083. Dinner, Dresses, and Developments

Dinner

Tonight I made a quickie dinner because we had a 7:30 appointment at David's Bridal for Nicki to try on wedding dresses and for me to try on bridesmaid dresses.

For dinner I made some roasted red potatoes and a veggie burger inspired by the Red Robin Bonzai Burger. It was a Morning Star patty, with Munster cheese, a bit of BBQ sauce and some pineapple chunks.
I don't remember if I've ever posted how I make my roasted potatoes. It's so super easy so if you're curious...

• chop up potatoes and toss in a ziplock bag.
• add 1-2 T of EVOO (depending on amount of potatoes)
• add sea salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano, and any other spices
• shake vigerously
• pour on top cookie sheer
• bake at 350 for 30 - 40 minutes.

Dresses

The trip to David's Bridal was a huge success! Nicki found (and purchased) her dress!! I took a ton of pictures, but since one of the dresses was actually purchased I'm not going to be posting any of them.

We're also almost 100% on the bridesmaid's dresses, but we want at least one other bridesmaid to try it on. We're all pretty similar in body type, but it helps to see the dress on more than one person.

This is the actual dress...

...and these are the colors.

That brown dress was a size 24 so it was way too big to actually try on, but we wanted a picture of the color combo for the bridesmaids.

Initially we considered the tea length dress in the photo above, but I decided I'm just too short for tea length so we went with the full length. (I was given full control of bridesmaid dress selection.)

Developments

I have some big news my wonderful readers! I am going to be moving over to wordpress in the next week or so. I've been considering it for a while now as I've heard wordpress is a much better blogging platform, but I made my decision after one of my earlier posts got eaten by Blogger. Blogger has eaten one post too many! So keep your eye out for my new address!

082. The Blahs

So February is off to a rockin start. (Note: that was sarcasm.) Yesterday was a pretty bad day all around. I was planning to get to work early only to have my train get delayed by switching problems. I ended up being 15 minutes late. Generally I'd just get over it; I'd chalk it up to "such is life on the CTA," but yesterday it really soured my mood...for the whole day. The more I thought about my bad mood the more I realized I've been in a bad mood for a while now, like, most of January. I've started thinking I have mild seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Especially after reading Tina’s post about SAD.

I hardly see sunlight since it's still dark when I leave for work and dark again when I leave to go home. Plus, the weather has been crappy. Crappy weather, grey skies, and snow are standard for January in Chicago, but that doesn’t make it any less depressing. I’ve had zero motivation to do anything. My last few weekend have primarily been spent laying on the couch watching my way through my Buffy the Vampire Slayer DVDs. This past Saturday I basically had to force myself off the couch and out for my friend Kelly’s birthday. I haven’t been blogging with any sort of regularity (clearly). I keep putting off basic things like laundry and cleaning up around the house. They’re not the most fun things to do, but I generally get them done.

In any case, something needs to change because I am not happy with the way things are going right now. I don’t like being no fun girl. I’ve been thinking about it, and I didn’t go through this last winter. So my first question of course is, “what’s different?” After thinking about it I noticed two key differences.

Last winter, I was living in LaGrange. My commute was shorter (about 20 minutes on the train), and I walked home from the train station. I saw more sunlight as a result. This winter, it takes me an hour to an hour and a half to get home on the train and bus. I only walk across the street and by that time it’s mostly dark anyway.

Last winter, I was working out hard core. This time last year was when I really started getting serious about loosing weight and living a more healthy and active lifestyle. I was running several days a week and doing Zumba weekly. This winter, I’m still working out, but not to the same extent. My work-outs have been one of the first things I’ve blown off. I’ve also had a few minor injuries that have slowed me down.

So what’s the plan?

First, I’m going to try and get out for a 5 or 10 minute walk at lunch every day. This is especially important on sunny days. Part two of the plan is do my workouts no matter what. I’m going to stick to my February goal of cardio 5 days a week and strength training 3 days a week. I’m also going to get my 2 (or 3) days of yoga in every week. I honestly think if I can getting back into serious work-outs will really go a long way to making me feel better.

