More Energy Less Appetite

Sunny and 64 degrees this morning. I was awake shortly before my alarm went off. It took forever to get to sleep last night. I was surprised that I felt as well rested as I do, especially since I was late getting to bed in the first place. I guess it's about quality and not quantity.

Still avoiding dairy in the morning temporarily, I had another round of Cinnamon Roll Toast. This time I used sliced bread. It was homemade bread Dale bought at the flea market. I'm not sure what kind. It was sort of football shaped, so I slice it on the diagonal, spread it with cinnamon butter on both sides and grilled it in my iron skillet. It was yummy.

 

I actually made 3 pieces, two for me, one for Lucas. I also had a MorningStar Farms veggie sausage, my last one.

I concentrated on the kitchen yesterday, as far as cleaning goes, I'm trying to declutter it. It seems quite a few things have found a permanent home on my counter tops. After working in the kitchen some I did my own version of Zumba in my living room. I put on my Zumba playlist, got my weights and had my own private party. It wasn't quite as intense, but it was more than I have been doing lately. I think doing my exercise may help energize me. I always feel so sleepy during the day. I did feel sleepy, before I did my Zumba yesterday, but not afterwards.

I had more afternoon energy and less of an appetite for some reason. I did eat a big lunch. I finished off my leftover mac & cheese, along with a salad on the side. I had iceberg lettuce, white cucumber, broccoli, carrot & cherry tomatoes.

 

 

I had light ranch for my salad dressing.

I spent most of my afternoon reading and more working in the kitchen. I was down to the end of the book I've been reading, Before I Go To Sleep. It's even harder to put down when you get to the end of a mystery, where everything is coming together and you finally find out what's going on. The ending left me wanting a little more information, it was sort of blunt for a book that isn't part of a series. It wasn't a bad ending, I was just hoping for a little more to it.

I had the last dab of my butter pecan blizzard while reading. I'd eaten more of it before than I thought. There wasn't a lot left in the cup. I wasn't a big fan of their butter pecan anyway. I prefer more "stuff", less ice cream. I've alway bought vanilla ice cream and then added lots of topping, nuts, pretzels, fruit, etc. What kind of ice cream do you like, any add ins?

I read & read & read, until my eyes got blurry. I took a break and heated me 2 cheese rolls, the last two, burning them slightly. I went back to my book after eating the rolls. They wound up being dinner. I finished my book and wasn't really hungry for anything else after that.

I watched one episode of Hack on Netflix, uploaded my photos and got ready for bed. By the time I was finished, it was later than I expected. It would have been nice if, I'd went straight to sleep, but at least I slept well, once I did. Have you read any good books, watched a good movie? Leave a comment. I'd love to see who's out there. Introduce yourself. Feel free to subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter and I have a StumbleUpon button and a +1 button you can click, if you like any of my posts. Thanks for taking a look. Hope to hear from you. Happy Thursday!

Hung Up On Cinnamon

This is a sleepy morning. I think the sun my come out, but it rained most of the night, storms with lots of thunder and static-y bolts of bright lightning running across the sky.

I'm also feeling hungry this morning, incentive to finish up quickly. Since I can't have dairy with my meds, smoothies for breakfast are out. I would have liked another cinnamon roll, but those are long gone. Yesterday I decided to have my quick version of the cinnamon roll, cinnamon roll toast. It's a little different, but it satisfies that need for cinnamon and sugar and tastes similar enough.

 

It's super cinnamon toast, which I made using a hamburger bun yesterday. The recipe actually calls for it to be grilled on both sides in a pan, but I just did these on one side under the broiler in my toaster oven, the taller one getting a little over brown, but still edible.

 

I do think the pan method get you a little closer to the real thing, but I prefer using thick slices of bread instead of the normal paper thin bread from the grocery store. Texas toast, if you can find it, works very well or a denser homemade bread, even better, but mainly it's about using what you've got.

Lunch was leftovers, mixed veggies and hash brown casserole.

 

 

I had a smoothie before time for Zumba, since I didn't get one in the morning. I did an apple crisp smoothie with peanut butter. The cinnamon in this is what I was craving. It wasn't quite as satisfying as I had hoped. The peanut butter didn't work out. I think I prefer the apples with yogurt and cereal in a bowl. The apples I've had lately were especially grainy when blended up and it didn't blend up as creamy as usual for some reason.

 

You can see a lot of the apple peel in this one. I may have used too much ice.

I got ready and went to Zumba just before the storms. Since Lindsay wasn't going, Lucas had planned to drop me out, run to the store and come back to wait in the parking lot until I finished. I'd taken my phone, but left it on the charger in the car since it wasn't charged and he was coming right back. I went in as he left, only to find class had been canceled, possibly for the week, I'm not sure. I missed Thursday and I was the only one who showed up. There is a lot that goes on there, so there was other groups there for other things. 

