I think we could all use some nice ideas from time to time. For me, I find it much easier to make a suggestion for somebody than I can open my refrigerator and choose something for myself! If you'd like to post your daily menu or just something good that you ate and would like to share with others.

Please, don't post things like Donut - 30 points Post meals that may be helpful to others. Please specify points or PointsPlus!

1 scrambled egg 2 points+
1 piece Morning Star Farms Maple Sausage 2 points+
1 Banana - free
1 cup coffee - free

Last night I made a pork loin and it was delicious. All I had to do was unwrap it and I coated it in Adobo seasoning and baked it for an hour an a half. It is one point per ounce according to the nutritional info. Really delicious and a nice alternative to chicken. I put carrots sticks in the pan too and they browned up and got crunchy almost like carrot chips.

I also had half an oven browned potato and I estimated that was about 6 points.

It was a yummy (and easy) dinner.

Last night I made the most amazing roasted whole chicken. Simply take your whole chicken, rinse it well and pat it dry. Put it into a roasting pan, sprinkle it with salt and pepper, and roast it at 400-450 degrees (depends on how hot your oven gets) for about an hour. I flipped mine half way through cooking so that I could get an even browing on all side. So juicy and yummy! The PP value depends on what part you eat :-)

I got the recipe from Everyday Paleo and I tweaked it a bit to suit my oven. Served with gingered carrots (1PP) and Mashed Potatoes (5PP).

For dinner last night I had left-overs ... a Jennie-O turkey sausage (4), Sauerkraut (0), and yellow rice (4). Strawberries for dessert.

Hmm. I have a few staples. Turkey tortilla casserole, which is from an OLD SCHOOL ww cookbook. Love to double it and have it for a quick dinner or bring it for lunch.

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons canola oil
1 green bell pepper -- seeded and chopped
1 onion -- chopped
1/2 pound ground skinless turkey breast
1 can Cajun-style stewed tomatoes - (14 1/2 oz)
1 cup fat-free refried beans
1 can chopped green chiles - (4 oz) -- rinsed and drained
6 corn tortillas - (6" dia) -- quartered
1/3 cup shredded reduced fat Monterey Jack cheese

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil. Add the pepper and onion; cook, stirring as needed, until softened, about 5 minutes.

Add the turkey and cook, stirring as needed, until browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, beans and chiles; bring to boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring frequently, until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.

Spoon one-third of the turkey mixture onto the bottom of a 10- by 6-inch baking pan. Arrange half of the tortillas evenly over the top. Repeat the layering once more, ending with the turkey mixture. Sprinkle evenly with the cheese. Bake, covered, 20 minutes. Uncover and bake until heated through and golden, about 10 minutes longer.

Nutritional Analysis:
291 Calories, 5 g Total Fat, 2 g Saturated Fat, 42 mg Cholesterol, 774 mg Sodium, 38 g Total Carbohydrate, 6 g Dietary Fiber, 24 g Protein, 202 mg Calcium. (4 servings- 7 PP each. It can be easily tweaked to alter points/nutritionals as well. I feel that I don't need quite as many tortillas as they recommend and I like to add some more turkey, onions, and peppers).

Bubble Up Pizza Casserole

1 pound 96% lean ground beef
2 teaspoons onion powder, or 1 onion, chopped (I used the onion b/c I LOVE onions)
16 ounces tomato sauce (I just used marinara)
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
15 ounces refrigerated buttermilk biscuits, each biscuit cut into quarters (this is 2 of the small tubes)
1 1/4 cups part skim milk mozzarella cheese, shredded


1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. In skillet, brown meat over medium high heat
until browned, stirring to crumble. Stir in onion powder (or onion),
tomato sauce, basil, garlic and Italian seasoning. If you are adding
other toppings be sure to add those, as well.
3. Add quartered biscuits; stir gently until biscuits are covered with
sauce.
4. Spoon mixture into a 9x13 inch baking dish coated with cooking
spray. Bake for 25 minutes.
5. Sprinkle with cheese; bake an additional 10 minutes or until biscuits are done. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

The nutritionals will vary if you add toppings, of course.

