Baked Chimichangas

Stacy asked for the recipie for the Chimi's I made yesterday for dinner

I made it up from an idea in a WW cookbook and ingredients I happened to have on hand. I'm posting it for one serving of 2 chimis but you can do multiples and figure points from that pretty accurately.

2 soft taco size fat free tortillas (89cal, 0fat, 3g fiber check the package some vary) (3pts)
1/2 cup Old El Paso Fat free refried beans (1 point)
1/4 lb very lean (4%-7% fat) ground beef  (3.5 points)
chopped green chilis and/or onion to taste (0 pts)
2 tbsp Old El Paso Low Fat Medium Cheese Dip (1 point)

brown the ground beef with seasonings, chili powder, cumin, garlic, whatever floats your boat. drain it.

spread the beans on the tortillas, top with the beef and the green chilis and/or onions

roll the tortillas as you would for burritos.

spray a cookie sheet with Pam, put the chimis on it, spray them LIGHTLY with Pam. Bake in 350 degree oven until crisp and beginning to get a bit brown, or to taste. About 20 min.

transfer to a serving plate and top with 1 tbsp each of the cheese dip (heated in the microwave before hand)

approx 9 points for two Chimis.
serve with an additional 1/2 cup refried beans on the side for only 1 more point if desired.

I pretty much wing most of my means from ingredients I have on hand. I just calcuate points and add them together for each ingredient on the fly adding or removing or changing ingredients to get the target points i'd like for the meal.

This turned out to be really tasty and filling. It's cut the points to the bone about as far as I can see possible other than maybe taking the meat out and having just bean chimis which would probalby be very good too and would save 3 points or so.

Questions or Comments? Let me know!

Day before weigh in

The scale looks ok and I should not show a loss. I'm a little surprised it's not lower but who knows what it will be like tomorrow at weigh in. This time last week I thought I was going to show a gain so I'm just going to shut up and post yesterday's data and wait for my results tomorrow.

Daily Points Allowance:              28
Food Points Used:                    26.5
Activity Points earned:               4
Activity Points swapped:              0
                     Point Total:    +1.5

Weekly points allowance used:         0
Weekly points allowance balance:     35

Food Journal:

Morning
Egg Beater Omlette w/lf sausage & lf cheese sauce 4

Midday
Ham Sandwich on lite HB bun                       3
FF Hot dog on lite HD bun                         2

Afternoon snack
1 small banana                                    1.5
1 peach                                           1

evening
Oven baked Chimichangas                           9
TCBY non-fat no-sugar-added juniorcup            2

evening snacks
10 items Quaker Quakes - Ranch                    2
1 WW round vanilla ice cream sandwich             2

snacks

                             Total food points:  26.5

I had a pretty good day yesterday foodwise. I didn't really eat enough for lunch, the stir fry didn't stick with me that great. It was yummy since I love scallops and tons of veggies but I should have cooked rice and had at least a half cup of rice with it. It all worked out though with a good snack mid-afternoon. I kept to my points mostly, only having to swap out 2 activity points. That looks like it makes 6 activity points swapped out this week. You could also look at that as I'd used 6 points from my weekly allowance of 35 leaving me with 29, still a heck of a lot better than last week. The scale this morning was better than this time last week. That does not necessarily translate to mean I'll lose more than I did last week. I seriously doubt I'll lose another 4.4 pounds. I will be quite happy with 2 and any loss is a good lose, even a tiny one.

I'm getting a little nervous about my trip to Tunica in terms of eating. There is not a hotel with a kitchen available and the place i'm staying while nice i'm sure does not even have a fridge and microwave. I'll have to be VERY good at comped buffets (at least I hope the comp policy for poker players is generous enough to get one or two a day) I can do that though, just eating veggies. Buffet veggies seem to always have SOME butter on them but if you drain them well they don't seem too injurous. The problem will be avoiding much of the 'good' stuff. LOL. I'm hoping that Tunica has a Subway. That may be my saving grace. I can eat and get full on 7 points there. I can also do that once or even twice a day if I have to, at least for a short time. I'm not viewing this trip as a vacation of any sort so I won't, hopefully, be on a vacation eating mind set. Send me good thoughts on good eating next week I'll need all the help I can get! I should be still doing this journal though as I'm taking my laptop. I will post everything, the good the bad and the ugly. I still can't quite believe I'm doing this. The people at my WW meeting thought I was bonkers when I told them. None of them were prepared to have ANYBODY see their food journals. I don't understand that. If you eat good stuff why is it a secret? If you're not then there is the answer to why you're not losing more :) I don't think they liked me saying that :) I still maintain it's true...just maybe not politically correct.

