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Enter At Your Own Health Risk

September 22, 2009 by

Morning All! So I came into work this morning and stopped by the staff lounge to put my lunch in the fridge, and I was faced with the following scene…

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Box after box…

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After box…

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And more boxes…9.22 treats4

of PASTRIES!! Don’t supposed there’s any MUFA in those?

Note to self: Do not go into the staff lounge unless 1) it’s absolutely necessary to get my lunch or 2) I suddenly become hypoglycemic. Seriously, there should be a sign on the door that says Enter At Your Own Health Risk.

Apparently, a vendor that we use for printing brought all of these lovelies in as a thank you for providing him with business. It was a very sweet gesture (literally) but hasn’t anyone ever heard of healthy food? I think I’m going into sugar shock just looking at these pictures.

I want to add that this is just the start of “food season” at our office. From now until the end of the year, there is literally nonstop food at our office. Thank goodness I have self control, unlike some of the other girls here. Does anyone else have a “food season” at their work? How do you handle it? 

Thankfully, none of today’s tantalizing pastries tempted me – at least for now – because I ate breakfast before coming to work.

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I received another Kashi sample – this time it was their Honey Sunshine cereal – little pillows of whole grain goodness.

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I had very high hopes for this cereal because it looked like Captain Crunch (one of my faves as a kid), smelled like Captain Crunch, and even got soggy like Captain Crunch. Well, this was no Captain Crunch!  But, with 6 g of fiber and only 100 calories per 3/4 cup, it’s a pretty tasty, and much healthier alternative to Captain Crunch. Maybe it could be marketed as the new Captain Crunch for adults??

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Now, I must really get some work done before I blog the day away! You all know how that goes!

Damn it – someone just walked by with a chocolate eclair – Look away, Jennifer, look away!!

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Stir It Up…

September 21, 2009 by

Howdy there everyone and Happy Last Day of Summer!

I just rocked at work today! Because it’s crunch time, I have put myself on a strict schedule at work so that I can get all of my projects done on time, or even ahead of time.

But, of course, even with my long to-do list, there’s always time for a little lunch…

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Today, lunch was left over vegetable risotto from Friday night. It was still just as yummy as the day I made it!

Later in the afternoon, I snacked on a new Cascadian Farm high fiber organic granola bar -this time it was blueberry and pomegranate.

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The bar was not as chewy as I thought it would be but it was still very good. I really like the blueberry/pom combination.

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I arrived home relatively early compared to the last few weeks. It was nice not to fight traffic and to be able to enjoy some of the nice weather before heading in for dinner. 

Speaking of dinner, Scott had dinner almost ready when I came home. Tonight, it was chicken-vegetable stir-fry…

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I have to admit, I have been avoiding this dish for the last two weeks. Stir-fry just hasn’t been sounding good to me. But tonight, it tasted fantastic and I think I had at least 2 servings of veggies on one plate alone!

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We paired the chicken and mixed veggies with a side of brown rice. I nearly always choose brown rice over white rice because brown rice has more nutrients.

After clean up, I talked to my parents for a few minutes on the phone. They live out of state so I try to talk to them at least once a week. But I realized tonight that I haven’t talked to them in 8-9 days, so I was not surprised to hear the phone ring at 8 PM and have it be my mom on the other end. 

With our stomachs settled, Scott and I broke out the Breyer’s ice cream for a little dessert. I’ve been into mixing things lately – cereal, noodles, and now ice cream. I had one small scoop of vanilla bean and one small scoop of caramel praline crunch, topped with about 1 tbsp of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

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I originally bought the chips to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, but the chips are going fast! They might not last long enough for me to put them in the cookie!

Well ladies, I’m off to bed. See you all in the AM for the Autumnal Equinox!

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Flavors of the Fall

September 20, 2009 by

Evening everyone! With the official start of fall just a day and a half away, I thought I’d do a little fall decorating this afternoon.