The storm was getting closer as I waited outside for Lucas to return. I finally had to go inside with the group that was there and wait because the lightning was so bad and the rain poured in under the shelter I was standing under. Finally Lucas returned and I got in and we went back home. I was disappointed. I am not staying without my phone ever again. I guess I will also call my sister in law, next time before I go, she usually knows what they are doing. 

I was still full from the smoothie when I got home. I didn't want anything else and it wasn't long until bed time. I watched a little tv, uploaded photos, read my ebook and went to bed. I do believe I will skip the ebook at night if I don't start earlier. Seven hours sleep is not enough for me. I think I am an 8 hour person. Now I am off to fill my tummy. What did you have for breakfast? Happy Wednesday!

Cinnamon Roll Toast Recipe

This is delicious and easy. Takes cinnamon toast to a whole nother level. Great for when you want a cinnamon roll in a hurry. You can use whatever bread you like, here I used hamburger buns.

10 min | 5 min prep
SERVES 1

• 2 slices bread (I prefer thick slices, but either works)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons butter

*Glaze:

• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons water or milk
• 1/8 teaspoon vanilla
  

1. Mix glaze ingredients together and set aside.
2. **Melt butter in microwave for 15 seconds.
3. Mix cinnamon with melted butter.
4. Using a pastry brush, brush both sides of bread with cinnamon butter.
5. Place bread in a moderately hot skillet, grill until lightly toasted or slightly crisp.
6. Turn and do the same to the other side.
7. Drizzle glaze over hot toast.
   

Note: For me this makes more glaze than needed. I could get 2 or more servings out of it. You can also spread cinnamon butter on hamburger buns, etc and place under the broiler.

*If glaze is too thick add milk in ¼ tsp. increments until desired consistency is reached.

** I've found that I prefer mixing the cinnamon with spread butter and spreading it on, either way works.

One Thing Leads To Another

I am just way to easily sidetracked this morning. Since I've gotten up, I've done everything, but what I should have been doing and now I am on an even tighter schedule than usual. Why do I do this to myself?

Yesterday's breakfast was cream puffs with strawberries. We also had these on Sunday, not sure if I mentioned that before. I brought some home as leftovers. They were frozen, but not when I got home. I won't be bringing them as leftovers anymore. I like them frozen. I'm not crazy about soggy cream puffs. I ate them for breakfast just to get rid of them. They weren't bad, but the long they sat in the fridge the worse they would be. I also have a tub of cool whip and nothing to eat it with. These didn't need it, they were full of it, lol.

 

 

I also found out I can't have dairy within 2 hours of my meds, which really sux. No, smoothies for breakfast. I had to wait 2 hours after breakfast to take them and they are suppose to be taken with food. I waited until lunch and this was a little dairy as I could do. I will be glad when I am done with those pills.

I had my leftover Gardein Hot Wings and creamy cucumbers & broccoli. Yummy, but not how I'd planned to have my hot wings.

 

I heated the hot wings in the microwave. I should have thrown them back in a pan. I like the a little crispy on the edges. I really hate a microwave, but I'm impatient.

 

I had my last cinnamon roll for dessert. I should have eaten Lucas' first saved it for breakfast, no, I should have taken more, either way, I would have one now.

Dinner was salad and cheese rolls. I heated those in the toaster oven. I couldn't bear to put them in the microwave. My salad was partially leftover with spinach, cucumber, broccoli & carrot. I used light ranch for dressing.

Today is Zumba day! I am so ready for Zumba. I still wish we could go more often. I have managed to put back on the 3 lbs. I'd lost. There is no losing weight around here. I don't have time for that rant. Well, guess I'm outa here. I will be back tomorrow. Have an awesome day!

Cinnamon Roll Sunday

We had a great day yesterday, I got home finished up some cleaning before uploading photos & Lucas got a couple more hours of sleep, before he had to leave for his third shift job. He was happy about that too. I slept pretty good last night, but I still have a hard time getting up. I did have sense enough to get in bed early last night. I also figured out a way around blogger's save glitch. It did alright as long as I closes the page instead of hitting save and leaving it open in the browser.

I had another banana smoothie yesterday, but I did the banana nut version instead, granted it is good, I still prefer the banana pudding version. I did have to use pecans in this one, since I was out of walnuts, but I actually like pecans better in general.

 

I was in a cinnamon mood yesterday for some reason. My favorite way to get my morning cinnamon fix is usually with an apple yogurt cereal bowl, sprinkled with cinnamon and drizzled with peanut butter, now that's an awesome way to get your cinnamon on.