So, in the interest of keeping myself accountable, I’m going to be posting my weekly work-out schedule. Here is this week’s:

Monday: 60 minutes of yoga, 30 minutes of swimming.
(I got a late start out the door to yoga class so this ended up being 60 minutes of yoga and about 15 minutes of high intensity running.)
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: 60 minutes of yoga, 30 minutes of swimming
Thursday: 30 Day Shred video
Friday: Long run at the Pavilion
Saturday: 60 minutes of yoga, 30 minutes of swimming
Sunday: 60 minute spin class

Lunch today was left-overs from last night's burrito bowls. I was disappointed because I forgot my avocado at home. :( However, lunch was good none the less. I'm such a HUGE fan of brown rice with black beans and corn (and some tomato sauce!) mmmm...mmmm....mmm....

I'm not really sure what dinner is going to be tonight. Originally, the plan was Spaghetti Squash with marinana and sauteed zuchinni, but tonight I am embarking on the soul (and self-esteem) crushing adventure that is trying on bridesmaid's dresses. Nicki, my mom, and I have a 7:30 appointment at David's Bridal. We went on Sunday and found some stuff we liked (bridalgown and bridal party), but they were way too busy for us to be able to actually work with someone and try stuff on. I'm going to be bringing my mom's fancy camera to take photos so I'll be sure to post them later.

080. Revisiting an Old Favorite

This morning I decided to revisit a breakfast favorite from before I discovered I like oatmeal. I present to you...

The Egg Sammich!

I have always been a huge fan of breakfast sandwiches. Today's sandwich was an egg, sharp cheddar, cheese, and two slices of Canadian bacon on a whole wheat sandwich thin.

For the first time in a while, I just wasn't feeling oatmeal this morning. I also decided to go with my old friend in hopes that the extra protien will help my back heal-up faster.

By the way, I totally forgot to photo dinner last night. I made homemade BBQ chicken pizzas (8" sized) on whole wheat crusts. They were pretty fantastic.

After I made dinner I spent the rest of the night alternating between laying on the couch and trying to gently stretch out my back using cat and cow pose. While watching season 3 of Buffy.* Chris borrowed a couple of microwavable heating pads from his mom so I used those on my back as well. My back is feeling a lot better today, but it's definitely not 100%. I can sit without discomfort, but it still hurts to bed and twist.

*I don't think I've mentioned this before, but I am a huge Joss Whedon nerd. I've watched my way through the entire Buffy and Angel television serieses (?) on more than one occassion.

078. Running Around Like a Chicken with my Head Cut Off

Afternoon snack was a GIANT honeycrisp apple. It was fantastic - crisp and juicy! Sadly, the picture seems to have gotten eaten by my phone and/ or my computer.

I've decided I really don't like the fact that Wednesday night yoga is at 7:15. I much prefer the 7:45 class on Mondays.

I've been going nonstop since I got off the bus. My mom is coming to pick me up for yoga (Chris still had my car.) at 6:50, and the dinner I was planning tonight takes about 40 minutes. That leaves me about 10 minutes to eat said dinner. To some extent this was poor planning on my part. I need to plan faster meals on Wednesdays when I have less time to cook before class.

I was going to switch plans up, but I forgot a couple items when I went shopping yesterday (even though they were on my list, ugh!) so swapping one of the less time consuming meals on the agenda this week wasn't even an option.

So what was tonight's dinner. You might remember from my meal plans that tonight I'm made Southwest Chicken Stew. Honestly, the prep time wasn't bad, but the recipe calls for it to simmer 20 - 30 minutes. I think this might be one that would work out well in a slow cooker too.

I subbed chilli powder for the cumin since I didn't have cumin and didn't want to buy it for just this recipe. I also used a can of diced tomatoes. I think next time I might add a small can of tomato sauce to give it a little more liquid. I also only simmered it about 15 minutes.


