Everything But Sleep

I made a to do list yesterday. I had quite a few things on my list. It went as follows -  sleep, breakfast, bake cobbler, play Angry Birds, clean house, do laundry, and read some of my ebook, not necessarily in that order as a matter of fact, not at all in that order.

I definitely got breakfast done. My tummy won't let me miss that. I went with a banana pudding smoothie. I still had yogurt to use up. I froze the last of my blueberry muffins, 3 I think.

 

For a super cold smoothie frozen fruit is the way to go. I've been freezing my bananas before use the smoothies.

I got a little cleaning done, played Angry Birds, and did a load of laundry before lunch. I attempted a nap, which lasted about 15 minutes, but couldn't sleep, so I got up and fixed the other half of my Dominos Mediterranean Veggie sandwich. It was late for lunch, so I just had the sandwich, no salad etc. I'd saved the bigger half anyway.

I wrapped the sandwich in foil and heated it in the toaster oven. It was just as good as the first half. I was surprised that this sandwich was so good. I don't know why I was surprised, I love Dominos pizza. For cheap pizza, it's the best.

We also went to the grocery store after lunch. I got spinach for my salads. I had a Mexican themed salad for dinner. I used iceberg lettuce, spinach, brown rice, leftover pinto beans, banana pepper, cucumber, tomato, purple onion, cornbread, cheese, light ranch dressing & taco sauce.

 

It was a little messy, but very good.

Before making my salad, I put together the Blueberry Cornmeal Cobbler. It's a new recipe. I'll be posting it tomorrow. It was for today's Sunday dinner. It looked so good coming out of the oven. I hope it's as good as it looks. I would rather have it fresh out of the oven, but I was afraid I wouldn't have time this morning. I waited until the evening because it was so hot during the day, but probably should have done it first thing yesterday morning, of course I would have been taking a chance that I would have eaten it, lol. 

We got a little thunder and rain last night. I was hoping it would make for great sleeping, but I was too tense to sleep. I should have done my yoga before bed. I've been skipping it lately.

It's sort of overcast this morning with a good chance of rain. Hopefully the high of 90 won't feel so bad. Happy Sunday! Be sure to come back and check out the cobbler tomorrow.

BTW I did get a little ebook reading done. Forgot to mention that. Go me, for accomplishing most of my to do list! Everything, but sleep.

Cornbread And Pinto Beans

I seem to be falling into old habits, staying up too late, only this time, I'm still getting up early, then napping through the day. I don't get a lot done that way.

I had a blueberry muffin and an apple for breakfast yesterday. I thought that might be better than 2 muffins. I mixed up a little honey and butter to spread on this one.

I made a pan of cornbread for lunch. I realized I had cornbread mix that needed to be used. I use mix, but I don't use the mix recipe. I always use 2 eggs instead of 1 plus some chopped onion or about a tsp. of onion powder. I also heat the oil in my iron skillet in the oven and then pour the hot oil into my cornbread batter, stir it quickly and pour it into the hot skillet to return to the oven. The cornbread bakes up quickly in about 20 minutes and has the best crust on the bottom; brown & crispy. It's my favorite part.

 

I also have a designated cornbread skillet, which is only used for cornbread; no cornbread sticking to the pan.

Yummy yellow cornbread. I normally make my soft cornbread recipe, but I needed to use up the cornbread mix. Lucas prefers the soft cornbread, but I will take it either way.

I had my cornbread with a bowl of pinto beans. Since I am the only one who will eat the beans, I just use the canned variety. We ate a lot of pinto beans when the kids wear small and now I am the only one who will still eat them. They also ate a lot of hot dogs, but the kids still eat them, Dale doesn't. The same goes for chicken, of course the chicken was a treat for them back then.

I don't eat beans as often as we use to, but I still get in the mood for them every now and then. I've never grown tired of cornbread.

I ate this for a snack. It's not really what I wanted, but it was in the freezer and nobody else would eat it. I wanted something cold and sweet. This was too sweet, two cookies with ice cream. I should have just eaten half. I was nearly 400 calories for one. I am paying for it today. After stepping on the scales this morning, I see I should have not eaten it at all.

