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From Salads to Shopping

November 15, 2009 by

Morning All! 

I am so tired and sore from walking all over downtown Chicago yesterday – ugh! But, it actually was fun playing the part of the Chicago tourist during the Christmas holiday – we need to do that more often. Last night’s post was getting pretty long, so I decided to wait until today to post my awesome dinner!

11.14 Home Salad Bar 2

Toward the end of our Chicago jaunt, I started getting a headache. By the time we got to the train, I had a full-blown migraine!! Yikes – and I didn’t have any Excedrin migraine on me so I was miserable. When we arrived home, I immediately took some medication and laid down for about an hour. In the meantime, Scott whipped up a totally yummy – and super healthy – at-home salad bar!

As you can see, he included a bunch of goodies like:

  • Chopped mini bell peppers
  • Carrots
  • Onions
  • Cucumbers
  • Salami
  • Ham
  • All-Natural bacon
  • Almonds
  • Cheddar cheese
  • Green leaf lettuce

11.14 Dinner Salad

He also took some of the leftover 3-cheese bakery bread and made some incredible asiago/garlic cheese bread…

11.14 Garlic Bread

I had 2 pieces but really wanted to eat more like 5!

This morning, despite being sore and tired from yesterday’s 2-hour walk, I went for a fast 5 mile run. A cold morning run was really what I needed to get me moving today. 

Breakfast was a big ‘ol oatmeal bowl full of fresh oats, chopped walnuts, and a dollop of peanut butter for good measure…

11.15 Oatmeal with peanut butter

I threw in a swig of orange juice because I feel like I’m seriously lacking in the vitamin C category these days…11.15 orange juice

Now, we’re off to do the Christmas shopping that we didn’t get to on Friday.

Have an awesome Sunday everyone – and remember to enter the tasty Explorer’s Bounty giveaway by 9 PM Eastern on Tuesday!

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A Chicago Tourist For A Day

November 14, 2009 by

Hey All – Remember to enter the first ever Running With Cake giveaway!

Scott and I made an impromptu trip to downtown Chicago today, and what a day it was!

 

Jen Chicago2

That’s me in Millennium Park overlooking the newly frozen outdoor skating rink! I wonder how they keep it frozen during 60 degree weather?

Before heading out on the train, I fueled up on a big bowl of Cheerios..

11.14 Cheerios

Good thing I did because we ended up not eating lunch for at least another 3 hours after that! Needless to say, I was starving by the time we arrived at the downtown Nordstrom Cafe for lunch. I seriously wanted to order one of everything. I started with some carbs to take the edge off…

11.14 Cheese Scone

This was an awesome cheddar and chive scone – absolutely delish! It would have gone GREAT with a bowl of soup, but I decided to order the Cranberry Turkey sandwich instead…

11.14 Nordstrom sandwich 2

Yes, Thanksgiving came a little early this year in the form of a sandwich and it was good! Too bad after I ate most of it I turned the sandwich over and noticed some questionable green “element” on the bread. Could it have been mold? The server insisted the bread was baked fresh that day and said it might have been guacamole – although guac was not part of the sandwich. I guess we’ll never know..

11.14 Nordstrom sandwich

After lunch, we headed to “The BEAN” or as one little boy called it “The Giant PILL”.

Chicago Bean

The “BEAN” has actually been around for a few years but it’s still way cool to view, even when you live in Chicago. Because it was such a nice day there were TONS of people outside, which made the reflections that much cooler.

Jen Bean 3

I also tried taking a picture of myself in the BEAN…

Jen Bean2

It came out all warped and crazy!

Next up, we did a little walking through the gardens of Millennium Park. Too bad all of the flowers were already gone for the season. It was still a lovely fall setting with all of the gold and amber hues in the gardens…

Jen Chicago 6

I was even able to catch a certain handsome guy contemplating the meaning of life at one point…

Scott Chicago

He was actually checking out the Bean’s backside!

After our Millennium Park jaunt, we decided to make our way to Macy’s for some window shopping. Chicago doesn’t officially turn on its huge holiday lights display until next weekend. However, Macy’s had already starting displaying all of its holiday decorations, including its famous holiday window scenes…

Chicago Macy's xmas window

This year’s theme is “Believe”, based on (I think) the story “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus”. It was 60 degrees outside but seeing these displays made me feel like it was Christmas Eve and snowing outside!

