this get?

At Work Corner

Please please if you need anything, let me know! The best way to get to me is always to drop me an email at willow@seamountains.net I will read everything and answer as soon as I can.

If for any reason you can't make your meeting at work, you are more than welcome to attend a meeting at any center - traveler. You have paid for it already!

You can find meetings close to home or to your vacation site at:

www.weightwatchers.com

Here are my meetings:

http://seamountains.net/mtg.html

Have an awesome week!

Never be afraid to email me at any time. I’m there for you!!

Have a wonderful week! Now that summer is fading all across the North, we are getting ready for ours in the City. How cool is that???

Melanie

P.S. If you want to receive my note by emails let me know at willow@seamountains.net

“Knowledge is power and enthusiasm pulls the switch.”

Steve Droke

Bending with the Winds of Change

Last week I had a meeting on the 14th floor of a building in San Francisco. It was a very windy day and I could feel the building moving under my feet. Not a good feeling! Of course I understand the theory, if a building does not have a certain amount of flexibility, it will absorb the pressure for a while and then suddenly break and fall.

In some ways, it's a good image for our weight loss efforts isn't it? This week we will see about setting goals that permit a certain amount of flexibility so that we can better deal with the pressures and the setbacks that sometimes come from all around us.

The winds of change might make us bend a little, but they will not break us!


Cookbook Sale!!

This week we are starting the cookbook sale!! The Cookbooks are all 50% off! Real, healthy, AND tasty foods for every day cooking, for the grill, to entertain friends and family, for all occasions!

I'll be carrying them around, If there is a specific one that you need let me know and I'll see if I can find you one.

Note: I found a few of the crockpot cookbooks while doing my inventory today. Perfect time to grab them! Those are the last ones!


What’s going on?

Almost back to school time already. Get out there and soak up the summer! Ok, in the City we haven't seen it yet. It will come I'm sure!

Before the fall routine sets in, it's time to start thinking about what we want the routine to be right? What are you going to do differently?

How about exercise? Will you add to your routine? Will you try something new? Will you change it up? It's a good time to sit back and think about your exercise routine. What is working, what isn't working so well, so that you can make the necessary adjustments.

How about your eating habits? What about packing lunch? Cooking ahead? Shopping smart? You want to think about how you can plan ahead in a manner that will work for you so that you can stay on plan and still be flexible.

It's time to get ready, the race is starting soon!


In the Kitchen

I had several request for my Hummus recipe, and I keep forgeting to bring it in, so I figured I would put it in here. Now I did not come up with this recipe, I got it from somebody on a ww.com message board, who got it from a magazine, who probably got it from wherever. You get the picture!

It's a delicious hummus, and rather low Points. Easy easy too! It's been a favorite in my house, and in every party I bring it to for years now. I never get tired of it. I actually have frozen it also, the texture does change a little bit, but it's still as good!

Mediterranean Hummus
15 serving, 1pts/serving

Ingredients
1 can 14 1/2 oz can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup Kalamata olives, pitted
1/4 cup roasted red peppers
2 tsp garlic, finely chopped
3 T lemon juice
1 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Blend in a food processor, scraping sides occasionally. Serve with raw veggies.

13 pts total


At Work Corner

I will be out of the country from the 13th to the 25th, I have fills lined up for every one of my meetings (you will luv them!) and am bringing in the necessary paperwork and goodies this week (wheeeew I need a truck instead of my little Matrix!). If there is anything that you need, please let me know before your meeting so I can grab it. I'm on a very tight schedule this week, advance warning is very appreciated!

This week was inventory week! Everything is counted and organized!! I have found all sort of goodies and many cookbooks!!! Remember those are 50% off right now. How cool is that??

If there is anything that you need, please let me know and I will gladly bring it for you. If I know ahead, I can grab whatever I don’t have from a center (shhhhhh!) and bring it to you.

If for any reason you can't make your meeting at work, you are more than welcome to attend a meeting at any center - traveler. You have paid for it already!

You can find meetings close to home or to your vacation site at:
www.weightwatchers.com

Here are my meetings:
http://seamountains.net/mtg.html

Something to think about

"The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible."

Positive Self Talking is more than a tool, it's a way of life! It's habit forming and contagious, practice it and pass it on!

Look what Catlin is up to:

http://operationbeautiful.com/

I say we can do the same thing, to ourselves, and to the people around us! Share the positivism!! I bought a few pack of tiny post it notes at Walgreen, I'm planning on using them.

