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You'll never guess what I'm giving up for Lent. Click to find out.
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My latest creation - avocado oatmeal - is causing quite the stir! (click to read more)
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I made a sweet breakfast in bed for hubby for Valentine's Day...(click to read more)
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Been awhile since I made oats but craved them this morning...(click to read more)
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I spent this morning with great friends at an oatmeal brunch at Kath's house...(read more)
First off, thank you everyone so much for your encouraging comments on my photography post from yesterday. You guys rock!
As for food, well, today's eats were pretty craptastic. Not bad, just not ideal IMO.
The day started off promising with a slice of Great Harvest Cinnamon Chip bread toasted with some real butter, a Morningstar "sausage", and some Earthfare House Blend coffee.
*notice lighter/more-exposed photos? ;) *
I try to stick with whole grains in the morning since they're more nutritious and keep me fuller longer, but I couldn't resist a fresh loaf of Cinnamon Chip bread. I made the "sausage" to get some extra protein to keep me full. Thank goodness I did!
My co-worker tried to tempt me into going to Starbucks for a second day in a row, but I resisted and made some hot black tea with cream and sugar instead. Ahh...nice and free...and pretty darn tasty, too!
Then, I got stuck on phone conferences from 11am-3pm! Worst off, I had a break for lunch but had to schedule a meeting at 2pm during my 11am conference call, which meant no food till 3pm! Gah! By the end of my 2pm conference call I was starting to feel dizzy. I had some snacks in my desk but all I wanted was some real food! Even though I had some food in the fridge, I couldn't reach it because my head set wouldn't reach and I was talking and running live meetings most of the time and wouldn't have been able to chew anyways. Oh well...
It didn't help that I was not well prepared for the day. I had prepped a sandwich (turkey and muenster) earlier in morning and brought that to work, but I really wanted some sort of veggie side.
Why is it so hard to freakin find a vegetable side dish at restaurants?! I can get sweets, chopped fruit, big salads, but no way to just get some broccoli. Wha? Am I the only one who likes vegetables? And ok, so Jason's deli servers a side of steamed veggies that are usually pretty nice and not over cooked, but I had a 3:30pm conference call and not enough time to get to JD. :(
Without many options and a brain that was thinking slowly due to lack of food, I finally decided on salsa. Chips and salsa that is. With an extra 2 oz side of guacamole. Salsa is a veggie side, right? Sorta? Nice raw veggies and good fats. Ok, so the chips skewed the health factor, but I wasn't counting calories, I was just trying to get some veggies in my system. Boy were they good, too!
I tried to stay light on the chips and load up on the salsa and guac. I ended up leaving quite a few chips in the bag, which I gave to another co-worker who was also trapped by phone conferences.
Some sweet rose tulsi tea helped calm my nerves.
I ended up staying at work till 7pm! Ugh! I don't mind staying late and working extra hard to get the job done, but I sure do feel exhausted after staying at work so late.
Hubby and I hit up Earthfare to get some groceries for lunch this week, and I decided to just have some vegan lentil soup for dinner. After eating lunch at basically 4pm, I wasn't really hungry for dinner.
I picked up some marinated kale to take with me to work this week and couldn't resist noshing on a couple leaves with dinner.
The night ended on a sweet note. Hubby felt bad about my stressful day at work and picked up more of our fave doughnuts from a local bakery. I enjoyed a glazed doughnut and 3 doughnut holes with some skim milk for dessert. Totally unhealthy but worth every calorie (however many there are - I don't even know! lol)
Thinking of entering a couple of the Foodbuzz getaways. Has anyone else? I probably have a 1 in 1 million chance of getting any, but I'd have a 0 in 1 million chance if I didn't try, right? ;)
Hey Dear Readers!
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and update your RSS and Google Reader feeds, too! :)
Click here to read about the lovely Spinach + Cheese Strata I whipped up this morning...
I feel like I’ve worked a six day work week in four! Wow, have things been crazy this week or what.
Today was no exception.
I had another yummy breakfast parfait with Vanilla Chobani and Bear Naked Fit berry granola. 1/2 Christmas Blend + 1/2 Peppermint Creme coffee to wake up.
I tried my new Organic India Tulsi tea today – Chai Masala. It was yummers. I made friends with a nice Indian lady in the break room today. We chatted briefly about tea and she told me about how she made her own Masala tea at home. She said she’d give me some of her homemade tea. I hope she does…I’d love to try it!
I had a morning conference call that ran over and made me late for my lunch date!
I had a ladies’ lunch with my friend Megan. As you guys know, I rarely get lunch breaks, but was lucky enough to not only get one today but I got to spend it with a great friend! I need more ladies’ lunches!
Megan is also doing the Eat in Month Challenge, so we just brought our own lunches from home to eat together. Megan had a most-awesome lunch packed with a fresh salad, some orange slices, and yogurt.
I had an AB&J (Barney Butter almond butter & Earthfare Organic Pomegranate jelly) with some New Years salad from Earthfare – collards and black eyed peas. It was very good!
I got home around 12:20pm with just enough time to make a quick trip to the granite store before a 1pm conference call. Yikes!
After lunch and before some conference calls, hubby and I had to make an impromptu trip to look at tile grout. The grayish-tan slab of granite will be going above our “peninsula.” At the granite store, they put up a white door with the granite and our potential tiles so we could see what the colors would look like together.
We went with the darker tan color pictured.
The grout colors looked interesting. They reminded me of a box of pastels like my Dad bought my sis and I to draw with when we were younger (still have some somewhere!).
We went with a dark-tan color. Not brown, just darker than off-white.
Back at the house, our contractor laid a couple of our tiles out so we could see what they looked like and if we wanted them laid normal or off-set. We went off-set.
They are tiling our kitchen this weekend – I can’t wait to see the final results!
We’re getting our granite on Monday! Hubby and I still have to pick out hardware for our doors…wow, it’s all coming together!
I started feeling snacky again in the afternoon while I was dialed into conference calls from home.
I had some more granola with skim milk.
I was savoring a spoonful of Barney Butter when I happened to glance over and see…
Bailey staring me down. I could practically hear him wooing me…”Cmon mom… you know you want to give me some of that!”
My snacks got progressively more random – a slice of Great Harvest honey whole wheat bread. Just plain. What can I saw? I love my carbs!
A mini piece of dark chocolate.
After 3 hours of conference calls but before my 5pm, I had to
Yowsa!
After a successful presentation to my co-workers and a quick wrap up of my jewelry orders, I packed dinner and some snacks and we hit the road.
Sammie – honey whole wheat with turkey, co-jack, baby romaine, and Earthfare dijon mustard. I forgot how tasty dijon mustard is! Yum! Totally made my sammie taste different.
Oh and I would have preferred to eat something other than more bread for dinner. Though I do love my carbs dearly, I also love variety. But not having a kitchen makes variety difficult, so I’ll take what I can get.
A quick couple hour long car ride later and I’m at my MIL’s house blogging away.
I have to update the bake sale page and then try to hit the sack. I am completely exhausted! Phew what a week!
Lots to do this weekend:
Have a great weekend everyone!
A New Challenge
With the Eat in Month challenge winding down, I’ve already got a new challenge in the works. I think I’m gonna call it Miss Fitness February and it’s going to be fitness/exercise related! Anyone interested? Details to come… ;)
Eats
Green tea that is. More on that later...let's start with breakfast.
I did another no-cook breakfast (thanks to my continued lack of kitchen, which prob won't be done till Monday at the earliest).
I also had 1/2 Christmas Blend + 1/2 Peppermint Creme coffee to drink.
For the eats, I made a quick yogurt parfait with Stonyfield OIkos Vanilla Greek yogurt with Bear Naked Fit Triple Berry Crunch Granola and some hemp seeds. Though I do miss my hot oatmeal quite a bit, this stuff is the shiz-nit! I am really loving it!
I basically noshed and sipped tea all day at work - food/drink-wise. (I worked my hiney off!)
I tried a new tea - Organic Tulsi tea by Organic India in Sweet Rose. It was fabulous! The tea was gentle and the rose was more of an aroma to me than a taste. I really enjoyed it.
Have you heard of Tulsi tea before? Tulsi is the new Green (tea).
My co-worker, who is Indian, told me that tulsi is supposed to be anti-stress and help prevent colds. I don't know if it's true, but I'm hoping it is!
According to the tea box, "Tulsi is revered as a sacred plant infused with healing powers....(and) helps your body relieve the negative effects of stress"
For lunch I had a hickory smoked turkey sandwich with co-jack cheese, baby romaine, toasted on Great Harvest Honey Whole Wheat.
I had a half container of marinated kale with lots of sesame seeds. It was soooooo good! I think I liked it better than the sammie!
Later in the day, I was feeling the stress of the work day and brewed up some more Tulsi tea. I took just a couple quick minutes between conference calls to savor my tea and take some deep breaths. I felt much better for it.
Some dark chocolate helped, too.
For an afternoon snack, I had some more snacks.
I was kind of saving the rest of my kale for lunch tomorrow but decided to go ahead and eat the rest today.
I also had an organic banana....
...and a 1000 layer cracker.
Oh and another mini piece of dark chocolate.
I cheated on EIM again for dinner and went back to Earthfare. The way I see it, I could prepare food somewhere random like in the bathroom or the sunroom and wash my plasticware in the bathroom sink whilst attempting to let as little food as possible go down the drain...OR, I could let Earthfare handle the dishes. I chose the latter.
I've been getting tired of the balsamic dressing I've been using but luckily the nice people at Earthfare opened a new salad dressing (Sun-Dried Tomato) for me. Yay!
Hubby and I got some random stuff and shared it: vegan chili, salad (romaine, babyspin, purple cabbage, carrots, sprouts, broccoli, cucumber, hard-boiled egg, bell peppers, celery), a blueberry mini loaf and a vegan chocolate chip muffin.
Nom nom...
NOM! The vegan muffin was amazing! I totally loved it!
Since I loved the Sweet Rose flavor so much, I decided to get another Organic India hot tea - Chai Masala! The $1 off coupon I found at Earthfare was pretty awesome. I can't wait to try this new flavor! Cold, cold, go away, come again another day!
Kitchen Update
Here's the latest on the kitchen. Our contractor stopped by today and sanded down some spots where the paint was off on the cabinets. He put the mini desk back in place, and they put the drawers back into the cabinets.
Here's why I can't cook. My stove and microwave are in our freakin living room! Ugh...sorry for the mess people. Things will look better once our cabinets are installed and we can get things organized.
They also started installing our "peninsula". It's basically a kitchen island, but it's attached to a wall, so we're calling it a "peninsula." lol
We have a lot more work lined up for the weekend. I'm hoping things are complete by next week! So exciting!
Bake Sale Update
The amazing Fran Costigan of The Natural Gourmet Institute, dairy-free baker extraordinaire, has joined the Online Bake Sale for Haiti! I first heard about Fran when I saw her Chocolate Cake to Live For (vegan) on the Get Fresh with Sara Snow show. Her recipe was the first vegan recipe I was thrilled to try and I knew as soon as I saw it that I had to try it some time. I haven't tried the recipe yet but I hope to soon. In fact, whenever I finally make a trip to NYC, a trip to the NGI and a class with Fran will be on my agenda.
Thanks so much for joining the bake sale Fran! :)
Have you ever baked anything vegan? If yes, what's your favorite vegan thing to bake? If no, why haven't you tried any vegan baking recipes yet?
I kept breakfast cook-free.
Coffee, Vanilla Oikos, Bear Naked Fit (hubby picked the granola out).
How awesome is this granola! I love the little fruit puffs...they melt away! So neat! Great flavor!
I'm loving these colors together.
I tried a new frozen meal today - Helen's Kitchen - Hearty Bean Chili , which seems to be based on tofu steaks. I wasn't sure what tofu steaks were but I soon found out.
