Blueberry Compote

This is so yummy on the cheesecake. It makes 11 servings at 0 pts. It also would be great mixed into Fat Free Greek yogurt or on pancakes I put it into little cups and put half into a Rubbermaid container in the freezer.

Update:

Tried raspberry too and made another blueberry - so delicious. Used frozen raspberries and a pint of fresh at the end. Also skimmed the foam off the top before adding cornstarch.

Yummy Polenta

I was starving when we got home from the gym. So I made polenta.... Not from scratch... I use the tube. Slice it up. Saute with a little olive oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano, and Mrs. Dash. Turn slices over.

Rinse a can of black beans. Add to pan. Add a can of diced tomatoes. Top with 1/2 cup fat free mozzarella and 1/2 cup reduced Mexican blend. Cover pan.

Yum.

There are 5 servings in the skillet. 3 Freestyle points for each serving.

Finally, porch time

 Opossum who didn't have a care in the world.

 A flock of geese. They kept following the lead goose just like if they were flying in the sky.

First one deer, then another who stopped at the trees and kept looking back. Then ran back to the other end of the condos and waited. Two more came and they ran back to the trees and followed the first.

Meat Pie Makeover

Meat Pie Makeover - yum. My husband's family has a delicious French Canadian Meat Pie traditional recipe. They all love it. Potatoes, ground beef, beef fat.... Not Weight Watcher friendly. So I decided to give it a try for our dinner tonight. It was so delicious. It's not the original but we both liked it.

4 servings - 4 Freestyle points each 

I started with the 2-ingredient dough. Lessened the yogurt and added an egg. It was very sticky but workable. Add a little more flour on your hands as you make the ropes.

I always have ground turkey cooked and frozen in sandwich bags. I used one of those and added onions, celery and shredded zucchini. The spices are Mrs. Dash, salt, pepper, garlic, sage, celery seeds. Cook in pan until onions are translucent.

I added 2 Laughing Cow cheese wedges to add creaminess missing from not using fat.

I cooked the filling. Put it in a small casserole and put most of the crust on top. I used my fingers to pat it all over the filling. Then I made ropes out of leftover dough and put it around the pie to form the edge of the crust.

Bake 350 for 40 minutes.

1/2 cup self rising flour

1/3 cup Fage FF Greek yogurt

1 egg

Mix together. Knead in bowl. Will be sticky.

Cover 2 cups baby potatoes with water and microwave until tender. 

8 ounces cooked 99% FF ground turkey

1/4 cup onion, chopped

1/4 cup celery, chopped

1 cup shredded zucchini, drained

2 wedges Laughing Cow cheese

The potatoes that you microwaved.

Seasoning: Salt, Pepper, Mrs. Dash, sage, garlic, celery seeds.

Bake 40 minutes at 350

Thank you for this mrscooby1!

How did we ever work?

My goodness! We are so busy right now I don't know how we ever had full time jobs.

Several of the commitments include meals - it's a minefield of points waiting to sabotage my plan.

All I gotta say is don't be offended if I say no thank you to offers of food. I'm done eating points that make you feel better!

Love ya...

Cousins

I can't imagine my life without aunts and uncles and cousins. My aunt's and uncle's enriched my life while they were alive.  Family means so much to me.

My cousin Mary Lynn is more a sister than a cousin. If I need to ask a family history question Mary Lynn knows the answer. She was the first person to encourage me to write and offered to edit my first book. Twelve books later she still is the first person to read and edit each book.

The times I spent in Owosso with Elise, Roger and Rick or when they were staying with us we're the best of times. When we were little and my Dad was sick my little sister, Jane, and I sometimes stayed with Rob, Nancy, Sue, Mike and Ed. As we got older we had our family reunions at there house on the 4th of July and our children found out how wonderful extended families can be.

A few times our cousins came from California and it was such a celebration. It was the only time I remember seeing Grandma Brandi making the Palm Sunday spaghetti with ground walnuts sprinkled on top. I remember John, Maria and Jim visits would mean lots of family time which I loved.

My Dad was an only child so you would think that would mean no cousins. Wrong. We had Maureen and Kevin and Kerry. Their Dad was my Dad's cousin. I can't say how much it meant when their parents stepped in after my Dad died and included my sister Jane and me in so many good times. We also went to school together and the shenanigans Kerry and I caused still make me laugh.

Ed, Kevin, Elise, Maureen and Mike have passed away, even though they are still in my heart, I still miss each of them so much. 

New Phone Angst

It took me several times trying to get into this account. I would hate to lose all of my blogs! But I'm back.

My Samsung Galaxy7 started acting up for the third time. I had enough when I plugged it in to charge and the battery percentage started going down.

The person who always goes with me to buy a phone is in Ireland so Pat dropped me off and I was on my own.

After looking at a few Samsungs I told the clerk I love to take pictures and he said I should look at Google's Pixel XL. It was on sale so cheaper than a Samsung. The photos go right to Google photos. It is a bit bigger, but not too big. So I decided to get it. I double checked by calling my friend Amy who has one. She loves hers and said the added benefit is it doesn't have a ton of preloaded apps you can't get rid of - that was the best news.

So after buying it I had to wait for Pat to get back. I started setting it up and ran into trouble with only 7 of my contacts transferring. One of the Verizon employees waiting for someone to come in took the phone and within 20 seconds my contacts were there! Then for the first time ever my calendar was transferred too. I love the Verizon cloud.

Using it for the first day I already like it. The keyboard letters are not as close together, the screen is sharp and clear and it does take great pictures.

Cheesecake

This is really good cheesecake.

Preheat oven to 350°
Spray pie dish with Pam

3 cups FF Greek Yogurt  (I use Fage because it is so thick and creamy)
3 eggs
1 TBS Vanilla
1 TBS Truvia or other sweetener
1  small pkg  (3.4 oz) Jello Pudding Cheesecake flavor
Optional 1/4 cup PB2

Note: For chocolate cheesecake change PB2 to chocolate PB2, 1/2 chocolate pudding and 1/2 cheesecake pudding mix, and add 1/4 c Hershey cocoa.

Mix all Ingredients. Pour into pie dish. Smooth out the top to be even. Bake 30 minutes. Turn off oven and let cool in unopened oven. Cover with plastic or press and seal and refrigerate several hours or overnight. We like it with fresh blueberries.

• 6-12 servings - 1 Freestyle SP

Added Cranberry Smash - still 0 Freestyle Smartpoints

In a saucepan combine:
1 bag fresh cranberries
1/2 cup water
1 small box orange sugar free Jello

Bring to boil, turn down heat and simmer 7 minutes. Cool.

Drain and rinse 15 oz crushed pineapple. Add to cooled cranberry sauce.

Fill small glass 3/4 full of cooled cheesecake, top with Cranberry Smash. Mix loosely. Top with fat free Reddi Whip.