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A Two Dessert Kind of Night…

September 9, 2009 by

Ok, gang. I’ve had a pretty tiring day as I’m sure many of you have had. On a brighter note, I just booked my trip to San Diego for October! Although the trip is for work, I’m hoping to see a few of the sites, visit with my brother and his family, and try pinkberry frozen yogurt for the FIRST time. It’s the little things that excite me, can’t you tell!

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It’s probably good that there are no pinkberry stores in Illinois or else I might be addicted to froyo by now!  If you have a favorite pinkberry flavor combo, let me know!

Before I go to San Diego, I have to finish ALL of my big projects related to the San Diego trip – ha! So, this afternoon, I went from project to project, working, editing, reworking, etc. I seriously have not had this much work to do since I was in grad school, but at least I’m getting paid for it this time. 

By the time I arrived home, it was 6:30 PM and I was exhausted. Thankfully, my dear hubby had dinner nearly ready….

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He grilled what he calls rustic chicken, with rosemary and other spices. He also made mashed red potatoes and fresh green beans. Ahh, just what I needed – a home-cooked meal.

My long, frustrating day quickly became a two dessert night…

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I had a small piece of the apple cake I made yesterday and a brownie leftover from Sunday. I am so glad this day is almost over so that I start fresh tomorrow.

I’m off to bed. Good night all!

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Sweet Smell of Apple Cake Success

September 8, 2009 by

Evening everyone! Well, I am very happy to report that my first-ever homemade apple cake turned out great! Other than slightly over baking it, it was very moist on the inside and has a super yummy apple cinnamon and sugar flavor!

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After an hour of baking, I let it cool for about 10 minutes and cut into it just to see what the inside look like. I was skeptical at first because the crust looked so thick and bland. But after cutting into it, I could see the very cake-like texture and was quite pleased with myself. 

Then, we were off to see Harry Potter in IMAX. I love this movie! It was incredible how much they were able to include from the book (although they did leave quite a bit of the unnecessary story lines out). I even became teary-eyed in a few parts. That was the first time I’d every gotten choked up at a Harry Potter movie – ha!

After the movie, I went shopping for a few hours as part of my last hurrah for vacation. I went to Lucy to see if the store had any good sales. The sales girl convinced me to try on one of their petite size new Hatha yoga pants. They looked fantastic! But, then I looked at the price tag – $88! I love yoga and Lucy, but $88 on yoga pants? I think I’ll pass.

Scott was teaching again tonight so I made a few leftovers for dinner…

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I had homemade fried chicken, veggies that I picked from the pasta salad, and some freshly-made Trader Joe’s white cheddar shells and cheese. I really love mac and cheese, and Trader Joe’s has one of the best all-natural, organic boxed mac and cheese that I’ve tried.

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Then, for the BIG finnish… Apple Cake!

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Ahhh, so yummy! Not exactly like my mom’s famous recipe (in our family it’s famous!), but it was truly very good. I took one small piece, dusted it with powdered sugar and added one small scoop of Breyer’s natural vanilla ice cream. A practically perfect September dessert!

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As for this recipe, I can’t take all of the credit. The Betters Homes and Gardens cookbook did help me quite a bit. I took the BH&G recipe and modified it slightly to make my own version of the cake, ie. used walnuts instead of pecans, used nutmeg instead of allspice, etc. Not bad for my first time!

Now, I’m off to bed. It’s going to be hard going to work tomorrow after being gone for 5 days!

Have a great night all!

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Farewell To Summer And Peach Pie à la Mode

September 7, 2009 by

I can hardly believe that Summer 2009 is over! It went by so fast that I feel like I didn’t get enough time to enjoy it. I guess I shouldn’t be too sad since we are heading into my favorite season of all – Autumn!  From apples, to leaves, to pumpkins, there are so many things that I love about this time of year. I’m sure you’ll be hearing about my favorites for the next few months – he he!

Today was a gorgeous day for Labor Day! It was 75 degrees and sunny – just perfect for sitting in the backyard enjoying the last sounds of summer. Before heading out for our Labor Day dinner, I had a small lunch of leftover veggie pasta salad. I really wasn’t that hungry and I knew that we’d be eating an early dinner.

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Then, we left for my in-law’s house which is about 45 minutes away. I did happen to enjoy a Starbuck’s Frap along the way – a Labor Day treat to myself!

