Newtritionista

Blog Move

2010-04-01T10:15:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the EXTREME length of time that I have been absent from the Blog World, but if you happen to stumble upon this, please check out my new blog!

http://www.diybob.blogspot.com

New year, new me, new blog. :-)

Thanks!

Alyssa

What is WRONG with me?!

2008-12-18T06:08:00.000-08:00

I can barely get ONE post in every week lately! I need to stop this procrastinating. I'm getting stressed out, with Christmas coming up, and graduation last weekend (I'll post some pics later on today), plus working full time at preschool now. By the time I get home from work, I am literally just exhausted. Physically and mentally. My workout schedule has dwindled horribly. I get home from work, lay down on the couch, and SLEEP. I've been going to bed around 7 o'clock, it's horrible!

And today I woke up at 3am with the stomach flu (YUCK). But, at least I get an unplanned day off of work. However, I will be missing our staff Christmas party, which I made delicious turkey meatballs and Club Cracker Bars for. I guess Kris and I will have to eat them ALL. :-(

I'm going to quickly give you my eats from yesterday, just as a recap.

Breakfast
An omelet made with Egg Beaters, spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes and feta cheese.

Lunch
Tofu Shirataki Noodles with tomato sauce and steamed spinach and mushrooms on the side.

Snack
String Cheese!

Dinner
A 6-inch Subway Sub: Turkey with spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and peppers, with Sweet Onion sauce.

Luckily, when I'm getting stressed/depressed, I have my kitties. Here's another hilarious video for you guys! They are so darn cute!

Oh What a Day...

2008-12-10T19:59:00.000-08:00

Ok, not the best Hump Day ever. Work was stressful. Problem Child has turned into Demon Child. I know it sounds crazy, but I honestly think this kid is possessed. He's not the normal, temper-tantrum-throwing, "I'm-the-only-one-who-matters-in-this-world" 5-year old. People do exist inside his bubble, and he's out to get them. Once again, it sounds crazy. I wish I could honestly show you what it's like. I got off work, got in my car and cried the whole way home. I was finally able to let out all the anger and stress I've been holding in all day. It felt good.

Ok, enough negativity. GOOD EATS today.

Breakfast
Egg Beater Omelet with grape tomatoes, onions, turkey and mozzarrella.

Pippi tried to get some of it.

Lunch
"Shrimp Fettucine Alfredo" made with fettucine-shaped Tofu Shirataki noodles, 1/4 cup alfredo sauce, shrimp, okra, turkey bacon, tomatoes and parsley. YUM.

I also had a pear with my lunch (not pictured).

Dinner
Turkey Club Bagel Sammie

Veggies & Hummus on the side. Good and FILLING.

Ok I am tirrrrrrred. I'm going to sleep. Just like these guys!

Lean but Not-So Cuisine

2008-12-09T16:38:00.000-08:00

I was running late this morning, due to the fact that I needed to get on the road super early in order to make it to work on time with the horrible road conditions. I was pretty irritated that I had to go in at all. The elementary & high school was delayed two hours because of the snow, but the preschool wasn't! Ugh.

So breakfast was grab 'n go: A Kashi Trail Mix granola bar and a banana.

This was a big deal for me, since I hate bananas. Don't get me wrong, I love the flavor of them, so I can eat them in things. But the texture of them makes me gag. Can't help it.

I didn't have time to make lunch to bring with me either, and I wasn't able to do it last night because I fell asleep reaaaaaaallllllllllly early. So I grabbed a Lean Cuisine from the freezer. I'd picked up a couple of them several months ago for "just-in-case" days like today.

It was chicken in garlic sauce, with creamy parmesan spinach.

It honestly didn't taste too bad, but it was TEENY TINY. I was quite hungry afterward. I also had a tangerine with it.

When I got home from work (and running to the Dollar Store for a few things), I made supper right away. Spicy Shrimp Stir Fry.

It was really spicy, and my mouth is still on fire! But it was delicious. Ok I'm going to relax and watch Cold Case reruns on TNT. Good night everyone!

Feeling good on a Monday

2008-12-08T16:07:00.000-08:00

It is very abnormal for me to wake up in a good mood on a Monday! I think it was partly because I'm no longer working at my on-campus IT job (I'm now a full time assistant preschool teacher) and partly because of my adorable kitties who slept with us all night and woke me up at 5 am with kisses! I just can't get enough of them!!

As I mentioned before, our grocery stock is running verrrrry low, so breakfast was kind of a strange concoction: A piece of 12 grain toast with cinnamon & raisin peanut butter, blueberry preserves and dried cranberries.

It was really very good and kept me full for a long time!

I've never worked at the preschool on a Monday, so I was a little nervous- I didn't know if the kids would either be tired from a weekend of fun or hyper from a weekend of little to no activity. Turns out they were.... normal. Some hyper, somem tired. However, the impending snow storm definitely had them excited (I'll admit, I was excitable myself).

Lunch was one of my delicious salad creations made with random things found in the fridge. The last of my romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, imitation crab meat, onions, artichoke hearts, feta cheese and a crumbled wasa fiber cracker for crunch. Dressing was a drizzle of greek vinaigrette.

I also ate an orange, left over from the kids' lunch. (Not pictured).

After work I ran some errands, played with the kitties and CLEANED. I have some friends staying with me us this weekend (graduation party!) and I wanted to get a head start on the dusting/vacuuming, etc. It looks awesome in here now.

Well, I think I will surf the net for a while before Gossip Girl starts. That is, if Pippi lets me. She sometimes makes it hard...

Lunch & More Kitties

2008-12-06T15:53:00.000-08:00

I've never really had pets before. Growing up, we had a cat for a short time but my dad made us get rid of it (he wasn't fond of cats). Then we got three dogs, Nelson, Winnie & Abby, but they are outside hunting dogs (and SMELLY). I never fancied myself an animal lover.

Until now. :-)

Our groceries are pretty low right now, but we're trying to use up as much as we've got. I decided on some Garden Broccoli soup. It tasted like cream of broccoli soup, but it's much better for you!! The entire box (which makes a HUGE bowl) is only approx. 160 calories but packs a whole 6 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber! Love it.

On the side I had a piece of whole grain bread, toasted and spread with Brummel & Brown. I also had some small pieces of venison summer sausage. (That's deer meat, for all you southerners.)

Kris and I went to church at 4. I must admit though, the entire time we were there I sat imagining my wedding. The church is so beautiful, I can't wait to get married there!

I will leave you with a video of the kitties playing in our guest room (which they have completely taken over as their domain!). Have a great night guys!

I'm baaaaack!

2008-12-06T08:50:00.000-08:00

I took a little vacation guys. With the end of the semester closing in (I graduate next Saturday!!!), job searching, Thanksgiving, working, babysitting.... I needed one less thing to do for a week!

But now I'm back and ready to blog! And I have some very exciting news.

WE HAVE KITTIES!!!!!

Kris and I adopted two adorable little orange kitties, which we named Cheeto (male) and Pippi (female). They are brother and sister and were rescued October 9, 2008 in Blue Earth, MN. Each of them weighed 2 7/8 pounds and were estimated to be six weeks old. They were very sick for a while and spent 3 days in the pet hospital. They both rebounded wonderfully, right around Thanksgiving time. They are now healthy, loving and active kittens!

And we love them. They are so much fun to watch, Kris and I barely pay attention to the television anymore!

This morning I had a delicious breakfast: an Egg Beater omelet with pepper turkey, broccoli and asiago & mozzarella cheese.

I had a cup of Starbucks brand Christmas coffee with it.

Today my plan is to hang out with my kitties, watch a Christmas movie, go to church, and be sober driver for Kris and his friends. Tomorrow I babysit my boys all day, it should be fun! I love being with kids around Christmas time, they make it so much more fun!

I'm going to leave you with a few pics of Thanksgiving eats. My mom's pumpkin cranberry stuffing, fresh baked rolls and pumpkin pie. YUM.

I hope everyone is having a good Saturday!

And the answer is....

2008-11-26T17:40:00.000-08:00

DRESS NUMBER 3!!!!

Congratulations to those of you who got it, I was surprised by how many of you did!! Obviously, this one that I'm wearing in the pictures isn't fit to my size (hence, the clothespins), but trust me, it's a beautiful dress in person!

And, if any of you were wondering, my fiance Kris does not read my blog. He knows that I have it (and he thinks its great!) but since he's with me for the majority of my meals, he doesn't read it. And I told him that I posted a picture of my dress on here, so he knows to stay away!

Ok, on to my eats!

Breakfast
A peanut butter cookie Luna Bar. I dilly-dallied all morning so breakfast had to be something quick!

Lunch
A turkey, hummus, sprouts and cheese sammie! Simple, but wonderful! I also had an apple and some carrot sticks.

Dinner:
A HUUUUUUUUGE greek chicken salad! Spinach, leftover chicken, tomatoes, onions, feta cheese and greek dressing. SO good. I also had a glass of shiraz.

Alright... not sure what I'm doing for Thanksgiving Eve. A friend of mine is trying to convince me to go to the VFW in my hometown (about 20 minutes away from here) for a drink. I'm trying to convince another friend to come with me, since I don't want to go alone! Haha, I am a baby! We'll see what happens.

Last but not least, I want to send a BIG THANK YOU to my awesome/wonderful/beautiful friend and bridesmaid, Britt, for this very thoughtful Wedding Survival Kit she gave me the other day.

It included: Mini chocolate candy bars, starbursts, a massage thingamabobber, FOUR LARABARS!!, two aromatheraphy bath salts, a bunch of relaxation masks, Don't Sweat the Small Stuff for Weddings (I've already read half of it, LOVE IT!), a stress ball, and, of course, WINE. :-) LOVE YOU BRITT!

I am soooooooooo excited for Thanksgiving tomorrow. For the past two years, Kris and I have traveled to Chicago for his family's Thanksgiving. This year, we opted out and are spending it with my family! Tomorrow is hosted by my paternal grandmother, and we get another Thanksgiving on Saturday, hosted by my mom! TWO Thanksgiving. Awesome. Where are all of you going??!

Guess the Dress!

2008-11-26T07:51:00.000-08:00

Last weekend (and Monday) was spent searching for the perfect wedding dress. It was not as easy as I expected it to be! I was very nervous, since so many people told me "You just know it's the right one when you try it on."

NEVER SAY THIS TO SOME ONE WHO HASN'T BOUGHT THEIR DRESS YET!!! I was freaked out, thinking, what if I don't feel that way?! I tried on so many beautiful dresses, which I could easily see myself wearing. But I never felt what everybody kept telling me I'd feel. I thought there was something wrong with me!

But then, of course, I did find the right dress. And I now know that it is true what everybody tells you: you just know! I'm glad the stress is over and that I now have the perfect dress.

But I'm going to let you guess which one it is!! These were my three favorites that I tried on. One of them is "The One." Leave your guess in the comments!!

1. Dress 1: David's Bridal

2. Dress 2: Jessica McClintock

3. Dress 3: Mori Lee

I'll post later with eats and the answer!

Quick Weekend Recap

2008-11-24T05:32:00.000-08:00

I've been really busy this weekend, so I haven't had much time for blogging! I'm just going to do a quick "list" recap for you all. I'll get back to my normal blogging schedule tonight.

Friday

Breakfast:
"Topical Oats"- oatmeal sweetened with maple syrup, topped with vanilla yogurt, kiwi, pinapple, coconut and almond slices. YUM.

Lunch:
Lettuce wraps and fruit salad- big romaine lettuce leaves filled with chickpeas, alfalfa sprouts, tomatoes, onions, feta cheese and hummus. The fruit salad with a mixture of pineapple, black and red grapes.

Dinner: (No pic)
Stacia came down and we ordered pizza from Dominoes and played the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire boardgame. I had one slice of pepperoni and one slice of mushroom & green pepper.

Saturday

Breakfast:
An "on-the-go" breakfast of leftover mushroom and green pepper pizza. I also had some grapes (not pictured).

Lunch: (No pic)
My mom, my brother's girlfriend and I had gone wedding dress shopping and stopped at Ruby Tuesday's afterward. I had my usual lunch special- Turkey Minis with fries and the salad bar. MMM, MMM GOOD.

Dinner:
Since lunch was big, I wasn't real hungry for dinner. I ended up just making a bagel, topped with hummus, tomato slices and cheese, which I broiled in the toaster oven. Perfect light dinner.

Sunday

Breakfast:
Egg white omelet with imitation crab meat, artichoke hearts and asiago cheese.

Lunch:
I was pretty lazy yesterday, so I decided for lunch I would make a Lean Cuisine Panini that I'd bought the other day. I had the chicken, mushroom and spinach one. My review: very good! It truly is amazing how crispy the bread gets just from cooking it in the microwave. This is a good meal for busy days.

On the side I had a small ceasar salad made with some low-calorie ceasar dressing I'd picked up after church in the dollar section of our grocery store. Very yummy! I love ceasar salads.

Dinner:
After church I had put a whole bone-in chicken in the crockpot. The chicken was one of my parents' (they used to raise a few as a hobby). I just added garlic sea salt and black pepper, and turned the crock pot on low, and cooked for 7 hours. Perfect, fall-off-the-bone chicken.

I had a leg (I love dark meat, I can't help it) and some steamed asparagus, while reading a bridal magazine.

Ok, today's eats and wedding details to come later! Have a good Monday everyone!

More and MORE pumpkin recipes!

2008-11-20T18:36:00.000-08:00

Ok, I know I'm going kind of pumpkin crazy... but I can't help it! How have I never realized the fact that pumpkin literally makes everything better?! Hmm...

Ok, so I really wanted the same breakfast as yesterday (my chicken sausage egg white omelet) but I thought that would be kind of boring. Soooo I mixed it up with a Pumpkin Egg White Omelet.

I wisked together a half a cup of egg whites w/ a tablespoon of pumpkin puree. The omelet's filling consisted of honey roasted turkey, sauteed mushrooms and provolone cheese. The sublte sweetness of the pumpkin egg whites and the honey turkey, combined with the savory mushrooms and cheese was seriously AWESOME.

When I got to work today I realized that I had completely forgotten about our field trip to Cub Foods, to learn about where our moms and dads and grandmas and grandpas buy everything to get ready for Thanksgiving. It would have been such a fun trip if our kids hadn't been absolutely HORRIBLE. I was so embarassed. Thank God the store was pretty empty of shoppers and that I didn't know anyone there! The manager had set up and awesome tour, a bunch of demonstrations and even treat bags for the kids and they were absolutely out of control. Not listening, running all over the place, touching things, knocking things over. We had 27 kids and 7 adults. Should have been easy. It wasn't.

Once again, lunch break could not have come soon enough. However, when it finally DID come, I realized I'd made a mistake packing my lunch this morning! I'd brought a bunch of fresh veggies and some leftover canned chicken breast in a Ziploc Steam Bag, which was I was going to steam and then pour on a delicious Sweet Pepper and Honey Mustard dressing I'd prepared. But I forgot the dressing! So it was just plain old steamed veggies and canned chicken. BOR-ING.

I have to give it some credit though, since it kept me full until 7 pm!

I also had a Honey Crisp Apple and a Cherry Coke Zero.

After work I headed back to Cub Foods for some much-need grocery shopping. I was there for over an hour, trying to figure out what we really needed, what we could afford, what was a better deal, etc. I ended up buying a TON of groceries for a pretty low amount of money. Cub Foods might be nearing the top of my Favorite Grocery Stores list. Their stores have really changed in the past year or so. It used to remind me of a Sam's Club (or Costco) but now it's really nice inside and has a HUGE produce and organic section.

My Groceries:

From left to right: black grapes, Honey Crisp apples, Peanut Butter Company Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Peanut Butter, Mild Kimchi, Spinach, Reduced Fat French Onion Wheat Things, Kahiki Chicken Egg Rolls, a Lean Cuisine Panini (I've been meaning to try one!), maple syrup, canned artichoke hearts, Hunt's fire-roasted diced tomatoes, Chicken Broth, Miracle Whip Free, Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, V8 Soups (Sweet Red Pepper and Creamy Broccoli), Wasa Fiber Crackers, Athenos Crumbled Feta Cheese, Brummel and Brown, Turkey Bacon, Sargento Bistro shredded cheese, Crystal Farms string cheese, romano tomatoes, Sabra hummus with pine nuts, Tofu Shiratki noodles, mushrooms, kiwi, imitation crab legs, green pepper, sweet yellow onion and frozen cooked shrimp!

Woah. Now that's alot of food.

Dinner

Semi-Homemade Pumpkin Buttermilk Soup

Does anybody else watch the Food Network religiously? I don't quite as much as I used to (I just don't have time anymore!) but I looooooooooove Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee. I played on her ideas here a bit and made my own Semi-Homemade Soup.

1 can chicken broth
1 can Progresso Light Chicken & Noodle Soup
2 cups pumpkin puree
2 1/2 cups lowfat buttermilk
1 cup white button mushrooms, sliced
1 1/2 cups canned black beans, rinsed
Salt and pepper, to taste
Shredded asiago cheese (optional)

1. In a Dutch oven on medium, whisk together chicken brother, Progresso soup, pumpkin, buttermilk, salt and pepper.
2. Bring to boil; boil 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add beans and mushrooms.
4. Reduce heat to low; simmer 20-30 minutes, until mushrooms are tender.
5. Top soup with a little asiago cheese and freshly ground pepper.
6. SERVE! :-)

This soup was honestly sooooo good. The cheese really does add something, I would reccommend it! I had two bowls of this for supper and I am very satisfied.

For dessert, I had a glass of Yellowtail pinot noir (my Thursday night 'cocktail'):

AND.... a double-stuffed oreo with a little bit of cinnamon raisin swirl peanut butter on top. OH MY GOD this was amazing. You all need to run out and buy both of these things. Or, maybe you shouldn't, you'll never stop eating them! So good, seriously.

Okaaaaaaaay Grey's Anatomy is over and I'm pretty tired. I just probably go to bed! Good night everybody! TOMORROW IS FRIDAY!! :-)

yaaaaaaaaaaaaawn

2008-11-19T19:36:00.000-08:00

I had quite a long day today. Quick breakdown: work, meeting, work, doctor appointment, workout, kris's basketball game... I just got home and all I want to do is SLEEP, SLEEP, SLEEP!

