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September 5, 2010
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Healthy Thoughts/Healthy Actions
Weight Watchers Newsletter #73
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Hi Everyone!
Well I am finished with the Bodega Seafood Art & Wine Festival for 2010, and it was a smashing success! Thanks so much to the many of you came out to it. It was fun to see you all having such a good time. I actually did too, thanks to wonderful weather (okay, it was a tad windy on Saturday...), good-sized crowds, enough of everything, and a stellar crew. It was the easiest year ever...maybe after 16 years we've finally figured out how to run it efficiently!
So now I can focus in on my other passion...Weight Watchers, and all of you! And I hope that you out there reading this who have been AWOL from the meeting room will decide to focus in as well and come on back to your friends, the education, laughter and support. I figure our meetings are like AA for those of us with food issues, so if you have been avoiding them you're avoiding a crucial part of you life. Can't wait to see you back with us!
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MEETING TOPICS:
WEEKS OF
September 5 & September 19, 2010
The week of September 5th
LOSE FOR GOOD!  So how many of us have lost weight only to regain it...maybe multiple times? What if there was a magic formula for losing it and keeping it off. Let's explore how that can happen! This meeting we will also be talking about the wonderful Lose For Good campaign Weight Watchers does each year to raise money for food banks locally, nationally and internationally. The week of September 19th the topic is
VISUALIZE WEIGHT LOSS SUCCESS!
Some of you are likely very familiar with the power of visualization, yet in this realm we often do not use it. Too many of us plod along day to day without really picturing where we're going. This meeting we'll talk about how to create our dream!
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RECIPE FOR THIS ISSUE
Anne from Sonoma sent this fabulous sounding zucchini soup recipe, and I found a wonderful stuffed zucchini recipe as well, as I know we have them coming out of our ears! Enjoy! For more great recipes check out the recipe page on my website (which I will get around to updating very soon, by the way...): HEALTHY THOUGHTS/HEALTHY ACTIONS RECIPES
SPICY ZUCCHINI SOUP
If you are using extra large zucchini, scoop out and discard the seeds first.
And if the skin is thick or tough, peel it and discard the peels.
Ingredients
spray olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 jalapeno chile (or more to taste, depending on how spicy you would like
the soup to be), seeds, stems and ribs removed and discarded, chopped
3 chopped garlic cloves
2 pounds chopped zucchini (skin on), about 5-6 cups
1 1/2 cups chopped boiled potatoes
3 cups fat free chicken broth (use vegetable broth for vegetarian option)
1 cup water
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, loosely packed, chopped
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, loosely packed, chopped (optional)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Salt
Pepper
Directions
1 Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the
onion and jalapeno chile and sauté for 4-5 minutes until the onions are
translucent, but not browned. Add the garlic and zucchini and sauté for another
3-4 minutes, stirring often. Sprinkle with salt.
2 Add the potatoes, broth, and water, and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat
and simmer gently for 20 minutes.
3 Remove from heat. Add the mint and cilantro (if using). Purée in a
blender or food processor until smooth, working in batches if necessary. Or use
an immersion blender.
4 Return the soup to the pot. Add the lemon juice, and salt, and
pepper to taste.
Garnish with lemon wedges and sprigs of mint or cilantro.
Serve hot or chilled. Keeps for a week in the fridge.
Serves 4.
STUFFED ZUCCHINI WITH ITALIAN TURKEY
Ingredients1 zucchini about 12 inches long, or 6 medium ones spray olive oil 1/2 cup chopped onion 3 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 cup chopped mushrooms 2 tablespoons dry white wine 1 pound ground Italian seasoned ground turkey 2 diced tomatoes 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1 egg, lightly beaten 2 teaspoons salt 2 teaspoons pepper
Directions
1 Cut zucchini in half lengthwise. Scoop out insides, leaving shells
about 1/4 inch thick. Reserve about half of the insides.
2 Heat olive oil spray in a skillet on medium high heat. Sauté
onion and garlic until soft. Add mushrooms and reserved zucchini insides, and
sauté another 2 minutes.
3 In a separate skillet heat spray olive oil on medium high heat.
Add the ground turkey. Lightly brown the turkey, stirring only occasionally.
After the turkey browns on one side, stir it so that it has a chance to brown on
other sides. Cook until the ground turkey is lightly browned, about 6 minutes.
Stir in the onion and mushroom mixture from the other pan. Add the wine. Stir in
tomato, basil and rosemary and cook 1 minute longer. Drain any excess fat.
Remove mixture from heat and set it aside.
4 When mixture has cooled, add cheese, egg, salt and pepper. Fill
zucchini shells with mixture. Fill a baking pan with 1/4 inch of water. Place
filled zucchini halves in pan and bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes, until
golden brown. Remove zucchini from pan and serve while hot.
Serves 4 5 pts per serving
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BOOK SUGGESTION
BORN ROUND by Frank Bruni
I fell in love with this book and had a hard time putting it down. It is the story of Frank Bruni, a writer for the New York Times, who grew up weight-challenged, and eventually became a food critic for the The Times. His childhood, relationships, and the extremities he went through to deal with his food issues were fascinating. If you want to find out how a person goes through every possible challenge in relation to eating and still conquers his weight problem, read this book! You'll love it!
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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS!
There are no meetings at any Weight Watcher location on Monday, September 6th because it is Labor Day. Hope to see all of my Monday Sonoma members at the Thursday evening meeting instead:
4:45 weigh in time and 5:15 meeting.
And speaking of Sonoma, the Monday evening meeting group (Roger, Debbie, etc) are putting together an
OPEN HOUSE!!
On Monday, September 13th Sonoma
Monday Night Weight Watchers
Will hold its first ever-open house at the:
FINNISH AMERICAN
HERITAGE ASSOCIATION
197 VERANO AVENUE, SONOMA
The Open House will be held from
4pm-6pm. We will be providing guests with samples of products and also talking about health and the Weight
Watchers Program.
This is a great opportunity to bring friends who've indicated they have a curiosity about the program, or simply want to join but have not been motivated to do it. We did open houses last year and they were a huge success!
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A SIMPLE QUESTION...
(thank you Pat in Sonoma!)
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IT'S A WOW THING...
Many of you know I am a dancer, and have been for years. But I have never seen anything like this video...I will say merengue is an easy dance, but still...
Thanks to Marcia from Sebastopol!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc9xq-TVyHI
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MY WEBSITE IS A GREAT RESOURCE!
If you have not visited my website find out why it is a truly helpful addition to your Weight Watchers efforts.
My Products Page features dozens of low-point food suggestions from Trader Joes and lots of other markets.
The Recipe Page has been updated but I have kept some classics, including the to-die-for oatmeal pancakes I talk about all the time.
The Healthy Tips page has lots of great ideas which we talk about in the meetings, but you might need to have at your fingertips when you are not in the meeting room.
And last, but not least, if you are coming to the meetings and finding yourself not actually taking the action you want to be taking to lose your weight, or maybe you cannot even seem to get motivated to come back to the meetings, maybe there is something deeper going on. I am a Certified Lifecoach, specializing in weight managment. I do free sample sessions and would love to talk to you about this or any other dream you have which is unfullfilled. |
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To
laugh often and love much... to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others,
to give one's self... this is to have succeeded.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Lots of love and joy to all of you! ~Janet |
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