So Easy to Stay on Track at Trader Joes! Weight Watchers Goes to the Frozen Food Aisle at Trader Joes!!

Like most moms, summer is a time of go-go-go!  It is very hard to stay on track, feed your family good wholesome foods, and most of all - STAY AWAY FROM DRIVE THRUS!  I have found a very quick and healthy way to feed my entire family for less than $6 per dinner.  Perfect in this economy and a mom's hectic life!  Plus, every meal is delicious and will have the kids asking for more!

The answer is Trader Joes!  

Meal #1 - Penne Pepperonata - Only 5 Points Plus!  $2.99 + $1.99 bagged salad on the side = $4.98

Meal #2 - Fettuccine With Mushrooms - Only 4 Points Plus! Plus I add 2 points worth of boneless skinless chicken breasts sauteed in.  $3.69 + $2.00 chicken breasts = $5.69

Meal #3 - Mandarin Orange Chicken - only 5 Points Plus! $4.99 + $1.00 for brown rice = $5.99

Meal #4 - Shrimp Stir Fry - Only 2 Points Plus!  $3.99 + $1.00 brown rice= $4.99

Meal #5 - Saucy Scallops with Mushrooms - Only 2 Points Plus!  $5.49 + $1.00 brown rice= $6.49

Meal #6 - Biryani - Only 3 Points Plus!  Plus I add 2 points of boneless skinless chicken breasts $2.29 + $2.00 chicken = $4.29

Meal #7 - Pollo Asada with Peppers - For when you are entertaining - Only 3 Points Plus!  $9.28 = $1.69 = $10.97

* I am not affiliated at all with Trader Joes

* Being a Weight Watchers Insider I am frequently given incentives and free products. I am not a paid employee or contractor, nor am I monetarily compensated but I am affiliated with their programs and company. My opinions are honest and not hindered nor persuaded due to these perks.

Magic Shoe 5k!!

 Last Saturday my entire family and I ran at the Magic Shoe 5k Run/Walk!  Mike and I ran the 5k and my parents ran the 1k Fun Run with my four year old son, Gavin after.  It was a wonderfully cloudy morning, so it was nice to run in.


Before I started Weight Watchers 5k training program I couldn't even run a quarter mile without stopping.  With only three weeks of training (I was sick for a month during) I was able to run for seven minutes at a time without stopping!  I ran approximately two thirds of the race!  It was amazing and I felt so good afterwards.


Starting tomorrow I am going to resume my training and run in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure!  My goal this time is to not stop running the entire time!


I had all of these great pictures of my family and I during the 5k, unfortunately when I went to sync my iphone, I lost everything, again, ugh.  Luckily my husband took a few (very unflattering) shots of me finishing the race that I will attach.

Being a Weight Watchers Insider I am frequently given incentives and free products. I am not a paid employee or contractor, nor am I monetarily compensated but I am affiliated with their programs and company. My opinions are honest and not hindered nor persuaded due to these perks.

KinKast Review and Giveaway!

Right before I started writing the blog entry before this one I went to sync my iphone to get all of the pictures I took of my family and I during our 5k.  Unfortunately during the sync I lost everything!  Including videos!  Luckily my most recent videos were saved on  KinKast!  KinKast is not only a great way to store and share videos privately, it also gives you a piece of mind.  I am truly devastated about losing all of my iphone photos, but thankfully I still have the first video of my son riding his bike without training wheels for the first time, safe in the little KinKastcloud.

Step One: Record video

Step Two: Watch Video

Step Three: Choose Share Video

Step Four:  Choose who you want to share with, you can even send it to Facebook friends!

KinKast is an amazing way to private video sharing, as well as a great way to access video storage for iphone.

Here is some information from the sponsoring company:

Easy Sharing

Email links for private experience
It's your video. You control who can see it. Email friends and family links to their private website. Better yet, they won't need to create an account.

