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Don’t these just scream ‘heavenly’ to you?
I am so proud of myself for these lovelies.
Okay, so maybe it isn’t that cool that these look so pretty. But, compared to my typical frosting effort, which usually looks like a 2 year old frosted the cake, these deserve an A.  Also, one will definitely be had for dessert this evening.
A few other things we have to chat about though. It isn’t all about sweet treats I suppose.
Oikos Greek Yogurt. What were my thoughts?
While the yogurt was good and did a wonderful job of holding me over (thank you protein), I must admit, I think I prefer Chobani. Oikos had a great tangy flavor and the smooth texture was great, but it was missing the thick consistency that Chobani brought to the table.
At my local grocery stores, Oikos is actually much cheaper than Chobani usually. Chobani is over $2 a pop around this neck of the woods. While I will fork over a little more than $2 for a yogurt treat, I wouldn’t say I can justify buying 6-8 Chobani’s a week.  Oikos on the other hand, is usually around $1 in some of the local stores. While still a bit pricey, I am much more willing to pay half of the price for a little less flavor. My pocket book will thank me, believe me. But if Chobani is ever on sale, you best bet that I will be buying that variety!
And our last topic of discussion, dinner. TGFL (thank goodness for leftovers).
We had leftover homemade pizza from our get together last night. Using Jenna’s pizza dough recipe, we put together a tried and true za’. Toppings include cheese, green bell pepper, onion, banana peppers and mini pepperonis.
We love a thick crust in this household.
I went back for another half piece. It is just too good. Oh, I also had grated Parmesan and ranch to dip the pizza in, of course.
On the side, a salad with pepper & cheese croutons with a cranberry vinegrette.
And that is what I call a great dinner.
So there you have it. A mega post of all things great. I am off to catch up on Lost, drink some tea and watch the snow fall outside. Have a great evening!
Hey there. Ready to tackle another week? I feel like the weekend flew by, where did time go?
Last night’s Super Bowl party…
I didn’t take photos of any of the eats we consumed. Believe me, there was a lot of consumption going on, not one thing being ‘healthy’. But, today is a new day in which I can get back on the healthy bandwagon.
However, I did take a photograph of the cupcakes once I frosted them and added the ‘funfetti’. They turned out beautiful! Jodi even asked if they were store bought. Nope, made right in my own kitchen. I promise I will upload those photos later to share; I am pretty proud of my cupcakes.
After the Super Bowl, Mike and I partook in a Fringe marathon, which I promptly fell asleep during. So, epic fail, no photos of my morning/lunch eats.
Just because I don’t have photos of my breakfast eats, doesn’t mean that it isn’t something special…
I am very excited to incorporate an Oikos Greek Yogurt in to my breakfast this morning. The fabulous folks over at Stonyfield sent me some coupons to try out their Oikos variety of yogurt. While at Whole Foods on Friday night, I picked some up.
I think everybody and their brother has tried this variety of yogurt in blogland by now; I am totally behind the rage. But even so, I can’t wait to try!
This fabulous yogurt has zero fat, twice the protein of regular yogurt and is organic. It is sure to be a winner. I will let you know my thoughts tonight!
Enjoy your day friends. See you tonight.
Heyyyyyy there! How goes it?
Sorry for being MIA this weekend, we have been out and about the majority of the weekend. We have been hanging out with Mike’s family, seeing friends, running errands, hitting up the gym, and visiting three grocery stores. Yes, three. ;) Muahaha. Whole Foods on Friday, Rainbow Foods (a local chain) yesterday and Lund’s today. I just had to share; I know some of you have a love for the grocery store just as much as I do!
Anyways, on to today. Super Bowl Sunday.
Although I may be somewhat bitter that my beloved Minnesota Vikings are not playing in the big game today (I still think they should be!), the Super Bowl is still a great American tradition. Don’t you think? Good food, beer, friends, sports and great commercials. Perfect Sunday in my eyes.
To gear up for the festivities, I hit the gym and partook in a 45 minute interval session on the elliptical, followed by some ab work. For a workout recovery ‘meal’, Mike and I split an enormous smoothie I put together.
- Crushed ice
- 1/2 cup of mixed berries
- 1 banana
- 1 carton strawberry yogurt
- 1 heaping scoop of protein powder
And I also nibbled on an unphotographed Chickpea Blondie (which I think Mike secretly likes…) while mixing up these beauties…
Chocolate Fudge cupcakes! The recipe called for 24 cupcakes. I made 16 larger cupcakes. 24 cupcakes makes them way too small in my world.
Okay, I totally licked the bowl, spoons and spatula I used too. :oops: I couldn’t help myself. The cupcakes are currently in the oven and creating the most amazing aroma in the apartment. Ahhh.
Oh, and Mike got to pick out the frosting. Guess what he chose?
Totally fitting for his personality. I love it.
We are having some friends over for the Super Bowl tonight. On the menu: chips, homemade pizza and cupcakes. Our friends are also bringing over goodies to share.
What are you doing for the Super Bowl?
And last but not least, I was going through some photos this morning, and found one that I have got to share.