Chicago Macy's Clock

Aside from its window displays, Chicago Macy’s on State Street also showcased a little indoor holiday magic – ok, it was a LOT of holiday magic…

Chicago Macy's xmas display

Can Macy’s ever do anything small?? Upstairs in the famous Walnut Room, the huge Christmas tree was also displayed in all of its twinkling glory…

Chicago Walnut room Christmas Tree

A thousand points of light indeed! I left Macy’s feeling very much in the holiday spirit as you can imagine. As we were headed out the door to catch the train, I also grabbed a froyo to go…

11.14 Frozen Yogurt

Not the greatest, but then again, we were practically running to the train while I was eating it! I think we walked a total of 2 hours today (no cabs for us!) so we were exhausted and a bit sweaty by the time we plopped ourselves on the train.

We ended our fabulous day with an equally fabulous dinner prepared by Scott, but I’m saving that for tomorrow!  

Have a great night all!

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Explorer's Bounty Tea and First Giveaway

November 13, 2009 by

This afternoon, I was in deep thought looking out our back window when I noticed this scene…

11.13 spider web trees

A spiderweb of trees in our backyard! It was amazing and kind of creepy all at the same time.

Earlier in the day, I went for a cold run for which I had to bundle up in layer after layer. After the run, I thought I’d give Greek yogurt another try after my spoil-sport yogurt yesterday…

11.13 Greek Yogurt with peanut butter 2

I mixed Trader Joe’s vanilla Greek yogurt with a handful of walnuts and a dollop of all-natural peanut butter..11.13 Greek Yogurt with peanut butter 1

When you mix it all together it’s like peanut butter fluff with a whole lot of crunch! I also enjoyed some super yummy tea..

11.13 Explorers Bounty Tea

About a month ago, the nice folks at Explorer’s Bounty sent me a big package with a bunch of all-natural organic goodies, like chocolate covered nuts and puffed fruit. I did end up tasting several of the products and was not a huge fan of the food. Don’t get me wrong, the products were not horrible, I’m just not a puffed fruit eater and am not a lover of organic chocolate. But, if you are, you’re in luck.

Running With Cake is hosting its FIRST EVER GIVEAWAY!! I have several unopened packages of Explorer’s Bounty products, including puffed fruit, crackers, and chocolate-covered macadamia nuts. To enter my giveaway, please do the following:

  • Visit the Explorer’s Bounty site to check out their story and products, AND
  • If you have a blog, mention the Running With Cake giveaway on your blog, AND
  • Leave a comment on this RWC post letting me know your favorite organic chocolate brand (any brand) and what you like about it (I’m hoping to find one that I actually like!)

Please have all entries to me by 9 PM Eastern on Tuesday, November 17. Then I will pick a winner randomly and announce the winner to all. OK, ready, set GO!

Although I didn’t care for Explorer’s Bounty organic food, I LOVE their tea!!

11.13 Explorers Bounty Tea 2

They sent several types of herbal tea for me to try and today I gave the Green Tea a whirl. Let me tell ya, I am not a big green tea drinker (although Scott loves green tea) but this tea was great! I liked it so much I almost made another cup. I even gave Scott a taste and he said – “yeah, it’s good” – that says a lot for him since he’s super particular about his teas. What I really liked about it was the light flavor – even after steeping it for over 5 minutes. I think that’s why I haven’t liked most green teas in the past because they are too strong tasting to me. I am definitely looking forward to trying the of my tea samples – yum yum!

11.13 Explorers Bounty Tea 3

After breakfast, instead of doing the early Christmas shopping that I intended to do this morning, I ended up not leaving the house until 11:30 AM to run to Costco and the grocery store.

Scott was working at home today, so when I arrived home from shopping we made some sandwiches for lunch…

11.13 Sandwich with tricolor peppers

I love little bell peppers! They are a) convenient because you don’t have to cut them up to take them to work, b) they are sweet, and c) they are so darn colorful and cute!.

