Soup And Sandwich

After only a few hours sleep, I was awake unable to go back to sleep. I got up and made myself a smoothie, a blueberry banana smoothie. I added some vanilla to this one too. The vanilla really makes the difference. I had been leaving it out since I was adding a teaspoon of vanilla instant pudding, but it still needs the extract. 

For lunch I had a bowl of my vegetable soup. Today is was more like stewp with less broth. I added a little water and a pinch more vegetable sea salt. I hope I can remember or figure out where I bought the sea salt. It has turned out to be the best ingredient to put in soups. Lucas even used it on his hamburger and said they were delicious.

I just had one bowl, plain, no crackers. I am so glad I went to the trouble of fixing this. You just can't get good vegetable soup from a can, but if you find some, please let me know.

For my afternoon snack, I had a cup of lemon Chobani yogurt a few vanilla wafers and the last of the fresh blueberries. 

The sweetness of the wafers and the fruit was very good with the tart lemon yogurt.

I just had a sandwich for dinner. I had some peppered tofurky deli slices that I needed to use. I toasted 2 slices of white bread and topped it with spinach leaves, 4 slices of tofurky, a slice of muenster cheese, a fresh baby bella mushroom sliced, and some Heluva Good Fiesta Dip. 

I also had a few sliced dill pickles, some rippled chips and more Fiesta dip for the chips. It was a pretty good dinner. 

Now I am going to bed. I'd intended to take a nap today, but never got around to it. I had no caffeine today, so that I could sleep, but I have a headache now.  I plan to do my deep breathing before bed. Have a great night/day!!!

End

Monday's Come Early

Morning came early today and bedtime is going to be late. Monday's always come early, right? I normally get up around 7:30am when I have to keep the girls early, but I decided to sleep until 8am and even that seemed way too early today. I went with the most simple breakfast possible that would include coffee. I knew I would definitely need coffee. I still just had half caff. coffee (2 cups) and I chose a store bought cinnamon roll to go with my coffee. We bought a box of 6 from Aldi. We've been getting these for years. They are quite good, even though they seem smaller than when we first started buying them. I had one and the girls split one. Mary also had cheese grits and Lexi had a bowl of Life cereal, she also finished off Mary's grits.

The girls were undoubtedly feeling as tired as I was this morning, both were moving kind of slow compared to usual. We watched Tangled and a cartoon version of Puss in Boots. After watching some tv, Mary took a nap.

I took the opportunity to fix myself some lunch and Lexi decided to have some as well. I had a Lean Cuisine Sante Fe Style Rice & Beans and Lexi had macaroni and cheese.

I mixed up my rice and beans once it was done. I added taco seasoning to it as well as some shredded Mexican blend cheese.

I had some Clancy's Tortilla Chips and used them for dipping my rice & beans. No these aren't quite as good as Dorito's, but they aren't bad and they served the purpose.

After lunch Mary was still sleeping away, so Lexi & I did crafts.

One of these things is not like the others,  

One of these things just doesn't belong,  

Can you tell which thing is not like the others  

By the time I finish my song?

 This is the crafts that Lexi and I worked on today. We didn't quite get finish, but this is what we have so far. In case you can't tell by now, we decided to make Sesame Street character puppets. So far we have Oscar, Grover, and, of course Elmo. We are planning to make two of each, so both girls have a set. We ran out of time to work on our puppets. We also ran out of popsicle sticks.

Mary woke up right before Lindsay came to pick up the girls. She had mac & cheese before leaving & both girls had there usual piece of dark chocolate. They are still working on valentine candy.

After the girls left, I had half a cinnamon raisin bagel with peanut butter and topped with some of TFM's Men's Omega3 Energy Mix.

I was glad I had the half bagel. Dinner was late. It took a while to make. I made vegetable soup with a potato, a can of diced tomatoes, a carrot, a stalk of celery, half a can of pinto beans, some diced green pepper, frozen peas, frozen corn, water, onion powder (out of onion), garlic powder, basil, bay leaf, parsley, and vegetable sea salt.

