Quick and Easy Fish Tacos

I'm the kind of person that's always on the hunt for new recipes. Specifically, recipes that are delicious, easy and Weight Watcher friendly. Well, last night on a whim I decided to do something different with the Tilapia fillets I defrosted. After some debate, I decided to try my hand at making fish tacos. Here's the result...

Best fish tacos ever. Weight Watchers Points Plus value: 6 points for 2 tacos

Here's the ultra simple recipe. Enjoy!

• 1/4 of a ripe Avocado (2 pts)
• Salsa to taste (I used medium for a little spice, but this is totally up to you) (0 pts)
• Diced onion (0 pts)
• 4 Tilapia Fillets (I like Tilapia because it's super light and fresh. It's also very points plus friendly 2 pts for 4 oz.). I suggest using 2 oz. per taco.
• 2 Corn tortillas (small, soft taco size) (1 point each)
• Blackening seasoning (store bought) (0 pts)
• Fresh cilantro (0 pts)
• 5 sprays of olive oil cooking spray (Pam makes a nice one) (0 pts)
• 1 lime (0 pts)

Directions:

Wash and dry Tilapia. Sprinkle blackening seasoning on both sides of each filet. Add 5 sprays of the Olive oil cooking spray to a pan and heat on medium temperature.

Place Tilapia in pan and cook for about 3-4 min per side (or to desired degree of doneness). Remove from pan and let cool. When cool, cut fish into smaller pieces. It will flake and break apart as you work with it. 

Dice onion in small pieces. Wash and chop cilantro. Slice avocado into quarters. Cut lime into 4 wedges.

Heat corn tortillas in microwave (approx. 5-15 sec). 

Take each tortilla and top with 2 oz. of Tilapia. Add generous amounts of onion, salsa, and cilantro. Top tacos with avocado and the juice from the lime wedge. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Easy, light and delicious. I gave this 6 points plus for 2 tacos. Not bad.

Try this and let me know what you think!

A Year Older. A Year Wiser. Still a Fighter.

Hi Everyone!
Oooh, I'm embarrassed that I've been away for so long. I've missed blogging and interacting with all of you awesome folks out there in blogland =)

Well, to bring you up to speed on my life, here's a few highlights since my last post:

• I'm a year older!
• I've gained 6 lbs over the holiday season (including my birthday) (yikes)
• My achilles Tendon is still healing (been wearing a walking boot for a little over 2 months. I should be starting physical therapy soon)
• I'm in my second to last quarter of school! Yay!!!

In short, the end of last year was a pretty tough time for me...praise God nothing serious happened.  However, I did experience a number of things that took me out of my comfort zone and left me asking the question, "ok, so now what?" Unpleasant as it all was, I can say that each situation forced me to do some soul searching and figure out what it is that I truly want out of life. A house? To travel around the globe? To climb Mt. Everest? LOL, well I'm not 100% sure about everything, but I've created a list that's a great starting point for me. I'm excited about the possibilities =)

That said, I've been super focused this year. I'm pouring all my energy into pursuing the things that will get me where I want to go. Sadly, my weight loss efforts have suffered along the way. But in the words of my grandmother, "it ain't over 'til your feet no longer touch the ground". And on that note, I won't give up the fight. 

How is your year going so far?

Jennifer 

The end of NaBloPoMo

Wow, here we are. The end of the 30 day blogging challenge. Never thought I'd last a day...let alone 30! I'm feeling mighty proud and accomplished I must say :)

You probably don't know this, but this blog was created as a requirement for a social media marketing class. The assignment required us to start a blog and make at least 1 post/week. I had only been blogging for a few weeks when I decided to participate in NaBloPoMo. I wasn't sure if I'd last, but I thought it would be a good way to break myself into the world of blogging. One day turned into two, two days turned into ten, and next thing you know here we are at day 30, and I proudly have 30 consecutive days of blogging under my belt. Huzzah!

