Five Point Friday - Apple Crumb Pie

This recipe was from a Weight Watcher Magazine and when I saw 5 points for a piece of pie I knew I had to give it a try. This would be a perfect point friendly addition to any Thanksgiving feast you may be planning.

Apple Crumb Pie


Serves 10
5 points per serving

Crust

• 1 c. all purpose flour
• 1/4 c. whole wheat flour
• 3 Tbsp. shredded low-fat cheddar cheese
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 c. canola oil
• 1 Tbsp. light stick butter
• 2-4 Tbsp. water
  

Filling

• 1 large lemon or 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/3 c. sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• pinch ground ginger
  
• pinch ground nutmeg
• 3 large Granny Smith Apples - peeled and cut into slices
  
• 3 large Golden Delicious Apples - peeled and cut into slices
  

Topping

• 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/4 c. whole wheat flour
• 2 Tbsp. old fashioned oats
• 2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1 Tbsp. packed brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp. ground allspice

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. To make the crust, combine the flours, cheese, and salt in a medium bowl. Melt the butter in a small bowl and add the oil. Gradually add the butter-oil mixtur to the flour mixture, tossing lightly with a fork until evenly blended. Add the water, 1 Tbsp at a time, tossing with a fork until the pastry is moist and begins to hold together. Shape the dough into a disk.
3. Roll out the dough to a 13" round, fold in half, and then put it in the pie plate, unfolding it to cover the pan. Leave a 1-inch border, trim off the excess dough and reserve for the topping. Make the edge pretty and then refrigerate the crust and dough trimmings while making the filling.
   
4. To make the filling, grate the zest from the lemon, cut the lemon in half, and squeeze the juice from one half (reserve the remaining half for another use). Combine the sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Add the apples and lemon zest and juice, toss to mix well. Spoon evenly into the pie shell.
5. To make the topping, combine the flours, oats, oil, brown sugar, allspice, and dough trimmings in a medium bowl. Toss iwth a fork until well blended. Squeeze the mixture together to form a loose ball; then break it into small pieces and sprinkle evenly over the filling.
   
6. Bake until the filling is bubbling and the topping is golden, about 55 minutes. Loosely cover the pie with a piece of foil during the last 15 minutes, if necessary, to prevent over browning. Let cool on a rack.
   
7. Serve warm or at room temperature with a big ol' scoop of Cool Whip Free.
   

I'm always on the search for low point recipes so feel free to share your own Five Point recipe at your place and leave me a comment so I can come try it too!

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Dream Room

Our house fits our family nicely.

We have the open living space that I love, and will always be a must have in our home, with an open kitchen, dining room, and living room. Everybody has their own bedroom, the kids have their own bathroom (not they ever use it), and hubby and I have ours.

Then, we also have an extra room that serves as a playroom, guest room, office, and storage room. Gotta love those all purpose rooms. And we can't forget about the garage. We have one of those too and despite its main purpose, it does not house our vehicles, but rather tools, toys, bikes, and other junk essential items that every family must have.

It works for us.

The other day I was reading one of my magazines about the Spelling mansion and all the rooms that it has in it. When I got over the initial reaction of "Oh my gosh, I would HATE to clean all that" (yes, I realize they hire people, but still I would not even want to be those "people") I was intrigued with the purpose of some rooms. There were the multiple bedrooms and bathrooms of course with their closets that make me drool, but then there were weight rooms, a movie room, a bowling alley, a pet room, a library, a scrap booking room, a craft room, and even a gift wrapping room, which I had never seen before. I'm sure I'm missing some of the other rooms, but you get the point...there were a lot of them.

That got me thinking.
If I had an insane amount of money and could build a house with as many rooms as I wished, what rooms would I want?

I think I would go with...