You can't see it in the pictures, but I ate it on top of/ with 3/4 c. of brown rice. This is definitely a make again, but I can see myself changing it up a little bit next time.

077. February Goals + More Kashi Goodness

As promised I've worked out my February goals. Yesterday, I spent some time thinking more about my goal-setting (why I stopped, how to make it better), and I’ve come to a couple conclusions.

First, I think part of the reason I stopped was because it was getting to the point where I was setting too many goals for myself. It’s hard to manage 15 goals in a month! A lot of them were simple things I was doing anyway. This made them less than meaningful and tedious to track. I drink water like the earth is going dry so it’s silly for me to set a goal to get my 8 glasses of water. Second, my goals, while not completely arbitrary, weren’t really working towards anything long term or any greater goal outside of “lose weight.”

So what does this mean for my February (and future) goals? First, I’m keeping it simple. I’m going to have 5 goals for February (though one of those five does have “mini-goals”). Second, most of them directly correlate with and help me achieve items on my 10 in 2010 list.

So without further ado…my February goals.

• 5lbs lost. – I want to finally reach my goal weight of 135lbs. (This is really still flexible for me. I’m not sure what my ideal weight is, but this seemed like a good starting point.) Ideally I’d like to do it by June so that I’ve lost all my weight prior to ordering my bridesmaid dress for my brother’s wedding. I don’t want to worry about losing weight once it’s been ordered and having to have additional alterations made. This means I need to lose 5 – 6 pounds a month. This is totally doable; I just need to frickin’ focus already!


• Track daily – I’ve been really terrible about tracking my food lately. I’m not even talking calorie counting (though that is my actual goal); I’ve been bad just documenting what I’m eating. How many foodie posts have you seen around herelately? Exactly my point. Obviously this is going to help me achieve the reaching my goal weight goal.


• Cardio 5 days a week
  a. Swim 2 days
  b. Spin 1 day
  c. Run 2 days
  d. Yoga 2 days
  Obviously, this is the goal with mini-goals. I found a sprint distance triathlon on June 27th that I would like to do. Final details don’t become available until March (I believe it’s a small park district run event.), but right now I’m planning to sign up. The mini-goals provide me a skeleton for triathlon training and will help me reach my 10 in 2010 goal of competing in a sprint distance triathlon. And of course, we all know cardio is good for us anyway.


• Strength training 3 days a week – This is the one goal that doesn’t directly correlate with any particular 10 in 2010 goal, but it’s one that will improve me over all. I always slack off when it comes to strength training. I need to work-out a more concrete plan, but I will make it happen.


• Create weekly meal plans and go grocery shopping weekly – Like tracking, this is something I used to be really good about doing and then it sort of fell by the wayside. Creating weekly meal plans will help keep me organized, help keep me on track to meeting my goal weight and properly fueling my body for my work-outs and triathlon training, and help me save money (10 in 2010 #10).
  

So, in keeping with my goal to track everything. It's time for today's morning snackies and my lunch!

My morning snack was two mandarin oranges. I took a photo, but it's stuck in my iPhone right now. I'll post that when I get home.

Lunch was a new adventure. When I was at Jewel last night, they had a display of Kashi frozen entrees complete with coupons. I've been wanting to try some of the Kashi frozen entrees. I don't eat a whole lot of frozen meals, but I do think they're nice to have on hand just in case. I grabbed the Black Bean Mango entree, and brought it for lunch today.

Now, to be perfectly honest, I've yet to find a Kashi product I don't like. There's a few things I haven't LOVED, but everything I've tried so far I've liked enough to finish eating. For example I wasn't horribly impressed with the Dark Chocolate Coconut bars, but I liked them enough to finish the box.

I really enjoyed this lunch. As far as frozen meals go, Kashi does a top-notch job. This tasted more like reheated leftovers than a frozen entree.