The greatest thing about this experience had to have been the people I've been able to connect with. I've met so many wonderful people, from all walks of life. People from all around the world. I've been so blessed by everyone's encouragement as well as the personal stories that other bloggers so bravely share with the world. You all have been such a blessing to my life and I want to thank you for hanging out in my little corner of the blogosphere :)

So what's next? Well, I found out that I really love blogging, so I plan to stick with it. But, I will say this: as much as I enjoyed blogging every day, I think I'm going to take a break for the holiday. I'm in the middle of finals and in a few weeks it'll be Christmas, so I think this is a nice time to relax and get ready for the new year.

I'll still be blogging in December, it just won't be every day. Oh yeah during my time "off", I'm planning on learning some HTML so I can spruce up my blog a little bit. If you guys have any thing you'd like to see me add, please let me know.

You guys rock :) Talk to you soon!

Jennifer

Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do!

Right now, I'm in class and thought I'd be able to hang without eating. Even though I get out late, I thought I'd be able to hold off on eating until after class.

Well ladies and gentlemen....IM OFFICIALLY STARVING. I've got no change to go to the vending machine, no snacks (I ate my trail mix already) and I have an hour and a half left in class. While digging around in my bag I found a cookie that someone gave me about 2 weeks ago ( I was happy I didn't give into temptation) and I'm totally going to eat it. God bless the dear soul that gave it to me, LOL. I know its gross, but it'll be our little secret....right :)

Well back to class I go....have a good night everyone.

Reaching my 5% weight loss goal

At last night's Weight Watchers meeting, I found out that I reached my 5% goal. Basically, this means that I've lost 5% of my starting weight. While I know this is a great accomplishment, I can't help but have mixed emotions about it.

On one hand, I'm loving the fact that I'm making great progress, especially since I haven't followed the program as well as I should. With the stress of school and work, along with my foot injury, I see this 5% goal as an absolute blessing from above.

BUT then...negativity starts to creep in and I tell myself ,"5% means nothing when I have over 100 pounds to lose." I feel like I'm one of those cartoon characters with God on one shoulder and the devil on the other, struggling to determine which voice I'm going to listen to.

So what's the solution? It's easy to say I should ignore the negative thoughts, right? BUT, I think that's being unrealistic. The fact of the matter is that I do have over 100 pounds to lose, and that's something that I never want to lose sight of. I think the key is to not allow myself to focus solely on the amount of weight I have to lose. I have to learn to celebrate the small victories both on and off the scale, so that I don't become discouraged and quit like I've done so many times before.

Anyone out there share a similar struggle? What are some things you did to work through the negative thinking?

Did I really lose weight during Thanksgiving?

Today I had my Weight Watchers weigh in and I lost .8 lbs. Hallelujah!

Generally, I wouldn't be excited about losing anything under a pound, but my goodness, this was a loss during Thanksgiving. Out of all my years of dieting, I don't think I've ever managed to lose anything around the holidays. I'm speechless.

What makes this loss so exciting is the fact that I made a plan, stuck to it and saw the fruits of my labor. I made "loose" goals for myself that allowed me to enjoy my favorite foods, but NOT stuff myself on anything. I made certain tradeoffs last week that were key to my success. If I decided to have cake one day, then I wouldn't have mac and cheese. If I decided to eat rolls, then I'd pass on the mashed potatoes. At the time it felt difficult, but in retrospect I was satisfied at every meal, and never felt deprived.

Last week, I began to understand the importance of making smart choices. I allowed myself to feel satisfied, but not stuffed. I allowed myself to eat and enjoy what I wanted without beating myself up for it. These things seem small, but together they had a tremendous pay off...and for that, I'm truly Thankful =)

This boot was not made for walkin'

Today I got the results from my MRI and it turns out that I have a tear in my Achilles tendon. This explains a lot. I've still been in a ton of pain, so my doctor has me wearing a walking boot. While wearing a boot is not the highlight of my day, I am excited because I think the boot will get me on the road to recovery. I'll have to wear the boot for 3 weeks, then after that hopefully I'll be in better shape. I'll keep you posted.

One thing I will say is this: wearing the boot is not comfortable, and I notice that I have to put a lot more thought into doing the normal, everyday things in my life (walking, thinking about where I park, etc). I do think that things will get much easier once I get the hang of "boot walking"though. We'll see.