I’m a huge fan of seafood, especially shrimp.  It’s one of my favorite types of seafood to cook at home because it’s quick, easy, and is a great fit with my Weight Watchers food plan.

I recently came across this recipe for Dijon Shrimp.  Unfortunately, I don’t remember exactly where I found it, but it’s quickly become a favorite of mine.  It’s so quick to prepare that it’s become one of my mid-week staple recipes since I’m generally crunched for time during the week when it comes to cooking.

I hope you’ll give it a try and that you enjoy it as much as I do!  Do you have any favorite shrimp recipes?  If so, please leave a comment with a link to it.

Resource:  SparkRecipes.com

I don’t know about you, but I feel like I am meeting myself coming and going lately. We go to school through December 21 and that doesn’t give me much time before Christmas to get a lot done. I’ve been trying to not let cooking right go by the wayside.

I have found that at busy times like now, my crockpot is one of my very best friends. With a little meal planning at the beginning of the week, we can have yummy and healthy meals at home when it would just be easier to just grab something in a drive up or restaurant.

Sometimes I go to the old tried and true recipes that I have made for years. A lot of times, I make some of the great recipes from right here at Shrinking Jeans. Other times I make some of the newer ones that I have come across on Facebook and Twitter. But lately, I have found lots of yummy recipes on a website I came across called eatwell.com.

With the cold weather finally starting to set in here in northwest Indiana, my family loves a good hearty meal of any kind of soup or stew. Eat Well doesn’t disappoint in this department. They have some really good recipes with low calories. It’s a win/win situation.

Here are the links to some of our favorite recipes I found there.
Southwestern Three Bean and Barley Soup

Chicken and Sweet Potato Stew

Hungarian Beef Goulash

These are just a few of the recipes we have tried. Check out eatwell.com and see what you think. I can tell you one thing for sure. It tastes great and you’ll give yourself a little extra time by using your crockpot.

Have you ever tried chicken sausage?

It’s fantastic.

I never even knew it existed until I began the journey into calorie-counting and I found it as an ingredient for something on Spark People.

Its whereabouts in the grocery store perplexed me so I wandered around looking for it and found it above the breakfast sausage but below the kielbasa in my grocery’s refrigerated section. Just in case you were wondering. Like I was.

I like chicken sausage because I love sausage in general (there’s a joke in there somewhere) but it’s lower in fat and lower in calories than full-fat pork sausage. So you can get the sausage taste without all of the sausage-ness in your typical unhealthy version.

I have two delicious recipes for chicken sausage that you might enjoy; the first one is a chicken sausage and feta dish of my own, the second is a slow-cooker chicken sausage paella from Eat! Move! Play! the awesome, awesome Weight Watchers book that I’ve been cooking my way through this summer and enjoying every moment of this (YOU SERIOUSLY NEED THIS BOOK!)

My recipe:

Penne with Chicken Sausage

Ingredients:
-4 links precooked chicken sausage (I used Al Fresca brand)
-10 oz. frozen broccoli
-2 red peppers, sliced
-1 Box whole wheat pasta
-1 bunch basil, chopped
-1/2 cup feta cheese
pepper to taste

Directions:
Heat oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Sautee peppers and broccoli. Cover and cook until warm, remove from pan. Sliced pre-cooked chicken sausage and heat in pan. Prepare pasta according to directions. When sausage is browned, toss with in cooked pasta and veggies. Top with feta and basil.
Calories: 397
Fat: 12g

Slow Cooker Paella with Chicken Sausage (best EVER!) from Eat! Move! Play!

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red or yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 zucchini, halved and sliced
1 (8 oz) package sliced mushrooms (I’m not a mushroom person, I omitted.)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 (8 oz) package yellow rice
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
2 cups water
12 oz fully-cooked reduced-fat chicken sausage, sliced

Directions:
Heat the oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring until onion is softened, about 5 mins. Add peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, and garlic and cook until veggies soften, about 3 mins. Transfer veggies to a 5 or 6 quart slow cooker. Add rice mix, tomatoes, and water. Cook sausage in same skillet over medium-hihgh heat until browned, about 2 mins. Add sausage to slow cooker. Cover and cook until rice is just tender and the liquid is absorbed, 1-2 hours on high or 3-4 hours on low. (Note: mine took 3-4 hours on high, for some unknown reason.)

