Taco-flavored Kisses

First things first…can I get a woot woot(!) that it’s Friday!? I am very much looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow. For some reason I have been exhausted all week. I think it’s because I usually get 8 hours of sleep (I’m hypothyroid and need as much sleep as possible, which really sucks…I wish I could be one of those people who is able to function on 6 hours a night), but this week I’ve probably gotten around 7 hours a night and I think it has really messed with me. I’ve been so freakin’ tired every day.

Last night while Samson and I were having dinner (Betty Crocker’s Impossibly Easy Taco Pie, recipe below), I was telling him about my decision to cut back on the amount of alcohol I drink. He agreed with he needs to cut back as well (although he drinks less than I do, since he doesn’t bowl in a league). That makes it a little bit easier, but still not as easy as it should be. The problem is that he works second shift, so a lot of my social activities happen without him. The rest of my group will likely continue pounding them down, so his support isn’t going to help as much as you’d think, but it’s still nice to know that we’re on the same page. My weight loss weeks go from Friday through Thursday. I have the option to have drinks this weekend if I’d like, because Tuesday I won’t be bowling. My mom is having knee surgery, so instead of bowling after work I’ll be heading over to the hospital to spend the evening with her. I’m not going to drink just for the hell of it, though. We’ll see what social opportunities present themselves. :o)

Speaking of weight loss, today is my first Weight Watchers meeting at the meeting that I’m going to try to attend regularly. I had been going to Monday night meetings (although the holidays made that somewhat inconsistent, which is why in my mind I started “fresh” as of last Monday), but I much prefer a morning or lunchtime meeting. However, the only morning meetings I can attend are on Saturdays, and Saturday is generally the only day of the week that I can sleep a little bit later than normal. My work office was relocated to a different suburb of my city (we’ll be there for about 14 months) and there’s a Friday 12:15 meeting nearby, so I’m going to try to attend that meeting on a regular basis. I hope the leader is good. Leaders can absolutely make or break the meetings. To be honest, I’m not much of a meeting person. I go because every once and a while some little tidbit comes up that resonates with me, or somebody inspires me, but for the most part I find the meetings boring and very…well, at the risk of offending some people, housewivey. While that isn’t a bad thing, it doesn’t really translate to my life as a professional very well. Going to the meetings does help motivate me, though, because I’m less likely to throw in the towel if somebody else is weighing me. So I weigh in at lunchtime today. I’m hoping for a decent loss, although honestly any loss will do. Losing bigger numbers is nice, but I’m trying not to run a race this time around. I’ll take anything, as long as it’s a loss. *EDIT: I went to my meeting, and I love the leader! She's actually the leader that does the meetings I used to go to when I worked downtown! Yay! However, I maintained...no gain, but no loss, which is odd because my home scale showed me down from last week on my home scale. Oh well, it could be because the scales are calibrated differently. I'm not going to worry about it, I'm simply going to make sure I work hard to show a loss next week!*

Tonight my mom, my sister and I are having a little girls’ night out. My mom needs a good pair of sneakers for her rehabilitation after her surgery, so my sister and I are buying them for her. Then the three of us are going to dinner at a restaurant that specializes in barbecue. I’ve already planned for a bit of a splurge with the ribs and macaroni and cheese I’ll be having, but instead of cornbread or potato salad for my second side I’ll be having grilled vegetables. I’ve also compensated for the big dinner with the rest of my menu for today, so I won’t even have to use more than 10 or so flex points. I’ve been pretty pleased with how this week has gone, and I want to stay strong into the weekend. I also plan on starting to exercise again this week. I’m going to start with tomorrow morning so as to start the weekend off on a positive note (weekends are always my downfall) and go from there. I’m going to have to try to fit in some morning workouts, since with my mom in the hospital all week I’m going to have to spend most evenings with her, but I am determined to get this weight off, and the most effective way to do that is with both healthy eating and exercise.

And now, the recipe for Betty Crocker's Impossibly Easy Taco Pie:

1 pound of lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1 package of Old El Paso taco seasoning mix
1 can (4.5 ounces) of chopped green chiles, drained
1 cup of milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup of Original Bisquick mix
3/4 cup of shredded Monterey Jack or Cheddar cheese (3 ounces)
Salsa (optional)
Sour cream (optional)

1. Heat oven to 400 F. Grease 9 inch pie pan. Cook ground beef and onion in skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until beef is brown; drain. Stir in taco seasoning mix. Spoon into pie pan; top with chiles.

2. Stir milk, eggs and Bisquick mix until blended. Pour into pie pan.

3. Bake about 25 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake 8 to 10 minutes longer. Cool 5 minutes. Serve with salsa and sour cream.

Nutritional information (per serving, makes 6 servings): 305 calories, 19 grams of fat, 1 gram of fiber.

This recipe is so, so delicious and super easy. Samson and I really enjoyed it. Some modifications I made: I used extra lean ground beef, but I also think ground turkey would taste fine. I used 2% milk. Instead of 3 ounces of cheddar cheese, I used 2 ounces of Weight Watchers reduced fat cheddar cheese, and it was more than enough. We also used FF sour cream as a topper, along with salsa, tomatos, and lettuce. We used 6 ounces of diced jalapenos instead of the chiles since we really like spicy foods. We baked it for 25 minutes, but after we put the cheese on, it only needs about 5 more minutes in oven (just enough to melt the cheese). I'll warn you, though, it's hard to eat only one serving, because it's excellent!