And now before I ramble on all morning here is my WW journal from yesterday.

Daily Points Allowance:           28
Food Points Used:                 30  
Activity Points earned:            4
Activity Points swapped:           2
                     Point Total:  0

Weekly points allowance used:      0
Weekly points allowance balance:  35

Food Journal:

Morning
2 Breakfast sandwiches                5

Midday
scallop Stir fry (no rice)            3

Afternoon snack
6oz Yoplait Light Boston Cream yogurt 2
WW Blueberry muffin                   3

evening
Mashed potatos (203g potato, garlic,
                1/4c FF chick broth   2.5
147g(uncooked) BS Chicken Breast      3.5
108g broccoli                         0

Evening snacks
Quaker Quakes Ranch (30)              5
2 mrs fields nibblers                 2
2 WW Round vanilla ice cream sand     4

                  Total food points: 30

Again I was a couple of points over my daily allowance. That is not really a problem, I had more than enough activity points to swap and have not touched my weekly points allowance yet. The scale this morning indicates that I'm not doing badly but not spectacular either, that's normal for 3 days to weigh in. Odd how I seem to just shed weight the last couple of days before weigh in. I guess that's the reason they say to weigh once a week at the same time and day. Our bodies seem to be on a cycle and you want to catch the cycle in the same spot. Don't know if that's true but it fits the evidence and makes some sense.

One thing I don't like about Weight Watchers eTools is that, without getting really creative in your reporting, it forces you to use ALL your activity points for the day before using ANY of your weekly points allowance. Personally I'd rather not use the activity points most times and instead take the points from the weekly points allowance. But there's ways around it even if they are a bit clunky if you're like me and want to get credit for exercise done even if you don't want to use that credit.

The thing is I've noticed that one huge binge like I did a week ago Saturday at Lee's birthday party is less injurous to my results than the way I'm doing this week and going just a couple of points over on a few days. I'm not sure why that is but again it seems to fit the evidence. We'll see how this week turns out. It's way too early for me to start worrying yet :)

Here is yesterday's WW Journal:

Daily Points Allowance:           28
Food Points Used:                 30
Activity Points earned:            5 70min Brisk Walk
Activity Points swapped:           2
                     Point Total:  0

Weekly points allowance used:      0
Weekly points allowance balance:  35

Food Journal:

Morning
Banana, 81g                        1
6oz Yopolait Light Cherry Yogurt   2
                        subtotal:  3

Midday
1 medium apple                     1
burritos                           9
                        subtotal: 10

evening
2oz uncooked pasta                 4
1/2c Healthy Choice Spag Sauce     1
2 turkey meatballs                 2
Salad w/gorgonzola and bacon       4
                        subtotal: 11

snacks
2 WW round van Icecream sand       4
2 Mrs. Fields Nibblers cookies     2
                        subtotal:  6

               Total food points: 30

Much better saturday

This was a much better Saturday in terms of eating than last Saturday. I went ever so slightly over my daily points allowance but only had to swap out 2 activity points. Last week if you recall, and oh how I hope nobody does, I ate up all my activity points AND all my weekly points allowance on Saturday in the form of cake and pizza. Looking back though, and seeing how I still achieved the result I wanted, I'd give it a try again. Anybody want pizza and cake for their birthday? :)

Despite the weather remaining crappy off and on we still got in two nice walks. The first walk, right at our usual 50 minutes, was up to the BP Connect which is where the mornings apple fritter came from. At least when I eat junk like that I feel a little better if I had to walk up to get it...and it was yummy as usual.

The second walk was in the early evening when we couldn't think of much else to do. Turned out we were both really feeling like another walk. Once you get started and do it long enough it really does become a habit and something you actualy look forward to doing. I really like that. This one was only 40 min but was nice. We walked around the neighborhood. I can't wait for fall weather. You may not believe this but I'm betting you will see my walking time increase for a couple of weeks or a month or more when we get some cool dry weather here. It was like walking in a sauna yesterday. The upside is that you do work up a very good sweat...if you're into that kind of thing.

