Party, Pizza Dip and Peanut Butter Balls

Posted on December 28, 2009 | 14 comments

Good morning blog world. It’s Monday again and I’m heading back to work [groan]. I know that a ton of people took off from Christmas through New Years and I’m very jealous. I’m headed back to work and dreading it.

So I was a bad blogger and was MIA on Sunday. The party on Saturday night was a ton of fun and Sunday was mostly spent lounging around, doing laundry and packing for the trip back to NYC. The Hubby convinced me to relax instead of going for a run and testing out my Garmin – darn him! But it was nice to just hang for a bit.

So here’s a quick recap of Saturday. I pretty much took no photos on Sunday – so it will be considered a lost day. But here goes Saturday.

Breakfast was an English muffin with peanut butter and topped with a banana. Side of cranberry juice.

My mother and I got out during the day to run some errands and brave the shopping crowds. It was a quick trip, but on the way home I had a Gingerbread Latte craving. It was only my second of the season – they are so darn expensive.

I snacked on a few other things during the day, but this was the only thing I managed to capture: Greek yogurt with Kashi cereal.

We headed to the party around 7:00 p.m., so I didn’t really eat a “full dinner” beforehand. I had some cheese and crackers, leftover from our Christmas day appetizers. But the party had plenty of food! I also made my pizza dip to bring along.

The party was a blast – thanks go out to Jenny and Kevin for hosting. I love their house and they are such great hosts. Here are a few pics from the night.

A few apps on the pretty table.

All the girls gathering for a group photo. I thought the stairs would be a perfect spot, but turns out we had a lot of girls and things got a bit squished.

I still think it’s super cute, even though a little tight. There were also lots of yummy desserts. And you know I can’t say “no” to desserts.

My favorite were the peanut butter balls.

Sorry for the terrible pic! I mainly snacked on veggies, taco dip, and a few desserts. I had one scoop of my pizza dip and then went back for more and it was gone. I guess that is a good thing. I had two glasses of wine and one beer throughout the night as well.

Toward the end of the party some meatballs came out and I couldn’t resist them!

They were goood! Hubby and I had such a great time. Before we knew it, everyone had left and it was time to go. Here we are together at the very end of the night.

Wow – I need a haircut!

And now I will leave you with a photo of Mr. Murphy sporting a bow-tie that I bought him from Target after the sweater didn’t fit. Doesn’t he look regal?

Mr. Murph didn’t travel so well in the car on the way up (he got sick), so we had to give him half a Benadryl for the trip back. My mom got that tip from someone who works at Petsmart, but the Benadryl should only be 25 milligrams and then cut in half. Mr. Murphy seemed a bit groggy on the trip back, but we made it home with no sickness, so I consider it a success.

Does your pet(s) travel? Do they like it? Any traveling tips?

I’m planning to hit the gym today after work to burn off some of those holiday calories and get back into the swing of things. It’s time for me to start thinking about my 2010 goals. I’ve seen them posted all over the blogosphere, so I suppose I should give it a whirl.

What’s your biggest 2010 goal?

Have a great Monday everyone!

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Posted in Dessert, Holidays, Recipes, Travel, Uncategorized

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Guess Who Got a Garmin?!!

Posted on December 26, 2009 | 6 comments

Happy Day After Christmas! I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas yesterday. I completely logged off and just focused on spending time with my family.

We were up by about 8 a.m. yesterday and opening presents. We’ve tried to scale back Christmas, since the Hubby and I are older and we really don’t need or want lots of gifts. But I have to say that I did get a few cools things, including:

A GARMIN!! Woohoo. My mom had asked a while back what I wanted and I said that was really the only thing I could think of. The funny thing was that the hubby got me one as well! (Love you Hubby!) He didn’t know I had told my mom about wanting one and he read on my blog about my Garmin dreams and bought me one too! So I technically got two Garmins this Christmas!

Then my parents also got me a water bottle for work. I’ve been needing one desperately.

Kleen Kanteen is all stainless steel – so BPA-free (no inner liner that could potentially be problematic) and it’s dishwasher safe. Mine is 40 oz. – I’ll probably drink 2-3 of these a day. 🙂

After we opened our presents, my mom whipped up a quick breakfast of mini cheese, egg and spinach baby Quiche, with sides of bacon and English muffins.