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This made me wonder – Fall is my favorite time of year, but what was my favorite thing about the Fall? Well, there are so many things that I love about the Fall that it’s hard to choose just one thing – so, I made a list!

Jen’s 10 Fall Faves:

  1. Watching the leaves changing colors
  2. Changing my signature Spring/Summer drink – a Starbucks Frap – to a Starbucks skinny vanilla latte
  3. Wearing my Fall sweaters and Gap jeans
  4. Listening to my Fall transition music – James Taylor’s Greatest Hits
  5. Cheering for Big Ten Football
  6. Running in much cooler weather
  7. Picking pumpkins and gourds
  8. Eating fresh cider donuts from the cider mill
  9. Watching Fall classics like It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown
  10. Finally being able to put up Fall decorations!

So, my question to you is – what is your favorite thing about the Fall?

Scott’s parents came over this afternoon and stayed for dinner. And, an amazing dinner it was!

We started out with some multigrain crackers and white cheddar cheese… 

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And with it, we had some vino…

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I don’t drink very often, but when I do, it’s usually wine. Tonight, my father-in-law brought a new wine over from Trader Joe’s…

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This was a very different type of wine than I’d ever had. It was a mixture of several different kinds of wine…

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As you can see, it was such an unusual wine that I had to try a glass. It was pretty smooth and had a good flavor, especially for being on the less expensive side of wines.

For dinner, we had my husband’s famous minestrone soup! He makes a huge batch of the soup about once a season and it’s usually when we have people over for dinner. I have not received the ok from my husband on whether or not I can reveal his secret recipe, but I can tell you that it requires a ton of vegetables!

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Along with our very warm and tasty soup, we had fresh 12-grain bread for dipping…

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We dipped the bread in our soup and in olive oil mixed with balsamic vinegar with added spices and parmesan cheese..

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The balsamic vinegar was actually from Gourmè Mist. A few weeks ago, the company had sent me several samples of their olive oil and vinegar misters to try. I am happy to report that the balsamic vinegar mister was fantastic!

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It had a great flavor, was easy to use, and the mister was a very clever way of adding just a hint of balsamic taste to the dipping oil. Can’t wait to try this on a salad!

For dessert, my father-in-law made homemade “apple slices”, which is a cross between an apple pie and apple strudel…

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This was my first time having this dish and it was so yummy! We paired it with Breyer’s Vanilla Bean ice cream – ok, can this get any better?

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After that fabulous dessert, I am happy to report that dinner (and the food) had finally ended. I seriously don’t think I could eat anymore and I only had one bowl of soup!

I have an early day tomorrow, so I’m ready to turn in for the night.

Have a great night everyone!

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Bonfires and Goodbyes

September 19, 2009 by

Tonight, we went to a goodbye party for my sister-in-law’s younger sister who is moving out of the country. Our friend had visited Brazil on two occasions and loved it. She loved it so much that, a few months ago, she decided it was her time to move on in her life – her time to move to Brazil. She set the wheels in motion, putting her condo up for rent, learning Portuguese, and doing other preparations. On October 1, she will officially be living in a different country, within a different culture, and among strangers. If that’s not courage and determination, I don’t know what is.

There were many friends, family members, and neighbors on-hand to celebrate our friend’s final days in the States and to wish her well before she left. Although she will be greatly missed by all of these people, email and other technology have made our world so small that even when a person is half way around the world, they seem just as close and accessible as the person next door.

During the party, we enjoyed plenty of great food. I loaded up on appetizers because they looked so amazing – and I was really hungry!

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I had some very spicy mango salsa (quick, get me a drink!), a little chili dip with black corn tortilla chips, and veggie-cream cheese “pizza”.

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We’ve eaten these appetizers before at parties hosted by the same family and they are all so delicious. If you don’t get to the them quickly, they can be gone before you even get a taste!