Nutrition
Yay recycling!
High points - yay GMO free!
Recommended garnish. Nice!
The tofu steaks were like rectangles of a nice, firm tofu. I l liked them.
I enjoyed the chili with an AB&J - Barney Butter (almond butter) and organic pomengranate jelly on Great Harvest Honey Whole Wheat. I don't think I remember PB&J style sammies being this good! New lunch staple maybe?
Four pitted dates a co-worker brought in. It amazes me how sweet dates are! They are sweeter than chocolate!
And here's where I cheated a little...
As much as I love this Eat in Month Challenge, I really don't see myself eating a week's worth of frozen/processed foods. I decided to go out, but to stay as close to home-cooked food as possible.
I thought, hey...I could go to the grocery store and get a bunch of veggies to prep a salad, but why dirty up knives, cutting boards, and plateware I can't easily clean (the bathroom sink is TINY!). I also figured I could heat a can of soup up, but same problem...where to clean!?
Hubby and I went to Earthfare and I got an affordable dinner - salad and vegan minestrone soup.
Soup was awesome!
Salad: baby spin, romaine, carrots, purple cabbage, carrots, bell peppers, broccoli, sprouts, feta, balsamic dressing. Nomalicious and REAL food!
Though the frozen meals I've been eating have been as unprocessed as possible, I still think there's no replacement for REAL food. I prefer to use frozen meals and processed foods occasionally, rather than the majority of the time.
I was not able to resist the cookie bar. As hubby pointed out, I could buy a pack of 6 cookies to take home and eat or I could just get one. It felt like cheating but it felt so right!
More photography practice.
Now you see it...
Now you...well you see it's "ghost". This is called "ghosting" - where you sort of see an image, but it's almost see-through, like a ghost!
Anywho, the ghost did not disappear...not into thin air at least. I ate it and it was delish! Yummers!
I can't wait for more baked goodies next week. I see so many things I want to bid on!
Speaking of the Online Bake Sale for Haiti...we have 53 bakers guys! You are all wonderful! Thanks for supporting the bake sale by offering to bake and/or even just spreading the word through blog posts, tweets (#bake4haiti), and word of mouth. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
So, I think I mentioned the other day that I have no kitchen. Worst part...I thought we'd get our kitchen back no later than Thursday. Now it's looking like Monday. Gah! I can't eat frozen dinners all week! I may have to cheat on Eat in Month... *sad face*
Here's where our sink is supposed to be.
Here's where our stove is supposed to be.
And somewhere back there is our dishwasher.
I think you see now why I may have to cheat on Eat in Month. You guys wouldn't be too mad, would you?
le sigh...
With little in the way of flat property (our dining room table is covered with stuff from the kitchen cabinets), I decided to setup our coffee machine in the bathroom. Sorry if that's gross, but when you need coffee, you need coffee and without a sink in the kitchen, this is it.
With no kitchen, I'm trying to keep things to no-cooking-necessary items. For breakfast I had some Vanilla Chobani and a Zac Omega Peanut Butter & Strawberry bar.
The yogurt was nice and tangy so I crumbled a bit of the bar on top. The bar was really really yummy! I would definitely buy this bar again. I also have another bar in an apple flavor and can't wait to try it.
I had a Kashi Lemongrass Chicken frozen dinner for lunch.
I thought the flavor was nice and unique and I am a BIG fan of the Kashi pilaf. So glad to have some good grains for lunch.
Readable ingredient list - check!
Nutrition info - not too shabby. Nice protein.
I headed out after work to buy a tripod for photography class tonight (boy are they expensive!!!) and I picked up some Great Harvest Honey Whole Wheat so I'd have something to eat for dinner.
I also scored a sample of whole wheat sourdough and a bite of banana almond muffin (samples don't count for EIM).
Then, I was off to Photography class! I was running late, though...eek!
My mom and sis had to work today, so hubby, Dad, and me were on our own eat-wise.
I heated up some leftover frittatas and a whole wheat roll (with a dab of butter on the side). Coffee and a mini glass of OJ to drink.
After breakfast, hubby, Bailey, and I headed out for a quick photo shoot in the downtown area of my parent's town.
Closed aperture.
Open aperture.
My first moving water photo! So neat!
Closed aperture.
Open aperture.
Bailey made some doggie friends at the park.
My boys!
I had leftover pancit and lumpia for lunch.
I also noshed on some of these irresistible Brown Rice chips...nom nom nom.
After some sweet rice for dessert, we hit the road to head home and check out our freshly painted cabinets.
Eek! So exciting!
PS Haiti Bake Sale Participants - I've received several more submissions and I've got you! I just need to add you to my info and update the post...it takes longer than you would think, so I haven't had the chance yet, but I will get you added! Thanks for joining in! :)
Photography homework continues…even at breakfast.
Closed aperture
Open aperture.
Most importantly in the AM – Coffee!
We had a big spread at breakfast.
Scrambled eggs, bacon…
Fresh grated cheddar to top…
Breakfast potatoes with onion, red pepper, and fresh parsley.
Per the usual, I had a wee bit of everything. OJ to drink.
I had an almond twist my sister made with the leftover puff pastry and almond paste from our Galette des Rois from yesterday. It was quite tasty and a nice use of leftovers (though we do have about a half can of the almond paste left…hmm…maybe we’ll make cookies?)
I enjoyed some of these strangy, airy brown rice chips my fam got from Costco. This stuff is addicting! I noshed on these whilst researching charities for my Online Bake Sale for Haiti (we’re still looking for bakers and the attention of some potential bidders).
After getting some good work done on the bake sale, I was called downstairs to take some photos of the prep work for our Filipino feast – food to celebrate my mom and hubby’s b-days.
My sister rolled up some lumpia (Filipino spring/egg rolls)
Then she got started on dessert – sweet rice! A family favorite. This dish is basically made with a sticky dessert rice, brown sugar, and coconut milk. Mmm…
I just had to taste test. ;)
a little extra sauce on top.
My mom was halfway done cooking some pancit (like a Filipino rice noodle stir fry) when my camera battery died.
Luckily, I had my ninja camera on backup!
Taste test for the chef (moi! ok mostly my mom…lol)
Cover and cook through.
Sauce for the lumpia
Pan frying the lumpia
And lunch is ready! (and my camera battery was charged up with enough juice to wrap up our eats).
Our mini Filipino celebration feast. These are some dishes served at Filipino parties.
Gotta have rice.
My family is experimenting with a sticky Japanese rice. I think I like the Jasmine better. I like sticky rice, but in my sushi and sweet rice.
Delicious Pancit with a medley of meats and veggies.
Golden brown lumpia.
Sweet rice!
Round #1
Round #2
Hubby and Dad decided to have leftover Galette des Rois for dessert. Dad found the bean and became king for the day! First order of business – order tea!
I had sweet rice for dessert. Nom-alicious!
Blueberry tea with honey whilst hanging out with my parents, fixing jewelry, talking, digesting…
Then, I headed upstairs to work on the Online Bake Sale for Haiti. I spent a few hours compiling names, updating my Excel (which I geekily used with concatenation formulas to create HTML for my blog post), and emailing.
After staring at my computer screen for probably too long, I headed downstairs for a snack-y dinner.
My Dad made some grilled cheese sammies with harvarti and whole grain mustard. I traded in half of my whole wheat version for half of Dad’s pumpernickel. Piece of pickle on the side…gotta love that tanginess!
It’s not every day you’ve got homemade pancit laying around, so I made sure to have a small serving of it, too.
What else but sweet rice for dessert? Served with a little skim milk on the side and heated just slightly in the micro.
Helloooooooooooo dessert!
Ok, so it’s not the most photogenic, but I assure you, it’s delicious! It’s vegan and gluten-free, too since it’s made with coconut milk and rice!
Online Bake Sale for Haiti Update
Just a quick note to say, Wow! How amazing is this community of bloggers?! As of tonight I have 29 bakers signed up and a few others who have indicated interest. I really think that by pulling our forces together, we’re going to be able to raise some great money for Haiti (via the Red Cross)!
I’m currently looking for any companies interested in matching our final donation total, if any are interested.
And, of course, we’re still looking for bakers and looking to gain interest from potential bidders. I’m posting the list of goodies that will be available for bidding on Wednesday, Jan 27, 2010 early (as I get them) so you can go ahead and start eyeing your selection. I already have a couple picked out I’d like to bid on!
Click here to learn more about the Online Bake Sale for Haiti. You can get code at the previous link if you’d like to add the Bake Sale banner image to your side bar.
Thanks to everyone for your support and for helping spread the word!
I wanted to sleep in this AM but I am apparently not as good at sleeping in as Bailey. Lucky little guy…he sleeps ALL the time!
I woke up earlier than I’d like but with some coffee my mom made.
It wasn’t long before we were getting started on breakfast.
My mom made some Dean Ornish Healthy Blueberry Muffins. I believe this (click) is the same recipe.
While her muffins baked away, I got started prepping some of Giada’s Mini Frittas, except I subbed out the 4 ounces of meat for about 3/4 cup of chopped broccoli.
I still kept the parmesan, though I did think about using cheddar instead.
I made a full batch this time since my mom has two pans and we have more eaters than the last time I made these frittatas (New Years Day).
They puffed up quite big in the oven.
And shrank back down quite quickly once removed from the oven. Hey, it’s the taste that counts, right?
I plated the frittatas on a long rectangular plate and put them in the oven (now off but still warm) to keep them warm – they cool off rather quickly.
Brunch is served….
Fresh orange arranged by my Sis.
Mini egg, parmesan, and broccoli frittatas.
Healthy Blueberry muffins.
Round 1 - a little bit of everything, plus some OJ to drink.
Same oranges, but seconds on frittatas (2 more) plus a half muffin.
I wanted a wee bit more, but I knew we’d be eating lunch not too far off, so I held back.
The muffins were a HIT! So were the frittatas…guess we’ll be seeing more of these later in leftover form.
Our cabinets are currently being painted WHITE! Ahh…I’m so excited to see them all painted up! Hubby and I still need to buy new hardware!
What are you up to today?
Anyone feel like baking something in the next week or two? I’m getting ready to post about a baking-related fundraiser…details to come. :)
Eat in Month Eats - Friday
The sky was beautiful this morning! I love it when it looks all cotton-candy-like!
See our squirrel-y neighbor on our roof?
I cooked up a pot of stove top oats - another round of Cranberry Apple Oats.
Pre-cooking ingredients:
Cooked stovetop till thick, about 5 mins
Post-cooking:
Hemp seeds are the new flax/chia!
Since the cranberries were already sweetened, I decided to not add any extra sweetener. I think I could have used a light drizzle like yesterday's bowl, but it was really just fine without it.
Nom!
Lunch was a repeat of yesterday
TJ's tofu burger with baby spinach and purple cabbage in a TJ's whole wheat pita.
I scarfed this down whilst working from home and enjoying a phone conference. Thank goodness for mute buttons!
Naked Kitchen
Our contractor came by today to do prep work for a major milestone in our kitchen renovation...
Cabinet Painting!
We're having our cabinets painted white! Just like Giada's Everyday Italian Kitchen! Our granite countertops are ordered and so is our tile for the floor. I can't wait to see the final result, but things are pretty messy till then...
Hubby moved our kitchen stuff to other spots in the house.
They started by taking off our cabinet doors.
Hello hinge!
Re-painted hinges.
Naked kitchen
Unfortunately, the lack of sink and countertops could prove to be a major issue with Eat in Month. Hubby and I are trying to devise ways to work around this, but...it may just not be do-able.
Should we have to eat out due to inability to eat at home, we will be tacking on extra days in February to make up any days we have to skip out on, but I'm really hoping we don't have to miss any!
