Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween!

Hi there... I'm guessing everyone out there is in a sugar coma tonight (I'm still reeling from my sugar weekend), so I'll keep it short.

Breakfast was some overnight oats with a scoop of peanut butter, I'll take a picture tomorrow since I only ate half.

Lunch was a taco salad with tons of spinach.  I chopped it up really small so I could pack it in and get several servings of veggies.



Supper was some leftover pork on a sandwich thin with some sharp cheddar potato chips.

We had a fun time with our little lion tonight.  Bought this costume at a second hand store on Saturday morning for $1.  Awesome purchase- it was the perfect size, great condition and a Baby Einstein costume so I assume it made him smarter.





Sunday, October 30, 2011

Pork Day

Today was deemed a day o' pork.  Last week I bought 2 pork shoulders for about $12.  They were each at least 3 lbs.  The best way (in my opinion) to cook pork shoulders is to pop them in the crockpot.  So I made one a typical bbq pulled pork and the other a spicy pork, kind of Mexican in flavor but not really.  Recipe is posted below.

Hubby always needs his pancakes for breakfast on Sundays, but I was out of mix today, so I had to make them from scratch.  I use a powdered buttermilk when I make them from scratch, and just use the recipe on the buttermilk container.  We have a bunch of rotting bananas, so I smashed one up and threw it in the mix to make banana pancakes.  They turned out ok (better than the last bananas pancake episode), but kind of flimsy.  We also had a package of bacon in the fridge that was past its expiration date, so I made that up in the oven, and now we have some leftover bacon for the week.  Yummo!


Today was a work day, as I tackled the attic.  There's just a bunch of junk and boxes with nothing in them up there.  I made a pretty good dent, but still have to haul all the boxes down to the curb for recycling pickup tomorrow.  Hopefully I remember to wake up early to do that.

I took a break sometime to eat a couple pepperoni pinwheels that Hubby made for lunch.  He just loves those things!  They are pretty good, you can't go wrong with crescent rolls in a tube.

Oh yeah, and before I started on the attic, I threw the pork in the crockpots.  One had a packaged slow cooker bbq mix with it- seasoning mix with ketchup, apple cider vinegar and brown sugar.  For the other pork shoulder I used a recipe I found on the web, but now I can't find the link.  Sorry to whoever came up with this... guess you don't get credit.  I changed most of it anyways.

Spicy Pork
1 pork shoulder or pork butt  approx 3 to 3.5 lbs
1 c bbq sauce
1 can rotel
3 T chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Mix together and pour over pork shoulder in crockpot.  Cook on low for 8 hours.  I also added 2 T of a homemade mango hot sauce that a friend gave us.

While that cooked, I worked on the attic and packed up some stuff to take to Goodwill.  Dropped off a couple bags of goodies and then picked up some more stuff at Walmart.  I'm so proud of myself for actually getting rid of stuff... I'm kind of a pack-rat.  I've always been that way, just can't let go of some stuff.  Hopefully I don't end up on Hoarders someday.


Here's a couple shots of the pork:


Shredding


Spicy Pork with cheese and spinach on a tortilla


The finished product


Both crockpots made 6 full Glad containers.  That will be at least two meals for each container, sometimes three.  So I made at least 12 meals for $12.  Not too shabby.  The pork freezes pretty well too.

For dessert I had one of my seven layer bars from yesterday, which by the way I realized earlier today that the name makes no sense.  I realize I didn't add any pecans like some recipes do, but that's still not seven layers.

  1. Crust
  2. Sweetened Condensed Milk
  3. Chocolate chips
  4. Butterscotch chips
  5. Coconut
So I guess they're technically five layer bars.  Must be missing something from the original recipe.

Tyler was pretty fun today, he is getting to be a little daring though.  I walked in to get him after a nap today, and he was standing up, leaning over the top of his crib.  Little stinker.  Guess it's time to put the mattress down.... again.  Think it only goes down one more notch.  

