Whew! What a busy week at work this week. That snow day on Wednesday made for the end of the week to come in at a hectic pace and I couldn’t be happier. It’s so much fun to be busy again.
That snow day–huh? This was Thursday morning on my way to work. Beautiful but out-of-season!
And that means a lazy weekend. There’s nothing planned and nowhere to go and weekends like that can be welcomed!
Anyway, it was brought to my attention yesterday that we were running low on the gougères that are on steady supply in the freezer. I instructed Bonaparte to get to the store for Jarlsberg cheese (even though the recipe calls for Gruyère) and this morning I got to work.
While I realize that I’ve written about these little nuggets of delight many times in this blog, I can’t say enough about the greatness of them. To make them from start to finish takes about an hour and you can get thirty gougères out of the recipe. But time and time again, the recipe never fails! In all honesty, it’s the lazy woman’s way to a great hor d-oeuvres. After they are baked, allow them to cool down completely, put them in an air-tight plastic bag and store in the freezer. Take out as you need them and reheat at 350. It is in my go-to’s of recipes. Alain Ducasse Gougeres Recipe
My supply had diminished to four gougères –something had to be done!
I went to work early this morning. Before and after. Little nuggets of choux pastry morphing into a great appetizer!
Before I continue, I’m gonna come clean with you. I knew that I gained weight. It shows in my face and my stomach and thighs. It is something I’m not thrilled or proud about because my lack of willpower took over. After I lost my job in September and was home, I took my frustrations out with food. Then the holidays came and it was even more difficult. It’s enjoyable to feast with my kids. What can I say?
And all this time I was petrified to step on a scale. But I did it. I had to face the truth before my sucking up food as though I were a Hoover vacuum got any worse. I did gain weight but it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I gained 13 pounds. I’m at 153. Immediately, I went to my dresser, pulled out a thin pair of Capri leggings and a white tee shirt. This will be my “uniform” when I return to Weight Watchers on Monday evening after work.
The decision to return to Weight Watchers has nothing to do with the new Freestyle program. It sounds too permissive for me and I like boundaries and rules. I need to go back for the meetings. I need to be with people who have a connection with weight issues. And, I need the structure of a weekly weigh-in. I need to be accountable. Besides, if the Freestyle program isn’t my thing, I can always go back to Smart Points.
Speaking of Weight Watchers, I found a recipe for a 3-point, two ingredient bagels. This recipe has been pretty popular and some of my friends have been very successful at baking these. So, after the gougères were made, I went to work and made a batch of four.
Here’s the recipe Weight Watchers Two Ingredient Bagels from Mess For Less — but I changed it up a bit. I didn’t have self-rising flour in the house and wasn’t going to go out to buy some. Instead I added baking powder and salt to all-purpose flour. I didn’t even measure. I eyeballed and threw it in. Then sifted. And the Greek fat-free yogurt? Well, I sort of had some in the fridge. I made Tzatziki a while ago (like a month ago) and what was added to the Greek Fat-free yogurt was dill, lemon juice and grated cucumber—all zero points. So, I used it instead of the plain because I wasn’t going to go out to buy more yogurt.
Ready for the oven! Who knew making bagels could be this easy? I’m also thrilled that Tray Joe’s has a great blend of flavor to sprinkle on these babies!
I also changed things up a bit by being lazy. The recipe calls for rolling out the “dough” to resemble a rope, then to make the two ends meet and pinch them for a bagel shape. I did that with one and it was too much work for me. Instead I poked a hole in the middle of the “ball” of dough and flattened it out some.
The funny thing is that yesterday I stopped off at Trader Joe’s. I needed vanilla and saw this “Everything But The Bagel” and purchased it. And guess what??? It’s recommended for the recipe.
The bagels turned out great! No yeast. Just the flour and yogurt. And the serving of three points is not bad at all!
The finished product! I’m telling you, these “bagels” are really very good!!! And moist!!!
Next was preparing the snails for tonight’s escargot. Hey, I’m going to Weight Watchers on Monday—don’t judge—think of it as I’m a criminal and I’m eating my last meal. My crime was abusing food and my “punishment” will be going back to eating smaller portions!!!
My little snails! OMG. They were so great!
Finally—at around noon I got dressed. I filmed a video for my YouTube channel. This wasn’t a review but was a bit of a rant about body shaming and mean girls growing up to be mean women. Here’s the link if you would like to see what I have to say.
Mean Girls Grow Up To Be Mean Women–Stop Body Shaming and Be Inclusive
It would be awesome if you subscribed to my channel—I need subbies!
A few errands—I had to go to the wig store to buy wig hairspray. You are not supposed to use regular hairspray on synthetic wigs. I just found this out from watching wig videos! I also needed a couple of new wig caps.
Then a stop at Ulta—I’ll be showing you what I purchased in tomorrow’s post, and lo and behold it happened again. I wore Justine today. Justine is by It’s A Wig. The color, TT3147 is a light brown with golden blonde highlights. It’s a very pretty color and every time I wear this wig, someone always approaches me to ask where I had my hair styled and what color is my hair. When I say it’s a wig (by It’s A Wig) they are blown away.