I'd heard it was spicy so I was a bit scared (my spicy tolerance maxes out around mild salsa.) It wasn't as bad as I expected at all. There was definitely a kick to it, but it was balanced out by the sweetness of the mango and the rice.

It was also a perfect, filling portion. I ate it all without feeling stuffed or starved. Usually, I need to add something frozen entrees (e.g. Lean Cuisine), but this was plenty. It's been nearly two hours and I'm still feeling satisfied.

Overall, two thumbs up to Kashi on making a great frozen entry. I will definitely be keeping my eye our for coupons and sale so I can buy a couple more of these.

076.

It still blows my mind that oatmeal has become my go-to breakfast. I was the girl who hated oatmeal! That was until the blogger world introduced me to "real" oatmeal as opposed to instant (read: crappy) oatmeal! Now I am in love.

This morning's oats were the usual peanut butter, cranberry apple butter, banana (sliced rather than mashed). I forgot to photograph before stirring. They look a little...well, less than appetizing. That's the only sad thing about oatmeal. It's not very photogenic.

I overslept a bit this morning so I need to get going to work.

069. Better than Kraft Mac N Cheese

Partially inspired by the grilled cheese with apple Caitlin made for her husband, and partially inspired by the fact I really wanted some mac n cheese (but not some lame out of the box mac n cheese), tonight I decided to make Better than Kraft Mac n Cheese. I made this one all on my own (no recipe) and it was AWESOME!

It's rotelle pasta, Dubliner cheese, reduced fat cheddar cheese, and some chopped up apples. It was so delicious and savory.


The cheesy deliciousness of dinner brings my to The Great Cheese Debate which will be coming tomorrow.

065. Welcome Hermione

I would like to introduce you all to my new guinea pig Hermione...

Yes, she is named for Hermione Granger from Harry Potter. Had I gotten a boy it was going to be either Weasley or Potter. Yes, I know what a dork this probably makes me.

I bought her at PetCo. One of the things I really like about PetCo. (as opposed to PetSmart) is that the employees really seem to care about the animals. The cashier actually took little Hermione out of the box and gave her some loving while ringing us out. They also made sure to give us a crash course on guinea pig care.

Of course, I spend about 2 hours Googleing guinea pigs while at work yesterday (I had to cover the front desk for a while.). I wasn't about to buy a pet without learning about it first!

I did consider adopting a guinea pig as I always rank adopting an animal over buying one. Unfortunately, the nearest guinea pig rescue is nearly an hour away. That said, I definitely think I will adopt one in the future.

I'm sure there will be plenty of pictures to come. I didn't want to overwhelm her too much on her first night.

Before we headed out to the pet store, I made us burrito "bowls" for dinner. I made black beans and rice with corn and topped it with some Boca I sauteed with red onion, sharp cheddar cheese, more red onion, and what I could salvage from an over-ripened avocado.

It was mucho delish! (Also, check out that balancing act!)

061. Blogging in a Winter Wonderland

It is a snowy winter day here in Chicago. It's very pretty, but it's making it very difficult for me to want to leave the house, ya'know, to go to work. I am hoping to get in some sort of winter wonderland work-out tonight after work.

This morning's breakfast was my usual peanut butter, cranberry apple butter, and banana oats with one small twist. I was really craving sweet this morning so I squirted about a tablespoon of agave nectar on top of my oats. It was perfect! Totally satisfied my sweets craving and my need for a nice warm winter-proofing breakfast!

I need to get my butt moving; have a terrific Thursday everyone!

058. Pizza, Blackhawks, and Breakfast

Last night the plan was to make a tofu fried rice, but Tina's pizza posts over at TradingUpDowntown got my craving pizza. I decided to make pizza last night instead of fried rice. I went for a bacon and garlic pizza. It wasn't the most nutritionally sound pizza (hello, bacon?!), but I did what I could. Plus it was really yummy.





