Celestial Seasonings Black Cherry Berry Review

Well I've gotten an earlier start on this post, let's see if I can finish earlier too. 

I slept in later than usual today. I still decided to start the day off with cereal even though it was closer to lunch.

I also decided to skip coffee and go with tea, lemon ginseng green tea with sourwood honey, my strategy for getting to bed earlier tonight.

I had the last of my leftover green beans with brown rice for (late) lunch.

I also finished off the last of my peach slice with a few vanilla wafers.

I made another cup of tea this afternoon. I went with decaf this time. I tried Celestial Seasonings Black Cherry Berry flavor. I can definitely say that it was worth getting the variety pack. I probably wouldn't have tried all these flavors otherwise.

I have enjoyed every flavor I've tried. This was also a 5 star flavor. I've really been using up the honey, at just a spoonful per cup, you can tell I've made quite a few cups. I love the full flavor of all the Celestial Seasoning teas. I've tried some other brands of fruit flavored teas. They were more about the tea flavor than the fruit. These are definitely about the fruit.

Dinner was also a repeat performance. I used the barbecue flavored potato chips again for nachos. I love that they soften up a little under the topping, but are still crunchy in spots. I'm sort of interested in trying similar combos with other flavors of potato chips. Any suggestions? Have you tried potato chips like this before?

This evening, I watched "The Blind Side" on television, while the guys were off at the shooting match. I love this movie and I love the way Sandra Bullock plays her part in it. This is the second time I've saw this movie and I didn't mind watching it again. It's definitely a 5 star movie. If you haven't seen it before, you should and if you have, you should see it again. 

Ta da I'm done......early. Now I'm off to bed, hopefully to sleep. Have a great night/day!!!

Nacho Style Potato Chips

I would have like to have slept longer this morning, but I did sleep pretty good. I tried to do a low caffeine day by drinking lemon ginseng green tea with breakfast. I had the other half of my poppy seed bagel with light cream cheese.

 I woke up with a headache and just could wake up. I waited to give the tea a chance since it does have a small amount of caffeine in it, but it just wasn't working, so I made a large cup of coffee which equaled 4 cups. I used 2 scoops of half caf. coffee and 2 scoops of decaf. I drank it pretty quickly or as quick as possible, since I have Lexi and Mary today. I felt so much better once it kicked in.

For lunch I had some of my leftover green beans with mushrooms, pepper, and onion and brown rice.

It was really good. I wish I'd thought to do this last night. It was a nice meal stretcher.

I had some sliced peaches with a few vanilla wafers for my snack.

As planned, the coffee didn't last long. By 4pm, I was ready for a nap. Unfortunately it was quite a bit later before I got one. I took a very late nap, but it was a half nap. I consider a full nap 2 hours. I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep.

After my late nap, I made dinner, something quick, of course. I had ingredients for nachos, but no tortilla chips, so I decided to try using barbecue flavored potato chips. I didn't have high expectations. I was pretty surprised that it was a pretty good combination. I used black beans, salsa, Mexican blend shredded cheese, and sour cream. I put it all together, except for the sour cream, and microwaved it for a minute. It turns out that this is something I would eat again.

Super late night tonight. I just keep getting later and later going to bed. No nap tomorrow and my goal will be to get my post done early and get to bed early. We'll see how it goes. Now is the time to cast your bets. Have a great night/day!!!

Celestial Seasonings True Blueberry Review

Today was tea day. I decided to skip the coffee. I haven't had a chance to take a caffeine break in a while. I like to do that occasionally. Lately I just haven't been getting enough sleep. My biggest problem is getting such a late start on the blog. Unfortunately, I'm not disciplined enough to solve this.

I had Lemon Ginseng green tea for breakfast along with half a poppy seed bagel with light cream cheese. I was really looking forward to a cup of tea this morning and the bagel was yummy. I love the taste of poppy seeds. I wish they weren't so tiny, but I would like to try them in some recipes regardless.

I had a spinach omelet for lunch, one egg, the last of the spinach, a little milk and a little salt & pepper on a slice of pumpernickel that I snatched from the freezer. There's also some shredded Italian blend cheese between the omelet and the bread. Not a bad lunch.

One of my snacks for the day was this bowl of peanut butter multi-grain cheerios. I think I should have skipped the milk & cheese. I felt sort of icky after eating them.

This evening I decided to have green pepper & onion with mushrooms. I was undecided as to what I should have with the pepper, onion, & mushroom. I finally decided on green beans. I cooked the onion & pepper in a little oil, with some salt. After letting them cook a bit, I added the frozen green beans, a can of mushrooms,drained, some soy sauce and some garlic. I wanted my green beans slightly less cooked than the other veggies. It turned out exactly the way I'd hoped. The mushrooms absorbed most of the soy sauce, so low sodium would probably have been better, but I just didn't use as much. It came out great. I had the last piece of pumpernickel toasted on the side.

I had a little Men's Omega3 Energy mix which I sort of munched on throughout the day. I finished it off after dinner.

I also had another cup of tea, Celestial Seasonings' True Blueberry caffeine free herbel tea. I'd gotten their variety pack. So far I've loved every flavor I've tried, the True Blueberry was no exception.

I added a spoonful of honey to the cup which I'd used 2 tea bags in. I believe you could get by using just one tea bag. After steeping for a few moments, it turns a lovely dark purple color. It smells good too. I'm thinking this may be the best flavor I've tried so far. You should know this one is getting 5 stars.

Enjoyed my tea and finished this post. Now I'm off to bed. Not an early day tomorrow, but it's late and I can't sleep all day. Have a great night/day!!!

