Family Photos

Three weeks left of my four week challenge and I need to stop cheating.  I was very good today.  I did not snitch anything, or leave anything I ate uncounted for.  Yesterday was our Pampered Chef team meeting and although I only ate healthy foods, I am sure I also ate a little too much.  Well, I guess that I can't say I only ate healthy food as I did have a few chips because I wanted to dip them in the guacamole that Deena made.  Plus I had a diet Dr. Pepper.  So I doubly failed last night.  I really didn't eat very much but I did snack on some foods I am trying to avoid during my challenge.  I think that for it being the holidays, I am doing remarkably well.  My weigh in day for the challenge is tomorrow so we will see how I am doing then.

This morning my mother in law called and said that she is putting her Christmas card together and she doesn't have any pictures of me after I have lost all my weight.  So Matt and I were able to take some pictures together and send them off to her.  These were just taken with the phone, although we do want to get some more professional ones of the girls pretty soon.

Not bad for holding the camera right out in front of us!

I love how it looks like there is a twinkle right by Chloe!

It is amazing how hard it can be to get good pictures where both of the kids have good looks on their faces and are both looking at the camera!  I am glad we were able to get some good pictures because I don't take very many pictures with me in them.  I am trying to change that, but when you get so busy with the daily hustle and bustle of life it is a small miracle if I remember to take pictures at all!

I do have one comparison to make between now and last week.  Last week I was starving in between my shakes and I felt like I couldn't get enough to eat and I was always hunting to find something I could eat that I actually felt like eating.  Today I didn't have any problems with my hunger in-between shakes and snacks.  That is a good sign!  It means that I am accomplishing one of my big goals with this challenge: shrink my stomach so that I can feel fuller on smaller portions since Chloe is not nursing so much and I need to eat less.

Dinner tonight was a weight watchers recipe.  I had my last Pampered Chef cookie show of the month tonight (which I am proud to report that I did not eat any of the cookies this time!) so I needed to make a crock pot recipe.  I chose Thai Chicken Curry.  Basically you use light coconut milk and chop up a bunch of vegetables, stick it all in the crock pot, put the chicken on top and you are done!  The recipe calls for red curry paste, which I could not find.  I could only find Golden Curry paste and even then I was originally anticipating my mom coming and she has a Gluten allergy and the Golden Curry paste contains wheat.  So I just used plain curry seasoning and it still tasted great!  I also sprinkled the top with PB2 instead of crushed peanuts.  Mostly because I don't have peanuts and I do have PB2 and I didn't want to buy peanuts because nuts are expensive.  I cooked up some Quinoa to go with it.  I am not sure how many calories it is, but 1 1/2 cups is 8 points plus and I only ate one cup and 1/2 cup quinoa.  Just a note: it does take some time to prepare because you have to chop up all the veggies, but it isn't as bad as it appears at first glance!  (The ingredient list seems long to me but really its not bad at all)

It looks like a lot of food but I used a small plate so it isn't as much as you think.

Ingredients

	13 1/2 fl oz light coconut milk
	7 tsp Thai curry paste, red variety, divided (or to taste)
	1 1/2 tsp table salt, (or to taste)
	1/2 head(s) (large) uncooked cauliflower, cut into small florets
	1 pound(s) uncooked potato(es), peeled, cut into small chunks
	1 medium sweet red pepper(s), cut into chunks
	2 medium uncooked carrot(s), cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
	1 1/2 pound(s) uncooked boneless skinless chicken breast(s), six 4 oz pieces
	2 Tbsp reduced fat peanut butter
	1/3 cup(s) cilantro, fresh, chopped
	3 medium uncooked scallion(s), sliced
	1 medium fresh lime(s), cut into 6 wedges
	2 Tbsp peanuts, salted, chopped

Instructions

• In a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker, whisk together coconut milk, 4 teaspoons curry paste and salt until blended. Add cauliflower, potatoes, pepper and carrots; toss to mix and coat.
• Rub 2 teaspoons curry paste all over chicken; place chicken on top of vegetable mixture. Cover slow cooker and cook on LOW setting until chicken is cooked through and vegetables are tender, about 5 to 6 hours.
• Remove chicken to a cutting board and cut into bite-size pieces (or shred using two forks); set aside.
• Stir peanut butter and remaining 1 teaspoon curry paste into slow cooker until blended. Add chicken back to slow cooker with cilantro and scallions; gently stir to coat. Spoon onto plates or into bowls and serve with lime wedges; sprinkle each serving with 1 teaspoon peanuts. Yields about 1 1/2 cups per serving.

Notes

• Make sure to cut the cauliflower, carrots and potatoes into similar-size small pieces so they cook through in a similar amount of time.

Season to taste with salt and fresh lime juice before serving, if desired.