I used a pre-made in a can crust from Jewel. Next time I'm definitely going to seek out a whole wheat pre-made crust that's not in a can. The last two canned crusts I've used have been nightmares. For the sauce I used some no salt added tomato sauce I had left over in my fridge from a previously meal. I added garlic powder, oregano, time, and some minced dried onion. The I chopped up some fresh garlic (5 cloves actually).



I topped it with 1/2 c of reduced fat mozzarella cheese, 4 strips of cooked, chopped bacon, and a 1/4 of a red onion. Sadly, my phone ate the photo of the finished product.

After dinner, I headed to my friend Mike's house to hang out with friends and watch some hockey. We watched the Blackhawk's dominate the Minnesota Wild and flipped to the Junior Gold Medal game just in time to see the US score it's winning goal over Canada. (Sorry Angela!)

I ended up staying out later than originally planned, so I'm a bit sleepy today. I had a fantastic time though so I'll survive! I did managed to still wake up in plenty of time to make myself a yummy bowl of oatmeal this morning. It was the usual 1/2 c. oats, 3/4 cup vanilla soymilk, 1 T. peanut butter, and 1 T. Cranberry Applebutter. I also have bananas in the house so I mashed one of those up and added it in.

I've decided I need to start investing in some cuter dishware. My pictures all look the same (and boring) on these dishes!

This afternoon I'm meeting my new friend Colleen for lunch. (Colleen is my friend Shake's girlfriend of, like a year, that I just met at the wedding this past weekend. Like I said, I'm making it a point to reconnect with friends I haven't seen in a while.) We're going to meet at Roti. I'm not realy big on Mediterranean/ Middle Eastern food; however,I've been here once before, and the food is good.

Tonight I need to get in a serious and solid work-out. I've been a mega-slacker lately. I'm going to hit yoga at the gym with my mom and get at least 30 minutes on the dreadmill. I think I'm going to do some intense intervals. I also need to do my Whittle My Middle workout tonight as well.

054. Adventures in Baking

I decided I should bring something with me to Kristin's house. I've been wanting to make this Cranberry Apple Bread for a few days now so I went ahead and whipped it up to take with me.

While making this, I ran into a slight issue that required me to employ some of my newly found kitchen experimentation skills. Here's the ingredient list.

Ingredients

1 1/2 c. flour (I substituted whole wheat flour)

1 1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. basking soda

1 t. ground cinnamon

2 c. chopped, peeled apples (I used pink lady apples that I had in my fridge)

3/4 c. sugar

2 T. melted butter

1 large egg

1 c. fresh cranberries

Does anyone else see the problem here? This recipe calls for virtually no liquids! I mixed all of the ingredient together per the instructions (below) and wound up with just slightly moistened flour. There was no way it was going to bake into bread though! I started by adding about 1/4 c. of water and then it was Musselman's to the rescue! I poured in some applesauce and stirred until the batter reach the consistency I was looking for. I think it probably amounted to about 1/2 c. of applesauce that I ended up adding.

Directions

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon; set aside. Mix apples, sugar and butter. Add egg; mix well. Add flour mixture; stir just until moistened. (Batter will be thick.) gently stir in the cranberries

Spread the batter into greased loaf pan

Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let stand in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

The bread turned out really great. It was very moist and had an awesome flavor. I really liked the tart cranberry flavor against the sweetness of the apples. I didn't snap a picture because I was running late so I wrapped it up and headed out the door; however, I plan on making another loaf tomorrow or Sunday (I still have half a bag of cranberries left) so I'll be sure to get a picture then.

050. Flexing the Kitchen Creativity Muscle (& my 50th post milestone!)

This morning I faithfully got up to Whittle My Middle.

I also discovered I forgot to put my soy milk back in the fridge after making my oatmeal yesterday. :( It was almost a full carton too - what a bummer.

Since I usually use soy milk to make my oatmeal, I decided to flex my kitchen creativity muscles. As you probably remember, I currently have an abundance of applesauce after winning Shannon's Musselman's Gift Basket Give-Away. I decided to put some of that applesauce to work this morning, and so I present to you...

