Spring Cleaning

Today was my chance to get some major cleaning done. I started the day off with the same not so healthy breakfast as I've had the past few days. The last raisin creme pie, half an apple and a big cup of half caf., actually 2 big cups.

I decided to clean out my lower cabinets today, I also went through the closet and picked out some things to take to Goodwill. I had a few vegetable crackers with roasted red pepper hummus and Mexican blend cheese sprinkled on top for a snack when I took a break from cleaning. I like this flavor the best of the store brands I've tried, but nothing beat homemade.

I had a late lunch. I was too busy cleaning to eat. I finally stopped for a sandwich made with a Veggie Patch Chick'n Cutlet, white American cheese, barbecue sauce, onion, pickle, mayo, & black pepper on a hoagie bun.

I had the crumby leftover barbecue potato chips left in the bag with my sandwich. The two were perfect together.

This evening I had another Good Humor Strawberry Shortcake. It was a hot day, great for eating ice cream.

I had a cheese quesadilla with shredded Mexican blend cheese, a slice of white American, cumin, garlic, Mexican oregano, and cilantro, with taco sauce drizzled over it. It wasn't exactly what I was in the mood for. I thought it was, but it just made me feel sort of icky after eating it. Too much cheese & ice cream today I think.

I had my quesadilla while watching the movie we got from Netflix, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo with Daniel Craig & Rooney Mara. I'd already read the books and saw the foreign version of the movie. I was told that it would be pretty graphic, (I'm not much for bloody movies) but it really wasn't any worse than the foreign version. The was more nudity than blood. Some things were a bit different from the book, but it was still pretty well done. I believe the foreign version, kept closer to the story line of the book. I do prefer not having to read subtitles, but I liked both movies with some parts better than the other in each. I'm giving it 4 stars.

I guess I'll be sleeping the day away tomorrow, since I've managed to stay awake all night. I may never have a normal sleep pattern. Off to bed, have a great night/day!!!

Give Me Some Greens

We have a sunny morning, but the chance for rain gets better as the day goes on or so the forecast says. Yesterday was a good food day for me. I consider it a good food day when I'm pretty much satisfied with my food, you know, it's not just something I'm eating because, I'm out of all the good stuff.

What is the good stuff? Well for breakfast it was a banana pudding smoothie with peanut butter and cinnamon. This was yummy!

 

I did have a cup of decaf with a mystery donut later; even with the barely sweetened coffee the donut was a bit too rich. I broke it down into 2 separate snacks. I would be so happy if donuts came without glaze. I wonder if the donut places would leave off the glaze. I did use to get plain cake donuts at the Walmart deli (just plain or chocolate). I'm not sure if they still have these. It's been a while since I've bought them. I really don't have to buy sweets since Mom moved here, lol.

Any guesses?

This is my roasted vegetable grain salad that we got at The Fresh Market. This was the good stuff. It has red and brown rice. I love the red rice. This was the first time I've eaten it. The grain salad has sort of a Mexican flavor, with the black beans, corn, and cumin seasoning, really good.

I added some spinach to the salad, heating it until the spinach wilted. It was very good with the spinach. I also had a couple of eggs, scrambled with some taco sauce.

 

I suppose 1 egg and maybe some fresh salad would have been better, but I tend to choose quick over healthy. I need to do better in that area.

Another snack I had was some of the white chocolate mix with a few peanut butter pretzels, cutting the sweet with a little salty. I really need to get some apples, some healthier snacks. Any suggestions?

 

For dinner I had broccoli cheese tots. I added a little seasoning salt to the potato puffs and crisped them in the oven, topped them with hot broccoli and cheddar cheese. I put it all in the microwave for about a minute and melted the cheese.

Give me green. Spinach and broccoli are my favorite. I also love green beans.

What's your favorite green food? Your favorite way to eat it? I want to eat healthier. Healthy foods make me feel better and I'm all for feeling better. Happy Sunday! Enjoy your day!

Easy And Cheesy

This morning I'm checking out the hourly weather forecast on weather.com. It's overcast here and we were hoping to go for a walk today since we missed our chance yesterday. Our best chance is from 9am to 2pm, so we'll just carry an umbrella, I guess and hope for the best.

Yesterday I had a dog eared bagel for breakfast. I topped an everything bagel with butter and a little cheese and put it in the toaster oven to broil while I cut up my last little apple. The apple had seen better days, only half of it was still worth eating. I peeled it and stuck it on the edge of my plate where it made what looked like little dog ears. Cute huh?