The potatoes cooked up fairly quick, but the carrots took a while. It was worth the wait. I had 2 bowls and a few saltines on the side. The best soup is homemade soup.

Well, it's later than usual, so I'd better cut this short and get to bed. Caffeine is sure doing it's job. Have a great night/day!!!

MorningStar Farms Meal Starters Chik'n Strips Review

I had an ice cold banana pudding smoothie for breakfast this morning. I remember to freeze a couple of sliced bananas. It also makes the smoothies really thick. Mine was like soft serve at first. By the time I got my glass and camera together the smoothie top had melted down. It was still cold and delicious by the time I drank it. 

I added a teaspoon of vanilla pudding mix and this time I didn't leave out the vanilla extract. The vanilla definitely makes the difference.

I had a few salty almonds and pecans I snagged from DH's can of deluxe mixed nuts while deciding what to have for lunch.

I had the other frozen French onion soup with a few pumpernickel croutons. This soup is so good. I know I'll be getting it again.

My back has been bothering me more today. I haven't taken the time to do my breathing exercises. I didn't do a lot around the house, but I can never totally do nothing. I think sitting on the couch is just as bad and anything else I do. I finally laid down for a while this afternoon, but that didn't help much either. I see ibuprofen in my future if it doesn't let up tonight. 

When I got up from my nap Lucas had made baked potatoes for dinner. He and DH were having buffalo wings with theirs. I decided to make buffalo style chicken strips using MorningStar Farms Chik'n Strips.

I've eaten these before and I'm sorry to say they are not my favorite. They are edible. I was hoping the buffalo treatment would improve them. I don't particularly care for the slightly rubbery texture. It is nothing like the Chik patties or nuggets they make. They are softer almost like scrambled egg. The flavor isn't all that great either. I basted them in a mixture of butter and Texas Pete and baked them in my toaster oven. It was better than eating them plain. The potato was the best part of the meal. I hadn't had one in a while. It's my favorite way to eat a potato. I eat skin and all. I drizzled the potato with leftover butter and Texas Pete. The side salad was made of iceberg, spinach, cucumber, carrot, and green onion. I used spicy ranch dressing. The chik'n strips still only got 3 stars. Gardeins Scallopini is so much tastier.

My dessert was 2 vanilla wafers and a few dried blueberries.

Well, I've stayed up long enough, too long really. I have an early day tomorrow and I also see coffee in my future. Have a great night/day!!!

Chick Flick Movie Night

 This morning I had another blueberry banana smoothie for breakfast. I have new straws also, colorful ones. They were all out of the plain boring straws. I used a blue one. It seemed the most fitting choice for a blueberry smoothie. I still haven't managed to use up all the vanilla instant pudding mix, so I threw a tsp. into my smoothie. A small package of instant pudding mix goes a long way for making smoothies.

For lunch I had a tofurky sandwich with Herr's Hot Sauce (Texas Pete) potato chips. I used four peppered tofurky deli slices, spinach, a slice of pepper jack cheese, mushrooms and some of the Heluva Good Fiesta Dip on lightly toasted white bread.

The sandwich, chips, and dip combines had just the right amount of heat. The dip makes a great condiment for my sandwiches. It's thick, flavorful, and not nearly as messy as salad dressing, of course, messy can be good sometimes.

I did some reading today in my book, "Two For The Dough" by Janet Evanovich. I love how quickly this one is going. I haven't been great about finishing up the blog at night in time to read before bed, so I'm trying to do a little reading during the day so that I may accomplish my goal of 20 books for the year. I set a fairly low goal, but still tried to keep it challenging. Goodreads sort of helps me stay accountable. 