So, quickly, here are today's eats (or, at least, what I took a picture of):

Breakfast was a HUGE, FILLING egg white omelet with a diced chicken sausage and sauteed mushrooms in it. And a teeny, tiny bit of cheese (there was cheese inside the chicken sausage, so it didn't need much!)

Soooooooooo good.

Lunch was a quick sandwich I threw together before leaving the house today. Turkey, provolone, lettuce and tomatoes w/ fat free miracle whip. Sounds boring, but it's one of those sandwiches that reminds me of being little. When things were simple.

My workout did feel awesome, but I think I might have overdone it a little bit, since I was feeling so guilty for my long gym hiatus. 6 miles on the treadmill, 3 on the bike, plus abs and short upper body workout.

By the time I finally got home tonight I was too tired to cook my planned dinner (a surprise for tomorrow, then!) so I just ate a bowl of cereal. I was too exhausted/hungry to even bother taking a picture. Don't worry, you didn't miss much. It was cinnamon puffins and Fiber One. Meh.

Other eats of the day, not pictured:
Morning snack of baby carrot sticks
Post workout snack of apple and chocolate chip Z-bar

Thank you to everyone's nice comments about last night's dinner. I think maybe I will submit it to the BSI contest. Who's hosting it this week??

Good night all!

Tuesday's (Newtritionista) Iron Chef Ingredient: Pumpkin

2008-11-18T19:15:00.000-08:00

I accidentally opened two cans of pumpkin puree over the weekend, when I only used a cup... (don't ask).... so I have ALOT of pumpkin to use. Today I decided to work it into every single meal!

Breakfast was Pumpkin Oats with Fage mixed with cherries on the bottom.

I ate ALL of the oatmeal, but I must admit, I ate very little of the yogurt (I did pick the cherries out). I want to like Fage so bad, and I just CAN'T. It tastes like sour cream. :-( And I have to put SO much stuff in it in order to make it bareable, the calorie content skyrockets. I prefer flavored Chobani. Why oh WHY can't they sell them around here?!

Work... sucked. Kids threw up, kids hit me, kids did this, kids did that... hmmm. Somehow, I do end up with a satisfied feeling at the end of the day, though. (Maybe I'm just proud that I didn't have a meltdown, scream and pull out all of my hair?! I don't know.)

Lunch break could not have come any sooner! I actually got to take it a little early today (Noon) because I had to go work in the infant room from 12:30 to 2:30. (The infant room is MUCH more relaxing... I love cuddling babies!)

For lunch I had packed another amaaaaaaazing salad. It consisted of romaine lettuce, sprouts, broccoli slaw, carrots, pumpkin, cauliflower, salsa, chickpeas and black beans. I drizzled on a tiny bit of light honey mustard dressing.

Then I had some leftover carrots from the kids' lunch. They were sweetened with maple syrup, I think, like on Thanksgiving! YUMMMMMM.

AND a peanut butter cookie. But it was small!

So I know I promised myself a workout today. However, I was little on my feet the ENTIRE day (except for my lunch break), and I WAS EXHAUSTED. Trust me, I exercised today. In fact, AARP says that the average childcare worker burns 211 calories per hour. I don't know about you, but I'd call 8 hours on the job a workout, then.

I had a hard time deciding on what to make for dinner. Kris wanted to heat up some of his leftovers, so I microwaved myself a spaghetti squash and turned it into a fantastic gourmet-esque meal.

Spaghetti Squash in a Spicy Pumpkin Marinara Sauce

The sauce's ingredients:

1 15 oz. can of organic tomato sauce
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 jar 9 oz. jar Festival Spicy Garlic marinated mushrooms
1/2 tablespoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons hot sauce
2 teaspoons Mexican oregano
1 teaspoon dried parsley
Ground Sea Salt and Ground Black Pepper, to taste

Mix it all together and heat in a saucepan! The pumpkin adds an awesome flavor and works as a thickener. I LOVED this sauce. It especially complemented the spaghetti squash.

Here were the delicious mushrooms I added:

I had some steamed garlic asparagus on the side.

Ok. Bedtime. And I WILL get in a gym workout tomorrow. I will, I will, I will, I will.

From Monday On, My Cares Are Gone...

2008-11-17T19:43:00.000-08:00

Doesn't it just feel fabulous to be done with a Monday? We're THAT much closer to Friday night! :-)

Breakfast this morning was eaten while hurrying to finish up my article; I definitely have senioritis right now... 3 more weeks left!!! I ate a strawberry Luna Sunrise Bar while churning out a 1200-word personal experience article in 2 hours. If there's one thing I can do, it's write under pressure.

Lunch was definitely the star meal of the day. I made crunchy lettuce wraps out of big hearts of romaine lettuce leaves. I filled two leaves with turkey, chickpeas, alfalfa sprouts, feta cheese and honey mustard dressing. I had a big bunch of grapes on the side. PERFECT lunch.

After work and class (in which we got our last articles back and I got a 50 out of 50!) I debated on going to the gym... I've really been slacking lately and I hate it! I didn't work out ALL weekend and I'm starting to feel like icky. But I was absolutely starving, and I hadn't brought anything with me to eat. I'm short on money right now, and I didn't want to spend any on a snack. So I bargained with myself- I'd go home and make supper tonight, but tomorrow when I get off work I am heading STRAIGHT to the gym. Tuesdays are normally rest days, but this week is going to be switched up. I'm sure I will feel much better after a good work out tomorrow.

Dinner tonight was an interesting concoction. As I mentioned earlier, we are pretty low on groceries but neither of us have had time (or the money) to go! So I scrounged around for random ingredients to fill my other deep dish frozen pie crust. It ended up being quite delicious!

Black Bean and Broccoli Pie

The filling consisted of black beans, fresh broccoli, a can of cream of mushroom soup, plain chobani yogurt, fresh salsa, hot sauce and spices (chili powder, cumin, mexican oregano & black pepper). I poured it into the pie and baked at 425 for 30 minutes, then topped it with cheese and baked it for 3 minutes longer. My "pie" didn't exactly hold its' shape, and the bottom crust was kind of soggy. If I made it again I would maybe add some eggs into it and bake it longer, at a lower temp. Trial and error!

Had a simple side salad with it: lettuce, feta cheese and light honey mustard dressing. (I found this dressing in the dollar section at my local grocery store and I LOVE it!)

I felt the need for dessert tonight. I had blueberries & cream fozen yogurt, topped with microwaved berries, sugar free cool whip and granola. MMMMMMMMM.

Well, I am off to bed! It's 10:07 right now and TOO late for my to be up! Oh how I wish there were more hours in the day. Goodnight all!

Belated Weekend Recap (Warning: Long post!)

2008-11-17T10:08:00.000-08:00

I have been soooooo busy this weekend, sorry guys! But now I am finally done with everything: Kris's birthday shenanigans are over, I'm done babysitting and my paper is written, reviewed and rewritten. So I can finally concentrate on something more fun: blogging! :-)

Saturday night, Kris's friend bought the Pay-Per-View UFC fight and had a bunch of people over for Kris's birthday. I know ultimate fighting is bloody and gruesome, but there's something about I absolutely LOVE. Especially when it's live. Before I die, I have got to see one. Saturday night's was especially awesome, since it was between 31-year-old Brock Lesnar (South Dakota-native and former Minnesota Gopher wrestler) and 45-year-old Randy Couture, five-time UFC champion. Lesnar one by a referee-decided knockout. Quite exciting.

Before the fight, Kris and I had met our friends Paco and Stacia at Applebees for dinner and drinks. I ordered the Santa Fe salad, which was HUGE, but very delicious. It came with grilled chicken, pico de gallo, guacamole, cheese and tortilla strips. (Dressings on the side). I ate about 1/3 of it and brought the rest home. I also had one Miller Lite with dinner.

After the fight, we went downtown to the bars. I was our DD, but I still had alot of fun. We had a large group and everyone seemed to be having a good time. We went back to Kris's friend's apartment for some latenight pizza. Here's my piece: pepperoni, from Gary's Pizza. Their sauce is really sweet and they LOAD on the toppings (underneath a ton of cheese, of course). Good for me? No. Delicious? Yes.

The next morning I woke and made myself and Kris (who was slightly hung over, haha) some yummy egg sandwiches with mushrooms, onions and cheese. I was out of egg whites and egg beaters, so I used real eggs. I haven't had real eggs in a long time! I used three eggs to make both sandwiches.

Then I headed over to North Mankato to babysit these adorable little guys:

I have been watching them since the youngest was a newborn, three years ago. It's amazing to see how much they've grown!

Lunch was kid-friendly macaroni and cheese, made with real cheddar cheese and honey dijon mustard. Last time I made this for them, I tried to "health it up" by adding tuna and peas and they wouldn't touch it. :-( So this time I tried to make my secret ingredients less visable, and it worked!

We had canned peaches in sugar-free syrup, too.

Later on, I snacked on some Planters Trail Mix that I found in their pantry while we watched Alvin and the Chipmunks. :-)

I got home around 7, and Kris was off playing basketball. He called me on his way home and said he was going to pick us up some sandwiches for supper, since we were running low on groceries. I told him to surprise me.

He picked up an Italian sub on white and a turkey & ham sub on wheat from Erbert & Gerberts, and we each swapped a half so that we could try both. He also got us both a cup of soup- mine was Chicken Wild Rice. Yum. It was a little heavier of a dinner than I would have made for myself, but it was sweet of him to get it so of course I didn't complain. Plus, I LOVE E & G.

The stuff in the bottom of the picture that looks a little like mashed potatoes is actually what's called "The Guts" from Ebert & Gerberts. They scoop out the middle of the bread, so that all the fillings fit inside the sandwich and then they give you "The Guts" on top! It's perfect for dipping in soup, and is honestly the best part of the meal.

Instead of adding on my eats from today to this already marathon-esque post, I'll just recap today at the end. Until then, fellow blog readers!

Birthday Treat: Pumpkin Apple Butter Pie with Toffee Struesel Topping

2008-11-16T18:02:00.000-08:00

Ok FINALLY. The scrumptious birthday treat recipe I've been promising all weekend!! I originally wanted to make Recipe Girl's Dulce de Leche Pumpkin Pie but the store in my town doesn't care dulce de leche. Bummer. So after Googling a few different pumpkin pie recipes, I decided to take advantage of the huge jar of apple butter in my fridge to come up with my own special recipe!!

Pumpkin Apple Butter Pie with Toffee Struesel Topping

1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup apple butter
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup evaporated milk
1 deep dish frozen pie crust

Topping:

1 tablespoon butter or butter substitute (I used Brummel and Brown)
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 cup chopped walnuts
1/8 cup toffee bits

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Remove pie crust from freezer.

3. Mix together first 7 ingredients.

4. Mix together eggs and evaporated milk.

5. Combine dry ingredients with the wet ingredients until well mixed.

6. Pour batter into pie crust.

7. Bake for 60 minutes, or until a knife inserted 2 inches from the center of the pie comes out clean.

8. Sprinkle struesel topping onto pie. Bake 15-20 minutes longer.

9. Let cool. Serve with whipped cream and additional toffee bits, if desired.

To make struesel topping:

1. Combine butter, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon with a fork, until mixture looks like coarse crumbs.

2. Add walnuts and toffee bits. Stir to mix.

This was unbelievable good! The frozen pie crust makes it very easy. And you don't use a ton of dishes, so clean-up is a breeze as well. :-)

I hope you enjoy the recipe!

Babysitting

2008-11-16T11:53:00.001-08:00

Sorry guys! I wasn't able to get around to posting last night because Kris and I had a MILLION things to do.

I finished baking my birthday treat for Kris, then cleaned the house, then we went to Applebees for dinner & drinks, then to a friends' house to watch the UFC fight (GO LESNAR!) and then we went downtown to the bars. I was our DD, so by the end of the night I was just exhausted and wanted nothing more than to sleep for a loooooong time.

This morning I slept in and then got up to come and babysit my two favorite little boys, Carson & Tyler. I was going to bring my camera cord so that I could blog from here but I completely forgot it!

SO, check back later. I will have a special post for Kris's birthday pie (yup, I said pie!) and then a recap of last night and this morning's eats. I hope everybody is enjoying their Sunday!

Ruby Tuesday's and Wedding Details

2008-11-15T15:35:00.000-08:00

First off, Happy Birthday to Kris!!!! This is the third birthday of his that we've spent together. It seems like more than that!

For his 27th birthday, we went to dinner with 3 of our friends, went back to his studio apartment (man, that thing was TINY!) and ate my homemade ice cream cake and then went out to the bars.

For his 28th birthday, I threw him a BIG party at our then-new apartment (where we still live). We bought a keg; I made jungle juice and food for like 50 people (we only had about 20-some people there, though). However, since I was hosting, I was too worried about making sure my guests were having fun instead of relaxing and having fun myself.

THIS year, for his 29th birthday, we started off the day by relaxing around the house, watching college football. I had a small bowl of pumpkin-banana oats for breakfast.

Then we went up to Chaska, where our wedding reception is going to be held. We stopped at Ruby Tuesday's so I could treat him to a special birthday lunch.

I had their lunch special Turkey Minis, which came with the salad bar and fries. I LOVE their salad bar, they have so many delicious options! I piled so much on I can barely remember what all was there.

The turkey minis were delicious- very juicy and with only a tiny bit of mayo on them for some zing.

The fries were good, of course, as fries always are. (Why oh why can't they just be HEALTHY?!)

Then we went over to the Dolce Oak Ridge Conference Center & Hotel so I could show Kris the ballroom. I had spoken to the event planner ahead of time and I knew that it was going to be set up for a wedding (which it hadn't been when I first viewed it last weekend) so I was really excited!! It was absolutely gorgeous, and bigger than I had remembered, which is good. I took a ton of pictures of it so that I can reference them in future planning.

Isn't the ceiling draping gorgeous?! That's my one big splurge,

I just NEED the draping.

A close-up view of one of their centerpieces. I love these trees! I wonder if I could work them into my autumn theme...

Head table and cake table.

And here's the dance floor! I believe you can put the dance floor wherever you want in the room. The event planner told my mom & I last weekend that it usually goes off to the left of the room. Kris really liked it in the middle, though. It's certainly something to consider!

I can't wait to do more planning! I can't wait for October 17, 2009!! :-)

Ok, so I know I promised you a special birthday treat for Kris, and I will not disappoint! It's almost done, and then I will do a post with the recipe and LOTS of pictures!!! So check back in later tonight.

dinner with the fam.

2008-11-14T19:17:00.000-08:00

Ahhh.... what a day. I had one of those days at work, where it ends and you're just like, "I don't even want to think about this ever again. Just hand me a drink, and make a double." You know what I'm talking about, right?

To sum things up... a new child started at the preschool (think Problem Child times 7), my assistant teacher was 2 hours late and my afternoon high school helper didn't even show up. Luckily, I had a TON of energy today and was able to pull through it without having a major breakdown. I have honestly never meant this more than I do right now: THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY!

Ok.... so LUNCH. One word: Amazing. I made another salad (if you haven't noticed by now, salads are my fav "lunch eats") that was LOADED with tons of veggies.

Roasted red peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, alfalfa sprouts, chickpeas, hummus (under the chickpeas, I was inspired by Kath to do this!), tomatoes and, of course, mushrooms.

(Note: Other eats of the day included a Honey Crisp apple, two celery sticks with peanut butter and a chocolate brown Z-bar)

After work I jetted over to Mankato to do some quick shopping at Kohl's. I had a coupon for this weekend to take 20% off my entire purchase (yay!). I needed a grey jacket/sweater-type thing, and a small gift to give Kris tomorrow for his 29th birthday. :-) I ordered his REAL gift online and he won't get it until next week, so I wanted something small to wrap up and give to him tomorrow.

For dinner, Kris and I met my family (Mom, Dad, brothers and brother's girlfriend) at Whiskey River, a restaurant here in the town we live in (my family lives about 20 minutes away). Sad thing is, I forgot my camera!!! Which really is a tragedy, since my meal was absolutely fantastic and quite photogenic!

HOWEVER, I found a picture that looks almost exactly like my meal: Grilled halibut with artichoke hearts, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese.

Well, one of Kris's buddies is at our place right now, helping to ring in Kris's last year as a spry twenty-something. :-) I'm not sure if we'll go out tonight at all, since we have alot to do tomorrow! (I'm bring Kris to see our reception venue!!!!!)

I hope everyone is having a great night! Tune in (read in...?!) tomorrow to see what I have planned for Kris's special birthday treat!

Quick Post, Delicious Oats

2008-11-14T04:26:00.000-08:00

Running late this morning! :-( Friday's I have to work at 7am, rather than 7:30. And I'm subbing for our lead teacher today so I REALLY have to prepared. Can't wait until 3:30!!!

I made Pumpkin Coconut Oats today, and they are DE-lish!

1/2 cup oats

1/2 cup pumpkin

1/2 banana

Nature's Path Pumpkin Granola

Shredded Coconut

Sugar Free Maple Syrup

Chopped Walnuts

Okay, got to go!

Fish and Chips

2008-11-13T19:03:00.000-08:00

Holy cow am I ever stuffed. I don't know why, but I always seem to overeat on Thursday dinners! Maybe because my dinners Friday-Wednesday are rather smallish, so my body somehow feels the need to make up for it on Thursdays?! Weird.

Anyway, I made delicious oven-baked fish and chips with a side of homemade coleslaw.

I started off with these:

I double-breaded them with a mixture of Kashi crackers and Fiber One, made into fine crumbs in my food processor. (Double-breading consisted of dipping once into an egg white/almond milk mixture, then into bread crumbs, back into egg white, back into bread crumbs). Then I sprayed them with olive oil spray and baked them at 425 for 25 minutes, flipping once. SUPER crispy and quite delectable.

My "chips" were actually Alexia Rosemary, Parmesan & Roasted Garlic Oven Reds. I baked them for the same time and on the same pan as the fish, which made it very easy.

My coleslaw was a simple mixture of bagged confetti slaw, 2 tablespoons of Miracle Whip Free, 1 Tablespoon Garlic Red Wine Vinegar, 1 Tablespoon Greek Salad Dressing, plus sea salt and ground black pepper. Kris HATES regular coleslaw with a passion, and the only kind he'll eat is the stuff that I make. (I personally think it's all in his head... like me with cottage cheese... GROSS.)

Okay, on a non-foodie note: Does ANYBODY else watch Grey's Anatomy out there?! If you do, what the heck is with Izzy and DENNY?! Is he not DEAD?! Weird.

