Have you heard about Hungry Girl?

I am working towards my New Year's Resolutions and I have fallen deeply in love with Hungry Girl! Her advice is awesome and she tells the truth!

Lisa Lillian a.k.a Hungry Girl came up with the idea to remake everyday food into healthy food and she has done it with great success. She currently has two cookbooks with two more coming out this year. My favorite part of the whole idea is that she sends daily email filled with even more recipes, tips, and the latest trends. Check out the hungry girl website.

Hungry Girl has remade some of my favorite recipes and the best part of the recipes for me is that they are all already converted into Weight Watcher points on her website. Let me share with you some of my favorite recipes:

Crazy Good Turkey Taco Meatloaf

Ingredients:
1 pound raw extra-lean ground turkey
2 slices of fat-free cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded fat-free cheddar cheese
1/2 cup canned sweet corn kernels
1/4 cup chopped green bell peppers
1/4 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 packet of taco seasoning mix, dry

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Cook peppers and onions for three minutes over medium heat in a pan sprayed with non-stick spray

In a large bowl, combine onions and peppers with turkey, corn and seasoning mix. Spread half of the mixture evenly into the bottom of the loaf pan (about 9"x5") sprayed with nonstick spray.

Layer the two slices of fat-free cheese on top of the mixture (try to keep slices away from the pan's edges). Evenly top with the remaining meat mixture.

Pour the salsa over the top of the loaf. Cook in the oven for 30 minutes.

Top loaf with shredded cheese. Return loaf to the oven and cook for another 15 minutes.

Number of Servings: 6
127 calories, 1g fat, 688mg sodium, 7g carbs, 0.5g fiber, 2g sugars, 22g protein

Veggie-Loaded Tangy Tuna Salad

Ingredients:

One 6-oz. can tuna packed in water, drained & flaked
1/2 cup finely chopped sweet bell peppers (red, orange, yellow, or any combination)
1/4 cup finely chopped carrots
1/4 cup finely chopped celery
1/3 cup fat-free mayonnaise
2 tsp. honey mustard
1 tsp. sweet relish
dash salt
dash pepper
Optional: additional salt and pepper

Directions:
Combine mayo, honey mustard, relish, salt and pepper, and mix well. Then stir the tuna into this mixture. Finally, fold in all the veggies. If you like, season to taste with some more salt and pepper. Mmmmmm!!!

Number of Servings: 2
153 calories, 2.5g fat, 730mg sodium, 14g carbs, 2g fiber, 7g sugars, 18g protein

Moral of the Story: Try Hungry Girl! Her recipes are fun, easy, and delicious (most times).

Please Sir, Can I have Another?

I am going to my friends birthday dinner at this super cute restaurant on Friday and I am most excited about the bar (and hanging out with my friends, of course). They always have really unique drink specials and love trying new things! Last time I was there I had a Pink Lemonade.

It's made like this:
1 1/2 oz Absolut® Citron vodka
1/2 oz Chambord® raspberry liqueur
2 oz sweet and sour mix

Shake and serve on the rocks.

DELICIOUS!!!!!

and it's PINK!

I know your excited to make it, so do!

Moral of the Story: Party hard (on the weekend).

Never underestimate the power of a fork

I am officially no longer a sushi virgin!!!! It seems quite impossible to think that I have been passing over these tiny nuggets of deliciousness for well over 22 years. The idea of raw fish kinda creeps me out, but in the end I found out there are plenty of sushi rolls that do not contain raw or other creepy types of fish. I went to a really nice sushi restaurant in downtown Gainesville called Dragonfly with one of my oldest friends, Steven. The food was fabulous! We had ginger salads (I would eat one everyday if I could find that salad dressing, the chunky yet creamy ginger kind. Does anyone have any suggestions?), cheese wontons with a peach sauce (my favorite part of the night), and then of course sushi rolls. I had the Mango Tango and he had the Krispy Krunch roll. Both were delicious, but here is the best part of the entire evening.

Our salads are delivered to the table and I unroll my silverware, but instead of a knife and fork I am greeted by chopsticks. I think it over and then decide I am going to try it but not by first letting my friend know I have never...ever used chopsticks.

Me: Steven...Do you know how to use chopsticks?

Steven: Yes?? Doesn't everyone?

Me: Apparantly I missed that training course. Is it hard?

Steven: No, it's really easy. Just break them apart and hold them like this.

Me: (Breaks them apart. Fumbles around trying to hold them.)

Steven: No, hold them like this. Kinda like a pencil.

Me: Oh right, I always use two pencils. (Still fumbling and failing, then miraculously getting them in the right position.)

Steven: Ok, now just use your index finger and you can pick up food. (He does this so gracefully.)

Me: 1...2....3...crap I dropped them. (I tried this repeatedly for 6 minutes before...)

Me: Do you think they have those chopsticks that are already put together that I used as a kid for fun?

Steven: No, I don't think they have training chopsticks...let's try this again. Hold this one here and the other one with this finger and blabbity blabbity blabbity.

Me: Yeah, this not eating my salad thing isn't working for me, Can I ask for a fork?

Steven: I'm sure you could ask for a fork, but I might have to move to another table.

Me: Are you embarrased to be with someone who eats with a fork?

Steven: Yeah, everyone here eats with chopsticks.

Me: But I don't know how...and for the record, I would totally not be embarrased if you pulled out chopsticks at a BBQ place.

(The waitress came, saw that my salad was not even touched and asked me if I needed a fork....apparantly I am not the only person who goes there and can't use chopsticks.)

I finished my salad, ate the wontons, and ate the sushi roll. I am not sure that Steven will ever ask me to eat sushi again because I did things a little outside of the box (how was I supposed to know you don't cut the sushi roll in half?), but it was fun.

Moral of the story: Try new foods, sometimes you'll like them and always carry a knife and fork in your purse!