Justine–from “It’s A Wig” I am amazed at the amount of women who approach me about my “hair”..
This is THE wig that strangers always stop me to compliment me on my “hair”. I love the reactions to the fact I’m wearing a wig! It’s great and awesome and wonderful!
Today I had a twenty-minute conversation with two women about this unit. It’s my mission to normalize wigs. I told them how wigs are just so much easier. No fussing with hair. No damaging from dye jobs, no worries about the weather and they are great vacation and travel accessories because less time spent on hair means more time enjoying the sites!
Luckily, my clothing is still fitting—albeit a bit tight but nonetheless still fitting. Wednesday’s snow day brought about me in pj’s all day and only putting on outerwear and boots to shove the snow. But-it was a very casual work week. Here’s a sampling of what I wore!
Friday was super casual. Jeans. Sneakers. An L.A. tee from J. Crew and a blazer to pull it all together!
Thursday. The return from the snow. Boots from Unisa. I think I paid around $39.99 for these in 2016! An old-as-the-hills sweater from Old Navy and my Jamison wig from Estetica designs pulled the look together!
Tuesday was the unveiling of this J. Crew Factory Pink Flamingo tee. I love this. Shorter hair is more longer-life friendly for wigs. I’m so in love with Isla from Tony of Beverly!
Monday had me in my Violet wig from Estetica, a black Tippi Sweater (and I wore black pants) and a J. Crew red/orange schoolboy blazer!
It made me feel good! And that was that. I’m off to start prepping for dinner.
Here’s a very pretty song for you. Comme Un Bateau from Indila. She’s a French singer and our friend and fellow blog reader and blogger June of Fancying France turned me on to Indila!
Hey girl………those appetizers look good and I’m gonna make them too! Thanks for sharing recipe.
Now for body weight……..omg can I shame myself with weight. I never want to get on scale either.
There have been different times in my life when under stress i ate my way to comfort. I am under a
lot of stress right now and trying to be more aware of how I handle it. I think for me it is not so much the eating but slacking off on exercise. Just watching the carbs and walking helps alot. I still struggle with self acceptance around weight. But if a friend were to come to me and say I ate my way to 15-20 lb weight gain, I would say honey you were only looking for comfort and everyday is a new day to start fresh. When under stress, the best self care would seem to be to take excellent care of ourselves……….but there is resistance…….maybe I wish someone else would offer me comfort……or i feel too sad or stressed to take care. But no one else gonna do it for me. So what i try to do is make a list of things that comfort me, tea, nap, good book, walk, sex, candles, fragrance, hot bath etc etc, of course shopping but that has consequences too as does chocolate and ice cream. I stead of making sweets and such taboo, I make them part of my meal plan…….smaller portions. This is talking about how not to be mean girls to ourselves, right!!………how to love ourselves is the biggest lifelong lesson for me. I want to extend to myself the same grace I would
to that friend who shares her weight gain……. meet myself with mercy.
Thanks C
For Christine D: I’m sorry for the stress you’re under and hope you see your way through it soon. You’re right – we need to take care of ourselves, but a little support and comfort from others never hurts, so here’s mine.
PS….gonna try bagels too………but not escargot.
Christine. The bagels are so stinking great!!!! XOXOXOXOX!!!!
Loveeee the second to last wig! hope you have an awesome weekend girlfriend.
Thank you my lovey!!!!! XOXOXOXOXO!!!!
Hey Cathe, no it wasn’t me, I’m not familiar with Indila. However I just discovered Noée on the Eurovision qualifiers but she didn’t get through, such a shame as her song L’un pres de l’autre is beautiful.
Good luck with the weight loss, I need to shift a few pounds too before I strut my stuff on the beach at St Gilles in a couple of months. Gonna step up the exercise and lay off the biscuits. (always my weakness) Your gougères look superb, Bonaparte is a lucky bloke. Xxx
HI Fiona! I KNOW–IT WAS JUNE! I’m gonna go and fix that! Those gougeres are everything!!!!! XXOXOXO!!!!
Love both wigs! Look amazing on you. And I know where you are. In August if 2016, I had finally gotten down to 152 (from 190 three years before.) After Steve died that September, I didn’t care what I ate, and this past June I was back up to 168, my doctor wanted me to take cholesterol medication (which caused it turned out I can’t take because it caused ankle pain. ) I have since switched to eating mostly vegetarian meals, and have greatly improved “the numbers” and the weight us slowly coming down again. Keep it up, Catherine, and you’ll get there.
Hi Jackie. Thank you for your support on this–it’s nice to have it! But it’s so true–when we go through changes we let our emotions make the worst of our eating habits. I am very happy that you have switched it up and lost the weight you gained. It’s better to grab the bull by the horns when the weight is still controlable. I’m looking forward to tomorrow evening!! XOXOXOXOXO!!!!
Rock it, girl!