Hope everybody had a good Saturday and stayed on plan.

Here's yesterday's WW journal:

Daily Points Allowance:             28
Food Points Used:                   30
Activity Points earned:              7 50 min walk, 40 min walk
Activity Points swapped:             2
                     Point Total:   28

Weekly points allowance used:        0
Weekly points allowance balance:    35

Food Journal:

Morning
Apple fritter                                7

Midday
grilled chicken breast, 171 gm               5.5
4 slices Wonder Light Wheat Bread            2.5
2 slices Kraft FF Sharp Cheddar              1
lettuce, onion, tomato                       0
                                  subtotal:  9

evening
Burritos w FF beans,4% gb, LF cheese sauce   9

snacks
2 WW round vanilla ice cream sandwiches      4
2 nibblers cookies                           2
                                  subtotal:  6

                         Total food points: 30

Not a bad day, not a particularly good day. It rained all day. I didn't exercise although I did have options available. I stayed within my points though....at least if I'm close with the points value of the salad I had with Connie when she wanted to go to Bennigans after I picked her up at the airport. There were a lot of other things I'd have rather had though which would have been far worse choices so that is good.

Here is yesterday's WW journal

Daily Points Allowance:            28
Food Points Used:                  28
Activity Points earned:             0 no exercise today :(
Activity Points swapped:            0
                     Point Total:   0

Weekly points allowance used:       0
Weekly points allowance balance:   35

Food Journal:

Morning
2 Breakfast Sandwiches              5

Midday
Salad (see entry yesterday)         4

midday snack
pork tenderloin sandwich            3

evening
Bennigans Kilkenny Chicken Salad   12

snacks
2 WW ice cream sandwiches           4  

               Total food points:  28

All Salads are not created equal

I've had a similar discussion to this with many people but it bears repeating here. Besides it's my journal and it's what I want to write about. lol

Most, but by no means all, people agree with my opinion that salads bought out in restaurants are usually tastier than ones made at home. The downside, of course, is that they are also usually higher in points than you could and would make at home. Also you are never sure exactly that it was all low fat or fat free stuff or whatever.

I still take my chances most of the time. I love the salads at Crispers. No points available but based on ingredients you can figure reasonable estimates and most are not bad...without the dressings.

I also love California Pizza Kitchen's salads but they, I strongly suspect, are on the high points end. And of course there is the fact that they have pizza there and that is so hard to resist.

Bennigan's Killkenny Country Chicken Salad is great and if you really want to behave you can order it with grilled chicken not fried tenders on top. You don't get many tender pieces so I suspect the damage is not too bad even that way. If you don't care though the grilled is very good.

There are other places of course. Mostly I just love salads and have had them in just about every conceivable place.

Today for lunch though I made a salad that was every bit as good as one of CPK's chopped salads and was only 4 points. It could have been less, even zero. I started with a couple of cups of chopped lettuce (0 points). To that I mixed in two tablespoons of fat free Kraft Italian dressing (0 points). I spread that mixture on a large plate and topped it with 1/2 cup or so of Alfalfa sprouts (0 points) and 1/2 cup mushrooms (0 points). Around the edges I spread a chopped tomato (0 points). It looks good that way rather than sprinkled on top. Now the points start and you could put other items or skip these I suppose. I put 18g of crumbled cooked bacon (2 points), I used packaged already cooked bacon cuz I use very little and it's easier. That was almost a quarter cup loosely packed and when spread on top of the salad looked like plenty. On top I added 23g of crumbled gorgonzola cheese (2pts). It adds a good flavor and didn't raise the points that badly. To me the taste increase was worth the points cost. The 23g was plenty. The salad tasted great, was only 4 points and was very filling.

Now you're wondering how I picked 18g of bacon and 23g of cheese? You're not? Well I'm going to tell you anyway!

I was aiming at two points of each and, using Weightwatchers eTools I just found the number of grams of each that would give me two points for each one. Then I measured it out on my trusty scale and I was in business. That's another way I feel the scale helps. You can aim for exactly what you want in terms of points. Sometimes you'll be surprised and find that what you just measured is really more than you want. If you're like me though you probably eat it anyway :)

I'm done rambling...hope ya'll had a good lunch.