My  plate:

After breakfast the Hubby and I headed to the 11:30 a.m. mass. We took a quick photo before we left.

The 11:30 a.m. mass is the way to go. It wasn’t crowded at all!

After mass, we headed back home and relaxed a bit before some more family came over for dinner. My mom made Murphy a nice little red sweater for Christmas, but I think she underestimated how big he is. It ended up being pretty tight and Murph didn’t like it.

See how he bulges at the bottom? Poor Mr. Murph.

Our family came over around 3:00 p.m. and we ate dinner around 4-4:30. It was delicious, this was my plate.

Two pieces of beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes, green beans, cabbage salad (which is like coleslaw), and broccoli and cauliflower casserole. It was all yummy.

After dinner we played a few games: LCR and Screw Your Neighbor.

Has anyone else played these games?

They are a ton of fun. I lost badly at LCR, but won twice at Screw Your Neighbor. They are really easy for everyone to learn and quick to play.

I also snacked on some Christmas cookies and had some banana cream pie, but completely forgot to take any photos. I sipped on red wine throughout the night as well. It was so much fun and such a wonderful holiday.

This was a pretty short post, but I have to run some errands today with my mom, start laundry and get some stuff together for the party tonight. I really wanted to take my Garmin for a run, but it’s pretty gross here. Snow, sleet and freezing rain would make for a very dangerous run. Maybe tomorrow it will be cleared up a bit and I can go for a quick run before we head back to the city.

But, I’m soo excited to see a bunch of our friends tonight! One of my best friends (Lauren) will be there. I ran the marathon with her and my mom framed one of our “finish” photos for both of us. I’ll have to give her hers tonight.

How cute were we? We held hands as we crossed the finish and we were both pretty much about ready to cry.

So that was my Christmas upstate. I hope everyone else had a wonderful day yesterday!

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Posted in Holidays, Travel, Uncategorized

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Ghost Town

Posted on December 24, 2009 | 10 comments

Happy Christmas Eve!! I can’t believe it’s already here. Furthermore, I can’t believe I’m working today. It seems that everyone either has the day off or took it off. We get out at 3:00 p.m. and since all we have planned for tonight is an 8 p.m. Christmas Eve mass in Upstate NY and then relaxing with my parents, I didn’t see the point in taking a whole day off and using up my time.

Hence, I’m at work and the place is a ghost town. As was the bus and the subway down here. It’s an eery kind of quiet.

Do you have fun Christmas Eve plans?

I know people whose friends throw Christmas Eve parties, but my group has never really done that – Christmas Eve and Day are pretty much family-time for us. I am looking forward to a party on the 26th though! 🙂

So here’s a quick recap of yesterday’s eats:

Breakfast was a multi-grain English muffin with half peanut butter and banana and half cranberry relish I made the other night. And the remainder of the banana on the side, with a glass of light cranberry juice.

Lunch was leftover quinoa! It tasted even better the next day, I think because it was marinating in soy sauce all night.

My afternoon snacks were blueberry Greek yogurt with granola.

And a few chocolates. The first chocolate I chose had a cherry filling that I just didn’t like. I’m not a big chocolate and fruit person – are you? So I had to go back in for a different one…and then I may have had one more (unphotographed).

I had a bit of headache toward the end of the day, so I didn’t end up hitting the gym after work. Instead, I came home, made dinner and we watched a movie and then I sort of packed.

Dinner was grilled cheese with apple and a glass of wine. I was jealous that so many other people were already on vacay and I wanted to feel like I was too – hence the wine.

Close up:

Can ya see the apple? It was a wonderful addition to this traditional sammy.

What do you like to add to your grilled cheese (if you eat it)? I’m also a fan of adding tomatoes, not with apple though.

After dinner, Hubby and I watched Revolutionary Road and had mixed reactions. I didn’t love it, but didn’t hate it either. I thought it was an interesting view of suburban married life and I thought Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio gave wonderful performances. It was a little dark at times, but that didn’t bother me. Hubby thought it was very slow and boring. We agreed to disagree on it. 🙂

Then I read my book for a bit and went to bed. This book, Ahab’s Wife, really has me hooked. Every few chapters I keep being utterly surprised by what happens in the main character’s (Una) life and how she copes with it. There have been a few moments that have caught me off guard with the amount of crudeness discussed or displayed, but the way it’s written allows me to digest it, accept it and move on. In this respect, the book reminds me a bit of John Irving’s style of writing where the absurd is never shocking and the shocking is never absurd.