Here's a parting shot of our little creeper.  Like our homemade gate?  Don't worry, he's always supervised.  =)


Don't mind the disaster zone in the background... Tyler likes toys

 

Saturday, October 29, 2011

SUGAR

No post yesterday because there were no notable meals.  All leftovers from this week.

Today I decided to treat my pancreas to an abundance of sugar.  I know I haven't been eating the best lately, and today definitely made me crave a plain ol' bowl of spinach.

The plan for the day was to head to Dike to go spend time with my aunt and her family for her 40th birthday.  My mom and some other family members were going as well.  I wanted to bring a little treat for her and the crew, so I made a little snack mix.

While shopping at the grocery store, I decided to make something sweet for the Hubby as well.  The bright idea of Seven Layer Bars popped into my head.  Very poor decision.

I started the day off meaning well, with a pomegranate Chobani.

Off I went to the clinic to see a patient, to the bank to cash a check, grocery store for supplies and hit up a second-hand store on the way home to pick up a Halloween costume for Tyler.  Which by the way, I found a costume for $1.  How awesome is that.  Pictures to come later.

First came the Seven Layer Bars.  I made them a little differently in order to minimize dirty dishes, but I don't think it mattered.  Here's the quick recipe:

Seven Layer Bars
1 1/2 c graham cracker crumbs
1/2 c butter
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 c semisweet chocolate chips
1 c butterscotch chips
1 1/4 c coconut

Melt the butter and mix with graham cracker crumbs.  Press into 9 x 13 pan.  Cover with sweetened condensed milk, then sprinkle remaining ingredients on top.  Bake in 350 degree oven for 25 minutes.



Easy peasy.  And so sinfully good.  I would hate to know the calorie content.


Once that was in the oven, I started on the Halloween snack mix.  You can pretty much make this with anything- my mom makes this at Christmas time a lot with Christmas M & M's and slightly different ingredients.

Halloween Snack Mix
8 c Rice Chex
3 c Cheerios
2 c pretzel sticks
1 c Reese's Pieces
1 c candy corn
2 c dry roasted peanuts
1 package almond bark

Combine all ingredients into a HUGE bowl.  Melt almond bark and pour over ingredients.  Stir quickly before almond bark hardens.  Spread onto waxed paper to cool.



Even easier.  I really like the salt mixed with the sweet.  I brought this to the party and just left it there, don't need more of that laying around here!


So after all that "baking", Tyler and I hit the road (I had a leftover pork chop for lunch).  Hubby stayed home since he's been travelling a lot lately.  Tyler did so well on the ride over, just playing with his toys and taking a little nap.  We had a nice time visiting with family, wish we got to see them more often.

On the way back, Tyler got a little fussy but then fell asleep again.  He must be tuckered out, because he's still sleeping, 4 hours after we got home.  I'm sure this means he'll be up at 3 or 4 AM.

Hubby made up some dinner for us, and I was excited to get some food in that wasn't so sugary.  He made up a couple steaks in the cast iron skillet. It was pretty good, as usual.  Steak with pasta and a bowl of spinach.  I had to get the steak at the store today, it was only $4.50 a pound for New York strips- the two huge steaks I got only cost  approximately $8.  Can't beat that.



That's all for today, coming way down off my sugar high.  Time to hit the gym tomorrow!!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Sleep! yay!

I guess Tyler is back to normal, because he has slept all through the night two nights in a row.  Yippie!!!!  That helps a lot when you feel like crap and need sleep to get better.  I'm feeling much much better and had a great day today.

First off, a quick review of yesterday.  I apologize ahead of time for the horrible pictures, all are taken by obviously using a flash.  For some reason it was dark out every time I went to take a picture.  Probably because breakfast is at 6 in the morning and supper is at 7:30 or 8 at night.  It was kind of cloudy out for lunch as well.

Breakfast was vanilla Chobani with frozen blueberries, Cascadian Farms Organic Granola, and chia seeds.