Somehow we managed to forget our walk yesterday morning and so we decided to wait and go in the evening once it cooled off, but by evening unexpected company and rain put a damper on our walk. We were hoping to go this morning, but it looks like the rain is still working against us. Hopefully we can slip a walk in somewhere. We may just have to walk a little faster.

For lunch I had another quesadilla with refried beans, taco seasoning, corn, mozzarella and sliced cheese with taco sauce drizzles over it.

 

I guess half of this and a salad would have been better, but it didn't cross my mind at the time.

 

After lunch I had a large cup of mandarin orange green tea with honey. I've been keeping my eating schedule as best I can. I've been getting to bed at a decent hour and getting some reading in as well. I slept like a rock for nearly 5 hours last night, which is amazing. I wasn't even sleepy this morning. I'm just hoping it continues or possibly even improves. I'm happy just getting a straight 5 hours sleep.

For my afternoon snack/dessert, I had a little of the peach cobbler I'd brought home, no ice cream, no yogurt, although it would have been nice.

 

It looks as though cheese is the theme for the day which according to the scales, I am paying for today. I had one little package of frozen mac & cheese with some steamed broccoli. I needed to use what was left of my fresh broccoli. Like the apple, it was looking rather puny.  A better option for dinner would have been to eat just half the macaroni and sub the other half with another vegetable or a salad. I really need to think about this before dinner, but dinner was sort of delayed and hunger played a role in what I ate.

 

It was an easy dinner and it was good, but I will try and do better today.

I also discovered a nice drink which is suppose to be a remedy to increase energy, which is a cup of warm water with honey & cinnamon. It's suppose to increase energy after drinking it once a day around 3pm for a week. I thought I'd give it a shot and see how it goes. If nothing else, it's a nice drink. It's 2 tsp. of honey to a cup of water with a sprinkle of cinnamon (the amount not specified). I used a full mug of water. Have you tried this? What's your cure for lack of energy? Honey seems to be a cure all for lots of ailments. BTW, no Sunday dinner again! Happy Sunday!

Girls Day Out

I had a late night last night & overslept this morning. I left my alarm(my phone) in my purse, so this is what you get until I update. I'm posting as is so that my email subscribers get their email. Sorry!

Updated 6-2-11 9:40am

Apples for breakfast. The whole nondairy thing is really throwing me off on breakfast. I also got a call from Lynda inviting me on a GDO, so while I was getting ready I also munched on a few peanut butter pretzels.

 

We shopped 'til we dropped, hitting the goodwill, Sears, & stopping by Starbucks for an off camera Coconut Mocha. Mom & I got purses on clearance. I also got a vacuum cleaner at goodwill for $10 that didn't work. It would run, but would not pick up, because an access door for cleaning out clogs was missing. Fortunately after a little red neck engineering, I think I have it somewhat fixed. It still doesn't have the greatest suction power. We were all starving by the time we stopped for lunch.

Ruby Tuesday salad for lunch. Winner!

Spring mix, spinach, red onion, carrot, green pepper, sun dried tomatoes, edamame, Parmesan cheese, dark croûtons, sunflower seeds, & balsamic vinaigrette. Yum!!

After stopping off at Walmart for groceries for Sunday dinner, we headed home or back to Mom's at least. There we had a snack while waiting for dinner. Cheese & Crackers, for me. Pepperoni & Canadian Bacon for the meat eaters.

The cheese & crackers was mainly for the men, although I did have a couple of pieces of the uncontaminated cheese. I also had a cinnamon roll, Lynda made more, & an Oreo with my coffee. I love Oreos, but I don't buy them, because I will eat them, lol, and I don't need to eat them.

Finally the pizza is done. We accidentally turned off the oven after the first pizza, so ours took a bit longer, lol. We had a Mediterranean veggie from Walmart. Their pizzas are pretty good. 

After pizza I went home and tried out my new vacuum and of course it irritated me that is didn't work, so I had to work on it, which made for a late night. It didn't take that long, but I still had to upload pics & get ready for bed. I was pooped. I did sleep pretty good apparently. Well now that the blog is updated, I'm off for a bit of nondairy breakfast. Happy Saturday!! Enjoy your weekend!

Amy's Veggie Loaf Review

I overslept yesterday, but not today. I could have, but I didn't. I felt tired all day yesterday. I didn't even fix my morning smoothie. I just grabbed half an everything bagel and spread some cream cheese on it.

 

I did sprinkle it with garlic powder and parsley, for extra flavor and to pretty it up a bit.

 

Then later I had a German Chocolate Blizzard fro DQ. This one had large chunks of coconut on top with all the pecan.

 

And half way down, just ice cream again.

 

I tried Amy's Veggie Loaf w/ mashed potatoes, peas & corn for lunch.