Calories: 269
Fat: 7g

We’ve been highlighting recipes and exercises all month from Eat! Move! Play! and I canNOT explain to you how much I love the recipes in this book. I am literally cooking my way through it. So far, I’ve made “Spaghetti Pie”, “Turkey and Rice ‘Mice,’” and “Cheesy Mini Muffins” just to name a few. And I’ve taken quite a few pictures, which I’d share, but my food pictures make the food look more like the food tends to look after you eat it. (How do people take such great food pictures! I am not blessed with that talent.)

What about you? Have you had chicken sausage? And what other foods do you use to substitute the higher fat versions?

(*Note* If you’re watching your sodium content, you may want to look out for anything sausage, as it may be a little high — just make sure to read the labels.)

Another great chicken sausage recipe: Red Beans with Chicken Andouille Sauce & Rice!

Good morning, everyone! How was your week this week? Did you stick it to that scale? Did it give you the business this morning? Go ahead, weigh in, post about it and leave your link in the comments! Or you can just weigh in below. Either way, tell us what happened this week!

And seriously, tell us allllll about it! Did you do great? And how bout exercise? Do you have have a pattern, a recurring little annoying problem, like me, late night eating, not enough water drinking… , go ahead and dish! All the dirty details, we want them! Scale and non-scale victories, all perfect wonderful blog and comment material!

Lisa’s been heading up our mini-challenges, and our latest one is journaling. How are you doing with that?? There’s still time to jump in and if you’re still hanging out on the side thinking “I don’t need to journal, I know what I’m doing…” I thought the same thing too until I journaled for the first time and boy was THAT an eye-opening experience. All of a sudden my one cookie turned to 2, my innocent pats of butter and my innocent little slices of cheese, all those teeny tiny things really added up and sabotaged me! Not to mention eating out at restaurants and how journaling opened my eyes to how difficult it is in some places to find any calorie-information whatsoever!

I’m looking forward to the week ahead! No matter how bad or good I’ve done, I love Wednesdays because it gives me a chance to analyze, plant my feet and re-commit. Which I’m doing today. I hope you do too! If you did great, keep it up! If you had a rough week, well, time to recharge.

Now leave your link and go visit your sisters, this is a Sisterhood for Pete’s sake!

(Who’s Pete?)

(Psst! Welcome to our new Fridays. We’re now alternating Focus on Fitness and Food Friday! Okay, carry on…)

For me, and I’d bet for a lot of you out there, weight loss success or failure is directly linked to portion control. Yes, exercise is most definitely important and necessary, and also the KINDS of foods you eat make a difference. But really, if you eat a plate of pasta the size of your head every night, it kind of zeroes out that five mile run or Zumba class…am I right or am I right (I’m right).

First of all, it is helpful to define ‘portion’ and serving. A ‘serving’ is the amount of food or drink, as determined by the FDA, that is necessary to add up to your daily recommended intake. A ‘portion’ is what you choose to eat in one sitting. Unfortunately, even though those two terms should align, they very rarely do.  For instance, if you buy a bottle of soda and look at the nutrition information on the side, it may say 12o calories per serving.  But there are two servings in the bottle…so, do you drink only half the bottle? Or do you drink the entire thing?

Portion control is a tricky bugger, honestly speaking. The portions we receive in restaurants are huge.  We’re brought up to appreciate quantity. We want our money’s worth. And visually speaking? It can be difficult to eyeball a proper portion size.

Today? I’m going to give you a quick refresher course on portion control. And? Give you a few fun ideas to help keep your portion sizes in check!

Okay, down to business. Here’s a quick list of visual checks you can use when you’re doling out your food:

Meat or chicken = deck of cards

One cup of rice or pasta = tennis ball or woman’s fist

One ounce of cheese = domino

Medium piece of fruit = baseball

One teaspoons of butter = one die (you know, singular for DICE)

Two Tablespoons of peanut butter = golf ball

Or, you can do it all on your hands. Literally:

{courtesy of Prevention Magazine}

What else can you do to watch your portions? Make sure you read your labels. Weigh your food. Yes, weigh it. On a kitchen scale. I hear you, it can be arduous, but there is no more accurate way to control your intake. You just can’t trust your eyeballs. After weighing your food for a while, you will become more able to visually identify the proper portion. I promise.