We spent most of Labor Day at my in-law’s house chatting, laughing, and eating. I was content just to sit on the double swing outside, reading a magazine, and watching the kids run around. And, while sitting outside, we snacked on some of my father-in-law’s homemade salsa…

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So goood! Even though salsa is very low in calories, the accompanying tortilla chips are not, and I had way too many. Good thing I’m planning another 40 min/5-mile run tomorrow.

For dinner, Scott’s parents prepared a family favorite, Chili Verde made with pork loin and green chilies, which give the dish it’s rich green color.

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Chili Verde is customarily served over rice (at least in my husband’s family it is) and with a side of homemade pinto beans and soft tortillas. I’m not a huge Chili Verde fan and never have been, but tonight it was extra good and a little spicy. I really had to make myself stop at one serving, especially because I wanted to save room for dessert…

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Homemade summer peach pie! My father-in-law makes some of the best fruit-pies (and other desserts) that I’ve ever eaten. I’m lucky that he shares the recipes with me but even luckier that he takes the time to make these treats for his family.

I had the peach pie with one scoop of Edy’s slow-churned vanilla bean ice cream, which has about 100 calories per 1/2 cup – not bad. The peach pie and ice cream combo was amazing! I have only ever had peach pie that my father-in-law has made – I’d hate to try any other for fear that I’d be disappointed!

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Tomorrow is my first vacation day in about 2 months and my last until the week of Thanksgiving! It really is nice having an extra long weekend to do things around the house while having a little fun too. So, on my much needed vacation day, I plan to finally see the latest Harry Potter film at the IMAX theatre. I am a huge Harry Potter fan – read all of the books 2-3 times, seen all of the movies, etc. I seriously can’t believe I’ve waited this long to see the Half-Blood Prince. Of course I know what happens because I read the book, but it’s always fun to see how they adapt each book into a movie. Can’t wait!

I need to run out again tonight to return some library books and to pick up a few things at the store for an apple coffee cake. It seems like I am always going to the grocery store!

Have a great night and I’ll see you in the AM!

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Oh, What a Beautiful Day

September 6, 2009 by

I had such an awesome and very tiring day! I began with a morning run, but this was not like my typical Sunday morning run. I ran for over 50 minutes and logged just over 6 miles. It’s such a great feeling knowing that I’m running faster and increasing my pace.

I usually don’t eat anything before I run (there are pros and cons to this) but I decided to eat something today. I knew I wanted to elevate my performance and would probably need some extra calories to help.

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I ate 1/2 of a LUNA bar for women – the caramel nut brownie flavor. It has 9g of protein and 4g of fiber – perfect for a prerun snack. The bar itself was mighty tasty with a nice chocolate flavor.

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I then laced up my shoes and headed out the door. I made a deal with my legs that if they were too tired to run a full 45 minutes then we could stop at 35 or 40. But, at 40 minutes, my legs and whole body felt great so I went past 50 minutes – hooray! The only reason why I didn’t run longer was because we had a TON of things to do today and I really couldn’t spend anymore time running. 

Immediately after my run, I did some stretching and a 15-minute ab workout (what I do after each run). By this time, I was so completely ravenous that I ate the second 1/2 of the LUNA bar followed by a big bowl of mixed cereal.

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Cheerios Multigrain and Kashi Go Lean Crunch with flaxseed and blueberries, to be exact. On the side, I had a little shot of wellness from Zola..

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Before heading out this evening, we had a huge list of things to accomplish:

  • Clean the house, including the basement
  • Grocery store run
  • Eat lunch
  • Laundry
  • Make food for event: fried chicken, pasta salad, brownies
  • Write blog post
  • Pack car for event

Whew, I’m tired just thinking about all of the things we did today! Lunch was nothing too fancy because there just wasn’t enough time for fancy…

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I had my leftover Mediterranean salad from yesterday and also a Vienna Beef all-natural, nitrate-free hot dog with a few Mezzetta peppers on top. And of course, low-fat Cape Cod chips were on the menu!

By 4:30 PM, the food was ready and the car was packed to go to our final outdoor music event of the summer. We went to listen to a local orchestra play the music of Rogers and Hammerstein. If they don’t sound familiar to you, R&H did the scores for such musicals as The King and I, Carousel, The Sound of Music, Oklahoma, and South Pacific. The vocalists, accompanied by the orchestra, sang several songs from each musical, but I only recognized a handful:

  • Title song – Sound of Music
  • Getting to Know You – The King and I
  • Some Enchanted Evening – South Pacific
  • Overture – South Pacific
  • Oh, What a Beautiful Morning – Oklahoma

In fact, there were so many songs that my husband and I didn’t know (and we both like musicals so that’s saying a lot) that he dubbed this the night of obscure Rogers and Hammerstein songs.

