Light and Tasty 2007 Menu

• Anytime Turkey Chili
• Apricot Orange Chicken
• Black Bean Quesadillas
• Black Bean Tortilla Pie
• Blushing Penne Pasta
• Broccoli Tortellini Alfredo
• Burrito Pita Pockets
• Butternut Squash Apple Bake
• Chicken Lettuce Wraps
• Chicken Orzo Skillet
• Chicken Rice Casserole
• Chicken Turnovers
• Chili Potpies
• Chili-Topped Sweet Potatoes
• Crab Rangoon
• Cranberry Chicken Salad Sandwiches
• Creamy Chicken 'n' Wild Rice Soup
• Crispy Caribbean Veggie Wraps
• Crunchy Yam Bake
• Easy Chicken Potpie
• Easy Hamburger Soup
• Four-Cheese Baked Ziti
• Greek Pizzas
• Ground Beef Potpie
• Hearty Cheese Soup
• Hearty Lentil Spaghetti
• Herb Quick Bread
• Italian Hot Dish
• Kiwi Smoothies
• Lemon Anise Biscotti
• Makeover Hot Chicken Salad
• Makeover Pineapple Casserole
• Makeover Summer Squash Casserole
• Maple-Orange Pot Roast
• Mexican Turkey Skillet
• Mixed Berry French Toast Bake
• Orange Beef Stir-Fry
• Orange Couscous
• Orange Ginger Carrots
• Orange Strawberry Smoothies
• Pineapple-Tuna Salad Sandwiches
• Pumpkin Pancakes
• Rice with Summer Squash
• Simple Chicken Soup
• Skillet Pork Chops
• Spaghetti Pie
• Strawberry Banana Smoothies
• Sweet Potato Bean Soup
• Sweet Potato Scones
• Sweet-Sour Spinach Salad
• Taco Oven-Fried Chicken
• Tamale Veggie Pie
• Tofu Manicotti
• Tuna Artichoke Melts
• Tuna-Stuffed Potatoes
• Turkey Alfredo Pizza
• Turkey Fettuccine Skillet
• Turkey Quesadillas with Cranberry Salsa
• Turkey Wild Rice Casserole
• Turkey Wonton Cups
• Two-Cheese Turkey Enchiladas
• Weekday Lasagna
• Whole Wheat Blueberry Scones
• Wild Rice Turkey Salad
• Yummy Pizza Bake
• Zippy Chicken Soup

Light and Tasty 2006 Menu

Under Construction

update

I know I've been bad about updating. My life has been consumed by resuming piano lessons and school schedules. When I have felt like I had something to write, I didn't want to take the time it would take it to actually get it up on the blog. So, the moment passed and now I don't even remember what it was I had to say.

On August 31st I officially cancelled my WW subscription. I realized that losing weight was no longer my top priority, so there was no point in paying for a service I wasn't utelizing. I am still interested in losing weight, I am just not going to devote the energy to it that I had before. My hope at this point is to really not gain any more. Thankfully I've been doing well with that. Last Sunday my weight was the exact same as when I returned from vacation. I'm sure eating the free breakfast at Chik-fil-a every day stalled any hopes of weight loss, b/c this week there was no Chik-fil-a and I am pleased to report that I weighed in at 150.1!! Today I was back down to my end of school year weight. So my weight has caught up, but the inches haven't. I still have some extra fat that I acquired from my lack of discipline, but the daily exercise seems to be keeping the growth at bay at least. My SIL's biggest loser competition #3 started again today so I'll have some form of accountability.

I did really well with providing dinner the first week of school. This week was the pits. I really need to get a menu prepared and do some shopping. S inspired me this week. It's so nice to have a fridge full of leftovers to choose from, I want that again. I think menu planning would make a fine Sunday activity, don't you? :p

Menu Experiment: Light and Tasty 2005

I've finally gone through the next cookbook, and I decided to just stick with this one year. I was less strict with what I pulled from the book, so I gleaned a lot more recipes in general, but also more snack/appetizer and breakfast ideas than I did with the previous experiment. Here's the current list:

• Baked Sweet Potato Chips
• Baked Ziti Casserole
• Berry Barbecued Pork Roast
• BLT Bow Tie Pasta Salad
• Braised Autumn Pork Chops
• Cheddar Potato Chowder
• Cheddar-Apple Turkey Salad
• Cheesy Broccoli Casserole
• Chicken and Mandarin Oranges
• Chicken Tortilla Soup
• Chili-Stuffed Potatoes
• Country Corn Bread
• Creamy Chicken and Thyme
• Creamy Chicken Potato Soup
• Crepes with Berries
• Feta-Spinach Melts
• Fruited Chicken Salad
• Hot Swiss Chicken Sandwiches
• Italian Ranch Chicken Strips
• Lime-Glazed Pork Chops
• Marinated Barbecued Chicken
• Mediterranean Medley Salad
• Mexican Spaghetti Sauce
• Oatmeal Cranberry Breakfast Bake
• Oven Cassoulet p150, 10 pts
• Pennsylvania Dutch Apple Butter
• Pineapple Salad
• Potato Refrigerator Rolls
• Quick Turkey Casserole
• Raspberry Corn Muffins
• Seasoned Scrambled Eggs
• Slow-Cooker Pork and Apple Curry
• Southwestern Broccoli Cheese Soup
• Southwestern Chicken Black Bean Soup
• Spinach Turkey Noodle Bake
• Spinach Turkey Roll
• Strawberry Crepe Roll-Ups
• Strawberry Soup
• Summer Fruit 'n' Pasta Salad
• Taco Noodle Dish
• Three-Step Taco Salad
• Vegetable Chicken Stir-Fry
• Waffled French Toast
• Walnut Chicken Stir-Fry
• Zesty Pita Chips
• Zucchini 'n' Potato Pie

Ingredient List I tried to combine ingredients and put them in logical order accroding to the grocery store I shop at to make shopping easier, but the list isn't perfect.

Menu Experiment

Menu planning is one of those things that I strive to do that sometimes works and other times doesn't. Of course, my effort is what makes or breaks it. Last year I lifted a lot of recipes from my friend's menu which was helpful. I'd pull 6 or 7 of her recipes, shop for those ingredients, and the meal plan would last us about 2 weeks with leftovers. I like the versatility of this option instead of saying "Recipe A is for Monday, B for Tues" etc. I have thought about experimenting with once a month cooking (you shop for a month's worth of recipes, spend a day cooking/preparing them, then freeze the food until you're ready to eat it), but I just haven't made that leap. This last month I ended up with what I feel is a nice compromise. We'll see if I can keep it up, but it has been absolutely wonderful this month.

Starting in 2002, I began purchasing the annual recipe book for Light and Tasty. I discontinued this practice in 2007 when I started seeing variations of the same recipes in each book. I really like the 2002 and 2003 cookbook though, so I went back to them in January when I wanted some healthier recipe options. I began pulling recipes with a couple of goals in mind: main ingredients (especially meat) were already on hand or would be used in several of the recipes - like cilantro or red onions, meatless - especially thinking of beans as proteins, and the food looked/sounded good.

I went through my 2002, 2003, and 2004 cookbooks with a spiral notebook to keep track of each recipe that interested me, which book it came from, its point value, and what ingredients I most likely needed to shop for. The results gave me over 30 recipes - enough to last the whole month. I began with the intent of just choosing my menu items a few at a time as I did in the past, so I went to the Light and Tasty website to cut and paste the ingredients to make a grocery list. Once at the website, creating my list was even simpler than I thought! The website has a recipe box feature and a printable grocery list. So, I put all my targeted recipes for the week on the grocery list and quickly realized that I could add all the recipes, shop for them and have meals available for the whole month - which is what I did. It has been such a blessing!!

Dinner is so much easier because I know we have all the ingredients on hand. I try to look at the spiral the night before and give the family a choice from 2 or 3 items. Knowing ahead of time what I'm going to prepare makes it easier to pull meat from the freezer to begin defrosting or to start the crockpot early enough to get done for dinner. I think it has saved us money too, but I don't know for sure. I've kept all my receipts and plan to track the bill to see if we're saving money in the long run.

My hope is to go through the remaining 3 cookbooks for next month and do the same thing. I just realized that I may fizzle out once I get through the last 3 books because there aren't any new ones, but maybe I'll have to start over and focus on one book at a time. Hmm