Happy Monday!
Usually Monday’s are pretty bittersweet with the end of the weekend and all, but today has been pretty good as far as Monday go. Steady workload and beautiful weather. I think Piper has a walk in store for her when I get home!
I am happy to report that I did manage to work in some 30 Day Shred after blogging last night. I think I was motivated by the new workout pants I bought yesterday! The workout was great, but it threw me back on bedtime, which also meant that Jessie did not get up for an AM workout today.
I actually prefer and evening workout, when I can peel myself away from my laptop, because I like sleeping in the mornings. Unfortunately I let myself get distracted by my to-do list, and often working out gets pushed too low on the priority list. So from now on I am going to aim for AM and PM workouts and just see what works out. Some days I will hit one, some days both, and (hopefully) only every once in a while none. When do you prefer to workout? Why? I want to hear from you, please let me know!!!
This morning I somehow managed to start running late even with all of the snack prep work that I did yesterday. Not sure how that happened. I was sad when I realized that I was out of sweet tea and had no time to make more. I really have a hard time drinking plain water 1st thing in the AM.
No sweet tea @ home = stop by Chic Fil A on the way to work. I like the 1/2 sweet/unsweet tea when I can’t have my own.
I wasn’t planning on picking up breakfast but I couldn’t resist.
These little guys kept me full all morning. No snack needed. Shocking, right?!
Lunch was pretty ho-hum. I had a conference call over my break (I am totally jumping on the OpenSky bandwagon!) and was distracted while preparing. It turned out very under-seasoned and flavorless.
Wilted spinach, quinoa, refried beans, salsa, plain Oikos, and jalapeno slices.
I think it was really missing a crunch or chewy factor. I totally forgot to grab a handful of tortilla chips. That what I get for cooking/eating while distracted.
After my disappointing lunch I wanted a great dessert, and decided to give chocolate Oikos another try.
Chocolate Oikos with Bear Naked vanilla almond granola and butterscotch chips.
This was a great combo! And I liked the chocolate Oikos much better than last time.
Don’t forget to enter my Yoplait Greek Yogurt giveaway. I will be announcing the winner on tonight’s post!
Have a great afternoon!
Every Sunday night I sit in front of my computer wondering where the time went. It’s a question I can never seem to find the answer to. I feel like I am losing time, and I mean more than just the hour we lost for daylight savings time!
I meant to do some non-blog writing and never got around too it. I meant to do some cleaning and never got around to it either. I meant to do 30 Day Shred today but ended up going on 2 walks with B and Piper instead. Maybe I can still find time?
Anywho. I am excited to say the I managed to do at least a little bit of exercise every day this week. Even if some days it was only a 15 minute yoga session (Like Friday and Saturday night).
We took Piper on her first walk bright and early (instead of going to church…again). As soon as we got back I ate a bowl of cereal for breakfast. As much as I love this Nature’s Path Flax Plus red berry crunch I just wasn’t feeling the red berries today.
Fortunately lunch wasn’t far off. B and I had plans to take lunch to my Pawpaw. Pawpaw was in the mood for subs so we stopped by Jersey Mike’s to pick up some grub.
We got a giant club supreme with all the fixins, but light on the mayo.
And a giant classic Italian with all the fixins.
We each ate 2 sections and left 2 sections for Pawpaw to take home. Good stuff.
I also brought the leftover desserts from yesterday. I ate a bite or two of brownie and a nibble of macaroon. Pawpaw nibbled on the cake and I sent the rest home with him. My whole family loves this cake!
On our way home we stopped by a local Walmart. This was the most convenient location for us to go to but it is in a rough side of town so I won’t go unless B is with me.
They even have a police tower in the parking lot because of all the problems they have had with daytime muggings. It was a successful trip! I am rather small chested so quality sports bras are not particularly important to me. I have a particular style of Fruit of the Loom sports bras that come in a 3 pack that I can only seem to find at Walmart. And they are only $10! Plus I was able to find some socks on clearance. Score!
The afternoon involved a little cleaning, and other random house things. I also did a little prep work for my weekday snacks by chopping up some broccoli and cauliflower and peeling some carrots. Hopefully this will help improve my morning routine a bit and I can actually put on real shoes before walking out the door.
