the2beths

I try to eat healthily most of the time. But weekends are hard. I tend to fall off the wagon just a wee bit. And when it is a chilly fall evening and there’s a big game on TV*…well, everything in moderation, right? Tonight was one of those nights.  If you’ve even briefly entertained the notion that I might be a “food blogger,” I’m telling you now that idea is about to go down in a blaze of glory.  Maybe I should have called this post “At Least
Part of it is Home Cooked.”

Okay, now I’m feeling self-conscious.  Let me offer a disclaimer or two about this
meal.  I really wanted Mumford’s Potato Chips.  They used to be sort of local.  But apparently they aren’t made here anymore, and they have become more and more difficult to find.  So I settled on Ruffles.  Also, Mr. WA is really, really smart about
beer. He even makes his own.  And it’s REALLY good. He has fostered in Mr. FS and me a new appreciation of really good beer. On rare occasion, I might now even call myself a beer snob.  But sometimes, I know my dinner is going to be high in Points, and I still want a cold one. So I opt for a Michelob Ultra.  Lance Armstrong drinks it, so I know it’s healthy.  Or maybe it’s just sort of like ordering a Diet Coke with your McDonalds Two Cheeseburger and Fries Extra Value Meal (not that I’ve ever done that or anything).

And now for the home cooked part, that is, the only part of this meal about which I harbor no shame. I first discovered these delicious little sandwiches on Pinterest.  Clicking the picture sent me to The Girl Who Ate Everything where the original recipe can be found.  I discovered many, many other delicious looking recipes while there, and have since subscribed to the blog – I told you Pinterest is great! I have reduced the batch size and modified the recipe slightly.

Ham and Swiss Sliders (again, modified slightly from The Girl Who Ate Everything)

1 package of King’s Hawaiian Sweet Rolls (12 count)

1/6 cup Miracle Whip + 1/6 cup Kraft Mayo with Olive Oil, mixed together (this actually is a little mayo heavy, I would probably reduce it next time to 2 TBS each)

2-3 large slices of spiral sliced ham

4 slices swiss cheese

Poppyseeds

Sauce

2 TBS butter melted

1-3 TBS worcestershire  (I like A LOT, sometimes, I think I could drink it straight from the bottle)

1 tsp yellow mustard

Slice the rolls in half.  I find it easiest to do this with a big serrated knife while they are all still connected. Place the bottom half of the rolls in a baking dish and spread half of the Miracle Whip/Mayo combo over the rolls. Top the rolls with the spiral ham and swiss slices. Spread the top half of the rolls with the remaining MW/Mayo combo and place on top of the sandwiches. Slice the rolls to separate but keep them close together for baking. Brush the sauce over the top of the sandwiches (and a little between and around the outsides too). Sprinkle the poppyseeds over the top. Cover and bake for about 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 2-3 minutes.

Also, not a photographer.

Help yourself to a sandwich, or three.  Slap some potato chips on the plate and crack open a Mich Ultra.  And that, friends, is how you keep it real.

–  Beth FS

*As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not really into football.  But I love the idea of “watching
the game,” which means socializing, eating good food, and drinking a beer.

Beth WA here, and I have to tell you that Beth FS has many of the best recipes for “Keepin’ It Real Food” that I have ever had.  She makes this Frito sweet and savory recipe that is so heavenly, you can’t stop eating them.  (That’s my hint to get her to post that recipe.) Beth FS, please keep posting these recipes!! xoxox, Beth WA

I bought a meal planner.  This is my first step in trying to be more economical with my groceries.  It’s also a way to start to try some of the recipes that I’ve bookmarked, starred in google reader, or cut out of a magazine.  I am hoping that it helps me stay in my points range for Weight Watchers.  Because as they say, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.  Right?  Anyway, right now when I go to the grocery I tend to buy the same things over and over, and I sometimes add in new foods I’ve read about in blogs.  I thank food blogs every single day for introducing me to Sunbutter.  It is the most delicious of the natural nut butters.

Jar of Delicious

Here are some other things that I just bought at the grocery that are among my staples.

Krusteaz Pancake Mix.  All you have to do is add water and you have delicious pancakes.  However, I often add oats, fruit, nuts, or other mixins.  It’s a great base, and it is not high in WW Points Plus.

My favorite is to add pumpkin and oats, and eat with Sunbutter on top and a dab of maple syrup.  Delicious flavor, with the protein and fiber.  The fact that pumpkin is 0 weight watchers points plus has been a life changer for me.

Speaking of pumpkin, I was SOOO happy to see the return of Liby’s canned pumpkin to my grocery shelf.  I haven’t been able to find it for some time, and the last time I had to buy the huge cans.  While pumpkin is expensive, it is also something I love to add to many foods.

I love pumpkin in oatmeal, pancakes, cookies, smoothies, and cakes!!

I mentioned that food blogs introduced me to Sunbutter.  They also introduced me to http://opensky.com .  It’s a place that some food bloggers act as curators and have sales on certain foods or products that they have featured in their blogs.  Through this, I was introduced to Garlic Gold, and I LOVE it.