11.13 Tricolor peppers

All three reasons were enough for me to buy a jumbo size bag at Costco. I just hope I can eat them all before they go bad! By the way, Costco was rockin’ the samples today – from sausage, to cake, to mozzarella cheese, I could have made a meal out of everything they were having. I wasn’t really in the mood for snacks luckily because I probably saved at few hundred calories.

It was my turn to make dinner tonight. Scott often says that whenever it is my turn to make dinner I always decide that we should go out to eat. Well, I really attempted to make dinner tonight. I even went to defrost chicken and realized that we were on our last 2 chicken breasts. I was really weighing the option of defrosting chicken and not having any for the rest of the week or going out to eat. You all know where this is headed…

11.13 TGIF spinach dip

Yes, we ended up at Friday’s, where we had the obligatory spinach and artichoke dip. I used to love Friday’s but now have a more luke warm feeling towards the restaurant. As for my entree…

11.13 TGIF Mediterranean Salad

I’m just not having luck with foods these days, especially Mediterranean/Greek salads from restaurants. Tonight, although my salad looked good, after a few bites I realized that it was completely loaded with dressing, so much that it was soggy. Yuck! I really dislike eating my salad when all I can taste is dressing – no matter how good the dressing is. I ended up eating about 1/4 the salad then pushing it aside. I left Friday’s a little perturbed and hungry. I’m having serious thoughts of eating a big bowl of Kashi right now.

Remember to enter the Explorer’s Bounty giveaway by 9 PM Eastern Tuesday!

Have a great night everyone!

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Bad, Bad, Yogurt

November 12, 2009 by

Evening Chicas!

I had an awesome run this morning, although it was cold, cold, COLD! I went from running in 55 degree weather to 35 degree weather this morning! I’m trying to run outside as long as my body (and mind) will let me, because I’m dreading going back on the treadmill for the season. Does anyone else feel this way?

I was running late as usual, so I decided to eat breakfast at work. I remembered I had a Trader Joe’s vanilla Greek yogurt at work, so I took a few walnuts from home to stir in. When I actually looked at the date on the yogurt it said November 5. Hmm…I know you can usually eat yogurt a few days past the expiration, but I thought I’d get a second opinion from a coworker. She replied, “it’s yogurt, it’s already cultured so it won’t be bad.”

11.12 Greek yogurt walnuts

After smelling it, I added my walnuts and took a few bites. I realized that it was not a smart move. It was indeed cultured yogurt – a little too cultured for me – and I consider myself a very cultured person – he he! Bad, Bad, yogurt.

I threw it out – walnuts and all (goodbye $2.50) and starting trolling the halls looking for a second breakfast. My choices were very limited, either leftover Halloween candy or a questionable bag of crackers. But then, I saw this…

11.12 Nonnis biscotti

And Nonni’s Biscotti it was! I very rarely eat biscotti which is kind of strange since I’m a big fan of the big CRUNCH. This lovely came from a brand new container a vendor sent to our office – just in time too!

11.12 Nonnis biscotti2

Seeing as it was biscotti, I figured I should have something warm to go with it – enter Tazo Awake Tea…

11.12 Tazo Awake Tea

I just so happened to have one stashed in my desk. I proceeded to drink a HUGE mug of tea and crunch away on my breakfast…

11.12 Tazo Awake Tea 3

Work is picking up a bit, but not so much that I couldn’t meet my favorite guy out for lunch today. We made a last-minute date at Go Roma. I had a lovely pairing – soup and sammie…

11.12 Butternut squash - veggie panini

I haven’t had butternut squash soup in forever and today was the first time I had it at this restaurant. Fantastic! Very rich and creamy with a smooth texture.

11.12 Butternut Squash Soup

My 1/2 veggie panini with spinach, red peppers, and goat cheese also was well-worth the money. Yes, I ate the French fries. All of them.

11.12 veggie pannini

With such a big lunch, it was no snacking for me this afternoon. I wasn’t even interested. When dinner rolled around at 6:30 PM, I had regained my appetite but really didn’t feel like cooking anything challenging. So, it was warmed up pasta sauce with homemade turkey meat balls….

11.12 Pasta and Meat Sauce

11.12 turkey meatball

This is such a comforting dish, I was ready to curl up on the couch and take a nap after I ate.