Hubby and I are headed out of town since there will be so much work going on in the house and we can't really be here while they're painting (they're using one of those spray machines!).
I'll be sure to take lots of photos of the "after" - it's going to look so different! I can't wait to see the painted cabinets!
Thanks to a long day yesterday, I am behind on posting! :)
I will make Thursday's day time eats quick.
Eat in Month Challenge is still going well. I've really been enjoying meals in and it definitely hasn't been as hard as I expected it to be.
On Thursday, my day was challenging because of work. I had 9 hours of conference calls (plus 1 hour of office time). Ay yay yay! Makes for a long day!
Apple-Cranberry Oats with Maple Syrup and Cinnamon, coffee, Morningstar "sausage".
Hot green tea with sugar.
I tried something new today for lunch. I heated up another Trader Joe's
It reminded me a tad of falafel (flavor wise). I loved it!
Snack - Clif Kid ZBar in Honey Graham.
By the end of the day I felt like a ZOMBIE! 9 hours of phone conferences is a bit much for one day, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do to get the job done! :)
I was hoping to post all this yesterday after work, but my 5pm meeting ended at 6pm instead of 5:30 like I had hoped. I had to rush-rush-rush home and get ready for a special dinner! A dinner OUT!
Yep, I cashed in on my Eat in Month pass last night! More to come...
So much to cover and so sleepy already! I don't know about you, but I've been staying up later and later it seems! I have plans to change this by getting organized and getting on schedule (yes, I'm planning a new challenge!) but in the meantime, I will suffer with lack of sleep.
For breakfast I made Pumpkin Apple Oats with organic canned pumpkin, chopped apple, apple butter, molasses, milk, extra thick oats, flaxseed, pecans and extra apple on top (no extra sweetener!)
It was pretty good, but I'm still craving more of that coconut milk pumpkin oatmeal! Boy was it good!
I escaped my desk for 15 minutes to grab a very quick lunch with a co-worker. I saw the sun! (my cubicle is not near a window and the windows seem to be tinted making it always feel a bit dark...which I dislike since I love natural sunlight so much). I had leftover 3, 2, 1 veggie soba noodles, apple (from breakfast) and water.
For an afternoon snack, I was craving a blueberry scone from Starbucks but thanks to Eat in Month, I just had a Cherry Pie Larabar with some hot black tea with cream and sugar.
Post work, I played elf and passed out some last-minute Christmas gifts. Two down...two to go!
Post-gift-giving, hubby and I stopped by some friends' apartment - hubby's bachelor friends' apt, that is. They were having a true bachelor dinner - 2 lean cuisines topped with some frozen grilled chicken with a side of toast with parkay.
Meanwhile, I went home and prepared a pizza for me and hubby to enjoy. I got another pizza dough from Trader Joe's (can't beat 99 cents!) but I got the white dough this time. I love my whole grains but sometimes white is just better. I wanted to test the TJ's doughs out to see.
Following a reader tip by Biz of Biggest Diabetic Loser, I pre-baked my crust for 5 minutes (I just did it at 350 though since that was the baking temp of the pizza). The tip worked pretty well but probably would have been better if I had followed the complete tip which was to pre-bake the crust for 6 minutes at 425. Thanks for the tip Biz!
We weren't planning on having pizza so soon but we had leftover sauce and the TJ's stuff doesn't last very long thanks to their lack of preservatives (which I appreciate)
I did our usual toppings - 1/2 cheese and 1/2 pepperoni with pizza seasonings. I added a bit of parmesan to the cheese this time since we had some in the fridge.
I prepped a salad for me and hubby so we could get a good veggie serving (or two).
I think purple cabbage is so pretty.
This discarded leaf in my garbage bag (gotta start that compost!) even looks pretty - the way it goes from vibrant purple to green.
The pizza was done in a snap.
Mmmm...piiiizzzzaaaa (channeling Homer Simpson)
But before we dug into our pizza we dug into our salads - aren't they colorful!?
Salads: baby spinach, purple cabbage (organic), red pepper, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, and Drew's rosemary balsamic dressing (which they are no longer selling at Fresh Market! As if!)
I started with a slice of pepperoni and cheese, each.
We had a little vino with dinner.
Seconds - another slice of cheese.
I think the secret to getting that from-your-local-pizza-place taste is the cornmeal on the bottom. I spread cornmeal thinly over my pizza stone and it gave the crust a nice texture and helped prevent it from sticking to the stone.
As part of my plan to get on a regular schedule, I'd like to start going to bed and waking up earlier. I know I've declared the desire to do this before, but I didn't really make a concerted effort. I'm hoping to do better this time around. And, I'm hoping this Get Some zzz's Tea from The Republic of Tea will help. It was a little expensive and I'm not sure if it will actually work, but even if it's mind over matter and works like a placebo, I don't care as long as it gets me in bed and asleep faster!
Secret fabric post revealed tomorrow and a giveaway for my DSLR friends!
I think I've discovered a new love to go with my oatmeal in addition to my new fave seed (hemp seeds!):
Oatmeal + Coconut Milk = Freakin Delicious!
I had some coconut milk leftover from my vegan Banana Cream Pancakes I made this weekend, so I figured, what the heck, why not throw it into my oats this morning?
I've used coconut milk to make a Filipino dessert (sweet rice!) that I absolutely love, so I knew I'd be a fan...I didn't know how much!
I used about 1/2 coconut milk for liquid along with 1/2 regular milk. The coconut milk gave a nice tropical flavor to the bowl It was fabulous!
Pre-cooking ingredients:
Cooked stove top for about 5 minutes
On top:
I had more black tea with cream and sugar before lunch at work. Sooo good!
I had leftover 3, 2, 1 Veggie Noodles for lunch. Not only do I like tofu because it's affordable and easy to prepare, but unlike meats (which IMO taste funny re-heated esp when microwaved) tofu tastes like it did the first time. Upon re-heating, tofu is a bit more soft, but I don't mind it.
I was like a kid before Christmas the last hour of work because I was so excited about my secret project.
Up next, secret project (the non-fabric one) revealed.
But first, did you check out the most-awesome Budget 101 Guest Post by Fabulously Broke in the City? If you are looking to save money for 2010, if you set budget resolutions this year or if you just want to take a fabulous trip afar (hmm...this is sounding tempting *wink wink*), this post will knock your socks off. The best part? It's Part 1 of a 3 part series!
I was really looking forward to leftover vegan Banana Cream pancakes this morning and you guys know I do NOT like leftovers!
To reheat my vegan pancakes, I pre-heated the oven to 300 degrees F, then put the pancakes on a baking sheet and baked them till they were heated through - just a couple minutes since the pancakes are so thin. So much better than microwaved pancakes!
I heated up some real maple syrup with some Earth Balance for a buttery sweet dipping sauce.
To cut the sweetness, I had a Morningstar "sausage" on the side. Mmm...pancakes, syrup, "sausage"...YUM! Gooooood Morning Monday!
What did you have for breakfast today?
After staying up too late last night, I woke up groggy but HUNGRY! I had no idea what to make. I was kind of feeling like making something that didn't take much effort but I also wanted to make something I normally don't have time to make during the week.
Mornings like these, I also like to make a trip to a local bagel or coffee shop for a slow-paced breakfast with a latte and some of my fave mags. But, thanks to Eat in Month, I was determined to stay in.
After remembering all the fabulous Eat Drink and Be Vegan recipes I've been wanting to try, I decided to go for the ED&BV Banana Cream Pancakes.
Thanks to my well-stocked pantry, I had all of the ingredients on hand. Even the spelt flour (which is quickly becoming my favorite flour to use - tastes like regular but so much more nutritious!). I love how light and fluffy spelt flour is.
Thanks to the hand-blender I got at Christmas, whipping this up was a snap! I sort of wanted to use my pretty new Martha Stewart stand mixer, but the immersion blender is just so much easier to clean.
Not to mention since our kitchen is a bit of a disaster, I haven't opened my new small appliances since there's not really anywhere to put them yet!
We still don't have a griddle so it took awhile to cook all the pancakes in my tiny non-stick skillet. I kept them warm in the oven on 200 degrees F while I worked through the batter.
Real maple syrup on top.
Breakfast is served!
A sprinkling of organic unsweetened coconut on top staying in line with the tropical pancake theme.
My banana cream pancakes ended up a little on the thin side, but the flavor was great! Hubby said they tasted like gourmet pancakes.
The pancakes were nice and tender and I loved the subtle tropical tastes. And these were made with SPELT! Such a great flour! If you haven't tried it yet, you should!
Want a bite?
Seconds
Coffee on the side - 1/2 Christmas Blend + 1/2 Peppermint Creme (Fresh Market).
Bailey sleeping on the chaise.
Sunlight streaming into my sunroom. Food TV on in the background. Perfect Sunday afternoon.
Me thinks I may brew up some hot tea to sip on whilst reading a new chapter of Don't Sweat the Small Stuff and Square Foot Gardening.
How's your Sunday?
Good morning!
Did I mention I think I re-hurt my leg this past week? Yea. Sucks. Big time!
I was hoping it would feel better this morning, but alas...it didn't. So, I'm trying to rest it today...currently icing.
Though my leg hurt and I was sleepy, I woke up and did a bit of cleaning up in the kitchen. Just hand-washed some dishes in the sink and wiped down the countertops.
Then, it was breakfast time!
I cracked open a new jar of Barney Butter! Nothing better than the first scoop, no?
Sun-kissed breakfast.
1/2 Christmas Blend + 1/2 Peppermint Creme. I'm kind of over the Christmas flavors, but I want to finish them. I'm hoping for new Fresh Market flavors to arrive soon!
I decided to make some TCL Power Toast for breakfast.
What's Power Toast? Power Toast is a powerhouse of nutrition...on toast.
I started with a slice of Great Harvest Honey Whole Wheat bread, which I toasted under the broiler in the oven (yea, we still don't have a toaster...we haven't found one we like!)
Power Toast Toppings:
So so good!
Lots to do today, but my leg is making me re-consider.
Hoping to:
What are you up to today?
I took my first photo with my new camera last night. I couldn't think of anything better than my dear doggie Bailey.
I love my point and shoot, but it's so good to have my DSLR back!
It was supposed to snow today, but when I woke up...NO SNOW! For my winter weather-land friends, you're probably wondering why anyone would be excited about snow, right? I live in the South! We rarely get snow, so we get pretty excited about it! :)
I was determined to see flurries, so I made them appear in my breakfast in the form of organic unsweetened coconut flakes.
Today's secret ingredient - molasses! To give my oats a depth of flavor.
Pre-cooking ingredients:
Cook stovetop about 5 minutes.
On top:
I worked from home today, which was nice. I had plenty of OT this week and got started early enough to take a couple breaks to photograph some work our contractor and team was doing on our kitchen today.
They started to rip up the floor that was under our old linoleum.
There was another layer!
They covered up our old kitchen cabinets with plastic wrap. They also covered the fridge and microwave and moved the stove out of the room.
As a result, I couldn't get to my FOOD!
(Oh and other frustration - one of our cabinets arrived but was BROKEN! Grr....we had to return it and I can only hope it doesn't take another 5 weeks for the replacement cabinet to get here.)
I would have just gotten a sandwich or something from a local deli, but not THIS month. Not while I'm doing the Eat in Month challenge!
Be forewarned...I do not recommend the following for lunch...I just couldn't get to anything else!
I had two slices of Great Harvest honey whole wheat bread. Plain. Straight outta the bag. Yup. I did. I love bread. I mean I LOVE bread! I like it any way I can get it...even just plain when it's fresh and tender. mmmm This bread is pretty nutritious, too!
I also had a Larabar in Peanut Butter Cookie to get some protein to go along with those carbs.
By the end of the day, we had a lovely new sub-floor. Our tiles will be going on top of this.