What wig did you wear on Friday? Super cute! But then it really helps that your super cute yourself. I hate going on diets, so it helps if I just cut back on the size of my meals. It takes a little longer but I feel better and less stressed if I do it that way. Good luck!
Hi Suzanne! Thank you so much!! On Friday I wore Isla–a lace front wig from Tony of Beverly.. I purchased it from Name Brand Wigs and don’t look at the stock photo because it looks nothing like it is IRL!!!!!! XOXOXOXO!!!!
Yep…I can so relate to the weight gain issue. I blame it on my scale’s dead battery, lol! Finally, got around to fixing that problem. Faced the music…stepped on the scale and bummer 10 Ibs up!! I’ve been doing Weight Watchers (first timer here and only on-line) for about 4 weeks and I’ve lost almost 6 Ibs, yay! I’m feeling better, too! More energy and my clothes are looser. I basically just needed some guidance and something that wasn’t as restrictive as the South Beach diet that I’ve done many times in the past. With SB, I frigging want to rip someone’s face off because I hadn’t eaten a Carb in the first 2 weeks of that dang diet, lol! It works, though. Anyway, so far, so good with the Freestyle program! Love your clothes and wigs..as always,.thanks for the inspiration!!
Hi Renee–it’s so good to hear that you like the Freestyle program and are doing well on it. I have a few friends who feel the same but I’ve also read some negative reviews. I need the accountability and structure so I think I’ll so alright. It took 6 months to gain the weight so a slow loss will be welcomed. Thanks to YOU for my new inspiration! XXOXOXO!!!!
It was me! 😂😂😂
Oh shit! JUNE, I”M SO SORRY!!! I’m going to edit the post. I’ll tell you, I LOVE the CD and so does Bonaparte. He stole my copy and is listening to it in his car!!!! Thank you!!! XOXOXOXO!!!!
You don’t need to apologise! I’m just glad that you like the music 👍❤️xoxo
Good morning Catherine, From still frosty Highlands of Scotland.
I’m not a wig wearer, VERY short silver ( Katy Perry’s granma on a bad day)
but I am a specs wearer and I know if I wear a headwrap etc. I often feel that my glasses suddenly look wrong. Do you ever feel that with different wig styles ?
Jxx
Hi Jilly. I have two wigs with very large ear tabs. I had to cut them because they did interfere with my glasses. And my eyesight comes first!! XOXOXOXO!!!!
The winter months are always a struggle regarding weight gain. A good friend of mine joined WW about a year ago and I’m so impressed with her because she stuck with it and reached her goal. Now she is in the maintenance mode. I’m not sure exactly what that means, but I’m proud of her! You’ll do fine! I think you are absolutely adorable with your cute outfits, glasses, great wigs, but most of all your zest for life!! Take care!
Hi Vava! Congratulate your friend for me. The weight loss is easier than the actual maintenance. Keeping the weight off after the loss is difficult without the urge to eat everything you want!!! Thank you for your kind compliments!!! XOXOXOXO!!!
Arrgggh weight!! After my surgery I lost about 10 lbs but during recovery they slipped back on again…my diet ( as prescribed) was low fibre, nothing raw…basically the opposite of a good, heart healthy eating style but minus any fat. It was just white and boring and bland. I am very active at work and I think the lack of movement contributed to my loss of tone/weight gain. Remember the Wide-Ends on SNL years ago? I think I am a long lost relative! It’s bad when I put on a dress that fit two months ago and it still fits except when I check out the back view and its TIGHT!! I guess sitting is the new smoking….so now back to good, real food. ( as a nutrition professional I do not condone ‘diets’ unless they are therapeutic ie diabetic, renal etc. Weight loss ‘diets’ have been proven time and again to possibly lead to disordered eating patterns unless they are professionally guided) So I am doing a lifestyle reset before returning to work. Kicking up the movement, watching portion sizes, lots of H2O, replacing the cookies with veggies/fruit/nuts. Keeping myself FED not starved. My experience is that weight gain/loss happens in the head as much as the body so I need to hit the yoga mat and do some reflecting and meditation as well as upping the sleep hours.
Don’t be too hard on yourself, it’ll come off. It’s Spring!!!!! A few hikes around KoP and you will be so fit!!!!
Hey just watched a Sunday Morning episode about Jimmy Carter. Maybe he wasn’t the greatest POTUS but his second act has been exemplary! The current DUFUS should take notes if he ever wants to redeem himself…BTW where was HE yesterday????? Clearly not in D.C….I try not to comment too much on your political situation south of 49 because ‘not my circus, not my monkeys’ but I have to say those kids did a hella job storming the Bastille….too bad Marie-Antoinette was golfing at ‘Versailles’!!!!
Enjoy your Sunday!!!
Hey Momcat! Yesterday! OMG, I am so PROUD of our youth. These kids bring a tear to my eyes with their passion. THEY are what America needs right now–it’s like the youth movement of the 1960’s! I’m thrilled and I think they will be the ones to finally oust the evil from Washington!
I need to move around more though too. I’m looking forward to the warmer weather so I can just get out and WALK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! XOXOXOXO!!!!