I am getting very, very sleep, so I checking out for tonight. I have the day off tomorrow so I’m planning to do a little pre-Thanksgiving Christmas shopping – ho ho! If anyone knows of any good deals, please send the info my way.

Have a great night!

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The Traveling Blogger

November 11, 2009 by

Hi Everyone!

Hope you enjoyed my Veterans Day post from earlier today. Although today was my day off from running, I was up and at ’em around 6 AM. I even arrived at work at 8:30 AM because traffic was SO much lighter, no doubt due to the holiday. Which brings me to the question of the day – Did you have Veterans Day off from work or school? If so, how did you spend your day off?

Before work, I made myself a big cereal mix of Honeynut Cheerios and Kashi Go Lean Crunch…

11.11 breakfast

I know, surprise, surprise. Work was a little busier today because my boss was actually back in the office, which translates into more meetings. Although, he is leaving for the next two weeks, going partly to Korea for a meeting and then taking a vacation. I don’t think I’ve ever been away from my job for more than two weeks – at least not anytime recently. 

For lunch, I drove about 30 minutes from the office to attend a very cool luncheon/meeting. At the luncheon, I listened to a presentation by two former top broadcast news journalists and than chatted/networked with a bunch of older ladies. I would love to show you pictures from the luncheon, but I really couldn’t find a good, inconspicuous time to take photos of the food! I did end up having a really yummy turkey sandwich with brie and tomatoes, plus a little fruit salad, and a chocolate chip cookie.

On my way back to the office, I got a little turned around and actually went out of my way about 10 minutes. But, thank goodness for the navigation system!

Dinner was homemade turkey chili courtesy of Scott.

11.11 dinner

Because I’m trying to add more veggies into my diet, I added about 2 cups of spinach to my chili bowl. I honestly couldn’t taste the spinach that much, but it’s great to know that I got all of the vitamins with it.

I booked another business trip yesterday, this time to Phoenix/Scottsdale. If anyone has recommendations for restaurants for that area, please let me know. It looks like I’m going to be traveling quite a bit in the first half of of 2010. Right now, I have at least one trip planned for each month – yikes! Here’s the line up thus far…

  • January – Phoenix/Scottsdale
  • February – Orlando
  • March – Baltimore (Yeah – Fit Bloggin!!)
  • April – Miami and Key Largo
  • May – New Orleans or Washington, DC

There may also be a last-minute trip to DC in there somewhere as well. I’m pretty certain I’m going to be sick of traveling (or at least airports) by June! However, I’m hoping to indulge in some seriously cool restaurants in each of these cities (great blog fodder) and do a LOT of running.

If there are any bloggers in Miami (or Southern FL) or Baltimore who’d like to meet up, let me know!

Have a wonderful night!

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A Veterans Day Tribute: Helene's Story

November 11, 2009 by

Today is Veteran’s Day in the US. Each year around this time and around other patriotic holidays I think of the following story about a man’s determination to serve his country and a woman’s determination to keep her husband and family together. I hope you enjoy…

11.11 flag

A Veterans Day Tribute: Helene’s Story

Helene was a young wife and mother living in the Pennsylvania army barracks with her husband Worthy and their daughter and son, both under the age of 5. It was the early 1940s and the US had just been thrown into WWII. Helene was familiar with the sad but dutiful routine of comforting other young wives and mothers who had soldiers heading off to war, or worse, those who had soldier husbands who had died in the war. She prayed constantly that Worthy would not have to join them. 

Yet, that fateful day came. Worthy announced to Helene that it was his duty to serve his country overseas and promptly filled out the paperwork to do so. Knowing that his eyesight was extremely poor -he was legally blind in one eye – he had to figure out a way to pass the mandatory eye examination. He memorized the eye chart which helped him pass this final test with flying colors. Worthy was given his assignment and he was to leave in just a few short weeks with rest of the boys to go “over there”.

Helene cried for hours, maybe days.  She was also hurt and confused. How could he have passed the test when he was legally blind in one eye? She knew that Worthy could never pass the eye exam for overseas combat so how could he survive “over there”? She didn’t want to be one of those young wives comforted for the loss of her soldier husband. She didn’t want to be left alone with her two children. She had to do something.