 

We had a few of our Sunday dinner goers poop out on us. All I can say is they missed out. We had some yummy food. There were barbecued pork ribs for the meat eaters.

 

Fried Chicken

 

Hash brown potato casserole. I think I like this better with the hash browns instead of sliced potatoes and I think it was easier to make.

 

Macaroni & Cheese

 

Mixed Stir Fry Veggies

 

We had a nice salad, but for some reason all I got a shot of was the lettuce. We also had peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, broccoli, & feta cheese. We also made my French Dressing to go with. Love me some feta.

 

There was an assortment of rolls as well. We had Cheese stuffed, pepperoni stuffed, and plain.

 

I filled my plate until food was falling off. I had a cheese stuffed roll, salad with all the fixin's, stir fry veggies and potato casserole. My only probably was that I ate so much I couldn't have dessert right away.

 

You can imagine my disappointment. Dessert was these gorgeous homemade cinnamon rolls, stuffed with pecans and raisins, which Lynda made. I had to settle for an off camera cup of decaf since I was too full. Lynda & I did have a bite of one, which made it worse because then I knew what I was missing. Next time I'm starting with dessert and ending with dinner.

 

That's exactly what I did at home later. I had 2 of the small cinnamon rolls. Lucas had 2 before going to works. They were so yummy.

 

I could have eaten more, but instead I had some of the leftovers, I'd brought home. I had the mac & cheese this time with salad and some of the French dressing. I forgot to get a little of the feta, dadgummit!

 

That mac & cheese really hit the spot though.

I got my pictures upload and posted to a draft and even managed to get a little reading in before bed. I am reading "Before I Go To Sleep", by S. J. Watson. It's sort of a mystery, which is very interesting. I do have to make myself stop reading. It always getting to something good just as it's time to stop reading. Well, it time to go. Hope you enjoyed our dinner photos as much as I enjoyed eating it all. Now I'm going to grab some breakfast. Happy Monday!

Gardein Buffalo Wings Review

Not fully awake this morning. I stayed up late, watched tv, & worked on the blog so that I wouldn't have much to do this morning, only to wake and find blogger didn't save any of my work. They are really pissing me off. It really might be worth starting over to switch to Wordpress.

Yesterday I had a Strawberry Fit & Active Fruit & Cereal Bar for breakfast. I was hungry and didn't want to wait until after my post, so I grabbed one of these instead. This is more of an emergency breakfast. I don't think I would want this otherwise. It was too sweet and for some reason, I'm just not a fan.

I had my Chinese dinner leftovers for lunch. As leftovers the broccoli in garlic sauce lost something. It just wasn't as good the next day. It didn't seem to have as much flavor and the rice as sort of dried out a little. I sprinkled the rice with a little water before heating to remedy the dryness, and sprinkled the broccoli with a little lite soy sauce to cure it's ailment. Maybe I'll ask if I can get a little extra sauce next time.

 

I had a piece of lemon meringue pie for dessert.

 

I love this pie, but it is rich. The lemon is tart and the meringue is sweet. I needed water with it, so that I could eat the whole thing, even with the tart lemon, I was in sugar overload.

 

We went to Bi-Lo yesterday and I found these Gardein Classic Style Buffalo Wings (meatless of course), since I loved their Scallopini and I love spicy, I decided to try them. Their are 10 nugget sized pieces (maybe a little larger) in the bag, which is about 2.5 servings according to them and only 2 according to me. This makes them a little more expensive than the Scallopini, which gives you 4 servings for about the same price. I forget the exact price, but it's around $3.50-$4.00 depending on where you buy. 

The buffalo wings come frozen, unseasoned in the bag with a buffalo wing sauce pouch, so that you can adjust the heat, which is good. This sauce is spicy and unless you are a glutton for punishment, you won't need more than half for them all. I decided to fix them all. I put them in a skillet with a little oil, because they do tend to stick when they start to brown. I browned them a little and added some of the sauce. I didn't use a lot this time, but they could have used a little more. I had 3/4 of the pouch left. I didn't go too spicy, but after eating them, thought, I should have.

 

I had the wings with some sweet potato tots and my creamy cucumbers and broccoli for which I am posting the recipe. It was originally just cucumber w/ onion, but I had broccoli to use along with some bell pepper and it all went very well together, of course if I'd have red bell instead of green it would have looked better or maybe some purple onion. The important thing is I have some green on my plate.

 

 These were yummy, although, I may just buy the Scallopini, cut it up and put some hot wing sauce on it, which would be about the same for less money. I'm posting a pic of the nutritional facts for the wings at the bottom because the picture was awkward to fit into everything. I may edit it with some the better later on. I have a had a dead line and this one was quick. Now, I'll be off. Happy Sunday!! Enjoy your day!