Gettin’ Healthy–It’s About Time

Man, time goes by fast!  It’s been nearly 3 months since I last posted.  Weight loss has been slow, but I’ve stayed on plan.  I now have 71.6 pounds off in 38 weeks.  I have 20.8 pounds to go, to get to the top of my healthy weight range.  I was, at first, going to make that my goal.  But now that I’m getting closer to it, and I still have some torso fluff (tummy and back flab), I think I may go another 5 pounds down, and make that my goal, so that I then will have a 7 pound leeway after I make Weight Watchers Lifetime.  So….I really then, have 25.8 pounds to go, to get to goal.  As slow as it’s been lately, that will probably take me another 4 months, which will be 1 year and 1 month since I began on August 8th, 2007.  But…oh well….this is a lifestyle change, so who cares really, how long it takes.  I mean….since I’m planning to live this way forever….or at least until I die….it really doesn’t matter, does it?  The only thing that matters is….once I hit my goal and keep it for the 6 weeks that we’re seeing how many points I can eat and still maintain, then I won’t have to pay $39.99 a month to Weight Watchers any more!!!  Yayyyyy!  I can use that money in lots of other ways.

OK…so I’ve been thinking a lot about this again…..size.  I started WW, wearing 18’s-20’s.  I am now wearing 12’s, and I even tried on some pants yesterday that were 10’s, and the only place they don’t fit real well, is the waist.  My body shape is small legs and butt, but big waist and tummy and midriff (which also makes back flab).  So it stands to reason that if I lose another 20 to 25 pounds, that I am going to go down at least 2 sizes, which might be an 8, or it might even be a 6.  OMG!  Even an 8 scares the living daylights out of me, but a 6!!!!  A 10 is the smallest I’ve ever worn as a pre-adult and adult.  I think what scares me is that if I’ve never worn that size, how could I possibly maintain that size?  The last time I seriously lost weight was in 1994, and I got down to a 10….for about 6 weeks.  But I bought those size 10 Gap jeans, because they fit!  I wanted them!  And I only got to wear them for about 6 weeks.  However, on the other hand, when I lost that weight in 1994, I was NOT on a healthy eating plan.  I did NOT have a healthy lifestyle change going on.  I starved myself down 75 pounds.  So naturally, when I went back to eating deep fried pork tenderloin sandwiches and french fries, I gained it back.  I didn’t gain it quickly, because I maintained my rule of never eating dinner (the nighttime meal) or any snacking either.  I ate the unhealthy food at lunch.

So, it stands to reason that, since I am eating healthy these days, that I could very conceivably get down to a size 8 or even a 6.  But man…..it still scares me.

OK….why can’t we be patient with our bodies, and just wait it out when we don’t seem to be losing as quickly as we want? *sigh*

I went to my Weight Watchers weigh-in last night (Wednesday) and lost 2.4 pounds this week, so I’m back to losing 2+ pounds like I have typically been doing since I began WW last August.  If you read my last blog, I shared that the last 4 weeks’ weigh-ins have been much smaller, and I was starting to get discouraged.  They were .8, 1.8, 1, and .4 and I was mildly disappointed because I had been a 2+ pounds a week loser!  Wow! Don’t we get spoiled sometimes, when things seem to be going well for us?  Do we really think that we deserve to always have things go well?

 That’s a hard question to answer.  I am typically an over-achiever, however I have suffered with low self-esteem from time to time in my life….always when I was overweight.  Also, I am a Christian, and in my walk with Jesus I know that I don’t really deserve any of the blessings that the Lord has given me, which are many, but our God is a good God and He gives me blessings in spite of that.  Yet, as a human being, I believe that when I work hard at something, like I have done with this weight watching venture, I do deserve to lose weight, to get healthy…..and I know that the two entertwine, since being healthy and at a healthy weight, makes me so much better at sharing the Lord with others.