• A massive closet as big, if not bigger, than my bedroom, with those handy organizer systems.
• A library with floor to ceiling bookshelves in that dark cherry. Oh and I would definitely want those big ladders too that slide back and forth so you can reach the books way up top. Belle would be so jealous!!
• Why not throw in one of those gift wrapping rooms too? Pretty ingenious actually. That way I don't have to keep pulling that under bed storage container, that I currently use, in and out. That would solve the problem of always stubbing my toe on it when I don't get it all the way under too.
  

It's always fun to dream!
So tell me, what room would you design?

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Weigh In Wednesday

My weigh-ins for Weight Watchers have always been on Saturdays, but I like that the Sisterhood shares their weigh in results on Wednesdays. It is a nice mid-week check up on how I'm doing for the week. So on Saturday, I reported I was down a pound making my loss for the Shrinkaversary Challenge -1. Hoorah!

I'm thrilled to report that I'm doing much better at staying within my point range this week. No more counting, and counting, and counting. I decided to divide up my 35 weekly allowance into each day to give me a 5 point wiggle room during the weekdays. It seems to be working so far! I also made a batch of zero point soup which is a big help with my lunches.

Then there is the activity points.
Being part of the Globetrotter's Challenge has kept me motivated to keep tracking my activity and this week I logged 6.5 miles. Woohoo! Although I have to confess that I only got in two walks/runs this week, which means I need to get moving a lot more often. My activity goal this week is to break out the treadmill again and walk during my TV time.

I know I can do even better from here so I'm going to finish the week strong and by next Wednesday's Weigh in I would love share another pound loss and to have doubled my miles!

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Wordless Wednesday - Bike Riding with Ida

The kids and I took many pictures the other day as we explored the neighborhood to see what Ida left in her path on her way past the coast of Delaware and this is one of my favorites.

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Is Anybody Thankful for Thanksgiving?

I realize that beginning to celebrate Christmas when we are just going back to school is nothing new to retail stores. They want to make all the money they can off the holiday, but I've been surprised to see the amount of houses decorated for Christmas already. Seriously?? Trees in the windows? Reindeers in the yard? Candles in the windows?

Where did all the pumpkins, guards, squash, go?
The scarecrows?
The bales of hay?
Why don't we celebrate the bright colors that God has splashed before our eyes?

Dylan asked me the other day why people don't care about Thanksgiving?

I didn't really know what to say.
Some thoughts were...

• People don't remember that if it wasn't for the actions leading up to the first Thanksgiving we wouldn't have the life we do, here in the "New World"?
• We live in such a selfish society that is all about getting things and Thanksgiving doesn't come with anything (no tricks or treats, no boxes of chocolates and flowers, no colored eggs, no promises of a new year)?
• Turkey is over-rated?

Why do you think that Thanksgiving is so under-rated??

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Counting Points...Way too Many Points

Geesh after going back to counting points, it is easy to see why I had gained 8lbs over the past 5 months.

My first week I tracked, I was more than an entire day worth of points over for the week. That includes using every point of every day, plus my 35 weekly allowance, plus a few activity points. YIKES! I had no idea that I had been eating that much.

I'm still amazed that I was able to lose that first week. The only thing I can think is that even though I tracked more points than I should have, it was probably still less than I would have had in a normal week, had I not counted at all. Here I was thinking I had been doing ok tracking in my head and then when I really start tracking realize...what the heck was I thinking????!!!

Last week was better as I was only 10 points over my weekly allowance, but still...unacceptable. I absolutely MUST stay within those points. After successfully completing the Weight Watchers program, I know this is true. If you stick to the plan, it works!

The problem that I'm running into is that I only get 20 points a day and believe me they go fast. The key for me to be able to stay within this range is lots of vegetables and low point filling foods along with earning activity points.

I WILL stay within my points this week!!

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No More Titles Left

Since I've written this same post about 3 times now I've decided to give up trying to think of a catchy title.

You may have figured out through this post and that recipe that I'm back on Weight Watchers...for the third time now! My hope is that the 3rd time will be the charm and I will finally reach my ultimate weight goal.

