Alexia Oven Reds Review

Alternate Title - Corny But In Good Humor

Alright, so I decided to just skip the last post. I spend too much time stressing over things I can't do anything about, to stress over things I can do something about....problem solved.

Today's breakfast was pretty much that same as yesterday's breakfast anyway. I had half caf with raw sugar and creamer, half an apple, and a Little Debbie Raisin Creme Pie. I suppose they call them creme pies because they are sort of like whoopie pies with raisins on top. When I have too many sweets in the house, I use some of them for breakfast, since a lot of breakfast foods are sweet, that's when I have my coffee, and sweets are better with coffee, right? Well, it sounded good in my head anyway.....

I went to Lindsay's to keep the girls today. I think they go better at their house. They are calmer, more settled, and don't get into as much. I guess I just have all the neat stuff that looks like it shouldn't be touched.

Mary and Lexi had sandwiches. Mary took a nap and I had Veggie Cuisine's Enchilada Rojo with Mexican Rice. I also had half an ear of corn.

It didn't look like much, which is why I also had the corn, but I was really stuffed after having eaten it all.

The girls had cheese & cracker snacks later with chocolate milk. I waited until I came home for my snack. Now you know why I was in such "Good Humor".

Lucas wanted to try these. I've had them before. I really like them. The flavor reminds me of strawberry jello or koolaid, but with creamy vanilla ice cream and soft cookie crumbs.

 It's awful to say and not much better to drink, but I reheat leftover coffee after my ice cream. I could hardly keep my eyes open and had a chill from eating the ice cream. I just added a little raw sugar and just drank about 2/3 of it.

I had chosen Alexia Oven Reds with Olive Oil, Parmesan, and Roasted Garlic. They take about 25 minutes (longer in my oven) to bake. They are very good. They get 5 stars. I also had leftover broccoli casserole, another half ear of corn, and some fresh broccoli with garlic Caesar dressing.

Now, thanks to the icky reheated coffee, I was able to complete this post, of course lack of sleep is the reason for the content. Sorry. I'm outa here. Have a great night/day!!!

Getting Crafty

This morning I got up fairly early. I think I slept pretty good. I can't remember if I actually got up or just dreamed I did, so I'm assuming I dreamt it. Dreamed or dreamt, which is it?

Anyway, I felt pretty ambitious when I got up. I did some cleaning, threw in a load of clothes, which I forgot to start, lol, and will do that shortly,  got a shower, and had some lunch, all before the girls arrived. 

Lindsay asked Lexi what she wanted for breakfast this morning and Lexi told her she would wait and eat at Mimi's. I thought that was funny, lol. She might have been disappointed to find that all I had was a cup of yogurt, oh and I did have 2 cups of coffee, which I somehow totally forgot to get a photo of. I didn't even think about it until just now, probably because I didn't eat enough for breakfast, but that is one of the side effects of drinking coffee, suppressed appetite.

After rushing around trying to get as much done as possible, I slowed down long enough to get a bite to eat, even eating felt rushed. I had an Amy's Black Bean Enchilada dinner with beans and rice.

I literally took the last bite as the girls came through the door. It's so much easier, if I get my food out of the way before they get here. I usually don't take as much time for my food when they are here.

I mostly chase after Mary and try to keep them both happy. Lexi and I usually have our time when Mary takes a nap. Today we did crafts. I'm not sure what this is suppose to be, but Lexi enjoyed gluing lots of different things to paper. She also strung beads onto pipe cleaners for bracelets. Sorry, no shot of those.

Mary was still napping when Lindsay got back. Lindsay gave Lexi a bath while she was here while Mary slept and I had a piece of garlic toast.

I also fixed myself some cucumber slices and Garlic Caesar dressing as Lexi was getting out of the tub. She decided she wanted to try some of my snack, which she liked and wanted a plate of her own.

While fixing her plate she also decided to have some celery and broccoli. The broccoli disappeared before the photo was taken. She also went with Ranch dressing for dipping instead of Caesar.

I refilled my plate with more veggies and for inspiration Lexi and I watch a video of a wood chipper in action as we ate our little trees.

After our green snack and Mary had woke up, the three of us shared DH's cheesecake blizzard. Ya, snooze ya, lose in this house, when it comes to sweets. The girls had cones with their ice cream. I made sure to sugar them up good before sending them home, right? Oh well, that's what Mimi is for.

After everyone went home and as if I hadn't had enough, I had a bowl of spaghetti noodles with butter, parmesan, salt and black pepper. All my snacking put together was sort of like dinner anyway, so that was it.