I also think it’s got to be hard for writers to convey the “shock factor” in a novel. In movies, the visual aspect is key in getting this across, but in books, less is sometimes almost more, as it allows the reader’s mind to fill in the gaps.

Anyway – enough book rambling.  I’m really excited to head upstate tonight after work and see my family. The Murph is coming with us in the car – that’s always interesting. When he was a kitten he loved the car, but as he’s gotten older he seems to have developed car/motion sickness. So we have to keep him in his little carrier and not let him look out the window.

Happy Christmas Eve all!! Safe travels and maybe I’ll post tomorrow – maybe not. We shall see.

10 Comments

Posted in Books, Holidays, Travel, Uncategorized

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Blogger Award and TV-free Tuesday

Posted on December 23, 2009 | 14 comments

It’s Hump Day! We are continuing to inch along.

I want to start off today’s post with some inspirational bloglife. We all have our favorite blogs we read on a daily basis, but let me tell you that I had one of the best feelings yesterday when Katherine passed along the “Beautiful Blogger” award to me. The award was initially passed to her from Gena. I’ve tried to trace the award back to its roots and so far this is what I’ve got: Katherine > Gena > Michelle & Lori > Robyn > Betty > Jolene > Taylor > CaSaundra > Kelly > Shannon > Brandi > Olga > Mica > Caitlin  > Missy > Fei >Louise > Jo > Sarah > Eliza … and this is where I gave up. My gosh – that was like tracing a family tree! Anyone know where this award originated? I think this is such a wonderful and inspirational idea. I love that this award has been making the rounds and want to give credit where it’s due.

This award asks me to share seven random things about myself with you all, so here it goes:

1. I’m an only child and for that reason, I’ve always secretly wanted about 5 children. I once shared this idea with my husband and he nearly fell over. We may compromise on two.

2. I have a not-so-secret obsession with John Irving – he’s been my favorite author for years. This fall, when I found out he was coming to NYC for a Times Talk event, and there would be a few tickets available at the door, my friend says I acted like a crazed fan trying to get into a rock concert and she was scared I was going to bum-rush the door. We got in – it was amazing.

3. I don’t like bagels. Yes, this makes me a bad New Yorker. I can eat a bagel if it’s all there is, but I would never willingly choose a bagel for breakfast.

4. I have some bad food obsessions: namely cupcakes and nachos. I once went on a cupcake excursion throughout NYC and for the first few years I lived in NYC I also hunted for the perfect nachos. (Favorite cupcake place: Sugar Sweet Sunshine on Rivington; Nachos – TBD)

5. I’m a Great Aunt at 27 (through marriage of course, since I’m an only chid – see #1). I think this is hysterical. Great Aunts sound scary and old to me.

6. I’m allergic to my cat. I take allergy medicine every day to cope since I refused to give him up. He’s my little musher.

7. I love white chocolate – this is one of the strange things my husband and I share.

Now time to pass the award along to seven other beautiful bloggers. I shall pass it to:

1. Tina
2. Becky
3. Rachael
4. Dori
5. Britt
6. Chelsea (I know you already got it!)
7. Megan

This award has been around for awhile (I traced it back to October), so who knows, more than just Chelsea may have already received it!

Now for yesterday’s eats:

Breakfast was oatmeal with smashed-up banana and pumpkin butter.

I was thrilled that there was some yummy pasta salad leftover from the previous day’s potluck lunch. My co-worker Tiffany made this (she’s shown up a few times on here before). The addition of artichoke to the salad was wonderful. Great idea.

Perhaps I should have just had this the day before?! 🙂 I also had some blueberry Greek yogurt with granola.

Afternoon snacks included a piece of fancy gourmet chocolate from my chocolate box I received at yesterday’s holiday lunch/secret santa, and two clementines. My clementine kick is back!

I ate the piece in the upper right with the chopped nuts on it. YUM!

Dinner was a quinoa dish. No real recipe on this, just 3/4 cup cooked quinoa with sautéed green peppers, onion, carrots and broccoli with soy sauce. It was very filling.

For dessert, I decided to finish up the cranberries in the fridge and make cranberry relish in the microwave again. I ate only a bit of it and saved the rest for later. I used 4 packets of Truvia and half a teaspoon of agave to sweeten it up.