They are garlic nuggets that are organic and delicious.  I have the Garlic Gold Sea Salt, Garlic Gold Nuggets, Garlic Gold Italian Herbs, and Garlic Gold Parmesan.  The garlic taste is delicious, and the sodium content, on even the sea salt, is low.  They add great flavor and texture.  I love garlic, so I appreciate these to use on salads, vegetables, spaghetti, and many other recipes.

Two things that I consume every single day are

Bananas are good for so many things…they are a great thickening agent in oatmeal, they are a great pre-workout fuel, a great afternoon snack, the perfect addition to smoothies for texture and taste, delicious to dip in sunbutter, and what about banana nut bread?  Yum.

And La Croix.  Sigh.  The new love in my life.

Since starting to drink La Croix this summer, I have cut soda out of my daily life.  I used to drink at least one coke zero a day, and now it’s about 2-3 a week, and I usually can’t finish a whole can of pop any more. My “friend” Kath brought this to my attention when I noticed she was always drinking carbonated water.  She said she liked the fizz.  And for me, that’s what I like about pop.  I drink a lot of regular water, but with a meal, I love to have the fizz.  So, this summer, a friend introduced me to LaCroix, and there has been no turning back.  I’ve been trying to moderate my intake, because LaCroix benders are expensive.

Does anybody drink LaCroix?  What’s your favorite flavor?

What are the things that you always have in your pantry?

I love oatmeal. Especially on cold fall mornings. I give complete credit to Beth WA for making me realize its deliciousness, and for introducing me to the blog Kath Eats so that I could learn how to make it.  Before I watched Kath’s how to video, the only oatmeal I knew how to make was the kind that came in a little envelope, to which I just added water.  Real stovetop oatmeal is SO much better, and really does not take much more time than the instant stuff. You also get a lot of bang for your buck (which according to me means: not a ton of Weight Watcher points, and it keeps me full for hours).  I use different mix-ins and toppings, depending on what I’m craving.   Sticking with my love of pumpkin, this is my oatmeal of the moment:

Pumpkin Oatmeal with Sweet and Salty Toppings

1/3 cup oats

1/3 cup water

1/3 cup skim milk

Cook according to Kath. (I use banana in every oatmeal except this one)

At the end, stir in:

1/3 to 1/2 cup of canned pumpkin

1 heaping tsp brown sugar

Dash of salt

A few dashes of cinnamon

Top with:

1 TBS Sunbutter

1 tsp white chocolate chips

1 tsp butterscotch chips

Enjoy.

According to my calculations, this is about 8 Weight Watchers Points Plus.

How do you take your oatmeal?

– Beth FS

Well, I have many problems, but one of them is that I am an impulsive and compulsive person, especially with purchasing things, or eating things.  (God help me when I am hungry at the grocery store, after reading a bunch of food blogs.)  I see things I want, and I buy them.  This would be fine and all, if I had money to spend on these things.  But, I don’t.

The things I purchase are usually clothes, food, or my single biggest compulsion…exercise videos and equipment.  This started in the 90’s when Tae Bo first came out, and I bought the videos and got in excellent shape.  Ever since then, I continue to buy videos, and am not in excellent shape.  You name it, I have it; Tae Bo, Gilad, Step Aerobics, Zumba, The Firm, Slim in 6, Jillian Michaels, Biggest Loser, Pilates, Yoga, and Melt it Off.

See for yourself:

Here are a few closeups…

Those are a lot of calories to burn.  I was thinking about trying each of these and doing a short blog about entry about it.  I’ve got to find a way to incorporate them into my days.

Because, you see, one of my other problems is that I am not great at getting rid of stuff.  I am not a hoarder or anything. I don’t think so, at least.  Ha ha.

But seriously, who could get rid of these games?

You never know when your friends might want to get together to play a trivia game about a show that’s been off the air for almost 10 years.  I mean, it hasn’t happened yet, but you never know, right?

What are some things you are impulsive about buying?

Do you have things that you know you should get rid of, but you just can’t?

Healthy Tipping Point.

So, I had to write a quick blog entry about Healthy Tipping Point, one of my favorite blogs.  If you read my blog entry the other day, you are probably thinking to yourself, “Beth WA, you are lying.  You listed your top three favs, and HTP wasn’t listed.”  Well, it was a mistake.  I accidentally put on one there, when I meant to put this one.   Shoot.  So, let’s call this one of my top four favorite blogs to read.  Caitlin, the author, is one of “my friends,” in my google reader.  She is hilarious, and makes yummy food.  She is part of this http://operationbeautiful.com/, and I think it’s wonderful.

You know I am truly Catholic (and a little insane) because I have been feeling guilty about this mix up, and wrote a note on my hand to remind myself to clarify.

What blogs do you like to read?  Why do you choose those blogs?  I read so many, for so many different reasons.  I have to figure out how to do a “blogroll.”

