Nacho Grande Sunday

Today started off busy. I went straight to blogging after making my breakfast. I whipped up another Orange Pineapple smoothie and went to bloggin' while I sipped my citrus smoothie.

 

It was so yummy. It makes me want one now, looking at the photo.

 

I didn't finish up last night's posts before going to bed and since we were having dinner at Mom's today, I had to get them done this morning, get my shower and haul butt over to Mom's. I got some of the stuff done last night before going to bed, but still had quite a bit to do this morning. 

Today was Nacho Grande Sunday at Mom's. We were having lots of nacho fixin's, not to mention all the other food. It's always like a buffet with lots of variety. Here's the line up.

Taco Meat. There was also a vegetarian version with Boca crumbles, but somehow I missed the shot.

Baked Chicken

 

Crockpot pork chops.

Black Beans

 

Kidney Beans

Broccoli Cornbread

 

Tostitos tortilla chips, baked and with a hit of Jalapeno

Brown Rice

 

Jambalaya Rice

 

Macaroni Salad

 

Stir Fry Veggies

Fresh Veggies

Salsa Con Queso Cheese, several Salsas, taco sauce, Mexican Cheese, Sour Cream, even flour tortillas for burritos, etc.

 

I fixed myself a big plate of nachos. 

What's on the plate

Tostitos w/ A Hint of Jalapeno

Salsa Con Queso

Boca Crumbles w/ taco seasoning

Black Beans

Brown Rice

Shredded Lettuce

Bell Pepper

Diced Tomatoes

Shredded Mexican Cheese

Sour Cream 

Jalapeno Salsa

You know I like the spicy stuff. Yummy nacho good!! What do you put on your nachos?

For dessert we had strawberry cake with cool whip. Yummy. I had a slice of this, but gobbled it up so fast, I didn't get a shot of it.

 

It was a beautiful day today, sunny and warm. My sister, Cathy and I put a big doll house together that Mom got for Lexi to play with when she comes over. We had a time getting it together, but we got it done. 

I'm counting this as my exercise for the day.

 

I sure was tired when I got home. Thankful for leftovers. I threw together a salad with my piece of broccoli cornbread, then I parked myself on the couch. It felt very good to sit down.

 

What's in the bowl 

Iceberg Lettuce

Sliced Mushrooms

Bell Pepper

Carrot

Diced Tomatoes

Broccoli

Light Caesar Dressing

Now I'm done and ready for bed. Some days just seem like more of a workout. Did you get your exercise in this weekend? What did you count as exercise?

Many Mini Everything Bagels & A Movie

Today I needed a wake up smoothie. Citrus fruit is very refreshing and to me says, "Wake Up". So this morning I made up a citrus smoothie I call my Orange Pineapple smoothie. I should have called it my wake up smoothie. It was very good.

 

Energy in a glass.

For lunch I made succotash and soft cornbread. The succotash is made up of baby limas, corn, and tomatoes with a little basil. The cornbread is a version we call "soft cornbread". It is a softer, less grainy, slightly sweet version of cornbread. I made this cornbread one day because I had planned to make regular cornbread and then realized I didn't have enough cornbread mix, so I improvised by using part cornbread mix, part jiffy corn muffin mix (I only had a partial box), and self rising flour. It turned out to be really good. Not too sweet, soft on the inside, crispy on the outside, yummy cornbread! I've posted the recipe on my recipe page in case you'd like to try it.

 

 

Later I had the other half of my Nature Valley roasted almond granola bar. These are so good. I could eat both bars, but I am trying to do better.

This evening we went to Mom's. She got me some everything bagels, well that's what she said. It was actually Rold Gold Everything Bagel Pretzels. They look like mini everything bagels. They were missing the garlic-y taste of the everything bagels, but you could taste the poppy seeds and they were very good. Mom said this was my April's Fools. Did you get fooled or did you fool someone?

We also had pizza and watched a movie while we were at Mom's. I had a Digiorno Mushroom Spinach and Garlic pizza. It was very good.

 

So good, I had an extra piece after these. I was soooo stuffed, major no, no, oops. So much for doing better, lol.

 We watched The Tourist with Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. This was a very good movie. The only thing I didn't particularly like was the occasional subtitles throughout the movie and only because I can't see that well, I need new glasses, badly. I would watch this movie again. Have you seen it? What did you think?