Off to bed!

Leftovers (and 101st Blog Post!)

2008-11-13T15:06:00.000-08:00

I hadn't realized that this morning's breakfast post was my 100th post! So I guess I'll just celebrate my 101st instead. :-)

I want to thank those of you who take the time to read Newtritionista and for the kind, inspiring and encouraging comments you post. I can't believe it's only been a few short months since I started this thing, it feels like so long ago! I look forward to blogging every morning when I wake up. Taking pictures of my meals and knowing that people like you will view them and comment on them encourage me to eat more healthily on a day-to-day basis. I often find myself adding more fruits and vegetables into my diet, thinking: "This plate looks too bland, it won't make a very good picture!" I definitely feel better about myself since I have started this blog and I am very thankful for that. I also enjoy having people to share my excitement about my upcoming wedding with!

OKAY, enough with all the mushy stuff. On to goods.

When I made dinner last night I cooked up some extra rice noodles and stir-fry veggies, but didn't mix them in with the garlic-pesto sauce. I used the extras today for lunch, adding some garlic teriyaki sauce instead.

I also made side fruit salad, which consisted of a pear and a teeny tiny honey crisp apple, all chopped up. (NOT an appetizing picture, I know...)

I ate lunch while leafing though catalogues for some Christmas gift ideas. (I'm vowing to get it ALL done by December 20th this year. No more leaving it for last few days before Christmas!)

Welllll... once again, I have no plan for dinner tonight. Something easy I think. I feel like just relaxing with a Thursday night cocktail (it's so hard to kick that college habit!) and watching Grey's Anatomy.

It's All About the Filling

2008-11-13T04:43:00.000-08:00

I woke up in a pretty good mood this morning! Hopefully it continues throughout the day... :-)

I made a VERY FILLING and delicious breakfast: Egg White Omelet with asparagus, mushrooms, turkey, turkey bacon and feta cheese. Talk about protein-packed! I was going to have half a banana, too, but I'm just too full!!

So I'm off to work! It's supposed to snow tonight... the kids always seem to act up when it's going to snow. Let's pray that they don't!

And in wedding news... we booked the church for our ceremony! Now.... what's next?!?

And the vegetables live on...

2008-11-12T20:07:00.000-08:00

Continuing with my meatless theme for the day, I decided to make my go-to meal for dinner tonight: Veggie Stir Fry.

Except, instead of the usual teriyaki or sweet & sour stir fry sauce, I decided to shake it up a bit. I made a little something I like to call Garlic Pesto Stir Fry.

I cooked up a tiny bit of rice noodles, and then stir-fried a bunch of veggies. When the veggies were almost done, I added half a packet of pesto seasonings and two tablespoons of water, then boiled it down to a sauce. I mixed the noodles and pesto-veggies together and ate them with a simple side salad with homemade lowfat buttermilk ranch dressing.

Perfect meal, and so quick and easy! Do you guys have a favorite, fast go-to meal for those days when you're SO HUNGRY but too tired to take a long time cooking? Let me know!!

P.S. TOP CHEF PREMIERE IS TONIGHT!!

Sprouts!

2008-11-12T16:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I stopped at the store to pick up a few produce items, and I made a purchase that I am very excited about: sprouts! I loooooooooove sprouts but I always forget to buy them!!

So today I made sure to make a lunch that included them. I had a delicious Veggie Sandwich.

Because of all the red meat I ate yesterday (from the buffalo sliders), I wanted to lay low in the meat department for today's eats. So instead of a turkey or tuna sandwich, I just decided to go for an all-veggie sandwich. It consisted of roasted red pepper hummus, mushrooms, tomatoes & sprouts. Simple but very yummy!

On the side I had petite baby carrots (even smaller than normally baby carrots, they are my favorite!) and JUMBO red grapes.

After class today I headed to the gym for a much-needed workout. However, I had to cut it a little short. I did 15 minutes on the elliptical and 20 minutes on the recumbant bike (hill programs for both) and then I started to do abs. But all of a sudden I felt very weak, dizzy, shaky... so I stopped.

I'm not sure what was wrong... I probably should have brought a pre-workout snack with me, but since I ate lunch so late (2 pm) I thought I would be good to go for a few hours. I guess now I know better for next time.

I have no idea what to make for supper... Kris is playing basketball tonight and won't be home for dinner so it's all up to me!! Hmmm....

Fruit, Yogurt & Oatmeal Parfait

2008-11-12T08:34:00.001-08:00

Oh my word was breakfast ever good this morning! I dreamed up this little concoction while I was in the shower this morning:

Fruit, Yogurt & Oatmeal Parfait

I made a small amount of oats on the stove and swirled in some sugar free maple syrup. Then, in a bowl I layered Vanilla Light 'n Fit yogurt (60 calories worth), 1/2 cup of mixed berries (from frozen, but microwaved to defrost) and then the oatmeal.

I added a tiny bit of brown sugar and some slivered almonds on top. MMM MMM GOOD.

Ok, I need to get ready now. Work, then class, then workout, then finally home. Have a good day everyone!

(Note: Anyone who was wondering about the sweet potato fries I had for dinner last night, I actually buy them at my local grocery store. They are Alexia brand. Learn more about them HERE.)

Bunless Buffalo Sliders and Sweet Potato Fries

2008-11-11T19:21:00.000-08:00

I am stuffed and yaaaaaaaaaaaawning. The past hour I've just been bumming around Craig's List, looking for a new job. I graduate in December and really want to find a job in the PR/Marketing field, in which I'll have a degree. I'm also looking at administrative assistant positions... pretty much anything with health insurance benefits! Ugh, stressful.

Dinner was so good tonight. I made delicious little Buffalo Sliders.

I used a pound of buffalo burger (I've got like 5 pounds in the freezer, thanks to my grandparents who buy 1/2 a buffalo every year to share with all their kids and grandkids) and mixed in greek dressing, feta cheese, onions, bread crumbs and egg beaters. I shaped it into seven small patties (odd number, I know) and "fried" them in a wok on the stove.

In a separate pan I sauteed mushrooms and onions. I brushed the tops of the burgers with some more greek dressing, added tomato slices, the mushrooms and onions and some Italian blend cheese, then put them in the oven at 400 degrees for four minutes to melt the cheese.

I served them sans bun, w/ sweet potato fries and steamed veggies on the side. I made seven of them, planning to have leftovers for lunches this week, but I obviously underestimated the appetite of my 6'5, 205-pound baseball player fiancee. I had two slides and he ate ALL THE REST. He never ceases to amaze me.

I did feel like I need some dessert tonight though. So I toasted a chocolate VitaTop Muffin and added some sugar free cool whip and a drizzle of chocolate syrup. Perfection.

Okay I'm going to go lay in bed. Tomorrow will be a good day, tomorrow will be a good day, tomorrow will be a good day....

The power of positive thinking, right?

Troubled Tuesday

2008-11-11T15:35:00.000-08:00

I just feel a little off today... I don't know if it's stress, anxiety, fatigue or if I'm getting sick... hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Kris and I enjoyed our day off yesterday. We ran some errands (like sending my ring off to get appraised.. I feel naked!) and then made a delicious Italian dinner. I made Baked Mostaccioli with Chicken Sausage. SOOOOOOOOOO good.

This morning I found it very hard to get out of bed. Kris practically had to drag me. I was (of course) running late and made a very simple, boring breakfast of microwaved egg beaters with turkey and cheese.

Lunch was the highlight meal of the day so far. A delicious salad with turkey, tomatoes, artichokes, broccoli, crackers and parmesan cheese. I also had an apple.

My kids were not very good today. After nap they were very rowdy and I could not WAIT to get out of there. I was pretty hungry when I got home so I ate a new flavor of Larabar that I hadn't tried yet: Cashew Cookie.

It was pretty good! My favorite is still apple pie though. So far, my ranking:

1. Apple Pie
2. Banana Cookie
3. Cashew Cookie
4. Pecan Pie
5. Cherry Pie

I still have a Key Lime Pie in my cupboard to try. Anybody had that one yet?

I'm making burgers for supper, stay tuned!

Bagel Breakfast and Butternut Squash Soup

2008-11-10T11:33:00.000-08:00

Kris and I woke up this morning and realized that we had both taken this day off of work a few weeks ago as a planned "Kris and Alyssa Mental Health Day." Occasionally we do this, and use the day to run errands, watch movies, cook meals and just hang out together. :-)

For breakfast I wanted something simple and cheesy, so I melted slices of mozzarella onto a whole wheat bagel in the toaster oven. This combo is great for any meal!

Then we hung out and watched some movies on Starz: Bad Boys and 30 Days of Night.

Lunch was comforting and healthy. I heated up some organic creamy butternut squash soup, and added some brown rice and onions. On the side I had steamed veggies (broccoli, snap peas, asparagus, red peppers and onions) with parmesan cheese on top. I also had half a piece of toast.

Now I'm going to do some homework while Kris grades tests, and then we'll go run some errands.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Monday!

Product Review: Annie's Mac & Cheese

2008-11-10T08:29:00.000-08:00

(Note: this post was written last night, but due to internet connect problems, I couldn't publish it until this morning)

First off, a special thanks to everyone who participated in the "Tag"! I just love those things, you get to learn more about your favorite bloggers!

Well I have had a relaxing and lazy Sunday. Problem is, I've been having too many relaxing & lazy days lately! I need to pick up my workout schedule. The onset of winter is making it a little hard- no more running outside. I'm going to have to start driving over to the gym in Mankato when I get off work on Tuesdays and Thursdays, instead. :-( What I really want is a Wii Fit!

Lunch today was an interesting take on a tuna melt. I'm out of bread but I have some whole wheat hot dog buns. I piled on leftover lemon pepper tuna, artichokes, tomatoes, onions and a little bit of cheese and cooked it in the toaster oven for a few.

On the side I ate a tomato that I got from my grandma yesterday. Somehow, she still has garden tomatoes!! It was very good.

Kris made us dinner tonight. I love watching him cook because he's so methodical about everything! Reading all of the directions before starting anything, timing everything perfectly... he must have gotten an A+ in home ec!

He decided to make a box of Annie's Organic Macaroni & Cheese that I picked up a few weeks ago. We've never had it before, so I was excited to try it. He added a can of chicken breast and some okra to it.

My review:
Initially, it didn't taste very "cheesy" to me. I added sea salt & freshly ground black pepper on top, which really seemed to enhance the flavor. The okra & chicken were definitely a needed addition, as the mac & cheese itself is a little boring. But I would definitely buy this again. :-)

I've Been Tagged!

2008-11-09T13:55:00.000-08:00

It seems that I have been tagged by the lovely Amy over at coffee talk!

Rules.

1. Link the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.
3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links.
4. Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

My Random Facts.

1. My fiance and I met in a college math class. He was the teacher. :-) (He was just a grad student though, and it wasn't against the rules!)
2. I attended boarding school my sophomore year of high school with NHL hockey-phenom Sidney Crosby.
3. Three foods you will never see me eat: cottage cheese, sour cream and black licorice. YUCK.
4. I only have one dimple, on my right cheek.
5. There was a time when I was obsessed with the movie Titanic. I can honestly quote the entire movie.
6. I am the oldest child of three- I have two younger brothers.
7. I can stand on the very tips of my toes. (I used to dance).

My Tags.

1. Britt @ Miss Brittany Wiese.
2. Krista @ Krista's Kravings.
3. Chandra @ Chandra's Shenanigans.
4. Olga @ Healthing It.
5. Erica @ Itzy's Kitchen.
6. Magpie @ Say Yes to Salad.
7. Heather @ Hangry Pants.

If you've already been tagged recently, or if you just plain don't want to participate, don't worry about it, I won't be offended!

10.17.09

2008-11-09T09:47:00.000-08:00

We have set a date!

So very exciting. Yesterday my mom & I went to visit our reception venue, and we absolutely loved it! It's a hotel & convention center about 45 miles north of where we live right now. Here's a picture of the ballroom we're having it in:

Now that the two BIG things are done (booking the reception venue and church), I can concentrate on the next thing: THE DRESS! :-) I can't wait.

Yesterday morning I was running a little late, so my on-the-go breakfat was a Blueberry Luna Sunrise bar and some grapes.

After we got done touring the reception venue, we went to visit my grandma & grandpa, who live near there. We picked up Taco Bell for lunch, which was a major treat because I haven't eaten Taco Bell in years.

I had one softshell taco from their fresco menu (they replace the cheese with pico de gallo, yum!) and a bean burrito. I was stuffed, it was a good lunch.

Kris had been in Minneapolis at the University of Minnesota football game (bad outcome), so I met up with him & we went to a friends' house. They had bought Wii Party Games and we ended up playing Bags and Shuffleboard for a few hours at their house. We ordered a Hawaiian pizza from Pizza & Pasta for supper (I had two pieces) and I had two beers. Because it was dark and had been snowing, I didn't want to drive all the way home so we just stayed the night at their house.

This morning we woke up really early, so we were able to stop at a diner and get breakfast on our way home. We ate at Emma Krumbees in Belle Plaine. We both had their breakfast special, the Cajun Chicken burrito with American Fries.

We also shared a fruit plate.

I was really hungry and ate my WHOLE burrito, but only about half of the fries (there were a ton).

I'm going to try and find a movie to watch on tv now. I love Sundays!

Snow & Salads

2008-11-07T15:27:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning to a blanket of white snow covering the world outside my window. It was lightly snowing and everything looked so peaceful. It looked like Christmas morning on a Hallmark movie.

The first real snow always puts me in a giddy mood. (I think it puts everyone up here in North Country in a giddy mood, whether they will admit or not.)

Minnesota Snow at Dawn

My breakfast this morning was absolutely delicious. An egg white omelet with mushrooms, tomatoes, turkey bacon and mozzarella cheese. YUM.

Around 10 am I heard a loud growl erupt for my stomach. So I dove into my lunchbag a litte early and ate a small bag of grapes.

My lunch was UNBELIEVABLE. And very pretty, too. I made a Tuna Club Salad w/ lemon pepper tuna, crumbled turkey bacon, tomatoes, cauliflower, celery, cheese and Kashi crackers for crunch. I drizzled on a tiny bit of Kraft Fat Free Honey Dijon Dressing.

I also had another Honeycrisp Apple, but for some reason my apple pictures never turn out!

Well, I'm off to deal with some wedding stress- big families makes it hard to set a date!

Stressed.

2008-11-06T17:04:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry guys. I've just been super stressed this week, what with working two jobs, graduation coming up and the job hunt looking bleak, homework, wedding planning.... neverending! I just needed a break from a few things for awhile.

But now I am back!!! I'm not going to recap my whole week, mostly because I didn't take pictures of everything, but also because when I'm stressed I tend to eat much less than usual and very simple things (I've eaten alot of yogurt, canned soup and cereal this week).

But today I can recap for you!!

This morning I had some DELICIOUS oatmeal. Peanut Butter and Jelly Oatmeal.

I made the oatmeal on the stove and then stirred in a tablespoon of crunch oatmeal and two tablespoons of sugar free blueberry preserves! I added some blueberry cereal on top for a CRUNCH, plus an extra scoop of preserves.

Work was actually pretty fun today! My preschoolers were very well-behaved, and I've found a new love: HULA HOOPING! It's an incredible ab workout (and cardio, too!) and it's just TOO MUCH FUN! I did it for 1 and half hours today! My abs are going to be hurting tomorrow. (Last week I did it for 45 minutes and my abs hurt for 3 days.) Read more about its benefits HERE.

Lunch was a delicious salad w/ tomatoes, red peppes, feta cheese and cucumbers. No dressing, it didn't need it!

I also had a big, juicy Honey Crisp apple, but the pictures turned out blurry. (My camera hasn't been working the best lately.)

I gave Kris a few options for dinner tonight and he chose taco salad. I made it with ground bison mixed with sauteed mushrooms. Plus all the fixings! (Bibb lettuce, diced roma tomatoes, lowfat shredded cheese, black beans, onions, red peppers, salsa and my a guilty pleasure- Doritos!)

I washed it down with an MGD 64. (Not too bad for a light beer!)

Ok, have a great night everyone! I have to get ready for Grey's Anatomy. See ya in the am. :-)

Cherry Maple Yogurt

2008-11-03T04:46:00.000-08:00

Back to the grind! I'm trying not to let the fact that it's only Monday morning get to me....

When I start to feel depressed about the upcoming work week, I try to find something midweek to look forward to, such as a wine date with a friend, a favorite television show, etc. This week, I am looking forward to tomorrow night. Kris and I recieved a gift certificate to a nice restaurant in the Twin Cities area for an engagement present from a friend. So we're going to have an Election Day Date and go celebrate!

Do you guys have any tips for how you get through the long week?

Today is a yoga day, which means I normally try to eat a smaller snack-like breakfast. Today I made Cherry Maple Yogurt. I used one cup of Fage mixed with a few tablespoons of sugar free maple syrup and about a 1/2 cup of microwaved frozen cherries. Secret ingredient: a tablespoon of apple butter!

I topped the yogurt with a sprinkle of cereal for some crunch.

Alright..... off we go on another Monday! (Stay positive, stay positive, stay positive, stay positive...)

Blogger Secret Ingredient Submissions

2008-11-02T17:33:00.000-08:00

I have been following this weekly contest for awhile now, but hadn't yet gotten up the nerve to enter! But since this week's ingredient (pears) happens to be something I LOVE and have on hand most of the time, I decided to be brave and enter a recipe (or two)!

Since Kris & I couldn't decide if we wanted bagel sandwiches or quesadillas for supper tonight, I decided to make BOTH, and incorporate pears into both recipes. Each was very unique-tasting and delicious. Note: I sincerely apologize for the blurry pictures. The battery on my camera was dying. :-(

First Recipe: Turkey Bacon, Pear & Feta Cheese Quesadillas

Looking through some of the submissions for the contest already, I see that at least one pear quesadilla recipe has been entered. However, I cannot imagine that any other quesadilla could taste as good as this one, or be as quick & easy to make.

Ingredients:

1 Whole Wheat Tortilla (such as La Tortilla Factory's Low Carb High Fiber tortillas)
1/2 yellow pear (or any other pear you have on hand)
2 slices turkey bacon
Feta cheese, crumbled

1. Cook turkey bacon in microwave, between two paper towels, for 1 min. 45 seconds or until desired crispiness.

2. Spray nonstick skillet and 'fry' one side of tortilla.

3. Meanwhile, thinly slice half of the pear.

4. Layer tortilla with pear slices, crumbled turkey bacon and feta cheese.

5. Fold over tortilla, reduce temp to low, cover and cook 2 minutes longer.

I ate mine with leftover fresh veggies and dip. I also had a cup of Vanilla Caramel Tea. In the words of Rachael Ray: YUMMO!

