Baby Bites is here! (plus maternity leave info/FAQs)

I’m so excited to announce the birth of our daughter, Claire Noelle! Claire arrived on March 9th at 7 lbs 8 oz and both of us are happy and healthy. I can’t believe I’m a mom now! We came home from the hospital yesterday and it feels so surreal that she’s here. My heart is so full!

I will be taking a maternity leave for the next few months to focus on taking care of Claire and learning how to be a good mom. I will still be posting new recipes throughout my maternity leave – I prepared for this and put together posts ahead of time! Keep checking in with my site and following me by email, on Instagram or on Facebook to make sure you don’t miss a recipe. There are some great ones coming!

Although I will be posting new content throughout my maternity leave, I will not be as available to respond to comments, questions and emails during this time. I am used to fielding questions 24/7 and trying to be as available as possible for you all, but for the next few months I really need to focus that time and energy on my new little one. I hope you understand!

As I often find myself answering a lot of similar questions, I thought it would be helpful to post my responses to Frequently Asked Questions here since I won’t be as responsive during my leave (there’s also an FAQ page on my site for future reference). Here are the ones I get most often:

I ran the nutrition information you posted through the points calculator and it doesn’t match the SmartPoints value you listed for the recipe – which one is right?
The best way to calculate the SmartPoints for a recipe is to use the recipe builder on the Weight Watchers website. The recipe builder recognizes zero point foods and does not assign them a value in the overall SP calculation, however these foods still contain calories, sugar, etc. If you plug the nutrition information for the recipe into the SP calculator it will count the nutrition information for these foods in the overall points per serving, often giving you a completely different result than the recipe builder.

I made one of your recipes and when I ran it through the Weight Watchers Recipe Builder it gave me a different SmartPoints value – what gives?
I use the Weight Watchers Recipe Builder to calculate the SmartPoints values for every one of my recipes unless otherwise noted. Any discrepancies are most likely due to us using different brands or ingredients. The nutrition information of similar products from different brands can vary drastically. I try to post the brand name of the products I use as often as possible. If you are concerned you may be using different brands than I did, you’re making substitutions or if I didn’t list a brand, feel free to run the recipe through yourself and use the SP value you come up with!

Can I substitute (ingredient) for (different ingredient) in a recipe?

Sure, but I cannot guarantee the results. The recipe was made and posted with exactly the ingredients I used so it’s hard for me to say how it would taste with different ingredients. If you try it another way and you love it, let me know it worked out!

Can I freeze this recipe?
I very rarely freeze my leftovers, so I am in no way an expert on freezing. Chances are I have no idea! When I love something I am usually happy to eat it for several meals in a row (is that weird?). It is unlikely that I have frozen the recipe in question. The best way for you to find out is to try freezing it! If you do, please report back in the comments because there are likely other readers wondering the same thing. I’ll appreciate you testing it out!

What is the serving size for this recipe?
The serving information is listed directly underneath the recipe title in the recipe section of each post. If it’s a casserole I often just list a number of servings rather than a measurement assuming you will cut the casserole into that many pieces and serve.

I tried making one of your recipes and it didn’t turn out right. Where did I go wrong?
I’d love to help, but unfortunately not being in the kitchen with you precludes me from being able to see where the problem lies. I only post recipes that I made with great results (trust me, you don’t see any of the duds!) so if yours didn’t turn out quite like mine it’ll be difficult for me to know why without seeing what you did. I recommend trying it again! I learn best by trial and error in the kitchen.

How can I sign up for your emails?
If you’d like to join my email list and be notified whenever I post a new recipe, you can sign up by following this link. Just enter your email address and you’ll receive an auto-generated confirmation email with a link for you to click to confirm your subscription. If you don’t see the email, please check your junk or spam folders. You can also follow me on Instagram or Facebook!

Are you affiliated with Weight Watchers?
No.  I love the program and have personally been a Weight Watchers member on and off for many years (while I am not always personally following the program I am always a paid WW member with full access to the program and online tools for use in creating recipes for my blog). I use the weightwatchers.com recipe builder to calculate the points for my recipes, but my calculations have not been verified nor endorsed by Weight Watchers. Weight Watchers and SmartPoints are registered trademarks of Weight Watchers International, Inc.

Are your recipes updated for the new Weight Watchers Freestyle program?
All of my recipes have been updated to list the SmartPoints for the current WW Freestyle program.

Can you still list the old SmartPoints?
I can no longer calculate the old Beyond the Scale (BTS) SmartPoints for my recipes because the WW recipe builder has been updated and the nutrition information for the recipe will include the zero point fruits and vegetables. For the recipes I created before the switch to Freestyle, if the SmartPoints changed in the switch I noted the old BTS SPs at the end of the listing for Freestyle SPs.

For example (from my Chicken Pot Pasta recipe): WEIGHT WATCHERS FREESTYLE SMARTPOINTS:
5 per (1 ¼ cup) serving (SPs calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com), a serving was 8 SPs on the previous program

Can I re-post your recipe elsewhere? (message boards, personal blog, Facebook, etc)
If you would like to share a recipe please only do so by posting a link to the recipe on my blog. Please do not copy and paste my photos or full written recipes elsewhere. If you make one of my recipes and you want to post the results on your own blog, please put the recipe in your own words, use your own photographs and list my blog as the source with a link to the recipe on my site. If you just want to share one of my full recipes, please only do so through a direct link to my site. If you have questions, feel free to contact me using my contact page.

I’d also love to point out my handy recipe index where you can easily sort recipes by category, ingredient or WW points! It’s a great tool for meal planning.

Thank you for your understanding and patience while I am less available during my maternity leave! If you want to get a little peek into our life with a new baby, I generally share a little bit more of myself and my personal life on Instagram. I will try not to bombard you with baby pics, but if you do want to keep up with how it’s going, that’s your best bet!

Don’t forget that I will still be posting new content throughout my leave, so keep following, visiting and cooking with me! I love this site and all of you and I’m glad it can stay active and hopefully well used while I’m sleepless and covered in baby drool. 🙂