So……I have presently lost 58 pounds since August 8th (26 weeks, or 1/2 of a year), and I have 34.4 pounds to go, to get to goal.   That figures out to 62.8% of my goal.  I feel good.

OK…it’s been a while since I blogged…mostly because nobody was reading it (except for spammers, and well, they weren’t really reading it either), so I got tired of doing it, and just quit.

But now I need some help, and hopefully someone will give me some feedback.

From the time I started Weight Watchers (August 8, 2007), I have been losing on the average of 2+ pounds per week.  I know that is good, but I really believed it was because I always stayed on plan, and I always exercised…4 times a week at Curves, then after pilates started in September (3 times a week at Curves and 2 pilates classes).  Occasionally I will walk when I can find the time.

I even made it through Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years losing weight…good weight.  The first Wednesday night weigh-in in January, I lost 2 pounds.  Then the next 4 Wednesday night weigh-ins in January were .8, 1.8, 1, .4, so that’s only a total of 4 pounds in 4 weeks!  I know that’s still good, and there are people who would LOVE to lose that much.  But it’s so small in comparison to what I HAD been losing, that it’s scary, and a little disappointing.  I know that I am in this for the long haul….that this is a life change, not a diet, so that it really doesn’t make any difference how long it takes me to get to my goal…..as long as I’m going down and not up the scale.  But I really want to get to the point where I don’t have to pay Weight Watchers any more, for one thing.  And….I had really wanted to get all my excess weight off, and to goal by sometime between the end of April 2008 and the end of May 2008.  I have lost 55.6 pounds, and still have 35.8 pounds to go, so it still is possible, but not at 1 pound (or less) per week!!?!  There are only 17 more weigh-ins to the last Wednesday in May.  So that means it’s only 27 weigh-ins (August 6th) until I’ve been at this a whole year!  Thirty-six weeks to go would have me getting to goal on 10/9/08, and that is SO disappointing!

 Anybody have any ideas on spurring my weight loss again?  I thought about starting Core after my weigh-in Wednesday night, but I had “just” bought 2 loaves of Healthy Life bread at Sam’s (they come in two loaf packages), and a package of Healthy Life hot dog and hamburger buns, so I didn’t want that stuff to go to waste and I didn’t have enough room in my freezer for them.  I just didn’t give myself enough time to get ready for Core, I think.  Besides, Core kind of scares me.  I don’t want to quit journaling for one thing.  I know I can still journal while on Core, but then I won’t really be getting the advantage of being on Core, to eat as much as you want of Core foods, because I would be stressing if the points went over my points.  I’m at 23 right now, but will be going to 22 in 1.8 more lost pounds.

What do ya think?

Check out Roni’s new contest! I can win a Nutritional Smart Scale from Eat Smart and so can you! Click here for details!

This past Wednesday night was my WW weigh-in.  I lost 1.8 pounds, for a total of 54.2 pounds in 23 weeks.  I have 38.2 pounds to go, to get to my WW goal and a Lifetime member of WW.

That’s all I’ve got to say right now…I’m busy with my new iPod and my youngest grandson is here with me now.

My only granddaughter turned 3 years old yesterday and her Mommy had a Tea Party for her.  As you know, I baked and decorated the “princess cake”.  Along with the cake, there were cookies of all kinds, a plate of candy (I’ll bet it was candy that was given to my daughter-in-law for Christmas….you know, the kind out of the box.  She’s a hair stylist, so she gets all kinds of gifts like that).  I took my banana with me, and my banana I ate.  I didn’t touch the cookies or candy or cake!  Hoorayyyyyyyyyyyy!  The party was  a success.