Just Pictures

MorningStar Farms Reuben

I felt a little more rested this morning when I got up, but I still think I need to get to bed earlier. I had mostly decaf coffee with the last pancake. I had peanut butter and lite syrup on top. I didn't have anything else with it. I drank 2 cups of coffee and figured I'd just eat lunch earlier.

Trying to find someway of using my leftover kraut since I ate the last 2 veggie dogs yesterday, I decided on a sort of vegetarian Reuben. It wouldn't have really been a Reuben, even if I'd used meat. I had to use what I had and the only thing I had that comes on a Reuben was the sauerkraut. I had to use white bread instead of rye, Mexican blend cheese instead of Swiss (I don't like Swiss anyway), and mayo/ketchup blend instead of Thousand Island dressing.

It wasn't bad. The worst part was the white bread. Thin little slices which could hardly be toasted without turning into crackers. I think it might even be good with pumpernickel.

I spent the rest of the day trying to stay awake. I had a cup of lemon ginseng green tea, moving around doing everything I could to keep from taking a nap. I had hoped to get to bed early, but at usual, here I am and it's late.

I also had a pack of Austin Pepper Jack crackers.

I made a big salad for dinner. I used butter lettuce, spinach, broccoli, green pepper, onion, carrot, and a shredded boiled egg with some things I threw together for a make shift French dressing.

I used the same ingredients that my French dressing recipe uses. It was similar, but not quite as sweet. I really couldn't tell until I ate the salad, but it was still pretty good, just different.

I had about a half a can of sliced pears for dessert. I haven't had any pears in a while. I like canned pears better than fresh for some reason. I like them better when they are in their own juice and not in syrup. These were in syrup, but it was what they had at Aldi's, of course it's hard to find them in their own juice around here.

I already ready for bed, so I'm posting this and shutting it down for the night. I have an early day tomorrow. Have a great night/day!!!

Pancake Breakfast

It's been a pretty quiet Sunday. I woke up to the sound of rain and Dolly squealing (it's her way of letting me know she needs to go out). She use to bark, now she just squeals. I like barking better. I needed coffee this morning, but still made mostly decaf. I also made pancakes. It's not often I get up in the mood to cook, especially when I haven't had a lot of sleep. Coffee & pancakes, it was a miracle.

I had peanut butter and lite syrup on my pancakes, great with coffee.

Just a little peanut butter and not much syrup, but I did have another small pancake after these two, then I regretted it soon after eating it. I also had another cup of coffee. DH & Lucas helped eat some of the pancakes. I made quite a few.

I had leftover mac & cheese with tomatoes for lunch. I added extra cheese plus a little milk to the macaroni to kick it up a little. It was a good lunch, but I should have drained the tomatoes some.

I found a way of eating the Philadelphia Dark Chocolate Indulgence that was really good. I had it with the strawberries from the garden on vanilla wafers. I also had a couple more wafers with just the chocolate. It's better with strawberries. 

I had a delicious mess for dinner, a nacho grande salad of shredded iceberg, chopped green pepper & onion, rice seasoned with cumin, chili powder, & paprika, spicy Doritos, vegetarian refried beans, cheese sauce, sour cream and salsa. I used Doritos because when Lucas & Dale went out for the stuff to make nachos, they forgot to get tortilla chips. Luckily we had a few chips left, plus some flour tortillas, and a small bag of Doritos. I chose the Doritos. I also need to mix up some more taco seasoning.

The boys picked up more raisins for me. I didn't realize until I got this big container that raisins are suppose to be kept in the fridge. 25 years, I've kept them in a jar or container in the cabinet. Mine don't last long enough to spoil, I guess, but I'll keep them in the fridge from now on. Who knew?

I've stayed up long enough, even if I did have a nap this evening before dinner. I'm thinking I have an early day tomorrow. Have a great night/day!!!

Still Procrastinating

Today was Saturday. It sort of felt like Saturday. Here by myself, relaxed, but nothing special. I would have like to have had something to do, somewhere to go. I like my weekends to be different from weekdays. I couldn't even manage a different breakfast, just the same coffee, bagel, cream cheese breakfast. I think if I had my way, I would go out for breakfast once a week, probably Saturday.

Lunch was really good. I had some of the leftover white cheddar mac & cheese and the green beans and onion, with a Veggie Patch Cutlet topped with Kraft Mesquite Barbecue Sauce. I love this barbecue sauce and it was delicious with the cutlet.

The only thing that would have made this better was homemade mac & cheese.

I had a little Oreo blizzard from the freezer for dessert.

Later I had another snack. I had 2 graham crackers broken into fourths and sandwiched together with peanut butter, along with half a pink lady apple.

I found these in the garden this evening, 3 fresh strawberries. I put them in the fridge for later, maybe I will get some more before these get too ripe.

I had the last of my cooked cabbage for dinner. I added some diced tomatoes seasoned with a pinch of Italian seasoning. I crumbled a small piece of leftover cornbread over the cabbage & tomatoes and mixed it all together. It was pretty good, but I could have done without the Italian seasoning. It also would have been better with some beans, but I didn't want to have to eat the cabbage again another day, 3 days was enough.

I waited way too long to get started on the blog this evening. I am a gluten for punishment. I seem to be staying up later and later. I will have to pay for that next week. I keep trying to get up fairly early in hopes that I can get to bed sooner, but then I manage to put off doing the blog until it's late. Well, I'm off to bed. I've already bathed and brushed my teeth, all I have left to do is put my head on the pillow. Have a great night/day!!! 

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