I pulled out my Crate & Barrel lute to put in the dishwasher. I got a mini beer glass, mini wine tumbler, tiny mixing bowl, condiment spoon, and reusable straws.
And sipped on some wine I picked up at TJ’s yesterday, in one of my new Crate & Barrel glasses (don’t worry, I hand washed it).
I snacked on sweet potato gnocchi.
And snacked some more.
These guys were another great TJ’s find. If you are a fan of PopChips you may or may not know that TJ’s also makes a popped chip.
Plus the price is about $.80 less depending on where you buy your PopChips.
After my snacking extravaganza B and I took Pipe on another walk. Twas great. I love this weather!
Dinner time rolled around in no time and I got to cooking. B was awesome and unloaded the dishwasher while I cooked. Plus he made some guac…which I forgot to photograph. Oops.
Dinner was baked spaghetti.
I started by browning some deer sausage that I seasoned with dried oregano, dried fennel, garlic powder, and red pepper flakes. Plus I sautéed 1/2 yellow onion, some sliced mushrooms, and a grated carrot until the mushrooms were cooked down and the onion was translucent. We stirred in some pasta sauce; topped with shredded mozzarella, shredded cheddar, and grated parmesan; and popped into the oven until the cheese was melty.
Delicious.
And if that wasn’t enough I decided to finish off my goodies from Amelie’s. I really liked the coconut macaroon, although I think they have several other pastries at Amelie’s that I would rather try next time. The salted caramel brownie was good but kind of mushy. It was one of those foods that literally melted in your mouth, and did not have any of the chewiness that I love in brownies. The salted caramel topping had a fantastic flavor, but would have been so much better if it had more brownie underneath.
Don’t forget to enter my (first ever) giveaway for an opportunity to try Yoplait’s Greek Yogurt!
Time to try to fit in some Shred (or maybe yoga) and then a shower. I can’t believe bed time is just around the corner.
Goodbye weekend.
I love DVR. I am sitting here watching this past Thursday’s episode of Private Practice and getting to forwarding through the commercials. I really should be cleaning though. Oh well.
Dinner was only okay. I premade it last night so there would be no effort involved tonight.
Sauteed chard, chicken andouille and quinoa with Tony Chachere’s sprinkled on top. I have said it before and I will say it again, I am just not a fan of greens. At least it was easy.
Then I had an apple with the 2nd half of my packet of Justin’s honey PB. I would absolutely buy a whole jar is I did not already have a jar and a half of Costco PB on my pantry.
B had a softball game tonight so I made plans to go to Marshall’s. I am always on the look out for cute kitchen stuff and I wanted some new workout gear. I didn’t buy anything but I did find a few things that I liked.
I am so cheap. I hate the thought of spending $15 on a pair of shorts, especially ones that I don’t love.
I made a stop at Target too and nothing really caught my eye.
While I was out I was hit with a craving that I just could not deny so I made one last stop at Harris Teeter. Walking into HT takes a lot of self-restraint on my part so I made sure to go straight to what I wanted.
I ate half with a giant glass of milk and saved the other half for B.
Now lets see if I can myself motivated to clean. I have plans with Jen tomorrow so I need to stop procrastinating.
I blame my husband for me being such a foodie. The first time he cooked for me he made eggplant parmesan with lump crab topping. Over the past few years he has challenged me to try foods that I would have otherwise turned away from. I haven’t liked them all, but he has had more successes with me than failures.
When I got home tonight neither one of us wanted what was on the dinner plan. So of course we decided to go out to Killington’s Pub.
As soon as I saw palmetto cheese spread on the menu I knew I wanted it.
The presentation was great!
But the execution seemed a little off. It had a bit too much mayo for my taste and their were huge chunks of cream cheese in it.
The crostini’s were really crunchy and I loved them.
Another thing I saw on the menu that I knew I had to try was the homemade chips. And we ordered a Green in the Grass sandwich to split as our entree, which is a 6 oz filet topped with sauteed spinach and provolone.
The chips were really flavorless. You had to dip them in the ranch otherwise they were blah. They did have a great crunch though!
And the sandwich was great. I wasn’t really feeling the red meat, but the steak was really well cooked and all of the flavors worked well together.