Post to Facebook
Want a bigger audience? (More than just your "real" friends.) Post it on Facebook. Hey, even if you post on Facebook, you may still want to email links to your closest friends so your video doesn't get buried in their News Feed.

Fast and Friendly

Sharing memory
Find yourself sharing with the same people? Of course, they're the real important ones. KinKast has a great memory and will pre-fill their names for you. Two taps on your iPhone is all it takes to share your video. Now that's fast!

Uploads in background
Why should you wait while your video is uploading? Or why should your video get compressed real tiny so you don't have to wait too long? KinKast doesn't make you do either. Compose and send your share email instantly. Doesn't even matter if you have a network connection. We'll queue your videos and upload them while you're doing something else — like maybe recording another video. Or, when you get back to civilization and have a network connection.

BUY IT: Go to "_blank">KinKast  The basic membership is free, the premium membership is only $4.99/month!

 WIN IT: One of my lucky readers will win a premium membership for one year!

Mandatory Entry: (you must be a public follower and leave me a way to contact you) US and Canadian residents only 

1) Go to the "_blank">KinKast web site and tell me one thing you learned about their Video Sharing capabilities.

Additional Entries (leave one comment per additional entry) 

2) "Like" My365toaSize5 on Facebook (1 entry)

3)  Follow My365toaSize5 on Twitter (1 entry)

4)  Subscribe to my Feedburner (1 entry)

5)  Write a blog post about this giveaway and link me to it in your comment (2 entries)

6)  Grab my button and post a link to where it is (3 entries)

7)  Tweet about this giveaway, leave me your twitter name - can only do this once a day (1 entry per day)

8)  Enter another one of my giveaways and tell me which one (1 entry per giveaway)

Winners will be chosen via random.org on June 20th, 2011.  Winners have 48 hours to respond before another winner is chosen via random.org.

The products above were given to me for free to review, I was not compensated in any way.  The views depicted above are solely my own, others may have different outcomes or results.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com created by WebBizIdeas.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Tomoson Product review & giveaway Disclosure.

Greek-Style Cheeseburgers

I have just tried another delicious recipe from Weight Watcher's Kitchen Companion and had to share it with you!  Definitely another family favorite, it was so yummy!

Since the burger was 8 points, I filled the rest of the plate with some zero point fruit salad and spinach salad with a one point serving of Wishbone's Rasberry Walnut Light dressing.  We loved it so much, I am going to share yet another recipe with you, my lucky readers:

Just going to say this in advance.. "You are so welcome!"

Being a Weight Watchers Insider I am frequently given incentives and free products. I am not a paid employee or contractor, nor am I monetarily compensated but I am affiliated with their programs and company. My opinions are honest and not hindered nor persuaded due to these perks.

Weight Watchers Walk-It Challenge! OMG I Am Running!

When my Weight Watcher's contact emailed me asking to participate in a 5k challenge I laughed outloud, then I read on and saw that you could walk it, I figured... why not?  Then after an hour or two I got into the shower mulling over my up and coming 5k walk and thought, "why don't I run?"   Remembering that I do not run, I mean maybe if a guy with a knife was chasing me I would run, but other than a life threatening situation or one in which I needed to rescue a child or animal, I DO NOT RUN.  The intense dislike and the fact that I have not run since the dreaded "mile" in Jr. High PE actually made it seem like a very challenging challenge.

I downloaded the 6 week running training guide from Weight Watcher's Walk-It Challenge and looked over the first week.  Hmmm run for only a minute with a minute of walking in between.  Maybe it is possible?  Then I called my husband, who actually runs, to get some feedback.  When he initially laughed I knew that I had to do this.  In fact, I am already on day 4!

Now for a second, let me talk to you mom to mom.  There are so many reasons why you can't exercise, especially with little children.  Seriously, it is impossible! For 3 months I had to get up at 5am to exercise before the rest of the family got up, I was exhausted!  I have tried exercising with a video and including them, but the entire time they whine, need something, or can't stay in my sight.  Very distracting!  Now let's visit running or walking... put them in the stroller with some snacks and a park within view as the reward for sitting nicely in the stroller while mama runs, priceless!  For the first time ever, I have no excuses!