More than anything, learn to direct your positive thoughts to yourself. People who learn and practice positive self talk are proven to be happier, more confident, more assertive, to have more energy and drive and ultimately to be more successful.

Imagine what a gift it would be to yourself and to your loved ones to have an energized, happier you?


Have an awesome week!

If you need anything just email me, I’m there for you! I will be checking emails from time to time during my vacation, I don't promise a quick answer, but I WILL answer!

Have a grand week!! Be good, but not too much! HA!

Melanie


“Knowledge is power and enthusiasm pulls the switch.”
Steve Droke

Stop the Eat-a-Thon

No matter how committed we are to our new lifestyle, we all splurge from time to time. Perfection is not of this world, and those little slips are easy to make up for.

For some of us though, those times can really get out of control. Out of control eating (OCE) is when we just eat and eat and eat without being able to stop ourselves leading to feeling of guilt, and usually to weight gain.

There are strategies that can help us regain control over those munchies attack. This week we will discuss those strategies and see if we can come up with an action plan to stop those OCE attack, and prevent their return. Don’t miss it!

Tool of the week

Consistent tracking is the best way I know of to regain control of our eating. It teaches us what works, what doesn’t, and where we need to put an extra effort to make sure we are reaching our goals.

The 3 Month Journal is a great tool because not only you can track what you eat along with your activity, but you can also add little notes, put down an action plan for a coming challenge, and keep track of your weight and measurement (at the beginning!).

It really is a good mirror in which you can look at your plan and see what needs to be done to achieve your Winning Outcome.

What’s going on?

SF:
We still have the Catch the Wave promotion going on until the end of August, make sure to come in and get your star for the week so that you can get in the drawing on August 31^st!

There are talks of a team being put together for the Step Out Walk for diabetes. The walk is on October 1^st, a Friday, at noon. More to come on the subject. I am not putting the walk together this year, I simply don’t have time, but I am sure going to walk it! Stay tuned!

Petaluma:

If you are in the City on October 1^st, come and walk with us!!!

I was thinking of putting together a smoothie tasting on the first week of September to celebrate the return of our routine. It’d be fun to get together and try a few different recipes done with our fabulous Weight Watchers smoothies. If you have recipes, suggestions, a blender that could be used, drop me an email.

We have time to put it together I just wanted to put the idea out there ahead of time to see what we can come up with.


In the Kitchen

I am not vegan or even vegetarian, but I like to eat vegetarian meals rather regularly for variety if nothing else.

I’ve discovered Vegetarian Magazine a few years ago and find it to be very “real” contrary to many high and mighty vegetarian cookbooks and magazine I’ve looked at in the past. I don’t want to be preached at, I want food ideas!

This salad is a good sample of what I like about that magazine; it’s simple, healthy, delicious and looks fabulous. I like to use it at get-togethers and serve it in my pretty salad bowl (well, I did before it broke, ahem… life with a kitten!!).

Height-of-Summer Tomato Salad
6 servings, 2 pts/serving

Note: You want to make the dressing ahead and have it sit overnight in the fridge for better flavor.

Ingredients
Dressing
2/3 cup fresh basil leaves (plus more for garnish)
3 cloves garlic minced (1 TBSP)
2 ½ TBSP olive oil (I cut it down to 1 ½ TBSP, but I wouldn’t put less than that)

Salad
12 oz. Heirloom or other peak-season tomatoes, cut in different shapes (I get creative here, takes me forever!)
1 medium cucumber, peeled, halved and sliced
¼ small onion, thinly sliced (I like to use shallot myself)
1 ½ oz. ricotta salata, crumbled (don’t use it myself since I don’t eat cheese)

Directions
1- Puree basil and garlic with ½ tsp oil in the food processor. Stir in remaining oil.
2- To make the salad: toss together tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, and ricotta salata in a large bowl. Pour dressing over mixture, and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste and garnish with basil leaves.


See? Simple and easy. You can fuffy it up with a pretty bowl and creativity while cutting the vegetables or you can keep it simple and just enjoy the fabulous taste of peak-season tomatoes.


At Work Corner

Some of my groups are getting close to renewal time. Please bring your friends and have them check us out at your meeting! Also keep in mind that anybody can join our series at any time. I just need to know a little in advance so that I can bring the necessary paperwork and material.

I still have a large number of food scales, Easy Measure (the spoons!) and cookbooks. If you need any of these, let me know! I also found 2 cases of the Roasted Almond bars. If you want some extra of these let me know. I need to sell them before my husband eats them all. HA!

If there is anything that you need, please let me know and I will gladly bring it for you. If I know ahead, I can grab whatever I don’t have from a center (shhhhhh!) and bring it to you.