We also had a bowl of veggies on the side but I hated them. These veggies were so mushy that a toothless baby could eat them. Ick!
Despite not being crazy about some of the food I am stuffed, and I look forward to future trips to Killington’s. They have a lot of great looking items on the menu and I would like to sample a few more, and just get a salad as my side instead.
Eek! Aargh! I just burned some beans on my stove top and now have an icky mess to clean up. You all have a great night!
Last night was one of those nights where I really bit off more than I could chew. I cooked dinner, did blog stuff, attempted homemade baked beans, and then made homemade sweet potato gnocchi a la KERF. All of that cooking also means a lot of cleaning. I had to unload and completely reload the dishwasher and still had dishes leftover. I blogged and caught up on Google Reader and Twitter. Then I insisted on doing a yoga session, which was completely worth it. Then I tore down the beds that my hubs germified earlier this week. Fortunately I had the sense to not take those any further.
Messy, messy and germy, germy. Ick!
My overly ambitious attitude carried over into this morning as well. I was woke up by our TV at 4 AM so I was feeling tired and cranky and decided to skip out on my workout. I will try to do some yoga again tonight, cuz my muscles are tight. My desk is too high for me so I sit in this awkward shrugging position all day so I can type.
I got out of bed and did the usual hygiene stuff and got my make up on. Then I proceeded to the kitchen, making a stop at the laundry room to start the first of many loads of laundry. Once in the kitchen I decided to soak some dried kidney beans for tonight’s dinner, throw my baked bean concoction into the slow cooker to cook all day, unload and reload the dishwasher, make breakfast, and pack today’s snacks. It was my ambition to do all of this in 20 minutes.
No such luck. At 20 til 8 (I am supposed to be at work at
I still wasn’t dressed and had no idea what to wear. Eek! I managed to get some clothes on, but not shoes. I shoved my shoes in my back, slid on my slippers and ran out the door giving myself about 12 minutes to get to work. Luckily traffic was light and I walked into my office at 8:01. Whew.
This is what I managed to throw on. Not great, but could be worse. At least I didn’t show up in my yoga pants! Plus, I am still wearing my slippers.
Breakfast was couple of red berry Special K waffles with maple syrup. They were only okay. B picked these out, I prefer plain Eggo’s.
My AM snack was a salad of cucumber, grape tomatoes, and broccoli slaw. I topped with a few gorgonzola crumbles and olive oil vinaigrette.
Lunch is always easy when I have spinach and rice in the fridge. I just have to throw them in a bowl with a few topping and I am set.
In my bowl today is raw baby spinach; leftover basmati rice medley from last Thursday; leftover bacon, andouille sausage, and tomato slices from Tuesday’s lunch; and a drizzle of Newman’s Own ranch dressing. Plus some homemade sweet potato gnocchi.
Tasty and filling. Gotta love that combo.
So far no dessert, but I have a feeling I am going to have a snack attack soon.
3.75 days down, 1.25 to go until the weekend! Soon the countdown to Good Friday will begin! See you for dinner.
Hello all! This is going to be a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants post. I want to squeeze in a yoga workout before bed.
When I got home for work I knew that if I sat down and got on my computer I wouldn’t want to get back up, so I ended up cooking all evening.
Dinner was chicken lettuce wraps. Which means I threw a bunch of stuff in a skillet and then coated with an Asian sauce. Love it.
Tonight the skillet included ground chicken, 1/2 sliced onion, 1 slice red bell pepper, 1 grated carrot, and 1/2 can chopped olives. I topped with some General Tsao’s sauce with a little drizzle Szechuan sauce for some kick.
While dinner was on I also put some dried navy beans on for a quick soak. And then after dinner I got to making homemade baked beans. They aren’t done yet, but since I couldn’t find a recipe I like I am thinking this going to be a big fat fail. I will try to remember to let you know. Do any of you have a good homemade baked bean recipe?
Next on the stove was Kath’s sweet potato gnocchi.
I made a few changes, but stuck to the recipe for the most part. I used less cinnamon and used sage instead of rosemary. I also happened to overwork the dough so they came out more dense than intended but they tasted great! You should definitely give them a try.
I am off to do some yoga. Have a great night!