The Hubby had his work holiday dinner, so I was in the apartment alone with Murphy. After dinner I vacuumed and tidied up a bit and then considered turning on the tube…but decided against it. I had a lovely t.v.-free Tuesday night and it was rather refreshing.

After cleaning, I grabbed my book and read from about 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. and then fell asleep. It was nice to turn off all the noise for one night. Plus, there really isn’t anything I’m much into right now on t.v.

How bout you – do you watch t.v. every night, do you take a break every now and then, or do you not watch at all?

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Potluck Lunch and Mile Reps

Posted on December 22, 2009 | 5 comments

Good morning! I don’t know about you, but I had a really tough time getting out of bed today. I was so warm and cozy. Not to mention, I went to bed pretty early last night and enjoyed a good night’s sleep. I never want to leave a really good night of sleep.

But the day goes on right. So I forced myself up and out of the house.

Let me do a quick recap of yesterday’s eats and activities.

Breakfast was lazy – Kashi Heart to Heart cereal with almond milk and light cranberry juice.

I had my usual unphotographed mid-morning snack of a granola bar and then waited ever so patiently for our department potluck lunch…which didn’t actually happen until 2:00! Eeks. Hence, when we finally got to the food, my plate ended up looking like this:

Lots of food: green beans, roasted potatoes, eggplant parm, pasta salad, rice and low mein. It was a lot, but I was ravenous. I managed to steer clear of most of the fried things, but I’m pretty sure the rice was fried. Oh well.

After the main meal, I put together this dessert plate filled with a sugar cookie (I made), a carrot cake cupcake (love carrot cake with cream cheese frosting), and a chocolate chip butterscotch cookie.

I feel it’s important to note that I only ate half of my sugar cookie.

I didn’t snack for the rest of the day after that enormous lunch (I might have had seconds of the pasta salad and eggplant parm – shhh). By the time the potluck lunch was over, it was 3:00 p.m. anyway!

Around 4:00 p.m. the tempting ideas of skipping the gym and potential excuses I could use started popping into my head. But, I brushed them away and forced myself to go.

How do you squash those excuses and avoidance techniques and force yourself to hit the gym?

I felt much, much better after going to the gym. My body thanked me for it. Here was my workout:

.5 miles at 6.3
1 mile at 7.5
.5 miles at 6.3
1 mile at 7.6
.5 mile at 6.3
.5 mile at 7.7
Total: 4 miles in 34.25 minutes

That was my version of mile reps! Oh I remember my cross-country days and how much I hated mile rep practices. I would dread them all week. That’s probably why most of the time our coach wouldn’t tell us what kind of practice we were doing until we got there. Now I’m willingly doing them – ha!

Have you ever tried running mile repetitions? It’s great for your speed. (But much better when run outside)

After my quick run I did some ab stuff as well:

75 crunches
30 alternating leg crunches

I was kind of an ab slacker. Oh well.

I got home from the gym and wanted an easy and quick dinner. I remembered I had a pilaf package in the cabinet that I wanted to try.

I also threw in some sautéed green peppers and onions, and  some grape tomatoes. Clearing out the fridge.

I added some chicken to Bill’s version of the dinner (no photo). I wasn’t in the mood for meat – especially chicken. The pilaf had a bit of a kick. I enjoyed the addition of soybeans to the mix though. I’d buy it again. Bill ate it, but I’m not sure how he felt about the soybeans. 🙂

After dinner, I finished up the remaining half of my grapefruit with a packet of Truvia sprinkled on top.

It was yummy, but my weekend sugar kick left me wanting more sweets. Second dessert was a teaspoon of peanut butter with some semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Finally my sweets-craving was satiated.

Some interesting health headlines:

REGIMENS: Click Off the TV, and Burn More Calories

Hangover impairs judgment in young adults – funny because of my recent terrible hangover. Good thing I wasn’t making big decisions that day or operating dangerous equipment.

Fake sugar may alter how the body handles real sugar – this one doesn’t say much other than further studies need to be conducted to determine more conclusive results. I’ve started using Truvia and Stevia, so I’ll be keeping my eye on this one.  What kind of sweeteners do you use?

Have a great Tuesday everyone – we’re inching closer to a nice holiday break – hang in there!

