About once a week someone asks me, "how in the world do you lose weight while being in the ministry?" Most consider it difficult simply because of all the "special events" where food is in abundance as well as dinner invitations, banquets, busy schedules, and then good ol' stress. Well, one thing that it essential to my success is planning ahead. When I am really losing or doing a good job of maintaining, I am usually making a big pot of soup at the beginning of the week. And no, I'm not talking one of those "crash diet weight loss" soups. I am talking about real soup.
Yesterday I made one, so it is on my mind to share it with you. What I normally do is make it, and eat some the day I make it and then freeze the majority of it in containers that are just "one serving size". These are for later when I come home and I'm hungry and tempted and need something really quick especially on a busy day. This helps me to not go for another full fat PB & J (which is one of my main weaknesses...and really, how do you abolish PB & J from your home when you have 3 kids in the house??!!)
Before I went on Weight Watchers three years ago, PB & J was my breakfast each week day. Each morning in my house is a race against time. I thought I never had time to eat before leaving the house and I would make one and stick it in my briefcase and eat it at the office with a cup of tea when I got there. My doctor, Rosemay Latortue, heard about that and said, "Deanna! How do you expect to lose any weight if you are starting off each day with a PB&J?!! That's crazy!" When I would forget my PB & J in my briefcase I would go next door to the church and get a breakfast Cuban. Don't even get me started on the temptations of Cuban food... So, needless to say, after confessing that to my doc, she put me on Weight Watchers. What I try to do now when I am really tempted by PB & J is to eat it on Merita bread (1 pt. a slice), with reduced fat peanut butter and sugar free grape jelly. But sometimes I still grab the real thing when I am feeling desperate. Oh well, enough of that. Here's is a recipe for you to try. It's "Taco Soup" and different variations of the recipe have been floating around my Weight Watcher class for 3 years now. I have tweaked it to suit my taste and you can do the same thing. Change out the beans to be ones that you prefer, make it spicier or less so. It's up to you. As far as soups go, this is one of my favorites when I'm strictly "OP". (On program.)
1 large onion (chopped)
1 (1 1/4 ounce) package hidden valley ranch dressing mix
1 (1 1/4 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
1 (15 ounce) can pinto beans
1 (15 ounce) can black beans
1 16 oz. bag of frozen whole kernel corn
2 (15 ounce) cans stewed tomatoes
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I'll post them when I have more time...