Before dinner I made myself a cup of green tea, half decaf/half regular. I used 1 bag of the lemon ginseng and 1 bag of blackberry pomegranate. I've had a nagging headache on and off for 2 days. It decided to aggravate me right before dinner, so I decided to have a cup of tea to see if it would help. I thought the heat from the tea might be good if it were a sinus headache. I've been trying to avoid taking so many pain relievers. It's so easy just to grab the bottle of Motrin or Tylenol. I've found that if I take the time to do deep breathing exercises first, that most of the time I don't need to take anything. My back is still bothering me off and on as well. The breathing exercises have been a big help for relieving my back pain. 

For dinner I had Michelina's Sesame Lo Mein and an egg rolls. I'd forgotten that I'd had this once before. I can't believe I haven't gotten it again in such a long time. It is one of the few things that I've given 5 stars. I will definitely have to try and remember it. I don't find a lot of good frozen Asian style dinners. I mostly rely on the vegetable eggrolls for an Asian type meal, although the ones I really like don't have that authentic Asian feel, but they are good.

The lo mein however does seem a lot like what's you get at a restaurant.

It was girls night in at my house tonight. The guy were off at a shooting match, so I had the television all to myself. This meant I could watch anything I wanted. I took advantage of this by watching something they would never watch with me, that of course would be a "Chick Flick". I chose "Love And Other Disasters", mainly for the comedy. I like to watch something funny occasionally and most of the time it's in the form of a "Chick Flick". The movie has Brittany Murphy in it, who I think looks a bit sickly, because of the dark circles under her eyes. I did think she looked better in this movie, which may have been because she had dark hair rather than her usual blonde. This movie is not really your usual romantic comedy, but it wasn't bad. It's also not exactly what I prefer either. It was rated R and I usually prefer PG. I did give it 3 stars though.

Now this girl is going to bed. Have a great night/day!!!

Bremer Selects French Onion Soup Review

This morning I didn't get up much earlier than yesterday, but it was around 2am before I went to bed. I also didn't sleep very well. It was a little too warm for me. I sleep so much better when it's cool. One good thing about being unable to sleep is that breakfast is usually well planned. I had already decided what to have well before time to get up. I had planned to make myself a Banana Pudding Smoothie. I even added a teaspoon of the instant vanilla pudding mix to it instead of the vanilla extract. I may keep the vanilla in the next one just to see how it is. I loved how creamy and smooth the pudding made it. I used the last of the Chobani and my banana wasn't frozen. I do prefer the banana frozen, but it was still really good.

For lunch I tried Bremer Selects French Onion Soup. Love that is says Vegetarian, right on the front of the package. I still read the label. I can't help it. I'm a label reader. Are you? I like having an idea of what's in my food, even if it's something that's hard to pronounce.

Nutrition Facts
Bremer Selects (Aldi) - French Onion Soup

Calories     220     Sodium     1290 mg
Total Fat     11 g     Potassium     0 mg
Saturated     6 g     Total Carbs     18 g
Polyunsaturated     0 g     Dietary Fiber     2 g
Monounsaturated     0 g     Sugars     7 g
Trans     0 g     Protein     13 g
Cholesterol     30 mg          
Vitamin A     8%     Calcium     35%
Vitamin C     10%     Iron     4%

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

This is how the soup looks straight out of the freezer. There are two per package.

I had one. The soup comes with cheese and croutons already on top of the soup, but I made some extra croutons from a piece of pumpernickel bread. The soup is a little salty, but it is very good. The croutons included are quite soggy by the time the soup is cooked, but it's expected.

I would have preferred the cheese and croutons packaged separately, to be added at the end of cooking, but I really liked this soup regardless. If you don't like soggy bread, you probably won't care for it, but it's not that noticeable. There are lots of onions and it's cheesier than I'd expected.

It you throw in a few extra crispy croutons, you definitely won't think much about the soggy ones. I could have eaten the other serving, but one was enough to fill me up. I'm giving the soup 4 stars. It they start packaging the croutons & cheese separately, I'll up my rating. I do plan to buy this again.