Well, that was my day. I'm behind so, gotta get this posted and get a shower. Happy Sunday!

Orange Pineapple Smoothie Recipe

This is a great smoothie. I love oranges and orange juice. This is a real eye opener. To me, oranges say, "Wake Up". It kind of reminds me of an Orange Julius, although it doesn't taste quite the same, it is pretty good.

Update 4-09-11 - You can use 1/2 C. Multi Grain Flakes cereal instead of oatmeal if you prefer. I cut back on the amount of oats & cereal in my other smoothie recipes because they turned out very thick, but I think this one was fine with these amounts.

Ingredients
1/2 A Navel Orange
1/2 C. Diced Fresh Pineapple
1/2 C. Milk 2%
1/2 C. Vanilla Yogurt 1%
1/3 C. Old Fashioned Oats
2 tsp. Ground Flax
1 tsp. Honey (Optional)
3-4 Ice Cubes

Directions
Throw everything in your blender and blend until smooth. Enjoy!

Soft Cornbread Recipe

This recipe is for cornbread that we refer to as "soft" cornbread. It isn't quite as grainy as regular cornbread and is a softer slightly sweet cornbread, but not sweet like corn muffins. I came up with this recipe when I planned to make cornbread and realized I didn't have enough cornbread mix. We all liked it so much, I decide to write it down, so that I could make it again.

 

 

 

Ingredients
1 1/8 C. Cornbread Mix
1/4 C. Self Rising Flour
3/4 C. Corn Muffin Mix (Jiffy, etc.)
1/2 tsp. Onion Powder (Optional)
2 eggs
1 C. Milk 2%
1/4 C. Oil

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. If using an iron skillet, put oil in skillet and preheat for approx. 10 minutes. In a medium bowl mix dry (first 4) ingredients together, in a 2 c. measuring cup, measure 1 cup of milk and add the 2 eggs, then blend them together. Now stir the wet ingredients into the dry. Once the skillet and oil are heated, I pour the oil into my batter and quickly stir it in. Be careful if you choose to do this, the oil IS HOT. You can just greased the skillet and add the rest of the cold oil to the batter. Either way, the next step is to pour the batter into the HOT skillet and return to the oven to bake for approx. 15 minutes.

Any questions? I hope I haven't confused you, lol.

Amy's Bowls Brown Rice & Vegetables Review

This morning started off like most, up around the same time, letting the dogs out, weigh in, get dressed and then breakfast, which was another smoothie. I had a repeat of my Pear Berry Smoothie. I really like this one.

 

What's in the glass

Fresh Pear

Fresh Strawberries

Milk

Vanilla Yogurt

Old Fashioned Oats

Honey

Ground Flax

Ice Cubes

Yummy!!

This is what's NOT for lunch. I fixed another one of Amy's Bowls, the brown rice & vegetables with tofu. I thought it might be an Asian dish, it wasn't and it wasn't good. The rice had some sort of gravy or sauce. The smell was familiar, but the taste was not. The gravy or sauce was the part I didn't like. I tried to eat it, but it kind of made me gag. 

It didn't really look good either. I did eat the broccoli off the top and a few bites of the tofu which wasn't bad. I just couldn't manage the rice and gravy. The rice was mushy and the gravy had a slight sweet taste to it. 

 

 My first Amy's Yuck Award!!! Sorry Amy. I do love Amy's usually, especially the Mexican dishes.

This is what's for lunch. A salad. 

 

What's in the bowl

Italian Lettuce Blend

Sliced Cucumber

Carrot

Mushrooms

Shredded Mozzarella

Sun Dried Tomato Vinaigrette

Much Better!

 

For my afternoon snack I had a Nature Valley roasted almond granola bar and a couple of pieces of leftover apple. I only had half the granola bar. There are actually two pieces in the package. It was really good. I'd never had the roasted almond. Lindsay gave it to me the other night when we went to Zumba class.

 

Sweet and juicy.

 

For dinner I had a Veggie Patch veggie dog. I was really impressed with these. I'm not crazy about the boiling method they want you to use to fix them though. I tried that with the first VP veggie dog. It made it prune-y looking. These dogs do have some oil on the outside. Today, I just stuck mine in the microwave for 30 seconds and then placed it in the toaster oven to brown a little. It was very realistic looking, scary. I didn't have any buns, so I improvised with a slice of bread. I put the bread in the toaster oven also, with a slice of cheese on top and broiled it for a few seconds to melt the cheese a little. I added some minced onion, imitation bacon bits for crunch and a dab of barbecue sauce; not bad. I think these dogs would definitely work on the grill.