Now, to some fun stuff.

Portion control AND fun in the same sentence. Yes, it’s true!

A few months back, I received a bento lunch box from Laptop Lunches to try out, and can I just tell you how much I love it? And my kid too – we fight over it.  Why is it so great? It’s got little dishes enclosed in a cute case (there’s even a fork and spoon!) that allows you to pack healthful and portion controlled lunches! To top it all off, it’s very eco-friendly – no more paper lunch bags! Plus? It’s super cute:

There are a multitude of portion control products out there…portion control plates and dishes.  Another option is to just go out and buy smaller plates! It’s true, you’ll fool your eye and eat less if you use smaller dinner plates, rather than those mammoth ones most of us have in our cupboards.

Portion control – yes, it can be a pain, but really, truly is the key to getting to and maintaining your goal weight!

Do you practice portion control? Any fun tricks or ideas? Please, share in the comments!

A very healthy and fun sidedish for my family and one of our favorites is one I found on the Food Network before I was married. It is still a staple today, I love it so much. It’s the Confetti Couscous. Now, I’ve linked to the original recipe, but I’ll give you my version of it. M’kay? It takes about 15 minutes to make, it’s low-calorie and low-fat and you can pair it up with literally anything. Chicken, fish, lean steak topped with low-fat bleu cheese (I’m just sayin…) It’s deeelicious and it’s SOOO PRETTY with the reds and the greens, it’s gorgeous! It’ll look all professional-like when you make it and your family will “Oooh!” and “Ahhh!” over it. I’ve even doubled it up and brought it as a side-dish to a party.

Ingredients:
1 5 oz. Box Near East brand Parmesan Couscous
1 4 oz jar of diced pimentos
2 tbsp lemon juice (it calls for fresh but I’ve used the juice kind)
1 10 oz box of frozen peas, cooked
1 14 oz can nonfat chicken broth
Slivered almonds (optional)

Bring chicken broth, lemon juice and Parmesan packet to a boil. Stir in couscous. Remove from heat, let it sit for 5 mins to absorb the liquid. Cook the peas in the microwave according to the directions. When couscous is done, fluff with fork, then toss in pimentos and peas until mixed. Top with slivered almonds (optional).

Makes about 6 1 cup servings.
Calorie count: 263
Grams of fat: 3.7
Fiber: 6
Points: 2
Deliciousness: 10

Hope you make this and enjoy it! We LOVE it!

We all know that we have tremendous influence on other people and their lives, and when we get healthier, other people want to be healthy too. It’s like a very healthy food flu, only the side-effects are feeling fantastic, feeling full on healthy choices and having a ton of energy and nice skin. And if you didn’t know, well, then, you have tremendous influence on all the people in your life. Whether you know it or not. Surprise!

This week’s Monday Project is to try a new fruit or a new veggie or a new food, recipe or a new anything, and try to incorporate it into your family’s life. My parents have gotten me addicted to Sandwich Thins and I’ve gotten them addicted to Skinny Cow ice cream (in a health-addiction sort of way of course.) Over the weekend, my husband told me he doesn’t think he could eat regular spaghetti because he’s so used to the whole wheat kind (which is HUGE! Because I remember a time when he would tell me he hated whole wheat pasta!)

I’ve really worked to give my fridge and pantry a makeover over the past couple of years and now my family is so used to certain things that they now no longer know what they’re missing! But there are still a lot of things (like avocado, flax seed, crock pot oatmeal) that I’ve been wanting to try and add into my children’s lives too as a staple. So, this is the perfect week to do that.

I’ve heard of some people trying Chia, for instance, if you want to go that route. Or almond butter instead of peanut butter. Even just switching to whole wheat pasta or brown rices for a week instead of the whites. Trying a recipe with whole wheat flour in it, or switching to skim milk. Trying a new fruit (kiwi, starfruit or mangoes or something really fun and exotic) with the family. Making your own fruit leathers or baby food (I did this! If anyone is interested!), or making fruit kabobs and having fun with fruit or veggies in a fun project sort of way… There are a million and one things to do, the possibilities are endless! So let’s pick something and make it fun, m’kay? And you can take pictures of how you incorporated it or used it, share the recipes or the projects with each other and the masterpieces! Come back here on Friday and link up your post.