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Posted in Holidays, Running, Uncategorized

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Callahan Christmas Weekend Recap

Posted on December 21, 2009 | 6 comments

Happy Monday everyone – happy short week! I’m super excited to have some time off coming up. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I hope all the fellow NYC bloggers/readers managed okay in the almost foot of snow. How crazy. We came back last night around 6:15 and things were looking pretty decent. We managed to find a parking spot right out front and we climbed our way across the huge mounds of snow.

How did you like the snow this weekend?

Coming from upstate New York, snow has never really bothered me all that much. Upstate I used to have to drive in it, but down here I don’t have to worry about that. So I throw on my tall boots and stomp out in the slush without a problem.

So this weekend up in Utica was a ton of fun! We drove up on Friday night after work and I was exhausted and still recovering from my Thursday night debauchery, so I slept for a lot of the ride. We got to Bill’s parent’s house pretty late and I went right to bed.

Saturday morning I got up and had breakfast with Bill’s mom – a bowl of raisin bran, which was camera shy. Much of my food this weekend was shy and I was lazy. Then I set to wrapping the nieces and nephews’ Christmas presents. The party started around 3:00 and this was the food spread:

Lots of yumminess. I had some pasta, meatballs, shrimp, crackers and cheese, and fruit salad. It was a perfect mixture of all good things.

But dessert was my very favorite:

Bill’s sister Christine made a Hazelnut Chocolate Cake and a Cranberry Cobbler Cake (I made up the names – that’s what I called them). I loved them both. The hazelnut was my favorite at Thanksgiving, but I think the cranberry won my heart this time around. Bill’s mom and I devoured it. YUM! Plus, when there’s fruit, I don’t feel too bad.

What is one of your favorite holiday desserts?

There were tons of nieces and nephews at the party – do you know that I’m a Great Aunt!?! Isn’t that funny? Bill’s sister’s first son has a little girl that’s about 2 1/2 and a 1-month old. I went from having no nieces and nephews (I’m an only child) to have about a zillion when I married Bill. It’s great! Here are a bunch of the kids attacking Bill’s brother-in-law Kevin.

And Bill had fun playing with his best friend Dino and his wife Jen’s son Nathan. How cute is he?

Later on Saturday night we watched “The Hangover” and I laughed until I almost cried. Thank goodness my hangover was nothing like that.

The Hubby and I started heading back to NYC on Sunday afternoon around 2:30. I had a bunch of stuff that I needed to do that evening in preparation for our department’s holiday lunch today.

After we managed to find parking and lug everything over the giant snowbanks and upstairs I had some dinner. Leftovers from the party – pasta with meatballs.

I then set to work frosting some sugar cookies I had previously made for today’s lunch.  

I also wrapped my secret santa gift (lotions from Sephora) and put together little gifts for my immediate co-workers (homemade fudge, homemade cookies, a candy cane and scratch-off ticket).

By the time I was done with all that, it was time for bed! I read for a little before I fell asleep. I’m about 200 pages into Ahab’s Wife and I’m really enjoying it so far. Just when I think I know what’s going to happen, something completely different happens. It’s keeping me on my toes.

Ok – that’s all for today. I have our work holiday lunch today, so I will definitely be taking photos there and trying to stay as healthy as possible (which may be difficult). And I’m going to try to hit the gym after work today, but I’m feeling pretty exhausted. The holidays are tiring!

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Quick Post from Utica

Posted on December 19, 2009 | 2 comments

Hi all,

I’m writing from Whitesboro, N.Y., just outside of Utica. We’re here this weekend for the annual Callahan Christmas Party! I’m feeling much better today, thank you for all the advice and sympathy. It really took me all day yesterday to get back to normal. We drove up to Utica last night after work and left around 7 p.m. It’s a four-hour drive and I probably slept three of the four hours. Ugh – I hate hangovers.

I’ll probably be MIA from now until Sunday evening. I’ll try to write a decent recap either Sunday night or Monday morning. I’m expecting to have a ton of yummy desserts and goodies to choose from this weekend, so I’m going to try to practice some self-control, but it will be hard.

Oh and I’m also excited to watch “The Hangover” tonight after all the kiddies go to bed. Bill bought it the day it came out and it seems only appropriate given my condition yesterday to have a viewing. I loved it in the theaters.