Man, my weekends go by so fast, I can practically feel them whiz past me.  Friday night, of course, I spent decorating the birthday cake.  Saturday morning, I slept in until 9, since I was up past midnight the night before.  I could have slept longer, too….but my mother woke me up with a phone call.  Imagine that!  Then I went to my grandson’s basketball game, to Subway for lunch, to the dollar store for a gift bag, tissue paper and a card.  Then on to the birthday party.  After the party, I rushed home to clean up my house and get ready to receive grandchildren.  I started dinner, (mine, and also my grandchildren’s), then the grandchildren came.  I was completely busy with them until bedtime, and shortly after that, I went to bed.  They got picked up by their Mommy at a little after 10 this morning, and then I set to work putting the house back in order.  Then I cooked some homemade lentil soup, did a one hour pilates routine, ate, cleaned the kitchen again, high speed dubbed a cassette tape of the one hour pilates routine, did some computer work, paid some bills, did some laundry, put away my Christmas decorations (finally…they’ve been taken down but sitting in the dining room), left to mail some bills and pick up a newspaper, returned home and made zuchini & spaghetti squash lazagna, ate, cleaned up the kitchen again, read the newspaper while watching a little TV, made some FF, SF cook and serve chocolate pudding, ate it with Cool Whip Free, cleaned up from that and started the dishwasher, and here I am posting on my blog.  I’ll be in bed within the hour, and then the week starts all over again.  Geeeeesh.  If only the weekends could last longer.

I’m beginning to wonder about this blog.  I started it because Roni was having that contest, and now the contest is over.  Nobody ever reads my blog, so it’s starting to feel like a lot of work for nothing.  I need to contemplate this…and see if I should continue or stop.

That’s it for tonight.  Bye.

OK….don’t eat cake…just bake and decorate it.  My only granddaughter turns 3 tomorrow, so last night I baked a Cinderella cake, and tonight I decorated it.  Sheesh!  What a job!  What a lotta icing!  And I didn’t even lick my fingers.

Her Mommy is having a Princess Tea Party for her.  It’s an open house, where the invitees can stop by, or hang out……and have tea, of course.  And cake, and cookies, and who knows what all!  I will bring my own Weight Watcher friendly treats, and have my tea with Splenda.  But it’s OK….I’ll do fine.

I always buy my grandchildren a savings bond for Christmas and birthdays.  So since her birthday is right after Christmas, I bought them both at the same time.  And I thought I’d lost her birthday bond.  So I asked her Mommy if by chance I put both of them in her Christmas card together.  And her Mommy said….”well…..I’ve misplaced it”.  So wow…both of us!  Who woulda thought?  However, just a few moments ago, I found her birthday bond.  Yayyyyyy!  No, I’m not going to tell you my secret hiding place!

Here’s what i ate today:

24 oz. water on the way to work

Breakfast: coffee with equal and powdered creamer, 2 bran muffins

Lunch: leftover butternut, chicken and carrot stew, piece of mock coconut cream pie made with spaghetti squash, 24 oz. water

Snack: orange, bran muffin

Dinner: sesame chicken and broccoli, brown rice, 1 pt. rice krispie treat, water

Snack: popcorn, Weight Watcher chocolate snack cake

I didn’t exercise….I was just too busy.  I’m going to bed now, as it is going on midnight, and my grandson has a basketball game tomorrow morning, then off to the 3 year old birthday partyy!

Well, I had my Weight Watchers meeting last night, so I weighed in.  I only lost 0.8 pounds!!  That’s the SMALLEST amount I’ve ever lost in 22 weeks!  And what’s weird is, I thought I was going to lose a lot last night, because for the last week, all my clothes are getting too big, and I’m needing to clean out my closet again.  Oh well….I know that I have been on plan, so maybe next Wednesday night I will lose a lot.  And maybe not…but it’s OK.  It was a loss!

At my meeting last night, I brought treats to taste test, so to speak!  Isn’t that mean of me?  Bringing treats to a Weight Watcher meeting?  No, I just gave whoever wanted it, a small, approx. 1 inch square of a piece of pie called Mock Coconut Cream Pie, which is made with spaghetti squash.  It’s really delicious, but the 2 weeks prior, I had been talking about this dessert, which is what I made for Christmas, and what I ate while everyone else in my family were eating Christmas cookies, candy, cheesecake, chocolate lush, etc.  So anyway, some of the people at my meeting were saying that there was no way that could be good.  So I had to bake one, bring it, and prove them wrong!  I have no idea where I got this recipe….somewhere on the internet.  I go so many places, that I can’t keep track of things like that.  Sorry, whoever created it, but I’m not sorry that you placed it on the internet, because I love it!  Here is the recipe. 