For our picnic-style dinner, we started with white cheddar cheese and crackers – I had more than my share of these…

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We then feasted on homemade fried chicken, courtesy of my husband using his mother’s recipe. We also had homemade pasta salad made with a ton of fresh veggies and Trader Joe’s organic tricolored pasta.

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I did eat a few other things, but by this time in the evening it was so dark that my pictures were not turning out very well, even with the flash. I had a few chunks of juicy watermelon, a couple small but delicious chocolate chip cookies that my father-in-law brought from Panera, and a big cup of lemony frozen yogurt. I was so cold after I was finished eating the yogurt that I was shivering!

I am home now and am sooo ready to go to bed. We have a busy day again tomorrow. The guys are NOT going golfing as planned but we are headed to an early Labor Day dinner at my in-laws

See you in the AM All!

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Walnuts – Small in Size, Big on Nutrition

September 4, 2009 by

Hey Friends! My hair is officially shorter than it was this morning thanks to a brand spankin’ new haircut! I do like it, but it’s styled a little too flat for me right now (and that’s saying a lot since I like my hair straight) so I decided to wait until tomorrow to take a photo.

Prior to my haircut I ran to the grocery store and to Trader Joe’s just to pick up a few odds and ends, including Yogi antioxidant green tea which my husband loves. For lunch, I originally made a simple sandwich, but then doctored it up with a few Mezzetta red pepper slices and provolone cheese…

9.4 lunch

For some reason, I’ve been in a potato chip mood lately. Today, I had more of the Cape Cod low-fat plain potato chips – love them!

After lunch, I was able to get a little work done answering emails and even doing a little house work. Then, I actually sat outside in the warm sun and read my new Real Simple magazine – and I just happened to have a Starbucks mocha frap in my hand at the same time. I’m such a multi-tasker like that.

Friday nights are typically my night to cook. But, whenever Friday rolls around, I never seem to want to cook anything. Tonight followed that same pattern. So instead of me cooking the planned chicken stir fry, we opted for pizza takeout. I know, it’s such a cliché Friday night dinner, but it was gourmet pizza!

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My husband and I split a plank-style pizza. His half had pepperoni, spinach, and red peppers; mine had spinach, goat cheese, red peppers, mushrooms, and pesto sauce. I’ve had this many times before and it is so awesome each time I order it.

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I was pretty full after I finished my pizza (all but two pieces) but just a few minutes ago I decided to end the night with a little spumoni….

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I had about 3/4 cup Edy’s spumoni and added about 1 tbsp of walnuts to the cold, creamy treat. I’ve been adding walnuts to everything lately – well, nearly everything. Most people know that walnuts, and many other nuts, are high in fiber and good fats (MUFA). But, new research from the Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that walnuts may actually help lower cholesterol more than fish. I am so glad to hear that news because I do NOT like fish, but LOVE walnuts. Finally, I have an argument for not eating fish!

Tomorrow, we are headed apple picking with my husband’s whole family. It’s a tradition we started a few years ago. After that, we all go out to lunch, then head home to start out apple-treat baking. I think a homemade apple pie is in my near future. Stay tuned for a recipe!

Have a great night all.

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New Research: Popcorn as Healthy as Vegetables

September 2, 2009 by

Hello All! Well, I never ended up going for my walk. I was hoping to walk to a new farmer’s market about a 1/2 mile from the office. But, when I was about to head out, I decided to double check how late it was open. Sure enough, it’s only open until 1 PM and it just happened to be 12:45 PM! Bummer. So, I opted to stay at the office and continue to work – not very fun, but fairly productive.

But, I did snack on some really tasty popcorn….

8.2 popcorn

It was just the microwavable kind with butter and salt, but I also added a little black pepper – so good!

There was a time when I would eat popcorn nearly every day at work. But then I became burned out on it and stopped eating it altogether. Now, I enjoy a few cups every now and then. Popcorn is actually a great alternative snack to pretzels and chips because it has way more fiber. And, my popcorn only had 25 calories per popped cup.

Not only does popcorn have more fiber, but new research presented last month at a meeting of the American Chemical Society found that popcorn has surprisingly large amounts of the healthy antioxidant, polyphenols. Polyphenols, which are commonly found in fruits, vegetables, chocolate, wine, coffee, and tea, are known for protecting against cardiovascular disease and reducing the risk of cancer. Further tests showed that popcorn contains similar levels of the antioxidants per gram as fruits and veggies. Who would have thought that popcorn would be as healthy as a salad!

