Deep Thoughts...

I am realizing why tracking (journaling, writing down what you eat) is such a huge part of WW success. This week I was a little less aggressive in my tracking. It is SO easy to nibble throughout the day and forget to write it down...and it adds up FAST! One night I sat down to enter my final foods after the kids went to bed and realized that I hadn't written down several small items throughout the day...I went over by 9.5 points. That bothered me. Since that day, I have been very careful to accurately track during the day.

One thing that has kind of thrown me off is making large meals for the whole family. For instance: whole wheat mac n' cheese (which was very good and fairly easy to track), beef stroganoff, and chicken taco soup (hard to figure portion size). WW has a great tool on their site called "recipe builder" that allows you to enter each ingredient and it gives you a total for the entire recipe. It is VERY helpful, but it doesn't tell you how much is in a portion size. it is hard for me to look into a large crockpot of soup and determine what 1/8 of the recipe looks like. I could have measured out all of the soup first, but it was hot and I am clumsy...you do that math! ;) So...guess what I did? I added (to the best of my ability) the ounces in each item and then divided it by 8 - because the recipe said it yielded 8 servings. I came up with 14.66 oz in a serving...so a little under 2 cups (the amount of oz in a cup is actually like 7.997 something, but I'll go with 8 Yeah, I am a big nerd)! Oh and there are approximately 5 points in a serving, just so you know!

Speaking of Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup...this is a recipe from my sis:

Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup

Prep Time: 15 Minutes

Cook Time: 7 Hours

Servings: 8

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped

1 (16 ounce) can chili beans (u can find them @ meijer or Kroger with no sugar added in the ingredients)

1 (15 ounce) can black beans

1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn,

drained (we used the frozen bag of corn)

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce (again no sugar added @ walmart)

1 (12 fluid ounce) chicken broth

2 (10 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained (found no sugar added one @ walmart)

1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning (made our own)

3 whole skinless, boneless chicken

breasts

Directions:

1. Place the onion, chili beans, black beans, corn, tomato sauce, beer, and diced tomatoes in a slow cooker. Add taco seasoning, and stir to blend. Lay chicken breasts on top of the mixture, pressing down slightly until just covered by the other ingredients. Set slow cooker for low heat, cover, and cook for 5 hours.

2. Remove chicken breasts from the soup, and allow to cool long enough to be handled. Stir the shredded chicken back into the soup, and continue cooking for 2 hours. Serve topped with shredded Cheddar cheese, a dollop of sour cream, and crushed tortilla chips, if desired.

Here's the ingredients for the taco seasoning!!

1 tablespoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

I really enjoyed the soup...it was pretty spicy though - too spicy for the kids. I added a zucchini and a pinch of cinnamon which gave it a lot of depth. Next time I make it, I will probably add more corn and zucchini and less beans...it was very "beany." Also, I will take my sister's advice and make my own seasoning. I didn't have some of the spices she listed, so I used a packet of Taco Seasoning. I think tortilla chips would have been awesome with it, but I didn't want to waste the points, so I opted for fat-free sour cream. I actually liked it better without it. Here is the finished product: