Project Ang

A New Favorite Restaurant

2011-02-28T21:10:00.000-05:00

I love going out to eat, trying new restaurants, and exploring new menu items. Now that I'm gluten free I don't have a lot of options and the ones I do have are usually chains. While I appreciate gluten free menus like the ones at Chili's and Outback sometimes I want to eat somewhere local! Right now my main options are both in Fayetteville, WV. Pies and Pints is my go to for pizza. I've blogged about it several times in the past and it's been a long time favorite...but you can't eat pizza all the time. I think we all know the main thing missing from gluten free diets are delicious sandwiches! They are such a convenient food...so many combinations...so delicious! Well thanks to the Secret Sandwich Society I can now enjoy an awesome sandwich just like everyone else!

These are the best sandwiches I have ever had gluten free or not! My entire family agrees! The combinations are unique and always delicious! Everything is so fresh plus it's local and organic when possible! You don't see a lot of that in WV!

I started my meal with a fabulous spinach bisque. So creamy and the seasonings were spot on!

I opted for the daily special. Roast pork, tomato chutney, fresh mozarella, and garlic aoli. Wow...I can't even find words to describe how delicious this was! The chutney had hints of cinnamon that really made the sandwich! Served with potato chips and a pickle. Both fabulous and made in house!

This may honestly be the best lunch I've ever eaten. I would eat here every single day if I could! You don't have to get gluten free bread but if you did you probably wouldn't even notice the difference. The bread is that good! In addition to this sandwich I have also tried the Kennedy, the Ulysses, and the Hanibal. All were absolutely spectacular! It's so nice when local restaurants take the time and effort to accomodate a gluten free diet! I certainly appreciate it! It's worth the 40 minute drive!

Valentine Goodies

2011-02-15T23:36:00.000-05:00

Valentine's Day is a favorite in our home and for good reason! It just so happens to be my daughter's birthday! This year she turned 16. Wow I feel old typing that! So instead of my husband and I doing the romantic fancy dinner, chocolates, and flowers routine we have a big family dinner. I cook my daughter's favorite foods and a make a delicious cake. I will save the dinner entree for a later post and just discuss the good stuff here. Dessert! I was perusing the blog world for ideas when I came across a recipe for a sweetheart cake roll on Eat, Live, Run. It looks so gorgeous and honestly what about chocolate cake topped with chocolate ganache doesn't sound delicious? I wasn't sure how well it would work gluten free since it is being rolled up and gluten free treats are known for being crumbly and not staying together. I decided to go out on a limb and take a chance. I am so glad I did. I followed the cake directions exactly and used Gluten Free Pantry's All Purpose Flour mix. For the frosting I decided to make my own cream cheese frosting as I think buttercream is a tad too sweet in rich desserts. Plus I could eat my weight in cream cheese icing happily.

Not the prettiest picture due to the wax paper but I promise it tasted fantastic. You 100% could not tell it was gluten free. My family kept asking if I was positive I was able to eat it! Always a sign of successful gluten free baking! :)

After the success of the roll-up cake I decided to tackle another project I had been interested in forever. Cake pops! I was going to use the Betty Crocker gluten free cake mix that I thought I had...but it turned out I didn't have one. Now I remember using it to make cupcakes on my birthday. Ooops! No fear...I just made a cake mix out of what I had on hand. Worked out well because I didn't really need a 13x9 pan worth of cake. Here is my mix for an easy cake.

Easy Vanilla Cake Mix

1/2 stick of butter softened

3/4 cup of sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup of Pamela's Gluten Free Baking Mix

1 Egg

1/2 cup milk

*This makes an 8 in. cake. Double to make a two layer cake or a sheet cake.

Mix butter and sugar. Add vanilla and egg. Stir in baking mix alternating with milk. Mix well. Pour into pan and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Longer for a bigger cake.

To make the cake balls I added a touch of pink food coloring. I crumbled this cake and mixed it with homemade cream cheese icing also tinted pink. I rolled the cake into balls and inserted the lollypop sticks. Froze the cake balls for about 30 minutes and then dipped in melted semisweet chocolate. Roll in sprinkles and place in the fridge to harden. I made some with sticks and some without. A few I rolled in pink candy melts because I ran out of chocolate. These were so good and so easy to make. I think I will be looking for excuses to make these in the future. They are ridiculously delicious.

Just in case you have never made cream cheese icing here is a quick recipe. It's the easiest thing in the world and tastes 100 times better than store bought.

1 block of Neufchatel or full fat cream cheese

1/4 to 1/2 cup of powdered sugar (depends on how sweet you like it)

2 TB milk

1 tsp of vanilla or other flavoring

1 drop of food coloring if desired

Mix all ingredients with an hand mixer until smooth and spreadable. Add more sugar and milk if you need it sweeter or it's too thick or thin. Easy as that!

Eggs: They are what's for dinner!

2011-02-12T23:57:00.000-05:00

All this week the only thing I've been wanting for dinner has been eggs! I love eggs so much! I managed to talk my husband into eating eggs three evenings this week!

I may have thrown a little beef in there to sweeten the deal! I sometimes eat at a nearby diner and get this bunless burger with an egg, three kinds of cheese, and bacon. Sounds healthy, eh? Well I wanted something a little leaner this week. Lean beef, a slice of reduced fat cheddar, and a fried egg. So delicious! Served with a salad so I can get my veggies in! :)

This terrible picture is my favorite egg sandwich. Toasted Udi's with a fried egg, reduced fat cheddar, and jam. The jam sounds weird but truly it's delicious. It's a perfect dinner and it takes about 5 minutes to make! Win-win!

Dealing with Chipotle Withdrawl

2011-02-09T22:00:00.002-05:00

It's no secret that I am in LOVE with Chipotle. Sadly I am also four hours away from the nearest. Anytime I travel I make it my mission to get a carnitas burrito bowl. When I'm not traveling I try to make my own at home. I use a base of brown rice and pinto or black beans. Then I top with shredded pork roast, cheese, salsa, sour cream, and guacamole. Heaven in a bowl. This pork roast is one of my favorite meals. So easy too! I make this in a six quart crockpot.

1 pork shoulder roast (your could probably use a loin roast but this one shreds better)
2 TB of minced garlic
1 TB cumin
1/2 lime
2 cups of water

Place roast in crockpot. Spread garlic on top and sprinkle evenly with cumin. Salt and pepper to taste. Squeeze lime half over top of roast. Pour the water around, but not over pork. Throw the juiced lime half into the water and cook on low for 8 hours. Shred and serve.

Saturday I went on a shopping trip with my daughter and my best friend and her daughter. Our daughters were celebrating their February birthdays so they wanted to eat at the Olive Garden. We stopped in for lunch and I played it safe having only a crouton-less Caesar salad. It wasn't the best lunch ever but I wanted the girls to have a special meal. Lucky for me on the way home I saw a little strip mall Mexican place and decided to stop in on a whim. They had carnita soft tacos on corn tortillas. Soooo delicious. I sprinkled them with lime juice and rolled them up with a touch of guacamole. I can't get them off my mind, but luckily they are only an hour away! :)

In other news it's freezing cold and snowing here....again. I am so ready for winter to end! I think Cocoa is too! Thanks for ignoring the random socks in this picture.

Things that you don't see everyday...

2011-02-02T22:51:00.000-05:00

Went out for sushi,

And saw this...

What, you've never seen someone take a life-size Princess Leia cut out into a sushi restaurant?

The best laid plans....

2011-01-12T22:11:00.000-05:00

...Are doomed to fail. Tonight we had a party to go to. I was so excited that it was going to be at Chick-fila because I know I can get a safe gluten free meal there. My go-to order is a chargrilled chicken sandwich with no bun, add provolone cheese with a side salad and a fruit cup for dessert. However due to the fact that we are in the midst of a blizzard the restaurant decided to close early. So the party was relocated to Pizza Hut. Could there be a worse choice for a gluten free meal? The worst part? I had no time to find a suitable dinner before the party started and it seems that someone snacked on my emergency stash of Larabars! So I had to make a cup of coffee to bring along. Coffee helps kill my appetite for a brief spell. It got me through the party at least! It was worth it to see my adorable nephew so happy!

After the party I rushed home (well as much as you can rush with half a foot of snow) and made my favorite quick meal. Scrambled eggs with bacon and cheddar. I love breakfast food for dinner! Luckily I had a slice of leftover bacon in the fridge so I didn't have to wait for it to fry.

To serve with it I had a coffee protein shake. I used the Starbucks Via in vanilla. It has an interesting marshmallow like flavor. I find you really need to mix it with more water than called for or it is soooo bitter. I mixed it with ice, natural vanilla protein powder, and 1/4 cup of low fat milk. It was so foamy on top. Really good. I do love my coffee.

Anyhow this goes to show that in a pinch you can make a quick, relatively healthy meal in no time...no drive thru required!

New Year, New Dishes!

2011-01-02T22:17:00.000-05:00

Well 2010 flew past! The older I get the faster time goes. I don't really do resolution for New Year's. It seems like anything I say I'm going to do doesn't happen. I think there are more important motivations to be healthy than the date on the calendar! I will say that now the holidays have passed I will be changing my diet. I have been going out to eat, going to family dinners, and having pot lucks at work and as a result I think I've been getting a lot of gluten contamination. Pepto is making an all to frequent appearance in my life and I have just been feeling achy, rundown, and blah. There will be a lot more whole foods being eaten at home! Frequent dining out is just getting to be too risky. Sad but true. So to make meals at home more exciting I got new dishes!

My mom has used Corelle dishes my whole life and they have been dropped a thousand times and never break. My old dishes on the other hand have suffered many casualties. One bowl, two salad plates, and a coffee mug. Most of the survivors are chipped. It was definately time for new ones so I went with the most break resistant I could find. I did have to get square plates. I love a square plate, not sure why. Anyhow the box says they are stylish! ;P

For the first dinner on the new dishes we are having lentil soup. I love lentils! I made lentils as a side dish for some Tikka Masala the other night. I made enough so we'd have leftovers for the soup. Here is my recipe for lentils...this would be better with a different type of lentil, but my store only has brown so that is what I use.

Lentils

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp minced ginger

2 cups of lentils

3 cups water

1 TB tumeric

2 tsp Better than Bouillon (chicken)

2 TB garam masala

In pan heat garlic and ginger in a bit of nonstick cooking spray. Add lentils, water, and tumeric bring to a boil. Add bouillon. Reduce to simmer at medium heat and cover. Watch and add more water if lentils are looking too dry. Cook about 20-30 minutes. Add garam masala and heat about 5 minutes more. Serve. Use leftovers in soup.

Lentil Soup

2 cups leftover lentils from above

1 box of natural chicken broth

1 cup of cooked brown basmati rice

1/2 cup tomato sauce

1 cup of frozen or fresh spinach leaves

salt and pepper to taste

Add all ingredients to pot and simmer for about 20 minutes or until ready to serve. The lentils are pretty heavily seasoned so you don't really need to add much to flavor the soup.

I hope everyone is having a healthy and happy New Year! I am going to try to blog more this year since I'm a bit of a blogging slacker.

It's the Season of Food Gifts!

2010-12-22T22:55:00.001-05:00

I've been seeing a lot of debates on the pros and cons of food gifts. I personally love giving food gifts for the simple reason that there are a lot of people in my life who I cannot afford to buy Christmas gifts for but who are special to me and deserve recognition. Enter the food gift. You can start stockpiling basics like chocolate, dried fruit, nuts, etc. in the weeks leading up to December so when the holidays are upon us you are ready to get cooking! Before I was gluten free I often made jars of cookie, cake, and muffin mixes. Obviously I can't do those anymore because I'm sure no one wants to make gluten free baked goods if they don't have to! I thought about making gluten free cookies myself and handing them out but I wasn't sure how well they would be received. Often when I eat gluten free cookies and cakes I exclaim how you can't even tell they are gluten free and I notice my husband getting a "hate to burst your bubble" look across his face! I honestly think I have been gluten free for so long that I can't really remember what foods are "supposed" to taste like. Therefore I thought it would be in everyones best interest if I made treats that were naturally gluten free!

Please pardon my craptastic picture by the way. This ugly blob is chocolate fudge. Naturally gluten free and almost universally loved. I always use the same basic fudge recipe and I always mix up my add in. This recipe I call:

Holiday Fudge

1 can nonfat sweetened condensed milk

1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 shot of Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup cashews

Heat milk to a slight simmer. Stir in chocolate. Remove from heat stir til melted. Add Captain. Stir til incorporated. Fold in cranberries and cashews. Pour into 8 in. square pan and chill at least 4 hours or overnight.

Another option is chocolate bark. Easy and fully customizable. Use white, dark, or milk chocolate. Use dried fruits, nuts, fancy sea salts, assorted crushed candies, crushed cookies, sprinkles, coconut, etc. Anything goes. Just melt your chocolate (in this instance I used white), spread in an even layer on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet. Sprinkle with topping (I used cashews and cranberries). Put in the fridge or freezer to harden. Break into pieces. Put in cute bags or boxes and distribute!

I found these adorable boxes at the Dollar Tree. I wrapped the fudge in foil and placed in the boxes. Now all I have to do is give them away and hope they are enjoyed!

Hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas!

The Season's Best

2010-12-05T21:30:00.000-05:00

Winter is a great paradox for me. I love all the seasonal foods, the parties, buying gifts, and spending more time with family but I hate slick roads and cold weather. This weekend we are the midst of our first real snow. Kind of late in the year for us too. We were spoiled by good weather too long this fall. Hopefully it doesn't snow like it did last year. I swear it snowed every single day for three months. It was misery. Enough complaining...on to the things I like this season! :)

The best cold weather breakfast? Cream of Rice with Eggnog and homemade cranberry sauce. So creamy and delicious with the fabulous tartness of the cranberries. Quick to make too. Just cook the cream of rice with half a cup of water and half a cup of eggnog. Then top with cranberry. I make my cranberry sauce with orange juice and brown sugar. Just boil the cranberries in juice til they pop, stir in brown sugar, and heat til thickened.

Last weekend we had a late Thanksgiving at my mother in law's. My contribution was the Bisquick Impossibly Easy French Apple Pie. Everyone raved about it. Especially my husband. Oddly I thought it was just okay. I'm more of a chocolate or cheesecake dessert person though. I will say gluten free Bisquick makes life a lot easier! I know a lot of people enjoy mixing ten different gluten free flours together and experimenting but I am lazy and I don't have room to store all those flours so I love this mix and Pamela's mixes.

Speaking of mixes I love...Chebe. I made the cheesy rolls for Thanksgiving and they were a hit. Another good mix is the pizza crust. Last night we were snowed in so I whipped up a delicious pizza. My secret is baking the crust in my cast iron skillet. I usually go non-traditional with pizza but last night I wanted it to be like classic delivery so I just did pepperoni, mozzarella, and shaved Parmesan. I need to try making calzones with the mix soon!

It's so nice to know that so many seasonal favorites are naturally gluten free! Like mulled cider. I used Honeycrisp Apple Cider and Trader Joe's mulling spices and simmered for about 20 minutes. Then I stirred in a shot of Captain Morgan's and added a festive cinnamon stick! A great drink for a cold night. Especially soothing when you feel under the weather.

Gluten Free Thanksgiving, Eggnog Ice cream, and a Mozaik Giveaway!

2010-11-27T00:49:00.002-05:00

I am loving my Thanksgiving holiday! First off I get a four day weekend which is always a great thing and I got two great dinners in as many days! :) In my family we go to my in-law's houses on Thursday and we celebrate with my family on Friday. This is because I'm an only child and my husband isn't so this just works better for all involved. Dining with my husband's family is trickier because I am at their mercy as far as gluten goes. Sadly it is never 100% safe to eat food prepared in a non-gluten free kitchen. All it takes is a little flour or a bread crumb to drop into an otherwise safe dish and contaminate it. Someone stirs with the wrong spoon. Tons of room for errors. It really depends on how sensitive you are whether or not you want to chance eating anything at all. Yesterday I felt brave so I made a plate. For today's dinner I did a lot of the cooking. I made sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce, wild rice stuffing, chebe rolls, pumpkin cheesecake struesel bars, coconut pie and eggnog ice cream. Basically I was in the kitchen for over 5 hours! I love cooking so that was good with me! :)

First up was a Sweet Potato Cranberry Bake recipe I found on All Recipes. I followed the instructions exactly except for subbing pecans. I'm not crazy for walnuts. This was so good and different from the usual. I LOVE cranberries and orange together.

This dessert doesn't look wonderful but it tasted heavenly! I found this recipe on the Live Gluten Freely website and I used the Betty Crocker yellow cake mix I received from My Blog Spark to make it. Pumpkin Stuesel Cheesecake Bars. Everyone claimed this as their favorite dessert. So good. I made a second recipe from the same site and it was also very tasty.

Impossibly Easy Coconut Pie. This uses gluten free Bisquick and it is impossibly easy. I think I will definitely be taking this to potlucks in the future!

I made Chebe cheese rolls. They are small but so, so good. No one missed the gluten! They are kind of more like hush puppies than rolls in size though.

Strangely the most popular recipe of the night is the one that all pictures of disappeared! Well unless you count this one. See that little black dish behind the ham? That would be the Wild Rice, Sausage, and Apple Stuffing. It was so delicious! I could've eaten the whole pan, I just love rice. I left the onion and celery out of this recipe because we don't like them. Onions are known as the Devil's Fruit in our home. :P Also I used country style ground sausage instead of Italian and Lundberg's wild and brown rice blend. It was kind of like dirty rice with a granny smith apple. So delicious!!!

Mom made the turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, and green beans. Everything was so good! I love Thanksgiving and I was hardly deprived due to gluten issues that's for certain!

Notice the plates and silverware in this picture and the platters for the turkey and ham above? These are all plastic ware! My Blog Spark send me this Mozaik 8 piece place setting, serving plates, a serving bowl, and serving spoons free to try. Mozaik is perfect for events where you want something classier than paper plates but don't want to break out the fine china. These are durable enough to wash and reuse but inexpensive enough to be thrown away. I am going with the wash and reuse because I'm thrifty and it's more environmentally sounds to reuse them.

Here is the smaller dessert plate. Featuring a scoop of my eggnog ice cream! I say it all the time but my ice cream maker has got to be the best kitchen appliance I have ever bought!!! Ice cream is so easy to make!

EGGNOG ICE CREAM

1 cup of low fat eggnog
1 cup of heavy whipping cream
1 cup of half and half
2 tsp of rum extract
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp of nutmeg

Stir all ingredients together and pour into ice cream maker. Process for 25-30 minutes.

So as for the Mozaik Giveaway....Nothing complicated. Just leave a comment telling me when and why you would choose to use Mozaik. A winner will be chosen at random. Enter by next Friday December 3rd at midnight!

I hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving! I sure did! I am so blessed with an amazing family and terrific friends! :)

Average Gluten Free Day

2010-11-23T21:51:00.000-05:00

People always tell me how they feel so sorry for me because I can't eat gluten and I'm always explaining how it really isn't that huge of a deal. There are tons of great things I can eat and I rarely feel deprived. (Don't ask me on Thanksgiving though! lol) So here is a rundown of what I eat in a day.

Here is a typical breakfast. Fage 2% mixed with Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butter and a sliced banana. High protein and delicious. This keeps me full til lunch!

Lunch was leftovers of maple roasted chicken and veggies. This is a recycled photo...I didn't eat rice today actually. Just chicken and veggies.

Snack was a honey crisp apple and some delicious blackberry mojito green tea. Amazing stuff.

Dinner was a comfort food classic. Meatloaf with mashed potatoes. Please disregard the mustard greens in the picture. Those landed in the trash. I love turnip greens and collard greens so I thought I'd enjoy these. Ummm not so much. Literally it took a sheer force of will not to spit them back onto the plate like a bratty 4 year old.

No day is complete without dessert. Tonight I made chai spice cookies. Sadly I got creative and made these with coconut flour. I would definitely recommend using a GF all purpose flour blend. These were edible but not anything to brag about. Too coconutty and the texture was almost powdery.

If all else fails you can't go wrong with an eggnog latte! :)

Maple Roasted Chicken and Veggies

2010-11-18T21:51:00.000-05:00

I made the best fall dinner Monday night. Maple roasted chicken and vegetables.

I love nice, caramelized roast veggies. So yummy and such a simple dinner.

1.5 lbs chicken (legs, thighs, breasts, or a mix)
1 very large sweet potato
2 carrots
3 cups of brussel sprouts, halved
salt
pepper
thyme
maple syrup
olive oil

Chop the veggies and spread on a baking sheet with the chicken (you'll probably need two or a large roasting pan). Sprinkle with salt, pepper, thyme, maple syrup, and olive oil. Cover with foil. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes. Stir the veggies and bake 15 additional minutes uncovered. Remove from oven, recover with foil and let sit 5-10 minutes. Serve with brown rice.

The best part is that you have time to squeeze in a workout video while dinner bakes! :)

Gluten Free Bonanza!

2010-11-15T20:20:00.000-05:00

The weather changes and dropping temperatures have really got my sinuses acting up. I've had a headache by the end of the workday almost daily for two weeks. Therefore I was super excited to come home to a package full of gluten free goodies!

This was received courtesy of My Blog Spark and General Mills.

As you can see it came with a large variety of items for me to sample. Though I must say my husband has claimed the Fruit by the Foots for himself and that is perfectly cool with me. I don't love the ingredient list on those plus they've never been my thing. As for Todd, they bring him great joy. I did eat a pack of Gushers just because I hadn't had them since I was a kid.

The only product in the package that I was completely unfamilar with was the Potato Buds. I usually make homemade mashed potatoes. So I decided that trying those was first on my agenda. Turns out I had already planned to cook shephard's pie for dinner so I subbed the Potato Buds for my usual potatoes.

It turned out quite good. Both my husband and I enjoyed it. The texture of the potatoes were a little weird compared to fresh but that could have been because I used less better than the instructions indicated.

Overall I was pleased and it got dinner on the table way faster which is great for a weeknight after work. I always come home starved!

As for the other products, I have made and enjoyed the brownies numerous times. The whole family loves them! I have used the yellow cake mix to make Irish Cream Cake on St. Patrick's Day. I live on Larabars, especially when traveling or in a situation where I can't be sure of getting gluten free food. Lastly, Gluten Free Bisquick is a new breakfast staple in our home. So basically this package was pretty exciting for me! I kind of wish there was something in the box I didn't like so I looked more objective! lol

I do have the opportunity to give a reader this same box of goodies. I'm pretty sure I only have three or four readers so your odds of winning are good! I'll make this simple and just say if you leave a comment by this Friday 11/19/10 letting me know which product you'd be most interested in trying and why you are in the drawing. The winner will be picked at random. :)

Summer in Baltimore

2010-11-15T00:37:00.001-05:00

In August we had a super fun long weekend in Baltimore. I kept meaning to blog about it, and never got around to it. Since the temperatures are dropping and winter is on the horizon I decided I'd post them now!

We stayed in Fells Point with a friend in the most gorgeous row house. We walked so much that weekend, I love walkable cities! :) I was excited to see the site where Homicide was filmed because I used to watch that show every week with my dad.

We walked all around the harbour and toured the Seven Foot Knoll lighthouse. I think lighthouses are so neat!

We saw the National Katyn monument. Very pretty!

I was excited to see the Domino Sugar plant because who doesn't love sugar? Well aside from Dr. Adkins...

We had the best dinner at McCormick and Schmick. This is a crab and avocado tower. So good! :)

I love see murals painted on the sides of buildings. It's such a fun idea!

Saturday night we went out to a few bars and just walked around exploring the city at night. I was very excited to find B.O.P. Brick oven pizza...gluten free!!! It was probably the best gluten free pizza I've ever had. It made we want to consider moving to Baltimore! lol! There is nothing like having a few drinks and then eating way too much late night pizza. I've really missed that since going gluten free!

The funniest thing was we were approached by this crazy lady who was obviously on some sort of drugs. She had a crazy convoluted story about why she needed some of our pizza. So we shared. Then she walked off. A few minutes later we heard crazy screaming and cussing. She got in some sort of altercation with a cop and was arrested. Well at least she got some awesome pizza first!

Our last night in Baltimore our host took us to her favorite Mexican restaurant...

Arcos in Fells Point. Very good. I got the lamb barbacoa. I also got a flaming Mexican coffee. So cool to watch them make those!

Todd got a flaming fried ice cream. I couldn't eat it but everyone else enjoyed it immensely. I don't know why food on fire is so fun!

Well obviously these are not the best pictures or the most comprehensive. We did so much shopping, eating, sight seeing, and walking that weekend. The best part? I ate gluten free with no issues whatsoever! I can't wait to go back to Baltimore! It meets all my criteria, historic, near water, fabulous food, and cool people! :)

New Cafe in Town!

2010-10-29T21:45:00.003-04:00

I love to try new restaurants so I was excited to hear that a new cafe had opened near the house. First I had to call and make sure that they would be able to accomodate a gluten free diet. Luckily the answer was yes! So we headed off to the As You Like It Cafe.

I thought the decor was pretty cute.
Very clean and comfortable.

The staff was extremely friendly! They have a pretty good variety of menu options like steak, chicken, meatloaf, various pasta dishes, soups, and salads. Everything is homemade.

I had rosemary grilled chicken breast with homemade mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli and cheese. Believe it or not the cheese sauce was homemade! Not cheez whiz! It was a really good meal. Very flavorful.

Todd got a slice of cheesecake for desert. I naturally couldn't eat it due to the crust but Todd assures me it was delicious! :) Never fear! I enjoyed a dessert too! A butter rum latte. Oh so good! I think we may become regulars!

Fall Fun and Festivities!

2010-10-27T22:16:00.000-04:00

I love fall! The weather is mild, the trees are gorgeous, and fun stuff like Halloween happens! I love scary movies, haunted houses, creepy tales, and kids in cute costumes. Sadly I also love the comfort food that goes with cooler weather. Nice crisp salads no longer sound good but awesome pasta dishes do!

These were some cheese stuffed chicken meatballs. Pretty tasty. The recipe called for chicken sausage but I had to use plain ground chicken and spices. I'd recommending going with the sausage as these were a bit bland.

I have a new breakfast sensation! A gluten free Bisquick biscuit with melted white cheddar cheese and autumn olive jam. So good. Also a great source of lycopene from what I've read. The autumn olives not the Bisquick! ;p

To get even more into the Halloween spirit I got this cute coffee mug at Kmart for less than $3! Score! I have a somewhat serious addiction to purchasing coffee mugs. I really am running out of cabinet space.

source

The real excitement in my life lately is my new phone. For two years I've been stuck with the boring phone while my husband enjoyed his iPhone. Now I too have a fun phone! The HTC Desire. My husband is terribly underwhelmed with it and is giving serious consideration to going back to the iPhone but I am easily amused and it suits me fine! :)

Weekend adventure!

2010-10-05T20:36:00.000-04:00

In WV there is not a lot to do on the weekends except eat and watch movies. However we do have a plethora of scenic parks and hiking trails! I am always bugging my husband to go walk at a park with me. This weekend he finally agreed! So we harnessed the dog and took off!

We headed to the nearby Grandview park. It's very scenic with many overlooks where you can view the New River.

There are a lot of nice trails to hike! They range from easy walks though the woods to somewhat strenuous rocky, hilly trails. There is one that goes through a neat little tunnel. It's a fun place.

We may or may not have gotten slightly lost in the dark. No comment!

Another thing that made this weekend exciting was biscuits!!! Gluten Free Bisquick has recently come available in my area and I have been dying to try the biscuit recipe on the back. Sooooo good. My husband who can eat gluten loved them too! I made a fun sandwich for lunch of turkey, pepperjack cheese, and pepper jelly on a biscuit!

I served the leftover biscuits with last night's dinner. I made cornmeal crusted baked catfish, Annie's gluten free mac and cheese (the new creamy kind, YUM!), green beans with lemon and feta, and cooked apples.

Quite a feast for a Monday night! :)

Dreary Weather!

2010-09-30T22:32:00.000-04:00

The weather has been depressing this week. So dark and rainy. It makes it terribly hard to get out of bed in the mornings, not that I don't have plenty enough trouble with that as is! It's definately sleeping weather! I saw some pink skies tonight though, so hopefully tomorrow will be a prettier day!

To warm me up in the mornings I have been eating some Cream of Rice. Very similar in taste and texture to Cream of Wheat without that pesky gluten!

Cream of Rice can be treated a lot like oatmeal. Stir in anything you like. In this picture I stirred in 1/4 cup of pumpkin, a packet of Stevia in the Raw, cinammon, and ginger. Delicious! Yes I am one of those annoying people who go mad for anything pumpkin as soon as the weather cools! I get even more excited about cranberries though! :)

Last night I had a couple of my friends over to catch up on True Blood. They had both missed the last three episodes and a true friend couldn't let them go on without seeing the finale any longer! Visits with your BFFs always require carbalicious foods, so naturally a batch of Chorizo Pasta was in order! I've had this recipe for years and honestly I have no idea where I got it or else I'd give credit where it's due! I have made several changes through out the years so this recipe is continuously evolving.

CHORIZO AND MUSHROOM PASTA

1 package of chorizo (I used Johnsonville)

1 pint of mushrooms

1 clove minced garlic

Dash of Salt and Pepper

1 tsp paprika

1 large can San Marzano style tomatoes

2 cups of chicken broth

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup half and half

1 box of spaghetti (I use gluten free Ancient Harvest)

1/2 cup parmesan cheese, separated

Remove sausage from casings (this looks perverse and amusing). Crumble and brown in a large pot (the size pot you would boil spaghetti in). Remove and set to the side. Saute mushrooms and garlic using the drippings from the sausage. Add the can of tomatoes and break apart with your spoon and add seasonings. Simmer 2 minutes. Add broth, wine, and half and half. Stir chorizo back into pot. Bring to a low boil. Add the spaghetti (break into thirds). Cook at a low boil approximately 8 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup of the parmesan cheese and turn heat to low. Simmer for about 5 minutes or until sauce is thickened. Serve with remaining parmesan. This makes 6 servings and according to the Livestrong recipe maker each serving is about 455 calories.

In other news I went to Walgreens tonight and saw this:

I'm usually the type to appreciate any gift whatsoever but seriously? This is perhaps the worse gift idea ever! lol!

Fall is here! Breakout the Pumpkin!

2010-09-22T22:26:00.000-04:00

I love fall! The weather is a bit cooler making outdoor walks and hikes more pleasant, the trees are pretty, and pumpkin stuff is everywhere! It's a great time of year! I just try to ignore the inevitable season that follows. Snow, ugh. Anyhow today I enjoyed the slightly cooler weather and walked a nice three miles at the soccer field. It's a great multitasking activity. I can burn calories and catch up with my friend simultaneously! My husband wasn't going to be home for dinner so I was able to relax and just throw together a quick meal for myself.

I found these chicken sausages at Wal-Mart (yeah, I shop there sometimes, sue me!). I usually don't eat this type of processed meat but I was sold on the raspberry. I'm such an easy target for marketers! lol!

So I grilled these up in my favorite cast iron grill pan and paired it with some leftover brown basmati rice and steamed sugar snap peas. Dinner was served in less than 5 minutes. Simple, fast, and I made enough for lunch tomorrow! Win!

For dessert I made a delicious pumpkin protein smoothie. Super tasty and fast! I threw it together while Modern Family was on commercial break! Combine in a blender:

1 cup of coconut milk (or cow, soy, almond, ect)
1 scoop of vanilla protein powder (I like the stevia sweetened ones)
1/4 cup pumpkin
cinnamon and ginger
ice

Blend and serve! :)

In another bit of excitement I came home from work and was greeted by my new french press! My old french press jumped off the counter and commited suicide weekend before last. I was pretty sad, until I realized I could finally order one in a fun color. I was leaning heavily towards green but ordered purple at the last second. I love it and I can't wait to use it! Hopefully this one will hang around awhile!

Back to Blogging.

2010-09-21T22:45:00.000-04:00

I have been a blogging slacker all summer long! I just didn't feel like I had anything interesting to say. To be honest I'm pretty sure I still don't have anything of interest to say, but I'm blogging anyhow! lol! I did have a great summer! I got to see the Smashing Pumpkins in Charlotte, I took a super fun trip to Baltimore and I had a nice Labor Day weekend in a rustic cabin at a local state park. I'm planning to do a recap of my summer adventures sometime this week! Right now I'll delve straight into my favorite subject, food!

First up is a lemony salmon feast! I've been in a huge citrus mood recently for some reason. This dinner is ridiculously easy! The hardest part is chopping the sweet potatoes. After you wash and chop your sweet potatoes you just drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper, cayenne, and lemon juice and bake at 400 about 30 minutes. Easy and delicious! For the green beans you can string and boil fresh beans, or you can cheat and use the steam in the bag kind (not that I'd ever do that ;p), once they are cooked put in a pan and sautee with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Top with feta cheese and put a lid on til the cheese melts a bit. Then serve. That recipe is courtesy of my good friend Jessi and it is DELICIOUS!!! Try it right away! Now for the salmon, cover a cookie sheet with foil, spread salmon on top, drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper, and Bragg's Organic Sprinkle seasoning. Then drizzle on lemon juice and bake at 375 for about 10 minutes, or until it flakes easily and is opaque. Simple and so tasty! The whole family loved it.

Tonight's dinner was an easy favorite.

CHICKEN, ZUCCHINI CASSEROLE

1 cup of shredded chicken (I roast a chicken once a week and then use the leftovers)
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
1 large chopped zucchini
1.5 cups cooked brown rice (I use Lundberg Brown Basmati cooked in broth)
3/4 can of Health Valley Cream of Mushroom soup (if you can't have gluten)
1 oz. of reduced fat Philadelphia cream cheese

Mix all ingredients well, place in an 8x8 pan, top with your favorite shredded cheese. I used colby jack for this. No measurements, just however much you want. You cannot have too much cheese in my opinion! Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
**note, Health Valley soup makes this really runny. I'd recommend another brand or maybe adding cornstarch or something to thicken.**

This casserole is very versatile! You can use whatever meat, grain, cheese, or veggie you want!

Last but not least, I've been on a baking kick lately. I've been making muffins, cookies, and cakes at least three times a week. The end of summer makes me snacky! Today I wanted something that would use up a variety of leftover ingredients and some fresh raspberries I had in the fridge. So I thought up these:

RASPBERRY CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS

1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup sugar in the raw
1/4 cup light brown sugar
4 TB coconut oil
2 eggs
Whisk these ingredients together until well mixed. In a separate bowl combine:
1 cup Gluten Free Bisquick
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup Gluten Free Oats
1 tsp ginger
Add the dry ingredients to the wet. Mix well. Add:
1.5 cup fresh (or frozen) raspberries
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Pour into lined muffin tin. Sprinkle tops with a bit more sugar in the raw. Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes. These are very moist and the raspberries make them a bit tart.

My New Favorite Thing!

2010-06-22T22:37:00.001-04:00

Is.....

Yes, My new ice cream maker! I am in love! :) How could I have gone so long without this? I have had it since Saturday and I have already made 3 ice cream flavors! I kind of just took the basic vanilla recipe and adjusted to add whatever sounds interesting.

Peach Maple Walnut

1 cup whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup of maple syrup (this is not very sweet, could add more)

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup chopped peaches

1/4 cup toasted walnuts

Mix first four and pour into ice cream maker. Process 20-25 minutes, add peaches and walnuts and process 5 minutes longer. Serve!

Raspberry White Chocolate

1 cup of 1% milk

2 cups of half and half

3/4 cup natural sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 pint raspberries

1/4 cup white chocolate chips, chopped

Mix first four ingredients, pour into ice cream maker. Process 20-25 minutes. Add raspberries and chocolate. Process 5 more minutes are serve.

Blueberry Chocolate Chip (with protein)

1 cup 1% milk

2 cups half and half

2 scoops vanilla whey powder

1/2 cup of blueberries

1/4 cup of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients except chocolate chips in a blender. Pour into an ice cream maker. Process 20-25 min. Add chocolate chips and process 5 more minutes.

Fiesta chicken!

2010-05-12T22:51:00.001-04:00

I'm behind on my blogging again. I ate some cajun roast beef Sunday night and got glutened. So basically I've been dealing with bloating, fatigue, and general ickiness this week. Anyhow, Sunday was obviously Mother's Day. I got my mom a Mary Higgins Clark book and a shirt. I'm lucky enough to have a really awesome mom, she's nice, funny, and would do anything to help me!

My daughter got me a penguin necklace! I LOVE penguins. I think they are the cutest things ever! :) Plus this necklace is interchangeable so it matches everything!

Anyhow on to the food! I recently tried Orville Redenbacher Natural salt and lime popcorn. I really liked it. I usually don't like popcorn much, so that's saying something. On the other hand my husband is huge into popcorn and didn't care for it. Go figure!

I've been trying to get more veggies into my lunches. The past two days I have had this salad. Contents are: shredded cabbage, shredded carrots, tuna, a sprinkle of shredded cheddar, and Annie's Tuscany dressing. Strawberries for dessert. Pretty tasty.

Dinner tonight was very yummy. I had some chicken breast thawed and wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it. I decided to make it fiesta style! First I cooked some brown rice (not the quick kind). When it was done I stirred in cayenne pepper and a pat of butter. I then stirred in a bit of salsa verde. For the chicken I sauteed some garlic in olive oil then added the chicken. Sprinkled with cumin, cayenne, and paprika. I cooked this in my cast iron skillet. I love cast iron! I topped the rice with organic pinto beans, the chicken, a bit more salsa verde, a sprinkle of cheddar, and a dollop of light sour cream and guacamole. Wow, so good! I'm actually really excited to eat this for lunch tomorrow!

Well better get back to watching Dexter. We found out season four was on Showtime on Demand so we added Showtime promptly. I am crazy addicted to this show. Someone has ruined the ending for me, but I'm enjoying watching it anyhow.

Kickboxing night!

2010-05-06T22:34:00.000-04:00

I've been lazy and slacking in the kickboxing department lately. I love going and I'm always glad afterwards, it's just hard to get motivated to show up. The class is at 6:30 which also happens to be my dinner time. I'm a grumpy beast when I'm hungry! So I snacked on a Think Thin bite. I don't really like the fakey ingredients but for 100 calories and 8 grams of protein I'll take it.

Surprisingly this held me over through class, dinner preparation, and a shower! These are also gluten free. Always a plus!

Dinner was baked chicken legs, breaded with Hol Grain gluten free breading mix, homemade cinnamon apple sauce, and steamed green beans. Easy and delicious! :)

As for dessert, I had my most favorite chocolate candies. While visiting with my cousin in Ohio I visited a Malley's chocolate shop. On an impulse I grabbed a box of Himalayan Pink Salt caramels. I don't usually care for caramels but the pink salt lured me in! Well they are the best EVER! Sadly they were a limited time only and could not be ordered online. So my fabulous cousin went back and got me seven more boxes. I did give a couple away to avoid temptation. I've got to savor the rest for as long as possible. I limited myself to two this evening!

Project jogging...yeah I still suck at it!

2010-05-04T23:20:00.001-04:00

I am determined that I will be able to jog a reasonable distance by summer's end! Of course knowing me a reasonable distance may be a mile. I don't have a lot of ambition! :) Seriously I think it's cool when other people run marathons but as for myself I see no need. I can't envision a scenario where I'll be required to run that far, plus I know other people of all shapes, sizes, and ages have done it so I don't feel the need to prove I could. So yeah, basically these are justifications for being lazy and unmotivated! ;P Anyhow I do feel the need to be able to run some without falling over gasping with a side cramp. I could be chased by rabid dogs or something , you never know. So I am taking the walk/jog approach. This worked last year and I was able to jog a decent bit, and then I got mono. Back to square one. Tonight I walk/jogged two miles. More than I was able to do Friday night, so it's a start. Afterward I continued my new lifting routine with biceps and chest. I love lifting. If I didn't have excess pudge I'd skip cardio all together. One of the best thing about lifting is getting to snack on protein shakes afterwards!

This is my favorite recipe. Mango banana! 1/2 cup of vanilla unsweetened almond milk, 1/2 a small banana, 1/3 cup frozen mango, 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder (I used Kroger's Naturally Preferred), sprinkling of clove and cinnamon. Blend and enjoy! 175 calories and 19 grams of protein!

Dinner tonight was an all-American classic! Burger and fries! Healthy style! These were ground buffalo, sauteed portabellas, and swiss on Udi's whole grain gluten free bread. Served with baked Parmesan fries.

I'll close out with a couple of random pictures. This is Buttercup letting me hold her like a baby! I do this when she's being super pushy and needs attention.

Finally here is a nice spring picture of the New River in Hinton, WV. This is the area right beside the Bluestone Dam. Very pretty and peaceful! :)

Soylent Green, Jogging, and Millet.

2010-04-28T22:45:00.001-04:00

The final verdict on the tofu was it's okay but in the back of my mind I kept thinking this would be so good with chicken or shrimp! Tofu is a food item that the more I eat, the less I want to eat. Oh well. I'll keep trying!

Lately I've been thinking about the stuff people eat. I will admit I'm a bit of a food snob. I sneak glances in people's shopping carts at the store, I scope out what my co-workers are having for lunch, and I pay attention to new products coming out. More and more it makes me think that my favorite cult classic movie, Soylent Green, isn't so far fetched. Of course the reason real food is scarce in the movie is due to global warming, but the reality today is that real food is abundant but no one wants it! I've been watching Food Revolution with interest because I live just over an hour outside of Huntington, WV. It's horrifying to see delicious looking, real food pushed aside in favor of frankenfood in the lunch room! To think that parents would give their kids chips, candies, and Lunchables to spare them the horror of eating a freshly prepared meal! Plus so much junk food is fortified with vitamins, antioxidant, etc...Eating fruits and veggies is so obsolete. So many people read the exaggerated health claims on the front of a box and don't even care what additives are being thrown in to the mix. I honestly believe the soylent corporation could thrive in today's market! I'm sincerely hoping shows like Food Revolution and movies like Food, Inc. will make consumers more aware of what they are eating because I'm tired of reading food labels and cringing!

Speaking of real food I tried something new today. I should say I have tried millet before in gluten free granola bars and cereals, however it's not sold in my local stores so I've not got to experiment with it myself. So on my recent trip to OH I picked some up! I decided today was the day to try it! I wasn't sure what to with it and in thinking of other things that needed used up I realized I had a lot of cilantro in the fridge. So I decided to make a millet salad with cilantro and black beans. It was so easy and delicious!

Millet and Black Bean Salad

1/2 cup millet

1/2 can of diced tomatoes

1 can black beans

2TB lime juice

chopped cilanto

First I simmered the millet in 1.5 cup of water for 30 minutes. Then I stirred in tomatoes and black beans. Drizzle with lime juice and stir in chopped cilantro. Chill for at least 30 minutes! I served it with chicken legs coated in Hol Grain gluten free breading and baked. I should definitely have not told my husband that millet is used in birdseed because he opted for microwaveable mac and cheese instead! lol!

Not all the goodies I bought in OH were as wholesome as the millet. I found some pink grapefruit gummy bears. I love gummy bears and I love grapefruits (I eat them like oranges). These tasted really good, but smelled really strange.

So as for exercise...yesterday I seriously passed out the second I got home from work. I decided I obviously really needed the rest. Today my energy level was okay so I did the chest and bicep routine from this months Muscle and Fitness Hers and then I did something completely out of character. I went on a walk/jog. The walk part isn't unusual but the jog part really is. I hate jogging. Every year I go through a phase where I convince myself I can learn to enjoy jogging. Today was not a great success. A creepy guy kept circling the block and trying to talk to me, my chest was on fire, and I hacked and coughed for about an hour after I finished. I've heard that we are having record high pollen levels so that could be a factor...also the temperature dropped unusually low today so maybe that played a part too. I still feel good that I burned some calories and enjoyed the sunshine! I also made friends with a Dusty the golden retriever. All in all a good evening!

Giving Tofu Another Chance!

2010-04-26T23:30:00.000-04:00

I have had some terrible experiences with tofu. I have tried numerous recipes and all have failed. In fact the terrible tofu with peanut sauce fiasco is still remembered with fear and loathing in my home five years after the fact. I had decided to write tofu off for good...until I read this months Oxygen magazine. I saw a recipe for tofu pad thai. I looked so tasty I decided to make it for a couple lunches this week.

I made this for lunch tomorrow but I tried a bit with dinner tonight. I liked it! I substituted cashews for peanuts and bok choy for regular cabbage. I left out the bean sprouts as my store didn't have any. I always leave onions out of any recipe I make. Otherwise it matches the recipe. :)

Since my husband is not a fan of tofu or rice noodles I had to make something different for our dinner! I decided to make another improv meatloaf recipe. I call this one Mediterranean Meatloaf. Here is the recipe:

1 lb. ground chicken

1 TB dried oregano

1 egg

1/4 cup Hol Grain gluten free chicken breading mix

1/2 cup feta cheese

2 TB tomato paste

1 TB white balsamic vinegar

1 TB dijon mustard

Mix together, spread into a loaf pan, bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Easy! :)

As for working out I got the new Muscle and Fitness Hers this weekend. I am planning to "unofficially" do the transformation challenge. If you are so inclined you can send in before and after photos and measurements and enter to win a photo shoot. I just want a new workout to get me motivated. I did New Rules of Lifting for Women last year and saw results. Unfortunately I immediately got mono and was laid up for months right after finishing. Results gone! Wish me better luck this year! :)

I'm ridiculously lazy and I suck at blogging!

2010-04-22T00:15:00.001-04:00

True confession...I've spent the last month eating too much of really bad things (still no gluten). I've been really lazy with exercise. Partly due to getting some horrible cough/snot/sore throat thing but mostly due to pure lazy! So I'm here today to reaffirm my vow to improve myself. I'm going to get more exercise and eat more fruits and veggies. I prefer to say I'm going to eat more healthy stuff than to say I'm going to eat less fat/sugar/junk. It sounds more positive somehow!

I made a few notable meals the past month. One being this tasty thrown together minestrone kind of thing. In the crockpot: stew meat, red wine, white kidney beans, chopped carrots and zucchini, canned fire roast tomatoes. Cooked on low for 8 hours. I stirred in baby spinach a few minutes before serving. Quick, healthy, and delicious.

This looks super gross but tasted really good. Lundberg Farms brown rice couscous, topped with sauteed baby spinach, sun-dried tomato tuna, and goat cheese. Quick and a practically no-cook meal.

Last night I made Lundberg Farms butternut squash risotto and it was so tasty. Served with a pork chop, sauteed in olive oil with Bragg's herb seasoning, salt, and pepper. My veg was roasted broccoli. Drizzled with olive oil and seasonings and roasted at 400 for 20 minutes. It was a bit dry though. Will probably stick to steaming from here on out.

As for fun and recreation I recently visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Awesome! I love traveling! :) I got some exciting gluten free goodies...Sadly when you live in WV you get excited about buying fun food on vacation. We have such a limited selection here. I'll share some food finds in a future post!

(source)
The MOST exciting thing I've done lately was to see these guys! Alice in Chains!!! At the top of my FAVORITE Bands! (the others if you are curious: Stone Temple Pilots, the Cure, Tool, APC, the Haunted, Guns N Roses, and Slayer!) They were in Huntington, WV on Monday. I seriously appreciate them showing up....most bands totally skip WV. I almost always have to drive 6 hours to see a concert. Not only did they show up, they totally rocked. They played Grind and Heaven Beside You. Two of my very favs. My main two favs are Love, Hate, Love and Confusion but I don't even think I'd want to hear those without Layne. <3

I Love St. Patrick's Day!

2010-03-18T00:03:00.000-04:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Yes I am one of those white people who proudly proclaim their minute percentage of Irishness! I'm not ashamed! :P As such I enjoy celebrating St. Patrick's Day and I feel my dog Cocoa should celebrate as well. This year I decided to make a bit of an Irish feast. I started with some Irish stew. It turned out okay. Not great. I didn't picture it. To go with it I made:

Irish Soda Bread

I basically followed the recipe except I am not dairy free so I used real milk and real butter. This stuff was so easy and tasted fabulous! It didn't have the gluten free bread taste at all!

Of course I can't go without dessert so I made this Irish Cream Cake. I used a Betty Crocker gluten free cake mix. I've heard mixed reviews about whether or not Bailey's is safe for gluten free folks but I decided if I could not have Guinness I was at least having Irish Cream! This cake was so delicious. Easy too. I'll be making this one again!

As an added treat I made Irish Cream Fudge. I used my basic fudge recipe: simmer fat free sweetened condensed milk, add a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips and stir til melted, remove from heat add a shot of Irish Cream (or other liquor), add 1/2 cup of nuts, and 1/2 cup of coconut. Pour into an 8x8 pan and put in the fridge til set. Fool-proof!

Well the holiday is officially over and I'm heading to bed! Here's a last shot of Cocoa. He's super happy about his green shirt! ;) Hope everyone had a great St. Patrick's Day!

Weary of winter but loving chai lattes!

2010-03-03T22:41:00.000-05:00

I'm honestly a terrible blogger. I update this much too rarely. I need to get more excitement in my life so I'll have more blog-worthy events! This has been the worst winter I've ever experienced. I've spent a lot of time indoors and bored. So my goal for March is to do, see, and eat more exciting stuff! Wish me luck!

I did try something new recently. Chia Goodness. I first tried it mixed with hot water and it was not so fab. Then I mixed it with plain yogurt and frozen raspberries. Viola! Fantastic! I got the cranberry ginger flavor because I love anything cranberry or ginger! Plus I really like chia seeds.

Another thing I'm in love with this month are peanut butter ginger chews. They are 25 calories a piece and really hit the spot after lunch. I've got this dessert mentality where I think I must have sweets after every meal. Strangely as a child I would almost never eat dessert. I just didn't care for sweet stuff. I'm making up for it now! :)

I've been eating a lot of comfort foods in this snow. This is the leftover picture of possibly the best meatloaf ever! It's BBQ cheddar meatloaf. Served with Parmesan mashed potatoes. I took a pound of ground bison and mixed it with 1/4 cup Sweet Baby Ray's bbq sauce, 1 egg, and a cup of Minute brown rice. I patted it in the loaf pan and topped it with more bbq. Then I baked it for 30 minutes at 350, covered with cheddar and baked 15 more minutes. OMG yumtastic. I always improvise with meat loafs and mashed potatoes. I mix different things in everytime.

Another improv meal for me is chili. I never make the same chili twice. Last night I had chicken chili. I cooked a pound of ground chicken, added 2 cans of tomato sauce, 1 can of diced tomatoes, 1 can of white kidney beans, and 1 can of white corn. Then I added one cup of Minute yellow rice. Sprinkled liberally with cayenne and simmered while I did my exercise video. Then I topped with Daisy light sour cream and shredded cheddar. Very tasty. I love when my dinner cooks while I exercise!

I have recently developed a deep love for chai tea mistos at Starbucks. Of course I don't want to pay $4 every time I crave one. Lucky for me my super friend Danielle gave me a milk frother for Christmas! It is so fun! I can make pretty drinks in like two seconds! I've developed a method that I think is better than Starbucks! I heat unsweetened vanilla almond milk to a slight simmer. I pour it over a Stash Chai tea bag and a spoonful of raw honey and steep for a few minutes. Meanwhile I heat a bit more almond milk until it's about to simmer, remove from heat and froth. Then I spoon it on top of my chai and sprinkle with cinnamon. It's so good. The almond milk gives it an amazing flavor! It's so much better than steeping it in water.

Valentine's Day Festivities!

2010-02-18T20:11:00.000-05:00

I am aware that Valentine's Day is over by nearly a week but I've been slacking in the blogging department. I've been feeling under the weather this week and I'm a little down because of all the snow we've been having. It has literally snowed every day for two months straight.

At our house Valentine's Day isn't just about romance, it's also my daughter's birthday! So of course I had to go all out. I started by making candy roses with pink candy melts. I realized after I got home that I didn't buy any green for the leaves so I improvised with some green sugar. I know those candy melts are full of hydrogenated oils but it's not like I use them more than a few times a year, plus they are damn pretty!

I also got the big idea to make homemade fortune cookies. Brianna loves fortune cookies and I cannot eat them since they are not gluten free. So I made them myself. Ummm...much harder than it sounds. I got the idea and recipe here. I used Gluten Free Pantry's all purpose flour for this recipe. Then since I had melted candy left over from the roses I dipped the cookies in candy and sprinkled them! I should mention that these cookies did not get hard as they cooled like the recipe suggested. I was going to throw them away but then decided to put them in a 300 degree oven for awhile and see if they'd harden. Thank goodness they did! :)

Since those went okay I decided to make a big fortune cookie! Not so pretty but man it was tasty. I first brushed it with dark chocolate, let it harden, then brushed it with the pink melts and sprinkles.

For a cake Brianna requested the flourless chocolate cake. I use this recipe. I tried to get in the spirit with colored sugar and sprinkles.

For dinner Brianna requested shrimp caprese. Pardon my fancy, environmentally unfriendly paper plate. We dined at my parents and I didn't want to leave a mess. Naturally this was gluten free pasta. I've been using Ancient Harvest and honestly can't tell the difference!

Here is Brianna with some of her goodies!

I can't believe my baby is 15! Wow I'm feeling elderly! lol!

Nothing new under the sun....or in the snow.

2010-02-07T20:59:00.000-05:00

Business as usual in my world. Snow and ice storms. Bad roads. Freezing cold. Going to work, eating, and sleeping! That about covers what I've done the past month! Except for turning 32 last week. Birthdays cease to be exciting after age 24! The only thing I look forward to is food. Specifically my mom's wonderful lasagna.

I forgot to take pictures the day of, but here's my after b-day leftover lunch. Note my sexy new Starbucks coffee mug. I have an addiction to buying coffee mugs at Starbucks. Seriously.

For my cake I made key lime cupcakes.The recipe is found here: http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2008/09/key_lime_cupcakes. Naturally I subbed Pamela's gluten free baking mix for the flour. They were good, but the cake kind of had an unusual spongy texture. Also I never add food coloring to a recipe. Just not necessary in my opinion.

Here is my new favorite breakfast! I go through breakfast "phases" where I eat the same thing for a month or so every weekday morning. This month it's Lundberg Brown rice cakes with peanut butter, with a side of plain yogurt mixed with frozen raspberries (slightly thawed). It's so good! I swear I crave peanut butter and rice cakes all the time! I decided buying a big thing of plain yogurt and mixing it with the berries is #1 cheaper and #2 way healthier than artificial flavored yogurts. I don't even add sweetner at all! One bag of fruit and one tub of yogurt lasts a whole week! :)

Today culinary adventure involved using the remaining chicken from the bird I roasted for dinner a few nights back. I decided on gluten free chicken noodle soup. I first heated olive oil in my pan, added garlic, mushrooms, and carrots and sauteed for a few minutes. Then I added a box of Kitchen Basics chicken broth and some cooked Ancient Harvest gluten free pasta shells. I simmered until the carrots were soft, added shredded chicken and continued simmering a few minutes. It was really good! I also added some Bragg's seasoning blend. It's kind of similar to Mrs. Dash.

Well now I'm off to eat some dinner and get ready for another week!

Bacon cupcakes rock!

2010-01-18T22:27:00.000-05:00

Today was our best friend Mike's birthday! Mike loves bacon. He will eat an entire pound of bacon at once! So I knew I had to make him bacon cupcakes. This recipe was adapted from All Recipes. Of course I substituted Pamela's gluten free baking mix for the flour and leavening agents. Everything else was as written. I used all natural, uncured, hickory smoked bacon. I don't like all the chemicals that are in normal bacon. For the icing I decided on a simple ganache. I heated one cup of heavy cream and stirred in a 12 oz. bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips until smooth. Then I topped the cupcakes. Perfection! They really are good. My husband was totally weirded out by the bacon, it was too much for him! Everyone else loved them. The saltiness of the bacon accentuates the sweetness of the dark chocolate. Really a unique and delicious cupcake!

In other news I am cooking more due to gluten restrictions. I love deli roasted chicken for quick and easy dinners but I noticed the ones at Kroger's are not gluten free! So the past couple of weeks I have been roasting a chicken at the start of the week and using it for a couple of quick dinners and lunches! As you may notice I do not tie the legs. This is because I'm too forgetful to buy the twine. I've read it makes the chicken more moist but I've not had any trouble without it. I make this the simplest way possible. I rinse and dry the chicken, rub it with olive oil and Bragg's seasoning mix plus salt and pepper. I then put it in the oven at 350 for about an hour and forty minutes. I let it rest for about 20 minutes and dig in! The night I make it we will have the legs and thighs with a salad and baked potato. Then I'll shred some and take for lunch with beans and rice or in a greek salad with lettuce, olives, and feta. The rest I put in soups or casseroles. Another good lunch idea is of course chicken salad!

I mix the shredded chicken with Hellman's olive oil mayo, sliced seedless grapes, and toasted pecans. Served over greens. Simple and delicious like most of the best things in life!

Happiness and it's causes!

2010-01-13T19:17:00.000-05:00

First off I want everyone to know that Lori is giving away a book on her blog this week! It's called Lose the Diet. I think it sounds like a great book because I hate "diets" and think they are silly! You have until Sunday to enter!

Speaking of Lori she has passed an award on to me! The Happy 101! I now must list 10 things that make me happy! These are in no particular order by the way!

1. My family! I have a great husband and daughter and we laugh together often! Plus 2 cute nephews!
2. My friends! I have some of the best! Anytime I'm down they cheer me right up!
3. Hate to put TV shows on here but honestly The Office, Seinfeld, and the Twilight Zone make me really happy!
4. Cooking and baking. Trying new recipes is so much fun!
5. Museums. Seeing history and art up close is amazing!
6.Traveling. I wish I could do more of it. I love exploring different places!
7. Eating. Sad as it seems this may be my favorite recreational activity! lol!
8. Reading a good book. I prefer fiction. Favorites are Charlene Harris, Dean Koontz, Patricia Cornwell, Sue Grafton, and so many more.
9. A perfect cup of coffee or tea. Especially with scones. Except now they must be gluten free scones!
10. Sleeping. Yep, I love, love, love to sleep! I'm so lazy!

I pass this award on to anyone and everyone who wants to share their happiness! :)

Rum makes everything better!

2010-01-12T22:17:00.000-05:00

This weekend was one of my best friend's birthdays! I invited her over for lunch. I served shephard's pie (which I've blogged about before) along with rum cake and rum fudge! You can never have too much rum! ;)

First up the fudge! I got the idea from Steph Chows. She made coconut fudge with Captain Morgans last week. At the time I had banana rum so I thought I'd sub that. Then I decided I should add macadamia nuts and make it Tropical Fudge! So I did. I'd never made fudge but this was soooo easy!
In a saucepan I poured 1 (14oz) can low fat Eagle brand condensed milk. Then I added one bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips. I simmered until the chocolate melted then added one shot of banana rum and stirred until creamy. I removed the pan from heat and added 2 handfuls of sweetened flaked coconut and around 2 handfuls of chopped macadamias. Then I poured it into a 8 in. pan lined with wax paper and threw in the fridge overnight. It turned out perfect! My friends said it was the best fudge they'd ever had so I was pretty proud of it!

For her birthday cake I made a rum cake. I got the recipe from Recipezaar. Naturally I had to make a few changes. First up I used Captain Morgans rum because I'm not crazy about vanilla and I thought spiced rum would be better. My second big change was obviously making it gluten free. I subbed the flour in the recipe for Pamela's Baking mix and omitted the leavening agents. I must confess though that I misplaced my non-stick cooking spray and tried to drizzle the pan with canola oil. The cake stuck pretty bad and came out in four pieces! lol! The taste however was out of this world! Seriously the best cake I EVER ate. You totally couldn't tell it was gluten free! I am making myself one for my own birthday in a couple of weeks!

Here is me with the birthday girl! She seemed to enjoy her lunch! I just love cooking for people! :)

Tired of snow!

2010-01-07T20:15:00.000-05:00

I must escape to the tropics soon. I can't take anymore snow. It has pretty much snowed non-stop since a week before Christmas! It's ridiculous! We are currently expecting around 8 inches. Fun, fun!

Well I didn't photograph tonights dinner. It was breakfast for dinner night and I tried making eggs in a cast iron skillet. One word: UGLY. Tasted okay just mangled. Not photo-worthy. Normally I would skip blogging until I had something exciting to blog about but I was randomly awarded:

from Susan. This requires me to give readers 7 random facts about myself so here goes!

1. I've had the same best friend for almost 30 years. We met when I was two!

2. I wanted to a psychologist when I was little but now I'm an accountant at a mental health clinic.

3. I went ziplining in Belize and a lady had a heart attack and died in front of us.

4. I have no tonsils or gallbladder.

5. I'm only 4'11. My husband is 6'5.

6. I've had every color hair but green and blue. Purple was my favorite.

7. Embarrassingly I don't think I have 7 readers to pass this on to but I'll try! :(

First Post of 2010! Better late than never I guess!

2010-01-06T22:49:00.000-05:00

What a decade. It went by crazy fast! At the dawn of the year 2000 I was a divorced mother attending beauty school. I"m starting this decade as a happily married accountant with a teenager! A lot can happen in ten years, eh?

Top ten things in my life of the past 10 years!
1. Became a beauty school drop-out!
2. Went to college and got a bachelor's in accounting
3. Met my husband!

4. Was blessed with two adorable nephews, Logan and Landyn!

5. Went to Disney World!
6. Discovered my love of Savannah, GA...twice!
7. Got married!
8. Went on a wonderful cruise!

9. Made some great new friends!

10. Got my first job that's not in retail or a call center!

Here is my first action of the decade! Shooting my friend's riot gun! We're in WV. Things like this are acceptable here! ;P

The rest of New Year's day was spent enjoying family. Like my nephew Landyn. He's going to be one this month!

I don't make resolutions...so I'm not starting a diet plan or an exercise plan at the moment. I'm going to first get my health straightened out and then go from there. No pressure. No remorse at year's end! My only quasi-resolution is to be more in the moment from now on! I want to experience many more great things this decade than last!

Christmas accomplished!

2009-12-28T23:28:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! My family was very blessed this year. First of all I am typing this blog from my new Dell Inspiron mini! I really wanted a netbook quite badly but I knew it was out of our price range this year. As luck would have it my husband went to an IT conference a couple of months back and won one!!! He kept it a secret and gave it to me on Christmas Eve. I'm still not fully recovered from the excitement. I also got a new camera. A Canon Powershot. A big upgrade from my last camera!

Christmas Eve I stayed up late making bourbon balls. I had a hard time with these as they were hard to form without melting and obviously once formed you have to work fast with the chocolate. They don't look too pretty but they tasted amazing! I could've eaten every single one. I must say I made twice this many but the first batch fell out of the fridge into the floor! :( I used this recipe for Kentucky Bourbon Balls. I did use a few extra tablespoons of bourbon and a bit extra powdered sugar to make it easier to roll. I also put the mix in the freezer for an hour or so instead of waiting overnight in the fridge. Honestly these were a huge pain in the ass to make but they are so delicious I'll make them again for certain!

Here is a picture of me and my daughter enjoying the finished product. She wasn't really eating hers, just posing! They are an interesting creation because straight from the fridge you barely taste the bourbon...let them sit on the counter for an hour or so and you would probably fail a breathalzyer! lol!

Here is a gift I was very excited about! Mom and Dad got me the cast iron skillet I've been wanting forever and have been to lazy to buy. I am excited to start cooking with it!

Christmas dinner was delicious and gluten free! Mom made her famous deviled eggs, sweet potatoes, and mashed potatoes. I made the cranberry sauce and some Bob's Red Mill wonderful bread mix. We had ham and turkey! It was amazing! The best meal I've had in weeks! The best part of Christmas was enjoying time with my family! We spent the day playing Beatles Rock band! Even my parents were singing along! Such fun!

Today was the last of our Christmas festivities! Our friends Jessi and Danielle were to have a party last week but it got snowed out and was rescheduled for today! It was an all appetizer party! Everything was delicious. Just for me they got gluten free crackers and made gluten free brownies! I was also able to enjoy several of the dips! I'm so glad I have friends who make special accommodations for me! I know how hard and expensive gluten free can be so I would never expect anyone to cater to me but they insisted! I am so very lucky to be blessed with great friends and a great family!

New Year's is fast approaching. I can't believe 2009 has passed so fast!

Christmas Eve Mayhem!

2009-12-24T12:42:00.000-05:00

It's been a crazy week. Last Friday things were looking good. We were invited to a party that night, I was getting together with my best friends Saturday afternoon, and we had another party to attend on Sunday. Well Friday afternoon it started snowing and kept snowing for three days. Two feet of snow. We were snowed in all weekend! No parties!

Cocoa didn't know what to think of it at first. He was a bit bewildered. He grew to accept the snow and almost like it!

Even enough to go for a walk with me!

While snowed in I watched Food, Inc. I never wanted to eat again! LOL!

I quickly recovered upon making cranberry bliss bars! I followed the linked recipe except I used Pamela's Gluten Free baking mix (which is WONDERFUL) and for the icing I only used 1 cup of powdered sugar. Also I skipped the white chocolate drizzle. Seemed unnecessary. These are so delicious. Make them and you will be glad you did!

Well I must go. We have a get together at my father in laws house in a few minutes.

Fat Girl Spins!

2009-12-14T23:33:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to get back into exercising. My energy is soooo low so it's tough. I'm getting B12 shots and I take various vitamins every day so we'll see what happens. I'm still having tests done and going to doctors, who knows when I'll get straightened out. Luckily today I decided to spin. Honestly I had talked myself out of it and had even told my friend I wasn't going and then I thought JUST GO! So I did. A workout as always! My legs are already sore!

After spinning I came home and made dinner. Flounder with crushed popchips baked on top, Annie's Gluten Free Macaroni and Cheese, and a salad with feta, dried pears and cranberries, and ranch. Very tasty and so quick! I love quick dinners on gym nights!

My husband is supposed to bring treats in to work tomorrow so I made some Pralines! I got the recipe from Gluten Free Frenzy. I followed the instructions exactly. I've never made these before but I have had them in New Orleans. These tasted like the ones I had there so I guess that's a success. Too bad I have to give most of them away! Then again maybe that's a good thing! Not so healthy!

This is a random dinner from last week that I thought I'd blogged about and then realized I hadn't! Breakfast for dinner! Omelet with ham and cheese, Rice Pecan bread with butter and jelly (not a fan of this bread), and vanilla Greek yogurt with raspberries. I know paper plates are environmentally unsound but damnit they have Burt and Ernie on them!!! I love Ernie. Please don't laugh! :P

This dinner was a pork chop sauteed and then simmered in barbeque sauce with a sprinkle of cheddar cheese, brussel sprouts roasted with olive oil, salt, and pepper then sprayed with Braggs, and Lundberg parmesan risotto. YUM!

Tomorrow I have a doctors appointment and I dentist appointment. I am so dreading that! :(

Busy, busy, busy...

2009-12-07T18:57:00.000-05:00

I've not had a lot of free time lately. First there was Thanksgiving. After dinner I had to hit the road for DC and my cousin's wedding. Bridesmaid duty if you couldn't tell! I'm on the far right with the goofy expression! Then as soon as I got home I had to head straight to my sister in law's house for dogsitting duty. So here are some random pictures.

Me and my cousin's puppy Potter.

I've been to my favorite Mexican restaurant twice in the past week. It's a bit easier to be gluten free there.

Saturday morning was super snowy. It's actually surprising that we didn't get a real snow before now. WV is typically snowy from October-April.

While snowed in I made flourless peanut butter cookies! Some plain, some with chocolate chips, and some with butterscotch chips. I liked the butterscotch best. Basic recipe: 1 cup peanut butter, 3/4 cup sugar in the raw, 1 egg, and a handful of butterscotch chips (if using). Bake 10-15 minutes at 350. May need more or less time. They are a bit finnicky.

Finally got to try Trader Joe's Vodka sauce with some gluten free pasta. Very, very good. Leftovers the next day were even better.

Tonight is chili night (unpictured as it's been blogged about before). To go with I've made Bob's Red Mill GF cornbread mix. Not bad at all! :)

So for a basic rundown so far...the GF diet does seem to be helping as much as I wish it didn't (have I mentioned my obsession with scones and cookies?). So I guess that makes it worth it. Such a challenge though. Today I found out my favorite brand of flavored coffee is off limits! Oh well. I'm going to focus on the yummy things I can eat and not dwell on what I can't have. I'm finding with a bit of effort you can work around most any recipe and come up with a tasty alternative!

Thanksgiving preparations!

2009-11-25T23:39:00.000-05:00

It's been a crazy week. I was doing so much better at the beginning of the week. The gluten-free diet has really helped. I've not been nearly as bloated, achy, or had as many itchy rashes. So naturally just as things seem to be going well I get step throat. For the fifth time this year. You read that right, fifth. I don't even have tonsils!

I've learned this week that gluten free takes tons of planning. I want to be prepared for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow so I'm making some safe stuff to eat.

First up my all time favorite side dish, baked mac and cheese! I used gluten free pasta obviously. Then I melted 2 TB butter in a sauce pan, added 1 TB gluten free flour mix, and 1 cup milk. Heat until bubbly. Then I stired in 8oz. of shredded Kroger casserole blend cheese until melted. Add 1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream and mix with pasta. Pour into pan, top with sharp cheddar and bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

For dessert I have made a flourless chocolate cake. I got the recipe from All Recipes. I made it last week for an office party and it was really good. Very, very rich!!! I followed the directions except I make it in a springform pan with no water bath.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! I will be eating around Noon and then hitting the road to D.C. Big weekend ahead. I'm so nervous!

A time of thanks!

2009-11-23T11:37:00.000-05:00

I can't believe Thanksgiving week is already upon us! Time is going by so fast, it's kind of depressing! I have a busy week ahead. I work Monday through Wednesday, Thursday I'll be having Thanksgiving dinner at my mother-in-laws and then immediately leaving for D.C. Friday I have a manicure appointment, the wedding rehersal, and then the dinner. Saturday is my cousin's big day! We'll get our hair done and then the festivities begin! I'm so nervous! I don't want to do anything to ruin the wedding! I've only been a bridesmaid once before and it was a much more casual affair! Wish me luck!

So as for food I am continuing my gluten-free trial. So far, so good. I've had mishaps due to my improper checking of ingredients before eating but overall this week as been good. I do think some of my problems are easing up so I'm going to keep at it for a few more weeks to be certain it's not coincidence. This will be tough this week with Thanksgiving and travel though. Anyhow here are some highlights of my meals this past week!

This is an experimental casserole because I didn't feel like going to the store. It contains gluten free pasta, broccoli, non-fat yogurt, tomatillo sauce, leftover turkey, and montery jack cheese. It was actually very, very tasty!

Chili with ground turkey.

Crockpot turkey with sweet potatoes. Brown/wild rice on the side. I loved the sweet potatos, my husband however thought they were the grossest thing he'd ever tasted! I put them in the bottom, put the turkey on top, and then topped with butter and wine. It gave them a strange savory taste that I liked and he hated. Go figure!

Another weekend flies by!

2009-11-15T22:57:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I went to another of my favorite restaurants, Delightfully Yours. I got my favorite thing on the menu, the butternut squash and bacon panini with sweet potato chips! It is so, so good. For dessert we all three split a slice of bourbon pecan cheesecake. Heavenly!

I got a cranberry scone to go and had it as a midnight snack...it seems someone took a bite of it before I got to it though. Naturally my husband denies responsibility! ;)

This morning I got up and made fried eggs. I served mine with Oikos plain yogurt, a touch of honey, and a little bit of Enjoy Life Very Berry Crunch granola. On the side are some clementines that I shared with my husband.

For dinner I made shepherds pie. The base is ground beef, carrots, and corn (usually I'd use mushrooms but I was out). The topping is homemade white cheddar mashed potatos. Very tasty!

I also made some pumpkin butterscotch muffins for breakfast tomorrow (I may have snacked on a couple this evening). I got the recipe from All Recipes. I subbed gluten free baking mix for the flour. These are surprisingly tasty. From the smell and texture of the mixture I would never have guessed they'd be so amazing!

I also decided to make some cranberry sauce. I used the recipe in this months Clean Eating magazine. This is the before cooking picture.

This is the after. I love making cranberry sauce! It's one of my favorite things to eat and it's fun to make, especially when the cranberries start popping! I'm easily entertained that's for sure! :)

I've been on hiatus!

2009-11-14T00:38:00.000-05:00

I've totally been lazy about blogging this week! I went back to the doctor on Tuesday and she basically had no answers for me. All my bloodwork is good except for a B12 deficiency. As you can tell I absolutely am not vegan and I eat a lot of meat, eggs, and dairy so there is no reason my B12 should be low. The doctor admitted she was clueless so due to internet research and help from my cousin who is a nurse, I've requested that she test me for celiacs/gluten intolerance. It seems the blood test isn't very accurate and EGD is standard but I had an EGD several months back and while they noted inflammation of my small intestine they didn't biopsy it! Doctors are so frustrating. In light of the inflammation and my symptoms I feel that regardless of the blood results I'll be doing a trial run of a gluten free diet to see what happens. Couldn't hurt. Might help. So this week I've had a few gluten filled favorites.

Cinnamon raisin English muffins with peanut butter for breakfast. Why the greenish tint I have no idea.

Hibachi steak and noodles from Fujiyamas. Saved some for lunch!

Cracker Barrel biscuits with blackberry preserves.

Tomorrow I'll probably have a scone from my favorite bakery. Then I start the trial diet and if goes well it may be my permanent diet.

Holiday favorites

2009-11-09T23:21:00.000-05:00

I'm not super crazy for the whole Christmas season in that I don't like Christmas music, crowds, snow, or putting up decorations. I know I sound like a total Scrooge, but truely I'm not. I just like the simple things about the holiday season. Being with my family and friends especially and also all the lovely food. Seriously all my favorite foods are around this time of year! Pumpkin, cranberry, gingerbread, and eggnog!

This morning upon arriving at work my wonderful boss gave me a box of Bigelow Pumpkin Spice tea! So yummy! I've mentioned my love for tea many times here and this tea does not disappoint!

The highlight of my weekend was a trip to Panera Bread where I got the gingerbread bagel and and a gingerbread latte! I've been waiting all year for the gingerbread bagel to be back! I got one to go and toasted it for breakfast this morning. :)

After work I went to the grocery store and they had the Cliff holiday flavors on display! I had to buy several of each! Plus they finally have Silk Nog! I love soy nog!

The rest of todays meals weren't nearly as exciting as my bagel. Lunch was a Healthy Choice meal.

Okay but a little bit peppery.

Dinner was a roasted chicken from the deli, Annie's white cheddar mac and cheese, a Dole Autumn blend salad, and two grape leaves from the olive bar. I was starving and wanted to have something I could eat as soon as possible!

I'm officially a sloth...

2009-11-05T21:30:00.002-05:00

Despite two rounds of antibiotics and a big shot in the butt my sore throat is back! I'm about sick of this! Perhaps it's a virus but I swear I've followed the don't get sick rules to a T. I really need to get back to the gym but I'm scared I'll catch something worse or over-exert myself and further tax my immune system. Anyhow I have a doctors appointment on Tuesday so I'll just try to hang in until then.

These pictures are from yesterday because I fell asleep before I could blog! Breakfast was Blueberry Kashi Go Lean waffles, Nutella, and strawberry All-Fruit. Brown Cow Greek yogurt on the side. I had this exact same breakfast today minus the All-Fruit.

Yesterday's lunch: An Amy's spinach pizza pocket and a low sodium V8. Yum!

By dinnertime yesterday I had developed a HUGE lasagna craving. So I made some. No low-fat veggie filled recipe here. All meat and cheesy goodness! :P Lasagna is my all time favorite food!

This lasagna was today's lunch! Yum! Leftovers rock!

I made a mistake and bought a bag of Reese's candy that was marked down post Halloween. These Reese's pieces along with the Reese's sticks and PB cups have been torturing me ever since. I've had a few over the past couple of days...

The past two days I've been drinking this tea. I usually hate green tea (I love black tea though) but this tea is quite tasty. No bitter yuckiness like most green tea. I obviously have been sick and run down plus my stomach is always acting ugly so I thought this was the perfect combo!

Forgot to add I grabbed a Gingerbread soy latte after dinner tonight. I've been craving one all day long! So, so good. Lattes with soymilk are so much tastier than with regular milk. Obviously I did not take this picture...

Anyhow one more day of work and then I get the weekend to rest. If I am feeling better I'd love to do some Christmas shopping...we'll see how it goes!

Eggnog season is in full swing!!!

2009-11-03T22:32:00.000-05:00

Nothing exciting going on in my world today. Except for it being the slowest work day ever. I don't know what was going on but everyone was feeling it!

Lunch was leftovers from my mother in law's Sunday dinner. Beef stew with whole wheat rolls. Also a grapefruit Izze. Those are yummy. I came home feeling blah. Crashed on the couch and watched Nirvana Live at Reading. Then I went to dinner at Macado's again. No pictures because my sandwich looked nearly identical to the one I had Sunday night. Except it had roast beef, cole slaw, cheddar, and bbq sauce.

After dinner I had to race on over to Starbucks to get the first eggnog latte of the season. I'm proud to report they finally got this right. Every year I eagerly order an eggnog latte and every year they scorch the eggnog and it tastes terrible. Well the curse has been broken. This one was right on! Now I must hurry back for the gingerbread. It's another favorite. I'm a huge Starbucks fan.

The remainder of the evening was spent talking to my cousin on the phone. Since I rarely, or um never, post pictures of myself I decided to throw up this not so flattering shot of me and my cousin. I'm the one that is a full foot shorter. :P

November already???

2009-11-03T00:00:00.001-05:00

Time is just flying! It doesn't seem right that it's already November! Anyhow I'm tired so I'll do a quick recap of the weekend highlights. First Saturday morning breakfast. Bacon and white cheddar omelet. Don't worry. I split this with my husband. I swear I didn't eat the whole thing! Learning to flip an omelet was a highpoint in my culinary life! lol!

Went to Sam's Club Saturday and got some yummy things. Chai Spiced Cider. The best cider ever!

Sugar Pears. So cute. Like little baby pears!

I guess it was minature food day because I also felt the urge to purchase kiwi berries.

Sunday I broke open a new jar of preserves. Very delicious. I bought this at Pier 1. How random!

I served the jam on Kashi Go Lean waffles. One half has peanut butter and the other has almond butter. The almond butter half was way better!

Sunday night we went to Macado's for dinner. I got the turkey rueben on a croissant. I've been going through a big croissant phase for awhile now. Sad that they are so much worse for me than regular sliced bread.

Today I tried a new Odwalla bar. The Mocha-walla. Pretty tasty. It had little chocolate chips in it that made my morning.

Still trying to get well and stay well. Hard to do, everywhere I go someone is sick with the flu! On my doctors advice I'm taking olive leaf extract. I'd never heard of it but according to the book that came with it, it can prevent and even cure infections, viruses, fungi, and parasites. Hmmmm....seems a bit much but it couldn't hurt to try!

Eggnog pancakes...my two favorite things collide at IHOP!

2009-10-30T21:24:00.000-04:00

The other night I saw the IHOP commercial for their seasonal pancakes. Ever since eggnog pancakes have been all I can think about. Yeah, my mind is very busy...lol. So I decided I must go there for dinner tonight. I love IHOP because for like $7 you get a meal and a dessert in one! I got two eggs over hard, turkey sausage, and hashbrowns with cheddar. Sometimes I order off the healthy menu but usually I go full heart-attack.

I inhaled my meal because I couldn't wait to get to the pancakes. They did not dissapoint! OMG so good. The pancakes are eggnog flavored and then they have this vanilla cream in the middle, and a butter rum sauce on top. I did share 1/2 with my husband so I'm not a complete piggy. Only about 75% piggy! :P

I'm so glad eggnog season is here again. I love making eggnog bunt cakes and eggnog cheesecakes. Who knows what else I'll find to make this year!

A celebration!

2009-10-29T22:12:00.000-04:00

Today was my first day back at work. It's always hard after a break but coming back from being sick is better than from vacation because you weren't having fun on your off days! Due to my medicine I had to break my breakfast into two parts. First I had this wonderful yogurt. It's new at my store. It seems to have replaced Oikos. It's just as tasty and they all have a buy two get one free coupon on top! Score!

Breakfast part two was Kashi Go Lean Waffles with Nutella. Yummy! I love Nutella. I know it's not super healthy but a girl needs a bit of fun in her life!

Lunch was leftovers from last night's dinner. Pork tenderloin that was cooked in the crockpot with Mrs. Dash, Cumin, black pepper, and cinnamon rub. Brown and wild rice mixed with white corn. Cheddar jack cheese and sour cream as a topping. I brought Tupperwear container that I bought from my cousin Jess. There is a removable segment for cold stuff (cheese and sour cream) and the rest you pop the lid on, pop up the vent, and microwave.

My good friend Jessi has been on a quest to lower her blood pressure. We had planned a celebration dinner for after her doctors appointment today. Happily Jessi worked super hard and got her numbers down! YAY Jessi! To celebrate we went to Pies and Pints...I'm an addict. I did decide to try something I've never tried before today. I got the Rustica White pie. It has ricotta, mozarella, salami, artichoke hearts, and kalamata olives. Not as fabulous as my usual Grape or Cuban but mighty good! Todd got the pineapple, bacon, and feta pizza. Also delicious! Now I have leftovers for lunch!

I'm so frustrated that I keep getting sick. It seems like I eat healthier and exercise more than at least 80% of the people I know so I don't know why I can't stay well! Also oddly enough the doctor told me to avoid eating things with Vitamin A. I thought Vitamin A was good for immunity? Sad because I have so many pumpkin and squash recipes I want to make...

Long time no blog!

2009-10-29T11:41:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to say I've been sick and having some tests done so I just didn't feel up to blogging. I'm hoping to get back in the swing of things this evening!

Wednesday recap

2009-10-22T17:47:00.000-04:00

I've been in a funk the past couple of days so I haven't been keeping up with blogging. Not sure the blog helps anyone anyhow so I guess it's all good!

This mess is 1/2 cup of oats that soaked in 1/2 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of frozen raspberries overnight. Then I added in 1/2 cup of Fage 2% and handful of frozen mango. Heavenly.

Boring lunch, but tasty. PB and J pita, low sodium V8 and an orange.

Dinner was out. No pictures. Went to Logans with my parents. Got salmon, baked sweet potato, side salad w/ ranch, and steamed brocolli.

Got my Burt Bee's acne solution sample I requested a few weeks back in the mail. Eager to try it.

Forgot to mention that I drank this after my workout Tuesday night. Not bad. Down in two drinks. I'd be willing to try it again.

On my way to kickboxing. I'll blog about today later!

Lazy evening!

2009-10-20T23:18:00.002-04:00

Still having yucky shingles pain today. The world still goes on though so I headed to work and had a delicious breakfast! Nature's Path Flax waffles, Fage 2%, frozen mango, and a drizzle of honey. Very delicous. I love frozen fruit!

Lunch was simple. Whole wheat pita with peanut butter and banana, grape tomatoes, and a low sodium V8. Peanut butter and banana is one of the best combos in the world. Peanut butter is awesome with just about anything though!

I snacked on an unphotographed Zbar and I may have munched on some salt and vinegar Kettle chips before dinner. My husband had to go to a computer conference so I didn't want to cook a big meal. I found a Trader Joe's Indian Fare entree in the cabinet I'd been wanting to try. I mixed it with some microwave brown rice. Not bad. A little spicier than I like. I think everything is too spicy though. My family laughs at me! I watched the first episode of Dexter while I ate. I am eager to start the series because I've read some of the books and I will have to wait forever for True Blood to be back.

I skipped kickboxing in favor of a nap. I found that when I'm under the weather and I push myself I end up getting major sick like I did with mono. Then I'm out of commision for a month. I wasn't completely lazy though. After Dexter I did Self's Your Best Butt Fast workout. This was the first time I've tried it and I liked it. It wasn't super challenging but then again I'm hurting and not up to a big challenge. It's split into various segments...kickboxing, dance moves, sculpting with weights, and yoga. I also liked it because I met my 10 minute yoga challenge without doing an extra workout! :) I also burned 310 calories. Not bad for 40 minutes!

Now I'm headed to bed. I do think I will be breaking into the Purely Decadent. My goodness that stuff was AMAZING!

I also wanted to share my new shoes! It seems that the only time my foot doesn't hurt is when I'm wearing Birkenstocks so I had to get a pair for fall! I just love them!

A crazy couple of days!

2009-10-19T22:33:00.001-04:00

I seemed to have gotten super busy over the weekend and totally skipped updating the blog! So we'll start at Friday morning and I'll post pics and do a quick recap. Pear bread w/ Krema Natural Peanut Butter, Fage 2% with lemon curd on the side.

Lunch: Pita with Sabra hummus, leftover pork tenderloin, and shredded cabbage. Carrot sticks on the side.

Friday was Bosses Day. My boss is really cool! I got her a Starbucks giftset.

Dinner was Mexican. Forgot pictures. I got the best carnitas. It's now my new addiction! Also went to a bar and listened to our friend sing karaoke. She totally sounds like a for real singer! She's awesome! Had a few New Castles. Not usually a beer person.

Then we headed to another bar where our friend Jason's band was playing. Had one of these.

Saturday I went to lunch with my best friends Pam and Vanessa. We were celebrating Pam's birthday. She wanted to go to Applebee's. I got French Dip sliders and french onion soup instead of fries. These are not my pictures btw.

Saturday night we had dinner with friends at Delightfully Yours. This is another of my favorite restaurants. Again I didn't take pictures of my dinner because I didn't want to explain the whole blog thing. I had an apple and gouda panini with sweet potato fries. Then I remembered that I don't care for gouda and immediately wished I had gotten my favorite...the butternut squash and bacon panini. It is the best sandwich on earth. Anyhow the apple and gouda was okay and the fries were the best ever! After we ate I did take pictures of the fancy chocolates. I really liked the turtle ones above. They were $2 a piece though and too cute to eat!

After dinner we wanted to watch Where the Wild Things Are but it was sold out! :( So instead we did something I haven't done in literally a decade!

That's right! Bowling! Cute shoes, eh?

This leads us into Sunday. I had plans...going to church, going to the gym, and going out shopping. Instead I woke up with a searing pain in my right side. It feels exactly like the two times I have gotten shingles. Yes I am the only person under 90 who gets shingles. :( So far I'm just having the pain and nothing else so I really don't know what is going on! I was in terrible pain and basically laid on the couch all day. I also missed a day of my 31 day yoga challenge! :( This makes me sad.

I did make one meal however. Eggs in a basket. My husband loves these. I think it's because he love V for Vendetta! lol!

This morning I started the day with waffles, Krema peanut butter, and strawberry All-Fruit. If anyone is wondering about the Lexapro plate I guess I should mention that I work for a mental health agency. Lest it looks like I'm such a big customer that I get free dishes! :P

Since I haven't been feeling good I didn't feel up to packing a home-made lunch. So I brought this Healthy Choice Mediterranean Pasta. It's tasty and at least I can recognize all the ingredients. Not perfect but it will do!

Snack was a gingersnap Larabar. Yum, yum!

Dinner was Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta with Newman's Own roasted tomato and garlic sauce, and feta cheese. I picked a quick dinner because I was supposed to go to my first bible study but it got postponed til next Monday. For the best though because I'm still feeling craptastic.

I didn't want to miss another day of yoga so I found this on streaming Netflix. I did the 10 minute buns and thighs segment. Pretty decent workout. I can't wait to try the rest!

Now I'm going to snack on some Purely Decadent chocolate frozen dessert. I've been wanting to try these coconut milk desserts for a long time but they are always around $6!!! This week they were on sale for $3.49 so here is my big chance. Hope it's tasty! After my snack I'm headed to bed! Hopefully this weird pain will be gone by tomorrow!

Thursday in the Kitchen

2009-10-16T00:30:00.000-04:00

I absolutely did not want to get out of bed this morning! It was cold and raining! Definately sleep in weather! Sadly I have to work for a living so I got up and trudged in! I was getting bored of oats and yogurt for breakfast so I switched things up. Today I had Van's Flaxseed waffles with Trader Joe's crunchy almond butter and strawberry All-Fruit. So good! As always a nice cup of tea! Stash organic English Breakfast this morning!

Since it was cold and nasty I had soup for lunch! This is my favorite soup, Trader Joe's lentil vegetable. It's delicious! On the side I had a whole wheat pita with a wedge of Laughing Cow light garlic and herb. Quick and easy!

After work I had to get some groceries! I broke the cardinal rule of grocery shopping and went to the store hungry! I wanted everything in the store! I found a great deal on pork tenderloin! I got a one pound tenderloin for $2.94!!! I grabbed it up because I had the perfect recipe to go with it! Emeril's simple grilled pork tenderloin! Very easy to make and so good. It says to marinate overnight but I only marinated it for about an hour! To go with it I chopped some apples and cooked them on the stove with lemon juice, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. I also grabbed up some zuchinni and summer squash and sauteed them in olive oil on the stove. Definately one of my favorite quick sides. This dinner was SO GOOD! I grilled the pork on the George Foreman grill and it was ready in about 15 minutes! While the pork was marinating I got started on dessert. A few weeks ago I read about a pear bread on The Fit Bride blog and knew I wanted to try it. The original recipe was from All Recipes. I made a few changes such as using whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup of applesauce and 1/4 cup of oil, and using Sugar in the Raw. The batter was so good I was tempted to just eat it and skip the baking step! :P The finished product was delicious too! My husband is in love. It makes two loaves and I'm not sure they'll last the night!

See I couldn't even get a picture before he ate the end of this loaf!

I did skip kickboxing tonight just because I've felt a bit rundown this week and I had to get groceries and do some laundry. I didn't skip working out though! I pulled out 30 Day Shred and did level 1. I haven't done the video in months and I'm glad to say my heart rate is much lower doing it now than last time! I also did a 10 minute yoga abs workout. I've packed my lunch and I'm ready to head to bed! Glad tomorrow is Friday!

Early to Bed! Way Early!

2009-10-15T01:44:00.002-04:00

Today I just plain wasn't feeling good. I think I might be coming down with a cold. I started the morning with some overnight oats. Recipes: 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup greek yogurt, splash of milk, 2 generous spoons of pumpkin, 1 TB of currants, spices, Sun Crystals, and unsalted pumpkin seeds sprinkled on top. Delicious and very filling! I love to make breakfast ahead of time because I am NOT a morning person!

Lunch is unpictured because seriously I just wasn't with it today and forgot! Imagine a whole wheat pita stuffed with almond butter. Not too exciting anyhow, eh? I was going to the dentist so I didn't want a big lunch in me!

Since the dentist is located so close to my favorite pizza place, Pies and Pints, I knew I had to get a pizza to go. I wanted to surprise my husband! After the horrible chicken in the floor incident of last night I didn't even feel up to cooking today! lol! I got half grape and gorgonzola and half Cuban. So delicious! Best idea I've had in weeks! So after dinner I'm still feeling yucky plus it's cold so I threw on sweatpants and a hoodie and I went to bed. I read some of my book for bible study. Turns out there are questions I'm supposed to answer at the end of the chapters. I guess I should've assumed as much! lol!

I took a big nap! From 8p.m. to 1 a.m. Now I'm up when I should be asleep! Oh well. I'm trying out my new nightguard. Turns out I did not have to have my filling done today, thank goodness since I'm already feeling bad! He said where my jaw is cracking and popping it wouldn't be a good idea to have my mouth propped open so long so I'm to wear my nightguard a few weeks and return Nov. 3rd! This little device pictured above is what my guard looks like. It's called an N.T.I. Tension Suppression System. You wear it over your front teeth and it prevents your teeth from touching so you can't clench or grind! It not only prevents tooth grinding it also relaxes the muscles involved which can clear up TMJ! Would you believe this little hunk of plastic is $195!!!

I almost missed a day of yoga!!! No fears when I awoke I did some self-guided yoga stretches before I got up to do this blog post! Very relaxing. No one else is up. Just me and the cat! Her purring was quite soothing and well suited to the poses actually! Yogi master Buttercup? :)

Question for the day: How does everyone else attempt to fight off a cold?

Dinner=Epic Fail!

2009-10-13T22:55:00.000-04:00

Today was one of those days where things just don't go quite right! First off the batteries in my camera died. I mean the picture quality on my camera is bad enough but breakfast and lunch pictures are taken on my way subpar cellphone camera! Anyhow breakfast was two more of the Clean Eating Coco Cran Nut muffins and pumpkin yogurt. I mixed 2/3 cup Fage 2%, a couple of spoonfuls of pumpkin, spices, a few chopped pecans, and a pack of Sun Crystals. The pumpkin yogurt really seemed to creep out a co-worker. You'd think I ate bugs or something like that guy on the Travel Channel to hear this lady talk!

Lunch was leftover stir-fry with a carrot and some grape tomatoes. Surprisingly filling! I did have an afternoon snack of some grapes but honestly I didn't even need my usual pre-kickboxing snack bar today! As for kickboxing. My goodness it was so hot in there. I don't know why since the A/C was on and it's cold outside. I felt like I could spontaneously combust! It was a tough class to get through. Plus it was abs night and my abs are still super sore from my 1 hour ab class last night! Oh well! I hung in there and got it done!

After class I was starved. I snacked on some Food Should Taste Good Olive chips (wonderful!!!) and Sabra hummus. Then I started on dinner but had a huge mishap. I was making a recipe from one of the South Beach cookbooks called Indian Chicken. Things started out good, brown the chicken pieces. Put them on a plate while you cook some garlic, ginger, curry powder, veggies, and coconut milk. Then add the chicken back. Except I added the step of drop all but one piece of chicken in the floor! So I threw some chickpeas in the pot instead. My husband wasn't keen on a vegetarian entree and since he was out and about anyhow he got some chicken from Krogers Deli!

I had a small piece. I took the skin with the smokey barbeque coating off before I ate it though. With my Indian (not) Chicken I served quinoa. I've eaten it many times but never cooked it. I decided to use low sodium chicken broth instead of water. Then I added a touch of curry powder and a few spritz of Bragg's seasoning. Very tasty! I think I will be making quinoa more often!

For tonight's yoga I did a 10 minute Yoga legs workout. Now I'm ready for bed and reading. Starting this coming Monday I am going to a once a week bible study thing. We are to be reading Slightly Bad Girls of the Bible. I have to read the first two chapters by Monday. Not a problem since I read quite fast. I have never been to any sort of bible study before so I'm a little nervous. Seeing as I have quite a few tattoos I don't fit in at a lot of churches! Luckily I am friendly with girl hosting and my best friend is going to be going too so it should be fine!

I have to get a filling tomorrow and get fitted for my mouth guard! I hate going to the dentist! I'm actually almost excited about the mouth guard because I'm a terrible teeth grinder and now my jaw is snapping and popping like crazy!

Ang's Awesome Abs???

2009-10-12T21:37:00.001-04:00

I can't believe it's Monday already! Where do the weekends go??? Today for breakfast I had cottage cheese and two Coco Cran Nut muffins. I got the recipe in the newest Clean Eating magazine. They are REALLY good! I love Clean Eating magazine. They have so many great recipes to try!

For lunch I had the leftover fajita mix stuffed inside a whole wheat pita. Some of it wouldn't fit so I just ate it by itself! Still yummy today! Grapes on the side! For my afternoon snack I had another Cliff Smores Zbar. I had to have a snack to gear up for a new class I was trying at the gym. Al's Awesome Abs, hence the title of the post. Technically I don't have awesome abs yet but hopefully in the future the title will be true! ;) Actually I really think I do have awesome abs. They just have a bit too much cushioning they are hiding under! lol! The class was supposed to be 45 minutes but it ran a whole hour. I actually burned close to 350 calories! I guess Al's class was awesome!

I came home from the gym STARVING. Luckily the dinner I had planned was quick. Steak stirfry! I bought the steak already in strips. I started by heating garlic and ginger in the pan, I added some chopped carrot and mushroom, then the steak, then shredded cabbage, then steamed brocolli, a scrambled egg, sprouted brown rice, and black bean garlic sauce. So good and ready in a jiffy. I got the Annie Chung brand of microwave sprouted brown rice. All natural. Very fast and tasty. I will definately buy that again!

For some reason this evening I am wore out! I think I'm going to pack tomorrow's meals and head to bed!

Weekend and Yoga Recap!

2009-10-11T22:59:00.001-04:00

It's been a little bit hectic this weekend so I decided to just do one big post! Saturday morning I got up and made apple pie oatmeal. I chopped an apple and cooked it on the stove with some water, lemon juice, cinammon, pumpkin pie spice, and a packette of Sun Crystals. Once it was soft I added additional water and oats to cook. I topped the oats with a bit of Trader Joe's crunchy almond butter. Yum! This was good oatmeal! After breakfast it was time to start getting ready for my nephew's 3rd birthday party. He has a little ride on John Deere tractor that he absolutely loves to drive so the party was tractor themed!

Here was his cute tractor cake! He loved it!

I didn't eat any of the tractor cake. One of the little boys at my table is on a gluten free diet and he brought some cupcakes to share with anyone who wanted one so I decided to have a cupcake with him! He's a big WVU fan in case you couldn't tell! The cupcake was really tasty! Turned my lips blue though, but that's okay! It was a party! The food at the party was relatively healthy. Little Subway sandwiches. I had one of the ham and cheese ones and one of the turkey and cheese ones. Lots of veggies. No mayo. Also there was a delicious fruit salad. Grapes, strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries! I loaded up on that! :)

This morning for breakfast I tried to make whole wheat buttermilk biscuits. They tasted really good but they didn't rise. I later noticed that my baking soda was expired so that could be the reason! Anyhow they were still edible...just flat! I served them with two fried eggs. After breakfast I helped my daughter with a TON of math homework. Bluck! Then I hit the gym for 45 minutes of rolling hills on the elliptical. I did a quick strength training workout before bed last night so today was all cardio. After the gym I made a cheeseburger in pita (see Friday's dinner) and took a bit of a nap! Sunday afternoon naps are what I live for!

After my nap I showered and got ready to go to dinner. My husband has been wanting to hit the Mexican restaurant all weekend! We met our friends Mike and John and had a pretty good feast! I had chicken fajitas with mushrooms, green peppers, and tomato. No onion for me! Served with rice, beans, lettuce, and guacomole. So good. Plus I have leftovers for tomorrow! I don't feel guilty when I go out to eat. I feel like I eat healthy at least 80-90% of the time so a splurge once in awhile is fine!

Now for the recap of my first 11 days of yoga! Going well. I'm glad I accepted the challenge. I wish I had more yoga options but even with my Denise Austin and You Tube videos I'm feeling a benefit. I especially like to do relaxation yoga before bed. It's helping me get to sleep earlier! I still haven't learned to like a sun salutation but there are still 20 days to go...maybe I'll get there! lol!

Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger

2009-10-09T21:39:00.000-04:00

Today my breakfasts had the same base as yesterday (plain yogurt, oats, pumpkin, spices, truvia) but was topped with Kashi Cinammon Harvest! This was so, so good. I think Cinammon Harvest might be my new favorite Kashi cereal. Very cinammon-y! I'm really liking adding pumpkin to my breakfast too! It's so versatile!

For lunch I packed spinach, cabbage, corn, the leftover taco seasoned ground chicken and cheese, heated it and spooned it over two crushed taco shells to make a taco salad. Then I topped it with the leftover taco sauce. Wow, so good! I think it was even better as leftovers with the added veggies! Of course I disappointed my office friend because I didn't order out with her! I really don't think anything I could have ordered would have topped this! Seriously!

I had to go grocery shopping after work so I figured I'd better have a snack. Everyone knows it's a bad idea to hit the store hungry! I spend quite enough on groceries as it is! For snack I had more organic grapes and a string cheese. I love string cheese! I've really enjoyed these grapes too! They are so sweet! I'm glad I snacked because I was at the store forever! Then the line I got in had some big hold-up so I had to wait and wait to check out!

I picked a quick dinner. I got pre-pattied hamburgers and threw them on the George Forman grill while I baked some Alexia sweet potato fries. I served my burgers on whole wheat pitas because I could not find hamburger buns that didn't have HFCS in them! So aggravating! The pitas were good though so it was fine! I sauteed some mushrooms and spinach to put in my pita with some white cheddar cheese! This was an awesome burger! :) Good news! I am now officially used to Sun Crystals. I bought a box for home and made iced tea with it! I don't like my tea super sweet so it only took 3 packs for the whole 2 qt. pitcher!

Since it's Friday night I had some ice cream while I watched the IT Crowd and Dead Like Me on Netflix! I typically like chocolate ice creams with chunks of stuff in it but I decided to get the Vanilla Bean Haagen Daz Five to try. I LOVE their coffee ice cream and I really liked this vanilla too. That is saying a lot because I never eat vanilla ice cream...too boring! :P

I just got finished with my yoga for core conditioning and now I'm going to get ready to read in bed awhile. My throat is getting so sore! I think I'll snack on some frozen mango! I love frozen fruit! Especially when I have a sore, scratchy throat!

Taco Thursday!

2009-10-08T23:02:00.000-04:00

I started the day out with another pumpkin concoction. This one is no-cook oats featuring non-fat plain yogurt, pumpkin, oats, cinammon, pumpkin pie spice, and truvia. Quite tasty! It looks a bit gross though. I've gone almost the whole week without my Sweet n' Low! I'm getting used to the Sun Crystals. One thing that has helped is using just half of the packet per cup of tea. They are very small but wow are they sweet!

Lunch was of course leftovers from last night. Also some carrot sticks and grapes. Very tasty and filling. I didn't even get hungry for my 4 o'clock snack! One of the ladies at work insists that I must order lunch with her tomorrow because I've done good all week and "I deserve it". No one seems to understand that I like packing my lunch! I really do enjoy what I bring and look forward to it! Plus if I don't eat the leftovers for lunch then they go to waste and I don't like to waste if I can help it!

Tonight was kickboxing night. I was not feeling it as my back/hip is still hurting but I drug my behind in there anyhow! Glad I did, I burned 520 calories! For my before gym snack I had my favorite Larabar, Key Lime...after class I had to go to the pharmacy so naturally I had to get a tall soy latte from Starbucks! My dad likes to tell me that just because the sign says drive thru it doesn't mean I have to drive thru! lol! For dinner I tried something new! My husband loves tacos but the regular kinds are so bad with tons of sodium and strange chemicals...so I got this Garden of Eatin' from the healthy section of Krogers.

These were so good! The shells were delicious. My husband ate 6 shells...3 without fillings he liked them so well! The seasoning was a lot lower in sodium plus I only used half the pack and that was plenty! I made these with ground chicken and topped them with 2% cheddar cheese and reduced fat sour cream. Corn as our side. A little carb heavy but I love white corn! I will definately buy this again! After dinner I watched The Office, it's one of my favorite shows and then did my relaxation yoga. Now I'm ready to seriously relax until morning! :)

Not Cabbage Rolls

2009-10-07T22:36:00.000-04:00

Today was a pretty good food day. I enjoyed each and every meal! I started out with a weird breakfast concoction. I got the idea from April. I mixed cottage cheese, pumpkin, truvia, and spices together. Then I topped it with Ezekiel Cinammon raisin cereal. It looked crazy but tasted really good. I'm glad none of my coworkers came in while I was eating though. For some reason they think everything I eat is weird so orange cottage cheese would've really frightened them! lol!

Since we went out to dinner last night I didn't have any leftovers to bring to lunch. So I made a sandwich. Whole wheat pita bread with Sabra hummus, a slice of mozzarella, and as much spinach as I could stuff in there. I really love Sabra hummus. It's the only brand of store bought hummus I like. It tastes much better than when I make it at home. For my side dishes I had carrot sticks and grapes. This lunch was very tasty but I have to say not so filling. I was starving by the time I got home!

So I had a ZBar. The Spooky Smores is the only flavor I've tried of these and I really like it. I like that it only has 130 calories. I love a regular Cliff Bar but they are all around 250 calories which is a bit much for a snack! I do think it's funny that the back of this bar suggests giving them out to trick or treaters....um yeah, when I win the lottery! lol!

I really wasn't in the mood to go to the gym tonight. I had to work a bit late so I would have had to rush to get to spinning and the thought of the cardio equipment just bored me this evening. So since we now have a DVD/VHS recorder I decided to drag out another old school exercise video, Crunch Time. This video was made by the original founders of the Firm. In fact the instructor, Susan Harris, was in the very first Firm video, which I love by the way! I like this video because it's a combo of cardio and strength, she doesn't use Barbie weights, and the warm-up and cool down were yoga so I get my 10 min. of yoga in for the day! Multi-tasking! :)

After I exercised I took a shower and ran out to Starbucks. My daughter has an ear infection and strep throat and was begging for a latte! I got a tall soy latte. Then I came home and made dinner. I like to call this Not Cabbage Rolls. It's for when I'm in too big of a hurry/too lazy to make real cabbage rolls. I brown my ground sirloin, saute in some pre-shredded cabbage, a can of tomatoes, brown and wild rice, and tons of cinammon. Quick, easy, healthy, and delicious!

Now I'm exhausted! It's my bedtime! :P For a bedtime snack I'm having cottage cheese and an apple sprinkled with cinammon. I'm on a huge cinammon kick here lately. I'm actually eager to get to bed. My back has been hurting really bad today and my leg a bit too. It will be nice to lay down!

The Best Pizza in the World!

2009-10-06T20:57:00.000-04:00

Today we had plans to go out to dinner with my husband's family after work. Lucky for me they chose one of my favorite restaurant, Pies and Pints! This place is soooooo good! There are so many interesting varieties of pizza!

Tuesday night is awesome because they have a buffet and you can try all their varieties! I started off with my absolute favorite, Grape pizza! It has grapes, gorgonzola, and rosemary! Also a salad to be healthy and all ;)!

I followed that up with my tie for absolute favorite, the Cuban pizza. It has marinated pork, pineapple, feta, carmalized onions (usually I have those removed), jalapenos, creme fraiche, and cilantro. This pizza is divine.

They had some really unique dessert pizzas. They still had cheese on them. I've seen dessert pizza before but never with cheese. Usually it has icing or something drizzled on it. This one had cheese, pineapple, and chocolate chips. Sounds gross but it was actually good. They also had one with grapes instead of pineapple. This is the only thing my 2 year old nephew would eat. He picked all the fruit off though and kept yelling "more chocolate pizza, more!" He's so adorable! One thing I really like about this place is they use fresh herbs, they make their own sauces, and roast the pork and veggies on site. Everything isn't super processed and pre-packaged like most pizza places.

I have been such a bad girl tonight, skipping kickboxing in favor of pizza! How could I resist though! :) Now I think I'll do some yoga, get tomorrows breakfast and lunch together, and call it a night! BTW, I did not post breakfast and lunch pictures because breakfast was exactly what I had yesterday and lunch was last night's dinner!

Motivated for Monday!

2009-10-05T21:52:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was not my best day. My daughter had tons of past due homework, I had cramps, and I was craving and eating the worst foods. I woke up today motivated to do better! I started the day by trying something new. Irish Creme Agave Nectar in my tea. I'm not sure how I feel about it. It kind of left a weird taste in my mouth. The label seems to emphasize using it in coffee so I might try that next time. I don't think I'll repeat the tea experience!

Breakfast was much better. Plain yogurt mixed with oats, currents, and pumpkin butter. Plus my favorite fruit in the world...Asian pears! I love these because they are crispy like an apple and juicy like a pear. There is an Asian pear orchard in Lexington, VA (about 2 1/2 hours away) I visited once and got a huge case of pears. I'd love to go back!

Before bed last night I made some brown and wild rice on the stove to use in meals for the week. For lunch I mixed the rice with sundried tomato tuna. The Bumblebee Sensation tunas are really good. I know it would be healthier to get plain tuna but really the sundried tomato is too fabulous. As sides I had carrot sticks and fresh figs. All in all a delicious and healthy lunch!

After work I snacked on a Lemon Larabar and headed to the gym. I was meeting my friend and we did some cardio on the treadmill. I wanted to lift but it was way to packed for that so I decided I'd lift at home. I did some run/walk intervals for about 30 minutes and then I came home and did my lifting workout. The Oxygen magazine one again. I prefer to lift before cardio but sometimes you have to work around life.

Dinner was a Weight Watchers recipe. Warm blue cheese and steak salad. I use Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta because my husband hates whole wheat. This brand has the fiber of whole wheat but is white and tastes like regular. Anyhow while the pasta boiled I sauteed steak, mushrooms, garlic, and spinach. I also mixed a cup of plain yogurt with 2 TB of olive oil mayo, salt, pepper, and 2 oz. of blue cheese. Drain the pasta, mix everything together, and serve! The original recipe calls for tomatoes instead of spinach and mushrooms but I work with what I have on hand.

Now I'm planning to do a 10 minute yoga for abs workout, have a snack, and go to bed! I'm exhausted!

Starbucks Saturday

2009-10-04T00:00:00.000-04:00

This morning I got to be super lazy and sleep in while my wonderful husband went and got us Starbucks for breakfast! :) I am absolutely addicted to their egg white and spinach wrap. I also got a soy latte with one pump of pumpkin spice. I love my lattes!

After breakfast I relaxed on the couch watching The IT Crowd. It's a British show about an IT department and it is so funny. My husband is an IT guy so naturally we love it. Then it was time to get ready to meet my cousin for lunch. I had to drive about an hour away. We went to a Ryan's buffet. I didn't take any picutres (expect for ones of the babies of course) because I just felt weird about it and it wasn't like I was eating anything fancy, healthy, or out of the ordinary. I was so impressed with how well behaved my cousin's kids were! They have a 3 mo. old, a 2 year old, and a 3 year old. The toddlers behaved better than most adults at the table! After lunch I ran into to Wal-Mart and picked up an Oxygen magazine.

Once I got home I did the at home time-saver workout. It was pretty thorough. I have been slacking in the strength training department lately. I finished NROL4W just in time to get Mono. That kept me down literally most of the summer. Then once I started feeling better and getting my energy back I got shingles. So now I'm ready to get backing into serious lifting. It's really depressing to see how much strength I lost over the summer but what can you do...Anyhow I also had my yoga commitment to fulfill but my husband and daughter were watching a movie so I couldn't throw in a dvd. No fears, I found a 10 minute video of twisting poses on YouTube. I did that as my warm-up to the Oxygen workout. Now I'm flat out exhausted! Hopefully I'll do a better post tomorrow!

Finally Friday!

2009-10-02T23:46:00.000-04:00

This morning suffered from lack of preparation and being low on groceries. I had a Gingersnap Larabar, a Carbmaster yogurt, and some mint tea. I'm back to drinking black tea. I decided that I wasn't hungry enough for the Fiberful so I saved it for the afternoon and snacked on it with some roasted edamame. The Gingersnap Larabar is one of my favorites. Though every flavor I try is one of my favorites it seems! My true actual favorite is the Key Lime just so you know! :P

For lunch I had packed leftovers but then my husband called and wanted me to go grab a bite with him. We went do this little restaurant called The Lite Side. It's across the street from my work so it's easy to get there and back in 30 minutes. Today I picked the roast beef pita with cheese, tomato, cucumber, and banana peppers. Also a touch of light mayo. It was really good. I'd prefer a wheat pita but no big deal. I drank a very rare Diet Dr. Pepper. I'm not a huge fan of soda but will order it on occassion.

After work I stopped at the store where I found figs! Sadly I have never tried a real fig. In fact I don't think outside of Fig Newtons I've eaten dried figs either...I've honestly never seen them sold here. I had to buy some. I decided I really wanted a fried egg sandwich for dinner. I'm finally getting to the last of my homemade bread. It's been in the fridge but it's getting a little dry. The sandwich is just bread, mozarella cheese, and egg. Perfection! I decided on sweet potatoes as my side. I chopped and microwaved them for a few minutes to help them cook faster and then put them in the oven with a bit of butter, cinammon, and a touch of sugar in the raw. Figs for dessert. Not bad!

For dessert I put together a bit of fat free sherbet, frozen mixed berries, and a touch of white zinfindal. I got these idea watching Anthony Bourdain in Chili. His was way more sophisticated though. It was okay. I probably wouldn't make it again. We watched Blood Diamonds after dinner and I got so absorbed that I almost forgot about the yoga challenge. I had decided to make today a rest day and exercise had slipped my mind. Never fear! I couldn't punk out on day two! I squeezed in a brief 10 minute routine. I'm rather embarrassed to say what DVD I did.

Oh yeah, Denise Austin. A lot of people talk about how annoying she is and laugh at her workouts but honestly she like 52 year old! I hope my body will look half that good at 52. Hell I don't look as good as her now! She's a little bit chatty but I don't mind...we go way back. :P Anyhow I did the 10 minute leg segment. There are also 10 minute ab and relaxation segments as well as a 20 minute yoga burn workout.

Tomorrow I'm excited to meet up with my cousin! He's passing through about an hour from me so we're having lunch. I'll get to see his kids. One of them is a newbie so we'll be meeting for the first time! I'm hoping to squeeze in some lifting either before or after. I have to do something we are going to a buffet!

True Confession

2009-10-01T21:33:00.000-04:00

Okay the true confession isn't all that scandalous...but I hate sun salutations. I think they are boring. Why this is significant to the post you'll see later. First off breakfast. I was in a super rush today and didn't prepare my food before bed last night as usual...so I had a Cliff Mojo bar, a Stretch Island fruit leather, and a Carbmaster yogurt. Not the most nutritious thing I could've picked but better than a McGriddle.

Lunch was an Amy's Cheddar burrito with a low sodium V8. Simple and tasty. I've said before I choose my frozen foods carefully. I don't like strange chemicals. I feel most comfortable with Amy's and Kashi. Not to say I don't grab a Healthy Choice or Lean Cuisine on occassion.

After work I did something I've been meaning to do for ages. Rode my bike! I got it last year and rode it a good bit last summer but for some reason hadn't rode it at all this year. Well better late than never! I had a pleasant ride. The weather warmed a bit so I got some sunshine. Reasons that I rarely ride my bike are that WV is very hilly so it's a bit strenuous at times, also my area does not have bike lanes or sidewalks so you have to fear traffic, and lastly I need a bike rack so I can at least drive the bike to a safe place. Today I rode on the sidewalk-less streets of my neighborhood and hoped for the best.

For dinner I made Shake and Bake chicken and I smartly put it in the oven while I biked. So when I got home it was ready to eat. I steamed some brussel sprouts and then sauteed them in a pan with olive oil, garlic, balsamic vinegar, and parmesan cheese. I also had some microwave brown and wild rice. It was a good dinner. I just learned to like brussel sprouts recently.

Here is where my true confession comes into play. I was inspired to start a 31 day yoga challenge after reading Raspberry Stethoscope's blog entry. I'm not a super yoga person. Occassionally I take a yoga class at the YMCA. I actually like a lot of the moves...but I get so bored of the 400 sun salutations. I just don't like them. This video was an hour long but I fast forwarded through 15 minutes of the sun salutations. I just couldn't take it anymore. Maybe I should try a less yoga-ish yoga routine for tomorrow! lol!

By the way Sound Eats is having a thank you giveaway so be sure to check it out!

Pumpkin Giveaway info

2009-10-01T12:58:00.000-04:00

Danica's Daily is giving away some awesome pumpkin butter gift packs! You can enter until Midnight tonight!

Dancing outside of my comfort zone!

2009-09-30T22:47:00.000-04:00

I finally went to Latin Moves tonight. More on that later...I'll start at the very beginning. Breakfast! Last night I mixed 1/2 cup Oikos plain greek yogurt, 1/2 cup Trader Joe's blueberry museli, and 1 spoonful of pumpkin butter in a bowl and put in the fridge overnight. I ate it this morning with a small banana. So good. This is one of the best breakfasts I've had in awhile. I'd love more tomorrow but I'm out of greek yogurt! :(

Lunch was leftover soup with homemade bread and dab of peanut butter. I like Krema Natural peanut butter because it has exactly one ingredient. Peanuts! It's very creamy, spreads well, isn't too oily, and it doesn't need refridgerated or so it says on the jar. Anyhow I keep it on the counter and it's not made me sick yet.

For dinner I was really craving a fried egg sandwich but my family wasn't. So we decided to use a Quiznos coupon I got via email. I choose a small black angus steak (aka roast beef) sub with cheese and mushrooms. I skipped the bourbon sauce and grill stuff and added pickles. If I have pickles I don't need mayo or other sauces. One thing I will not give up to save calories is cheese. You pretty much will never see me having a cheese-less sandwich. I love cheese! Anyhow this sub was good. Suprisingly I was full enough without eating chips or anything on the side. Just the sandwich.

Now for Latin Moves. I think this is supposed to be a Zumba class because at first that's what they called it but now it's called Latin Moves. I don't like dancing or choreography of any sort but seeing as I'm aiming to improve myself I felt I should give it a try. To start we did some stretching. That was okay. I could keep up. Then we started the dancing. Ummm...not so good here. I felt like a chubby, no rhythm having dumbass. I really wanted to leave but I stayed. Then we moved on to the "weight" segment. I got quite excited for this part. Well I shouldn't have. She suggest 2 lb. weights. You read that right. 2. So what we were going to be doing exactly?...the answer: dancing while swinging the weights around. Sounds safe and effective. Ummm. Yeah. I could tell I got on my friend's nerves by being all "know it all" but seriously why waste your time doing 400 reps with Barbie weights? I was a good sport and got big scary 5lb. weights and partcipated. At least it burned calories since we were jumping around like crazy. It just seemed like you were increasing injury risk without any benefit to your body at all. I'm 100% in favor of the New Rules of Lifting for Women philosphy. Heavy weights, low reps. The class was an hour and 15 minutes and my heart rate monitor said I burned 600 calories. Honestly this seems high since my heart rate was much lower than in kickboxing but whatever. When I got home I made an interesting shake. We were almost out of milk and I didn't want to use the last of it so I mixed ice, cranberry juice, and chocolate whey powder in the blender. Surprisingly delicious!

Soup weather!

2009-09-29T23:20:00.000-04:00

Woke up this morning in the freezing cold. Seems that during the night winter decided not to give fall it's turn! I had a breakfast cookie waiting in the fridge but it appeared that a hungry husband had been snacking on it! So I found a pack of instant oatmeal to eat with my banana and yogurt. This oatmeal isn't bad. I'm sure it has more sugar than I need but at least it's organic sugar.

Speaking of sweetners. I am trying to break my Sweet N' Low habit. I just hate the thought of drinking calories. I like to eat way too much for that! Also I cannot tolerate the taste of Splenda. I don't know why the rest of the world likes it so much. I makes me literally sick sometimes. So I go old school and tempt bladder cancer with the pink stuff. In my quest for natural calorie free sweetners I've tried 4 varieties of stevia. This is the only one I halfway enjoy. It's a mix of stevia and cane sugar. It has 5 calories per pack. I still taste a licorice taste (not as bad as with Truvia or Sweet Leaf) that I'm not fond of but I'm forcing myself to drink it all week to see if I can adapt to it. Wish me luck.

Lunch was leftover sheperd's pie and a V8. I also ate an apple for dessert but I didn't get a picture of it. I love leftovers.

Tuesday is kickboxing night so I knew dinner wouldn't be until 8. I needed a substantial snack so I had my absolute favorite Cliff Bar. The peanut butter and jelly Mojo. It's heaven in bar form. It has pretzel pieces in it. Yumtastic. By the way kickboxing was great. It was leg night. I love leg night. Lots of kicking, squats, and lunges. I especially like the kicking/squat combos. They really get my heart rate up. I burned 588 calories!

For dinner I decided to make a soup mix I got at the store this weekend. I looked at all the bean soups and kept seeing those nasty powdered flavoring packets that I call the sodium packet and I knew I didn't want that. Then I found this one the top shelf practically out of reach. It's beans, pasta, herbs, and spices. Nothing else. Not even salt!

To make it into this lovely soup I sauteed garlic, carrots, and mushrooms in olive oil, added canned diced tomatoes, beef stock, water, and the soup and herbs. I simmered it while kickboxing and then added the pasta when I got home. In a few short minutes we were ready to eat. I served it with my homemade bread and some butter. I sprinkled some parmesan on it too. It's a great soup for a cold night!

For dessert I had half of a chocolate ganache cupcake and half of a key lime. I'm glad to say they have all been given away or eaten now so they will no longer be calling my name!

Fun Giveaway!

2009-09-29T10:25:00.001-04:00

Leftovers for Lunch is giving away some wonderful things so hurry and enter! The winner will be announced 10/1!

Perfect weather for dog walking!

2009-09-28T22:03:00.000-04:00

I don't know why the weekends pass so fast but they do and it's Monday again. On Mondays I like to have an extra special breakfast to make things a little easier. Today I had homemade bread, Nutella, and banana. My favorite yogurt flavor, raspberry, and herbal tea because I still can't drink the real stuff! :(

Lunch was an Amy's spinach feta pocket. I try not to eat a lot of frozen meals but I feel okay about eating Amy's stuff. Plus it's so yummy. Served with a low sodium V8 and an apple. I know "real" veggies would be healthier but I love a V8. Only the low sodium ones though. The original is way too salty!

For dinner I decided to make shepherd's pie. I've made many versions of this but my current favorite I saw on an episode of Emeril Green. It's on the Planet Green channel and it is my new favorite cooking show.

Basically Emeril is at a Whole Foods and he helps people pick out fresh, local ingredients and cook great meals. Anyhow the original recipe is here but I make some changes such as all ground sirloin and no lamb, no onions, ect. This meal is so good. The base is ground sirloin, carrots, mushrooms, and garlic and the top is homemade mashed potatoes with sharp cheddar. I use 2% cheeses to save fat/calories.

After dinner we decided it was a great night to take Cocoa for a walk. It's very fall-like. Brisk and chilly. I put on a sweatshirt and was ready to go. So was Cocoa! I tried to get a nice picture of him but he knows his harness means he's going somewhere so he's WAY to excited to pose! lol!

He looks a little more normal here. Why these pictues say they were taken in 2007 I don't know because I suck at figuring out electronics. I took this right before our walk. We walked for about 45 minutes. According to my heart rate monitor I burned 360 calories. That seems high but our neighborhood is very hilly (as is all of WV) and my husband is 6'5 so I really have to move to keep up with him! I'm only 4'11.

I did pick up a small indulgence since it was so chilly out. A sugar free vanilla cappuccino from the gas station. It's not Starbucks but it's pretty good for $1.05!

I'm a baker!

2009-09-27T23:50:00.001-04:00

I am so excited because I successfully baked bread today. Like real bread. Not quick bread or bread machine bread. First things first...breakfast, or brunch really since I slept late.

On Sundays we like to go out for breakfast. Usually to the Omelet Shoppe. This is the best breakfast spot. The decor is stuck in a 70's time warp, orange tile walls, brown linoleum, and super cool retro food pictures on the wall. Seriously if they ever modernize the place I might cry. Especially if they take the 30 year old food pics down! Anyhow I got the ham and cheese omelet, cheese and mushroom hashbrowns, and rye toast. Obviously they specialize in omelets but their mushroom swiss burger is to die for. Really.

Upon my return home I got a wild idea to make bread. I was staring at my bag of flour, Hodgson Mills 50/50, and noticed the recipe on the back. This flour is a mix of half whole wheat and half regular flour. It's not bleached or enriched however. I made the recipe on the back of the bag as written and it turned out great. I can see where a mixer and dough hook thingy would come in handy because 10 minutes of kneading by hand is a lot. The results were worth it though. So good!

The recipe made three loaves. We ate half of a loaf right away! I gave one to my parents and we will be eating the remainder this week. In fact, I'm planning a couple slices for breakfast tomorrow. So the moral of this tale is that you shouldn't be afraid to try things in the kitchen. For years I was afraid of the whole yeast, rising, and kneading thing and in the past week I've succeeded in making sesame flatbreads, pizza crust, and now three gorgeous and delicious loaves of bread. Go me! :P

Cupcake Party!!!

2009-09-26T23:46:00.000-04:00

Last month my daughter and I took a trip to D.C. so I could try on bridesmaid dresses for my cousin's wedding. While there I found a cupcake place, Hello Cupcake. I picked two cupcakes to try, de lime and de coconut and gianduja. They were fabulous. I have a less than flattering picture I could post of me stuffing a cupcake in my mouth but I'll spare you! Anyhow I knew I wanted to have wonderful cupcakes like these again and soon. My best friend and I love to get together and bake so we decided to have a cupcake party!

The first cupcake I decided to make was key lime. I found a recipe on line at Bon Appetit. The only change I made was skipping the green food coloring. I didn't find a vivid green cupcake to be necessary. These cupcakes were phenomenal. The icing is out of this world. I could have eaten the entire bowl. It is however a great thing that I don't get paid to decorate cakes because my first try with the piping tip and bag was a epic fail as you can see!

Finding a recipe that came close to the chocolate hazel nut ganache of the Hello Cupcake was harder. So I improvised. On the Food Network website I found a chocolate ganache cupcake recipe by Ina Garten. I made the recipe as written but after the cupcakes were out of the oven I piped a bit of Nutella in the center. Then I dipped them in the ganache and sprinkled them with toasted hazelnuts. Not as good as the ones in D.C. but fabulous none the less.

My best friend of almost 30 years Vanessa made a root bear float cupcake and a peach mango cheesecake recipe. Both were spectacular! We have so much fun when we bake together! We always get together before any major holiday to do some baking so be watching for some Halloween creations!

It's Friday!

2009-09-25T23:44:00.000-04:00

I'm feeling a good bit better today besides a wretched back ache so I went back to work. Work one day get two days off...sounds good to me! :P Breakfast was another breakfast cookie. This one I made with Trader Joe's blueberry musli instead of oats. I added vanilla protein powder, almond butter, and vanilla unsweetened soymilk. Turned out way delicious. I served it with a Carbmaster yogurt and some Celestial Seasonings Perfectly Pear white tea. It has less caffine and is a clear beverage so I'm following the doctor's orders...sort of.

Lunch was leftover taco pasta. So good. Seriously I'm glad this stuff is gone because I cannot stay out of it. It's the best pasta I've had in ages. Today I used my adorable stainless waterbottle. It has the cutest graphics...monkeys lifting weights and doing cardio. I got it in the kid's section of Old Navy for $5! It's awesome!

Today was our friend John's birthday so we went to a Mexican restaurant to celebrate. I did not take pictures of dinner because his coworkers were there and seeing as I didn't know them I would feel awkward explaining why I was photographing my meal. However at one point John dared my daughter to dip a piece of b-day cake in jalapeno cheese dip and eat it and she accepted. Ewwww! Gross!!! I had to take a picture of that!

Tomorrow I'm supposed to visit with my best friend and make cupcakes! I'm planning to make two varieties...key lime and chocolate ganache. Stay tuned to see how it goes!

Tequila Sunrise

2009-09-24T21:18:00.000-04:00

Okay so that isn't actually a tequila sunrise. It's my favorite juice combo, cranberry with a splash of orange. I like the Simply Orange with the lots of pulp. I can't drink orange juice if it doesn't have pulp! Anyhow today was another sick day. I'm feeling a good bit better, just tired and achy, but the doctor said not to go back to work until Friday so I stayed in. I decided to try a breakfast cookie this morning. I got the idea from Susan who got the idea from Fitnessista. I subbed cranberries for coconut though for the simple reason that I didn't have coconut. It was very tasty and surprisingly filling!

For lunch I had what appears to be a second breakfast. I had to run to the pharmacy so I took the opportunity to visit Starbucks. The only issue is that I can't have caffine until I'm better so that means no coffee or tea. So I tried a tall, non-fat, no whip, pumpkin creme. Yumtastic! When I got home I quickly toasted up an english muffin, fried an egg, and threw on 1/2 a slice of cheese. Delicious! Most of the time I make my eggs over-well but today I really wanted to dip the bread in the yolk so I went over easy. Then I spent a great portion of time of the couch in my pjs watching Dead Like Me on streaming Netflix.

Before I knew it, it was almost time for Todd to get home so I needed to start cooking dinner. I decided to fix taco pasta. Basically I cook ground sirloin, add a can of tomato, a can of tomato sauce, and 1/2 a packet of reduced sodium taco seasoning. Then I stir that into cooked pasta with a a few dollups of reduced fat sour cream, top with cheese, and bake. It is so good. We all had seconds. I'll probably have the leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

I felt I had to finish the post with a picture of the little lady that's been keeping me company while I've been ill. Okay so she's not at all little and looks terribly unlike a lady in this photo. Anyhow this is my lovely, quite voluptious cat Buttercup. Boy is she sassy....

Sick Day! :(

2009-09-23T14:42:00.000-04:00

It seems I've taken ill so there probably won't be any culinary creations to photograph today! I've been to the doctor and in a few day should be good as new...fingers crossed!

I thought I'd take the time to explain a bit about my blog. I know it seems curious that I am always talking about the gym and then photographing not so slimming foods. At the moment I am attempting to maintain my weight. I do need to lose a smidge of weight but seeing as I have an expensive bridesmaids dress to wear the weekend after Thanksgiving it's going to be cheaper to maintain for now! As such I can indulge in a few more calories. I just have to be careful not to go overboard. So after my cousin's wedding the food choices should get progressively healthier. :)

Well I'm going back to bed!