So have a wonderful weekend everyone! To my fellow bloggers in NYC – I hear the city is expected to get 6-8 inches of snow! Yowza! I hope it’s all cleared up by the time we head back! 🙂

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Posted in Holidays, Travel, Uncategorized

So Hungover it Hurts

Posted on December 18, 2009 | 7 comments

Happy Friday! That was such a fake exclamation point by the way. I want to feel that happy, but I am so hungover I can’t think. I made it to work – okay maybe I was a half hour late and maybe I do sort of look inhuman, but hey, I’m here in body, if not totally in mind.

So this post is going to be really quick and to the point. Starting with yesterday’s eats:

Breakfast was Kashi Heart to Heart and light cranberry juice.

Lunch was not well thought-out, I’ve been too frazzled this week. I grabbed a salad.

Later on I had a Larabar for a snack and was not too impressed with this flavor.

Ginger Snap goes on my “do not buy again” list. Bleck.

So here’s where the trouble begins. Yesterday was really busy and so I didn’t snack very much. That’s literally all I had to eat. And then we went to our company holiday party. However, before we went to the party we stopped and had a drink.

Ok – one drink no problem. Then we headed to the party and had some food (thank goodness).

That’s my co-worker Tiffany and I.

This work holiday party was crazy. Just look at the dance floor – doesn’t it remind you of a high school dance?

I probably should have had more food, but I really didn’t think I’d be out drinking much or late. I did have some yummy desserts though.

After the holiday party a few people went out for more drinks and I went with them. Not smart. I’m a lightweight as is and it was just way too much for me.

I think I got home a little after midnight and getting up this morning was horrendous. I have an important project I need to work on and I feel really terrible. Dear God, please make this day go by fast and help me feel better soon.

Note to self: Never drinking during the week again.

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Posted in Dessert, Holidays, Uncategorized

Introducing Mr. Monkers

Posted on December 17, 2009 | 7 comments

Good morning and happy Thursday. This post will be brief because I am feeling very tired again today and I have been running late with everything this morning. I even forgot to bring lunch and snacks with me to work today, so it should be interesting to see how I cope when hunger strikes.

BTW, before I forget – check out my most recent Examiner.com article: Give the Gift of Healthy Cooking .

Breakfast yesterday was oatmeal with banana and agave and a side of orange juice. Nothing crazy, but the banana and agave made this delish.

Lunch was lazy – I didn’t have any leftovers on hand, so I popped out to pick up a salad. Romaine lettuce, cheddar cheese, walnuts, carrots, cranberries and chic peas.

Snacks for the afternoon were Greek yogurt (strawberry flavor) with granola and a small bags of walnuts and raisins.

I left work and headed home to finish up the cookies I started the night before. Here is the final result!

And here is the recipe:

Saucepan Fudge Cookies

 Ingredients
1/4 cup butter
3 squares (1 oz. each) unsweetened chocolate
1 cup sugar  –  plus 3 tablespoons, divided
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 chopped nuts
1 cup flour mixed with 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions
In a 3 quart saucepan over low heat, stir butter and chocolate until melted and smooth (turn off burner but leave saucepan there to get a little of the residual heat) and stir in 1 cup sugar, the eggs, vanilla and nuts  til blended.  Stir in flour mixture til well blended.  Cover and chill 1 1/2 to 2 hrs. until dough is firm enough to shape.  Roll into 1″ balls, roll balls in remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar (add more sugar if needed).  Place on cookie sheet and bake in preheated 300 oven for 20 minutes.  Remove to rack to cool.  The cookies can be frozen.

They came out a little flatter than what I’m used to, but tasted good. I did discover, however, that the bottom rack of our oven is much much hotter than the top, so when I bake, I really need to use the top shelf rather than the bottom. The cookie sheet I placed on the bottom rack had some tougher cookies than what they should have been. I noticed this before, but this reconfirmed my suspicion. Annoying.

Does your kitchen have any quirks for you to contend with?

Bill decided to make us dinner last night. He is a HUGE fish fan. He loves it. I don’t really like am not such a huge fish fan. Last night he made haddock and that is one type I can tolerate. I do hate how it stinks up our apartment though – yuck.

Are you a fish eater? If yes, what’s your favorite kind?