Lunch is a hardshell taco and a homemade double decker taco.  Hubby loves these so I thought I'd try one.  I put just a tiny smear of refried beans on a softshell tortilla (usually refried beans make me wanna barf 'cause they look like barf) and folded it around a hardshell taco shell.  Fill it up with taco meat, cheese, spinach and plain Greek yogurt.  Not too shabby.  Someday we're going to try to make our own refried beans, with black beans.  Anyone got a recipe?



Supper was fajitas.  Which are completely different than tacos, thank you very much.  Fareway makes this super easy fajita mix that you just plop in the pan and cook up.  It's cut-up chicken breast, peppers and onions with fajita seasoning.  It's actually way cheaper than buying all the stuff and making them yourself, because the mix has all kinds of peppers in it- green, red, orange and yellow.  Top with a little cheese and plain Greek yogurt.  Oh, and add a margarita on the side like we did.  =)


On to today.  Since Hubby did the grocery shopping this week (which helped me out a ton), we have an abundance of tubed bread products to use up.  So for breakfast we had some scrambled eggs and some Grand's biscuits.  If it counts at all they were the reduced fat Golden Wheat ones.



This morning was so fun.  Tyler was in such a crazy mood.  Hubby built him a little couch fort and he loved playing in it.


Flash went off, hence the dopey smile

He then fell asleep in it.



He's getting to be so adventurous, pulling himself up on to things and reaching for stuff.  Everything has to be moved to the center of the coffee table.  We're going to fix that this weekend by looking for a new coffee table- we've got something special in mind.  I'll take pics when we get it.

I actually accomplished a lot of stuff today, but won't bore you with all of it.  I did manage to go to the library and get a library card.  Only took me 3+ years to do that, and the library is pretty much across the street.  It's just a small library, so most of the books are pretty old, but I managed to find Water For Elephants.  Heard it's good, so I'll see how it goes.

I actually got to work out at my workout class tonight so that was nice.

Supper tonight was a clean-out-the-freezer night.  Had some old pork chops in the freezer than needed to be used up, so Hubby seasoned with salt and pepper and then cooked them in a cast-iron skillet.  I steamed an old package of brussel sprouts and then roasted them.  Hubby also made use of another tubed bread and made some pepperoni pinwheels.  Basically pepperoni and mozzarella cheese rolled up in crescent roll dough.  Those were our appetizer.  He's been craving those for a long time now.



Finishing up the night by watching the World Series.  Hubby just told me a story about a woman in Texas, how it was her last wish (she was on her deathbed) for the Rangers to win the World Series.  And she died last night.  Stupid rain delay!!  Poor lady.  Guess that makes me want to root for the Rangers just a little bit.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Ugh.

Well I was hoping I would feel much better after going to bed at 9 last night, but that didn't happen.  I hardly slept at all because I was busy putting on and taking off layers of clothes.  Went between fever and chills all night long, then Tyler of course got up early and was fussy.  I actually got more sleep when I went out to sleep on the couch.  Go figure.  Calmed down a little today, but still felt like crap.  Could have been way worse I guess.

For breakfast I had a repeat of yesterday, English muffin with peanut butter and a small glass of OJ.

Lunch was 2 eggs scrambled with a piece of whole wheat toast on the side.  That was about all I could take because I was getting queasy.



Hubby made some taco meat tonight, so I made a taco salad.  Yes that's right, spinach is back!!  Hubby went grocery shopping today and stocked up.  He sure helped me out a lot today.  What a good guy.



I feel pretty bad for my girls in my exercise class tonight.  Since I wasn't feeling too great I put together a workout that I could instruct without actually doing too much of it.  So lots of running and other fun stuff that I did not participate in.  Sorry girls.  = )


Well I'm still not feeling the greatest, so I'm off to bed early again.  Hope your day was better than mine!