Apple-Pomegranate Oats

• 1/2c. oats
• 1/2c. Musselman's natural, unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 c. pomegranate juice.

Cooked on the stove-top for about 5 minutes, stirring occassionally.

I topped the oats off with a pinch of shredded coconut and some goji berries.

So what's the verdict on my Apple-Pomegranate Oats?

Well, the smell was a little funky (not sure if it was the cooking applesauce or pomegranate juice) and the texture left something to be desired (It was again sticky, but that could be the oats I bought as I discussed in my post yesterday). The flavor, however, was to die for! It was the balance of apple and pomegranate. There was a bit of tartness that was offset really well by the sweetened coconut.

Overall, this was an awesome breakfast. I'll definitely be making these oats again sometime soon!

046. Lessons Learned.

This morning I discovered two things.

First, I waste a lot of time in the morning. I'm not really sure how why. I get way too easily distracted by reading blogs and checking email or Facebook or SparkPeople first thing in the morning. I woke up at 5:45 this morning to get my Whittle My Middle done for the day. This is 15 minutes earier than usual. I spent about 10 minutes doing core work and yet I was still running late. I really need to work on being more efficient with my time in the morning. Any suggestions on morning time management?

Second, I learned that generic oats are not just as good. At least not in the case of the oats I bought from Jewel on Sunday night. There was a giant can of oats in the Jewel brand. I figured with as fast as I've been going through oats recently, the bigger the better. I was sorely disappointed when I made my breakfast this morning. My oatmeal, which I made the same way as I always have - 3/4 c. vanilla soy milk, 1/2 c. oats cooked on the stove, stirring occassionally - were not nearly as good. The texture was much stickier. I'm not a fan of sticky oatmeal.

Now that I'm thinking about this though, it could be the difference is that the oats I bought from Jewel are not organic. Previously I've purchased organic oats from the bulk bins at Whole Foods and a can of organic oats from Trader Joe's.

I added 1 T. of peanut butter and 2 T. of Cranberry Apple Butter.

I am absolutely in love with this Trader Joe's Cranberry Apple Butter. It's got a great strong cranberry flavor that isn't too tart or too sweet. It tastes just like the canned cranberry sauce - but better. You really only need a tablespoon or two to add really great flavor.

044. Everything but the...Quiche

So, I ended up making a quiche for dinner. Some of my veggies were starting to look a little sad so I decided to make the quiche tonight before stuff started going rotten. So I started tossing things together and came out with my Everything but the...Quiche

In my quiche was spinach, red pepper, broccoli, Canadian bacon, and mild and sharp cheddar cheese.

While I was making dinner I snacked on some Goldfish crackers.

I've been really hungry all day today. I think my blood sugar is a bit out of control from all of my holiday indulgences. I need to get that back under control, and then I think my constant hunger will subside some.

Also, I apologize for the poor photo quality today. My camera battery was dead so I've been relying on my iPhone for photos today.

043. Back to Work

The first day back to work after a long weekend is always a mess for me. I am really awful when it comes to getting my stuff together the night before (e.g. making my lunch, knowing where everything I need to take to work is located), and it’s even worse when I’ve had a long weekend. Of course this left me running for the bus this morning.

I made the bus though, and overall, I’ve been having a pretty excellent day.

Breakfast this morning was a bowl of Kashi GoLean Crunch Honey Almond Flax Cereal. I think this is hands down my favorite cereal – not counting Cinnamon Toast Crunch of course which I could inhale by the boxful given the change. The cereal reminds me of HoneySmaks which I loved as a kid,

(Notice my little snowman salt and pepper shakers. They were part of my Christmas present from my brother's and Nicki. I love them!)

Lunch was a very boring, and highly unphotogenic, bowl of Campbell’s Chunky Healthy Request New England Clam Chowder. It was unimpressive and not all that satisfying, but that’s what happens when I fail to be mindful of packing a lunch. Tomorrow’s lunch will be better!