 

On top of having eaten the ice cream. Dale decided we would get something from Dominos. The guys got pizza, a Cali Chicken Bacon Ranch w/ no tomatoes, ick.

I got the Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich.

 

I did only eat half with a salad.

 

The sandwich was delicious with roasted red peppers, banana peppers, diced tomatoes, spinach, onions, feta, provolone and American cheese. The salad made with iceberg lettuce, cucumber, Roma tomato, red onion, sweet banana pepper, & zesty Italian dressing, went well with it. I saved the other half of the sandwich for later.

 I tried to make dinner healthier and less fattening, but that was as good as I could do. I will try to do better today. Happy Saturday! What's on the menu today at your house?

Buttered Blueberry Pita Chocolate Oatmeal

So what's up with the name of this post? Is that what you were thinking? Well, as I've said before, the biggest problem I have with blogging is post titles i.e., "Name That Day". Occasionally it comes easy, but then there are some days that nothing in particular stick out. Yesterday was one of those days.

I came up with the name by using the first word in the name of the first five photos. Yes, I name my photos. It helps people find my blog. Sometimes we "Google" a word or a phrase and search images. If the phrase matches the name of my photo, it may come up in the first few pages and someone might click on it and then see a link to my blog. It's how some people end up here. How did you get here?

This was yesterdays breakfast, two blueberry muffins with a little butter. These are going faster than I assumed, but there were only 12. I suppose I will be freezing the blueberries today, since I'm afraid I won't be able to eat them all before they spoil.

 

 

I was babysitting the girls (Lexi & Mary) again yesterday. Lindsay went for here ultrasound yesterday, to see how long we have to wait for the next little one. They had estimated that she was 12 weeks with the first visit, but are now thinking just 7, so it will be a little long than first thought. It looks like we'll be getting another March baby.

Lunch was more of a snack yesterday, which is usually what I get when babysitting. Those two keep me hoppin'. Sometimes I just get a late meal, but the Lean Cuisine pita and veggie dip are quick to fix and to eat.

 

Neither of the girls were big eaters yesterday, but they weren't here too long. Lexi have a few chicken nugget with cheese and Mary had cheese toast. Lexi also had part of a blueberry muffin. Mary has gotten to where she fights sleep. She can't stay still long enough to eat, she might go to sleep instead. She runs all over practicing her walking and running (almost), trying to keep up with Lexi. I put her in the playpen for a few minute and when I looked over she was sitting up asleep in the corner, bobbing back and forth. It was funny. Lexi use to do that too. 

After the girls went home. I had a smoothie for a meal/pre-Zumba snack. It was mostly banana with a fourth of an apple thrown in, just to use it up and some chocolate for an added energy boost.

It was pretty good. I sucked it down and then got ready for Zumba.

 

Zumba didn't kick my butt yesterday, although I did get a great workout. It seemed hotter yesterday. I was super sweaty afterwards. We also have a couple of guys who've joined the class. They said they liked it and they'd be coming back. I'm telling you, Zumba is for everyone. It's just fun, but a great workout. You can't beat that. We also have one lady who brings her baby and the baby's walker. The baby scoots around her while she gets her workout. Some aren't able to do the full workout, but they come and do what they can and then leave, there aren't any rules. We're all just there to move and have fun. That's what I love about it. 

I had a salad when I got home. I used some iceberg lettuce, some tomatoes, cucumbers and banana pepper from the garden, a little purple onion and a couple of baby carrots sliced. I topped it all with some toasted chow mein noodles and light Asian toasted sesame dressing. I also had a slice of Muenster cheese (off camera) while I was fixing my salad.

 

I've been staying up too late lately, so I've gotta work on that. I was extra tire this morning. I've also got some cleaning to do. My days see so busy lately. I have to try to fit everything I want to do in. It doesn't always happen. I've been trying to get some reading done, but I haven't been that successful, just a few pages here and there. My 6 book goal before January, is going to be more difficult than I thought. Are you a big reader? Do you have to squeeze in a few pages or is it something you do quite frequently? I seem to get more reading done online. How about you?

Well gotta wrap this up. Happy Friday!!