Monday, October 24, 2011

I'm back

I really hate to post ahead of time when we'll be out of town, so that someone won't read my blog and rob us.  Then I got to thinking, what do we have that someone would actually want to take?  We never have any cash on hand, and we take everything that is worth any money (wedding ring, laptop, phone) with us.

Anyways, we took off for Kansas on Friday and just got back last night.  We went down to visit Hubby's mom and the rest of his family.  After a hectic day in the office on Friday, we packed up and hit the road.  We picked up Tyler from daycare and put him in his car seat, and he started screaming bloody murder.  How could he be unhappy in his new luxury carseat?!  Not a good start to the weekend.  He screamed for about an hour and a half then finally fell asleep.  He wouldn't eat, didn't have a dirty diaper, wouldn't take a pacifier... something was wrong.  He was fussy the whole weekend, and started to run a fever.  Saturday it got pretty high, we had to go get some baby Tylenol just to help him get comfortable.  Poor little guy.  He ate ok and everything, so I'm not sure if it was just a virus or if it's teeth coming in.  He did a little better on the ride home yesterday, and the fever finally broke this morning.  Thank goodness, just in time to take him to daycare to be around all the germs.

Then of course last night I started feeling crappy, and still have a sore throat today and just feel a little nauseous.  I really hope I don't get what hubby had last week.  Not fun.

My phone was pretty much dead the whole weekend and I forgot my camera, so no pics from the weekend.  It wasn't pretty anyways.  Lots of not so healthy food, although it was pretty darn tasty food.  Chipotle on Friday, YellowSub and Glory Days on Saturday, Dunkin Donuts (pumpkin donuts!!) and MickeyD's on Sunday.  No french fries for this girl though... Southern Chicken sandwich with a fruit and walnut snack- which I got super pissed at.  I thought it was a fruit and walnut salad, because it is clearly listed under the salad section, and even says "salad" but there was no lettuce.  Just some pieces of apple and some grapes with yogurt and walnuts.  It was good, but not what I expected.  I was already mad at them for not having their oriental chicken salad anymore.

We desperately need to go grocery shopping, so meals today were simple.  English muffin with peanut butter for breakfast, and a wrap made with leftover crockpot chicken and shredded Swiss cheese.  Tonight we heated up some leftover sausage and corn Glory Day's pizza.  Yum.

Here are a couple pics from today, just to satisfy your photo appetite:

Added a small dose of OJ

Wrap with baby carrots

Hubby decided to throw on a bunch of cookies that were leftover from the weekend.  I only consumed one.  = )



So hopefully we get to the grocery store tomorrow to stock up on healthy stuff- I'm craving spinach and apples!  

Off to bed early again, trying to ward off this sickness that keeps fighting me.  

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Quiznos!!

So after I posted this morning, I drove over to Dyersville to hit up an outlet store that sells a bunch of The First Years brand items.  I found a pretty sweet car seat for Tyler that was way marked down.  It's similar to this, but different colors and much cheaper.  Yay!  He should be riding pretty comfortable, and he's even got a cupholder for all his beverages.

While in Dyersville I picked up some Quiznos.  The hubby and I like love Quiznos.  I could pretty much eat anything.  I got the Harvest Chicken salad- my favorite salad.  I also sneaked a bite or two of one of hubby's chipolte turkey Sammies.



We had a fun afternoon of playing with Tyler, and got to witness another first.  He pulled himself up to standing today.  We'll work on it time to time but he hasn't even come close, then all of a sudden today he was just sitting by a clothes hamper and just pulled himself right up.  Hubby and I were both on the floor playing with him and watching him, and I think we both got a little choked up when he did it.  He's growing up so fast, pretty soon all these little firsts will be everyday occurrences.

After some fun playtime, I headed to exercise class.  Not too big of a crowd, but Thursdays are never too busy.  Nice simple workout, not as much leg stuff as Tuesday.

Since I didn't get home until after 6:30 and didn't get out of the shower until about 6:50, I was not able to see my movie.  No biggie, I'll just rent it or buy it when it is released.  I had a lot to do tonight anyways.

