So I am hoping to accomplish a few things with this menu planning thing. The first is I hope to cut my calories down by preplanning fun, new recipes and mixing them in with some tried and true favorites. Second, I am hoping Mike and I can cut our grocery shopping list down and save a little money here and there. Fingers crossed!

So if this works right, here is the July 2010 menu. I have added known Weight Watcher points where I could and plan to add points after I make something and can calculate the points. I have linked to recipes that I have posted in the Sunshine Rewards Forum or recipes I found there. Any other recipes are from the Hungry-Girl cookbooks and I’ll post them as I make them. Just yell at me if there is a recipe you want and I haven’t shared it in a timely manner or if you want to skip ahead.

July 2010 Menu Plan

As someone who has been on Weight Watchers off and on for the past 6 years, I already have a good idea on what the average calories are in each menu item at select restaurants. For those I don’t know specifically, I can pretty much guess a “points” range. To me, eating out is a special treat that my husband and I have once or twice a week. Since I am pretty strict with my diet every other meal/day of the week, when I go out I fully expect to indulge with menu items. So I don’t really care how many calories are in my beer or boneless wings at Buffalo Wild Wings. I am there to treat myself and forget the nutritional values – that is save for other meals. I can see how people would like this change if they ate out more frequently each week.

So what do you think? Are you excited about this change? Indifferent? Mad?

My granola bar came this week and I was excited to give it a try. I brought it to work with me as my mid-afternoon snack figuring it would be healthier than the Zapps chips we keep in the audit room. That thought held steady until I opened the bar and started eating it. I flipped the wrapper around and was shocked to see 230 calories, 10 grams of fat, and 33 grams of carbs – only 4 grams were fiber. I think I would have been better off sticking with those chips! 5 Weight Watcher points, gone!

On to taste, as I mentioned, I selected the chocolate cherry flavor. Unfortunately, the bar tasted more like banana bread and I don’t recall finding any chocolate or dried cherries mixed into this bar. This bar is nothing like the old Luna Chocolate over Cherries bar so if you were a fan, don’t waste your money on this as a replacement.

There was a variety of nuts and grains throughout the bar. I was happy to see bits of pecans as you don’t see those everyday in granola bars. The rest of the ingredients though, sigh. The bar might be natural but syrup, molasses, canola oil, sunflower oil, etc adds up and also makes for a bit of a sticky bar. Yes, this bar is soft unlike the other bars that I have mentioned before so while you could take it on the go and avoid crumbs, you have to keep it in the wrapper or risk it falling about or gumming up your fingers. That could be a plus or a minus depending on where you are running to.

Overall, while I thought the taste was fine, I would not buy a box of these bars at the grocery store. The nutritional ingredients are just way too high in calories and fat and with only 22 weight watcher points per day I can’t afford to spend 1/4 of them on this one product. Also, I want my chocolate and cherry flavors!

I have to admit I am a little surprised in the findings. For many years, I have read articles and news releases making claims that organic food was much healthier and provided additional vitamins and minerals. I just assumed they were correct. These researchers though not only did scientific tests on the food, they also combed over more than 162 other studies and their results. Everything pointed to the same thing – these foods are all equal.

So what do you think? Will you quit buying organic food? Did you ever buy organic food? Does any of this matter to you?

Personally, I did buy organic produce and milk for a while but have since stopped. With the rising prices, something had to change so I decided organic would be one of many things to change. I figure if I watch the processed food and wash my produce thoroughly, I can cut down on chemicals and pesticides without having to pay the extra money for organic.

Article below courtesy of Yahoo! News.

Wed Jul 29, 12:29 pm ET

LONDON (Reuters) – Organic food has no nutritional or health benefits over ordinary food, according to a major study published Wednesday.

Researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said consumers were paying higher prices for organic food because of its perceived health benefits, creating a global organic market worth an estimated $48 billion in 2007.

A systematic review of 162 scientific papers published in the scientific literature over the last 50 years, however, found there was no significant difference.

“A small number of differences in nutrient content were found to exist between organically and conventionally produced foodstuffs, but these are unlikely to be of any public health relevance,” said Alan Dangour, one of the report’s authors.

“Our review indicates that there is currently no evidence to support the selection of organically over conventionally produced foods on the basis of nutritional superiority.”

The results of research, which was commissioned by the British government’s Food Standards Agency, were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Sales of organic food have fallen in some markets, including Britain, as recession has led consumers to cut back on purchases.

The Soil Association said in April that growth in sales of organic products in Britain slowed to just 1.7 percent in 2008, well below the average annual growth rate of 26 percent over the last decade, following a plunge in demand at the end of the year.

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; editing by Simon Jessop)

This year I am not sure what Mike and I will be doing.  We are heading to San Antonio to celebrate his buddy’s graduation from college and we are undecided as to whether we are staying for a part-day in San Antonio on Monday or heading back Sunday night.  I think if we head back Sunday I am going to plan a barbeque style dinner but using a George Foreman grill and sticking with either hot dogs or hamburgers and leaving the sausage in the freezer.

I read on HungryGirl this morning that Boca burgers work well on the grill so I might give that a try for my burger.  Save a few calories while enjoying an old favorite.    I might also try making the diet coke cake again.  It turned out pretty well last time even though I left off the cool whip icing.  I think I’ll add the icing this time around.

So what are you doing to prepare for the food challenges of a holiday weekend?  Are you cutting back, pigging out, or keeping everything in moderation?