Apparently, Bill also ordered a bunch of “holiday” movies from Netflix and they started rolling in yesterday. So we watched “Four Christmases” last night. Can you believe that I made him come see this with me in the movie theater when it came out last year? I really like Vince Vaughn, but I also kind of have a girl-crush on Reese Witherspoon (Natalie Portman is my other girl-crush). Reese been one of my favorites since I first saw her in: The Man in the Moon, way back in 1991.

Sorry to hear that she and Jake Gyllenhaal are dunzo. Oh well – I’m sure another gorgeous man will be falling at her heels in no time.

You probably think Hubby and I are movie-obsessed, but seriously these phases happen every now and then. It’ll probably fade out soon.

Final thought and photo from the night: Hubby did this to Murphy.

How unamused does he look? Actually he looks downright mad. That’s his buddy Mr. Monkers. He’s had that stuffed monkey since he was a few months old and it goes everywhere with us. He also bathes it like its his child and then attacks it and beats the heck out of it. Sometimes I think Murphy needs a little brother or sister…but our apartment is too small. So Mr. Monkers will have to be it for now.

Murphy seems to show up quite a bit on my blog – sorry about that! Sometimes I think he’s just too cute. I’ll try to control my Murphy picture-taking and posting from now on.

Happy Thursday!

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Posted in Dessert, Recipes, Uncategorized

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Exhaustion Strikes

Posted on December 16, 2009 | 4 comments

Happy Hump Day! I feel like this week is flying by. Work is busy, I’m busy at home – there just aren’t enough hours in the day. I have to say that I’ve been a bit of a slacker this week in terms of working out. I made it to the gym on Monday night, but then last night I had some errands to run and I wanted to bake a bit, so the gym got cut from my “to-do list.”

I’m trying not to beat myself up about it, but my body also really seems to miss it.

How are you doing this holiday season as far as staying on point with your workouts and exercise routines?

Now here’s Tuesday’s eats:

Breakfast was a multi-grain honey English muffin (has extra fiber) with peanut butter and banana on top.

I also had some morning coffee I picked up on my way into work and then a mid-morning granola bar (not shown).

Lunch was leftovers from Monday night’s burrito bowl. I chose to eat this cold rather than heat it up and I think it was a good choice.

My afternoon snack was Rice Chips and an apple.

I left work a little bit late, which added to my decision not to hit the gym. I ran a few errands and stopped at the store on the way home to pick up the ingredients to make some cookies from a recipe my mom sent my way. These might just be my favorite cookies.

I started making them when I got home (probably around 7:15 p.m.)

The recipe then tells you to chill the batter for 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours! I totally forgot about that. Well, by the time I got to that point it was getting pretty late. I checked with my mom and she said it should be okay to leave it in the fridge overnight. I was pretty tired so that’s just what I did.

So I stopped my baking efforts there and had some food instead. I’ll finish up the cookies tonight and post the recipe.

To be honest, I wasn’t really that hungry though or motivated to make anything. So…I am ashamed to show you my dinner. It was terrible and lazy. But that’s what my blog is all about right – accountability for what I eat and being more aware of my choices. So here it goes:

Know what it is? It’s triscuits with melted cheddar cheese and salsa on top. Pretty bad right? It’s my guilty little pleasure. (P.S. I also watched part of Sing Off so “guilty little pleasure” seems appropriate).

What is your guilty pleasure food? How often do you eat it?

To be fair, it’s not as bad as it could be. I mean the Triscuits are whole grains, okay cheese is cheese, but then salsa is just veggies! Trying to justify it.

Anyway – my night was pretty calm after that. I read Ahab’s Wife for a bit and then went to bed. I’ve been getting to bed kind of late recently and as you can see it’s been catching up with me.

This headline caught my eye today and actually made me sad:

Extreme diets: Life on 800 calories a day

People partaking in these very low-calorie diets (VLCD – as they are referred to) are missing out on so much and taking their bodies from one extreme to the other. It seems unnecessarily risky and I can’t believe these programs are allowed to run. Especially when these are just some of the side effects:

“Also, losing weight quickly could lead to gall stones and thinning hair because dieters are getting the minimum amount of nutrition, which can affect hair and bone density.”

I understand that once people reach such a high weight sometimes they feel like something drastic has to be done, but I don’t agree that this much limitation is the answer. It seems to me they are trading one kind of unhealthy for another.

What about you, do you agree with gastric bypass, VLCDs, pre-packaged food diets, etc.?

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Posted in Dessert, Uncategorized