Supper tonight was "clean out all the leftovers" night.  This was one pretty random meal.

I combined some roasted butternut squash, green beans, whole wheat rotini pasta and some minced garlic in  a fry pan with some olive oil.  I added some goat cheese after it got nice and crispy, then put it on a bed of spinach with some pine nuts sprinkled on top.  Yeah, random.  It was good though.  I also had a whole wheat English muffin with a little bit of peanut butter.  Oh, and another small bowl of frozen yogurt with chocolate.  Couldn't resist.  =)




Busy busy day tomorrow.  Not sure about my blogging capabilities as we have a pretty crazy weekend planned.  I'll fill you in soon!  

Catch up time

I'm back.  Hubby is feeling better, Tyler hasn't gotten sick and I'm somewhat rested.  I was supposed to go to "The Help" last night but by the time I finished up work, picked up Tyler and fed him and then ate something, I was shot.  My legs were already sore from the workout the day before (I'll describe below) so working in the office by myself all day was intense.  I think I got to sit down once.  So enough complaining- hopefully I'll get to the movie tonight and it better be as good as people say it is!

Meals were pretty random the last couple days because of the craziness.  Here are the highlights (and a couple low-lights):

Hubby made homemade mac and cheese (this is before the sickness) and heated up pork for lunch one day

Carb overload!!!- at least it was part whole wheat pasta

Last bit of fresh pineapple- I love this stuff!


Egg breakfast sandwich- 1 egg on whole wheat toasted English muffin with Havarti cheese and some raspberry jam


Lunch for my sicky- tomato soup with grilled cheese (using Ezekial bread and last of the Havarti cheese)





A treat for myself last night after a long exhausting day- lowfat vanilla frozen yogurt with chocolate and sprinkles!


Breakfast today- one leftover carrot cake pancake that I threw in the toaster, topped with some pineapple Chobani and unsweetened shredded coconut



Whew.  There were plenty other meals mixed in there, but mostly just leftovers or junk.

As I mentioned earlier, my legs were exhausted yesterday.  It felt awesome.  Need to get those muscles back so I can rock it in volleyball league.  I love my exercise class, I have an awesome group of girls who like to be pushed.  I won't fill you in on the whole workout, but here's a little sample workout based on what we did on Tuesday:
  • 10 walking lunges forward, turn around and do 10 walking lunges back to starting point (or in place if no room)
  • 20 Curtsy lunges with a lateral raise
  • 50 squats
  • 20 squat jumps
  • 1 minute jumping jacks
  • 30 seconds plank jacks
  • 1 minute jumping jacks
  • 30 seconds plank jacks
  • 20 bent-over rows 
  • 20 bent-over reverse flies
  • 20 triceps kickbacks
  • 20 overhead triceps extensions
  • 30 seconds high knees- fast
  • 30 seconds butt kicks- fast
  • 1 minute jump rope
Follow that up with 10 minutes of ab work and stretching.  Like I said, left a couple things out, but that's a good workout to get you started.  You'll have to google any of the moves you don't recognize, I included a link for curtsy lunges because they are a little different and they are a great move.  PLEASE remember to consult your doctor before embarking on a new exercise plan.  




So true.


Have some fun things planned for today, off to find a carseat for my little man (who is getting to be a big man!).


Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Sicky

I thought we were going to get lucky and avoid the stomach flu bug that has been circulating, but the first casualty hit last night.  Hubby's tummy didn't feel so good before bed, then next thing you know he was up all night puking and spending lots of time in the bathroom, if you know what I mean.

I was so worried all night that I was going to get sick, but so far so good.  Tyler appears to be happy and healthy as well.

Since I have been pretty busy working, teaching exercise class and taking care of a sick kid and a baby, no pics for now- I promise I'll catch up tomorrow.