I noshed on a pretty tasty Clementine at my desk this afternoon.

Also, two of the small pieces of this Baklava may have found their way into my mouth. How do you say no to puff pastry with honey and pistachios?

I’m currently debating what to make for dinner tonight. The options are spaghetti squash, with sautéed zucchini and tomato basil marinara sauce or a quiche with spinach, broccoli, onion, cheese, red pepper and anything else in the fridge that looks good.

I’m hitting yoga at the gym with my mom tonight. I also want to get in some strength training at home. Angela is starting another Whittle My Middle challenge. I am going to participate and stick with it this time!

Also, I don’t remember if I mentioned this or not, but the Musselman’s gift basket I won over at The Daily Balance arrived on the 23rd. Since I now have an abundance of applesauce, I’m looking for creative things to do with it. Watch for my upcoming post Awesome Ideas for Applesauce.

035. Today Just Keeps Getting Better

Lunch today was fantastic (though I now realize I totally forgot to photograph it.)

I had half of my tuna from last night left over so I made a really simple spinach salad from it. Sadly, I only had about 2 cups of spinach that hadn't gone bad. :(

• 2c. baby spinach leaves
• 1/2 my Sesame Seared Hawaiian Tuna from Tavern on Rush
• 3/4c. frozen mixed berries (blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries)

The frozen berries were perfect because as they thawed they created their own "dressing" for the salad!

I just wish I had more spinach. It would have been a bit more filling.

The real excitment of the afternoon, however, is being the winner of Shannon's Musselman's giftbasket give-away! I am so one of those people that never wins anything (except a wakeboard handle at INT Nationals two years ago which was really helpful given all the wakeboarding I do...or not.) so I was super excited when I checked my email after lunch and saw Laura posted to my Facebook wall about having won the contest!

033. Holiday Dinners

As I mentioned earlier, tonight we had dinner with one of out agents. We write quite a bit of business with him, and my boss used to work with him at another company. We went to Tavern on Rush.

We started with the Seafood Combination for Two which, really was more like the Seafood Combination for 4, and some fried calamari. Everything one the platter was excellent. I'm not a huge fan of cold crab meat, but this was delish!

(I apologize in advance for the poor picture quality. I used my iPhone.)

For dinner I ordered the Seared Sesame Hawaiian Tuna. It was really delicious. Possibly the best seared tuna of any kind I've had in the Midwest! It was melt in your mouth which isn't something I've experienced since I was in California visiting Emily.

With appetizers and dinner I nursed a mango martini. This was one hell of a martini. I'm pretty certain it was 100% booze. I also had a glass of red wine - I don't know what kind as my boss ordered it.

I ordered the Chocolate Marble Tiramisu for dessert.

The two other women on my team ordered the Decadent Chocolate Bundt Cake and the Anna's Banana Cream Pie. We all shared the desserts, and let me tell you, they were all excellent! The banana cream pie had big slices of real banana in it.

The rest of my eats weren't anything to rave about. For breakfast I made oats with 1.5 T of pumpkin butter, a few shakes of pumpkin pie spice, and .5 T of peanut butter (for protein).

Lunch was even less fabulous. I ended up eating Easy Mac with a can of tuna mixed it. I also ended up eating at my desk.



I'm still feeling pretty buzzed from my drinks at the restaurant so I'm going to enjoy a glass of water and get to bed. Cheers!

I've got another long day ahead of me tomorrow. I'm going to see Rise Against at the House of Blues with a few friends!!! Rise Against is one of my favorite bands of all time, and I've been waiting forever to see them. Needless to say I'm pretty excited!

026. Oatmeal Solutions

So I think I’ve solved my oatmeal problems. The solution is making it on the stove instead of in the microwave. It takes only a minute or two longer than trying to make it in the microwave, and since I had to stop the microwave every 30 seconds or so to prevent the oatmeal from exploding all over my microwave, cooking it on the stovetop might actually be a little faster!

