The Road Less Travelled; Chocolate Trifle (3 pts)

I LOVE spring. Love it. Pretty skies, green everywhere, flowers blooming. It's great.

Breakfast: cinnamon swirl bagel with a couple of squirts of I Can't Believe You Call This Butter spray (2 pts) and a SF Rock Star (o pts)

I was supposed to take the kids to PE today but Rachel's throat was sore from so much crying. My poor girl. She was just in a rotten mood today. I decided it would be best not to take them to the Y. Instead we were going to go for a walk in the woods. It always works to cheer me up so I thought I'd try it on the kids.

But first...

Lunch: black bean soup (1 pt), hummus and feta rolled in tortilla (4 pts) and 2 mandarin oranges (1 pt)
The black bean soup was from the Biggest Loser Family Cookbook and it wasn't that terrific. But the hummus rollups were sooooo good.
Today's hike was a 2.84 mile trail at Lake Jackson Wilderness Park. The trail borders a river that joins the Brazos River. It was really high since the huge amounts of rain we had over the weekend.

The kids on the trail. I can definitely tell the difference in attitude once they get out in the warm sunshine and nature.

The end of the trail marked by an old washed out bridge.
The Brazos River is very high and moving very fast. There were logs and lots of debris floating at a pretty good rate. I wouldn't want to paddle this! While we were out this way I thought it would be fun to visit the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge.


Lola, our GPS, pointed us in the right direction but I began to question her judgment when she told us to turn right on County Road 306 and it looked like this! I was definitely on the road less travelled.
This was an actual sign on the road. And we did cross a cattle guard on the road. LOL I was expecting to see someone with a gun guarding cattle but it turns out to be a bunch of bars in the road to keep the cattle from getting away.
Then we finally get to the entrance. The sign is more than a little confusing. OK, there is waterfowl hunting available but firearms are not permitted? So do you hunt them with a throwing stick? I'm confused. And then there's the whole list of "permitted" and "not permitted. " Why is consulting signs for brochures and regulations not permitted? OMG, does that mean I broke the law by consulting this sign?!
It was the circle of life in full force out there. We are greeted by a bird munching on a snake. How many points is that, mister?

This Great White Heron had just swallowed a crawfish. Points?

Another Great White Heron.
Aw, a pretty bull thistle.

There were also several HUGE alligators. We just drove the auto tour because the mosquitoes were so bad that I would have to turn on my windshield wipers to "shoo" them away from time to time. I'm serious.

Also saw a hawk attacking a rat right in the middle of the road. Gruesome! Nature is hard core, I tell you.

It's 5pm and time to go home. When we leave we come across some of those cows in the road that the cattle guard was guarding. Imagine, cattle right in the middle of the road!!! I kid you not.

Got home and we were all so darn hungry. I needed to whip something up fast so I made my favorite. :)

Dinner: "Chicken" Bacon Ranch sandwich with swiss and some fries (10 pts) This is seriously one of the best sandwiches ever. Low cal or otherwise. Just take a Morningstar Chicken patty, FF swiss cheese slice, FF Ranch dressing (1 Tbs), 2 slices bacon and some lettuce and put it on a bun. That's it.

And now dessert. This is from Hungry Girl's new cookbook. The recipe is out there on the web but I'll give it to you here.

Dessert: double trouble chocolate trifle (3 pts) Chuck really couldn't believe that it was low cal. LOL It's that good.

Chocolate Trifle (3 pts)

4 Vita Tops (any chocolate flavor), thawed
1 2/3 cups Cool Whip Free, thawed, divided
1 cup skim milk
2 tablespoons sugar-free fat-free chocolate instant pudding mix
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar-free chocolate syrup

Cooking Directions
In a mixing bowl, combine skim milk with pudding mix. Whisk until blended and thickened, about 2 minutes. Refrigerate for at least 5 minutes.

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In a separate mixing bowl, combine syrup with 1 cup Cool Whip. Mix gently until completely blended. Refrigerate for at least 5 minutes.

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Break VitaTops into pieces and place in the blender. Pulse until reduced to crumbs.
Into the bottom of a medium serving bowl, layer 1/4 of the Vita crumbs. Top with half of the pudding.

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Spread 2/3 cup Cool Whip over pudding layer. Sprinkle evenly with 2/3 of the remaining Vita crumbs.

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Spread the remaining pudding in a layer over the Vita crumbs. Top with the chocolate syrup-Cool Whip mixture. Finally, sprinkle remaining Vita crumbs over the top and dig in!

Serving size 1/4 trifle; 193 calories; 1.5 g fat; 39.5 carbs; 6.5 g fiber; 15 g sugars; 5.5 g protein

I made mine in individual glasses. :)

Points: 21/24

Activity: walked a little over 3 miles; burned 2300 calories