And that she did. Helene wrote a letter to the army officials on base explaining of her husband’s condition. She even produced doctors’ notes and medical files that said her husband was not fit for combat due to his blindness. A few days later, Worthy was called in to see his commanding officer. He explained to Worthy that he would not be joining his group overseas because he had neglected to report his medical condition. They would eventually find out that, of all of the soldiers in Worthy’s would-be platoon, only a handful survived the war. 

Worthy never found out that Helene had written the letter. Helene and Worthy went on to have two more daughters and, eventually, 13 grandchildren.

I am one of those grandchildren.

To all those active and inactive in the armed services, thank you for keeping our country, and my family, safe.

Peace to all – 

Jennifer

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Another Reason to Eat Chocolate?

November 10, 2009 by

Despite getting up at 5:40 AM, somehow I managed to not get to work until 9 AM. I am really despising traffic these days. I need to invest in some books on tape. Too bad Jenna’s book isn’t ready yet 😉

Because I was up so early, it was still dark out and I had to wait for about 30 minutes before heading out to run. I did my typical 4-miler, although it was pretty fast. I am actually sore right now, but I’m not sure if that is from the run or from sitting in 2 hours of traffic!

Being that it was so late, I ate a B-nana in the car…

 

11.10 breakfast

I really should NOT be taking photos (or eating for that matter) when I’m driving. My blogger alter ego is such a bad influence on the regular me.

Work was another totally laid back day – sweet! I could really handle this lifestyle for the next month or so – just get me to Christmas baby! Lunch ended up being Rachel Ray leftovers…

11.10 lunch1

Just look at those little dumpling’s, aka gnocchi, they’re showing off for my new camera…

11.10 lunch2

Later in the PM I had a snack attack and noticed some freebie granola bars in the staff lounge – bonus! Nothing like a healthy and free snack…

11.10 snack

Surprisingly, we have not had our usual obscene amount of food yesterday and today. Ahh, it’s the calm before the holiday food storm.

Scott’s teaching tonight so I had to fend for myself. Why is it that when I have to cook for myself, I end up eating leftovers or a sandwich?

11.10 dinner1

But one thing is for sure, I do eat less when he’s not around. Boys are bad influences on girls in the eating department – for the most part anyway. I wish I could do the reverse and inspire him to eat healthier – or at least smaller portions. I’m just saying it like it is.

11.10 dinner2

News of the Day…

This just in – a new study from Spain reports that chocolate can help prevent hardening of the arteries (arteriosclerosis) which is a precursor to heart disease. Not that I actually need another reason to eat chocolate, but I’m happy to hear that it does the body good! Now, if they could just find that chocolate helps you make more money and get a better night’s sleep, then I’d be all set!

I celebrated this new-found chocolate wisdom with, what else?

11.10 cookie

A few more of my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that I made last night.

I need to get some sleep tonight, so here’s to a wonderful and restful night to all of you!

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My New S90 Camera: A Great Substitute for the DSLR

November 9, 2009 by

I love that it is now getting light earlier! I don’t know how long it will last, but I’ll take it for now. I was able to be out the door running at 6:15 AM. Before the time change, I wasn’t heading out until at least 6:45 – what a difference, especially during the work week.

After my run, I did a few stretches and a 15-minute ab workout – which I normally do but just never write about. Then, it was time for a big cereal mix for breakfast…

11.9 breakfast

It was a mix of Honeynut Cheerios and Kashi Go Lean Crunch – perfect post-run breakfast!

Due to construction literally everywhere I turned, it took me over an hour to get to work today so I didn’t get there until 9:30 PM – yikes! Thank goodness it was a slow morning and a slow day. That usually happens the few weeks after our big meeting. People need a few weeks to unwind and regroup on projects.

Because it was slow, I was able to meet Scott for lunch at a local Corner Bakery…

11.9 lunch

I had the Greek salad once again, but it wasn’t as good the second time as it was the first. I think it was that it had way too much dressing on it.

After a very slow afternoon, I decided to leave work a little early at 4:30 PM. Little did I know I would spend over an hour trying to get home. Ugh – I so do NOT like construction – and particularly at night.