I had actually really been looking forward to leftover mac and cheese for lunch but moved those plans to dinner instead.
We had our veggies raw - salad form: organic romaine, broccoli, cauliflower, organic baby carrot, orange pepper, sunflower seeds, HEMP SEEDS, and balsamic dressing.
I wish I had some leftover bean salad to put on this!
Fo the rest of dinner, we just cooked up a frozen TJ's meatless corn dog and re-heated some mac and cheese in the oven.
Did I mention we had mac and cheese? Mmm...so good!
After dinner, I had a hankering for something sweet.
I did a play on Dreena's Homestyle Chocolate Chip cookies, since I liked the recipe from earlier this week so much.
I decided to make my cookies with some of that organic canned pumpkin to make Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies.
I also had to sub brown rice syrup for the maple syrup. This made the batter super sticky and a bit harder to work with, but the end result was still nice. Not quite as sweet...just as delicious.
I did two batches (well, I dropped 1/2 the cookies and then adjusted the remaining) - one with slightly more flour (because the batter wasn't as thick as when I made it the other day).
I tried one of each batch, mais oui. They actually tasted the same and had nearly the same texture. I think the batch with less flour just didn't poof up as much.
They were both delicious! I wish I woulda put more pumpkin in, though! Ahh...I know for next time.
I think I need to tweak the adapted recipe before I post it.
Man, I am quite the Cookie Monster lately, no?!
I enjoyed my cookies with wine...and hubby and I watched The Ugly Truth. I thought it was a tad vulgar but pretty funny overall.
I signed up for something super awesome starting up next week. So excited! Details next Tuesday! :)
What's your favorite comedy from 2009?
Daytime Eats
So guys, turns out my DSLR is gone forever...but let's start with breakfast before I get into that story...
Hubby and I picked up Honey Whole Wheat bread from Great Harvest yesterday. Whenever I get fresh bread, I CAN'T WAIT to dig in!
So, I toasted some up this AM
and topped it with Barney Butter and white chia seeds.
Good morning!
Lunch: toasted chicken sammie with harvarti on my delicious Honey WW bread with a side of microwave-steamed mixed veggies. I didn't microwave the veggies long - just 30 seconds...long enough to make them a tad tender. I just seasoned them with salt.
After lunch, my sweet tooth kicked in. Luckily, I took the rest of my vegan chocolate chip cookies to work today and had one set aside to eat myself. I enjoyed my cookie with black tea with cream and sugar. Mmm...
I gave the rest of the cookies to my co-workers. I simply offered "homemade chocolate chip cookies." After they said how good they were, I told them they were VEGAN! One of my co-workers asked what the difference between a "vegan" and "vegetarian" was, but we were able to explain. I forget how uncommon some of the terms and lifestyles and foods are in the real world" compared to the "blog world." Anywho, I also explained that I made my cookies with 1/2 white-wheat flour and 1/2 spelt flour. I also emailed a link to some additional info on Spelt (click for info), and I think my co-worker may try to bake some spelt bread. Neat, no?!
One of my co-workers only took 1/2 a cookie. The other 1/2 stared me down in my cubicle until...yep...I ate it! It was delish. I need to make these cookies again SOON. They were so easy and tasty! I also like that you can make these cookies even if you're out of milk or eggs because they're vegan and don't use either!
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Camera Update
In camera news, I turned my camera in to Geek Squad to be fixed on Dec 20th and it was shipped off. On Dec 22 it was assigned a repair technician. As of this week, I had zero updates. Grr. I checked the online "status update" on geeksquad.com using my repair ID almost every other day to no avail.
On Jan 5, 2010, I decided to call the Geek Squad to see if they could get an update. They said they'd email the 3rd party company they use to fix the cameras (Precision Camera in my case) to request an update. I was very nice (no need to be that PO'ed customer who freaks out - that's not cool) and the Geek Squad agent was very friendly. I felt a bit relieved after calling.
On Jan 6, 2010, I still hadn't heard anything and the online status hadn't been updated, so I checked in again. Again, I was very nice and so was the Geek Squad agent. They checked the system but didn't have any updates.
On Jan 7, 2010 (today), I checked the status online and it said: Needs customer info - please contact Geek Squad. At first reading, I was a tad PO'ed. I thought maybe they'd let my camera sit around for a couple weeks and just now figured out they needed more info. So, I called Geek Squad again and again was quite nice and friendly and really just wanted to get whatever info to them they needed to move things along. The agent checked the system and said...my camera was being "junked" and that they were going to give me a replacement!
So, the bad news is that my original DSLR is gone forever (I hope they are able to salvage it and sell it as a re-built camera or something)
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The good news is that I got a new camera! I had to pay a little extra because of a price guarantee refund we received on the original camera, to update the Geek Squad Protection Plan, and because I decided to get the XSi this time!
There were some features I liked better on the XSi than the XS I had before (more MP, more auto-focus points, larger LCD, etc) so I decided it was worth it.
I got my battery charging while I worked on dinner....
I used some Hodgson Mill whole wheat elbow pasta to make my Dad's Mac and Cheese (still perfecting the recipe but hope to post it soon!)
I couldn't find any bread crumbs so I used toasted wheat germ as a bread crumb substitute. It was a darn good substitute! It reminded me of a finer panko.
I used earth balance to help the top of the mac and cheese brown on top.
To go with the mac and cheese, I also heated up a Trader Joe's Organic Tofu Veggie Burger. I wondered how to cook this veggie burger since it didn't have cooking instructions, but I figured I'd just cook it like I do the others - either pan-seared or roasted. I decided to roast it and broiled each side for just a couple minutes.
I also microwave-steamed some frozen veggies and added a tad of real butter for flavor.
Dad's mac and cheese was ready before I knew it!
Trombone! (that's for you my "viola" friends...haha)
The mac and cheese was, of course, delicious!
The veggie burgers were pretty good and certainly easy to heat up. They reminded me a bit of marinated tofu - dark with marinade on the outside and lighter inside. The texture was a bit different than tofu.
Seconds on Mac and cheese!
Just after dinner, my camera battery was charged!
It's go time baby!
I'm being very gentle with my new camera. I'm so scared of anything going wrong with it now! lol I can't wait to try out my macro lens on this puppy, though!
How's everyone doing with their resolutions? If you need exercise motivation, check out this post.
Eat in Month - Day #6
Slept in today...doh!
I talked hubby into eating some stove top oats with me this AM.
In my bowl: oats, skim milk, canned organic pumpkin, flaxseeds, pecans, HEMP SEEDS, unsweetened organic coconut, and I tossed in some ricotta leftover from our lasagna earlier this week (gotta get rid of it somehow!)
I stirred my bowl together to distribute the ricotta and make the oatmeal creamy, like how you can make a tomato sauce creamy with ricotta stirred in.
Eating in was pretty easy today thanks to early prep work with my salad last night and leftover lasagna.
Leftover veggie lasagna, toast, salad with organic romaine, broccoli, orange bell pepper, organic carrot and hemp seeds.
See em!
Afternoon snack: black tea with cream and sugar and Moravian cookies!
After work, hubby and I headed out to look at granite and tile (yes, again!). The meeting was much more productive than I thought it would be and we got some good quotes. I hope we can make some decision soon because I'm ready for this kitchen to be DONE!
I've spent quite a bit of money amping up our pantry, so hubby suggested we eat from our pantry/freezer for dinner. I kind of wanted to find a use for that leftover ricotta and parmesan before it goes bad, but I wasn't really in the mood for Italian (can you blame me after 4 back to back meals of lasagna! lol)
After a long day of work and then spending a couple hours with the granite/tile people, I really wasn't feeling much like cooking. In fact, all I could think about was pizza...pizza...pizza....let's go pick up pizza. lol
Buuut, knowing I had some food I could cook with little effort and wanting to stick to my Eat in Month Challenge kept me thinking about the yummy food I had at home.
We broke out our unopened tartar sauce to eat with...
TJ's Battered Cod...and TJ's sweet potato fries, steamed veggie medley and some syrah.
After dinner, I had a hankering for something SWEET! I decided to check out Dreena's Eat Drink and Be Vegan Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies (click for recipe). I used 1/2 TJ's white-wheat flour and 1/2 spelt flour with a bit extra spelt flour (around 1 tbsp). I also didn't quite have 1/3 cup of non-dairy chocolate chips, so I added some carob chips to make up the difference.
They came together SO easily and were done SO quickly! While my cookies baked, I cleaned up a bit in the ktichen...next thing I know, BING, they were ready!
My cookies went perfectly with my vino.
Holy wow, were these GOOD! Even hubby liked them! We both enjoyed them like they were regular chocolate chip cookies, but they were VEGAN!
I can't wait to try more of Dreena's vegan recipes!
Aaaaand, I may or may not have eaten a second cookie. Nom nom nom!
How's everyone doing with Eat in Month? Anyone want to join late? Leave a comment on the EIM post. :)
Kitchen Progress
Remember this room? Here's what it looked like when we bought our house. Oh the wood paneling!
It went to this...missing walls, no wood paneling....no drywall.
It looked like this for a long time - drywall, kneewall, unpainted. Unfinished.
Well, after waiting several weeks on our new cabinets (ones we're adding, not replacing), we're finally ready to continue!
Today, our contractor stopped by while I was at work and removed the knee wall (turns out we don't need it), patched thew wall, and took out the icky linoleum.
Yup, no linoleum. I like linoleum...just not that one. It was a bit too busy for my style.
Now, in the kitchen, we just need to:
Not sure when any of this will be completed, but I'm really looking forward to getting some more cabinet space! I can't wait to get things organized!
Fitness Motivation
Oh, still collecting ways to squash the "I'm too tired to work out" excuse to help motivate others to keep their resolutions and get to the gym. Click here to help out.
Remember to use twitter tag #fitcrew if you're looking for motivation to work out OR look for #fitcrew tweets if you'd like to offer up some motivation. Let's help each other people! :)
Sleepy time!
Which do you like better on your kitchen floor - tile or linoleum/vinyl?It's been too long...this morning, I was really looking forward to...
Pumpkin oats!
I used organic canned pumpkin and Manitoba Harvest shelled hemp seeds!
Hemp seeds: These hemp seeds are the bomb! They are a source of Omega 3, contain all 10 essential amino acids and are a great source of protein - about 11g per 2 tbsp!
Also in the oats: skim milk, extra thick oats, flaxseeds, pepitas and for my sweetener - a drizzle of maple syrup.
Yum!
This morning at work, I was needing something hot to keep me warm and something with caffeine to pick me up. Did I go to Starbucks? Heck no, I didn't! I'm doing the Eat in Month Challenge. Instead, I brewed up a deliciously satisfying mug of hot tea - black tea with cream and sugar! It was fab...looking at this picture makes me want more! Maybe I'll get some tomorrow?
Lunch was leftover beef + spinach lasagna.
I thought I was going to leave work a little "early" (5:15pm-ish) but got held up unexpectedly. Besides that, work was mentally stressful today! I was feeling pretty wiped out and not like cooking or preparing food, but I knew I had more lasagna to easily heat up, so that was nice.
I decided to take a trip to Trader Joe's (grocery stores like TJ's and Earthfare make me happy for some random reason) to pick up some stuff to make salad and possibly some vino.
I got some good produce: organic romaine hearts, broccoli & cauliflower duet, organic baby carrots, and orange bell pepper.
And, oh yes, I got some vino - Rootstock Syrah - tonight's TJ wine sample. I always fall for their wine samples. This one is a bit more dry than I normally like, but overall, I enjoy it.
Whilst prepping salads tonight for dinner, I decided to make some for me and hubby to have with lunch tomorrow. Hey, if I was already prepping it, why not make extra and save myself some work later?
I must say, our salads tonight were pretty bada$$. We had: organic romaine, broccoli, cauliflower, organic baby carrots, orange bell pepper, some 3-bean salad, sunflower seeds, and Drew's rosemary balsamic dressing.