My pointsplus for this ended up being 12 for 4 servings. It's supposed to be 6 servings but I'm a hog and I like my volume.


Ohhh and the other night I made a wonderful stirfry with bok choy. I followed this link (because I had never cooked bok choy before- it was helpful!)

http://andreasrecipes.com/2009/04/20/chicken-bok-choy/

My girlfriend, who teased me for buying a vegetable that I had no idea how to cook, actually liked it too!

My last meal was homemade soup with chicken broth, chicken, cabbage, and egg noodles. I put a little bit of soy sauce and some hoisin into the broth and a fair amount of sriracha into my bowl because I like it spicy

I eat soup for almost every meal because I just LOVE soup!

1/2 cup dry oats
1 cup 1% milk
1 tablespoon of brown sugar

Heated up in the microwave. 5 flexpoints

1/2 cup of Fiber One Cereal (2 pts)
1/2 cup of Fat Free Organic Milk (1 pt)
a small banana (0 pts)
8 oz of water

this is usually my go-to breakfast for the week.

*Instant cream of wheat (brown sugar) - 3 points plus
*Blackberries in yoplait yogurt - 3 points plus
*Better n peanut butter brand - 1 tablespoons = 1 points plus smeared on a slice of Milton's multigrain bread (3 points plus) and sliced banana for a total of 4 points plus. Very satisfying!

For lunch I had

MorningStar Farms Italian Sausage - 3 P+
Rolled up in 1 slice Ezekial Bread - 2 P+
with mustard
And a Tasty Bites Zucchini Souffle, 4 P+

Total 9 P+ - didn't look like much, but it was a lot!

Breakfast:

egg whites
wheat wrap
veggies
2 slices of bacon.
*I only ate half so breakfast was only 5 points

Snack:
Banana - 0

Lunch:
EverRoast deli chicken breast - 1
1 slice of asiago cheese - 3
Thomas everything bagel thin - 3
sprouts - 0
100 calorie pack of sun chips - 3
*Total of 10 points for lunch

Snack:
Apple with peanut butter - 5

Dinner:
2 servings of Chicken breast - 6
Veggies - 0
2 servings of baked french fries - 6
*Dinner will be 12 points

Those were just some of my breakfast suggestions. Not to be eaten for one breakfast. I should have been more clear

Breakfast: 1/4 cup garden veggie eggbeater omlet with 1/2 slice fat free swiss and 2 tblsp of fresh garden salsa, a banana, and 4 oz. grapefruit juice (I refuse to not have my morning cup of grapefruit juice!!!) total point+ is 4

I try to eat something small, every 2-3 hours.
Morning snack a) 1/2 grapefruit, whole wheat bagel thin, 2 tblsp ww cream cheese=total points+ is 5

Morning snack b) Dannon Nonfat Orchard Pear yogurt (YUMMY!)=2 points+

Lunch=Spring mix/spinach salad with grilled chicken breast, almond slivers, craisins, goat cheese, kraft light done right balsmic vinagarette. Celery sticks with artichoke and spinach hummus, chocolate dream vitatop muffin with laughing cow light swiss wedge, and a teeny tiny diet coke =9 points+

Tonight I'm making a special Valentine's dinner. Steak and potatoes!!

-4oz Buffalo tenderloin steak (5pp)
-Loaded baked potato (6pp total): 1 plain baked potato (5pp), with salsa (free), Sauteed Onion, Peppers, and Mushrooms (1pp), and 1 tblsp FF shredded cheddar cheese (free).
-Asparagus salad (1pp). Lightly cooked asparagus tossed with a homemade garlic vinaigarette.

12pp total. A bit heavier than my normal dinner, but it's a special occasion! :-)