Dinner was catered by a local Chicago favorite – Portillo’s! Oh how I love my Portillo’s! If I ever moved away from Chicago, I think Portillo’s would be the restaurant I would miss the most. Anyway, by the time I actually got around to eating my dinner it was very dark outside which made for terrible lighting to take pictures of my food, even with the flash. So, sorry, no photos to post of my incredible dinner. But, I had a small piece of Italian sausage, potato salad, and a small scoop of cheese tortellini. All of this fit on 1/2 of my very elegant paper plate and the other half was full of a very yummy salad.

After dinner, a bonfire was made to create more light and to give off some heat.

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I love bonfires and always have. I especially loved them in college when the sororities and fraternities would do joint bonfires. Ahh, to be in collage again! I haven’t been to a bonfire in nearly a year. Ironically, the last one I experienced was started by the family who did the bonfire tonight, just at a different location.

In addition to light and warmth, the bonfire also provided a great opportunity for the kids at the party, and even some adults, to make s’mores. I am not a big marshmallow fan so I passed on that. But, on the way home, we stopped at Barnes and Noble so I could pick up one of their huge chocolate chunk cookies…

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These cookies are fantastic! I highly recommend them. But, notice I only ate 1/2 the cookie. I’m pretty sure these cookies have 600 or so calories in them, so I decided to split my calorie intake between two days/nights.

Now I simply must go to bed. My in-laws are coming over for dinner so I must get up early to get these ready for their visit – not to mention do my long run!

Good night everyone and see you in the AM!

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A Bit of A Power Bar Snob

September 16, 2009 by

So much for leaving at 4:30 PM like I had planned. I didn’t leave work until 5:45 PM and didn’t get home until nearly 6:30 PM. But, on the bright side, I did get a LOT done. It is really crunch time for me now (and for the next 5 weeks) so every hour of every day counts.

When I finally arrived home from work, I was just aching for something tasty. Well, I got my wish! My husband and made one of my favorite meals – linguini with homemade meat sauce!

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I was so hungry that I actually had two servings (although they were small!).

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Italian dinners like these always seem so comforting and just make your day seem so much better. 

Aside from my fabulously yummy dinner, I had another surprise waiting for me at home – a full box of goodies from Cascadian Farm, makers of over 75 organic food products. This company has actually been around longer than I’ve been alive! I only just recently noticed their cereal products in the store, but never bought them because I hadn’t heard anything about them.

Well, the very nice folks at CF sent me several of their products to try, including their version raisin bran cereal, two kinds of granola, and two types of high fiber granola bars. That was great news to me because I have really been into fiber these days after reading the Full Plate Diet.

So after dinner, I tried one of the granola bars – the fiber right dark chocolate almond bar to be exact.

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Doesn’t that description and flavor combination sound yummy? Well, when I tore open the bar I was pleasantly surprised to find that the bar was drizzled with dark chocolate which, by the way, had a very good taste – not too “organic”. The granola part of the bar was good, but nothing extraordinary. But, I’m very hard to please when it comes to granola/power bars. I’m a bit of a power bar snob I guess, and I haven’t had much luck with them lately.

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As a whole, I thought this bar was definitely better than all three Odwalla bars I tried last week, but not as tasty as the LUNA bar. I would absolutely have this bar again, if not for the yummy chocolate drizzle, then for the 5 g of fiber (and only 130 calories) that this bar has!

Can’t wait to try the Dark Chocolate Almond Granola for breakfast! 

I’m off to bed. I have the first of three staff training sessions tomorrow and I’m leading all of them! So, wish me luck!

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How Should Bloggers Reject a Free Sample?

September 14, 2009 by

Hey all. I am really ready to crash right now. It was very challenging for me to concentrate all day with only five hours of sleep.

For lunch, I brought the last of my homemade turkey chili…

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You probably can’t tell, but it has baby spinach in it. I love that you can put baby spinach in just about anything and have it blend so much that you don’t notice you’re eating it.

After lunch, I stepped outside for a 20 minute walk to wake me up. It was 85 degrees and sunny here today so the walk was quite warm. But, it was also well worth it. I love these last days of summer. The afternoon went by very fast, although I felt extremely tired around 3 PM so I popped open a diet coke. Ah…a cold diet coke on a hot day – love it!