 

I also had "ants on a log", celery with peanut butter topped with raisins, dried cranberries, and pumpkin seeds, snagged from my fruit 'n fitness snack mix from Yoder's.

 Well not a bad day, except for the lunch, but nothing major. I really hate to waste food, but if you just can't eat it, what can you do? Have you ever had something you just couldn't eat? I really envy those people who like everything. I will usually try things, but some things I just can handle. 

I would like to say, I just love all the traffic my site's been getting. I really hope everyone finds something they like. Be sure and check out the recipe page, have a look at my about me page too. Be sure and subscribe via RSS or email, if you'd like to see more or follow me on twitter and just pop back in sometime. Don't forget to leave a comment. Well, that's all folks.

A Day Of Snacking And Zumba

Today's breakfast is the Pear Berry Smoothie. Smooth and simple, simply delicious.

This morning, I was surprised to find that my cheap blender has a crack at the bottom of the plastic pitcher which now lets liquids flow from the bottom. I wasn't totally surprised. It was cheap, it is made of plastic and it has been recently given a workout, due to my new fascination with smoothies. Luckily I also own a hand blender. I wasn't sure if it could handle the ice in the recipe. I got another surprise. My hand blender, did a far better job of blending my smoothie than my regular blender. It was quicker and was a simpler cleanup.

What's in the glass
Peeled Diced Pear
Diced Strawberries
Milk 2%
FL Vanilla Yogurt 1%
Old Fashion Oats
Ground Flax
Honey
Ice Cubes

I've posted the recipe on my recipe page.

 

Today their was a lot of snacking going on.  I kind of got sidetracked this morning and breakfast was late. After I had my smoothie, we went over to Mom's for a little bit. She tempted me with a Russell Stover truffle egg. I hardly ever eat candy, but there are a few types I can't resist, the kind with truffle in the name being one of them. Usually when it comes to chocolate, I prefer dark chocolate, but for some reason, if it says truffle, the dark chocolate preference goes out the window.  This one was alright, but my favorite is Dove truffle eggs. Dove only makes truffles once or twice a year. I usually splurge for one at Easter, which use to be the only time you could buy them. What's your junk food weakness?

 

I saved the truffle until I got home. I also had a couple of handfuls of sesame nut mix with extra sesame sticks. Sweet & Salty, that's me.

I guess lunch was a slice of leftover Amy's Pesto Pizza with broccoli and tomato. I heated it in the oven today. I didn't want another microwave disaster. It was crispy and delicious.

Today is Zumba day. My pre-Zumba snack was half an apple with peanut butter. 

Zumba class was great. It is so much fun it hardly seem like a workout, except that we definitely work up a sweat. I still haven't gotten all the moves down. My have trouble getting my hand and feet both doing what they're suppose to be doing. I can manage one of the other, but not both, lol, and my butt has no idea what it's suppose to do, but it's still fun. Moving is the main thing and we definitely move.

When I got home I had another Amy's Bowl. This time it was her Mexican Casserole. It was yummy. Like I always say, " If I have to eat a frozen meal, let it be Amy's."

 

Although I did a lot of snacking today, I did get my exercise in. I'm hoping that will make up for some of it. I always feel so good afterwards. How did you do today? Brag a little! What great food did you enjoy?

Pear Berry Smoothie Recipe

 

I just loved this smoothie. I love pears and strawberries. This was a great combo. The simplicity of it, is what made it so good. I thought about adding cinnamon or something, glad I didn't.

Update 4-09-11 - You can use 1/4 C. of oatmeal for a thinner smoothie or use 1/3 C. Multi Grain Flakes cereal if you prefer.

Ingredients

1/2 C. Fresh Pear Peeled & Diced
1/2 C. Fresh Strawberries Diced
1/2 C. Milk 2%
1/2 C. Vanilla Yogurt 1%
1/3 C. Old Fashion Oats
1 tsp. Honey
2 tsp. Ground Flax
3-4 Ice Cubes

Directions

Throw everything in your blender and blend until smooth. Enjoy!