Second Recipe: Turkey, Pear & Apple Butter Bagel Melt
This recipe is perfect for a quick & easy lunch, since it utilizes your toaster oven. The sweet flavors of the pear & apple butter perfectly complement the savory smoked turkey and mozzarella.

Ingredients:

1 Whole Wheat Bagel (I used a Thomas Whole Wheat bagel, they are big and soft!)
1/2 yellow pear (once again, any pear you have will do)
1 oz. hickory smoked turkey deli meat
1 slice mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons apple butter

1. Preheat toaster oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spread both sides of the bagel with apple butter.
3. Layer one side with pears and cheese, the other with turkey.
4. Place both sides in the toaster oven, and bake for 5 minutes or until cheese starts to bubble.
5. Put the sandwich together, slice in half and enjoy!

Alright, there they are! Wish me luck. :-) Even if I don't win, I sure had fun making up some interesting recipes. I will definitely be making both of these meals again, they were sooooo good! Well I'm going to do some wedding-planning research and relax for a while. I love that it's only 8 and it feels like 10! Awesome. Good night all!

More Halloween Shenanigans...

2008-11-02T07:47:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you guys, but this was by far my favorite Halloween ever! We had so much fun. We had two of our best "couple" friends over for some pre-going out fun. We sat around and played cards, ate and drank pumpkin beer! Everybody's costumes looked so awesome.

Sorry for the blurry/awkwardly-colored pic. It was on a timer.

Kris's costume was my favorite. He was pretty much dressed as a 70s pornstar. It was hilarious.

We didn't end up going out to the bars until 11:30 or so, which was nice because it didn't give us alot of time before bar close to get drunk & stupid. Everybody was still walking straight by the end of the night, and we had a sober driver so it was all good.

The next day we all went out for lunch at Country Kitchen here in town. :-) I got the chicken bacon pepper melt with fries. I needed something a little greasy! Why is it that you just crave fried foods the day after drinking??! I only ate half of it though, and brought the rest home for later.

The day yesterday was spent lounging around watching college football, knitting and snacking on leftovers from Friday night's appetizer spread. By the time dinnertime rolled around, I wasn't all that hungry, so I just made a nice, light Greek Salad w/ feta cheese, olives, chicken and red onions. YUM.

Kris and I fell asleep on the couch watching Superbad on Starz. (That movie is HILARIOUS!). We woke up around midnight and finally made our way to the bedroom. I slept VERY good last night.

This morning Kris woke us up for church. He thought he was waking us up at 9:30, but it was actually 8:30 because we had forgotten to roll back our clocks. But that gave us time to make a nice breakfast before church. Our friends Paco & Stacia were telling us about these oatmeal pancakes that they make alot, so I decided to try them!!

I didn't exactly measure the ingredients... but all it is is oatmeal (I used about 2 cups) mixed with egg whites (just enough so that the 'batter' is the consistency of watery cooked oatmeal). I also added a tablespoon of peanut butter and tablespoon of apple butter to the batter.

Spoon them out onto a frying pan, cook a couple minutes on each side....

And, voila! Delicious, high-protein oatmeal pancakes.

I topped mine with sugar free maple syrup and bananas. YUM.

Okay, off to church! I love Sundays!

Happy All Souls Day!

2008-10-31T18:05:00.000-07:00

I've just been so busy lately, I hate that I haven't been fitting my 3-a-day blog posts in! Heck, yesterday I couldn't even get one in. :-(

I guess we need a recap. I'm going to just do the highlights since alot of my eats lately have been repetitive- leftover spaghetti squash, apples & Z-bars, etc.

Yesterday morning I did make a delicious turkey, bell pepper & mushroom egg white omelet, which I ate with a few grapes.

When I got off work, I quickly hurried to get to the grocery store and buy the stuff to make my Halloween specialties: Spooktacular Oreo Balls! (They aren't really Halloween-specific, but I put Halloween sprinkles on them.

Tomorrow I will post a step-by-step recipe for these. They are sinful, but sinfully DELICIOUS. I brought them to my staff Halloween party today and they were gobbled up immediately!

Last night Kris & I had our weekly Thursday night fun with Paco & Stacia. Kris & Paco play football and Stacia & I do crafts. [Last time we made these wine corkboards.] This time Stacia taught me how to knit!!

Now I'm in the process of making my own scarf.

We went to dinner at Chili's. Kris & Paco love their two-for-one beers, rail drinks and margaritas. I had a Thirsty Thursday margarita on the rocks and half of a cajun chicken sandwich with a few fries. It was really good but even half was too much!

And now, what I've been waiting to show you..... MY HALLOWEEN COSTUMES! Yes, not ONE costume, but TWO awesomely terrific costumes!

FIRST COSTUME: A Kitty Cat costume to where at preschool for our Halloween party.

Holding my oreo balls. :-)

SECOND COSTUME:

I'm not sure how to describe my costume.... I'm gonna go with early 70s disco-cocaine era. I love it!

Right now we're waiting for a couple of friends to come over for a little pre-game Halloween party. I made a quick spread of appetizers:

Fresh cut veggies & ranch dip, assorted crackers and cheese, spinach dip, tortilla chips & two types of salsa, doritos and, of course, OREO BALLS! I always try to serve somewhat healthy things that will still please a crowd.

Ok I will update everyone tomorrow with more Halloween night pics! You guys have GOT to see Kris's costume.

Homemade Med Pizza & Favorite Wedding Dress

2008-10-29T19:46:00.000-07:00

After our huge lunch I wasn't real hungry for supper. So I used my last pizza crust and made a light & crispy Med Pizza.

I used roasted red pepper hummus as the sauce, and it was topped with spinach, diced oregano & garlic tomatoes, onions and feta cheese. Delicious.

My two pieces:

For dessert I had one of my guilty pleasures- frozen sugar free coolwhip, drizzled with a tiny bit of chocolate syrup and the best part, Halloween Sprinkles!

Okay, I want everyone's opinion. Of course I'm wedding dress searching already (because that's got to be one of the funnest parts of being engaged) and this dress in the favorite! (Voted on by me, Kris, my mom & dad & brothers). What do you guys think?!?

I have to get up earrrrrrrrllllllllly tomorrow. :-( Goodnight everyone!

Feeling Blue

2008-10-29T15:05:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling very off today... just kind of 'blah'. Very lazy and unambitious. I hate it! My day started off really well with a delicious breakfast of scrambled egg whites, mushrooms, asparagus and tomatoes.

I also had a cup of applesauce with some cinnamon.

I met Kris at Applebee's for a late lunch. I was supposed to get my ring appraised (for insurance purposes) but they wanted to take it until Saturday! I'm just not ready to part with it for that long yet... I'll bring it in next week.

Applebee's has this Two for $20 promotion going on, where two people can get an appetizer and two entrees for only twenty bucks. We shared the spinach & artichoke dip appetizer.

I was in the mood for their grilled chicken caesar salad. I know it's not very good for you, but I was really craving one!! I think it's a time-of-month thing... I've had alot of cravings lately!

Dessert was a cranberry oatmeal cookie that we picked up in the candy shop at Scheel's Sporting Goods. On Wednesdays their cookies are only 10 cents each, and their amazing!!!

A little bit ago I had a chocolate brownie Z-bar for a snack. I think I'm going to go for a run in a little bit.

Kris is going to shoot hoops and won't be home until about 8, so we'll be eating a late supper.

Florentine Salmon Pinwheels

2008-10-28T18:43:00.000-07:00

I had a very nice, relaxing day off today. I probably should have gotten in a workout... but oh well. Tomorrow's another day.

Around 4pm I had a snack. It was a little 'dessertish' but at least I got some fruit in me today! I had a small bowl of Wild Blueberries & Sweet Cream Frozen Yogurt topped with berries that I thawed out in the microwave. It hit the spot.

I have a TON of fresh vegetables in the fridge right now, so I knew I wanted to incorporate some into dinner. But for my main entree, I decided to make Florentine Salmon Pinwheels. They are basically salmon fillets stuffed with lowfat ricotta cheese, spinach and tomatoes. I baked them at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

On the side, I had steamed garlic broccoli, cauliflower and mushrooms. And for some reason I was in the mood for bread & butter. I had a slice of 12-grain bread spread with some Brummel & Brown.

I am stuffed right now! Kris and I are watching The Real Housewives of Atlanta. These women crack me up! :-)

Dish and Dash

2008-10-28T13:50:00.000-07:00

I'm in the mood right to do absolutely nothing! I've got what I call "Day Off Syndrome"- you know, when you have a day off and you know you should be using it to do laundry, or dust the house, but instead all you do is sit on the couch watching TV, reading magazines, lounging around. So I'm going to make this a quick recap post, so that I can get back to doing exactly that!

Yesterday morning before I left for work I had a breakfast of Peach Chobani w/ some Fiber One. I'm not a huge fan of peach-flavored things, but it wasn't too bad.

Morning snack was some wrinkly grapes.

I actually went and worked out on my lunchbreak. I did 20 minutes on the elliptical, a quick mile on the treadmill and 20 minutes on the recumbant bike.

Because of my workout, I had to rush to eat my lunch when I got back to the office. I had Cincinatti Chili made from spaghetti squash and leftover mom's buffalo chili. I added in some extra canned tomatoes and lowfat mozzarella, too. On the side I had a bunch of fresh veggies.

My good friend Tiffany was in town last night. She used to live here but recently moved to northern Minnesota and I've missed hanging out with her alot! So we went to Patrick's Bar & Grill in town here for dinner and a few drinks. It was fun catching up!! I ordered the club sandwich, and ate half of it last night and the other half late this morning for breakfast/lunch. It was good! They use 1000 Island dressing instead of mayo, and it gives it an extra zip.

I have a delicious dinner planned, so stay tuned!

Quick apology.

2008-10-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

I'm so sorry, blog friends! I have a good friend in town who I haven't seen in almost half a year, and I haven't explained my blog to her yet. I will update later today!

Cheese and Chili

2008-10-26T20:13:00.000-07:00

I've been working all evening on my article for my Magazine Article Writing class. It's a How-To article and the topic is.... Food Blogging! I have to tell you, I'm learning alot about food blogging that I didn't know!

I took a break around 8pm to finally make Kris and I supper. I knew that I wanted some of mom's buffalo chili that she sent home with me, but I knew that I should try to get some more veggies into my body today. So I decided to do a Sandwich and Chili combo.

Grilled Veggie and Cheese Sandwich with Buffalo Chili

I was inspired by Tina's broccoli and cheese sandwich today, so I decided to try something similar. I steamed some frozen veggies (carrots, squash, onions, asparagus, green beans). Meawhile, I lightly toasted some whole wheat bread, then spread one side with roasted red pepper hummus and put a slice of Chipotle Cheddar Cheese on the other side. I filled the sandwiches the steamed veggies, along with fresh tomato slices and spinach. Then I sprayed both sides of the sandwich with olive oil spread, sprinkled on some parmesan cheese and garlic salt, then "grilled" them in large pan, covering them to melt the cheese.

I think I might have added a tad too much garlic salt, but otherwise these sandwiches were delicious. The pre-toasting is key to making the sandwich stay together during grilling. Just make sure you don't grill them at too high of heat (I kept mine on medium-low) or you'll burn the outside of the bread before the insides are heated and the cheese is melted.

I topped the chili with some lowfat mozzarella.

Delicious chili, thanks mom!

For dessert I had a small cup of blueberry frozen yogurt.

Exactly what I needed.

Ok, time for bed. How 'bout them Phillies?! 10-2 right now. Insane.

Is it fall or is it winter?!

2008-10-26T14:29:00.000-07:00

Snow. Yuck.

Before I left for my parents' house this morning I discovered a hidden box of autumn decorations underneath the bed in our guest room. I was really excited, but now I feel like I should be putting up Christmas decorations!!!!

I stopped at River Rock Cafe here in St. Peter and grabbed my mom and I two 'Guiltless Caramel Lattes'. Their coffee shop is all organic and eco-friendly, and their coffees are amazing. It was exactly what I needed on this blustery Minnesotan day.

I also ate a Pistachio Larabar on the way.

I wasn't real hungry for breakfast, so this was perfect. I like this flavor, but I wish it was a little more 'pistachio-y'. The flavor isn't real potent... and I LOVE pistachio. When I was in Italy I ate pistachio gelato almost every day. YUM.

It was fun talking wedding stuff with my mom. I'm excited to start planning. We want to have the wedding around this time next year (maybe earlier in October so we don't have to deal with SNOW). A year sounds like a long time, but with all the stuff that goes into a wedding, it's really not! I better get crackin'.

While I was there, I did some snacking. First, I had a piece of apple pie/crisp that my family had picked up at the church bake sale that morning. Delicious.

Later on I had some of my mom's homemade pita chips with salsa. She buys Herdez salsa from Aldi and adds her own dried cilantro to it. It's good, but I like our fresh salsas better.

Right before I left I also had some veggies and homemade buttermilk ranch dip.

I got sent home w/ a bunch of goodies! Fresh veggies, buffalo chili, a whole frozen chicken and two pounds of ground buffalo. I think I'll have the chili for dinner tonight.

Well I better start on my homework. :-( What a depressing day.

Engagement details and eats

2008-10-26T07:54:00.000-07:00

Sorry guys, I've been slacking this weekend! Too much excitement and stuff going on! Yesterday we were gone pretty much all day up in Shakopee at an amusement park for their Halloween event, which was a blast. Then we stayed at a friend's house last night and just got home this morning at 9. So I haven't had much computer access!

But now that I do, I can't wait to fill you in! After my afternoon/early evening post of Friday, Kris and I sat down to have a few Friday cocktails. I chose a glass of the Yellowtail rose, and I made Kris a mixed drink with pomegranite vodka and vanilla soy milk (Sounds weird, but it's actually very good).

We were originally going to go to a movie (Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist), but it wasn't playing at the theater in our town anymore! (I think it got replaced by that stupid High School Musical 3). So we skipped the movie and just headed to dinner instead. Kris suggested we try out the new restaurant in town, Richard's. We'd heard only good things about it, so we very excited.

And we were NOT disappointed. The service and food was amazing! It took a while for the waitress to come take our order, which would be my only complaint, but we were in the mood for having leisurely dinner, so it wasn't a big deal.

We ordered the Truffled Fondue Appetizer.

It came with roasted mushrooms, potatoes, onions, squash, asparagus,

cherry tomatoes and bread for dipping. It was amazing!

And a bread basket. I had several small pieces of bread.

They were light and fluffy with a crunch crust.

My dinner: mocha-glazed seared duck breast with squash and shallot hash. Perfection!

Kris's dinner: Roasted lamb shank in a pinot noir reduction
with maple-glazed carrots and herbs cous-cous.
I had a few bites of this, too and it was very good. (But mine was better, haha!)

We were both too full for dessert, which was a shame because they had a delicious-sounding pumpkin spice cake on their menu. Oh well, maybe next time!

After dinner, we stopped by Patrick's bar for a drink, then headed home. I was pretty tired so I was about to change into my pajamas and settle on the couch to blog (of course!) when Kris asked me to come out on the balcony with him. I was really confused as to why he wanted to go out on the balcony (October in Minnesota is not balcony weather!) but I did anyway. I went out to find him down on one knee with a beautiful diamond ring in his hand. :-)

I always thought that I would cry when I got proposed to, but I was just so darn happy! After that, I wasn't very tired anymore. I called my parents to tell them and then we called some friends who were at a bar over in Mankato. We decided to go over to meet them and do some bar-hopping. Of course we ran into alot of people we knew who all wanted to buy us drinks/shots. I definitely had a few too many. Kris was smart though and limited himself so that he could get us home safe. What a sweetheart. :-)

Saturday morning (well, almost afternoon!) I awoke to Kris bringing me breakfast in bed. He made breakfast burritos! Scrambled eggs w/ peppers, salsa and cheese all wrapped up in a La Tortilla Factory low carb high fiber tortilla. YUM.

My stomach was a little uneasy from all the drinks the night before, so I didn't eat much the rest of the day until dinner. We went out to dinner with 4 friends in Shakopee. We decided to go to Ruby Tuesday's. I had the salad bar (LOVE their salad bar!) and the mini trio that they've been promoting on their commericals so much lately. I only ate the mini turkey burger and mini crab cake though, and gave my mini beef burger to Kris to eat. I didn't take any pictures though, sorry!! After dinner we headed over to Valleyfair for some fun rides and haunted houses. It was a fun night but I was exhausted at the end of it and fell asleep back at our friends' house in the middle of a game of Boxers or Briefs. :-)

Well I think I'm going to head over to my parents' house to show off my ring! Then I have to come back and finish up some homework. :-( And for all of you living in nice places like Florida right now, get this: It's supposed to snow here tonight!!!!!!!!!

ENGAGED!

2008-10-24T20:43:00.000-07:00

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

Going out to party! Details to come.

New grocery store organic section!

2008-10-24T14:26:00.000-07:00

I was so exicted today when I stopped by the grocery store here in St. Peter. They've added a new organic/health foods section! Kris and I don't normally grocery shop here in town, as the prices tend to be a little high since there is really only one grocery store. But they stock some products that I haven't been able to find other places, so I definitely will be shopping there more often! Here's what I bought:

Alexia oven fries (red potato and sweet potato), Kemps fat free blueberry cream frozen yogurt, a big container of 0% Fage, FIVE new kinds of Larabars that I haven't tried, Musselman's apple butter, Campell's Select Harvest light soups, sugar free cool whip (frozen, it's better than ice cream, I swear), Chocolate Brownie Z-bars and... my favorite find... Walden Farms calorie-free dressings!! I've been looking for them for soooooooo loooooooooong! I bought Creamy Bacon and Italian Sundried Tomato.

I was so excited to have found those dressings, as soon as I got home I opened them up to sneak a little taste. DELICIOUS. I wish I had bought them before I'd eaten lunch today, so I could have used them on the salad that I made.

It was a pretty simple salad: spinach, romaine lettuce, sliced pepper turkey deli meat, cucumbers, tomatoes, feta and parmesan cheese. Dressing was Kraft Fat Free Honey Dijon. I also topped the salad with some crushed Kashi crackers.