I arrived home around 6 PM and was pretty beat. But, I still managed to pull off a fab dinner – a creation of my very own I am proud to say…

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I made, what has become, my signature dish. It’s my Italian sausage-pasta dish with tri-color peppers and leeks. This is such an awesome one pot recipe and it really makes a lot more than you think so it’s great for leftovers. For all of you vegetarians out there, you could probably substitute tofu or portobello for the sausage – just a thought.

After dinner, I scooted off to the library to return some books, then it was off to Party City to get a few supplies for my first staff training program I’m implementing on Thursday this week. Then, I headed to the local dairy/ice cream store for Scott. He loves mint chocolate chip ice cream and had a special request for it tonight.

I decided to save money and just eat the leftover Breyers vanilla bean ice cream at home. But, I added a few extras – like dark chocolate chips and watermelon, for all of those antioxidants you know!

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Question of the Day

Ok, now for the question of the day, what do you do when you keep getting emails from a company that is trying to give you a sample of a product you absolutely loathe? There is a company that is trying to send me samples of cigarette pack decals/decorations, I assume to make them trendy. But, I am against smoking in every way. Do I not answer their emails? Do I politely say no thank you, or do I really tell them that I think their product disgusts me? At the very least, they really need to get a better PR firm because they obviously did not check to see what I write about – health and wellness. And, since when do cigarettes promote health and wellness?

Ok, enough griping. I’m off to bed. Have a great night!

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As American As Shopping and Apple Pie

September 13, 2009 by

Good evening everyone. Hope you had a great Sunday! Scott and I did a little house cleaning – OK, I did the cleaning while he made an apple pie – but that definitely counts as work.

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Scott comes from a long line of pie-bakers so I was highly anticipating the first apple pie of the season. Except for the crust, my husband made this pie from scratch – even peeling all of the apples himself. But, at the end, I had the important job of taking the pie out of the oven.

With the pie cooling at home, we headed for lunch at the local Italian eatery.

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I had a cup of minestrone soup and a veggie-goat cheese personal pizza. I was getting full after the soup and two slices of pie (pizza, not apple) so I saved two pieces of pizza for lunch later in the week.

After lunch, we headed to Williams Sonoma so that I could sign up for my first-ever cooking class! It’s not that I don’t know how to cook (although Scott may disagree), but I’ve always wanted to take a culture-specific cooking class. This one, which is next Wednesday, is all about French cooking. So cool! And anyone who reads my other alter-ego blog knows how much I love France and Europe in general.

The rest of the afternoon was full of more shopping with a trip to Barnes and Noble and a highly worthwhile trip to Ann Taylor Loft! They have these new very feminine t-shirts in all different colors. I may or may not have bought the shirt in a few different colors, as well as a few camis.

For dinner, I made homemade chicken soup with orzo soup (see I can cook!).

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The soup was really easy to make, full of flavor, and very low in calories. 

After soup, I got busy making homemade caramel sauce for the apple pie. I’ve made caramel sauce before but just couldn’t find the recipe anywhere. So, I found a simple recipe on the Internet and went to work. Well, the first batch I made burned so bad it turned back into hardened sugar. Not fun. The second batch turn out ok, although I did not let the sugar brown as much as I could have and the color looks more like dulce de leche, rather than caramel. But, it still tasted good over the apple pie…

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So messy, gooey, and yummy – all at the same time! The flavor of the caramel was fantastic! Along with sugar, water, and cream, I also used a very posh vanilla that was sent to me called Nielsen-Massey Mexican Vanilla. Oh my gosh, if you’ve never had high end vanilla, this is so worth it! Nielsen-Massey also sent me several other extracts – coffee, lemon, etc. – which I can’t wait to try this holiday season! FYI – you can get the extracts at Williams Sonoma but they are expensive!