When I arrived home, I was so excited to see dinner was almost ready, but even more excited to find out that Scott bought another camera!! I guess one just isn’t enough for two bloggers.

11.9 camera

So this is the newest edition to our blogging family – the Canon PowerShot S90IS. This is a point and shoot digital camera and takes high quality photos – especially close-ups. I’ve only played with the camera for a few hours but can already tell you that I like it better than the Canon PowerShot SD980IS digital elph. I’ve had the elph since early October and, although I haven’t had serious issues with it, it doesn’t take the greatest close-up shots of food. Believe me, I’ve tried!

We are not convinced on keeping both cameras, but we will very likely keep the latest one. The way Scott explained it was that the Canon S90 takes quality photos, like the SLR (although obviously not as good) but without all of the bulk. So, the rest of the photos that you will see tonight will be taken with the new Canon S90.

So now, back to dinner. Scott made one of his favorite dishes – Basil Chicken Stir-fry from the William’s Sonoma Chicken Cookbook…

11.9 dinner1

Yes, the stir-fry tasted as good as it looks! Notice the difference in cameras?

11.9 dinner2

I swear this is not me trying extra hard to make this camera look good. From what I can tell in 3 hours, this camera is awesome! I told Scott he could have the other one and I would keep the S90 he he!

After dinner, I made some homemade chocolate chip cookies – the famous Nieman Marcus recipe…11.9 dessert2

Fake Nieman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 tsp. soda
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 1/4 cups blended oatmeal **
  • 6 oz. chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 2 oz. Chocolate Bar (grated) milk, semi-sweet, or dark
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 3 cups chopped nuts (optional)
  • 1/2 tsp. vanilla

 Blend oatmeal to a fine powder and combine with flour, powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. Using a high powered mixer, cream the butter and both sugars, then blend in egg and vanilla. Add the dry flour/oatmeal mix to the wet ingredients and blend well. Blend in the grated chocolate followed by the chocolate chips, and then the nuts if you are using them. 

Roll into balls and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet. You can also free the dough balls and bake them frozen as instructed below.

Bake for 9 minutes at 375 degrees or until the cookies are slightly golden. Immediately remove them from the baking tray and place on a plate or counter covered with wax paper. Makes about 44 small cookies.

I don’t feel bad giving away this recipe because it’s ALL OVER the Internet and has been circulating for years.

11.9 dessert1

These cookies are so easy to make and taste awesome! When you make them without nuts and make the cookies on the small side, they come out to be about 75-80 calories per cookie. I’ve experimented by adding more chips and/or more chocolate and different types of chocolate. I’ve used ALL dark chocolate before and they were fabulous!

OK, nuff said for tonight. See you all on the flipside!

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Could I actually like a Miley Cyrus Song?

November 8, 2009 by

Hi All!

It was another glorious day in Chicagoland, which means another awesome run! I ran a very fast 5 miler but felt like I could have run 6 or 7. I am attributing my energy to not only the weather, but also the LUNA bar I had about an hour before I ran…

11.8 prerun

I received a coupon via email from LUNA saying that I could buy two bars and get one free, but I had to download the “coupon printer”. It says it’s “safe” to download this software, but I’m always hesitant to download things on my work laptop for fear of it crashing. Has anyone downloaded the coupon printer before? What was your experience?

While I was running I heard this great song that actually made me want to sing along with it. I had heard the song before but had no idea who sang it. Come to find out – it’s MILEY CYRUS!! OMG, I can’t believe I actually like a Miley  Cyrus song, but her “Party in the USA” song is so fun. I don’t plan on turning into a Hannah Montana fan anytime soon, but I will definitely not turn this song off when it comes on the radio.

After my run, I enjoyed a quick yogurt bowl while getting ready for the day…

11.8 breakfast

I had Chobani’s vanilla Greek yogurt with a handful of walnuts for added MUFA and crunch – super filling and so YUM!