Mock Coconut Cream Pie,WW Favorite Recipes

Serving Size : 8

2 cps cooked spaghetti squash
1 cp skim milk
4 eggs
1/2 cp evaporated skim milk
1/4 cp flour and sugar(Could sub Splenda)
2 T and 2t reduced calorie margarine
1/2 t vanilla and coconut extract
1/4 t double acting baking powder

Preheat oven to 350*F. Spray 9″ pie pan with nonsticking spray, using the back of a spoon, spread squash over bottom and up sides of pan. Set aside.
In blender container combine remaining ingred and process til smooth; pour over squash and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Transfer pie pan to wire rack and let stand for 1 hour. Cover with plastic and refrigerator overnight.
Makes 8 servings
130 cal, 6 g protein, 5 g fat, 4 g fiber per serving
If you sub egg beaters, the fat should come down.
I promise you this is delic

I hope you like it!

Here’s what I ate today!

24 oz. water on the way to work

Breakfast: coffee with Equal and powdered creamer, 1 cup quick oatmeal with Splenda

Lunch: About 2/3 can great northern beans, 1/2 c. FF cottage cheese, a bit of ketchup, a cornbread VitaTop, 24 oz. water

Dinner: Butternut, chicken, carrot stew - 2 cups, 1 piece of mock coconut cream pie, water

Snack: I still have 6 points left, so I will probably have popcorn and maybe something else, or maybe I’ll just leave 2 points.

Update on my Sleep Number bed.  I haven’t figured out my sleep number yet.  I started on 40, then moved to 50, then on to 60.  I can’t decide if it’s too hard now, or not hard enough.  I’m sleeping pretty good though, only waking up once in the night.  That’s way better than waking up 2, 3 or more times.

Oh…..I worked out at Curves last night after meeting, then had an hour long pilates class.  I wasn’t able to work out tonight, because my truck is in the shop.

That’s enough talking tonight.  Bye!

Yesterday, when I left work, I thought to myself, “now there’s no need to take my laptop home because I have Curves right after work, and a one hour pilates class after that.  My truck is empty, so I have to get gas, so by the time I get home it will be nearly 8 o’clock, so there’s no way I’ll do any work tonight.  So I left my laptop in my office, and what do you know…..we got major rain in the night, which flooded our parking lot and the septic system (my office is in the middle of cornfields, on a frontage road next to an interstate).  Therefore, while I was on my way to my office (a 35 mile one-way trip), my boss called and told me that because we had no bathroom, I couldn’t work at the office today.  Well, I normally work in a remote location one day a week anyway, so he suggested I go there today.  It wasn’t really a good day to go there, as I had other work that needed to be done, so now I’m going to the remote location 2 days in a row.  The only problem was….I still had to go clear out to my office to pick up my laptop.  How stupid of me.  If I had taken my laptop home, my boss probably would have called me and said to just work from home today.  Darn it!  So anyway, I went to the remote location to work…..where….the guy I work for there was having a birthday party (given by the girls in the office), and they had birthday cake, of course.  But I didn’t eat any.  I was prepared.  I had a 1/2 cup serving of Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal in a baggy in my purse.  So I ate the Kashi while everyone else pigged out on cake with very rich icing.  I felt very good about myself.  And after work, I went to Curves and worked out.