We went out to Walmart this evening to pick up dogfood. I also picked up some more vanilla yogurt, Dannon this time. I eat a lot of yogurt, but I like it. We also got chips & dip to go with burgers. The guys had those "narsty" ones made with meat, while I had a MorningStar Farms Griller. I put some shredded iceberg on a bun, I carmelized some onion in the microwave with butter and put them on top of my burger that had melted muenster cheese over it.

We bought Heluva Good Fiesta Salsa Dip to go with our chips. I used some of the dip on my burger and added dill pickle slices last minute. The dip also gets 4 stars. It has little bits of veggies in it and a really nice flavor. Even kids would love it. It's not hot.

Since it's Friday, I treated myself to the Russell Stover Dark Chocolate Coconut Cream Egg I had in the freezer. I ate it while it was still frozen. It was pretty good that way. I also had a few raisins while uploaded photos.

Well, I'm not getting to bed any earlier tonight. Luckily I don't have to be up early in the morning, but I suppose I will have to be eventually, so I need to get this straightened out. Wish me luck. Have a great night/day!!!

Fusia Asian Inspirations Miso Soup Bowl Review

I definitely slept in this morning. It was 10:45 when I finally got up. I normally don't sleep that late, but I was sleeping pretty good. I could have slept longer if I hadn't saw what time it was. My breakfast became a snack to tide me over until lunch. I had a big cup of the Benner Lemon & Ginseng tea to get me going and a small bowl with part of a pink lady apple some Quaker Oatmeal Squares cereal and a few plain almonds.

I tried the Fusia Asian Inspirations Miso Soup Bowl that I got at Aldi. It's Udon noodles with tofu and scallions in a blend of rich miso.

It looks a lot like the Udon Soup Bowl I had the other day (noodles, seasoning packet and dried vegetables), but the sauce in the seasoning packet was thicker and a bit milky looking.

The little dried vegetable square also looks similar to the one from the Udon noodles. This one contains scallion, spinach, and tofu.

I added some sliced baby portabella mushrooms, which I cooked in a little of the broth for 2 minutes in the microwave.

The tofu in this is hardly noticeable. The broth, I liked better than the broth in the Udon soup, but it was still very different than most broths. I'm not sure what it is about it, but it sort of tastes as if there might be a bit of vinegar in it, but just a hint, a sort of sour tast. I'm just not sure it's vinegar, but that's what it makes me think of. It's not bad, but definitely different.

The mushrooms help give the soup some character, otherwise it just looks like noodles and broth. What is funny about the soup is the way I eat it. I have to take my glasses off or else I wind up with speckles of broth all over them. I instinctively suck in the long noodles like spaghetti, but because of the broth it's a bit sloppy. I had to keep reminding myself not to do that. I finally just gave up and took my glasses off until I finished. I am also giving this soup 3 stars, even though the broth in this one is a little better than in the Udon Soup Bowl, it's still not good enough to say I really liked it, which is what would bring it up to the 4 star rating.

For my evening snack I had half a cinnamon raisin bagel from the freezer. It wasn't a Panera bagel unfortunately, but one I'd gotten from the grocery store a while back. It's not like a real bagel, but it was alright. I spread on some peanut butter and topped it with some chopped dates and some raisins, cranberries, & seeds from my TFM Men's Omega3 Energy Mix. It was actually better than I was expecting.

I also made a cup of decaf blackberry pomegranate green tea to wash it down.

I wanted to eat some of my Peppered Tofurky for dinner, but didn't really want a sandwich. I did want one of my pita pockets, but not stuffed. I tried that and it just didn't work for me, so I made salad of bagged iceberg salad, sliced muenster cheese, peppered tofurky, and chopped dill pickle slices. I had some fresh broccoli on the side and drizzled it all with light ranch dressing.

It was really good this way and not nearly as messy. I toasted my pita a little and cut it into small triangles just to make it more manageable.

I had a few raisins while typing this up. Now I'm finished, plan to read a bit and then I'm off to bed. Have a great night/day!!!  

Have you tried any great vegetarian products lately? I'd love to know some of your favorites. I'm always looking for new things to try.