I hope you all will forgive me for repeating this weight loss journey over and over again. I personally get annoyed with people like me. The ones who consistently talk about losing weight, start out all gung ho, and then after a few weeks fizzle out only to start the cycle again later. I've become one of those people!!

But, I'm determined not to stay this way.
I'm breaking the cycle.

Two weeks ago, after taking 5 months off , I signed back up for Weight Watchers online program. I haven't shared this with all of you until now because the honest truth was I was embarrassed. I was ashamed to come and tell the bloggy world about my lack of motivation and determination which resulted in gaining 8lb and a bigger bottom. In case you don't know this about me...I don't fail well. I'm a bit competitive like that, not to mention stubborn.

But, what I've realized is part of the reason I was so successful with my big weight loss (43lb) is because I did share my weight loss journey with the world. I celebrated the successes and confessed my failures. It was my commenter's encouragement, praise, sometimes frank words that kept me motivated. When I would read comments about how my weight loss journey was inspiring others that was the ultimate motivation! I had to work hard and be successful for myself and for others. People were depending on me.

So to wrap this long post up.
I'm back on plan.
I'm counting points, tracking them, and slowly getting back into my exercise routines.

My starting weight was 148 (7.5lb more than my last weight on 6/6/09).
Week 1 (Nov. 7) -1 lb / 147 lb.
Week 2 (today) -1 lb / 146 lb.

Not too bad.
Down 2lb already!

Weekly Goal: Earn more activity points this week!!

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Ida's In The House

For the past few days we have been getting the remnants of Ida here at the coast of Delaware. The kids and I had early dismissal yesterday due to high winds and flooding and today were given the whole day off.

We decided to explore the area to see what we could see.
This is what we found...

First we had to find a way to get out of our neighborhood as this is the road (Fred Hudson for my local readers) we usually use. Notice the "water on the road" sign in the right of the photo. Yeah, the one that is almost under water!!
So we turned around and headed down Route 26, you the know...the evacuation route!

Here we find the canal overflowing,

and trucks creating tidal waves.
Finally we make it out,
Welcome to Bethany Beach!
Forget biking around Bethany today,
You will have to resort to swimming to drop off your mail.
Thinking we will not be having lunch or dinner here for a couple of days.
The low lying neighborhoods or the ones next to the canals seem to be worst.


These are back yards. Thinking that picnic table won't be used for awhile.

On the beach front...
We have ocean under the boardwalk,
huge waves crashing,
a cliff drop off the side of the dune,
and no beach left.
So after our adventure around town it was unanimous that we believe it is time to call in the National Guard!

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Five Point Friday - Microwave Egg Sandwich

As I've jumped back onto the counting Weight Watcher points bandwagon, that means I'm on the look out for some new recipes with low points.

If you have been around my blog for awhile then you may remember my Five Point Fridays where every Friday I would share a new recipe I found that was tasty and 5 Weight Watcher points or less. After a brief hiatus, I'm excited to say that...Five Point Fridays are back!!

Microwave Egg Sandwich
3 Points

• 1 egg
• 1 egg white
• 1 slice of Oscar Mayer Ham lunchmeat
• 2 tbsp Weight Watcher Shredded Mozarella Cheese
• 1 mushroom
• 1 tbsp finely diced onion
• 1 slice of multi grain bread, toasted

1. Toast one piece of bread.
   
2. Spray a microwaveable coffee mug with non-stick cooking spray.
3. Put egg and egg white in mug and whisk.
4. Tear apart ham slice into small pieces and add to egg along with 1 tbsp cheese, mushroom, and onion.
5. Microwave for 1 1/2 minutes (you may want to experiment with time based on your microwave). Take out mug and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Microwave for 20 more seconds or until cheese is melted.
6. Cut bread in half and place egg in the middle.
7. Enjoy a 3 point breakfast!!!

TIP: Feel free to add any and all zero point veggies to create your own egg sandwich.

I always love to get low point recipes so feel free to join in on Five Point Fridays and post your own recipe over at your place. Make sure to leave me a comment so I can come try your recipe!

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