Great Deals & Pounds Lost

OK, for those that don't know I joined Weight Watchers on Friday.  I have gone over many options to help me in my journey to be healthy and consulted with my doctor and this is the decision that I reached based on the fact that it's not so much a diet but a life style change.  I don't have to restrict myself from eating anything but it does make me more aware of what I'm eating and the quantity in which I am eating it.  

Anyway, the reason I'm telling you this is because without this background information then the recipe and information below would seem random.  Don't get me wrong, I know my blogs tend to fall on the random side of the spectrum from time to time but generally I bore everyone with the coupons/savings/deals I found during the week with maybe a Pinterest project or recipe thrown in there from time to time.

Don't worry I got a great deal today at Kroger that I will share momentarily.

Back to my point...

Because I joined WW, as I mentioned I've been paying a lot more attention to what is in the food that I'm eating and what type of foods & snacks I need to try to add to my day to day life that I wasn't doing before.

So this morning I made myself a real breakfast and I also made a smoothie for the first time in my entire life for a snack (seriously, I've never made a smoothie before)

Anyway I made the recipe up as I went along but below is what I did and the WW Points+ Value it is (for those interested)

Cubed/Crushed Ice(eyeballed the amount so maybe 1/4 - 1/2 cup?)

Jif All Natural Creamy Peanut Butter (1 Tablespoon) 3 pts

1/2 of a medium size banana 0 pts

1/4 cup (I think, I also eyeballed this too) of Vanilla Almond Milk 1 pt

Total WW Points+ = 4 pts

Blend until smooth and serve cold of course

Result: 

 It was sooooo good by the way!

As a couple of side notes:

• Pacific Organic Vanilla Almond Milk came from Whole Foods and it was only $1.99.  This was the first time I have tried that brand and it was really good so I will be buying it again for my next trip to Whole Foods.

• The Hamilton Beach single serve blender/mixer thingy-ma-jig that I have pictured above sucks major donkey rear end.  It sounds like it is going to die when I use it.  It takes forever to blend the ingredients, and the motor smells like it's burning up as if it is going to burn itself up in a suicide attempt because no one understands it.  Basically my mini blender is an emo 14 yr old that wears black eyeliner and wants to randomly start practicing the Wiccan religion for no apparent reason.  I bought this about a year ago and only used it once so I can't find my receipt to take it back nor the box it came in.  (This is more of an FYI Before You Buy type deal here - you're welcome by the way)

To make this recipe even more delicious, next time I might do 1/2 tablespoon of peanut butter and 1/2 a tablespoon of Nutella instead to add a hint of cocoa to this.  Don't worry, if I do experiment with that combo I will be sure to blog about it as always.  Maybe tomorrow?  Who knows.

Also, today marks day 3 on WW and I'm down 2 lbs.  You are only supposed to weigh yourself once a week but I cheated and did it again today.  I'm only supposed to lose 1-2 lbs a week so I guess that's pretty good progress.

Ok moving on... 

And now for your utter enjoyment since you can't contain your eagerness and excitement...on to the deals of the weekend:

Kroger is having an awesome sale on various items throughout the store.  Basically if you buy any 5 participating items you instantly get $5 off your purchase.   Participating items in this deal happened to be Aussie & Herbal Essence hair care products.  All Herbal Essences shampoo/conditioner/stylers were on sale for $2.79 and were a part of the Buy 5 Promo.  Since I purchased 5, I got $5 off at the register meaning the sale price was then $1.79 each.

But wait, it gets better my friends.  I had 2 $1.00 of purchase of 2 coupons and 1 $1.00 off purchase of 1 coupon so I spent a total of $5.95 and got 5 of my hair gels (which are normally $3.00 a piece) meaning each one was only 1.19 each!  Whoooohooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Best deal I've gotten on my hair gel  in quite a while.

Also, I found a great deal on Annie's Salad Dressing.  This particular flavor was on close out for $1.79 which is a great price even without a coupon.  This brand isn't the cheapest.

Another exciting development from today is that the word on the street is that the next Harris Teeter Super Doubles Coupon Event is scheduled to start 1/2/13!  I just got two copies of the most recent P&G coupon insert so that is great timing.  Hopefully this will turn out to be true but my sources have never lead me wrong thus far.

Let's see what else...

Oh yeah, I will now leave you with my new song obsession.  I heard this on an episode of ABC's Nashville and have been in love with it ever since.  Apparently the version I've been listening to over and over again is not the original as the song on the show is a cover of The Civil Wars - If I Didn't Know Better, but I'm in love with both versions now because it's an awesome song...check it out.  What I like the most about it is that it doesn't sounds like everything else.  It seems like every song out now sounds exactly the same.  I hate that.

The Civil Wars - If I Didn't Know Better
If I Didn't Know Better Cover (ABC's Nashville)

Until next time...