I also had half of a Kashi dark chocolate chip cookie. (I'd already taken a bite before I took this picture, it was much bigger than this!)

When I got done grocery shopping, I decided to do my workout. I ran outside for 3 miles, then lifted arms and did some legwork and abs when I got home. It was a very good workout. Afterward, I ate half of a Cherry Pie Larabar.

I was excited to try this flavor, as many of you fellow bloggers seem to really like it. And, I LOVE cherry pie (note: cherry pie oats). However, I wasn't too impressed with this one. The cherry flavor was very.... tart. Not like the apple pie bar, which tasted sweet even though it's unsweetened. It wasn't bad, but it's not my favorite!

So far, my Larabar flavor rankings are as follows:

Apple Pie
Banana Cookie
Cherry Pie

I have so many more to try, I can't wait!!

Well, I think Kris and I are going to have a date night. I'm going to pour myself a glass of wine to officially welcome the weekend!

Wine Shopping & Crafting

2008-10-24T07:58:00.000-07:00

I do apologize for my semi-hiatus, blog friends! Yesterday was a crazy/stressful/busy/hectic day. First off, I forgot my coffee, my lunch and my camera when I left for work. Which wouldn't be so horrible if I didn't work in a "village" of only 612 people, and absolutely NO restaurants/grocery stores, etc. They have one gas station that I was able to pick up a stale turkey and cheese sandwich (which I microwaved and ate open-faced), an apple and a piece of string cheese.

It actually didn't end up being too bad of a lunch, it held me for quite a while. When I got home, I didn't have much time to relax, since me & Kris had to get up to Bloomington by 6:30 to meet some friends. I quickly snacked on some tortilla chips and fresh black bean & corn salsa. I also made a couple of cracker sandwiches with turkey and garlic herb spread.

Thursday nights Kris plays in a touch football league with his old roommate Paco. I usually go up and hang out with Paco's roommate Stacia. We enjoy alot of the same things: theater shows, shopping, crafting, wine. Last night we decided to tackle a few different projects- Wine shopping at the sale at Haskell's, shopping for Halloween costume accessories, and making a cork board from wine corks.

The corkboard turned out awesome!

It's a super easy project, too. We bought open back picture frames at Michael's and some foam board to fit in the back. We hot-glued the foam board into the frame for now, I still want to add some clips to the back to help secure it. Then all you do is arrange your corks in a pattern that fits your frame and start hot-gluing them! Awesome, huh?

The wine sale shopping was very successful, also. I bought three wines: a Banrock Station organic cabernet sauvignon, a Yellow Tail rose (on sale for $4.99!) AND the one I'm most excited about- Bitch.

Bitch is a South Australian Grenache that's supposed to have a sort of spicy, dark berry flavor. I've never tried it, but I am very excited!

For dinner we all went to Majors Sports Bar down the road from Paco & Stacia's apartment. It was ladies' night so Stacia & I got three free drink tickets. I had two Miller Light drafts with olives. For the meal, Kris and I split a Northern Italian pizza (proscuitto, italian sausage, tomatoes, mozzarella) and a chicken fajita salad w/ corn, black beans, tomatoes... YUM. It was an awesome dinner and I'm so sorry I didn't have my camera with me!

We got home super late last night and I was very tired this morning. I quickly made an open-faced egg sandwich and finished up the rest of my vanilla Light 'N Fit with some Fiber One on top. It was satisfying, although not very photogenic.

I'm going to do some cleaning and organizing around the house while I wait for Kris to come home from a meeting. School is canceled today for a Faculty Duty Day. We're turning it into "Kris and Alyssa Day." :-)

It's not Friday yet?!

2008-10-23T04:30:00.000-07:00

I cannot WAIT for sleeping in Saturday morning. This is the only thing getting me through these next few days, haha.

I had the hardest time getting out of bed this morning. I woke up a half hour before my alarm went off, still exhausted, and then I was pissed off that I woke up before my alarm! I hate that!

Well, breakfast this morning was like dessert. I used the leftover sugar free cherry pie filling from my Cherry Pie Oats the other day, and topped a cup of vanilla Dannon Light 'N Fit with it. I also sprinkled on some Wild Berry Crisp cereal. Very good, exactly what I wanted.

Last night Kris did bring home some subs for us. I'd told him to just get whatever he wanted for me. He chose the "Chicken Bacon Ranch" sub from Subway, on wheat bread w/ spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes and onions. I never get that sub from there, so it was a nice treat. And I think I needed those extra calories from the bacon and ranch dressing after all that exercising yesterday.

I ate a handful of Kashi crackers with it.

Alright...... time to get ready for work. I need a job where it doesn't feel like work! Haha, dont' we all?

Snacky McSnackerson

2008-10-22T17:57:00.001-07:00

That's my name tonight. I just couldn't decide what to make for supper, so I just kept snacking. And now that I decided on homemade pizza, I'm full! Darn. :-(

Work in the IT Department was very slow today. So I took off a little early. I hadn't really brought much for lunch, so I decided to purchase a little something at the Student Union cafeteria. I went in there hoping to get a good salad, but it was slim pickings. My only other options were Chick-Fil-A, Taco Bell, Substation, a pizza place and a burger place. I settled on a cup of chili from the deli area. It was a little watery, but it still hit the spot.

I had brought some sugar snap peas w/ hummus and an apple. I ended up saving the apple for after my workout.

After lunch I headed to the gym for a MASSIVE workout.

20 minute warm-up on elliptical
3.5-mile, 33-minute treadmill run
30 minute cool-down on recumbant bike
floor abs
stretching

I had an abundance of energy for some reason! I scarfed down my apple on my way to class. I was done by class by 4:30, so I headed home right away. I was super excited to get home and make dinner and chill out with Kris. While I drove, I came up with several supper ideas: Turkey Burger Taco Salad, Bacon-Wrapped Halibut w/ steamed veggies, homemade pizza, some type of casserole made with leftover spaghetti squash...

They all sounded so good, I couldn't choose! I decided to let Kris choose. However, when I got home he was pretty much out the door right away to go "shoot hoops" all the way over in St. Clair (a good 35-minute drive from us) with a friend of his. I was pretty disappointed. :-(

After he left, I realized that I was absolutely starving. So while I was trying to decide what to make, I started snacking. First, a Banana Cookie Larabar.

The flavor was amazing! But at 210 calories, 5 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber, this bar is bordering on meal replacement rather than snack. I'm not sure I would buy it again, even though I did love the taste of it.

I also had a piece of string cheese and a turkey stick (we buy these in bulk at Hy-Vee, they are so delicious!).

I ALSO had a few tortilla chips and Sabra Roasted Red Pepper Hummus. Then I was full...

Well, Kris said he might stop and bring home some subs for us, so I might be eating something a little later.

I've been tagged!!

2008-10-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned this morning, le0pard13 tagged me with the "I Love Your Blog" award... so apparently I have to 'tag' 7 others.

Soooo... here are my nominations!

1. See Bride Run. It's so refreshing to see a young woman taking a healthy approach to her upcoming wedding, rather than crash dieting as many brides are known to do!

2. Carrots 'n Cake. Tina's blog was the first that I started reading, and the one that initially inspired me to start mine. Love it!

3. Eat, Live, Run. This girl is amazing, I'm always in awe of how much she can pack into one day.

4. Miss Brittany Weiss. One of my best friend's blogs. A girl who is always there for me!

5. Chandra's Shenanigan's. A very inspiring story behind her blog.

6. Coffee Talk. I love this blog, especially because I know how hard it might be for her.

7. The Recipe Girl. I'm always inspired by her recipes, they look so darn yummy!

Alright, there it is! On to the 'questions'.

1. Where is your cell phone? In my purse at my feet.

2. Where is your significant other? At home? He has the day off, so I'm not sure.

3. Your hair color? Blonde, never dyed.

4. Your mother? Wonderful.

5. Your father? Inspirational.

6. Your favorite thing? euphoria

7. Your dream last night? weird... I was drinking underage at a country club.

8. Your dream/goal? Be content.

9. The room you're in? Academic Computer Center on campus.

10. Your hobby? blogging!

11. Your fear? public humiliation

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Married, with kids and a job I don't dread.

13. Where were you last night? Halloween costume shopping and BWW's.

14. What you're not? a dumb blonde

15. One of your wish-list items? a home gym

16. Where you grew up? Small town, Minnesota.

17. The last thing you did? Worked out.

18. What are you wearing? Jeans, shirt and fleece jacket.

19. Your TV? Is getting HD today!

20. Your pet? Don't have one yet, we're on the move too much.

21. Your computer? Dell Inspiron

22. Your mood? rushed!

23. Missing someone? Always.

24. Your car? 2001 Honda Accord, great gas mileage

25. Something you're not wearing? a hat?

26. Favorite store? Scheel's Sporting Goods

27. Your summer? in Sioux Falls South Dakota with the baseball team

28. Love someone? many someones

29. Your favorite color? orange

30. When is the last time you laughed? after I got done working out, chatting with a girl in the locker room

31. Last time you cried? Not sure.... I don't cry as often as I used to!

Ok I have to hurry and get to class! I'll update the eats when I get home.

Good day to forget to set the alarm...

2008-10-22T07:41:00.000-07:00

As the title of this post alludes to, I "forgot" to set my alarm last night...

It's cold, rainy, dreary and Kris has the day off. So it was sooooooo nice to just lounge in bed together for a while this morning. We never get to do that anymore, we always have something to get up and do! I am going to head into work in a little bit here, then go to class and the gym. So it's not like I'm playing hooky for the whole day! Just the wee hours of the morning. :-)

For breakfast I took the time to make a wonderfully delicious

Greek Hummus Omelet.

It was so good! Filled with garlic-sauteed spinach and cucumbers, fresh tomatoes and feta cheese. But the secret is the tablespoon of roasted red pepper hummus that whisked into the egg whites before I cooked them.

I also had a few grapes with it, for some fruity goodness.

Wellllllllll....... I suppose I should start getting ready for work. :-( Before I go though, a quick shoutout to Le0pard13 and his blog. He tagged me as a blog that he loves. Thanks, man! I'll continue the tag as soon as I get some free time today.

Also, thank you to all you who read and comment on my blog. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it!

Cable Outage & Cherry Pie Oats.

2008-10-21T20:37:00.000-07:00

Apologies, fellow blog readers! Our cable was out all day for our entire block! And since our internet is through our cable, I was not able to blog. :-( I'm sure I was much more disappointed with the situation than any of you were, haha! But that's mainly because I made an absolutely SUPERB breakfast and I wanted to share it with everyone RIGHT AWAY.

CHERRY PIE OATS

1/2 cup quick oats
1 cup water
1/4 cup light vanilla soy milk
2 T. sugar free maple syrup
1/4 cup Fiber One
1/3 cup Sugar Free Cherry Pie Filling
1/4 cup cereal or granola of your choice

I made the oats on the stove this morning, which just makes them so much better than microwaving! This made a HUGE bowl, though. And for some reason, I ate about 1/8 of this and was SOOOOOOOO full. So I gave the rest to Kris, who gobbled it up and loved it.

I also switched up my usual coffee for a cup of Celestial Seasonings Gingerbread Spice Tea.

Since I didn't eat as much for breakfast, I was pretty hungry midmorning. I snacked on half of a Kashi Pumpkin Spice granola bar around 9:45ish. It did the job, and carried me until lunchtime!

***Sidenote: I was pretty irritated this morning when I got to work at 7am and saw that my schedule had been swtiched and I didn't need to be there for another half hour! I mean, I know it's only a half hour, but STILL A half hour of sleep can mean alot to the body!

LUNCH
Gotta love me some leftover spaghetti squash! Pretty much the same as last night, with a little bit more parmesan cheese on top.

I also had a juicy pear and a Cherry Coke Zero. :-)

After work, I came home to find that the cable was still out. Kris came home not long after. We sat around, talking "potential wedding" plans and having a couple of beers. Then we decided to head to Mankato to buy his Halloween costume (to go w/ mine, of course). We found an awesome one for him, I'm SUPER exicted!!!! After shopping, we stopped at Buffalo Wild Wings for a couple of wings and a "Adam's Apple" - half Sam Adams, half hard apple cider. VERY GOOD. Sorry, no pictures! It was pretty boring anyway, and I didn't eat a whole lot. I'm pretty tired and starting to not feel very well again. Hmmm... maybe I should lay off the beers, huh?

Goodnight everyone!

Mushroom Spaghetti Squash (w/ Recipe!)

2008-10-20T17:42:00.001-07:00

What a good Monday. I love it when I have Mondays off of work... that means I have only 4 more days until Friday! Yay!

SNACK

When I got done 'afternoon blogging' earlier, I fixed myself a quick appetizer/snack: garlic cucumber stacks.

3 Stoneground What Crackers
2 T. garlic herb spread
3 cucumber slices

Stack 'em up and shove 'em in! Delicious.

Kris got home around 6. I had just thrown the squash in the oven. He wanted to go for a quick run so I decided to join him. We ran for about 2 miles, sprinting the last leg of it. I was EXHAUSTED. Keeping up w/ a 6'4 professional athlete is no piece of cake, let me tell you! Yikes.

After our run, Kris went to the soccer field behind our building to do some more sprints and agility work (getting ready for spring training in March!) and I walked back to the house to get dinner ready.

DINNER
I made Mushroom Spaghetti Squash and Cheesy Garlic Herb Crisps.

Spaghetti Squash recipe (for 2):

1 spaghetti (winter) squash, halved and seeded
1 can diced garlic herb tomatoes
2 T. minced garlic
1/2 a yellow onion, diced
3/4 cup sliced button mushrooms
1/4 cup reduced fat feta cheese
2 cups fresh spinach
2 T. parmesan cheese
freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Place squash halves cut side down in a baking pan filled with 1/2 inch of water. Bake for 45 minutes.
Remove squash, let cool.
Meanwhile, saute garlic, onions and mushrooms in olive oil (or olive oil spray, as I use) until onions are tender.
Add canned tomatoes, cook 5 minutes longer, then reduce heat to low and cover.
Scoop the 'spaghetti' out of one squash half (reserve the other half for leftovers!).
Combine tomato/onion/mushroom mix with spaghetti squash in a bowl. Mix in feta cheese.
Divide spinach onto two plates. Top with squash.
Top with freshly ground black pepper and grated parmesan cheese.

SO GOOD. It was even too much for me, I saved some for lunch tomorrow.

I made Cheesy Garlic-Herb Crisps to go with it.

1 La Tortilla Factory Low Carb High Fiber Whole Wheat Tortilla (or similar)
4 Tablespoons garlic herb spread
1/3 cup Reduced Fat Italian Blend Cheese
Dried parsley flakes (or fresh, if you have them!)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Spray 12-inch pizza pan with olive oil cooking spray.
Place tortilla on pan, spread with garlic herb spread.
Sprinkle with cheese and parsley flakes.
Bake for 10 minutes, let cool and cut into slices.

DESSERT
Even though I was pretty full from my incredible meal, I couldn't NOT try one of my new VitaTop muffins for dessert. I thawed it out in the microwaved and then toasted it for a little bed. I spread 1 T. of Naturally More Peanut Butter on it and added Halloween Sprinkles!

It was pretty good, but not as sweet as I expected. I'm not sure I'll get the chocolate kind again. I want to try the corn muffin kind next.

Well I just finished watching Gossip Girl, so it's probably time to get everything ready for tomorrow. Back to the daily grind!

LARABAR SIGHTING!!!

2008-10-20T14:10:00.001-07:00

Finally! I found them! Today after running a few errands (tanning, getting my nails done, Halloween costume-shopping... haha, real important errands) I decided to make a trip to the downtown Cub Foods. I haven't shopped there in a while, since I used to live near there, but I remembered that they had a pretty decent organic/health foods section.

Little did I know that they place had improved immensely since I'd last been there! It might be my new favorite grocery store! I found several things that I've wanted to try but haven't been able to locate. INCLUDING, LARABARS! I bought cherry pie, apple pie and banana cookie.

On my drive back home, I tried an apple pie one, and had a Cherry Coke Zero.

I can now see why everyone is so crazy for these things! It honestly tasted like apple pie. It had big chunks of apples in it. I also liked that it wasn't crumbly like a granola bar... it was denser, but not so dense that it hurt my jaw to chew, like Clif bars sometimes do. I can't wait to try another flavor!

When I arrived home, I unpacked my groceries. Here's everything I got: spinach, apples, grapes, pears, romaine lettuce, baby carrots, broccoli & cauliflower, wild berry crisp cereal, baked yellow tortilla chips, Kashi roasted vegetable crackers, unsweetened Almond Breeze, Eggplant parmesan bites, Deep Chocolate Vitatops (another awesome find!), garlic & herb sprea, Sabra Roasted Red Pepper hummus (YESSS! Couldn't find it anywhere!), reduced fat feta cheese, Sargento mozzarella slices and Chipotle Cheddar Slices, and 2 % milk shredded Italian cheese.

LUNCH

I was starving by the time I unpacked everything. I made a chicken, apple and chipotle cheddar melt. Perfection! On the side I had the rest of the apple I used in the sandwich, which I sliced up, topped with a bit of Naturally More Peanut Butter, sugar free maple syrup and a little bit of Pumpkin Flax cereal.

Yum, yum!

I must say, now that I've found the perfect Halloween costume, I CANNOT WAIT for Halloween. I want to tell you all what it is, but I think I'll try to keep it a secret until the big night. It's pretty groovy though!!

Time to get ready for supper. I think I'll make spaghetti squash.

Greasy Food = Poor Dispositioin

2008-10-20T07:07:00.001-07:00

Ugh. This weekend, while being a ton of fun, was very bad for me nutritionally. I consumed more french fries over the weekend than I have in the past 3 months probably! Yuck.

Yesterday when I woke up, I snacked on an Oatmeal Raisin Luna Bar while catching up on some blog reading. About an hour later, I went down and had breakfast with Kris, his brother and his sister-in-law. We had bagels w/ cream cheese, coffee and orange juice. I had a plain bagel with vegetable cream cheese.

The baptism was beautiful. The church that his brother and sister-in-law go to is absolutely gorgeous. Here's Kris w/ his nephew and godchild, Nolan.

This is me with him when he was a day old. He was born on August 4.