Want to at least leave you with this, a link to a friend's website who is now a local photographer.  She took those family pics of us last week that I mentioned.  Here's a sneak peek!

Monday, October 17, 2011

Hi all

Guess I got a little behind and missed my Sunday night post.  We are just having so much fun playing with Tyler! He's getting so much fun, it's awesome to watch him learn and process things in his head.

I had such a long list of things to do yesterday, and what do you know, only did a couple of them.  I'm thinking that's just the life of a mom... those lists just never go away.

I did make some carrot cake pancakes for the hubby for breakfast since he missed out on them last weekend.  This time I grated the carrots, and that seemed to work better.  So good!



For lunch I finished off some leftovers- blue corn tortilla nachos with the leftover taco meat (just used shredded colby jack).



We had a little photo shoot yesterday because was 7 months old.  He was pretty happy.





For supper I had a little something brewing in the crockpot.  Sometime early afternoon, I threw 3 chicken hindquarters in the crockpot and made some slow cooker honey garlic chicken.  I bought the hindquarters because they were only $0.89 a pound.  It was kind of a pain to take all the skin and fat off, but I did it.  Well worth it.  I really should have gotten more than 3 pieces too.  Oh well, lesson learned.

I adapted the recipe due to what I had on hand and here's what I did:

Honey Garlic Chicken

3 chicken hindquarters
1 T olive oil
1/2 c honey
1/2 c soy sauce
3 T ketchup
1 T minced garlic

Take the skin and fat off the hindquarters and brown in olive oil in skillet for a couple minutes on each side.  Place in crockpot.  Mix up the remaining ingredients and pour over chicken.  Cook on low for 4 hours.

Minus one hindquarter that the hubby ate


The flavor was awesome, pretty much like teriyaki chicken.  I didn't add the ginger like the original recipe, nor did I add the pineapple.  I think next time I'll try it with chicken breasts and stick to the original recipe.  The hindquarters were ok, just not fun to clean and didn't really yield much meat.

I accompanied the chicken with some roasted butternut squash.  I was going to take a bunch of pictures and show you how to cut a squash, but you can just look here instead.

You probably know about my love of sweet potatoes if you've been reading this for a week or so.  Butternut squash is a good alternative to sweet potatoes if you're watching calories.  You'll still get the mega doses of Vitamin A and Vitamin C, but much less calories.  Still love the sweet potatoes though.

I chopped up a squash and placed it on a foil-lined pan and placed in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes.  I drizzled a little olive oil on top and sprinkled some sea salt and ground pepper on top.  I might have cooked them a little longer, not sure, because I know I like it when they get a little crispy.


Dessert was some left-over apple crisp.

Today I started my day with some strawberry Chobani with a little Cascadian Farms granola and chia seeds.  That kept me going all morning until I had a super salad for lunch.


This salad was awesome, I saw a picture on Pinterest that inspired it, but didn't pin it because I didn't have a mouse yet.  Oh yeah, update: I have a USB mouse now, which is awesome.  And I waste way too much time on Pinterest, not awesome.

So back to my salad, because the picture doesn't do it justice.  It had spinach, pear, green grapes, shredded carrots, dried cranberries, left-over chicken, toasted walnuts and feta cheese- all with the last of my Newman's Poppyseed dressing.  And making it took less than 10 minutes.  Yum.



For supper we were exhausted.  Hubby had some extra lean ground beef browned up by the time I got home, so we improvised.  Homemade hamburger helper.  Boiled up some water for some whole wheat rotini noodles- while that was happening we added some cream of mushroom soup and 4 ounces of low fat Velveeta.  We weren't going for health, just speed.  Add in a side of green beans and bam, dinner served.


I know, it looks like puke but it was good.

And I'm off to work on charts.  Or maybe check out Pinterest.  = )

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Tragedy has struck my keyboard

Last night while drinking some water, an ice cube splashed water on my laptop.  Right on the left mousepad key.  I tried to dry it out but it didn't work.  So now the key doesn't work at all.  Do you know how hard it is to crop pictures without that key?!?