For dinner, I had intended to make BBQ chicken and grilled sweet potatoes, but I arrived home later than expected AND the chicken wasn’t defrosted. Don’t you hate that?! I had to make a fast executive decision – we were going to have homemade pasta sauce instead.

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And even that took longer than expected – and all I had to do was warm up the sauce! We didn’t eat until about 7:30 PM which is really late for us. I swear we’re not that old, we just don’t like to eat late.

Now I’m enjoying some of Edy’s Spumoni ice cream – one of my husband’s favorites.

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He says that he likes to eat it after having Italian food because it “settles the stomach”. This is just one of my husband’s many justifications for eating ice cream and other not so healthy foods.

Ok, now I’m off to bed. We have our annual staff appreciation luncheon tomorrow, and you know what that means…more food! I’m hoping we have a few healthy selections on the menu, but what can you really hope for with free food?

Have a great night everyone!

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Free Week of Yoga During National Yoga Month

September 1, 2009 by

Hey there. I’ve had such a long day. It seemed like it was never going to end. It doesn’t help that it was 72 degrees and sunny outside and I wasn’t able to get out for lunch. I kept hearing people say how gorgeous it was outside, so I decided to leave work earlier than planned.

Seeing as September is National Yoga Month, I headed to an outdoor mall near my house to check out the new yoga and running lines at Lucy and the Gap.

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Me, in my most comfortable yoga pose and clothes!

Lucy had a bunch of brand new yoga and running gear – in fact they were just putting out some cool new t-shirts when I arrived. Lucy gear at full price is way too expensive for my budget so I have to wait for things to go on sale – I’m sure more than one of you can relate. On the other hand, the Gap had hardly anything on display, except for yoga pants, which was a big disappointment. Maybe I just need to go to their new affiliate store Athleta to fill my yoga and running gear needs.

On another note, both Lucy and Athleta have online communities that you can participate in by adding comments to a blog or attending events, etc. Way cool!

And, if you’re interested in trying yoga during National Yoga Month, check out Yogamonth.org. They have a promotion running right now where you can attend a free week of yoga classes in September at a studio near your house. You just fill out the form and it brings up all of the participating studios near your zip code.

Well, after my short and fruitless shopping excursion, I picked up dinner at Noodles cafe and headed home.

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I had a cup of tomato basil soup to which I added a bunch of fresh crumbled feta cheese. I’ve never had Noodle’s tomato basil soup before but I could have sworn this looked, smelled, and even tasted like tomato sauce and NOT tomato basil soup. I’m almost wondering if they gave me a scoop of their marinara sauce and not the soup! It was ok enough to eat though, but not what I expected. I also made a little homemade hummus bread…

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I took two very small pieces of leftover ciabatta bread and spread about 2 tbsp of red pepper hummus on top, then sprinkled the bread with fresh crumbled feta. The hummus bread was great alone and also for dipping in the soup!

There were too many rice krispy treats left from last night’s dessert, so I thought I’d have a couple more to help us get rid of them faster – he he!

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I even added a dollop of MaraNatha all-natural creamy peanut butter to give my krispy a little protein and MUFA kick. The only thing that would have made this simple dessert better is melted chocolate. Hmmm….maybe tomorrow!

I’m off to do a little magazine reading and then, hopefully, hitting the sack early tonight.

Take care everyone and see you in the AM!

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A Childhood Favorite

August 31, 2009 by

Evening everyone. I had a super productive afternoon at work reviewing a bunch of health and medical studies that will be coming out next week. I also edited a few product videos that will be released in the next month or so. See – you can accomplish quite a bit on a Monday – even without Starbucks!

Late this afternoon, i snacked on some yogurt that I brought from home…

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I had Trader Joe’s nonfat Greek yogurt, blueberry flavor. I swear this yogurt tastes like blueberry muffin batter – no joke!

I didn’t get home from work until nearly 6:15 PM (again – ugh!). Even though I was pressed for time, I was able to make the fastest turkey tacos ever. They were on the table, ready to eat by 6:45 PM. Snappy, snappy!

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They were also really tasty. My taco consisted of a bunch of chopped roma tomatoes; at least a cup of red leaf lettuce; Tillamook Vermont white cheddar cheese; taco meat made with ground turkey, yellow and green bell peppers, onions, and taco spices; and a big dollop of Wholly Guacamole – all on a whole wheat soft tortilla – so YUM!