Soon after starting, I thought my salad would be better with some shelled hemp seeds.
So I added a light sprinkling of hemp seeds to my salad (and to hubby's).
Dinner was leftover beef + spinach lasagna. I know - I had lasagna for 3 meals in a row! Hey, this lasagna isn't going to eat itself! Hubby and I will likely have to attempt to freeze some of this lasagna tomorrow so we don't make ourselves sick of it.
Halfway through dinner, I remembered the rosemary olive oil bread that Kat + Stacy gave me yesterday. As soon as I remembered it, I paused eating to toast some up in the broiler with a drizzle of olive oil. As simple as that, it was the perfect accompaniment to dinner.
I was craving a little chocolate to go with my wine, so I broke off a couple pieces of my stocking stuffer - Endangered Species Dark Chocolate with Goji Berry, Pecans, & Maca.
I've been brainstorming a fun idea for you guys with exercise/fitness related resolutions to help you squash your workout excuses. Post draft created, publishing up NEXT!
How's everyone doing with Eat in Month? Any interesting eats? Post your links in a comment! :)
Sorry for not posting last night but I was entertaining having a blast till MIDNIGHT!
Monday morning I made a quick 3 bean salad using this recipe I found on Simply Recipes. I intended to make it Sunday but...well, I didn't. So Monday AM it was! No cooking required, so it was quite quick.
I've been enjoying my CinnaChip breakfast casserole but thought the last couple times it was just a tad too sweet. I love my sweets and all, but I don't like when my sweets are too sweet. So, I thought I'd try something new. Something like the Celestial Sauce from Eat Drink and Be Vegan!
It was PERFECT! Even hubby liked it! The sauce reminded me a lot of the sauce I enjoyed on Bread Pudding at Hell's Kitchen in Minneapolis, MN.
I topped my bread pudding with sliced almonds for a little crunch.
I'm DEFINITELY making this again!
Then, it was back to work after my stay-cation. I was actually feeling really ready to be back.
I had lots of goodies to take to work: my frozen emergency lunch meals, emergency canned soup, meal bars, a bowl (for the canned soup), and lunch for Eat in Month.
I brought my new BPA-free Green Bottle to work too. Isn't it beautiful?! I LOVE it!
I also brought a Dilbert calendar - got this half off at Barnes & Nobles.
Lunch was really great: a toasted chicken sammie (Earthfare oven roasted chicken, Earthfare havarti cheese on Great Harvest Flax Oat Bran), my 3 bean salad, and some apples (leftover from the apple topping on that casserole).
For an afternoon pick-me-up, I made some Pomengranate White Tea with sugar (need to get some honey to keep at my desk at work!)
I had an afternoon snack to fuel up for ZUMBA: an Odwalla Berries GoMega and Kashi crackers. I got the bars on sale at Earthfare. I thought it was quite tasty and I liked the chewy texture.
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Let me take this moment to say that my zumba friends are the BEST! When I told them about the Eat in Month Challenge, I was worried we'd have to give up our Monday get togethers or that they'd have to go without (since I couldn't eat at restaurants). Buuuut, you know what? They joined in on the challenge! Oh yes, they ROCK! Thanks ladies! :)
Soo...what's a girl to do when you and your friends can't eat out together? Have them over for dinner!
Our house is a total wreck and I was terribly embarrassed that they had to see it in the state it was in, but our Mondays are too fun to give up because of a not-set-up house.
I decided to make lasagna! Here's a recipe you can use to re-create this beef and spinach lasagna.
Hubby helped me out by making some meat sauce while we were busy wrapping up zumba class so I'd just have to assemble the lasagna when I got home. Thanks babe!
I snuck some frozen spinach in the mix so we'd get some extra veggie serving.
We used our dining room for the FIRST time for our zumba dinner. What a great way to kick things off in there!
My friends brought yummy eats with them, including salad, which we topped with some of that 3-bean salad. It was a nice combo.
I lucked out while I was making our beef & spinach when I had a total "doh!" moment when I realized that one of my zumba friends was pescatarian!
The lucky part was that thanks to my well-stocked pantry, I was able to put together a last minute mini-veggie lasagna...yay!
Dinner is served!
Stacy + Kat!
Stacy + Kat also brought some yummy rosemary olive oil bread, which I toasted under the broiler and brushed with a garlic-y butter-y topping.
They even brought over a yummy dessert - tiramisu! (to stay in the Italian theme) It was the perfect ending to our Monday dinner together.
Thanks Stacy + Kat for coming over and bringing over some tasty eats!
Now...what to make next week???
When I purchased the loaf of Great Harvest Cinnamon Chip bread, I knew it would be delicious toasted.
But I knew it would be even better as FRENCH TOAST!
With nearly half a loaf left today, I decided to make french toast with a twist - French Toast casserole! I based my recipe on this one found on allrecipes.com (click) except I used agave for the custard and organic cane sugar for the topping (which I used only 1/2 of on my version).
I also made sure to press the bread into the custard.
Before pressing
After pressing
I also used earth balance for the margarine.
While my casserole baked, I made an apple syrup topping. I thought about putting apple INTO my casserole but decided it would be better as a topping.
Apple Topping directions: chop half an apple. Pre-heat a small pan over medium heat. Add apple and 1/2-3/4 cup maple syrup. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Use as topping for french toast casserole, french toast, or pancakes.
The casserole made my house smell so amazing while it was baking! Ooh, that cinnamon! It looked perfectly puffed up after 45 minutes.
Breakfast is served.
I also added some sliced almonds on top for some crunch.
So so good! Quite sweet, though! I wish I would have made some bacon or soysage to cut the sweetness, but at least I got some good protein with the eggs!
Up next, grocery shopping for my Eat in Month pantry - First Swing!
Oh, and we got 4 more participants overnight! I need to go add them to the list now. It's not too late to join if you want to get in on the FUN!
I was looking forward to leftover cinnamon rolls for breakfast today. They re-heat surprisingly well!
I made a fried egg to go along with my roll. Dee-lish! 1/2 Christmas Blend + 1/2 Peppermint Creme to drink.
Hubby noticed someone had gotten quite comfy on our bed while we were busy eating breakfast.
I took a moment to start reading Don't Sweat the Small Stuff. I only read one chapter. I know they're basically only a page or two long, but what I'd really like to do is take the time to understand the chapter and really think about it for a day or more before moving on to the next.
I enjoyed the book with some hot tea. I combined Teavana Mate Vana with Rooibos Caramel and organic cane sugar...mmm. Isn't the amber color of the tea in sunlight beautiful?
Besides making resolutions and setting goals, I also like to take advantage of the fresh start of the new year to motivate myself to get organized. I decided to try to downsize my clothes since hubby and I are in the process of picking out wardrobe/clothing storage furniture. The less clothes I have, the less/smaller furniture I need (which means saving $).
I started by tackling my "sweater bins." I have 3 - 2 for normal sweaters and 1 for casual/work-out sweatshirts/fleeces. As you can see, my bins no longer actually contain all my sweaters/sweat-shirts.
After carefully going through each bin and trying to pick out the items I truly haven't worn in the last year, I created a pile of items to remove. I also pulled items that don't fit me well or styles that I've outgrown.
The single white sweater will be donated. The rest will go to my parents house. See, I have a terrible time parting with my clothes, so as a compromise to get the clothes OUT of my house, I've decided to move them to my parent's house. This way, I will have emergency clothes when we visit, in the event I forget to pack something AND it will buy me some time to think about my decision. If I miss the clothes, I can always get them back. If I don't miss them at all, then after a year, it's probably time to donate them.
Bins AFTER. Muuuuuch better!
After my success with the sweaters, I tackled my closets (yes, our house has no WICs so I have to use more than one).
I followed the same guidelines (not worn in a year, outgrown, doesn't fit well) and selected several items to move to my parents house, donate, or try to consign.
Sadly, my closets don't look much emptier for all my hard work but I do feel good about the work I got done today.
I'm considering selling some of my clothes in the best condition online. Anyone interested?
Lunch was leftovers. I ate the rest of the collards, black eyed peas, and tossed in some pretzels (not literally) because I was craving something salty.
Honestly, I also kept lunch light so I could indulge in another cinnamon roll. I mean, I don't want them to go bad so they MUST be eaten! ;)
Now we only have one left! Gasp!
Perhaps I should make more sooner than later, eh?
Does anyone else have any Northface fleeces? They are so darn bulky! I'm wondering how to store mine. How do you store your fleeces?
A couple of days ago, one of my all-time favorite Everyday Italian shows came on - Breakfast. The one where she makes the Hazelnut Cinnamon Rolls, Mini Egg Frittatas, and Spiked Coffee drinks. I knew immediately that I wanted to make that meal on my vacay. I love from-scratch baked goods but don't typically allow myself the time to make such treats decided, but what better way to kick off 2010 than with a delicious brunch!
Hubby and I searched TWO grocery stores for frozen white bread dough, but found none. I figured any white-bread style dough would do, so we picked up a box of Pillsbury Hot Roll mix.
First thing this morning, I got started on brunch. I knew it would take awhile to make what with the "let the bread rise" steps, so there wasn't time to lounge around.
I used a combination of the box recipe and Giada's Hazelnut Cinnamon Rolls recipe.
For the Cinnamon Rolls: Follow box directions for cinnamon rolls. To sugar mixture, add toasted, chopped hazelnuts (about 1/3 cup - 2/3 cup) and 1/4 tsp cloves. Instead of using warm margarine, I used melted Earth Balance, which I brushed over the dough before sprinkling the sugar mixture down. I also made a double-batch of Giada's icing instead of the one on the box.
I wanted to have one cup of coffee and wanted that cup to be enjoyed with breakfast, so I sipped on organic yerba mate tea whilst working on the cinnamon rolls.
Hazelnuts! I had these stowed away in the freezer.
I cut the dough and placed the rolls in the baking dish. They rose for 30 minutes while I watched a DVRed Everyday Italian for more Eat in Month inspiration.
Soon enough, they were ready to be baked!
For the Mini Frittatas: While the cinnamon rolls baked, I got the mini egg frittatas ready. I used Giada's Mini Frittatas recipe except I cut the recipe in half and used turkey instead of ham.
Fresh-grated parm.
parsley from my potted plant.
The eggs were a cinch - especially compared to those cinnamon rolls. I used turkey since we had it in the fridge.
While my frittatas cooked, I worked on the icing for the cinnamon rolls. I used Giada's recipe but doubled the batch of icing since the rolls made twice as many as Giada's version.
Before I knew it, the frittatas were done!
I drizzled the rolls with the icing and put the rolls in the off, but still warm oven to help the icing get nice and gooey.
And then, everything was ready!
Hubby and I were so excited to EAT!
Round #1 - I had 3 mini frittatas and a cinnamon roll with my coffee. As a side bonus, I read somewhere that some cultures consider it good luck to eat "round things" on New Year's day...not sure if the cinnamon rolls count, but those frittatas DEFINITELY do! Here's to good luck!
Yowsa - they were delish! What a great way to start the year - with delicious eats! I was in heaven!
All the work in the kitchen this morning must have made me ravenous because I went for a repeat of Round #1 with Round #2.
The roll was tender and the icing was nice and sweet. I'm glad we spent the extra money for the mascarpone - it was a wonderful treat! And the frittatas were pretty awesome. I'm definitely making those again. The fresh parsley really gave the eggs a nice pop of flavor.
I enjoyed my cinnamon rolls in true Diana-style. I like to my cinnamon rolls by peeling the ring apart and working my way to the middle.
Round and round we go!
This middle part is IMO the BEST part! The most tender and sugary and most icing-covered. Mmmmmmmmm
We let Bailey get in on the brunch celebration with a mini frittata.
