Is your job making you FAT? Part One: The Office Party

Note: There is TOO much to be said about this topic to fit in one article. This will be Part One of a series to be revisited each week until I feel like we have exhausted the issue. Next week’s episode? Part Two: Your Office Saboteur (you might be one too!)

It is 3:00 p.m., and you see the party planning committee scurrying about your office with plastic forks and spoons, napkins, and party hats. This can mean only one thing: it’s time yet again to find a way out of eating the Crisco-covered confectionary nightmare offered up in honor of so-and-so’s birthday/wedding/anniversary/milestone/promotion, etc...and the calories don’t end there.

Add in the soft drinks (2 points per 8 oz), chips (3-4 points per oz), dip (5 points per ¼ cup), cocktail weenies (5 points and 15 grams of FAT in 5 of these little fellows), and Margaret Ann’s FAMOUS homemade ice cream (7 points per ½ cup of premium product) to the 7 to 12 point cake on your plate, and you have accumulated a 35-point mid-day snack. That is more than most gals are allotted in an entire day, and you haven’t even had dinner yet!

What’s a gal to do? Here are a couple of great solutions to the ever-prevalent, high-calorie office comfort food that rears its ugly head at least once a month at every workplace soiree:
1) Come prepared. Bring a bag of baked or light potato chips and low calorie dips (see recipes below) to add to the spread. Throw in a fruit and veggie tray, and you can eat with the best of them! Bring a delicious, low-calorie dessert to eat in lieu of cake, and bring enough to offer others (again, see recipes below).
2) Plan your points accordingly. You will typically know ahead of time about these get-togethers, so plan your points the night before to include a specific number of chips and a specific amount of dip(s). Plan about 2 points for a full cup of fruit, and throw caution to the wind as you chow down on all the raw veggies you want…don’t even count them!
3) Be demanding when you can. If the party is for YOU, then YOU can make specific requests for lower-calorie options or themes. For instance, one of my co-workers LOVES fruit, so I threw her a breakfast and asked everyone to bring their favorite fruit for her. If you pair THAT with an incredible Sausage and Cheese Please Breakfast Casserole (recipe below), you have an irresistible offering that will leave everyone stuffed until lunch (with nutritious food instead of riddling guilt).

Note: Do not tell ANYONE that what you brought is good (or at least not BAD) for them until AFTER they eat it. Some people have a natural aversion to “healthy” food, so don’t give them the ammo to shoot down your recipe before they’ve even tried it. If you are the office calorie Nazi (guilty as charged), get there early to add your dish to the buffet before anyone questions who brought it.

BTW: I made an entire Super Bowl spread for my guests that all rang in at no more than 2 points per serving (although I can’t say the same for my chef husband who fed everyone lamb sliders and hot wings), and they were surprisingly quite pleased when I sprung it on them after the fact that they actually ate a lot fewer calories than they thought. Go Saints!

When it was my birthday, my co-workers took me to lunch at a place with some healthy options and paid for my registration for my first 5K run. I cried. They knew how much it meant to me to stay on plan, and they cared enough about me to NOT feed me cake. I love them all very much.

Now on to the recipes promised:

Bread Bowl Dip
2 points per ¼ cup; Serves 12
You don’t HAVE to have a bread bowl for this delicious low-calorie mess—in fact I recommend a bunch of fresh veggies cut into thin strips. This is one of my favorite doctored WW recipes!!

1 packet dry vegetable soup mix
½ teaspoon fresh lemon juice
10 oz chopped spinach, frozen—thawed and patted completely dry
¼ cup grated carrot
16 oz light sour cream
½ cup Hellman’s Light Mayonnaise

Directions: Mix all ingredients in large bowl and let chill at least 30 minutes before serving.

Buffalo Chicken Dip
2-4 points per serving; serves 32 people 2 heaping tablespoons as a side note or 16 folks ¼ cup as the star protein for the buffet. Note: Brand names REALLY matter in this one, ladies, so pay attention!

4-5 cooked chicken breasts (yields 32 oz of meat), shredded
1 package 1/3 Reduced Fat Kraft Philadelphia Cream Cheese
½ cup Frank’s RedHot sauce
1 ¾ cup 2% mozzarella cheese
½ cup Light Hidden Valley Ranch (do NOT sacrifice the taste for calories and use fat free…it is gross)
8 oz of Fage Plain Fat Free Greek Yogurt
Pam to coat baking dish

Directions: Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Pour into one 11x7x2 inch baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until heated through.


Frozen Strawberry Layer Cake
3 points per slice; Serves 12
This guy was in WW Online Recipe Round-up for this Week. GORGEOUS!!!

1 ½ pound(s) strawberries, sliced (about 6 cups)
½ cup(s) sugar
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
½ tsp table salt
12 oz store bought angel food cake, cut into 1/4-inch slices
4 cup(s) fat-free vanilla frozen yogurt

Directions: To make strawberry sauce, combine strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and salt in a saucepan, stirring over medium heat until the sugar melts and the liquid comes to a simmer. Simmer 15 minutes. Use the back of a wooden spoon to mash about half the berries against the side of the pan. Cool to room temperature and use immediately or refrigerate, covered, up to 2 days.

Spoon the frozen yogurt into a large bowl and mash it with the back of a wooden spoon until soft and spreadable.

Line the bottom of a 9-inch round springform pan with one third of the cake slices, cutting any slices to fit the shape of the pan. Top with half the frozen yogurt, spreading it to the sides. Spread 2/3 cup strawberry sauce over the frozen yogurt, then top with half the remaining cake slices, again cutting any to fit. Spread the remainder of the frozen yogurt over the cake, top with 2/3 cup strawberry sauce, and finally seal the top with the remaining cake slices. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze at least 6 hours or up to 3 days. Let the cake stand at room temperature 10 minutes before unmolding. Slice into 12 pieces and serve. Yields 1 piece per serving.

Sausage and Cheese Please Breakfast Casserole
2 points per serving; serves 16

8 Morningstar Farms sausage patties
3 cups Southwestern Eggbeaters
4 cups skim milk
3 cup shredded 2% mozzarella cheese
12 slices Nature’s Own Honey Wheat Light bread
2 red bell pepper chopped and sautéed
2 medium yellow onion chopped and sautéed
2 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
A few liberal dashes of Frank’s hot sauce
Pam to coat baking dishes

Directions: Nuke Morningstar Farms sausage patties for 45-60 seconds in the microwave and crumble (use a fork—it’s easiest). Set aside. In a large bowl, mix Southwestern Eggbeaters with milk, salt, and pepper. Stir in bread cubes, cheese, bell pepper, onion and sausage. Pour equal amounts of mixtures into two Pam-sprayed 11x7x2 inch baking dish. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.