After the baptism we had to take off right away, so that we could get back to Minnesota at a decent time. I was starving by the time we left, so I snacked on an apple.

Kris and I decided that we should take advantage of the fact that we were in Illinois, so we decided to stop and eat at Red Robin for a SECOND TIME before we left the state, haha. This time I REALLY splurged, and got the Bleu Ribbon Burger, which was delicious but absolutely horrible for me. Whoops.

Well, I am glad to be back where I can eat healthy and workout when I want to! This morning I had a "Santa Fe Egg Sandwich" on an everything bagel, with some grapes. I mixed black bean & corn salsa into some egg beaters, microwaved it and topped it with some sliced bell peppers and reduced fat cheddar cheese. Very good.

I have alot of errands to run today (I'm not working and my class is cancelled, YAY!) . So I will update later on!

Greetings from Chicago

2008-10-18T18:51:00.000-07:00

I am absolutely exhausted, guys. Kris and I made the bad decision to stay up to all hours of the morning getting "college drunk" as we like to call it. Needless to say, it didn't result in the best of day for me today.

I'm going to quickly recap yesterday and today, just the highlights of my meals or else this will be waaaaaaaaay too long of a post!

Friday

Before hitting the road, I packed us a cooler full of snacks for the trip. It consisted of Chobani yogurts, grapes, apples, string cheese and Luna bars. We also brought along some beer, pop & vodka (not for the trip itself, but for the destination of course).

Right after we left I realized how starving I was! So I tried a new flavor of Luna Sunrise that I'd never had before: Apple Cinnamon. FREAKIN' DELICIOUS. Tasted like apple pie. It wasn't at all what I expected, as I typically find Luna bars to take a little chemically-enhanced. (But they were on sale for a $1 each at the store the other day, so I thought what the heck.) I also had some grapes.

About an hour and a half into the drive we stopped at Quiznos to grab a quick lunch. I had a Chicken Cantina flatbread sammie and a cup of chili. Both were very good.

The drive from Mankato to Chicago is about 8 hours, so we got to our friend Bob's house at a little after 8 pm. We were so hungry and antsy from being cooped up in the car for so long. We immediately headed to our FAVORITE RESTAURANT (and don't make fun of me! haha), Red Robin. We don't have them anywhere near us, so they are a special treat for us whenever we are out of state. I got the Chicken Bruschetta Sandwich, w/ their garlic parmesan steak fries. The fries make the meal, they are so good. I also had my first drink of the night, a Captain Morgan/Diet Coke.

We ended up going to a different bar and playing darts all night (which I totally dominated at), and by the time I made it to bed I was definitely drunk and way too tired. We had to get up this morning at 9 am to drive to Kris's home town of Bourbonnais, Illinois to see his family and go to his sister's volleyball tournament. It was all worth it though, Kris had a blast hanging out with his old friends from high school.

How funny are these guys?! Haha.

Saturday

Before leaving for the game, I ate a blueberry Chobani yogurt and some grapes. And a TALL glass of water.

Lunch was a hot beef sandwich at the volleyball game. SORRY, no pictures!

We went back to his parents house and took a nap around 3 o'clock, then drove to Lockport to his brother's house. After debating a while about what to eat, we decided to order for a restaurant in town and go pick it up. I ordered a gyro, which was HUGE and I was only able to eat half of it.

Now I'm full and laying in bed. I think I'll do a crossword puzzle until Kris comes to bed. We have his nephew's baptism at noon tomorrow, so we get to sleep in a little bit. YAY! :-) Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

I declare today Fruit Day.

2008-10-17T04:17:00.000-07:00

After reviewing my eats yesterday and the day before, I realize that I'm choosing veggies over fruit alot. I tend to do that, as I crave savory things more than sweet most of the time. So this morning I vowed to make sure I ate some fruit!

However, I was still craving savory! So I scrambled up some quick "Stir-Fry Eggs" using the leftover stir-fry veggies from the other night, egg beaters, cheddar cheese and turkey bacon. Sounds weird, but it was very good.

For the fruit part, I microwaves about 3/4 cup frozen mixed berries and then added a sliced banana to it. YUM. I'm glad I mixed in fruit. My goal is going for today is to eat a piece of fruit w/ every meal!

I'm running late! I'm not sure when I'll be able to post next. Maybe not until tomorrow. (Yikes.) Hang Tight!

Nobody's Perfect

2008-10-16T20:44:00.001-07:00

Rule # 1: No matter how busy you are, find time to EAT something.

Rule # 2: Always remember that alcohol lowers your inhibitations.

Rule # 3: Don't be too hard on yourself if you break rules number 1 and 2 once in a while.

Haha. Wellllllll.... tonight was not my best food night. I worked on my aunt's computers for a few hours and then she wanted to "pay" me back by bringing me & Kris supper. Of course, we couldn't say no! So, while we waited for her to bring over a pizza from Godfathers, Kris & I made cocktails w/ my new Three Olives Pomegranite Vodka. I mixed it with Cherry Coke Zero and it is BY FAR MY NEW FAVORITE DRINK! Finally, something I like other than rum & diets and vodka gimlets.

We also snacked on some chips and fresh salsa from Hy-Vee.

I love, love LOVE this salsa: Artichoke Garlic. Yummy.

We told Angie to pick up whatever kind of pizza she wanted. She came w/ a mushroom, olive & sausage pizza. (Which happens to have my two least favorite toppings: olives & sausage, haha!). But by then I was a little tipsy and very, very hungry so I devoured two big, cheesy pieces.

I actually found it very tasty! They say your tastebuds change every 7 years... maybe mine are changing now to let me like olives! Hmm...

Well I just got done doing some packing for our weekend trip to Chicago. I definitely have more to do tomorrow, when my head is a little clearer. I have so much to do tomorrow! I sure hope I can forget about my To-Do List when I crawl into bed, or I'll be up half the night fretting about it.

Anybody have any anxiety-reducing advice???

Work work work!

2008-10-16T15:52:00.000-07:00

What a day. The lead teacher went home sick, so the preschool room was pretty much all on me today! (Get better Miss Laura!) We were pretty low on kids, but for some reason they were very grumpy and wound up today. Probably because we are taking a field trip to the pumpkin patch tomorrow, and they are very excited!

Well, I didn't get to eat lunch until AFTER ONE today. I was beyond starving. Although my breakfast held me for a looooooooong time. (But what meal, other than Thanksgiving dinner, can hold you for 6 hours?!) I had packed a really, REALLY filling lunch though, and I didn't even finish it all.

First, I had a big "Catch-All Salad." That pretty much means I took everything edible in my fridge and threw into the salad! Haha. Romaine lettuce, broccoli slaw, black beans, red and green peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, mushrooms & feta cheese. HUGE. Lots of fiber.

Dressing was Wishbone Bountifuls Simply Santa Fe, which is sooooooooooo good. It's like salsa, but thin like a dressing. YUM. I also drank half of a Function Water. This one's flavor was Citrus Prickly Pear and tasted a little like Tang! It's supposed to "detoxify" you. But what water doesn't, huh?

For dessert I had some leftover Maple Brown Sugar Acorn Squash, with Cinnamon Puffins & Fiber One on top. Delicious.

After I got off work at the preschool I swung by the college to pick up my aunt's computers to work on them at home. I have to transfer files from two different computers to her new one. It's not too hard though, and I can have a Thursday night cocktail while I do it, so it's not a big deal!

Grey's Anatomy is on in two hours! CAN'T WAIT.

Pumpkin Yogurt

2008-10-16T04:16:00.000-07:00

Good morning! It's Thursday, YAY! My last full day of work for the week. :-)

This morning I had an incredible breakfast! Last night, I cooked up an egg white omelet with spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms and a laughing cow cheese wedge. I reheated it this morning for a 1:30 in the microwaved. Very good!

I wanted something else to go with it... but for some reason I didn't feel like fruit today! Weird, I know.

The other day at the grocery store I was looking at the yogurt section and came across some Pumpkin Pie Yogurt. It sounded delicious! But it only came in full fat (bleh!) and in a big container. I was very disappointed! But this morning, I was staring at my container of leftover pumpkin in the fridge and thought "what should I use this pumpkin for?!" And it dawned on me: YOGURT! So I mixed the rest of the canned pumpkin (about 1/4 cup) with maybe 3/4 cup Vanilla Light & Fit. I topped it with some cinnamon and some Pumpkin Flax Seed Cereal of Kris's (w/ raisins in it). DELICIOUS.

Well, once again, I'm rushing to get out the door this morning. Have a good day everyone!

Food, Fashion and Fun-Filled Day

2008-10-15T18:10:00.001-07:00

What a great day I had today! I am so glad that I didn't skip yoga, I felt awesome afterward. I always do, but it's so hard to remember that feeling when your alarm is blaring at 5:30 in the morning...

I drove Kris's car to school today so that he could take mine to get its oil changed (Isn't he so sweet?!). I drank half of my delicious smoothie on the drive to Mankato, then the other half after yoga. About a half hour after I got to work, I had a peanut butter & jelly waffle sandwich.

Made with one toasted Nutrigrain Low-Fat waffle, 1 tablespoon of Naturally More Peanut Butter, and 2 tablespoons of blueberry sugar free preserves. Yum.

I was soooooooooo busy at work today. I got ALOT done! Because I was on the move so much, I didn't get hungry until around 1 pm. Then, all of a sudden I was STARVING. Good thing I'd packed a HUGE lunch.

Leftover stir-fry veggies, mixed with broccoli slaw, peppers & sugar snap peas.

I also had a chicken dog, fresh pepper strips and hummus & mustard for dipping.

AND I had a Cherry Coke Zero for a treat.

After work I got in a super quick gym workout. An intense 20-minute hill program on the recumbant bike, then a quick 10-minute run on the treadmill (1.25 miles). I had to cut it short because of class at 4. On my walk (sprint, really) to class, I snacked on a few grapes. Class was over at 5, and then I was mall-bound.

I only went to my favorite store (Charlotte Russe, haha) and bought a ton of stuff on clearance. Grey dress pants, two black shirts (I need to get away from BLACK!), 2 other shirts, a pair of black high heels and two necklaces. I spent only $60. AWESOME.

On the drive home I ate a delicious apple (which I tried to take a picture of, but it turned out super blurry). I wasn't real hungry when I got home, so I didn't know if I was even going to make anything for dinner. But then Kris mentioned Subway and I immediately got hungry! We split one of the new "Chicken Pizziola" subs. On my half, I got spinach, green peppers, onions, tomatoes and parmesan cheese. Very good.

We brought the subs home to eat. I cut mine in half (takes longer to eat, I swear!) and made a spinach, cucumber & tomato side salad with Fat Free Italian dressing on the side. Now I'm stuffed!

Well, tomorrow is ANOTHER LONG DAY (when aren't they?!) so I better get everything in order and get in bed early to make up for my lack of sleep last night. G'night all!

National Love Your Body Day

2008-10-15T08:52:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd give a quick shout out for

National Love Your Body Day.

I have definitely not always loved my body. And I must admit, I still have my days where I morph into Negative Nancy and hate looking in the mirror. But I have definitely made progress in the positive body image area, especially in the last few months since I've started this blog. I also want to thank everyone whose blogs that I read, for all the inspiration they give me!!

My favorite part of my body is my definitely my legs. They are strong and beautiful. When times in my life have left my down and discouraged, I've used my legs to help me get moving again.

Do you love what you see when you look in the mirror?
Hollywood and the fashion, cosmetics and diet industries work hard to make each of us believe that our bodies are unacceptable and need constant improvement. Print ads and television commercials reduce us to body parts — lips, legs, breasts — airbrushed and touched up to meet impossible standards. TV shows tell women and teenage girls that cosmetic surgery is good for self-esteem. Is it any wonder that 80% of U.S. women are dissatisfied with their appearance?
Women and girls spend billions of dollars every year on cosmetics, fashion, magazines and diet aids. These industries can't use negative images to sell their products without our assistance.
Together, we can fight back.

For more information on National Love Your Body Day, visit http://loveyourbody.nowfoundation.org/.

Have a Smoothie-licious Hump Day!

2008-10-15T04:39:00.001-07:00

Good morning all! I FINALLY fell asleep last night, every much tossing and turning. When my alarm went off, I decided to sleep an extra half hour. And actually, I'm not sure why I set my alarm so darn early in the first place, because this was more than enough time for me to get ready!

My stomach is feeling a little off this morning so I decided to forgo my pre-yoga snack. I did, however, make this smoothie last night to take with me this morning, so I'll probably sip on that on my drive. I'm also bringing an iced coffee made w/ light vanilla soy milk, so that will give me some nutrients, too. The smoothie is actually purple in color, but my "crazy smoothie glass" is green so it looks kinda brownish. In the smoothie is 1 cup of frozen mixed berries, 1 and 1/4 cups Light 'N Fit Vanilla Yogurt, 1/2 a banana and 3/4 cup light vanilla soy milk. YUM.

I've packed lots of things to eat today, as today is going to be a looooong day. I have yoga, work, gym workout, class and then to the mall I go for a little shopping. Here's a preview of my snacks/lunch:

Can't wait! I better go get my stuff ready to go. Be back tonight!

What the world needs now...

2008-10-14T19:55:00.000-07:00

Is sleep, sweet sleep!

I am so tired that I can't sleep. I wasn't even going to post tonight, but I can't fall asleep so I guess I might as well. The longer I lay in bed, the more anxiety I get, thinking about how badly I need sleep. I read on MSN the other day that if you don't fall asleep within 15 minutes of laying there, get up and do something else for awhile and then go back to sleep. So that's what I'm doing!

Okay, what I ate today! Well, my omelet was super filling this morning. However, I did munch on a peanut butter Z-Bar at 9:45 am, simply because I was feeling rather irritated with my kids.

I didn't actually feel hungry, but I know from experience that when my patience starts wearing thin, the best thing I can do for myself is to snack on something.

LUNCH

My boss brought in a bunch of Honeycrisp apples today (my favorite!) and I snacked on a small one while feeding the kids lunch, around 11:30. I took my lunchbreak at 12:45. I had packed a "Turkey Club Wrap."

Made from: 1 La Tortilla Factory, Low Carb High Fiber multigrain tortilla, 2 tablespoons reduced fat veggie cream cheese, 1 oz. turkey, 2 slices of turkey bacon, crumbled, spinach, broccoli slaw and diced tomatoes. SUPER YUMMY!

I also had a small baggie of grapes w/ it.

And a small peanut butter cookie left over from the kids' lunches. Sometimes I just need a cookie!

When I got off work, I had a strict schedule I needed to stick to. I had a 1000-word article to write, I needed to run, I needed to cook dinner, I needed to get everything situated for tomorrow.... WHEW! No wonder I'm so tired.

SNACK

First thing I did was write the introduction to my article. It's an information piece dealing with the connection between eating disorders and religion, mostly from a historical aspect. Very interesting. While writing, I sipped a cup of green tea.

Then I ate a quick snack before going for my run.

I decided on a Fage yogurt (my first!) that I picked up from Hy-Vee last night. I took a bite of it plain and gagged. YUCK, it tasted like sour cream (and I HATE sour cream!). So I mixed in a tablespoon of Naturally More peanut butter, some shredded coconut, slivered almonds and a couple teaspoons of vanilla extract. MUCH better! It was like dessert.

I went for a 2 1/2 mile run. I had planned on a longer one, but about a mile into it, I realized how sick I am still. My nose was running all over the place, I was wheezing and coughing and my legs felt cold, despite the fact that I had run the first mile at an 8 min. pace. So, I cut it short, hoping to abstain from making my illlness worse.

DINNER

After my run I worked on the article a little more and then made supper. I wanted to do something quick and easy. What better than shrimp stir-fry made from frozen cooked shrimp and frozen veggies? I threw in a stir-fry seasonings packet, microwaved some rice for Kris's meal and voila! Done.

This one is my bowl. I topped it with diced fresh tomatoes.

I also had some more green tea with mine.

This is Kris's dinner, w/ brown rice. His looked a little prettier.

Well I've got another super long day tomorrow. However, I love Wednesdays. YOGA! And I'm going to do a little shopping for our weekend in Chicago. Talk to you in the morning!

Black Bean & Salsa Omelet

2008-10-14T04:17:00.001-07:00

I'm very tired this morning, I'm not going to lie to you. I've already drank down a cup of strong coffee, but I'm still fighting the urge to crawl back in under my covers. I think what is making it worse is the fact that when I get off work at 3:30 I have to go straight to work writing an information article for my class, that's due tomorrow. Why oh why do I procrastinate?! I guess that's what your senior year is for, huh.

Breakfast was delicious. Last night I made an egg white omelet with black beans, salsa, onions & a tiny bit of cheddar cheese. I also had some frozen mango on the side. For some reason, my frozen mango tastes a little bit like smoked salmon. Not sure why. Weird.

Ugh, I just wish I could wake up!! Work will not be fun if I feel like this all day. :-(

Well, I hope everyone else is having a better morning than me!

Chicken Sausage Pesto Pizza

2008-10-13T18:12:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally got around to doing a light workout: abs, legs, stretching, etc. No cardio today though. Tomorrow, for sure.

I picked up Kris around 5:30 today, after sneaking in a quick tanning bed tan. Now, I know this is horrible for me... but I'm not going as Snow White for Halloween, so I need at least a slight browning if I'm going to show any skin whatsoever in a few weeks. I'm only going to go 5 or 6 times, then stop after Halloween. I like to stick to the lotions for the rest of the winter.

We stopped off at Hy-Vee for a quick grocery shop. I picked up a Grande Skinny Decaf Pumpkin Spice Latte at the Starbucks in the store for the ride home.

Then I made a homemade pizza!

I'd bought a couple of pre-baked pizza crusts: Deli-catessen Thin-Style Pizza & Focaccia Crusts. My favorite! A third of the crust is only 80 calories, but packs 3 grams of fiber and 5 grams of protein. And they are delicious. I sprayed the crust with EVOO cooking spray, then sprinkled on some pesto mix. Next went chopped artichoke hearts, white button mushrooms, sliced chicken sausages, tomatoes, goat cheese & Italian blend cheese. I baked it at 400 degrees for 15 minutes and it was perfect. Crispy and delish!

Alongside the pizza I made what I like to call a "restaurant side salad." It's pretty much just a plain salad of packaged romaine lettuce mix, tomatoes & "croutons" (I didn't have croutons so I crumbled some Kashi crackers on top: perfect!). My dressing was homemade buttermilk ranch. Sometimes I just need ranch dressing on my salad, it's a Minnesota thing.