Now, it’s off to bed for me. Monday mornings have been coming very early these days.

Night all!

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Hands Out of the Bread Basket, Please…

September 12, 2009 by

Wow, what a day! We went nonstop from about 1-9 PM and had so much fun! Right after lunch, we headed to Brookfield Zoo just north of Chicago. The zoo itself is amazing but it’s also featuring a traveling exhibit, Dinosaurs Alive!, until the end of September. A friend of mine had given us free tickets to the exhibit so we decided to go today.

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The exhibit had about 10 life-size, animatronic dinosaurs, that moved and roared when you pushed a button. It was pretty neat – kind of like being on the Dinosaur ride at Disney World. The rest of our zoo time was spent viewing the animals – bears, gorillas, penguins, etc. While walking around, I got a little hungry so I tore open my third and final Odwalla bar…

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Once again, I really did not care for this power bar so I only ate 1/2 of it. It was overly chewy and really did not have much of a flavor and what flavor it did have was not very good. I don’t plan on buying these bars again – unless I have no other options – give me a LUNA or LARA bar any day!

After the zoo, we headed to dinner at Antico Posto, an Italian restaurant, for dinner. We started with the typical Italian restaurant starter – bread and oil. But I do have to admit, this bread and oil combination was exceptionally good.

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That is my excuse for eating way too much of it! The bread basket is my #1 downfall at restaurants. I still haven’t figured out a way to control my bread habit. I always tell myself to only eat 1 or 2 pieces then push the rest away, but somehow I don’t hear that little voice when I’m actually munching on the bread.

For my entree, I ordered the cavatappi pasta with roasted chicken, fall veggies, and parmesan cheese all in a chicken-based broth.

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The dish was very good, although it seemed like it was missing something. I think a few red peppers or spinach would have made the dish even better. I ate about 2/3 of it then gave the rest to Scott.

After dinner, we did a little shopping. We hit Anthropologie, Lucy, and Nordstrom but didn’t manage to find anything within our budget to buy. For all you Foodie bloggers out there, Anthropologie had a ton of new dishes (plates, bowls, etc.) in all different designs and colors. They’re a bit expensive but worth a look if you’re wanting to spruce up your food shots.

On the way home, we stopped at Red Mango! I have been wanting to go to this place for months now. I’ve heard so many great things about it (as well as pinkberry) and really wanted to try it. I decided to get a regular size original yogurt with watermelon chunks and bits of Ghirardelli chocolate.

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Oh my gosh – this tasted like pure Greek yogurt – and you all know how much I LOVE Greek yogurt! I loved this new treat and could easily see how a person could become addicted to the creamy, sweet taste. On the other hand, my husband did NOT care for the froyo at ALL. But then again, he does not like yogurt – Greek or any other kind. Thankfully, he tried a sample before buying a full cup. He opted for one of their flavored iced teas instead.

I am so tired now from walking around for hours and hours today – but it was great exercise! Tomorrow, I’m planning an 8-miler which should take me just over an hour to complete (hoping for no more than 65 minutes). So I’m off to bed.

Night All!

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Pork – The Other White Meat

September 11, 2009 by

Happy Friday everyone! I’m so glad that the weekend is here and I’m sure you are too. I only stayed at work until 3 PM today. I was getting a little stir crazy. Plus, my body and mind still think I’m supposed to be off on Fridays.

When I arrived home I was happy to find that my husband had gone to Costco and Trader Joe’s to buy a bunch of things we were out of – including olive oil! I can’t believe we actually ran out of olive oil since we usually have stash of it somewhere.

Before dinner, I made us a little appetizer plate of white and orange cheddar cheese, black grapes, and mulit-grain crackers….

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I indulged a little too much in this department. I guess I was hungrier than I thought because I just kept eating those crackers! By the time dinner was ready, I really wasn’t that hungry (this is why mom used to tell me, “no eating snacks before dinner!”)