Yes, Petrie vs. the bulldog. Mike totally died and went to heaven when we brought Petrie to the dog park and in the ‘large dog’ park, waddling around was a bulldog. Petrie and the bulldog loved each other too. Bummer Petrie couldn’t play in the big dog park. She totally would hold her own ground.
Later!
We’ve made it to Friiiiiiiiiiday!!!!That deserves some serious whoop whoopage (I know, totally not a word) if you ask me. It has been a long week, so it is time for us all to get some rest and play in, no?
I slept in this morning and skipped the gym. There is something about Friday’s that makes it incredibly hard to workout in my world. All mental of course. I think I justify it by the fact that it is the end of the work week and I deserve a break! And we all do. 
And we also all deserve a fabulous treat once in awhile, ahem… scones.
Last weeks was a classic, lemon raspberry with a lemon glaze.
On the side this morning, a need of a cup of their delicious chocolate macadamia coffee, with a shot of sugar free caramel. Which is the other truly fabulous thing about Allie’s- they don’t charge for a syrup add on. They have the different syrup varieties sitting out with the sugar, milk and honey, so you can walk up and put together your drink yourself! How nice, huh?
Moving on to lunch.
I was initially planning on making chicken noodle soup last night and bringing in leftovers for lunch today, which didn’t happen. Then I was going to make a salad since I was chopping and dicing all the goodies for last night’s salad, but we used all of the spinach in our enormous salads. Oops. Guess I’ll go to Subway…
Oh, I also packed a chickpea blondie for snack today.
So my thoughts on these ‘blondies’ are still undecided. I loved the ‘batter’ before they went in to the oven. Once they came out of the oven, I immediately had a taste test bite and really didn’t care for the taste or texture. However, I think the warm, grainy, not as sweet as I thought, taste was what did it.
This morning, I took a bite of one to see how they tasted room temp and having sat overnight. The flavors and texture were much better than last night’s hot, grainy, confused taste. I definitely would put these in more of a snack category, as I think they taste more like a pre-gym bar than a dessert.
Or, maybe all they need is a smear of Nutellato take them to a dessert status? Muahaha.
Later gators. Have anything fun planned this weekend?
So I have had quite the kitchen adventure this evening! Chopping, baking, breaking…
As I was about to make the infamous Chickpea Blondies, my food processor broke.  We have used it roughly three times. Wtf. Add that on to the weekend tasks, this puppy is getting returned. Has anybody else had a kitchen appliance break on them when it is pretty much brand new?
Needless to say, I used the blender to take care of business, so I hope they turn out as they are supposed to! They are currently cooling so I can chow down on one for dessert.
Let’s rewind to dinner though, shall we?
I wanted to get in a filling, homemade and nutritious dinner tonight. Lately I feel like my eats have been taking more of the ‘convenience’ route- aka, pizza, frozen dinners, and macaroni, to name a few. All of which are okay, but not very food blog appropriate night after night.
So tonight, I made sure to go all out for our meal. Dinner had two main components, both of which rocked my world. A kitchen sink salad and panko crusted baked chicken breasts.
For the chicken, I coated the breasts with a base of egg and then rolled them in panko. Baked at 375 degrees for 50 minutes, and they turned out perfect.
I admit, I dipped my chicken in a combo of ketchup and ranch. I couldn’t help myself.
For my salad, I through in the following…
- Spinach
- Carrots
- Broccoli
- Green bell pepper
- Avocado
- Raisins
- Dried apricot
- Feta cheese
Oh yes, it was as good as it sounds friends.
I fell healthier having just eaten that salad. It helps when you are craving something healthy too, which believe me, is sometimes a rare occurrence for this chick.
Well friends, the first disc of season 5 of Desperate Housewives came today, so I have some watching to do. Catch ya later!
Have you tried the Chickpea Blondies? What were your thoughts?
So I had to change the name of my post this morning to Smashed Banana, due to my banana that was supposed to be part of my breakfast, getting mashed on the bottom of my gym bag this morning.
Oh, and I forgot my lunch again. Can you say, too much on my mind? Luckily, my fabulous boyfriend is bringing me my lunch. The benefits of catching him before he leaves the apartment and working two buildings away.
So it may seem like today didn’t start off on the right foot, but I did get in a 6 mile run, which helped work away some of my frustrations. So this morning wasn’t all bad. And I am going to make an effort to use the power of positive thinking, hoping it will make the rest of my day go up from here!
I always crave carbs after a run, so carb ‘reloading’ is just what this breakfast is. And it is also a classic of mine, as you know. Almond butter & banana bagel. The two three star ingredients:
Sadly, no banana.
Yep, my two Barney Butter jars have about two to three more servings each, if that, before they are dunzo. Luckily, my brother agreed to bring me some replacement Barney at the end of the month. Now, I just have to remember to remind him.
Lunch is leftover pizza from last night. Thanks Mike.
I have seen some fresh fruit cups at Allie’s, so I think I am going to go get one of those to add on to my lunch to make it a bit more well rounded. Fruit this time of the year is so hit or miss, so I am hoping I get a hit.
Tonight I am going to actually COOK! I have been slacking in that department a bit lately, and I am in need of a filling, home made dinner.
