After Little Miss was born, I was at my all time heaviest weight. I started the pregnancy ten pounds above my normal plateau, which was already at the top of the healthy range for my height. I lost a decent amount right off the bat what with breastfeeding and all, but then the scale stood still and the numbers soon began to climb. It was time to make a change, so my mom and I joined Weight Watchers.
Weight Watchers is honestly amazing. Sure you have to count points and keep track of everything you eat, but shouldn’t we be doing that anyway? Isn’t blindly shoving food into our mouths with out any regard for the effect it will have on our bodies what gets us into trouble in the first place?
The most life changing part of Weight Watchers for me was how much of a waste processed foods are. When you realize that a package of Ramen Noodles is 10 points and you only have 29 for the day, and you are planning on eating said salty soup as a snack at 10:00 at night, it makes you reconsider a lot of your food choices.
That being said, sometimes you just miss the crappy, boxed stuff. Of course you can splurge every now and then, but an even better approach is to make your own healthy version of the chemical filled favorites. The recipe I love best is Rice-A-Roni.
Rice-A-Roni is loaded with salt and you never really feel good about dumping a mystery packet of powdered flavoring into your food. Well, I discovered that in the exact same amount of time it takes to make the boxed variety, you can make your own, from scratch, that tastes nearly identical!
I use a combination of rice and pasta in my recipe that is always different, depending on what we have in the house. Homemade chicken stock is great for the whole real food thing, but no one will hold it against you if you use the canned kind. And you do need salt, it’s just the nature of the beast, but it’s not nearly as much as you’ll find in the real thing.
Here’s the recipe. Hope you like!
Mama-Roni
Ingredients:
2 tbsp butter
1½ cups of rice and small pasta (The ratio and types are up to you. All varieties work. Most recently I used a mix of risotto rice, acini di pepe and tubettini)
2¾ cups of chicken stock
½ tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp dried parsley
Pinch of garlic powder
Pinch of onion powder
Salt to taste
Directions:
In a large skillet, melt butter. Add pasta and rice and coat with butter. Cook until some pieces start to brown. Add chicken stock and spices and stir. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and cover. Cook until all liquid is absorbed and rice and pasta are tender, about 15 minutes. Add more stock if needed.
And that’s it! So easy. Let me know some of you processed food redo’s. I’d love to give them a try!
Weight Watchers is honestly amazing. Sure you have to count points and keep track of everything you eat, but shouldn’t we be doing that anyway? Isn’t blindly shoving food into our mouths with out any regard for the effect it will have on our bodies what gets us into trouble in the first place?
The most life changing part of Weight Watchers for me was how much of a waste processed foods are. When you realize that a package of Ramen Noodles is 10 points and you only have 29 for the day, and you are planning on eating said salty soup as a snack at 10:00 at night, it makes you reconsider a lot of your food choices.
That being said, sometimes you just miss the crappy, boxed stuff. Of course you can splurge every now and then, but an even better approach is to make your own healthy version of the chemical filled favorites. The recipe I love best is Rice-A-Roni.
Rice-A-Roni is loaded with salt and you never really feel good about dumping a mystery packet of powdered flavoring into your food. Well, I discovered that in the exact same amount of time it takes to make the boxed variety, you can make your own, from scratch, that tastes nearly identical!
I use a combination of rice and pasta in my recipe that is always different, depending on what we have in the house. Homemade chicken stock is great for the whole real food thing, but no one will hold it against you if you use the canned kind. And you do need salt, it’s just the nature of the beast, but it’s not nearly as much as you’ll find in the real thing.
Here’s the recipe. Hope you like!
Mama-Roni
Ingredients:
2 tbsp butter
1½ cups of rice and small pasta (The ratio and types are up to you. All varieties work. Most recently I used a mix of risotto rice, acini di pepe and tubettini)
2¾ cups of chicken stock
½ tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp dried parsley
Pinch of garlic powder
Pinch of onion powder
Salt to taste
Directions:
In a large skillet, melt butter. Add pasta and rice and coat with butter. Cook until some pieces start to brown. Add chicken stock and spices and stir. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and cover. Cook until all liquid is absorbed and rice and pasta are tender, about 15 minutes. Add more stock if needed.
And that’s it! So easy. Let me know some of you processed food redo’s. I’d love to give them a try!