After breakfast, we spontaneously decided to head out to the zoo for the day. Although it was spontaneous, it seemed to take us forever to get out the door. We didn’t actually arrive at the zoo until noon! Of course on the way, we made a couple stops, including Barnes and Noble for my sweet indulgence on this “last day of summer”…

11.8 starbucks

Because we arrived at the zoo right at lunch, we plopped down at a picnic table and enjoyed some homemade salami/ham and cheese sandwiches…

11.8 lunch

Although we’ve been to this zoo many times, today was the first day I had ever seen the bats. Creepy but kind of cool. The giraffes and Meerkats are more my style.

Dinner was another Every Day With Rachel Ray recipe from this month’s issue. Tonight it was the BLT Creamy Mac & Cheese…

11.8 dinner mag photo

The above picture is actually a photo I took right from the magazine, but check out how closely my creation resembles the real one…

11.8 dinner2

Woo Hoo – another recipe winner! This recipe was fantastic, although I’m guessing pretty high in calorie due to the cream cheese and bacon. Ok, did I mention that I like bacon? I was never really a fan of bacon until I was an adult and learned to make bacon the exact way I like it – crunchy! I try not to eat too much bacon, but when I do I buy/eat the uncured/all-natural kind. Bacon really kicked this dish up to a whole new level and the added spinach (substituted for arugula) gave the dish some much needed veggies. This dish is definitely going into my recipe book, not only for the flavor but also because it only took about 30 minutes to cook!

After dinner, we decided to celebrate my last evening before going back to work by heading to the ice cream shop – Maggie Moo’s, which is similar to Cold Stone, although I think they have better-tasting ice cream than Cold Stone. I was so torn between Red Velvet ice cream – because you all know I’ve been on this Red Velvet kick – but decided to go with the…

11.8 dessert

Blueberry Muffin ice cream! I just adore this specialty flavor – although it’s very rich so I don’t suggest making it a habit. I had mine with walnuts – I needed to make it healthy somehow! Sorry about the odd looking photo. I forgot the camera so I had to rely on Scott’s iphone.

Gotta head to bed. I want to make sure I’m fresh and ready to go for work tomorrow. Have a great night!

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Outdoor Grilling in November – In Chicago!!

November 7, 2009 by

Hi All!

It felt awesome sleeping in this morning! I didn’t get up until 7 AM. I’m sure I’ll get a reality check on Monday when I go back to work.

Today started with a big bowl of Kashi Go Lean Crunch – I’m making up for lost Kashi from last week – he he!

11.7 breakfast

After a morning of more cleaning and shopping in 70 degree weather, Scott cooked up some burgers on the grill for us…

11.7 lunch

I can’t believe that it was 70 degrees out day!!! It’s like I never left San Diego!

In addition to the burger, I also made myself a small spinach salad with…

  • 2 cups of baby spinach
  • 1 chopped carrot
  • 1 tbs Mezzetta jarred red peppers
  • 10 grape tomatoes
  • white cheddar cheese

And I topped it all with a little EVOO and balsamic vinegar.

Later in the day I ran to Trader Joe’s to pick up a few things for dinner tonight. While in San Diego, I picked up the latest issue of Every Day With Ray. It has so many fabulous recipes, including the one I tried tonight…

11.7 dinner recipe

Sorry about the fuzzy photo. Scott thought it would be a good idea to at least show you what the recipe looked like but you can actually get the full recipe on Rachel Ray’s site.

The main ingredients of the recipe are chicken and store-bought gnocchi which I so conveniently purchased at TJ’s. Surprisingly, Trader Joe’s only had one type of gnocchi and it wasn’t even whole wheat. The actual recipe was super easy, although be very careful when simmering the sauce, my first attempt boiled over!

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My second try went much better, especially because I watched it much more closely. And now, the final product…

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This seriously looks just like the photo – which means I done good! And, not only did the photo turn out well, but the dish tasted awesome! However, I would NOT eat this dish on a regular basis. Between the gnocchi and the cream sauce, this dish was very heavy and I’m sure not very low in calories either!

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I just finished watching (or glancing at) the Fantastic Four on FX. This is the first time I’ve really seen Jessica Alba act. I’ve heard so many good things about her so was surprised that her acting skills in this movie were less than great.

We are in for another 70 degree day in Chicago tomorrow – can’t wait! We’re still debating on what we’ll do to enjoy the weather, but I guess you’ll all find out tomorrow!

Have a great night!

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