Finally Blueberry Muffins

Well I finally got around to making the blueberry muffins. I used the Multi Muffin Mix recipe + 3/4 C. of blueberries, which didn't knock a dent in what I have, so I guess I will have to freeze some. They turned out very well. They did take a little longer to brown in my oven. I used to complain about my old stove when I started taking longer to bake things, then I finally got a brand new stove and it takes longer in it than in the old stove. I was very disappointed, but I did get the glass top instead of the round burners. The top heats up fast.

 

The original recipe calls for an additional 2 Tbsp. of sugar for the blueberry muffins, but I think 3 would be better. They were good, but my blueberries were a little tart, so a slightly sweeter muffin would have been better I think. I also added 1/4 c. oatmeal & 1 Tbsp. of ground flax. I spread a little margarine on two of these for breakfast. I was late eating, but it was well worth it.

 

For lunch, if that's what you can call it, was more or less just snacking. I had one serving of the Lean Cuisine garden vegetable dip with pita bread. It comes with two servings.

 

You get half a pita and a small cup of the vegetable dip. I was very skeptical about this at first, but decided to try it. To my surprise, it was very good. The pita was soft and not rubbery after heating in the microwave for 15 seconds instead of the 20 it called for.

 

I used the called for time in heating the dip. I was pretty warm, but not too hot and was very good on the pita bread.

 

This made a nice snack, but I could have eaten the other one.

I ate the pita and dip while I fixed a few onion rings and that was lunch. Lunch was late also, so I just munched to hold me until dinner.

I had a good dinner though. I fixed a salad with iceberg lettuce and some of the cucumber and tomatoes I gathered from my sad little garden. I also used the last of my orange bell pepper. I had the salad along with a few sweet potato puffs and a MSF Chik'n Griller.

I really like the little sweet potato puff, even better than the fries. You can spice them up a little or just eat them plain. They are great either way.

I just had them plain yesterday with the last of my spicy ranch blown all over my salad. I just love meals that really satisfy me and this was one of them.

After dinner I got started playing games online. (not a good idea) I made the mistake of playing Angry Birds. It's very popular and so I thought I would try it out. I can now see why it is so popular. It's looks very simple, but it is so addictive. I stayed up way too late because of it. I tried putting the games on the Android tablet we have, but they don't work too well on it for some reason, so I played it online in my Chrome browser. The Facebook app sux. It was terrible. Every time it would pop up wanting to post it to FB, it would freeze and I'd have to refresh the page. Sometimes it would show that I'd finished the level  and sometimes I'd have to do it all over again, hence the reason I played the chrome version. I haven't tried it in Firefox and I don't use Internet Explorer. 

I think I will go and have some breakfast and deal with my angry bird issue. I have Zumba tonight, goody. Happy Thursday!

Zumba And Peanut Butter Kickin' My Butt

The temperature this morning says it's cooler, but it feels warmer in the house. The sun is out and it looks like it's gonna be another hot one. My cool smoothie helps.

I had a Banana pudding smoothie with peanut butter yesterday. I should just do a page for the Peanut Butter & Banana Smoothie, as often as I make them I suppose. The peanut butter wasn't agreeing with me yesterday for some reason. I've noticed lately that I keep tasting peanut butter hours after eating it. I love peanut butter, but that part is turning me off.

 

I had Amy's Enchilada Verde for lunch. I suppose this is why I'm not able to enjoy Great Value frozen dinners. I've been spoiled by Amy's. None are as good as fresh made food, but as frozen dinners go, Amy's is hard to beat, but they are also more expensive, so they are a treat to get. I saved the best for last or it really would have been disappointing to eat the GV dinners.

 

I think I would like to try making some of these. The beans and rice would be simple enough. I would use brown rice, maybe with corn & peppers instead. The enchilada would be the hardest part, but I think it's would be possible. If I could ever get my freezer empty enough. I would consider making my own frozen dinners. It seems like things multiply in there. Almost everything I eat is frozen and it's still full. Speaking of full the Amy's dinner was also more filling, but it wasn't a light or lean type dinner either.

 

I snacked on a few Snapeas. I like these a lot. It wasn't quite time for a Zumba snack so I just had a few of these.