If you have any ideas, please comment below or if you’re looking for advice on something new that you wanna try, head over to the ‘Hood where I’ve set up a discussion about it in the Nutrition and Diet section!

Good luck! I’m looking forward to this week!! Have fun!

I think my children might be vegetarian and it’s of no work on my part, not that there’s anything wrong with it of course. But I’m as carnivorous as they come (big fan of the warm red center. BIG FAN.) But when I make a meatless dinner as opposed to a meatFUL dinner, I get a much warmer response from the children, hence one of their favorite dishes ever: my vegetarian chili, made with a million billion beans and zero meat (upon child request.) And since it takes literally 15 minutes to make, I’m all for it.

Ingredients:

1/2 pouch (or to your taste) of the spices from Carroll Shelby’s Chili Mix (used to be a brown bag, now it’s a brown box)
2 cans dark red kidney beans
2 cans red beans
1 can (15 oz) plain tomato sauce
1 can Rotel diced tomatoes and chilis

Directions:
Literally, dump everything in a big giant skillet. I use only a 1/2 of the spice packet in the bag because more than that is too spicy for the kids. You can use however much you want, to your taste. Let it simmer on the stove for about 15 minutes on medium. Use the masa flour in the packet (according to box directions) to thicken the chili. Done.

Serve with a little light sour cream and some low-fat cheddar cheese. Altogether, 3 points in WW and 204 calories (without the sour cream and low-fat cheddar cheese.)

It’s one of our favorites. And while I have you here, one of our other favorite vegetarian dishes you can make in about 15 minutes is a bean soup straight out of the bag:   Vigo Spanish Bean Soup.  I find mine near all the boxes of rice in my grocery store, but you just add water, it’s low-calorie, and we’ll have some cuban bread with it and call it a day. Have a wonderful Sunday everyone!!

Welcome to today’s Sisterhood Bash Happy Hour! What’s the Sisterhood Bash? Go check it out – we’re raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and there are MANY chances to win fabulous prizes…and cash. Yes, cash.

This recipe is brought to you by Tiffany S, one of our members of Team Shrinking Jeans.  I haven’t tried it yet but it sounds delicious and I am only missing one ingredient on this list, which means that I must hit the grocery store for that item because did I tell you how yummy this sounds to me right now and could this sentence be any more of a run-on than it already is?!

Clementine Creamsicle Smoothie (source:  Eating Light magazine, Volume XVIII, Number 3)

Serves: 3
Prep: 5 min

2 clementines, peeled and sectioned
1 ripe banana
1 cup lowfat vanilla yogurt
3/4 cup orange juice
3 to 4 ice cubes
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1.  Place ingredients in a blender.  Process until smooth.
2.  Strain, if desired, then pour into glasses.

Per Serving:  164 calories, 5g protein, 34g carbs, 2g fat (1g saturated fat), 8% of calories from fat, 6mg cholesterol, 60mg sodium

Welcome to today’s Sisterhood Bash Happy Hour! What’s the Sisterhood Bash? Go check it out – we’re raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and there are MANY chances to win fabulous prizes…and cash. Yes, cash.

I have to admit, I’m kind of a freak about watermelon. Which, as far as obsessions go, is a pretty good one. I ran across this recipe for a watermelon margarita and I seriously almost passed out with sheer ecstasy.  Cause I kind of LOVE margaritas too. My taste for them has finally come back after a long absence following a very vomity twenty-first birthday…I digress.

The other thing I adore about this cocktail? Agave. A natural sweetener. While I do use artificial sweeteners once and a while, I always like to go the natural route when possible.

And by the way…Lisa…we’re totally making these babies when I come to visit. Consider yourself warned.

Mellow Melon Margarita (Photo and recipe courtesy of Fine Living)

Ingredients:

1-1/2 oz. Patron Silver tequila (or your preferred brand)
1 oz. fresh lime juice, freshly squeezed
1 oz. orange juice
1 Tbs. agave nectar
5 watermelon cubes
1 small watermelon wedge

Preparation:

Muddle the watermelon cubes in the bottom of a shaker glass. Add ice, Patron, lime juice, orange juice and agave syrup. Give it a good shake for approximately 10 seconds. Strain and pour into large rocks glass. Garnish with a watermelon wedge.

Nutrition information: 160 calories, 0.1g fat, 0.6g fiber