The sad part is that I've still been thinking about food since, but I haven't had a thing. I've also been thinking about the only 3 pair of jeans I have that still fit and the 5 or 6  others that hang in my closet laughing at me. I wish I'd been thinking of that while eating that blizzard. I'll try to do better tomorrow. Have a great night/day!!!

Food For My Mood

Another late night and chilly morning. I still haven't managed to finish my book. The ending goes on forever and I know it's going to suck me into the second book. I also realized this morning that the clock in my bedroom is about 15 minutes slow, meaning I've been going to bed a little later than I realized, but the alarm on my phone goes off at the correct time. I guess, I'll be resetting my bedroom clock today.

Yesterday morning being chilly made my hot cup of half decaf/ half regular coffee and my warm toasted cinnamon bagel with peanut butter and raisin a very enjoyable breakfast. I would have liked a cup this morning, but I'm feeling just a little too lazy to fix it just yet, maybe later.

 

This breakfast really hit the spot. It seemed it was just the thing I was in the mood for. I love when my food fits my mood.

 

I was in sort of a junk food mood yesterday when lunch time rolled around. I had an Amy's bean and cheese burrito with wavy potato chips and ranch dip.

 

 

The chips were Utz brand. I've tried their chips before and thought they were pretty good. I got the wavy ones this time thinking they'd be better for dipping. They were good, but not so good for dipping. They seem to break too easily.

 

I took this shot so you can see what's inside my Amy's burrito. It looks like maybe some rice, beans and a cheesy sauce. It's good whatever it is. I still think I'll read the label next time and see, just out of curiosity. I've read it before, but I don't remember. I'm a label reader, I have to be. You'd be amazed at what all they sneak meat products into. Are you a label reader?

 

For my evening snack, I had a bowl of Breyer's Snickers ice cream. I sprinkled a few crushed dry roasted peanuts on top, some chocolate syrup would have been nice too, but I didn't have any.

 

This cooler weather also has me in the mood for soup. I decided on vegetable soup. I didn't want canned soup. I'm not a big fan of canned soup, but I did want something quick and easy. I bought frozen stew vegetables (potatoes, carrots, pearl onions, celery), but that wasn't enough to suite me. I also added frozen corn & peas, a can of shelly green beans and some fresh cabbage. I used tomato juice and water for the base, seasoned with marjoram, garlic, salt & pepper, nothing fancy.

I wasn't so impressed with the frozen stew veggies. The potatoes were huge and I didn't care for the pearl onions in my soup either. I was trying to avoid peeling & cutting veggies, buying a bag of potatoes, a bag carrots, and lots of celery that might go to waste with just one person eating it. I still had to open a whole can of green beans. I would have like some chopped tomatoes too, but it was already a bigger pot of soup than I was hoping for and without anyone else to help eat it, I will be eating and eating soup for several days.

I will make a better pot of soup before cold weather ends. It wasn't bad, but it could have been better having everything I wanted in it. I was also unknowingly out of crackers.

 I read my book for a while yesterday evening and then read more last night, trying to finish it. I finished uploading photos and everything else early last night and was able to read some before bed, which would have been good if I could have pulled my nose out of the book before it got late. Hopefully I'll finish it up today sometime. Happy Sunday!!

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?

What Big Eyes You Have

I've still got blueberries. I need to make something besides smoothies with them. Yesterday was a busy day so, I didn't get a lot of anything done, including sleep. I was tired last night, but apparently too tire. I was restless most of the night. I think a nap is in order today, not to mention some laundry, which I am so behind on.

 

This is a purple cow smoothie, I suppose. It's all blueberry. I prefer the Blueberry Banana smoothie.  I think blueberries alone are best in cobbler or muffins, etc. There just wasn't enough flavor for me.

 

It was cold and refreshing, but the banana pudding smoothie is still my favorite.

I went and had my eye exam yesterday. I'm be getting 2 pair in 2 weeks for just $99 + $79 for the exam tax included. The sale ended yesterday. I can't believe I got in on it. I will be getting thick heavier clunky lenses, I suppose. The lady says I won't like them, but I will have to, since that is all I can afford and I desperately need new ones. I am keeping my fingers crossed that they won't be as bad as she wanted me to believe. 

They dilated my eyes during the exam. I couldn't see a thing afterwards. Lucas helped me pick out my frames. I got two different pairs, one plastic frame and one wire. He said they were good me, but the lady said the wire frames were a little big. They were small than the ones I have so I was not that worried. She wanted me to get round frames for some reason, but I stuck to my guns. I am the one who will have to live with it and I will have an extra pair if I don't like them. Have you had the plastic lenses? What to you think about them vs. polycarbonate?