How is the fruit in your region this time of the year? Do you have a wide variety? We are pretty limited here. Apples, pears, bananas and oranges are about the only things you can count on to be good this time of the year.
I’m not going to sugar coat things, today was a tough day. But it could always be worse, and that is what I keep reminding myself. Got to try to stay positive, eh?
I am one of those people who crave bad things after a tough day. But, I think there is something wrong with those who don’t… lol. We were SO close to ordering a big, greasy pizza, before we decided to take a healthier approach.
Okay, well, healthier is all subjective, as we had a frozen pizza instead. At least the frozen pizza didn’t have as much cheese, not as thick of a crust (although that is my favorite part), and I usually can stop myself at two pieces. When it is delivery pizza, I cannot resist myself. I usually go crazy and have to have at least two pieces + one or two crusts.
I added on some feta and cream cheese blobs to a TJ’s supreme pizza to jazz it up a bit.
On the side, some salad. Got to get in some greens peeps.
And dessert…
Okay, so not really. I wish though! Doesn’t it look dang good? I am sure dessert will include something chocolaty, but a bit lighter than the above piece of cake.
Some exciting news for y’all. I have a few upcoming giveaways that I think you are all going to love. Stay tuned in the upcoming weeks!
Hey there, how you doin’?
Sorry I went missing last night, but I had a good excuse. We went to happy hour with friends as I had told you, but it turned in to a bit more of a celebration. Why you ask? Well because I had some great news at work yesterday, which deserved a weeknight of fun. Aka, red wine and sushi. Perfecto.
This morning, I surprised myself and was able to wake up and get my booty to the gym. But that also, unfortunately, didn’t allow me time to snap photos of my breakfast of yogurt, granola and a banana. So refreshing.
I do however have photos of the lunch that I forgot yesterday.
A few weeks ago, Target had V8 soups on sale, so I picked up a few. Golden Butternut Squash soup is the base of my lunch today.
I have been extremely snacky at work lately, which has led to a few lbs. creepin’ around my waistline. I’m not freaking out about the extra lbs; lets be real, a few extra don’t hurt during the Minnesota winters. Maybe my body is trying to tell me to slow down and increase the volume in my meals.
So I decided to pack two sides in order to span out the time it takes me to consume my lunches. Maybe that is my problem? My mouth just likes to keep busy!
Carrots & a Laughing Cow.
And a crisp apple
Hopefully that will do the trick. I still will consume and afternoon snack, but hopefully this deters me from all of the, errrr, chocolate, I have been consuming lately. 
What do you do when you find yourself being much more snacky than normal?
By the way, anybody watch Lost last night? We had to Tivo it, but how was it? Good?
How goes it? It is Tuesday y’all. Better than Monday in my book.
I started the day off right by heading to the gym and getting in a long, stress reducing run- 7 miles to be specific. It does the trick every time. I always feel like a million bucks after a run. What exercise leaves you feeling on top of the world?
As for breakfast, I totally should have made a full recipe of baked oatmeal last night. How nice would it have been to have leftovers for this morning?
I think I am making up for my shortcomings though with this bowl of oats…
+
Although the banana isn’t as ripe as I would have liked. You know me and my overripe naners.
+
+ (FLAX!)
= one filling and phenomenal bowl of goodness. You know you wish you were having this for breakfast.
And then here is where my forgetfulness comes in to play. I FORGOT MY LUNCH!! I was in such a daze this morning getting out the door, that I forgot to grab it from the fridge. Luckily, my breakfast was packed in my gym back last night since it didn’t have to be refrigerated. So at least I was one for two. Better than zero for two I suppose. Soooo, lunch is TBD.
Any suggestions?
Tonight we are going to happy hour and sushi with some friends. Catch ya later!
I have had the oddest day. I have been a bottomless pit and craving anything with SUGAR!
Also, I think the winter weather is finally getting to me. It is cold, snowy and there has been barely any sunlight lately. All I have wanted to do today is escape to Texas and visit my mom.
So. What to do with a need to cure a sugar craving with a little bit of home incorporated in? Why, baked oatmeal for dinner, one of my mom and my favorite recipes!
We use the following recipe to base our baked oatmeal off of, but then divert from it, based on what is on hand. Recipe: Baked Oatmeal.
A few variations tonight…
- Pumpkin instead of applesauce (we have never used applesauce actually)
- Adding more raisins than called for, as well as diced apple
- Used almond milk instead of regular milk
- Omitted the walnuts
- Added a few dashes of cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice
And the end result?
My portion, souped up a bit with some additional almond milk.
Gah, so good! Fulfilled my sugar need and my taste of home need. Good for the soul I tell ya!
Alongside, a TJ’s yogurt.
Mike is coming home in a bit and was excited to hear about the baked oatmeal. What he doesn’t know, and will not know until after completing his meal, is the almond milk addition. How much do you want to bet he won’t even notice. Muahaha.
Do you have a favorite family recipe? Mine would have to be my mom’s flank steak and linguine with basil and roma tomato recipes. Well, meal, since we always eat the two together. And I realized I haven’t had this meal since starting the blog. Ahem, mom, we need to fix this!
Have a wonderful Monday night friends.
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