I will admit that halfway through the run I am hating life and right now I walk like an invalid because I am so sore, but it is so worth it!  I am actually doing something for me!  I am working towards a goal and feeling amazing after each run.

Go to Weight Watcher's Walk-It Challenge and check it out!  Also any friends in Orange County, California want to run with me?  Email me at LaurenTurner949(at)gmail(dot)com. 

Here are some tips that Weight Watchers would like me to share with you:

• The first step is getting up and moving - start slow and increase your speed and distance over time. Be sure to set reasonable goals.
• To help motivate you, sign up for a future 5k.  Having that date on the calendar is sure to keep you focused.
• Be sure to add strength training to your routine.  Before you know it, you will have a new you!
• Finally, listen to your body.  If you need to rest take a day off.  And Have fun!

Being a Weight Watchers Insider I am frequently given incentives and free products. I am not a paid employee or contractor, nor am I monetarily compensated but I am affiliated with their programs and company. My opinions are honest and not hindered nor persuaded due to these perks.

Delicious and Easy Baked Chicken from Weight Watchers Companion

Thursday night I tried yet another easy, delicious, and nutritious Weight Watchers Recipe from their amazing Kitchen Companion. 

My family and I loved it so much I wanted to share it with my readers:

This recipe uses things you most likely already have in your pantry and refrigerator.  The only ingredient I didn't have on hand was the parsley, which I sent my hubby out to get.  It was so easy, I was able to prepare this meal in less than ten minutes while answering my four year old's questions and dancing around to entertain my fourteen month old. 

I made some homemade garlic mashed potatoes and a spring salad for the sides:

It came out to a nine point meal and kept me nice and full while feeling good.

This is a screen shot of the meal, showing you the point distribution as well as the easy to read point tracker that I love from Weight Watchers Mobile.

Something else that I wanted to share, is that if you look at the picture of my dinner, I'd like you to notice how the salad is now taking up half the plate.  This is helping me easily up my vegetable intake as well as providing an easy portion control too.  While plating our meals now I make the salad before doing anything else.  I am also a huge fan of the light Wishbone dressing, it is so sweet and tangy!

Being a Weight Watchers Insider I am frequently given incentives and free products. I am not a paid employee or contractor, nor am I monetarily compensated but I am affiliated with their programs and company. My opinions are honest and not hindered nor persuaded due to these perks.

Review of Applied Labels LLC

Applied Labels

Review of Oliver's Labels

Loving The Weight Watchers Companion Application for the iPad!

Loving this new cooking application for the iPad, brought to you from Weight Watchers is great!  Even if you aren't a Weight Watchers member I still highly recommend it.

Details from Weight Watchers:

Everyone who downloads the app will be able to:Get the latest 10 featured recipes
Save up to 10 favorite recipes
Create custom shopping lists
Set cooking timers in recipes
Watch cooking technique videos
Share recipes with email or Facebook
Browse through recipes in book view
Get step-by-step instructions in cooking view

Subscribers to Weight Watchers Online & eTools have access to all features and can also:Find thousands of Weight Watchers recipes
Access complete shopping, ingredient and equipment guides
Get cooking primers and technique videos
View exclusive recipe collections hand-picked by our editors
Use the WeightWatchers.com Recipe Builder to create and edit recipes
Send recipes to your Plan Manager for tracking

Here is yours truly using my new favorite app in my 22 lbs thinner body!



Being a Weight Watchers Insider I am frequently given incentives and free products.  I am not a paid employee or contractor, nor am I monetarily compensated but I am affiliated with their programs and company.  My opinions are honest and not hindered nor persuaded due to these perks. 

Another CSN Review!!

I am so excited to be doing another CSN review!  Right now I am looking at modern office furniture and want everything in the store!  So much to choose from it is so hard to decide!