I went in at 12 noon and got out at 2:30pm. I was starved. Lucas and I grabbed a peach milkshake at Chick-fil-A. Not my kinda place to eat, but the milkshake was great (or I was just really hungry). 

I had to wear the big plastic disposable sunglasses home. It sort of gave me a headache. I guess I should have gotta a shot of that. I squinched across the parking lot and waited until I was in the car to put them on. Ahh, the better to see you with.... Luckily the effects didn't last too long.

 

The milkshake filled me up so I just had what was left of the pasta salad when I got home. I tried to take a cat nap, before Zumba, but it didn't really work out. I dozed for about 15 minutes and that it.

 

Dale and Lucas kept Lexi & Mary so Lindsay could go. They said they did pretty good. After they left, I got something to eat. I was tired, but felt really good after zumba. 

I just threw together some leftovers with a MSF chik'n griller. I cut corn off the cob and chopped some red onion w/ red & green peppers to go in it. I also had the rest of my baked potato and the marinated vegetables.

It was a pretty good evening, but seems like a long day. I didn't get a lot accomplished at home, including sleep, so today will be devoted to sleeping and cleaning. Luckily I can doing laundry and take a nap at the same time. Happy Wednesday!

Triple Celebration

Good morning! I've got lots of photos from yesterday, food that is and I didn't even get a shot of everything as usual. It seems, I always miss something, actually, I missed several things, but between Mom & Lynda, I got most of it.

Yesterday morning, I had a cinnamon roll for breakfast. I was starving so I ate it while I did yesterday's post; not easy eating a sticky cinnamon roll and typing on the computer, but I managed.

Since I haven't been drinking coffee, I don't even bother getting decaf, but I may have to get some for drinking with cinnamon rolls or whatever.

 

I had a cup of applesauce after I finished up, since the cinnamon roll wasn't quite enough.

 

 

Because, I'd eaten so early, I was starving before time to go to Mom's, so I had a little sample of the Creamy Dill Pasta Salad.

 

When we got to Mom's, everyone was there. It felt like chaos to me, so much going on at once. My mind didn't know which direction to take. I couldn't focus on anything for more than 2 minutes and I think that was mostly food. We had hamburgers and hotdogs which I didn't get a shot of. We fixed "gourmet" hamburgers, stuffed with cheese and hotdogs for everyone else and I had Veggie Patch veggie dogs. We finally got to try them out on the grill and they did wonderfully. They didn't get tough or balloon up and feel hollow like the Yve's. I was very impressed (It doesn't take much.) Looks like the real thing, huh?

 

We had baked beans.

Hotdog Chili

 

Vegetarian chili with beans. It was from a can, Hormel, I think or something like that. It's more like regular chili than hotdog chili, but serves the purpose.

 

Deviled Eggs

 

Potato Salad. We had lots of salads, be prepared.

 

Plain potatoes for picky eaters.

 

Creamy Dill Pasta Salad

 

Italian Pasta Salad

Mom's Macaroni Salad which I didn't get any of. I'm not sure if it was gone or just out of sight when I got leftovers, but I didn't think about it until I uploaded photos.

 

Bean Salad, which I did get.

 

Coleslaw

 

and Grilled Corn

 

This is my plate. I had both hotdogs, no bun, with mustard, onions, chili & slaw along with corn, potato salad, bean salad, & Italian pasta salad, which was definitely gone when all was said and done. We also thought up another version to try next time, with sun dried tomatoes, feta, pepper, onion, kidney beans, pasta & sun dried tomato vinaigrette. How does that sound?

 

We had apple cake for dessert....

 

.....along with birthday cake and ice cream. We were not only celebrating the 4th, but two birthdays as well.

 

We always have to have candles if for no other reason than to let Lexi blow them out, also you know how fire fighters love to watch the flames.

 

Ah, the birthday boys/fire fighters, in case you were wondering.

 

I had a small piece of birthday cake with lemon ice cream which was very good....

 

....and then I had a small piece of apple cake with coffee which somehow escape the camera. It was a good thing, I got a piece, because this cake was gone when I left. I did get one to take home, but Lucas may get it, since he's not big on birthday cake.

 

I was so full after all I ate. I didn't want to look at food for a long time. I did have 3 spring rolls much later, which were very good.

We had a good day, a very busy day with lots of good food. Speaking of food, I am going to finish up and get a bite of something shortly. Happy 4th everybody! Have a great day!