Do you remember way back when…or the last time I posted? Somewhere in that post I mentioned having made a mega batch of nachos with ingredients that I refused to waste. I also mentioned that I was going to try to use them to make other dishes to prevent/reduce the wasting of said ingredients.

First attempt at “remix”ing my nachos was stuffed squash. Thanks to my kind landlord I had several ginormous squash to use up and they were perfect for this attempt.

Looks okay and tasted okay.

Add marinara and it got much better.

Remix number 2 was a stuffed pepper, which seemed much more appropriate because of the southwestern food theme.

It was inedible. Truly disastrous. I ended up going to Chic Fil A for a sandwich after chocking down 1/4 of the plate.

I get points for trying, right?

Woohoo! The rest of my day went by without much stress. It was really nice not to hate my job again.

I enjoyed a late afternoon snack of fruit.

Cantaloupe and grapes.

Ever since i got home I have completely vegged on the couch. I meant to take Piper on a walk, but TV sucked me and the evening got away from me.

It really took a lot of motivation to get up and put together dinner even though I was excited about what I was going to make. I decided to stay with the Mexican theme that I started at lunch. Lately, spicy food has sounded so appealing!

I started by cooking 1/2 c quinoa in chicken broth and then added some taco seasoning when it was almost done. Once the quinoa was completely cooked I stirred in a can of drained seasoned black beans. I stuffed 2 bell peppers, topped them with shredded cheddar cheese, and them put them in a 350* oven for 10 minutes or so. I cared more about melting the cheese than I did about cooking the pepper. I prefer my veggie raw or only lightly cooked because I like them crunchy.

I topped my pepper with diced jalapenos and plain Oikos, plus I added some salsa and guac on the side.

So. Good. You must try this or something similar for yourself.

Dessert was a few more pieces of angels food cupcakes. Now that those have been polished off I can get started on the cake that stuck to the loaf pan. Fun.

The full dishwasher is calling my name….I am trying my hardest to ignore it, but I can only do that for so long. Bah!

That’s all for tonight folks!

** Somehow I lost all of my pictures from Thanksgiving 2009 until December 22, 2009. Ack! **

Good morning. I am getting my post up bright an early this morning since I didn’t get one up last night.

Picking up where I left of yesterday… As soon as I got home my hubby had the queso dip already warmed up in the microwave.

I was so hungry and we polished off the rest of what you see here. Yummy. However, I totally spoiled my appetite for dinner.

As for cooking dinner I had no direction. The only think I was certain of was that I wanted to cook a red bell pepper that has been in my fridge for weeks.

I decided on making a stuffed pepper for us to split with extra chicken sausage on the side for Brian. It felt like it took forever to make and by the time I got it on my plate I scarfed it down, forgetting to take a picture.

I did however take a picture of the filling.

1/2 yellow onion, tiny bit of red bell pepper, brown rice, and chicken italian sausage. This was the leftovers.

After dinner I did my usual. We watched some TV and then I went to take a bath and read. I am hooked on the Twilight saga again after going to see New Moon. I have been re-reading the 3rd and 4th books. On top of my blog reading I have had my hands full.

After my bath I was feeling relaxed yet refreshed so I decided to get started on some baking at 8 PM. I have been planning for a while to make cookies for my coworkers but I have been lazy and slacking.

I started out by making some dough for cinnamon rolls. I have been craving them for few weeks now ever since I read about Mama Pea making her vegan pumpkin cinnamon rolls for her family.

I have never had much success with bread dough, but I decided to give it a shot. I used a recipe from the Cooking Light Way to Cook cookbook that I got from the library. I did substitute 1/2 the all purpose flower for whole wheat flower.

While I was waiting on the dough to rise I got started on my cookie doughs. I made sugar cookie dough, also from the Way to Cook cookbook; Oatmeal Scotchies, from the back of the Tollhouse butterscotch chips package; and chocolate chunk cookies, from the back of the Tollhouse chocolate chunk package. All of the dough/batter is now sitting in my fridge waiting to be baked tonight.

I was really focused on my work and did not take pictures of anything.

After my cinnamon roll dough finished rising I continued to follow the instructions in the cookbook. I punched it down and then rolled it out on a flowered surface. I covered it with 3 tablespoons of softened butter and Brian came over to spread out the brown sugar and then I came back by with the cinnamon. I rolled the dough into a jelly roll and cut into slices. I put the slices in the baking dish and left it to rise for another hour.

By this time it was late so the rolls had to go in the fridge to be baked in the morning.

The first thing I did when I got up this morning was preheat the over. After doing some basics like brushing my teeth and putting in my contacts the oven was good to go. I worked on getting the rest of the way ready while the roll baked. I even threw in some push ups and crunches again this morning.

Once my makes up was done and I was almost ready, but still in PJ’s I got the frosting ready. Confectioner sugar, maple syrup, and milk. Easy breezy. Here is the final product.

I gave Brian first dibs and then I packed them up and brought them into work to share with my co-workers. And you know that I had to have one for myself.

Ooey-Gooey. I thought it was pretty tasty for my first try at homemade cinnamon rolls.

After these and the cookies I am planning on bringing in tomorrow my co-workers are going to be sugared out. I have been trying to think of a savory breakfast to bring in one morning too. I am still working on that.

In preparation for my cinnamon rolls I packed some milk for the read.

It was the perfect complement to my cinnamon roll..

I also decided to nibble on an orange to round things out.

Now my tummy is full and it is time for me to buckle down and get some work done.

Have a great day!

** Somehow I lost all of my pictures from Thanksgiving 2009 until December 22, 2009. Ack! **
I feel like the weekend is never going to start. I was hopeful when the morning zoomed by, but this afternoon has been dragging.

As usual I was excited to head to lunch. But when I got home I had no idea what I wanted to eat. So soup it was!

I made a hummus, laughing cow, and red bell pepper sandwich to go with it.

There was so much food I almost couldn’t finish it all. Almost.

My afternoon has been hectic and I had been stressing about time until now. Now I am not sure what to do with myself for the next 30 minutes.

I have also been munch on the rest of my KitKat from earlier in the week.

I just couldn’t let it sit in my desk over the weekend.

Does anyone have any fun plans for the weekend?

I don’t. Just going to rest and relax….and maybe bake. We’ll see.

I had yet another overly ambitious morning. Not a good morning.

Brian woke me up at 3:45 again this morning. I barely got any sleep after that so I am exhausted. I still woke up at 5:50 in anticipation of my newly instated morning workouts, but I was so tired I just stayed in bed reading blogs until I felt more awake.

While blog reading I had Piper hop on the bed to cuddle with me. Bad idea. She has been having some tummy problems over the past month, and ended up having an accident on my bed. Poo on the duvet cover is not a good way to start your day.

At least that got me up and moving. Once I got the duvet in the wash I decided to attempt a workout. I did a 10 minute butt and thigh workout that was on Exercise TV on demand. I kind of picked the first one I saw. Surprisingly I am somehow a little sore from this weeks workouts and I decided to finish off my workout with a YogaDownload.com free workout that I had printed off. Ahh.

Then it was time for breakfast. This is where I got over ambitious. I decided I wanted oatmeal pancakes. So I put the last of my oats on to cook. I unloaded the dishwasher while I waited. Nice and productive.

Then I proceeded to mix up the oat pancake mixture while letting my skillet heat up. I put the first pancake in and it was super thin and hard to flip.

I did another, same result. Then I realized. I forgot the baking powder.

I corrected my batter and got another pancake in the work and realized that I was officially running late. I then proceeded to carry my make up and such in the kitchen so I could get ready and monitor my pancakes.

I got ready, however my hair is looking pretty rough, threw on an outfit and scarfed down a pancake and somehow managed to chop up a bell pepper for a snack. Phew.

See pancakes. This is one of the successful attempts. I was in too big a hurry to take an after photo.

Crunchy on the outside, warm and soft on the inside. Perfect with a glass of skim milk. This is so brown because it is chocolate. I stirred  in chocolate chips and they melted in the hot oatmeal. Oops!

Once on my car the extent of my tiredness really hit me. No fun.

After an hour or so in my office I was so tired I decided to relocate from me desk to a nearby cabinet so I could stand while I work.

Unfortunately that only lasted 30 minutes because I needed to go back to using 2 screens. Maybe I will try again this afternoon.

I just finished a snack of bell pepper and laughing cow. It was yummy, but I am still hungry.

I am going to give it 20 minutes or so to decide if I need to eat something else.

Lets hope this rough morning does not overflow into the afternoon. Hopefully lunch with my Mom will make it all better!

Shortly after my last post it was lunch time. Yay! I really look forward to lunch on weekdays because I get to go home and hang out with Piper for a little while. She always seems to brighten my day.

I did a little prep for lunch this morning before I left for work. It actually contributed to my lateness this morning. I turned my Lentil Tomato Sauce leftovers from last week into a soup.

I was inspired by Danica’s Minestrone and Tortellini soup from yesterday.

I took my sauce and thinned it out with some chicken broth that I had in the fridge. I could have easily used more from my pantry but decided to leave it a little thicker. Once I had it simmering I added a handful of baby spinach and some frozen broccoli.

It was so hearty. And it was perfect for the cold, rainy, icky day we are having here in Charlotte.

I ate me soup with some Kashi Honey Sesame Crackers.

Perfect combo. You will likely see a repeat tomorrow.

Even though the soup was filling I still had room for dessert. Well, I am calling it dessert.

Apple Jacks! Yet another item in my pantry that I am trying to finish off. And they really satisfied my sweet tooth.

Back to work for me for some more spreadsheet work.

Once I checked off several more items on today’s task list I started getting hungry yet again. I was having a chocolate craving but wanted something that would hold me over until I got home. So no Kit Kat for me.

I ate bell peppers with hummus, until I ran out, and then ate bell pepper with Laughing Cow.

I had already scraped the hummus tub clean before I remembered to take a photo. Oops!

The snack didn’t quite fill me up though. It definitely won’t hold me over until dinner time. I guess it’s apple time. They just don’t seem to get old!

The weather has been so nice today!

Brian has been playing softball throughout the day so I went shopping. I really couldn’t find anything that I liked. Boo.

This morning I went to Marshalls Homegoods (I got a stocking stuffer for my Dad!) and then walked around a place called Birkdale Village in Huntersville. I was really enjoying walking around outside more than anything else.  After my stroll in Birkdale I was starving and decided to come home for lunch.

I had really wanted to pick up some sushi, but I wouldn’t do that without Brian since he loves it so much. We are going to have it for dinner instead! I wanted something refreshing and decided on a salad. But I did not think that would be enough so I made a laughing cow/hummus/red bell pepper sandwich too!

These really hit the spot.

After lunch I stayed around the house for a while, but started to feel blah so I decided to go back out.

This time I went to Trader Joe’s to get some 2 Buck Chuck, and other stuff, of course. I also decided to hit up Tuesday Morning and Northlake Mall. I found nothing worth buying. Sigh. Shopping just isn’t any fun when my Mom isn’t around to go with. Fortunately I will have her with me for the next 2 weekends!

Around 4 I was starving and ended up swinging by Wendy’s for a snack. Even though I feel more relaxed than I have the rest of this week I am still craving some of my go to stress foods. I got a small fry and 16 oz Dr. Pepper.

The fries were old and weren’t particularly satisfying so I am definitely looking forward to our sushi dinner whenever Brian gets done with softball.

Do you have go to stress foods that you know you should be eating but can’t seem to resist?

This week has felt like it was never going to end and I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!

Work has been slow, but I have had to do some wrap up work for the St. Jude Give Thanks Walk. I have been working with some local businesses to coordinate pick ups and drop off of product that they have donated to the walk. In my specific case, Thank you Lance and Cheerwine/Choice USA for you generous donations! I also worked with Bojangles and Modern Salon and Spa. Thank you guys too!

Now to lunch.

I was inspired by Jenna’s lunch post from yesterday. So I made a half sandwich with 1/2 wedge of laughing cow cheese, hummus and part of a red bell pepper.

I also used some of the leftover lentil tomato sauce from last night and made a soup. I just thinned it out with some low sodium chicken broth and popped it in the microwave. Then I topped with a tbsp of plain Oikos to make it creamy, the way it was supposed to be last night.

Again, sorry for the blur. I think I need a new camera, mine is at least 4 years old.

I have never been a big sandwich fan but this was awesome. The combo of the creamy cheese and garlic-y hummus with the crunch of the bell pepper was awesome. I wish I had made a whole sandwich.

As I predicted earlier, I could not resist the leftover chocolate cake in the fridge.

I am so excited. This time tomorrow night Brian and I will be on our way to Maggie Valley for the weekend. We will be staying in a cottage with Mountain Joy Cottages. I am looking forward to the beautiful views and the crisp fall air.

Last night I was particularly stressed out over work, mainly just from people getting on my nerves. Also one of my coworkers took a couple days off of work and we have a new employee in training. In an effort to keep myself busy and keep from thinking too much I had a cooking extravaganza.

For dinner I stuffed bell peppers. I was so hungry that I forgot to take a picture of the actual bell peppers, but take my word for it they looked amazing!. I did take a picture of the leftover mixture that we stuffed them with.

The recipe went something like this….

I also made a soup/stew. I can even begin to put a recipe together because I really just used a lot of the veggies and ingredient that I had on hand. I used the rest of the sausage links from the package that I thawed for the stuffed bell peppers. I threw in some onions, leeks, kale, chopped carrots, and lentils. I also used some red pepper flakes, tomato paste, and chicken broth.

I am this for lunch today with some Kashi TLC Honey Sesame crackers that were recommended by Kath of Kath Eats Real Food. It tasted nice and spicy and I stayed full all afternoon.

Lastly, I made some more mini cupcakes. This time I made regular yellow cake cupcakes. I used the recipe for Basic Yellow Cake that came with my KitchenAid stand mixer.  Although, I did substitute almost half of the regular flour with whole wheat flower. I could definitely taste a difference. They tasted more like sweet corn muffin than a vanilla cake batter. Next time I may add a little extra sugar and vanilla. I also made some homemade vanilla and chocolate butter cream icing to put on top. When I finally got around to frosting the cupcakes I did not have enough energy or imagination to think of a cool garnish with stuff I had on hand.

Oh! I almost forgot. I made a slight modification to the oatmeal bars I made on Sunday. I decided to make a dark chocolate-peanut butter sauce to drizzle on top of them to balance out the saltiness I complained about earlier this week, and I am much happier.

In between all of my cooking madness I also managed to get the fabric cut for my next project. I had a few problems keeping the rotary blade along the ruler that I was using as a guide. I made a few mistakes as I was using my new tools, hopefully I will do better on future project. I hope to get started on the project next week.

After work tonight I had another yummy meal planned and  I was surprisingly pleased with how it turned out. I made apricot glazed chicken with sweet potato wedges. I made the apricot glaze by mixing a couple tablespoons of apricot jelly with 1/4 cup of chicken broth, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder. Once my chicken was cooked I applied the glaze with a basting brush. Since I am not a huge fan of sweet veggies I tried to make the sweet potatoes a little more savory. I sprinkled them with salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and rosemary and then drizzled some olive oil over top and placed in oven. Then we used the left over glaze as  a dipping sauce.  Again, I was too hungry to wait and take a picture. Oops!

Now it is time to get some snacks ready for the ride tomorrow and to get some warm clothes packed for the weekend.