I made him do some tricks before I gave him his New Year's treat and BOY did he LOVE it! He was all giddy after eating it.
We have special plans for New Year's Dinner, but more on that to come.
Are you eating anything special for New Year's?
I woke up this morning with a horrible crick in my neck, which meant I was going to be less productive than I had hoped to be. We still ended up having a pretty busy day!
I made baked banana oatmeal for breakfast.
Mix: 1 sliced banana, 3/4 cup oats, 1 1/2 cup milk, pinch flax, pinch salt, 2 tbsp maple syrup. Add to prepped casserole dish. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes until oatmeal cooked through - serves 2.
Later, I had organic lemongrass ginger tea w/ local honey to try to relax.
I finished The Lovely Bones. What a beautiful book! I loved it!
I had a toasted turkey sammie and leftover local sweet potato fries from last night (baked in oven to refresh) for lunch.
I noshed on local donuts and peppermint tea as an afternoon snack.
Hubby and I bought a new car!
Hubby and I got Mexican tonight for our NYE dinner.
We used to get dressed to the nines and party it up. Tonight, we wanted to be casual and comfy. We wore jeans and sweaters. It was quite nice.
Moji-garita.
Cheese dip.
Chicken fajitas! I only had one.
I got to use a pretty turquoise plate!
Sopapilla for dessert! Nothing like sweet, chewy deep-fried dough. Mmm...cinnamon-sugary!
A good samaritan saw me placing the camera on a dining table to take our first photo. She offered to take another one and I happily accepted. Aww...see, there is lots of good in the world. I love random acts of kindness!
Hubby and I are planning to keep NYE low-key. We might watch a movie, but we're definitely wearing PJs and staying IN! We'll have a nice family NYE together relaxing...ahhh.
What did you do for New Year's Eve?
I'm working on not sleeping in even though I'm on a stay-cation.
I couldn't wait to break into our cinnamon chip bread.
I made a quick breakfast of oven-broiled toast with real butter and a fried cage free egg with coffee - 1/2 Christmas Blend + 1/2 Peppermint Creme.
How-to Multi-task Errands
I love to multi-task it when I'm doing errands. I feel like, when done correctly, I can get so much more accomplished than when I take things step by step.
Step 1 - create a list of tasks.
Step 2 - note whether a task takes a short duration or long duration and which ones need 100% attention (vacuuming) and which ones can be left alone (laundry)
Step 3 - start a long duration, no-attention-needed task. While Task 1 works, do some of the shorter tasks. When Task 1 needs your attention again, work on it or complete it, and repeat Step 3.
Continue till you've completed all the errands you'd like.
Example:
Today, I had the following on my task list:
I multi-tasked some of my errrands:
Next on the agenda:
Dear Bloggers...
Please...PLEASE...stop saying "Viola!" when you mean to say "Voila!" A "viola" is a musical instrument. "Voila!" is said when you want to express something like "Ta-da!" Not everyone does this, but I've seen it on so many blogs...you know who you are. ;)
Hubby wanted me to bake and eat some trans-fat-filled cinnamon rolls this morning. I used to love them, crave them, and eat them all the time. But knowing that trans fats cause heart disease and stroke...I'm having a hard time wanting to consume them at all.
So, I sipped on coffee and waited and I guess hubby wasn't so hungry after all because he got to work while I worked on my email inbox. Before I knew it, it was 10:30am and I still hadn't eaten anything! I didn't feel like cooking, so a yogurt parfait was sounding pretty good. I love the ease and simplicity of parfaits.
I broke out a vegan So Delicious Cultured Coconut Milk yogurt in Strawberry Banana. These dairy and soy free yogurts are more "water-y" (thickness-wise) than traditional yogurts (sort of like Wallaby's) but I don't mind and I LOVE the flavor with that hint of coconut-y-creaminess from the coconut milk base. Oh, and please note, when I say "water-y", I mean that the texture is more liquid-y than something like a Greek yogurt which is super-thick. The So Delicious yogurts are very creamy in flavor.
(I also used this brand of yogurt for the vegan chocolate chip blondies I made for the Healthy Ashley bake sale)
Aren't parfaits the easiest? Pour yogurt into a bowl + add toppings. Done and done!
My toppings: sliced almonds, flaxseed, chia seeds, and toasted wheat germ.
I find these coconut-based yogurts a nice change of pace from traditional, dairy yogurts. I love em both but I like to switch them up, too, to experience the different flavors. The strawberry banana of this particular yogurt was lovely - sweet and subtle.
Whether you're vegan or not (hey, I'm not!), whether you eat dairy products or not, check out the Soy Delicious yogurts - they are fabulous and make a great breakfast, snack, or even dessert!
I love how the blogosphere brings together so many great people together and how the holidays let's their paths cross.
I kept breakfast light today because I had a bloggie get-together planned for lunch.
I made one base batch of oats with 1/2 water, 1/2 2% milk, organic cane sugar, and flaxseeds for me and hubby.
We each got different toppings:
For hubby: a drizzle of maple syrup, almonds, chocolate chips, and fresh ground honey roasted PB
For moi: a drizzle of maple syrup, almonds, unsweetened organic coconut and a tee-niny dabble of that honey-PB.
After some blogging fun and checking emails, I got ready and headed out for my bloggie outing with Kristen of Eating RD who was in town for the holidays.
We hit up a local favorite - Toast Cafe where they serve breakfast/brunch all day! I love getting breakfast at other non-breakfast meals.
The inside of the restaurant was super cute. I loved the relaxed and casual vibe and friendliness of the staff.
They had snippets from local media where they've been featured next to the door.
Kristen and I had a tough time choosing between all the delicious items on their menu and their specials.
Kristen got the raspberry walnut pancakes with bacon. She graciously shared a bite with me so I can attest that they were veeery tasty!
I got the soup and 1/2 sandwich combo with a turkey reuben (sauce on the side) and chicken chowder. The perfect cold-weather combo! They were both very good.
(a photo with Kristen's Rebel since my baby is still in the shop)
I loved that they used roasted turkey instead of just deli meat in their sandwich. I didn't end up using any sauce - the sammie was delish without it!
The chicken chowder was nice and comforting and had big pieces of white meat chicken with lotsa yummy veggies.
After lunch, we did a quick photo shoot by the sign and front door.
Next up, we took a trip to Starbucks for some afternoon tea.
We both got the Zen hot tea (a green/peppermint/lemon mix) and split a cinnamon chip scone.
The tea was the perfect blend of flavors - we both loved it.
The scone was also quite tasty. I liked that it didn't have too much glaze.
We even found two cozy arm chairs to lounge around in. Perfect!
(a couple more Rebel photos thanks to Kristen)
I had a fabulous time meeting and hanging out with Kristen! It was so refreshing and fun to hang out with someone who shares so many similar thoughts and hopes.
Kristen, I hope you can make it to zumba this week and please visit again soon! (and thanks for sharing some of your photos with me!)
You can check out Kristen's recap by clicking here
After my bloggie adventures, I swung by a local fabric store. I thought I'd make it a quick stop to see if I could find some fabric for curtains. Of course me and crafty things are typically not short and I blew the afternoon browsing patterns and materials.
I'm considering making some valances for our formal living room with this beautiful Waverly fabric. It's pretty pricey so I'd much rather make valances than full blown curtains.
I picked up some material that I may attempt to use to make a skirt...we'll see. I have so many projects I'd like to do and not enough free time!
Time to get my dance on!
After my fun bloggie dinner outing, I came home to veg on the couch with my WIP: an amigurumi bunny.
I had completed the body, head/face and only needed to make 2 arms, 2 legs, and 2 ears.
Once I had all the pieces done, I just had to assemble.
Voila! My MIL named her Betty.
Betty proved to be very adventurous and promptly started exploring.
Since it was late, Betty didn't get very far before wanting to be tucked in.
But, in the morning (this morning), she was up early and moving about.
I finally found her outside and tucked her away into a gift bag to be opened later.
I enjoyed some coffee in a mug hubby and I gave his mom. They are from Starbucks and have a pretty, bright red finish on the inside.
I had plans with hubby's fam (his sister and her fam drove in late Christmas night from out of town) to do a lunch later, so I kept breakfast light with an egg and cheese biscuit and piece of chicken sausage.
Post-breakfast, we had another round of gift-opening for hubby's sis' fam.
Betty found her new friend, Cami (in the red dress), and will be going home with her.
Yay presents!
Hubby and I enjoyed a lazy morning on Saturday.
We kicked things off with breakfast - blueberry pancakes (with maple syrup), bacon, orange juice, and coffee.
After breakfast and some continued relaxation around hubby's mom's house, we took my MIL out to see Sherlock Holmes. I grew up loving all the Sherlock Holmes stories, books, and movies (or was it a TV show?), so I'm a big fan. This Sherlock was very different from the calmer, quieter one I remember growing up, but I still thought the movie was quite enjoyable.
Since internet access and computer access isn't as easy as it is at home, hubby and I headed in search of free wifi so I could get some blogging done.
We ended up at Barnes & Nobles where I noshed on a gingerbread soy latte and shared a blueberry scone with hubby. I was disappointed that the B&N didn't offer short cups. When I tried to order my drink "short" (aka what used to be considered a Starbucks-small), they said they didn't have shorts since they're "Barnes & Nobles." I'm pretty sure the cafe has "Starbucks" plastered everywhere (see it on my cup!?) and Starbucks carries shorts, but whatever.
They nicely heated up my blueberry scone since I was dining in. It was super good. The blueberry scones are a bit of an indulgence for me. I used to eat them a couple times a week till I learned how bad they are for you (calorie/fat-wise).
While in the neighborhood, hubby and I met up with Sarah + Josh (whom we met at Michelle's holiday party) for a bloggie-dinner at Rockwood Filling Station.
I loved the colorful artwork inside.
I kicked things off with the seasonal brew (which hubby helped me finish) - a Dogfish IPA - and some water.
Josh ordered deviled eggs for a starter and hubby and I split one. They were good - nice and creamy.
Hubby and I split an Arugula Salad (from the menu) - Pinenuts & Parmesan Reggiano with Lemon Vinaigrettte - $6
Now, I've had arugula salads before, but this one tasted so much better! I think it was the combo of the lemon vinaigrette and fresh parm. Yummers!
We got a couple pies to share:
White Pie (from the menu) - Ricotta, Fontina, Spinach, Carmelized Onions, Roasted Artichokes & Basil Pesto - with a whole wheat crust.
Very tasty combo. I had a quarter of this pizza. I didn't even miss the tomato sauce and thought the flavors went well together.
Bolognese (from the menu) - Pork & Beef Bolognese, Mushroom, Arugula, Roasted Peppers, and Parmesan Reggiano.
I loved this one, too. I had 1/8th of this pie. I thought the meat was nice and light and liked the arugula on top. I can't get enough shaved parm, too...mmm...
We ordered a Chocolate Tiramisu to split between the table. I've never seen a tiramisu served like this - very unique.
The flavor of the dessert proved to be delicious. I loved how this tiramisu had a chocolate-y twist.
So glad to have more friends in hubby's hometown! We had a blast and hope to get together again soon!
Christmas day started slowly for me. I was still feeling a bit under the weather from the previous day, though slightly better.
In addition to the whole wheat rolls, hubby and I also brought a loaf of Great Harvest Chocolate Babka. I was itching to try this stuff – it looked so good when I picked it up!
Hubby’s mom toasted some of the bread up. I may or may not have snuck a (non-toasting) half while the bread toasted.
Then, I had the opportunity to be the taste-tester to verify the bread was toasty enough. I happily obliged.
I also got to enjoy a piece fresh from the toaster. I picked the chocolate-iest one I could find. The bread was good plain but boy was it good toasted! The way the chocolate was ooey and gooey…be still my heart!