 

This was my pre-Zumba snack. I had a piece of apple cake with melted peanut butter drizzled over it. This was really good, but it's also the reason I noticed that the peanut butter doesn't really agree with me. At first I thought it was because of the peanut butter mixed with the milk in the smoothie, but no milk here and I had the same experience. A couple of hours later and I was still eating peanut butter.

 

It was good though.

Still filling the effects of the PB, I just had a salad for dinner. I cut up some iceberg lettuce, cucumber, orange bell pepper, and tomatoes (2 little Romas from the garden).

I did add a little cheese and imitation bacon bits.

 

I topped it all off with some light ranch dressing.

 

Yesterday I noticed that my left calf was sore, like I'd gotten a severe cramp in it or something, but I hadn't. I'm not sure what caused it, but then I went to Zumba. I love Zumba, but yesterday it really kicked my butt. I was so tired, I really didn't even want to eat when I got home, but I finally had the salad. My legs were so tired, the left is still sore. I hope it's straightened out by Thursday. I also had a hard time concentrating yesterday during Zumba. I was so ready for bed last night. I slept alright, it could have been better and when the alarm went off this morning, I was wide awake, so no problem getting up even though I still didn't want to, lol. Today will be good. I have proclaimed it. So have a good one on me!

Great Value Lean Cafe Is Not My Favorite

Hey, it's Zumba day...for me at least. I'm still feeling sort of sleepy, but I'm in a pretty good mood. It was a tiny bit cooler yesterday and this morning. We got a little rain which was a good thing. It is a little warm in the house this morning. The a/c is being weird, says it's cooler than it feels. I cleaned the filter yesterday. It's still being weird this morning, but it is cooler than it is outside.

I used the last of the flax milk yesterday when I made my Banana Pudding smoothie. I'd bought Food Lion's generic brand of yogurt before and I liked it. It used to be "Food Lion" brand, but they've switched to "My Essentials", which says it's Swiss yogurt. I don't know if that has anything to do with it or not, but I am not a fan of the "My Essentials" vanilla yogurt. It's sweeter, I think and definitely runnier. It didn't effect the taste of my smoothie too much, but the consistency was a little different.

 

It was cold and yummy on a hot morning, but I think I may pass on the "My Essentials" yogurt next time.

 

I had my two favorite girls (Lexi & Mary), over for a little while yesterday while their Mom had a doctor appointment. Since we will be getting another grand baby before long, I will be having them over regularly. I can't imagine 3. It should be interesting. Lexi is a ball of energy and Mary is already imitating Lexi, but I think Mary has more of a temper. Right now, it's funny when she gets mad, she smacks herself, but I assume she will get over that and move on to something different.

I had GV Lean Cafe, cheese ravioli for lunch yesterday. I added cheese to the top. I forgot a picture of the box, but it didn't come with cheese on top. Lexi had spaghetti and meatballs for lunch, she saw I had cheese on mine, so she wanted cheese on hers. She didn't eat the meatballs. I don't think she ever does, at least not here. Mary wasn't interested in anything. She ate a cracker and a vanilla wafer as she left. She cutting teeth and drinks more than she eats.

The sauce on the ravioli was better than the ziti, but I believe I liked the ziti better. Some of the ravioli was under done, but it wasn't bad. The cheese helped.

 

After the girls went home, I had my cream filled KK donut, which I'd frozen first. These are so much better frozen, but I do wish they'd skip the glaze, it's a bit too much for me, which is why I prefer the sugar donuts.

 

This....well this is the little GV Lean Cafe cheese pizza or at least I think it's cheese, that's what it's suppose to be anyway. I decided to fix this in the toaster oven instead of the microwave. Needless to say, it got a little over done. The cheese was like leather. I'm not sure if that was because of being over cooked or not. I've done this to other pizzas and it was not the same texture, in fact I normally like my cheese browned a little and even the part that wasn't brown, had the same texture. I didn't like this pizza and I wouldn't want it again. I ate it, but it definitely got a thumbs down.

 

Great Value Lean Cafe is not my favorite, but it is edible. I guess when you buy cheap, you get cheap, but I think it may be better to make your own and freeze it. Well, gotta wrap this up. Happy Tuesday!