Now, about the neti pots.  Has anyone watched Oprah when Dr. Oz is on?  Well, I woke up in the middle of the night last night, about time to watch Oprah from 1:30 to 2:30 AM…and Dr. Oz was on.  This is the 2nd time that I’ve seen him when he was talking about people with sinusitis and using a neti pot (also known as a nose bidet) to cleanse out your sinuses.  I knew that warm water was put into the neti pot and over a sink, you pour the warm water into one nostril, it flows up into the sinuses, and back down and out the other nostril into the sink.  But I also knew that the warm water had salt in it, however, I missed the part both times when he told how much salt goes into the water.  Well, I looked it up on the internet and got to see a little movie about the sinuses, and Dr. Oz talking, and I did find out that you use 1/4 teaspoon of NON-iodized salt to 8 oz. of lukewarm water.  So then I went to Walgreens on the way to Curves from work to inquire if they had neti pots, and they did!!  So I bought two of them…one for me and one for my oldest son, who has had trouble with his sinuses since he was 3 years old (he’s 34 now and a husband and father).  So after Curves, I took his neti pot to him and explained it all to him.  He and I are both a little nervous about using it, but we both said we would.  On the first Oprah show where Dr. Oz was talking about the neti pot, a lady from the audience volunteered to try it out.  She said that before she did it, she imagined that it might feel like drowning, and she was a little nervous.  But she said that it did not, that it actually felt good.  So before bed, I’m gonna do it!  I’ll let you know tomorrow, how it goes.  Tomorrow after work is Weight Watchers weigh-in!  This is my first weigh-in since I started this blog.  Talk to you tomorrow night.  Bye!

We’re back to having a normal week…..which means working 5 days in a row, and working out 4 days in a row.  In a way, I’m glad….but I miss having days off…besides weekends, I mean.  Trouble is, there’s never enough time in my evenings to get everything done that I need to.  I mean, here it is 10:49 pm, and I’m just blogging.  So I’m keeping it short tonight.

My workout after work consisted of doing the Curves circuit for 30 minutes, and 1 hour of pilates.  I love those pilates! Wow…it just thundered here and scared me to death.  Another reason to do this fast….get off the computer and shut it down.

Here’s what I ate today:

24 oz. water on the way to work

Breakfast at my desk: coffee with Equal and a little powdered creamer, and 2 bran muffins

Lunch at my desk: leftover pork chop in tomato sauce and potato, yogurt

Dinner at home after workout: Boca burger, mushroom burger, light buns, onion, pickle, mustard, ketchup, zuchinni squash fries

Snack: popcorn, homemade frozen yogurt

I’ve still got 2 points left, but I’m tired, so as soon as I gather up stuff to do bills tomorrow at work, I’m going to bed…..well, after I clean out my gym bag and wash my face and brush my teeth and put my jammas on.

Later!

Man, I’ve been busy this weekend!  First off, I had ordered a new Sleep Number bed from QVC on the weekend prior to Christmas, and it was delivered on Thursday.  It wasn’t supposed to have been  here until January 9th, according to QVC, but it came early.  Thanks goodness I shopped last weekend for a bedframe and headboard, a mattress cover, sheets, blanket, quilt, pillows, etc., or I wouldn’t have been ready.  I just bought a new queen size foam mattress bed about 3 years ago, and I really love it, but I had been wanting a Sleep Number Bed for 10+ years, and QVC had this great close-out price, so I did it!  What to do with the other bed, that was in superb condition?  Well, in my grandchildren bedroom (guest room too, now), I had a crib and a twin bed.  Wow…the babies don’t stay in the crib long…that bed still looks like brand new.  When I became a Grandma 6 years ago, I started with a ready-made 3 1/2 year old grandson (my youngest son’s girlfriends’ little boy).  But when my oldest son and his wife had their first baby, I bought a new crib.  He is now 4 1/2 years old and his little brother will be 2 in March, and doesn’t sleep in a crib any longer at home.  My youngest son and his wife (the same one that USED to be his girlfriend) had my only granddaughter 3 years ago next Saturday, so naturally, she’s been out of the crib for over a year now.  So there is no use for the crib any longer, since both of my sons and their wives say, “no more babies”.  I don’t know whether to be happy or to cry.  Also, the twin bed then, really only fits one child well, although at one time when I kept all 4 of them at once (that doesn’t happen very often), I put Nic at one end of the twin bed and Jax at the other end.  Nadalyn, my granddaughter, slept with me, and the baby Jovan was in the crib.  Sooooo……I decided to put my 3 year old queen foam bed in their room.  Therefore, I had to buy all that stuff that I mentioned at the beginning, for their room.  Then my Mom and I put together my Sleep Number Bed.  So tonight is my first night to sleep in it….I can’t wait!  I stayed in a Radisson Hotel back in early October when I had to travel to Jacksonville Florida on business (I’m from Illinois).  Radisson’s have Sleep Number beds, and I had the best night’s sleep I have EVER had in a hotel in my life.  Then, of course, when you’re moving things, you end up cleaning other aspects of the same room(s), therefore, I got all that done.  Also, I washed ALL the bedding from the old beds that were taken down, and what was on my bed previously, so I got all THAT done.  The Sleep Number bed was started on Saturday, and finished on Sunday.