This morning I made PBB&J oatmeal. (Picture to come when I get home from work)

Ingredients included:
½ c. oats
¾ c. vanilla soy milk
1 medium banana, mashed
1 T. peanut butter
1 T. Sorrell Ridge 100% Fruit Spread in Black Raspberry

I cooked the oatmeal, combined the other three ingredients in a bowl, and then added the oatmeal to the bowl when it was done cooking.

It was really delicious; like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without the "sticking-to-the-roof-of-my-mouth" ickiness. Oatmeal is on of those foods that completely lacks visual appeal. I think I need to invest in some cute oatmeal bowls.

My other problem with oatmeal is the texture. I hate it. If I eat oatmeal too fast (like I did near the end of the bowl this morning), it makes me gag. I guess this isn’t such a bad thing since it forces me to slow down while eating.

024. Oatmeal Woes

My mom is a food’s teacher. I took cooking classes as a kid, and I’ve been cooking since then. I know how to follow a recipe. I've even gotten better at winging it. I know how to cook.

So why can’t I make oatmeal without issues?!

I’ve yet to make oatmeal that’s not edible, but I’m made oatmeal that’s too mushy. I’ve made oatmeal that’s not mushy enough. I’ve exploded oatmeal all over my microwave. My new goal in life is to make the perfect bowl of oatmeal so you can all expect a great deal of oatmeal to show up in this blog over the next couple weeks.

Here’s today’s oatmeal.

1/2c. oats
1 c. water
4oz. banana, mashed
2 T. shredded coconut
1 t. flax seeds.

This ended up all but exploding all over my microwave. I’m assuming the solution to that problem is to just buy some bigger bowls. This morning’s oatmeal was also too mushy/ creamy. I hate instant oatmeal because I don’t like the texture of it. I don’t like the mushy creaminess. The solution is add less water, but I need to perfect how much less.

In non oatmeal related news, I got an email from a friend of mine/ college roommate asking me for some of my favorite healthy recipes and tips and resources. Her boyfriend has decided he wants to start eating healthier, and she’s on board with the idea hoping it will make it easier for her to get back down to her pre-pregnancy weight after she has her baby. Plus, eating healthy – d’uh. J Of course, I was stoked to help her out! I started this blog is to share the things I’ve learned in my journey, so why wouldn’t I want to help a friend!? So what does this mean for all of my lovely blog readers…

…Coming this weekend My Beginner’s Guide to Healthy Eating: Tips, Tricks, and Recipes to Get You Started.

021. Totally Random Smattering

So, first of all, I've got a few photos of random eats photos that never got posted. These are from the last two weeks or so.

Broccoli, onion, canadian bacon, and sharp cheddar cheese omelet.

Homemade whole wheat toaster waffles with pomegranite arils and a pumpkin sauce.

French toast stuffed with cream cheese frosting.

Lightened up Chicken Parm - there was also a heaping pile of spaghetti squash that was eaten later due to unforeseen circumstances (i.e. Chris bought a squash too big to fit in the microwave so I had to bake it.)


Alright, now on to today's eats.
Breakfast was an Arnold Sandwich Thin with Trader Joe's Almond Butter and Sorell Ridge Black Raspbery 100% Fruit spread.

The photo is actually from dinner last night, but lunch today was leftover Pasta e Fagioli.

Dinner was just some scrambled eggs. My stomach has been bothering me most of the afternoon so I opted for something pretty bland.

I believe I also promised pictures of my Christmas decorations thus far.

From the inside...(I apologize, it's a pretty poor picture)

and from the outside...


Obviously, I'm the top left unit.

I need to get going. I was supposed to be on the road to Chris' dad's about an hour ago, but since I overslept this morning and was late for work, I ended up staying a late. Time to pack up and head out for more Christmas decorating tomorrow!

I've got the camera packed!