I'll try to move past it.  Or find a mouse to plug in to my computer.

So I caught some flack last night from Hubby because I didn't put our dessert on the blog.  Then I realized we ate it after I posted.  Either way, we enjoyed a piece of delicious chocolate cake that was made by his Grandma Lorena.  It had been in the freezer for awhile, but pop it in the microwave long enough and it tastes delicious.

Today I started off my morning with some pomegranate Chobani yogurt with some of the same Cascadian Farms Granola.  I know granola isn't the healthiest thing ever (usually lots of calories and fat), but I watch the portion size.  I just love that little crunch.  Sorry-no pic.

For lunch, I wanted to try something new.  Last night after cutting up the broccoli to steam it, I got out my veggie peeler and used up the stems of the broccoli stalks.  Today I made a ramen noodle salad out of them.  I'm sure you've seen this before, here's my version, saving some money by making your own broccoli slaw and not buying the packaged kind.

Ramen Salad


3 small stalks of broccoli, peeled in thin strips
1 c shredded carrot
1 package ramen noodles, any flavor (I used chicken)- uncooked
1/2 c sliced almonds
1 T butter
1/4 c sunflower seeds
1/3 c canola oil
3 T apple cider vinegar
1 T sugar
splash of soy sauce

Combine the broccoli and carrots.  In a skillet, melt butter over low heat and add dry ramen noodles and almonds (be sure to take out seasoning packet!).  Saute for a couple minutes until almonds are toasted.  Add the noodles and almonds to the veggies, along with the sunflower seeds.  Mix the canola oil, vinegar, sugar and soy sauce, along with 1/2 of the seasoning packet and add to salad.  Mix well and serve.



I accompanied this with a little smoked pulled pork and bbq sauce.



After working in the office all morning, I just relaxed for awhile this afternoon and played with Tyler.  He's getting so fun.  Lots of crawling, even pulling himself up a little.  He did this several times today, didn't know what to do and just fell backward.  We're so evil, we just laughed at him.  It's ok, he only cried once.

I did have a snack of cottage cheese and a handful of Cheezits for my snack this afternoon, since it took awhile to put together supper.

For supper, I wanted to use some gnocchi that I got from Target last weekend, just because it looked good and I've only had gnocchi once and it was awesome.  I used the tri-color gnocchi: potato, tomato and spinach.  I thought I took a close-up pic, but I didn't.  Instead you get one of Tyler playing with the gnocchi package.


I searched the web for recipes and decided on this cheesy gnocchi.  I adapted parts of it however, based on what I had on hand.

Since I can't exactly copy and paste right now due to my stupid keyboard problems, you'll have to just follow the link.  Here are my substitutions: I used whole wheat flour, skim milk, Swiss cheese instead of Gruyere.  Other than that I followed it to a T.  I might have used a little less butter.

It was pretty tasty, definitely not very healthy though.  When it was done, I tipped it a little and poured about 2 or 3 T of grease off it.  Must be the cheese.  Warning: it is also quite filling, so a little goes a long way.



Hubby and I agreed the cheese sauce would be excellent with pasta, so I guess we know how we're making our next batch of homemade mac and cheese.


Close-up of the gnocchi


Of course, we did not just have a meal of gnocchi.  Hubby grilled up some smart chicken marinated in Italian dressing.  You can really do no wrong grilling chicken breasts marinated in Italian dressing- it's always good.


I cut up my chicken and put it in with some spinach for a salad.  Used some red pepper/Vidalia onion dressing.


For dessert I threw together a quick apple crisp with the remaining honeycrisp apples I had.  I then had a bowl of it with some vanilla frozen yogurt.




Since I didn't exactly get as much stuff done today as I wanted, tomorrow better be a productive day.  Shouldn't be a problem since hubby is commanding all of the televisions for football.

Look for another recipe or two tomorrow!!