For dinner, my husband made one of his own creations –  roasted potatoes, fresh off the grill…

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He peeled and sliced 4 red skin potatoes, divided the slices and put them in foil, then layered the slices with onions and butter. Then he sprinkled salt and pepper all over them, covered them with foild, and threw them on grill for 40 minutes or until they were crunchy. I remember the first time I had these potatoes – I just couldn’t get enough.

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With our potatoes, we also enjoyed grilled boneless pork loin chop and steamed carrots. My hubby can be such a healthy cook when he wants to be. I NEVER used to eat pork (aside from Easter ham) until I started dating my husband. I just didn’t like the taste. And it’s not that I love the taste now, but pork is a nice change from chicken and turkey, which I have most days of the week.

Now, my husband is making homemade, fresh-from-the-stove popcorn in a “popcorn” pot he’s had, what looks like, his whole life. It smells great but I really don’t want to have a lump of popcorn sitting in my stomach when I go to bed. Instead, I opted for something on the creamy side…

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I had a scoop of Breyers all-natural vanilla bean ice cream topped with 2 tbsp semi-sweet chocolate chips, and about 1 tbsp sliced almonds. This was just enough to satisfy my dessert fix for the night.

I’m going to try to make it to 8 AM yoga tomorrow and I need to get there EARLY. The 8 AM Saturday class is a drop-in class, so if you don’t get there early, you don’t get a spot. I missed last week because of apple picking so I don’t want to miss two weeks in a row.

Have a great night everyone!

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Tricking the Office Snack Monster

September 10, 2009 by

Evening everyone. Wow, talk about temptation. Because my office had a special meeting/course being held onsite all week, there has been food everywhere – and not much of the healthy kind either. For instance, today, there were all sorts of Panera sweets, bagels, and then for lunch, deep dish pizza. 

How To Trick the Office Snack Monster

I do have a little trick that helps me pass up these high calorie, low-nutrient foods. If I see something that looks good, like a coffee cake, I will take one small slice and wrap it up to save for the afternoon. This way, I don’t feel left out in the merry-making, but I make myself wait all day to make sure that I really want the treat and am not just eating it because it’s there. Many times, by the time afternoon rolls around, I get too busy to eat it. Or, I decide I’m not really hungry enough to eat it and just toss it in the garbage. I’m telling you, this works like a charm! Although, it can be a bit wasteful I guess.

For dinner tonight, I defrosted some of the homemade chili I made a few weeks ago. The chili was made with turkey meat, red and green peppers, grape tomatoes, and spinach – kind of a cross between a veggie and regular chili!

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I served the chili over Barilla Plus Multi-grain pasta with added Omega-3. And, it has 7 g. of fiber per serving! Some people (like my father) refuse to eat anything pasta/bread product that is NOT white. I just don’t understand it when the multi-grain or whole wheat kind is so much better for you. My father also refuses to eat any lettuce other than iceberg lettuce, even though I’ve told him it is the equivalent of eating paper because it has zero nutrients. If I could only convince him to change his eating habits, even a little, I’m sure he wouldn’t have as many ailments as he does.

Sorry for the digression. After my chili bowl came dessert! I wasn’t really craving dessert – which is a good thing really – but decided to have a few of the brand new French cookies I bought the other day.

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The Le Chocolatier cookies, or biscuits as they are known in Europe, are chocolate covered wafers that are layered with both chocolate and cream. They are really yummy, but man do they get stale FAST. They need to be sealed up tight (like in a ziploc bag) or else any humidity will ruin the cookies.

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I had 3 of the cookies which totaled 150 calories, plus a little more than a shot glass of milk. Ahh, cookies and milk before bed, now that’s what I called being a kid again – right Mia? I think the only thing that could have made these cookies better is if they were dipped in peanut butter – already planning that little experiment for tomorrow!

Ok, I need to head to bed. I’m usually off on Fridays, but I’m going into work tomorrow to catch up on a bunch of projects. And, there WILL be more food there tomorrow. You can run but you can’t hid from the Office Snack Monster!

Night everyone!

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