Dessert was a scoop of fat free frozen cool whip, drizzled with dark chocolate syrup and topped with a few Halloween sprinkles! A little sinful, but well worth it.

I'm off to get everything ready for work tomorrow- making lunch, picking out my clothes, etc. I know, I way too organized! Hope everyone had a good Monday. I'm feeling much better, Thank God.

Afternoon Snacking

2008-10-13T13:52:00.000-07:00

Well, I accomplished my shower and cleaning, but I can't get myself to exercise... soon, I swear!

Right now I'm snacking on some frozen berries & fresh grapes and reading SELF. It feels good to be getting all of these fruits & veggies in me today!

I'm also researching "Baptism Gift Ideas." Kris and I are traveling to Illinois this weekend for his newphew/godson's baptism. I already bought him a beautiful blue glass cross for his room, but it didn't cost very much and I want to get something else, too.

I really love this personalized "Baby's First Cross Necklace" & Keepsake box! Does anybody else have any other ideas?? Let me know!

I've been surfing the Web alot today and looking at other food blogs. The Summertree Cafe had a little survey about herself on one of her posts, and I thought it might be fun to fill it out too. So here goes!

1. Last Movie You Saw: Mama Mia! I saw it all by myself when I was Wichita, Kansas this summer, traveling with the Sioux Falls Canaries. I loved it!

2. Book You Are Reading: The Scandal of the Season by Sophie Gee.

3. Favorite Board Game: Actual board game would be Clue. But of all games, I like Catchphrase! It was our favorite after-bar activity this summer.

4. Favorite Magazine: Self or Fitness.

5. Favorite Smells: Cinnamon, pumpkin spice, burgers on the grill in the summer, a campfire

6. Favorite Sounds: The sounds of 'Up North' in the summer. Gentle waves hitting the beach, boat motors whizzing by, leaves rustling in the wind, children swimming in the lake, fireworks going off at dusk. And, of course, the sounds of a baseball game.

7. Worst Feeling in the World: Embarassment. My biggest fear is public humiliation.

8. First Thing You Think of When You Wake Up: Depends on how early I'm waking up! If it's 5 am, I most likely thinking "NO I DON'T WANT TO WORK TODAY!' Sometimes I start thinking about breakfast first thing when I wake up though.

9. Favorite Fast Food Place: Hmmm... is Panera Bread considered fast food? Because that would probably be it. Or Sonic, I love their corn dogs and diet cherry limeade!

10. Future Childrens' Names: Haha, we've actually been discussing this alot lately. For girls, it's settled: Audrey Lynn and Scarlett Marie. For boys, we're torn. Kris wants Oscar (eck!) and I want Ryan or Matthew. Who knows though!

11. Finish this statement: "If I Had alot of Money...": I'd buy a big house with a nice big fancy kitchen, and I'd do all of my shopping at Whole Foods or Trader Joe's.

12. Favorite Drink: Non-alcoholic: Coffee. Alcoholic: Vodka Gimlet.

13. Name All of the Cities You Have Lived In: Eagan, MN. Le Center, MN. Faribault, MN. Mankato, MN. St. Peter, MN. Sioux Falls, SD.

14. Favorite Place to Relax: At home. I love our apartment, it's so cozy and cute!

15. Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Blueberry Cheesecake.

Okay, that's it for now!

New Layout

2008-10-13T11:46:00.000-07:00

What do you think?? I got my new template from http://templatesparanovoblogger.blogspot.com/ and I love it! I had to make some minor changes to the html, such as add borders to my pictures and translate everything into english! But right now I'm really liking it.

Well, I am unfortunately still sick. However, I am feeling better than yesterday and my temp is down under 100. It has been raining all day, so it was kind of perfect for a sick day.

This morning Kris woke me up at 7 so that I could drive him to school. We'd left his car in Mankato over the weekend so I had to drop him off and I'll go back and pick him up later on and bring him to his car. On the ride to school, I ate a peanut butter Z bar.

When I got home I went back to bed for a few hours. Around 10:30 I got up and had a bowl of cereal. I mixed together cinammon Puffins, Kashi Go Lean and Fiber One, drowned in 8th Continent Light Vanilla Soy Milk.

After that I slept a little longer and then got up and played around with the template on my blog. :-) Around 1:30 I decided to eat lunch. I wanted something comforting, but with alot of 'healthiness'. So I settled on some tomato soup & a big salad.

The salad with a mix of spinach, broccoli slaw, fire-roasted red peppers, black beans and crumbled feta cheese. I drizzled some Kraft fat free honey dijon dressing and Wishbone Bountifuls' Heart Italian dressing on top. It was huge, and I only ate about half of it. (ECK, I hate wasting food!)

The soup was just a Campbell's Soup-At-Hand Classic Tomato that I heated up in the microwave and poured into a bowl. I topped it with a little bit of Italian blend cheese.

For dessert I had a Kashi Dark Chocolate & Oatmeal cookie. Now I'm going to take some more cold medicine and lay down to watch That 70s Show. Then my plan is to shower, clean up the apartment, do some abs and calisthenics and go pick up Kris.

Can't wait for Gossip Girl tonight!

101.7

2008-10-12T17:53:00.000-07:00

That was the temperature of my body when I woke up this morning at 9. I was burning up. I just can't seem to shake this sickness that I've had for almost a month now. I'll get better for a few days, and then go right back to being sick. I'll probably go into the doctor tomorrow if I still have a fever.

Wellll.... let's recap yesterday and today. There's not much to it though, since my being sick has completely killed my appetite.

Yesterday, they boys & I had a very fun-filled day. First, I took them to my parents' to see the dogs, then go to the park. Then we went to a pumpkin patch near my house where they give free hayrides on the weekends.

We each picked out a pumpkin. Then for a special treat I took them to Culvers for some frozen custard. I had 1 scoop of their cookie dough- the flavor of the day.

I made chicken patty sandwiches, apples & tater tots for them for supper. I ate a handful of tater tots, but didn't make myself anything since Kris had told me he'd want to go get something to eat after I got done watching them. So when Lynnita came home, I headed to one of our friend's houses, where Kris had been watching football & playing Wii shuffleboard all day... he was half in the bag by the time I got there, of course. Needless to say, I could tell we weren't going to go eat anytime soon. But I still wasn't feeling very hungry, so I settled for a Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale.

Very tasty, although I probably didn't need it. Later, the guys decided they wanted to go downtown to the bars.... another bad idea. I didn't get to eat until around 1 am, when I left the bar and stopped a sub shop. By then, I was absolutely starving. I got a turkey sub on wheat with tomatoes & sprouts. My camera's battery was dead so I wasn't able to take a picture of it. I was so tired from my cold medicine and so fed up with all the drunk people around me! I was able to drag Kris to the car and we drove home, FINALLY. I was exhausted.

This morning, I was so hot and feeling so horrible, all I wanted was something really cold to eat. I had a strawberry Chobani w/ cinnamon Puffins and some pineapple. I couldn't really taste any of it, but at least I wasn't hungry anymore.

I slept most of the day. Kris made us supper- "Chicken a la King", his favorite comfort food. Biscuits topped with a mixture of corn, shredded chicken, mushrooms & cream of mushroom soup. Once again, my tastebuds are not working, but I feel satisfied and tired now after eating it.

Well... I'm not sure about work tomorrow. I can't miss class though, so I'll have to go into Mankato at some point. I sure hope I can get rid of this damn cold!

Pumpkin Cinnamon French Toast with Maple Apple Topping

2008-10-11T06:53:00.000-07:00

YUM YUM! I woke up hungry for something sweet, which is pretty odd since normally I'm craving savory things in the morning (like eggs, meat & cheese). So I decided to take advantage of my craving and whip up some french toast for me & Kris.

I whisked together Egg Beaters, Light Vanilla Soy Milk, canned pumpkin, cinnamon & nutmeg. Soaked 5 pieces of bread (2 Village Hearth Light Wheat for me, 2 Brownberry multigrain for Kris) and pan-fried w/ cooking spray in a large wok.

The topping was a combination of sugar free canned apple pie topping and sugar free maple syrup. It totally hit the spot. While I cooked up the french toast, I drank a Function water that I picked up at Target the other day.

Last night, after I blogged I snacked on a turkey stick & a piece of string cheese. I did take a picture of it, but later on that night I cleaned out my camera and accidentally deleted it!! Oops. Oh well, it wasn't the prettiest picture anyway. Around 7:30, I decided to start cocktail time. I mixed myself a Rum & Diet, with Ron Diaz spiced rum (less alcohol, less calories than Captain Morgan) and Cherry Coke Zero.

While I sipped my drink, I snacked on some candy corns for my candy dish. MMMM!

Kris and I were pretty lazy-feeling last night, so we decided to just go out for dinner. We went to Whiskey River (probably the nicest restaurant in our small little town here, but still just a bar & grill). They have delicious food there though. I ordered the Turkey Spinacio sandwich w/ fries. The sandwich was HUGE, and piled with turkey, creamed spinach, artichokes & parmesan cheese. The fries were delcious, too. Everybody needs some french fries every once in a while!

I only ate half of my meal, and then boxed up the other half to take home. While I was there, I also had a drink called a "Harvey Wallbanger." Vodka, orange juice & Galliano. Pretty good, but it put me to sleep! We went home & crashed right after dinner.

I'm watching Lynnita's boys today for a while. I think I might take them to my parents so they can play with the dogs. I haven't seen my family in a few months, anyway. I'll update later!

High Protein Day

2008-10-10T15:36:00.000-07:00

I was exhausted getting up this morning, due to our late night up in the cities last night. So I thought that I could probably use a little extra protein to fuel me today.

For breakfast, I made a Dijon Honey Ham Omelet. I used 1/2 cup Egg Beaters and whisked in a tablespoon of Honey Dijon Mustard & a little bit of fresh salsa into the eggs. Inside the omelet went fresh spinach, onions, goat cheese and honey ham.

I was very, very satisfied after eating it. I had a small side of pineapple with it.

I didn't get lunch until 12:45 again today, which sucked because I was pretty hungry. Luckily, I had packed a HUGE salad. My inspiration was The Spicy Pickle's "Salsalito Bandido Salad", which I practically lived off of all summer in Sioux Falls.

Romaine lettuce, strips of ham, black beans, corn, fresh tomatoes, onions and a little bit of shredded cheddar and Italian blend cheese. I was in the mood for some creamy dressing, so I made my own "Mexi-Ranch" dressing:

1 T. Hellman's Light Mayo
1 T. Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
1 T. Kraft Light Zesty Italian
2 T. fresh salsa
Black Pepper
Cumin

It made too much dressing, and I didn't use it all, but it tasted wonderful! I ate my whole salad, along with some grapes.

As soon as I got home from work, I went for a run. I knew that if I sat down and 'unwinded,' I probably wouldn't have the motivation to do it later! The run wasn't my best, for sure. My legs felt like dead weight, and they are pretty sore from Wednesday's treadmill run. Plus, it was SUPER windy out, which makes it so much harder!

Well, I just got out of the shower and I'm going to eat a little snack and then run to the store for some diet soda to mix with some Ron Diaz spiced rum for a Friday night cocktail. TGIF!

A Flea In Her Ear: A quick last night recap

2008-10-10T04:14:00.000-07:00

Augh, yesterday was so crazy! Ok, QUICKLY:

After work I had about an hour to get ready to get up to the play. I quickly tried a blueberry Chobani yogurt (my FIRST! I was a Chobani virgin) w/ 1/2 a cup of Kashi Go Lean. YUMMY!

Then I had a mini peanut butter cup (I heart Halloween candy) and a small handful of roasted acorn squash seeds.

In the car on the way up, I snacked on a big, red Cortland apple. Crunchy & delicious!

The play, "A Flea In Her Ear" was HILARIOUS, but super long! A 50 min. 1st Act, 15 minute intermission, 40 min. 2nd Act and 40 minute 3rd Act. We were up so late! Plus, the hour-long drive home. YUCK. On the way home, I was STARVING. I'd brought a Kashi Dark Chocolate & Cherry granola bar with me. I ate that, which was just enough to stifle my hunger so that I could hit the hay as soon as I got home.

Ok, I gotta go to work! I'll recap breakfast and lunch when I get home today.

Chicken & Mushroom Melt

2008-10-09T14:23:00.001-07:00

Lunch today was awesome! I didn't get to eat it until almost 1pm though, so it's a good thing I had all of that oatmeal & fruit this morning!

I took leftover chicken from last night and put it between two toasted slices of Village Hearth Light Wheat bread, along with some tomatoes, a little bit of shredded Italian blend cheese and a laughing cow light cheese wedge. At work, I microwaved it for a minute. DELICIOUS!

I also had some bell pepper strips & cucumbers with a little bit of roasted red pepper hummus. And a BIG bottle of Dasani water.

Yesterday at Target I bought some Starbucks chocolates. They are "Chocolate & Tea tasting squares" and they have three different varieties: Chai, Passion & Citron. You can eat 8 squares for only 190 calories! And one square is definitely enough decadence for the perfect little after-lunch dessert. Today I had a Citron:

Yum. Well we are headed up to Bloomington soon and I need to eat something before we go.I'll update tonight before I go to bed.

Pumpkin Oats

2008-10-09T04:04:00.000-07:00

Last week I bought a big container of Quaker oven-toasted quick oats that were on sale. I haven't had oatmeal in years. When I was younger, I had a hard time eating things with that mushy texture (like bananas, squash, oatmeal, etc.) and even though I got over it, I haven't introduced oatmeal back into my life.... until now!

I made it with a little over a 1/2 cup oats and stirred in a little bit of pumpkin, some dried apples & apricots, sugar free maple syrup and topped it with some Fiber One and cinammon.

On first bite, I actually got a big wave of nausea and ran to the bathroom, standing above the toilet for about 5 minutes. Haha, honestly, I'm not kidding! I don't know if it was the oatmeal or not, since my stomach felt a little off this morning when I first woke up. But the feeling passed (without any regurgitation), and I sat back down to eat. I ate it slowly, and ended up really liking it! I think I will need to add more water next time and a little more crunch of some sort. But all in all, it was a good oatmeal experience.

I also had half of a small banana w/ cinammon on the side.

Well Thursdays normally excite me because Grey's Anatomy is on. However, I'm doing something different tonight! Kris & I are going up to the Twin Cities so that he can play in a touch football game, and I'm going to go Halloween costume shopping and to a play with a friend. No excercise for me today, so it's going to be a lower-calorie day. I probably won't have much of a supper, so I wanted to make sure my breakfast was pretty calorie dense. I'm also really excited about what I'm bringing to work for lunch.... show you later!

Acorn Squash Heaven

2008-10-08T17:49:00.000-07:00

If you remember my grocery shopping trip the other day, I bought 3 different kinds of squash- spaghetti, bohemian and acorn. I decided to use the acorn squash for supper tonight (well, dessert actually) and it was superb! I decided just to bake it and mash it up with a little bit of Brummel & Brown and sugar free maple syrup. First, though, I oven-roasted the seeds!

I've never actually roasted squash seeds before, but my mom used to roast pumpkin seeds when I was little and I loved them! I figured squash seeds can't be much different. I scooped them right from the squash onto a baking sheet (didn't even rinse them, I thought the squash pulp might make them tastier!), sprayed them with olive oil cooking spray, sprinkled them with freshley ground sea salt, then mixed them around. I roasted them at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes (until I heard them start popping) and they were absolutely perfect. AND DELICIOUS!

While my squash halves were baking in the oven (cut in half, face down in a cake pan filled with 1/2 inch of water at 350 for 50 minutes), I cooked up dinner.

Balsamic-carmelized chicken breast chunks and mushrooms.

One the side: romaine, tomato, cucumber & feta cheese salad

w/ Wishbone Bountifuls Hearty Italian dressing.
It was good and filling. I couldn't even finish my chicken. I saved some to use for a sandwich lunch tomorrow.

Then, finally: Maple Brown Sugar Acorn Squash

Heaven. Pure heaven.

Major workout day with a special surprise at the end!

2008-10-08T16:22:00.000-07:00

Whew. I am exhausted.

The day started with my 60 min. yoga class. I didn't feel quite as strong as I did on Monday, but it was still a good class. After class I went to work, and when I got there I ate my breakfast:

2 slices of honey ham & a light string cheese- I needed the protein!

My workout must have burned alot of calories though, because I was hungry again very soon. I waited until 11am to eat my morning snack, which was a combination of dry cereal: Kix, Fiber One & Cinammon Puffins (I decided I prefer the peanut butter!).

This held me pretty well, surprisingly. Cereal normally seems to go right through me and I'm hungry again 10 minutes later! But I didn't take lunch break until 1pm, and I wasn't starving by any means. I ate my reheated grilled veggie burrito (which, as I expected, did not hold the "crunch" that I wanted, but was still delicious!) and snacked on some cucumbers, snap peas & peppers.

After lunch, work was soooo boring. I was just in such a good mood and feeling so great that I felt like I was totally wasting it sitting on my butt staring at a computer screen. Bleh. So.... I took off a little early. Headed to the gym for my 2nd workout of the day!

Ran 3.1 miles on the treadmill
Biked 1.5 miles of a 'Hill Program' on the recumbant
Abs routie using the balance ball

Whew. I immediately ate a nectarine when I got done, I needed something in a bad way!

Then I went to Target to do a little shopping... Target is one of my favorite stores ever! I could spend hours in there. I bought a green shirt to wear to work tomorrow (it's Homecoming Week and tomorrow is class colors day; preschool is green), earrings, new slippers!, shoes, cereal & Starbucks chocolate.

When I got home around 5pm there was a package waiting for me... FREE CHOBANI YOGURT! My fellow food bloggers are constantly eating this stuff and they don't sell it anywhere near me. So I sent an e-mail to the company explaining my blog and asking where I could buy it, and they just up and sent me a box of free ones! I cannot wait to try it!

Dinner time!

Fruit Medley & Lunch Speak-Peek!

2008-10-08T04:46:00.000-07:00

I decided that Wednesdays are one of my favorite days. Yoga, work, gym, home! And, it's my mid-week break from preschool. (Instead, I deal all day with finicky computers, which sometimes 'act up' more than my 3-year-olds.)