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For dessert, I made a childhood favorite, Rice Krispy Treats..

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I like to make them using about 3/4 of the butter that it calls for in order to cut down on some of the unneeded fat. I also added a few red and blue sprinkles to this batch just to give the krispies some color and add a little fun!

Now, I’m headed to bed…need to be up by 6 AM for my very cold run – it’s supposed to be 45 degrees tomorrow morning. There may even be a frost…I can’t believe it will only be September 1!

Also stay tuned tomorrow as I start my own daily shot of wellness with Zola juice shots. 

Have a great night everyone.

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Thanksgiving in August

August 28, 2009 by

Evening everyone. Because it has been raining for most of the day, I didn’t feel at all guilty about deciding to stay home all afternoon. I had a great afternoon catching up on emails and on reading. However, I did make a special trip to the market to prepare for our “Thanksgiving in August” dinner. Confused? Let me explain…

For the last few weeks, my husband has been going on and on about wanting turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy. He gets like this around this time every year – where he craves Thanksgiving dinner in the summer. Well, Thanksgiving is over 3 months away, but I thought I’d humor him…

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For dinner, I went to Fresh Market, a gourmet market near our house, and bought a white wine and herb rotisserie chicken. I paired the fresh white meat chicken with mashed red potatoes and super sweet carrots. I also made a little homemade chicken gravy on the side.

Everything tasted fantastic but the mashed potatoes were especially good. After I boiled them, I added a little butter, a little skim milk, and a bunch of chicken broth to make them really creamy – soo goood!

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My husband, of course, loved the meal, and even offered to make dessert – double chocolate Ghirardelli brownies.

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He also added some walnuts for extra MUFA. These are by far our favorite brownies because they are so full of chocolate. I’ve tried several times to make brownies from scratch, and they either turn out really dry or really mushy. If anyone has a great recipe for brownies, I’d love to get it!

Ok, I’m off to bed now. We’ve got a busy day tomorrow, that all begins with yoga at 8 AM!

Night all!

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The Secret is in the Sauce

August 24, 2009 by

Hello All! Hope you had a great day. My whole day flew by today, probably because I was super focused and productive. 

Unfortunately, I was not able to get out for lunch so I just ended up eating at my desk – blah!

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But, at least I had something good to eat – homemade chili with beans, grape tomatoes, and spinach! It was just enough to push me through to the late afternoon. But, around 4 PM, I started to get a little hungry so I grabbed a quick and healthy snack…

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An Oikos Greek yogurt – vanilla flavor with a 1/2 Nature Valley All-Natural Oats and Honey granola bar mixed in. The granola bar was kind of an impromptu snack – there were a bunch of granola bars leftover from a meeting and I was able to snag a couple before they were all gone!

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I didn’t end up leaving work until after 5:30 PM because I really wanted to finish the project I was working on. I never ended up finishing it, but I came pretty close.

By the time I arrived home, it was after 6 PM. To my surprise, my husband had spent most of the day making his famous homemade pasta sauce. I swore that I would not disclose the recipe, but let’s just say it’s made with a whole lot of tomatoes, ground turkey, and a bunch of other fresh ingredients.

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The recipe has been handed down over three generations and really hasn’t changed much in the process. But one thing is for sure, the art of making the sauce takes quite a bit of time so my husband literally quadruples the recipe, which makes 12 quarts. Luckily, we have an extra huge sauce pot to fit it all in!

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The sauce can be used for a number of different dishes, including baked ziti, lasagna, meatball sandwiches, or just plain pasta and sauce. Tonight, we had the sauce over Trader Joe’s whole wheat rotini noodles with a side of steamed carrots. Totally yum!

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We always end up freezing at least 10 containers (thankfully we have two freezers!). It makes for a tasty and quick midweek dinner, and can easily be beefed up with a salad or other veggies on the side. And, if we ration out the sauce just right, all of these leftovers may last us until Christmas! 

After dinner, I had to run a bunch of errands. I was able to get to the library, Costco for gas, and 3 other stores all in 1 hour – and I was even driving the speed limit! My last stop was Barnes and Noble to pick up a cookie at the request of my chef-of-a-husband. I did have a about 1/4 of the giant chocolate chunk cookie with some skim milk (not pictured) and it made for a nice bedtime treat.

Now, it’s off to bed for me. As a reminder, check out RWC on alltop, I am now listed! Yeah!

Night everyone!

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