Recipe Review: Crockpot Beef Stroganoff

While on maternity leave, I had the opportunity to fly home to visit my family for two whole weeks!! I spent most of my time with my youngest sister, Vivian. Olivia, Sophie, and I stayed at Vivian's house along with her husband and two children. The entire time we were there everyone was waiting for the arrival of Vivian's third baby, Elias. Waiting for baby Eli to be born gave us all a lot of time hangout. One of our favorite past times was cooking and baking anything and everything.

During our time together, I came to learn that my sister is an amazing cook. She does not need a recipe, because she can come up with dinner on the fly based on what is in her pantry. I wish I was that talented.

Crockpot Beef Stroganoff is an easy and delicious recipe that my sister came up with on the fly. Thankfully, Vivian let me write down her recipe and modify it, to make it a little more Weight Watchers friendly. As you will see below, I also changed this recipe and made it in my Crockpot instead of on the stove top.

I hope you all enjoy Vivian's recipe as much as I do!!

The ingredents

In your Crockpot mix together your soup, sour cream, milk, salt, black pepper, italian seasoning, and garlic powder.

Brown lean ground beef and add it to your sauce.

Add dry noodles to your crockpot mixture and stir.

Cook on high for 1 - 1 1/2 hours. Becareful to not let the noodles overcook!

I served this on Valentine's Day with steamed broccoli and garlic bread.

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Crockpot Beef Stroganoff

Source: Vivian Eccleston 

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Servings: 8

Serving Size: 3/4 cup

Calories: 323

Fat: 7.0 g

Fiber: 4.6 g

Protein: 20.6 g

Old Points: 6 pt

Points+: 8 pts+ (only 5 pts+ for 1/2 cup)

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Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef

1 box (12 ounces) smart taste rotini pasta

2 cans (21 ounces) 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup

1/2 cup fat free sour cream

1/2 cup fat free milk (add more as necessary)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp italian seasoning

1 tsp garlic powder 

Instructions
Brown ground beef.

In your Crockpot mix together your soup, sour cream, milk, salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. Once sauce is thoroughly mixed together, add cooked ground beef and dry pasta.

Cook on high for 1 - 1 1/2 hours. Stirring every 1/2 hour, so everything mixes together. Becareful not to let the noodles overcook!

*Please note the original recipe called for you to make this dish in one pot on the stove top. However, I do not have a pot big enough to make this entire dish in one pot! So, I modified the instructions so that this recipe could be made in my Crockpot.

My 8 Minute Workout

My week has been filled with trial and error, as I try to figure out the best schedule for myself and my girls. Not only am I responsible to take care of my girls, but I also need to continue to work full time from home. I am doing my best to strip my day down to the bare minimum, so that I have enough time to work. In addition, I am evaluating my activities to see which ones are too important for me to cut out.

Something I plan to keep a part of our schedule is exercise.

Typically, as a family, we enjoy going for a walk to the pond. However, it is winter and I have two babies, which means our family walks have been put on hold until it warms up a bit. I would not want us to catch a cold.

In an effort to start working out at home, I dusted off my :08 min. Abs VHS! I have other workout videos that I could have picked instead so let me just shed some light onto why I chose this one.

Time - like I said before, I am a Mama of two little girls. I barely have time to take a shower, let alone workout. So, I needed a workout video that would not take a lot of time. This video is great, because it's only 8 minutes long.

No Equipment Needed - this is not a workout that I have to do when the girls are asleep, because I need the entire living room to myself. This morning, I just shoved the toys out of my way and made enough space so that I could lay down and do my workout.

Routine - at this point in time, I am not convinced that this video will give me abs like those featured on the VHS cover. However, this workout can help me to continue to keep exercise a part of my daily routine. Over the next few months, I might only have 8 minutes for my workout and that's okay. Those 8 minutes might be able to grow into more workout time. The key is for me to continue to exercise, so that I will continue to make time to workout.

Being An Example - as a mother of two girls it is my responsibility to teach them how to lead a healthy lifestyle. Part of that lifestyle includes exercising on a daily basis. By exercising at home, my girls get to watch me and learn that it can be fun to do crunches.

Learning to Enjoy Healthy Foods

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As a child, I never liked yogurt. Every few months, I would ask my Mom to buy me a yogurt from the store. No matter what flavor or brand of yogurt I tried, I never liked it. It took years before I finally acquired a taste for yogurt. However, even then I only liked Yoplait strawberry yogurt mixed with crunchy granola. To this day, I still do not like eating yogurt all by itself without something mixed in with it.

It was an even bigger accomplishment when I finally tried, and liked, Greek yogurt. When I first started trying Greek yogurt my favorite Greek yogurt was Chobani. I shared about this in a blog post back in November 2013, "My New Favorite...Greek Yogurt". I really enjoy the flavored Greek yogurts with the fruit at the bottom and as you might have guessed, I add granola to my Greek yogurt as well.

I'm sure that there are "healthier" ways to eat Greek yogurt. However, right now, I would not eat Greek yogurt that way, at least not yet. Isn't it better that I eat flavored Greek yogurt with granola than none at all?

I honestly think it's better to eat a modified version of healthy foods than none at all. For me, it is yogurt, but maybe for you it's something else that you've been unwilling to try. Maybe you don't like vegetables. That's okay! Why don't you try dipping your veggies in a lite dressing? Like I said before, I believe it's better to eat the veggies with dressing than to not eat them at all.

Is there a food out there that you've been unwilling to try? What can you add to it or pair it with to make it more appealing to you?

Remember that creating healthy habits do not happen overnight! Creating healthy habits takes trial and error & time. So be patient with yourself and don't be so quick to turn down foods that are good for you.

Weekly Weigh In - Losing the Baby Weight...again

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This morning I received a clean bill of health from my OB/GYN at my postpartum check up!! Mentally, I've been waiting to start Weight Watchers until after this doctor's appointment. It has been challenging to figure out how to be a working Mama of two precious girls. Honestly, I'm so glad that I gave myself some time off from Weight Watchers, because now I feel more ready than ever to be back on plan!!

For me, this year I am going to focus on losing all of the weight I gained during my two pregnancies. You see, when I got pregnant with Sophie, I still hadn't lost all of the baby weight that I had gained with Olivia. No matter how long it takes, I am determined to follow the Weight Watchers plan until I get back to my original goal weight.

I do not expect this to be easy, because I am now a Mama of two little girls. However, these girls are my main reason for making myself a priority and losing the baby weight!! Being a Mommy is a joy and I want to be a good example to my girls of what it looks like to lead a healthy lifestyle.

Below is my current weight, along with some weight loss goals I set for myself.

"I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." - Philippians 4:13

 

My motivation...Sophie and Olivia

 

{My Weight and Goals}

Current and Goal Weights

Current Weight (02.10.2014): 173.5 pounds

Top of My Healthy Weight Range: 155 pounds

My Weight Watchers Goal: 140 pounds

My Personal Goal Weight: 135 pounds

 

My Weight Loss Goals

5% Goal: 9 pounds lost

Healthy Weight Range: 18.5 pounds lost

10% Goal: 18 pounds lost

Weight to Lose till Goal: 33.5 pounds lost

Weight to Lose till Personal Goal: 38.5 pounds lost