I liked my pre-yoga snack of fruit on Monday, so I decided to do it again! Except today, instead of frozen berries & mango, I had a small bowl of fresh pineapple, cantaloupe & grapes. And, of course, my typical cup of coffee w/ Light Vanilla Soymilk and Sugar Free Coffeemate. (However, I was just reading See Bride Run's blog, and she mentioned that she gave up coffee creamers because of some scary ingredients & trans fat! Yikes, I need to look into that....)

I'm bringing lots of mini-meals to munch on all day. My main "lunch" is something I concocted & made last night. Here's a sneak-peek:

It's a "grilled veggie burrito". The filling is a mixture of sauteed bell peppers, onions & mushrooms, with canned corn, black beans, salsa, a tablespoon of reduced fat veggie cream cheese and tablespoon of Hellman's lowfat mayo. Also, I added some cumin, black pepper & hot sauce. It's all wrapped up in a Flat Out Light Wrap and "grilled" on the stove. I'll reheat it at lunchtime in the microwave-- we'll see if it retains any of the crunch! I can't wait to eat it.

Well, I need to go finish up my beautifying routine & get on the road a little early, since the weatherman says it's pretty foggy out and my road to Mankato runs right along the river. Have a good day everyone!

Chicken Sausage & Veggies with Rice Noodles

2008-10-07T18:28:00.000-07:00

Dinner was delicious & filling- the best kind!

I started by cooking up some rice noodles (about 3 oz.), and then microwaved some Green Giant "Steam in the Bag" potatoes, green beans & peppers. I cup up two chicken sausages (stuffed with gouda cheese & apples) that I'd bought from Wal-Mart last week. I sauted them in a pan with garlic & onions. Then I added the veggies & rice noodles, along with (finally!) the last of my canned diced tomatoes. The "sauce" was a mixture of Sundried Tomato Pesto & Honey Dijon Mustard. I grated some parmesan cheese on top and garnished with some fresh parsley.

YUM YUM! I am exhausted though, and yoga is less than 12 hours away. OH, by the way... my run today was FANTASTIC. I keep getting further and further everyday without feeling tired at all. I love it.

Goodnight everyone!

Afternoon Pick-Me-Up!

2008-10-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

Work went really well today, I had quite a bit of energy all morning. I stayed full right up until a half an hour before my lunch break, which was awesome! However, that beautiful salad that I brought with me didn't hold me very long! I was starving by the time I got home from work at 4pm. (I ate lunch at noon though, so I guess that's not too bad.) So as soon as I got home I fixed myself a quick snack:

1 cup of Vanilla Dannon Light 'N Fit Yogurt, plus 1/2 cup applesauce.

Sprinkled with some Fiber One!

I also had a cup of green tea.

Well, Kris & I were supposed to go over to Le Center to watch my little brother's football game at 4:30, but it was canceled because of the rain! It's not raining anymore, but it rained all day and the field is supposedly flooded. Soooo... I'm going to go running! Then make dinner. Bye!

Rain, rain, rain....

2008-10-07T03:59:00.000-07:00

Good morning on this lovely Tuesday!

Getting up was pretty hard to do this morning. I could not sleep last night! I knew I shouldn't have had another cup of coffee at 3 pm yesterday! I didn't fall asleep until probably 12:30, and I had to get up at 5:15am. Yuck. But I brewed myself a nice pot of coffee and I'm feeling pretty good now! However, the rain just won't stop here! It rained yesterday and now it's going to rain all day today again, too. I guess I'll be running in the rain this afternoon.

Breakfast this morning was a wonderful little egg sandwich.

I used 1/3 cup egg beaters, yellow onions, a handful of spinach, diced canned tomatoes & a tiny bit of Italian blend cheese. I microwaved the conconction for 2:30 and it was perfect on my Village Hearth light English muffin! I also had half of a banana with a little bit of my new Naturally More Peanut Butter.

I've been searching for a good peanut butter for a while now, and by george I think I've found it! This stuff is lower in calories and fat but has more fiber AND protein!

Plus, it's DELICIOUS! I'm super excited about this, as I have always loved peanut butter but haven't allowed myself to eat much of it in the past.

My lunch that I'm bringing today is a Greek-inspired salad. Spinach, mushrooms, roasted red peppers, onions, tomatoes, feta cheese & a little bit of leftover baked tofu from the other night. I'm bringing a balsamic vinaigrette for dressing.

Well I better finish getting ready for work. The kiddies await me!

Dinner & Groceries

2008-10-06T18:11:00.000-07:00

My class went the whole time tonight, despite my teacher telling us in the beginning that she was going to let us out early. (I'll forgive her, since she canceled 4 more classes for the rest of the semester!) So I was pretty hungry by the time Kris & I left school today. I was planning on heating up a jar of White Chicken Chili that I'd picked up a few weeks ago, and spicing it up with some grilled veggies and some other things. However, Kris decided he wanted to run to Hy-Vee and pick up some fruit.

Of course, our "Fruit Run" turned into all of this:

We bought apples, nectarines, grapes, pineapple, cantaloupe, Naturally More Peanut Butter, deli ham, organic roasted red pepper hummus, fresh salsa, Organic White Cheddar Tortilla Chips, 3 different kinds of squash, spinach, protein & fruit smoothies (for Kris), organic blueberry preserves, turkey sticks, bananas & 3 fresh tilapia fillets. AND: my first pumpkin of the year! :-)

Since we were at the store, I decided to nix the chili plan and go for some fresh fish instead. So the entire way home (20 min. for us) I thought about how to cook the tilapia and what to serve it with. I knew that I DIDN'T want to use anything Chipotle-flavored tonight. But I couldn't decide between sweet or savory. I went with BOTH!

Garlic-butter tilapia & maple citrus veggies & apples.

For the tilapia, I just heated up a tablespoon of Brummel & Brown in my large saute pan, along with a heaping spoonful of minced garlic. I seasoned the fillets with sea salt and ground black pepper, as well as a little bit of garlic salt. I cooked the fillets about 5 minutes on each side and then covered the pan, reduced the heat and cooked for 5 more minutes.

Meanwhile, I'd thinly sliced a Cortland Apple and added it to a saute pan sprayed with extra virgin olive oil. I sauted those for a couple of minutes, then added a bag of frozen "Spring Vegetables" (summer squash, green beans, asparagus, carrots, etc... not sure why they are 'spring'). I added some orange juice and sugar free maple syrup, covered and brought to a boil. I let the veggie/apple mixture simmer for about 10 minutes until the apples were slightly tender.

The flavors went amazing together! Kris raved the food and I was more than satisfied w/ my little cooking experiment. I don't even need dessert, since the veggies/apples were pretty sweet. It was dinner & dessert all rolled into one!

Ahhhhh.... well it's already 8:30. I'm going to get everything ready for tomorrow and then hop in bed and continue reading my book. WHAT A LONG DAY!

First 5K!

2008-10-06T17:49:00.001-07:00

So I've decided I need a fitness goal. And as it turns out, the town we live in has an annual "Halloween Fun Run 5K." This year, it falls on October 25, which I happen to have open! So.... I decided to register! Races have never really been my thing, as I've always liked to look at exercise as fun, rather than a competition. However, this one is pretty laid-back. You can walk or run it (I'm going to run), and besides prizes for the top times, there are prizes for best Halloween costumes! I figure it will be something fun & festive to do, and the perfect excuse to push my fitness to a new level. I'll keep you posted!

Well. On to the food! After my yoga class today (which I felt amazingly strong & balanced in today), I chowed down a smoked salmon & cream cheese roll-up, made with reduced fat veggie cream cheese and a Flat Out Light Wrap.

A couple of hours later at work I ate a small container of mandarin oranges, which I forgot to take a picture of! Lunch was a mixture of leftover salad from a few days ago (with the artichokes, celery, ground buffalo, corn, etc.) and leftover salad from last night. I thought it was going to be strange-tasting, but it turned out to be VERY GOOD.

I also had some celery & baby carrots that didn't have much life left in them. As I ate I read "Scandal of the Season," a historical fiction book dealing with the persecution of Catholics in 18th century London.

After I got off work I went to the computer lab to do some work on my resume & portfolio. I snacked on some sugar snap peas quick before class. CRUNCHY GOODNESS!

Dinner is for the next post!

Frozen Mango & Berries

2008-10-06T04:40:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling pretty good for a Monday morning. I woke up at 6, showered and made coffee. I ate a small bowl of frozen mango & berries for breakfast. I didn't want to eat too much because I have a yoga class at 8 and I hate the feeling of food in my stomach during yoga.

With breakfast I drank my coffee w/ light vanilla soy milk and sugar free hazelnut coffeemate. I also had a small glass of orange juice.

Well I'm off for a long day! I packed with a bunch of snacky things to fulfill me all day.

HAPPY MONDAY! :-)

Baked Tofu

2008-10-05T17:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I continued with my "Try New Things" theme for the day, and decided I do some baked tofu. Some fellow bloggers eat it alot and it always looks so yummy in their pictures!

I have made tofu before and found it to be pretty.... well, bland. Tonight I tried making it a different way. I took a block of extra firm tofu, drained it and pressed it between paper towels and two plates for 30 minutes. Then I cut it into 6 strips and then cut those strips in half. I marinated it in some Chipotle & Mexican Beer BBQ sauce for 30 more minutes, then spread the pieces out on a baking sheet, which I baked for 35 minutes at 400 degrees, turning once. Some pieces had a nice crust on them, but some could probably have used a few extra minutes in the oven.

The tofu itself wasn't horrible, but what I hated the most was the BBQ sauce! I sweare I've used it before, but for some reason tonight I hated the taste. It was very spicy, which for me is unusual because I love spice! I think I might just be a little Chipotle-ed out. I've used the flavor alot lately in my cooking. I need to move away from the Chipotle.

I did make a nice chop salad to go with it though. It was delicious! Pre-packaged romaine salad mix, coleslaw veggies, roma tomatoes, white button mushrooms, red, yellow & green bell peppers, cucumbers & parmesan cheese. The dressing was a mixture of Wishbone Bountifuls' Tuscan Romano Basil, Kraft's Fat Free Zesty Italian and a Hy-Vee store brand buttermilk ranch.

I had seconds on my salad!

Earlier today, after my run (which felt amazing, by the way), I snacked on a couple of smoked oysters and a wedge of garlic & herb laughing cow light cheese on some kashi crackers. Held me over!

Right now I'm too full for dessert, and it's already 8pm. So I doubt I will be eating any! Tomorrow is a new day and the beginning of a new week.

New Recipe Day!

2008-10-05T12:18:00.000-07:00

Finally, a Sunday has come where I have NO plans and I am NOT hung over! Haha. So I decided to try out a few different recipes ideas today!

After church on Sundays, Kris and I normally like to eat a BIG brunch. We're normally starving, since we don't believe in eating before taking Holy Communion. Sometimes we go out for breakfast, but most of the time we switch off making eachother breakfast. It was my turn this week! (Since, if you remember last Sunday, Kris "made brunch" by picking up tacos from Taco John's. Haha, I guess it's the thought that counts!)

So I made..... Lightened Up Breakfast Pizza!

My mom has a wonderful recipe for breakfast pizza that she normally makes on Christmas morning. However, it is not exactly figure-friendly! (It consists of regrigerated crescent rolls for the crust, pork sausage, frozen hashbrowns, lots of eggs and LOTS of cheese!) Very good, but now what we needed today. So I decided to come up with my own recipe. I recently bought a box of Heart Smart Bisquick Baking Mix, so I decided to use that as my inspiration. Here's the recipe I came up with, and my oh my was it WONDERFUL!

Lightened Up Breakfast Pizza

7 strips turkey bacon
1 ½ cups Heart Smart Bisquick Baking Mix
1/3 cup hot water
¾ cup Egg Beaters original
8 oz. fat free sour cream
2 tbs. dried minced onion
1 tsp. garlic salt
Ground black pepper, to taste
2 cups bell pepper strips
1 cup sliced white button mushrooms
¼ cup reduced fat crumbled feta cheese
½ cup reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese
½ cup Italian blend shredded cheese

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease 12-inch pizza pan with olive oil cooking spray.
2. Cook bacon in nonstick skillet according to package. Set aside of plate covered with paper towel to drain excess grease.
3. Combine Bisquick mix with water until soft dough forms. Press dough onto pizza pan. Using bisquick-coated fingers, press around the edge creating a ½ inch rim around the pan.
4. Whisk together the Egg Beaters, sour cream, dried onion, garlic salt and ground pepper.
5. Using a pastry brush, brush a small amount of the egg mixture onto the crust. Bake for 8 minutes.
6. Pour the remaining egg mixture onto the crust. Layer bacon, vegetables and cheese on top of egg mixture.
7. Bake for 20 minutes, or until set in the middle. Cool for 8-10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Kris and I both loved it. I will DEFINITELY make this again.

Also, I've been wanting to making something with pumpkin all week, in honor of October! At first I was going to make pumpkin muffins, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I wanted a cookie instead. I searched all over the internet for a good recipe, but I couldn't find one that I really liked. So instead, I took notes from several different recipes, including some of my own, and came up with a unique and delicious cookie!

Low-fat Pumpkin Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup natural, no-sugar-added applesauce
3 cups quick oats
½ cup shredded coconut
1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbs. cinnamon
1 ½ tsp. nutmeg
½ cup chopped pecans

1 can cream cheese frosting (or your own recipe)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream pumpkin, brown sugar and applesauce with electric mixer.
3. Combine remaining ingredients (excluding frosting).
4. Gradually add pumpkin mixture to dry ingredients, mixing well with an electric mixer.
5. Roll batter into ping-pong sized balls. Place onto greased cookie sheets and press down with palm of hand to create cookie shape.
6. Bake for 20 minutes.
7. Cool 10 minutes, then frost with cream cheese frosting.

Very, very, VERY yummy. They definitely aren't a soft cookie. But they're not hard either. Their texture is actually kind of similar to that of a... Cliff Bar. Or maybe a Quaker granola bar. Either way, they are very good and healthy too! (Especially if you make your own cream cheese frosting with fat free cream cheese, which I was too lazy to do today!)

I'm off for a run!

Yaaaaaaawn....

2008-10-04T22:47:00.000-07:00

What a long day! I feel like our hike was yesterday!

I babysat for two kids that I used to do daycare for tonight. Kris & I took them to the Timberwolves' scrimmage up on Minnesota State's campus. They were so cute!

The game started at 7. Because we ate a later lunch, I wasn't hungry for dinner before we left for the game. So Kris & I snacked on a few different things. I had a cup of sugar free hot chocolate, which was delicious! I also had a piece of part-skim Crystal Farms string cheese, which is the BEST STRING CHEESE EVER! I absolutely love it.

Also, the boys' parents own a meat market in the town that I work in, and they always have a bunch of interesting meat at their house. So Kris and I had a couple of pieces of some jalapeno & cheese summer sausage.

After the game, Kris & I were STARVING. So we ordered a pizza from Papa John's (I've missed their thin crust, we don't have it St. Peter!) and picked it up on the way home. We got a thin crust "Spinach Alfredo Chicken Tomato" pizza, which was very, very good. I had two and a half pieces! The boys helped us out a little bit. They were VERY tired.

Well, now I am exhausted and it's almost 1 o'clock in the morning. Church is bright and early, followed by a full day of couch lounging and football watching. YAY!

Hiking and Snacking

2008-10-04T12:13:00.001-07:00

What a beautiful day it is today. Kris and I got up early (well, 8:30, which is early on a Saturday) and I made some scrambled egg beaters with green, yellow and red bell peppers, tomatoes, fresh salsa, mushrooms & cheese. YUM YUM!

Around noon we drove out to 7 Mile Creek Park and went for a looooong hike. First we did a steep loop trail that KILLED my quads! Then we went back down to the car for snacks. I had a crispy Gala apple and Kris had a HUGE peach.

We started another trail as we ate them. We did a "Very Difficult" foot trail that brought us up to the "Scenic Overlook." It was so beautiful up there! When we got back down we ate the lunches that I'd packed on a picnic table. Turkey & ham sandwiches with fire roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, laughing cow cheese spread on one side and sundried tomato pesto on the other! We had Peanut Butter Clif Kids Bars with them.

We were too tired to do anymore hiking so we drove home and now we're watching the Notre Dame vs. Stanford game. GO IRISH!

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO beautiful!

FINALLY!

2008-10-02T16:10:00.001-07:00

Alright. WHEW. Our wireless router (which we JUST bought) was sucking it up bigtime. So Kris beat it up a little bit and now our internet is fast as ever! Awesome.

On to the food! Lunch yesterday was the other half of my leftover sandwich from the night before, which I didn't take any pictures of, since it looked the same as it did the night before. For supper, Kris picked up some sushi. Now, sushi in Mankato is FAR from superior. In fact, it's not very good at all. But when we have a bad sushi craving, I suppose it will do.

I slept in today, to FINALLY try to get rid of my cold. Which, it seems to have worked, as I'm feeling excellent now! So, breakfast was nothing. Lunch was a quick Lean Cuisine: chicken and angel hair in a basil cream sauce. I added some extra tomatoes and fresh parsley and it was surprisingly good!

Then I decided to decorate for fall/halloween! And I went on a grocery run and stocked up on a bunch of yummy stuff. While I was shopping, I snacked on a Peanut Butter Clif Z Bar. Very good.

For dinner, I made parmesan encrusted tilapia, topped with shrimp sauteed in sundried tomato pesto. On the side I had sauteed zucchini, corn & red onions with parmesan and romano cheese. VERY GOOD.

I'm going to go meet a friend for some drinks at the Wine Cafe! Not too many though, I do have to work tomorrow! Here are some pictures of my newly decorated kitchen & dining room.

See you tomorrow, FRIDAY!

Fruitilicious!

2008-10-01T06:45:00.001-07:00

[My internet hasn't been working lately! So this post was actually from yesterday morning. I have some catching up to do, and then I'll post yesterday's meals and today's.]

I can't shake my cold. I took some NyQuil last night to help me fall asleep, but when it came time to wake up, I just couldn't. My body just needs rest. So I shut off my alarm and went back to sleep. I finally woke up again at 8, because my body needed to cough. ALOT. So I'm up. And still coughing. I wasn't hungry when I woke up, but I knew that I needed to eat. I haven't been eating as much lately or working out as much lately, due to my being sick. So I've lost a little bit of weight (around 3.5 pounds). I made a BIG filling breakfast of yogurt, a whole nectarine and about 11 grapes cut in half.