Ingredients:
1 spray cooking spray
2 medium onions, roughly chopped
1 carton fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 pounds sweet potato(es), peeled and chopped into 1/2-inch cubes
2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp ginger root, fresh, minced
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp table salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
4 cups vegetable broth
6 Tbsp peanut butter, natural, creamy
4 cups spinach, leaves, stemmed, packed, chopped

Instructions:
Coat a large saucepan with cooking spray and set over medium heat. Add onion, mushrooms, sweet potato, carrots, garlic, ginger, cloves, salt and cayenne; cook, stirring often, until softened, about 20 minutes.

Pour in the vegetable broth and bring to a simmer, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Stir in the peanut butter until smooth.

Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer slowly, stirring once in a while, until the sweet potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes.

Add the spinach; cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Yields about 1 1/2 cups per serving.

Servings: 5
Calories per serving: 195 (1.5 cups)

Notes:
Keep the heat low as the soup simmers so the peanut butter doesn’t break (that is, in culinary terms, “doesn’t fall out of suspension” or separate).

Adapted from this Weight Watchers recipe: http://bit.ly/aAXhMu

Nutrition

• Joyce’s Spicy Cabbage Soup – I make a huge batch every couple of weeks and keep it in big containers in the fridge. I usually eat it for one meal a day. It’s low-cal and I have yet to get tired of it.
• Convenience – I know a lot of people avoid pre-packaged foods, but honestly, they’ve been a great way for me to stay on track with eating healthy. Here are some of my faves:
  • Quaker Oats Weight Control Oatmeal – added protein means you don’t get hungry as fast
  • South Beach High Protein Cereal Bars – 10g of protein and only 140 calories; morning snack
  • 100-calorie microwave popcorn packs – volume baby! This is my afternoon snack. I can’t STAND those little 100-calorie Nabisco packs that have about 5 crackers each!
  • Sugar free pudding and popsicles – I use these as evening snacks.
  • Healthy Choice Complete meals – the only frozen dinners that actually feel like a full meal. I have one for lunch every weekday.
  • Crustless sugar-free pumpkin pie – this isn’t pre-packaged, but after I bake it, I divide it into single serving containers.
  • Chicken/turkey packs – I brown ground turkey and put 3.5 oz. in snack bags and freeze. I do the same with diced, marinated chicken. This makes it easy for me to grab a single serving of protein to add to my cabbage soup.
• Calorie cycling (zig-zag) – to break plateaus, I would eat a little more for a day or two, then scale back for a day or two. I’d still eat the same weekly allotment of calories, but varying the daily amounts seemed to help my body from going into “starvation mode.”

Exercise

• Stair climbing – 2-3 times a week, I walk the stairs at the office before work, then take a shower at the on-site facilities. On the weekends I walk the parking garage stairs at Hill Country Galleria.
• Walking hills – as an alternative to stair climbing, I walk around my neighborhood which happens to be hilly and beautiful. Lucky me! Two laps is a little less than 3 miles and takes me about 50 minutes.
• Sit ups, push ups, free weights – I’ve got exercise routines I do at home most evenings.

Electronics – because a list from Joyce would not be complete without reference to gadgets

• iPhone – podcasts are essential during exercise, as is the stopwatch app
• Lose It! – I credit this iPhone app for helping me consistently log my food intake and exercise time. It’s really an amazing app, and it’s FREE!
• Digital scale – kitchen (for food) and bathroom (for body). My food scale is awesome and easily switches between grams and ounces. My bathroom scale is a cheap digital one, and only has the .5 lb. increments, which I prefer so that I don’t obsess over a 10th of a pound here and there.

Support systems during weight loss are also very important, and although I don’t go to Weight Watchers meetings or visit with a Jenny Craig consultant, I do have friends with whom I share my weight struggles and victories. These friends (and you know who you are) have been a huge gift to me. I’ve also made some new friends in the Lose It! online community, which has been terrific. I hope you’ll connect with me if you’re interested in supporting each other to achieve a healthy lifestyle!

12 oz. fresh cranberries, rinsed
1 cup Splenda
1 cup water
1 teaspoon each: orange zest, cinnamon, nutmeg

Bring water, Splenda and spices to a boil, add cranberries and bring to boil again, reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, until the water has reduced, and sauce has reached the consistency you prefer.

Ingredients:
1 can pumpkin (15 oz)
1 can evaporated skim milk (12 oz)
3/4 cup egg substitute (or 3 egg whites)
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup Splenda

Combine all ingredients and beat until smooth. Pour into a 9″ sprayed pie pan

Bake at 400 for 15 minutes, and then at 325 for 45 minutes or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.

1 serving (1/8 pie) = 54 calories

Note: I add 4 tablespoons of fat free Cool Whip which adds 30 calories, but it’s TOTALLY worth it. Yummmm…

1 large can (49.5 oz) chicken broth
1 large can (28 oz.) Italian cut green beans
1 can (14.5 oz.) corn
1 can (10 oz.) Rotel diced tomatoes HOT
1 can (14.5 oz.) petite diced tomatoes
1 can (5.5 oz.) Spicy V8 juice (opt.)
1/2 head of cabbage chopped
2 cups chopped carrots
2 cups chopped celery (with leaves)
2 cups chopped onion

Pour first 6 ingredients, including liquid, into large stock pot and place on stove on medium heat. Chop the remaining ingredients (fresh veggies) and add them to the stock pot. Add water until all veggies are covered. Increase heat until soup comes to boil, then reduce heat and simmer on low only until carrots are “al dente” (approximately 20-30 minutes). DO NOT OVERCOOK or all the veggies will be mushy, taste the same, and will be bland in color.

I pour the soup into individual containers (approximately 2 cups each) so that it is easy to pop into the microwave for lunch or dinner.

Makes: A lot! One batch lasts me about a week and a half.
Serving size: Approx. 2 cups
Calories: Approx. 120

Yummy additions:
I like to get Jennie-O Italian seasoned ground turkey, brown it, squeeze out as much fat as I can, and store in 3 oz baggies (approx. 130 calories). Adding to a serving of soup makes it a very filling meal that’s protein-filled, but still low fat. Over Christmas, I added ham bits from our spiral-sliced ham, and it made the soup absolutely divine!

1 1/4 cups jasmine rice

1 can unsweetened coconut milk

1 tbsp. water pinch salt

Cooking spray

2 salmon steaks, approximately 6 ozs.

1/2 orange, zested and juiced

1/2 lemon, zested and juiced

2 in fresh ginger root, peeled & grated

1 tbsp. soy sauce

1. Place rice, coconut milk, water and rice into rice bowl. Spray steamer basket with cooking spray and arrange salmon.
2. In a separate bowl, combine orange zest and juice, lemon zest and juice, ginger, and soy sauce. Brush both sides of salmon. Place cover on unit. Turn Rice Cooker to COOK.
3. Every 5 minutes, baste top of fish with marinade. At end of cycle, test rice and cut into salmon to see if opaque.