Not too appetizing to look at frozen.

 

Better once it's cooked, but nothing like on the box as usual.

 

It wasn't bad. I could eat it again, but it wasn't my favorite. The sauce was pretty good. I'm not a big fan of instant mashed potatoes, or at least that's what these tasted like. The peas and corn were pretty good also, peas firm, not squishy or tough. The veggie loaf was just alright, like mashed beans, but a little firmer. The taste wasn't bad, but it needed the sauce, so did the potatoes, lol. It needed every drop of the sauce. I think they could do better.

 

Nutritional Facts
Serving Size 1 serving
Amount Per 1 Serving 1 Meal
Calories 290
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 8.0g   13%
	Saturated Fat 1.0g   5%
	Trans Fat 0.0g
	Polyunsaturated Fat 0.0g
	MonoUnsaturated Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 0.0mg   0%
Sodium 690.0mg   29%
Total Carbohydrates 47.0g   16%
	Dietary Fiber 10.0g   40%
Protein 9.0 g   18%
Vitamin A   45.000 ~ IU Vitamin C   50.000 mg Calcium   4.000 mg Iron   15.000 mg
* Based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Since I had a blizzard earlier, I went just just a cup of applesauce for a snack. I didn't really get my fruit for the day.

 

 

I do think I have veggies covered and probably grains too, but I think I missed the mark in the protein department. I did have pinto beans for dinner along with some wild rice w/ carrots & broccoli and more broccoli on the side.

 

 

I had a little Italian dressing on my broccoli, a tad of on the rice, which came pretty much unseasoned and some of the Cajun Injector Hickory Grill seasoning on my beans. It was good.

 

Since I didn't feel like I'd gotten enough protein and I'd eaten dinner early, I had a Chobani Lemon Greek Yogurt for dessert a little later. It's packed with protein. I'm supposed to get about .73 grams per pound and I don't think I'm anywhere near that and unless I exercise more, I'm not sure I could eat that much along with everything else I'm suppose to be getting.

 

I still say the lemon is the best. Twice the protein and none of the fat, gotta love that.

Well it's Sunday again, so I guess I'll be getting ready to go to Mom's for dinner shortly. Happy Sunday!!

 

Super Smooth Oatmeal Smoothie

This morning I made a strawberry banana smoothie, but before making it, I was thinking about the oatmeal in the smoothie, about it being slightly grainy, even though I blend it thoroughly. I don't really mind it, but some people might, so I decided to try an experiment. I put the 1/4 C. of oatmeal in my spice grinder and ground it into a powder before adding it to the other ingredients. It worked perfectly. Be sure to wipe out your spice or coffee, before adding the oatmeal to get any coffee or spice residue. I used a paper towel with a little oil on it.

Usually after I drink most of my smoothie, there at the bottom of the glass is the grainiest part of the oatmeal. It's not much, but it's sort of hard to get it out of the glass. Today's smoothie was super smooth, with no grainy oatmeal at the bottom. Win! So if you didn't care for the oatmeal because it was a little grainy, you should try it again with the powdered oatmeal.

 

I had an Amy's Southwestern Burrito with carrots for lunch. I think I like the Southwestern version even better than the non dairy beans and rice. I heated my burrito in the oven today. I actually defrosted it in the microwave for about 5 min. and then in the toaster oven for about 30 min. vs. just the oven for 50-55 min. It was much better than just heating it in the microwave, even though it did take considerably longer. I'm very impatient when it comes to cooking, but I really hate microwave food.

 

I had a German Chocolate blizzard, with coconut, pecans, and some chocolate. All the coconut and pecans were mostly at the top. There was very little chocolate, but I loved all the coconut and pecans.

 

 

I only ate about 1/2 the cup, although it looks like more. You can see I was getting down to the white ice cream. I think the person who made the blizzard needs to have a few more lessons. Maybe next time I buy ice cream, I will try a homemade blizzard. Have you ever made a blizzard?

I had the grand babies this evening while Mom & Dad went to an adult only birthday party. We watched kids shows on Netflix, colored in coloring books, and played pretend. Lexi also read to me. It still amazes me that at 4 years old, she is reading. Unfortunately I didn't get photos.

We also had grilled cheese sandwiches. Mary had peanut butter and jelly. DH had fixed himself a sandwich, but Mary decided it was for her. Lexi also had a lunchable with turkey, cheese and crackers.

 

 I also had a couple of peanut butter Ritz crackers off camera & was tempted to eat the rest of my blizzard, but didn't. Now before I am tempted to eat anything else, I am going to put my booty to bed.