Coffee to wake up and Orange Juice for the vitamin C.
Bailey tried to help me feel better.
Breakfast helped me feel better too: egg casserole with pesto, provolone, and tomatoes, hash browns, toast (whole wheat rolls and chocolate babka)
Per the usual, I had a bit of everything.
Then, it was present time. I scored big! I forgot to take photos of the presents but will try to recap some of my faves later.
Leftover breakfast made for a great afternoon snack: more casserole. hash browns, and chocolate babka. And no, you can never have enough chocolate-y bread in your life. I like to eat as much as my stomach will fit. ;)
After relaxing in the afternoon, it was time to get ready for the annual family Christmas dinner.
I kicked off the evening with some Frenzy Sauvignon Blanc.
I snacked on veggies…these pictured and a few not.
…while we watched a photo slideshow of hubby’s aunt & uncle’s recent trip to New Zealand and Australia. Such beautiful photos! Makes me want to visit.
Then, things got serious in the kitchen.
I was in charge of the mashed potatoes.
Large table for a house full of family.
This year, I had the 8th day of Christmas cup, along with some more wine.
My plate #1: salad, roll, dressing, dry dressing (yup, we have 2 types of dressing and the dry one is made by hubby’s mom and famous in this family), real butter, mashed potatoes, turkey, and gravy (made with BEER!).
I told hubby’s uncle that next year, hubby may have some brew he can use to make his gravy.
Small seconds on turkey and gravy.
Proof the potatoes were a smashing success!
Smashing…get it? Smashing! ;)
More QT by the Christmas tree. Hubby and I received some generous gifts from our fam for our house: some gorgeous light-turquoise towels (a full set of 2 – bath, hand, and wash towels) and a Martha Stewart (yay!) light turquoise flannel sheet set.
After gift-opening, it was time for dessert!
I gave half of this slice of sorbet-cake dessert to hubby so I had room to try more goodies…
A small slice of apple pie (also split with hubby)
and a sugar cookie with a turquoise peace sign. I managed to eat this one all by myself!
Decaf coffee with milk and sugar…I love the way coffee tastes with dessert. Hubby, the used-to-not-drink-coffee-one requested the coffee this time and I’m glad he did.
Aren’t these spoons they served the coffee with beautiful?
I hope everyone had wonderful holidays and Merry Christmases this year!
I have some vanilla soy milk here that will expire over the weekend, so I decided to cook my oatmeal in it to help use it up.
I gotta enjoy my stove top oats while I have the time (I typically don't make stove top during the week in my rush to get to work).
Today's mix was an attempt to use up leftovers around the house.
Quasi Directions:
I cooked 1/4 cup extra thick oats in 2/3 cup vanilla soy milk with a pinch of flaxseed. I've found a little extra liquid help make my oats the consistency I like.
On top, I crumbled some leftover GHBC Pumpkin/Cinnamon Chip scuffin, I added some fresh-ground honey roasted PB, and a couple carob chips for good measure.
(I didn't add any extra sweetener since the vanilla soy milk was already so sweet)
Yummers! What a fab combo! I normally don't like to mix a lot of different flavors together, but these went together surprisingly well. Maybe because they're all relatively "light" flavors?
Hubby and I are about to try to find a doggie bed for Bailey. He needs like 3 of them, but one will do for now.
Then, we have to pack and we're off to visit Dan's fam for Christmas!
Merry Christmas Eve everyone!
I tried stopping by Great Harvest Bread Company yesterday to pick up baked goodies to take to Dan's fam for Christmas. They were sold out (save pre-orders) by 2pm. That's what I get for not ordering ahead. I asked the nice guy behind the counter when I should go the next day and he said he'd shoot for 7am because by 9am, there would probably be a long line. Waking up early is not on my I'm-on-vacation-from-work agenda. I woke up at 8am and groggily rolled out of bed, threw on a cap, took Bailey out, and headed out.
This is what I looked like and yes those are basically sweat pants. I was too sleepy to care about appearances and just wanted to get to GHBC as soon as possible to avoid the growing line. I think once you've walked all around a college campus in sweatpants, jeans, t-shirts, and sweaters seeing EVERYONE you know, you don't mind walking around like that in public.
I got the GHBC around 8:30am. It was empty! Yippee! The line started picking up just as I was checking out. Guess my timing was good today.
I got some whole wheat rolls, a chocolate babka loaf, and 2 mini cinnamon rolls.
I also grabbed a coffee and then decided to run some errands while I was out. First, I hit up Trader Joe's.
I also stopped by Staples to get some graph paper, sticky notes, & a 2010 planner (in pink!)
I decided to pick up a bunch of pantry items for my Eat in Month Challenge:
Almost all of these items will last through January and will be around if I need food in a pinch. Typically, I get food "out" when I'm tired or don't feel like going to the grocery store. By having food around that cooks up quickly, I will have an easier time sticking to my challenge.
Hubby thought it would be nice for us to get a sit-down breakfast today, so we headed to a local cafe.
I got 2 fried eggs, bacon, home fries, and a single pumpkin pancake.
With coffee.
I couldn't finish.
Hubby helped me, luckily.
On the way back home, I checked on my parsley - a gift from my mom. I hope this baby lasts longer than the last few. I couldn't keep any fresh herbs alive at my old apartment thanks to the complete lack of natural light. Now that I have a yard, I'm hoping this will no longer be a problem.
Bailey chewed away on his bone this afternoon. He LOVES this thing!
I sipped on some organic lemongrass ginger tea...
...Whilst working on some layouts for our rooms.
I used to do this trick when I was a kid re-arranging my bedroom. Measure your room and furniture. Using graph paper, draw your room out and cut out pieces of paper to represent your furniture.
Move your furniture cut-outs around to see how it best fits in the room.
Hubby and I are considering getting some bedroom furniture from IKEA, so we wanted to see how it fit first. Lookin good!
Leftovers from yesterday for lunch. Hubby helped me finish the pasta.
Mini cinnamon roll for lunch-dessert. Mmm...
Next up, an impromptu dinner out!
Some of my zumba friends are also blog readers. Hey Guys! :)
They've mentioned how my pumpkin oats look really yummy, so I got the idea to do a Chic Breakfast Kit to get them started making their own delicious Chic-esque breakfasts. I made these a couple weeks ago, but I couldn't post this blog until I gave them their gifts, though, otherwise, they'd know what I got them!
So, what's in a Chic Breakfast Kit, you ask?
Well, first let's start with the outside - an adorable Christmas-y bag. Hubby actually picked these out for me, along with the coordinating tissue paper. Gotta give em something to tote their goodies in.
Inside: Old fashioned oats, canned organic pumpkin, a loaf of Great Harvest bread...
golden flaxseeds, and chia seeds.
Basically, all of my favorite base goodies to make breakfast, whether it's oatmeal or toast (my two main AM eats). Either way you're getting a good serving of whole grains and some other goodies to boot.
I made 3 kits for my zumba friends. Now those will make some good breakfast, eats, no?
Just add milk, water, sweetener of choice for perfect oats. Add nut butter, jam, real butter for a quick toast breakfast. Nut butters make a better combo with the bread so you get your protein and carbs. Best to add some protein/nut-butter to the oatmeal, too, for that matter!
Happy breakfast eats!
The saying "Better late than never" is true, right? Right!
This morning I worked on some last minute Christmas cards over breakfast. I know Christmas is later this week, but...I dunno...it just sorta...slipped my mind? I'm going to go ahead and blame being so busy at work. Yea...that sounds good. It's all work's fault!
I finally got to use the Christmas mug I got as a gift. It's so cute! This mug is the perfect holder for a brew of 1/2 Christmas Blend and 1/2 Peppermint Creme. Yum!
I talked hubby into eating some oatmeal with me by offering one of his fave combos: PB + Chocolate Chip.
I heated milk, flaxseeds, and unsweetened cocoa powder to a boil and then cooked extra thick oats and about 1 tsp agve syrup in the mixture till the right consistency. I served the oats into two bowls. Hubby's was topped with a sprinkling of sugar and non-dairy chocolate chips, sliced almonds, with a spoonful of that fresh-ground honey roasted PB. Mine got the PB too, but the rest of my toppings were different: no sugar, yes PB, yes almonds, sub vegan carob chips.
I could barely finish this bowl of oats...it was HUGE!
I'm off to finish my cards, maybe do some house stuff and then have some yarn-y fun with my zumba friend Kat. Cheers!
Today feels like the first day of my vacay, even though I was off Friday. I could think of no better way to spend it than enjoying a bowl of hot oatmeal and watching the zumba DVDs I received back at my Zumba Basic 1 workshop that I haven't had the time to watch yet. I can't believe it's taken this long.
I decided on breakfast around this container of Honey Roasted Fresh-Ground Peanut Butter I picked up from Whole Foods last Friday.
We had some bananas that were starting to speckle brown, so I decided to add one in, since I like the taste of bananas and peanut butter.
There's something about mashed fruit that kind of grosses me out, but the only thing worse than mashed fruit is half-mashed fruit.
So, I tried to mash the bananas pretty good.
I added them to the pot with milk, water, and flaxseed and brought to a boil
Soon enough, I had breakfast ready and just had to select a DVD to watch.
I decided to watch more than 1 and watched the Basic Step DVD for Merengue (because mine sucks and needs help) and then popped in Cardio Party Live.
Dude, these people are working it out! HOW are they not sweating?!
Mashed banana, extra thick oats with a spoonful of Honey Roasted PB on the side. The banana was so sweet, I didn't even add extra sweetener. I love being able to use natural sweeteners.
Ahh...I should have breakfasts like this more often!
Great food and great entertainment!
I'm baking cookies with friends later and possibly exchanging curtains at Pottery Barn thanks to the comments on my curtain question post. You guys rock!
Hubby and I slept in…aaahhh…I needed that.
Breakfast was biscuits – first up – an egg and bacon biscuit (I think they used a whole wheat version of biscuit this time)
Then, a butter and honey biscuit.
With coffee and juice
Bailey was a little cuddle-monkey this morning.
We didn’t sit around long…we had a movie to catch. We saw Avatar! The graphics and visuals were, of course, amazing. I loved the little world they created. Such neat animals, plants, and people. Have you seen the movie yet? If yes, what did you think? What was your favorite plant?
After the movie, hubby and I headed downtown to grab a (very) late lunch and some coffee at one of my favorite home town spots – Coffee Underground.
Coffee Underground is a spot I used to frequent since I was a teenager. I love the atmosphere, the food, and of course the coffee!
We sat in a new room they must have added within the last year – the “Red Room”. Very cozy and intimate in there. I liked it.
I ordered a combo lunch – quiche and soup. I got the sundried tomato quiche with the 3-bean veggie chili.
Everything was very good. I even found some zucchini in my chili. I didn’t know you could put “other” veggies in chili, but I thought it was a nice addition and may have to add some in mine next time.
The quiche was a really nice portion and the mixture of flavors went well together. I thought the chili had a nice slightly spicy quality and I liked that it was vegetarian because it helped keep the dish both hearty and light.
Though the food was tasty, I only made it about halfway into mine before having hubby help me finish.
The thing I was most looking forward to was a delicious coffee. One of the last times I came here, I tried to order my fave pistachio latte, but they had discontinued the flavor!
I guess I wasn’t the only one who inquired about it because I saw it on the menu again today and they actually had it! I had been thinking maybe the menu was just old, but I knew they updated it pretty frequently so I had hope.
The pistachio latte was just as delicious as I remembered it and even had a bit of froth-art in the top!
The weather was really clearing up by the time we left – a HUGE improvement over the yucky weather yesterday.
The downtown area was bustling with people everywhere. There was a “winter wonderland” set up with fake snow and a carousel.
I love the downtown area. I used to frequent this place before they made it over and it’s really come a long way.