 Then, today, I bought a whole pork loin, that my local grocer had for $1.99 a pound, and I cut 30 pork chops from it, and vacuumed sealed them and put them in the freezer; well, all but 4 of them, I’m cooking right now, Pork Chops in Tomato Sauce.  It’s a recipe that my WW leader gave us at my very first WW meeting back in August.  I love this recipe, however, I’ve only made it once….only because I have since found SO MANY other good recipes, that I just haven’t had the time.

Last night, after I finished the “beds” for the day, I got cleaned up and actually went out….to a karaoke night with some of my friends.  I had a blast, although the place we went, (where we used to go every Saturday night back before I had grandchildren), was packed with really young people…I mean, they couldn’t have been more than 21.  They acted like they were, but since it was a bar, I believe they had to be at least 21.  But it was still fun.  I was “kind of hoping” that this one guy would be there….but he wasn’t.  Oh well…he’ll show up eventually.  I haven’t seen him since last July, and I began WW in August, so he hasn’t seen me since I weighed 51.6 pounds more than I do now.  So….when I finally do run into him, I will weigh even less, right?

So anyway, it’s been an action packed weekend!  I also spent quite a bit of time with my Mom, which she always likes….and I’m sure I will too when I’m her age.  Right now (and well…always) my life is so full and so busy and so fast, that I can’t imagine being bored or lonely…even though I live alone.  When you work 40+ hours a week, and you exercise at Curves 4 times a week, and attend a WW meeting and take 2 hour long pilates classes, and search out recipes and cook them and clean and watch grandchildren….there isn’t a lot of time to get bored or lonely.  And I have MANY hobbies and interests….too numerous to mention.

Here’s what I ate yesterday….and then today.

I know it’s wrong, but I was too busy to eat breakfast, so all I had was coffee with Equal and a little powdered creamer.

Lunch–6″ Subway (roast beef on wheat with all the veggies and spicy mustard, Lay’s Light chips, Diet Coke.

Dinner–Big salad with onions, cucs, green pepper & the BEST FF Italian salad dressing I have ever eaten (The Pasta House FF Italian). I put  a little Splenda in the bottle when I first open it, because I like a sweet & sour taste. It’s only 10 calories for 2 Tablespoons, so I had 20 calories worth of the dressing, and it has no fat or fiber.  So that’s 0 points.  Then I had a salmon patty that I had made at another meal and froze, and some frozen peas. At this point, I had 11.5 points left and needed to get ready to go out for karaoke, so I first ate some dessert.  I had a leftover piece of 4 point chocolate cake (made with the cake mix and the diet coke) that I had made for my son’s birthday in October and froze the rest in individual pieces.  I had that with 1/2 cup of vanilla FF SF ice cream.  Then I also ate a leftover and frozen rice krispie treat (a LF LS treat from Christmas).