But, until then, here are some of my favorites:

http://www.pbfingers.com/

http://mealsandmiles.com/

http://www.whatmegansmaking.com/

http://elastamom.com/

http://keepingtrac.wordpress.com/

http://www.nottobrag.net/

And of course, the ones I references in this blog entry:  https://the2beths.wordpress.com/2011/09/24/kath-oprah-pumpkin-now-thats-what-i-am-talking-about/

Time to do some grading.

-Beth WA

Tattoo Rue: Jesse James and Kat Von D Are Kaput Yet Again | Gallery | Wonderwall.

Beth WA, I know this really shocked you the first time it happened. (That, my friends, was sarcasm.) Do you think she has wised up for good?

-Beth FS

Oh em gee. I am shocked. I can’t believe it didn’t last. They seemed to hav the recipe for longevity.

-Beth WA

My Oprah Face — Kath Eats Real Food.

Beth WA here on this foggy Saturday morning in Ohio!! I was so happy to sleep in until 8:30. This week was a rough one, and I needed it.  As I was laying in bed reading blogs with my google reader on my ipad trying to unwind from a particularly tense meeting I had on Friday, I said out loud when I got to this one, “No way!! Two of my favorites!!”

Let me backpedal a bit.  You should all know that Beth FS and I love Oprah.  Like love, love, love Oprah.  Our husbands like to make fun of us for it, but she is often quoted in conversations, was DVR’d daily, and most episodes resulted in many texts back and forth between us about the content.  That’s the first bit of background information you need to know to understand my excitement level at the blog entry I’ve linked.

Second, when I read blogs on my google reader, I save my favorites for last.  I have them in a category called “My Friends,” when I truly only know three of them (out of 15).  So, I was reading my “friends'” blogs, and I always save three for very last, http://carrotsncake.com/, http://www.hangrypants.com/, and lastly, http://www.katheats.com/.  I got to Kath Eats and there was a post called “My Oprah Face,” and thought, “She likes Oprah, too??”  (Insert my thinking: Kath likes oatmeal.  I like oatmeal.  Kath likes pumpkin.  I like pumpkin.  Kath likes Oprah, too???  We are definitely friends, and she doesn’t even know it.)  But I was WAY more excited when I realized she wrote recipes in O magazine that have to do with none other than, pumpkin.  I can’t wait to read my issue and try some of those recipes.

Well, hopefully I try them.  Another thing about me is that I cut out, book mark, and print out recipes kind of incessantly, but hardly ever actually try them.  Seriously, I have binders of them. (And a whole folder in google reader.)

Any suggestions on how to start trying recipes that I haven’t tried before?  Maybe I can do one a week and blog about it?  Hmmm.

How do you insert new recipes into your repertoire?

In the spirit of Oprah (boo hoo, I miss her so much this fall!!), I wanted to do a post of some of my favorite things.  These favorite things are a few foods that I like to eat often.  They are staples in my kitchen.  Now, there are many staples in my kitchen, so today I am just going to over four of them.

It is appropriate that my favorite things this time are food because I am insatiable this week as far as hunger goes! In fact, I am seriously contemplating going to bed right now so that I don’t eat any more today!  Oh well, tomorrow is a new day.

The first thing is these Sweet Potato Chips.  They are extremely low in sodium, and taste delicious.  Their Weight Watchers points plus value isn’t great, but it is enough to satisfy the want to crunch something that tastes salty.

My next favorite thing is Thomas’ Everything Bagel Thins.  I love everything bagels, and these are delicious.   They are 3 Points Plus on Weight Watchers, and I use them with sandwiches, or sometimes I just spread a Laughing Cow cheese wedge on them.  They are also good toasted to make an egg sandwich.

Next, something I discovered only in the last year from reading Kath Youngers blog, http://www.katheats.com/, and that is Sunbutter.  It is peanut butter made from sunflower seeds.  I love it on EVERYTHING.  It’s good in oatmeal, on bread, on bagel thins, on pancakes, with a few chocolate chips, and with apples.  If you like sunflower seeds, TRY IT!

I love graham crackers, and these graham sticks are DELICIOUS.  I like to eat them plain, or crumble a few of them in yogurt or on ice cream.

And lastly, my latest obsession that I am having a hard time resisting at any time of day… Bob Harper has been trying to get us all to eat these for months, now.  Quaker Oatmeal Squares Cereal.  YUM.  They have a lot of fiber, and not a lot of fat, and a LOT of flavor.  Sometimes I eat my smoothie in a bowl, and then I put something crunchy in it, and yesterday, it was this cereal.  Now, that is all I can think about at night…my breakfast the next morning with these Quaker Oatmeal Squares!  I go through phases with food, a LOT, and so my favorites are always changing.  It’s not like I stop liking them, they just find their way out of my daily diet.  Well, as of right now, I am so glad these little pieces of deliciousness found their way into my kitchen!!

Well, that is all for now!

What are some of your favorite foods right now?

-Beth WA