Hey soldier!
I’m glad hubby and I got a good meal in because we ended up doing some pretty good shopping post-lunch. Most stores were packed with people buying last minute gifts.
Hubby and I bought a cook book by a local chef who was in a retail store running a special – buy the book and get a gift certificate to one of his restaurants…plus you get his autograph, too!
Chef Rodney Freidank , from the popular + local restaurant Soby’s, was very nice and fun to meet. I hope to try out a couple of his recipes soon.
We shopped around more and found some good presents. We donated some money to have a couple gift-wrapped. The money is going to Safe Harbor Crisis Shelter. We thought it was win-win. They even did handmade bows!
A few trips later and we were back home and ready to eat! Christmas Dinner #1 up next…
Wow, really jealous of the Windows bloggers right now because Windows Live Writer really is awesome…but I digress…
Hubby and I woke up late-ish, but thank goodness we got to sleep in at least a little after our late trip in to visit my parents.
Mom whipped up a quick breakfast: fried egg, piece of Great Harvest Dakota toast with real butter.
My parents informed us we still had to go out and get our turkey for our Christmas dinner, so a trip to Whole Foods was in order. Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating and was horrible outside! Nearly-frozen rain was pouring out of the sky and we weren’t sure when it would start turning to ice on the roads.
ICK!
We braved the weather and even stopped at Mimi’s Cafe for a quick lunch. I took a bunch of photos on my iPhone but for some reason, my sister’s computer isn’t able to get the photos off my iPhone, so I’ll just go verbal here.
I got the endless soup and salad with a green salad with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing, 1 small bowl of vegetarian veggie soup and 1 small bowl of French Onion soup with an Oat Bran muffin. Everything was quite tasty, though I did overdo it trying to finish that HUGE muffin!
I almost ordered a special combo meal they had which came with a mini apple crisp, but it just seemed like too much food. I’m craving apple crisp now, though! lol
After lunch, we hit up Whole Foods. How jealous am I that we don’t have one of these in town!? The Whole Foods was awesome, though I was a tad disappointed they didn’t have the juice bar like I’ve seen at others. I was planning to order something!
Though I did manage to hold myself back from buying more stuff than I can take back home, I did get some fresh-ground honey roasted peanut butter – can’t wait to try this stuff out!
After WF, we headed home as soon as possible to de-frost. My parents used to do the traditional hodge-podge tree with a random assortment of sizes, shapes and colors of ornaments. Over the last couple years, they’ve done a white, silver, and blue tree, which I think is really pretty.
They always hang our “Teddy ornament.” We got this ornament when we had our German Shepherd, Teddy, who passed away a few years ago. He was an amazing dog and friend and family member, and we miss him terribly.
To help with our de-frosting, I made some hot tea. I went with a family favorite – Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime. The flavors are so simple and mellow, but I love them.
I think it’s almost time to start dinner, so I’m going to head downstairs and see if I can help out.
I leave you with one of my favorite Christmas songs – All I Want for Christmas is You by Mariah Carey
What’s your favorite holiday song?
NOTE: Finally caved and downloaded on hubby’s and my sister’s (non Mac) computers so I can blog away from home. Not loving what it’s doing to my code, but I guess that’s just the geek in me.
Some days I don’t know what I’m thinking trying to accomplish as much as I do.
Things started off with a nice breakfast of Choco-Banana-Date Oatmeal with Christmas Blend coffee.
Bailey was fast asleep on the couch while I munched away.
At work, we had our small but mighty holiday pot luck.
We had ham, cheesy potatoes…
Salad (with a great assortment of veggies may I add – green peppers, pepperoncinis, cherry tomatoes, carrots and even green onions)…
Chips and dip…
More delicious handmade chocolate…
Peppermint and Cookies and Cream bark…
My cookies! (Like you expected me to bring anything else! lol)…My healhtified Oatmeal Butterscotch cookies.
…pecan tassies…
I quickly loaded up a plate with a little bit of everything…savory first, though. I don’t like my salty and sweet to touch.
Of course when the mac and cheese arrived late…
I had to make room!
My sweet plate – a little bit of everything again.
I even got a box of chocolates to take home as a party favor.
I traded around to get some more caramels and added in some Cookies and Cream bark for hubby.
Gosh a ladybug just started crawling around the keyboard out of nowhere! Kind of scared me, but ladybugs are one bug I can tolerate. Plus, they’re lucky! And I can always use some more luck!
My family has long loved The Fresh Market. I've grown up trying their delicious coffee samples and drinking their coffee. If you haven't tried it before, do! If you have a FM near you, they have free coffee samples 24/7.
I love trying the FM seasonal coffees. I wanted to try their winter blends sooner, but just haven't made it to the store...till yesterday. Better late than never, right? I scored both of these coffee flavors at a great deal (almost 50% off one flavor) and couldn't wait to dig into them this morning.
I forgot to set my alarm clock this morning, so made a quick breakfast: Great Harvest Honey Whole Wheat toast with Barney Butter and a brew of 1/2 Christmas Blend and 1/2 Peppermint Creme.
I thought about going 100% Peppermint, but wasn't sure if hubby would like it, so I played it safe using the mild Christmas Blend, too.
I read on twitter that today is National Chocolate Day. I didn't have time to validate with a google search (like anyone needs an excuse to celebrate chocolate, right?), so I celebrated with another caramel chocolate handmade by my co-worker.
I also had a chocolate covered pretzel.
Hubby and I are about to go out for a celebratory dinner. We're not 100% sure where we're going, but I'm sure it will be something awesome! I'm starving, so I can't wait!
It's turning into holiday crunch time. Before we know it, Christmas will be here...ready or not! I feel like I have a million things to do - making presents, buying presents, wrapping presents, plus a ton of holiday traveling, cooking, baking, eating and all that jazz.
Woke up later than I expected and rushed around getting to work.
I had an 8:30am meeting I couldn't be late for, so I grabbed Starbucks instead of making something at home. Starbucks two days in a row! Oh well, it's the holidays.
A lady at work made homemade chocolates. They looked so professional! I grabbed a couple to take home to enjoy later and share with hubby. Note to self: take chocolate lessons from co-worker...yum!
I got a spinach feta wrap and tall gingerbread latte.
I grabbed lunch with a co-worker at a new healthy spot near our office. I got a small vegan 3-bean chili soup and one of these homemade granola bars, in blueberry almond, the restaurant makes that I've been dying to try since reading about it on the menu.
Guess the meal, though on the light side, was more filling than I thought because I ended up not needing any more snacks, not even some pre-zumba fuel!
Worked the second half of the day from home and enjoyed a yerba mate tea.
I'll have to work some OT tomorrow because I took a break from work to bake some Vegan Chocolate Chip Blondies for Healthy Ashley's bake sale. I waited awhile to make them so I could send them early in the week (so they don't sit in a factory/warehouse somewhere going stale).
ZUMBA!
I've been holding off on going to zumba classes two days in a row thanks to my stupid injury, but decided tonight to go ahead and try it out. So far, so good...I'm glad I went. I felt pretty strong in class and even got in the front to help instructor Stacy lead some songs.
I'd really like to join a gym or possibly get a job teaching zumba at a gym so I can get a "free" membership. I'd like to do some cross training. Plus, it would be fun to put all my training to work.
I picked up these brussels sprouts yesterday from Trader Joe's. I've been craving brussels sprouts recently (I know that must sound weird), so I finally picked some up. They seemed to always be out at TJ's when I was looking for them.
Brussels Sprouts Directions: Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F. Cut rough end of sprouts and remove outer leaves then cut in half. Toss in drizzle of EVOO, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast 15-20 minutes.
I used leftover tomato juice, an onion, and a garlic clove to turn leftover brown rice into a tomato-y rice pilaf.
Rice Directions: I sauteed onions in EVOO over medium heat till translucent. I added the garlic and cooked for 60 seconds. I added about 1 cup tomato juice and simmered for about 5-7 minutes till reduced by about 1/3. Just before serving, I added my leftover rice and cooked to warm through.
Shrimp Directions: I sauteed the shrimp in EVOO, seasoned with salt, pepper, and turmeric over medium for about 5 minutes, till shrimp were opaque and cooked through.
Dinner is served!
Simple and tasty. I have to have easy meals like this after long days like today and late nights out dancing my arse off in class.
I sampled one of my blondies for dessert. What? I HAD to make sure they were OK before shipping them off. What if I had accidentally used salt instead of sugar!? That would have been tragic.
Luckily the vegan chocolate chip blondie was reaaally good. Even hubby liked them! I didn't tell him they were vegan till after he said he liked them. ;)
The dark chocolate-caramel candy was really fab, too!
Two more days left in my work week and then I have more Christmas planning/shopping/creating to do. I can't wait! I'm hoping to plan out my vacay so I use it as efficiently as possibly. I'd like to balance some Christmas celebrating with some house-getting-ready-ing and some me-time!
Do you have all your holiday shopping done or do you have more to do?
Day #1 without my baby...my DSLR. I'm missing it already. In hindsight, I probably should have just kept my camera through Christmas and New Years, popping the battery in and out all day (literally-I popped it in and out about 20 times yesterday and that was just to shoot lunch...grr) so I would have at least had the great holiday photos. Alas, in an effort to stop procrastinating, I took charge and shipped her off yesterday. *sniff*
Luckily, the point and shoot hubby got me awhile back is pretty darn good, so I managed some decent photos today.
I had an old-favorite I haven't had in awhile for breakfast today - TOAST!
Normally I do a nut butter on my toast, but today, I let my Morningstar "sausage" be the savory to my sweet toast. I topped my toast with pomegranate jelly and Dark Chocolate Dreams.
I love how easy a great piece of whole wheat bread can make getting a serving of whole grains.
It was suuuuper foggy outside today!
The fog was supposed to go away late morning, but it stuck around all day long.
Perfect day for grass-fed pot roast leftovers with organic veggies and brown rice.
I got a present at work today. I didn't even see it coming! So nice to have such friendly and thoughtful co-workers around, no?
Inside - Ghirardelli White Mint chocolate, hot cocoa mix, a shortbread cookie, some candy canes...
...and the CUTEST mug! I love the size, shape, and the little skating snow guy on the front.
White pomegranate tea to ward off that darn yucky foggy weather.
A White Chocolate Chunkies cookie for lunch-dessert. I brought the last of my cookies in to work to spread holiday cheer to my co-workers. They went pretty fast!
Zumba fuel=WW toast with Barney Butter. Toast twice in one day...you bet! What can I say...I love my carbs.
ZUMBA
Fab-oo 1 hr zumba workout tonight with my zumba pals. Instructor Megan even dropped a song on the playlist to make sure I could come up to the front. Thanks Megan!
I got in the front, jammed out, and practiced mirroring to:
SO FUN! Being in the front is awesome...especially when you know the choreography and aren't worried about totally effing up the class by demonstrating the wrong thing...lol.
Tempura zucchini
Terriyaki rice ball bite - shared by Kat - Thanks Kat!
Forgot to photography my Cali roll with Masago. You guys know what it looks like, though!
I'm taking a couple weeks off of work starting Friday. So excited! I can't wait for lounging, watching Food TV during the day (as opposed to via DVR), cooking, baking, crafting, and getting the house set up of course. Oh, and I'm looking forward to the obvious - Christmas celebrations with friends and family. :)
What are you most looking forward to doing during your holiday vacay?
Hubby and Bailey let me sleep in pretty late today.
I woke up pretty hungry and ready to do something with the ingredients I had leftover from the White Chocolate Chunkies cookies I made yesterday: candied cherries, white chocolate chips, macadamia nuts.
I chopped all the ingredients up to ensure I'd get a taste of each in every bite.
White Chocolate Cherry Macadamia Oats
(an informal recipe)
Welcome wake-up!
Goooood morning!