When I got home from karaoke at 12:30 am, I ate some popcorn before going to bed.  I know….I know….it was too late to be eating.  But….all my friends went out for breakfast, and I did not go….OK?  So I still went to bed with 1 point left.

 Today

Again, my bad…I didn’t eat breakfast.  I’m sometimes just too busy, and I know that’s no excuse, but my Mom was coming over to help me with the bed, and I couldn’t say…well…you just sit there and wait on me while I eat my breakfast….could I?  So I just had coffee again.

At lunch, my Mom and I went out to this new little restaurant in town (small town) and the ONLY thing to eat on this menu was a grilled chicken salad.  Of course, I ordered it with no cheese and add as many veggies as they had.  But all they had was bag salad and tomato.  So OK.  I ordered FF Ranch dressing, and of course when it came (thank goodness it was a Newman’s Own packet), it was REDUCED Fat, not FAT FREE.  The whole packet was 3 points…..that is NOT a FAT FREE dressing.  I told the waitress that they needed to change the menu to say reduced fat, not fat free, as it had 12 grams of fat in it.  I could tell she wasn’t going to say a thing.  They don’t get the most of their business from us Weight Watchers…..you know what I mean?  So I drank water, which I needed to drink anyway.

I had an afternoon snack of a cup of homemade frozen yogurt that my Mom is experimenting with.  It was good, but we decided it tasted too sour, like yogurt.  I like yogurt, but my Mom doesn’t.  But when we figured the points, it was going to be 1.7 points for a whole cup.  However, we were only figuring it would make a gallon, and it ended up making more than 1 1/2 gallons.

That gets us to dinner, which I haven’t had yet.  I am going to have what I mentioned above…pork chop in tomato sauce and potato.  The sauce also has green pepper, onion and garlic in it.

Here is the recipe:

Pork Chops in Tomato Sauce. 3 garlic cloves3 T. red-wine vinegar4 tsp extra virgin olive oil1 tsp dried oregano1 tsp dried basil4 boneless pork chops (I use approx. 3.5 oz. ones, usually)1/2 tsp salt1 onion, chopped1 green pepper, chopped1 - 8 oz. can tomato sauce Mince garlic, put in large bowl. Stir in vinegar, 2 tsp. oil oregano & basil.  Add chops and toss to coat.  Marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes. Remove pork from marinate, pat dry with paper towel. Heat 1 tsp. oil in skillet, add pork, cook about 3 minutes, turning to brown both sides.  Move pork to plate.  In same skillet, add remaining tsp. oil, garlic, onion and pepper.  Cook about 3 minutes (just to soften the onion and pepper).  Add tomato sauce, and put pork chops back in.  Reduce heat, cook about 5 minutes.  Turnaround Cookbook.  This is CORE 5 points.  Add 1 cup potatoes for 2 points more. 

I found some discrepancies in this recipe.  She just has 3 garlic cloves, yet she tells us to do 2 different things with the garlic.  I, personally, used 3 garlic cloves each time.  I wasn’t sure why we had to pat dry with a paper towel, the pork chops…but I did it…slightly.  At the end, when it says to reduce heat and cook 5 minutes…..there was no way my pork chops were done enough for only 5 minutes of cooking.  Now, granted, I cut my own pork chops from a pork loin and froze them.  So one…my pork chops weren’t entirely thawed out, and two…they were probably thicker than what she was actually referring to.  So I let my dish simmer for about 30 minutes…or maybe a little more.  Also….when she says 1 cup of potatoes…..I took a medium large potato for each pork chop and scrubbed it, leaving the skin on.  Then I cut it in 4 pieces lengthwise.  Then I laid the pieces all around the outer edge of the skillet, plus where ever they would fit in amongst the pork chops…and basically, when the potatoes were done, is when I took the meat off too.  And I counted 3 points for my potato.

So….I guess that’s enough talking for today.  See ya around.