If for any reason you can't make your meeting at work, you are more than welcome to attend a meeting at any center - traveler. You have paid for it already!

You can find meetings close to home or to your vacation site at:
www.weightwatchers.com

Here are my meetings:
http://seamountains.net/mtg.html
Have an awesome week!

Never be afraid to email me at any time. I’m there for you!!

Have a wonderful week! I’ve heard rumors that the sun might make it to San Francisco this week. There is hope for us!!

Melanie


“Knowledge is power and enthusiasm pulls the switch.”
Steve Droke

Snack Savvy

It’s 10:30 in the morning, breakfast is long gone, lunch is another 2 hours away and you have a big meeting in 15 minutes. Your stomach is growling, you’re out of energy (and out of patience!), you’ve drank 4 coffees to no avail. Now what?

Have you ever been in a similar situation? What happened?

This week we are going to talk about how being snack savvy can really make a difference. If you have any great snack finds, tell us about them! This is team work!

Tool of the week

Speaking of snacking! If like me you are a “salt bug” you will totally love the Baked Snacks!

They are crunchy, salty and delicious! They also come in pre-portioned little packs. No big bag to lure you into eating more than you should!

I always have one of those little bags in my car or in my bag right along with my Mini Bar and my Fruities!

What’s going on?

Would you believe it’s the end of July already? Seriously?

The Catch the Wave Promotion is still going on full force in the San Francisco territory! Come and get your star to be part of the raffle at the end of August!

Registration to a center or traveler meeting is $1 (instead of $20 joining fee). Summer is the slow season at WW, perfect time to join when the lines are shorter, and the rooms are less crowded. Get the deal and beat the September crowd!

In the Kitchen

Last week I sent you the Quick Jalapeno Corn Soup, so I figured that I might as well give you the Salad that comes with it in the Meals in Minute cookbook (2003).

This salad, along with the soup, makes a very filling meal. For some reason it’s the perfect “after beach” meal. It calls for poached chicken, I’ve been known to use any leftover chicken I can put my hands on. You just don’t want it to be so spicy that it overpowers everything else.

Mexican Chicken Salad

4 servings, 5 pts/serving

Ingredients

1 TBSP fresh lime juice

4 tsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves, peeled

¾ tsp chili powder

¾ lbs poached chicken, cut in 1 inch chunks

1 tomato, seeded and cut into ½ inch cubes*

1 avocado, peeled, pitted and sliced

2 scallions, minced (white and light green only)

2 TBSP minced cilantro

2 cup shredded romaine lettuce

*I cut the tomato in ¼ s and lightly squeeze the juice out of them so it’s not soggy before I chop them. Learned that from Sam the cooking guy on Discovery Health!

Directions

1-To make the dressing**, put the lime juice in a small bowl. Drizzle in the oil, whisking constantly. Press in the garlic with a garlic press and add the chili powder; whisk thoroughly.

2- In a large bowl combine the chicken, tomato, avocado, scallions and cilantro. Pour the dressing over and toss to coat. Refrigerate, covered, until the flavors are blended, at least 2 hours.

3- Divide the lettuce among 4 plates and mound the chicken salad on top.

I usually will make this salad (and the soup) in the morning and warm it up for dinner. It tastes better when it has rested for a while.

** I would make the dressing first, then make the salad, cutting the avocado last, and add the dressing right away. That way the avocado doesn’t have time to brown. ;o)

At Work Corner

My Summer of Organization is still full on and I am happy to report that I’m making great progress!

I have a large number of food scales, Easy Measure (the spoons!) and cookbooks. If you need any of these, let me know!

I also found a few member kits (Yay for organization!) both the basic kits, and the Deluxe Kits. I will drop those at a center unless some of you need it.

If there is anything that you need, please let me know and I will gladly bring it for you. If I know ahead, I can grab whatever I don’t have from a center (shhhhhh!) and bring it to you.

I try to keep weekly material at every location, but if there’s a weekly book (1 to 10, Maintenance, Lifetime) that you need, again let me know.

If for any reason you can't make your meeting at work, you are more than welcome to attend a meeting at any center - traveler. You have paid for it already!

You can find meetings close to home or to your vacation site at:

www.weightwatchers.com

Here are my meetings:

http://seamountains.net/mtg.html

Have an awesome week!

If you need anything just email me, I’m there for you!

Have a grand week!! Be good, but not too much! HA!

Melanie

Leader

“Knowledge is power and enthusiasm pulls the switch.”

Steve Droke