I Walk In This World

Good Saturday morning blog friends!

Today Hubz went to breks with a friend at the local diner, and I chose to stay home and chillax in bed.  After some stretches and doggie snuggles, I popped up and took Hillster out for a rainy morning walk.

On the walk I decided if Hubz was getting yummy diner Breks, I needed to make something similar.  I am guilty of food jealousy.  Srsly.  You can ask my family.

So I whipped up some french toast!  I used whole wheat bread dipped in eggwhites, skim milk, cinnamon and a splash of vanilla.  Once dipped, I cooked the toast on a hot buttered griddle.  Never afraid to use a little butter, am I?!

Topped with farmers market peach and VT real maple syrup.  The in-laws are visiting again this weekend, and since their garden is da bomb, they brought us some goodies!  See that dish of black raspberries?  That’s from their garden.  Delish. 

• french toast with peach slices and maple syrup
• fresh black rapsberries
• coffee

Was this as good as gooey (fattening) diner breakfast french toast?  No.  Was this amazing for healthy + homemade + hitting many of my daily nutritional goals?  Absotutely!!

And now I’m blogging and relaxing.  I have a party to go to tonight (fun!) and plan to not do too much between now and then.  Maybe a little exercise…but that’s it.  Sounds delish, right?!

Last night I watched SATC and sipped on some camera-shy Sierra Nevada Pale Ales while Hubz was out playing volleyball.  August has been such a crazy month with parties, family, friends, etc that I couldn’t have been happier to chill at home last night.

We made Friday night (whole wheat) pizzas for Din.

• pesto + fresh tomato + Italian blend cheese + Applegate Farms chicken sausage

The other one I forgot to photo, but it was a standard mushies + peppers + onions.

My plate…

• 3 slices of pizza
• tossed spinach salad with homemade garlic dijon vinaigrette
• glass of TJs sauv blanc

I got a lot done at work yesterday, which is funny cuz it was Friday.  I guess I like to clear a lotta things off my plate so that Mondays (which I hate) are a little easier.

I did our grocery shopping over my lunch break (holla for $50 for the entire week!) and treated myself to a salad bar salad for lunch.

• spring mix lettuce
• carrot
• cukes
• red onion
• broccoli
• cherry tomato
• peas
• celery
• mushrooms
• pickled beets
• pickles
• 1 hb egg
• 1-2 T of seafood salad
• 1 tsp of spinach pasta salad
• topped with my homemade garlic dijon vinaigrette
• side dish of watermelon

How come salad bar salads are always so amazeballs?  I could never recreate this beaut at home.  And for $3.96 I think it was pretty dang great.

So.  What’s everyone up to today?

Last night we had a dinner fail.

Hubz and I drove down to Cherry Hill, NJ to meet my sister for her final gown fitting (until the 1 right before the wedding)!!  Hubz walked the mall while sis and I did wedding gown stuff.  She looked beyond gorg, fyi!

Afta, we went to Bahama Breeze for dinner.  Hubz and I decided to split an appetizer and an entree.  Smart choice!  And I started things out with a simple glass of Mondavi Sauv Blanc.

We got the red pepper baked goat cheese appetizer…

Which we split 3 ways.  Good, but I am a goat cheese purist I think.  I prefer it cold (not baked) and not full of junk.  Just the cheese please.

I still ate this xs 4.

Cute decor.

For Din, we ordered the jerk mahi mahi with mashed sweet taters and plantains.  We split this exactly in half.

Um.  Painting a layer of Hunts BBQ sauce onto a sadly cooked piece of fish does NOT jerk mahi mahi make.  I was really unhappy with it.  Thankfully the mashed sweet taters and plantains were good.  But for $18, I was wrought with disappointment.

But YAY for us for choosing a fish on the Good Alternatives List from the Seafood Watch pocket card!

The other disappointment was that I ordered a 2nd glass of vino for dessert.  I almost NEVER order dessert, and instead often choose to have a second glass of wine after dinner.  That’s the path I chose yesterday, but another Bahama Breeze Fail.  They never brought it.  And of course the bill came and we were charged for it.  So I had to motion the waitress over to discuss with her…

No worries blog friends, I shall make up for my lack of wine with tonight’s Din!

I only worked a half day in order to accommodate the plethora of driving that needed to be done, up and down the middle section of NJ.  To keep me hopped on caffeine, I stopped for a mid-day nonfat espresso frap with a side of bling.

Lunch was light b/c I knew we’d be going out to dinner.

• tossed salad + rolled up slice of ham
• watermelon
• another rolled up slice of ham with slice of chz inside
• water to drink

And b/c y’all know I’m a Wild Woman, here’s another wild and crazy snap of Breks!

• passionfruit + pineapple + mango + banana
• almond milk
• ice
• low fat yogurt

This was a good smoothie using the diff fruits!  And nothing beats almond milk.  I’m a total convert.

Happy Friday friends!

Hi IWITW friends!

I swear, I’ve been glum all day, and JUST now the sun came out.  Literally as I pulled up LiveWriter to start blogging.

Thanks sun!

This post is gonna be a Twofer cuz I’m going to be a bissy little chica from now til Sunday morning.  Saturday is my sister’s wedding shower, that Hubz and I are hosting, for 50 people.  I took a vacation day for Friday so I can bake, prep, wrap gifts, etc.

We’re hosting a French cafe-themed shower b/c my sister and her fiance love all things French since spending time in Paris 2 years ago. 

You can imagine how lovely the menu will be!  I can’t share now, cuz my sista reads my blog, and I don’t want her to know anything more than she already does. 

Today’s eats thus far.

Lunch.

1. spinach salad with carrot, tomato, avocado, sharp provolone, basalmic/vin dressing, homemade whole wheat croutons
2. teenytiney pecan butter and red raspberry jam sam with bananas layered in between
3. the rest of my

And hey, TGIThursday cuz it’s been a looooooonnnngggggg week here in IWITW land.

Breks = mango blueberry smoothie. 

 One of these things is not like the other  …??

Last night Hubz spent alotta time on the ‘puter drafting fantasy football players for his team.  I think he’s done well.  I don’t really care for fantasy football or anything fantasy sports adjacent.  But I also don’t like to lose…like…ever.  So I’ll be rooting for him to kick everyone one else’s asses.

Whilst he did that, I enjoyed SATC dvds and this glass of pinot grigio…

Din was yumtastic.  Ground bison and black beans with peppers, onions, and zukes in a creamy salsa sauce.  Served on whole wheat tortilla with steamed beans on the side.  And Hubz snuck those 4 Scoops onto my plate for good measure.  Sneak. 

We had some Din-prep help, as usual…

I did a 20 minute run at the gym + 160 crunches of various types.  C’mon abs!

Work.  Same.  Work.

Lunch was part 2 of my jalapeno bagel with organic roast beef, cheese, tomato, lettuce.  I had some of those Kooloos soy nuts with flax seed on the side.  These were good.  I got them at my health food store instead of the bag of Doritos that I *really* wanted.  In fact, I would get these again and keep them at work for mid-afternoon snack attacks.  And a sliced bowl o peaches.

Breks was different, finally, for all of you bored with my breks lately!  Nature’s Path Optimum Slim (my fav) + Pumpkin raisin crunch + blueberries.  A while back, I did get these as samples from Nature’s Path.  But I would like to point out that I love the Optimum Slim so much I’ve since bought it on my own at the store!

Ok guys, I’ve got a LOT to do to get ready for my sista’s shower.  Wish me luck in all my tasks and check back for pics!

 Woah holy flooding river right across from my home!!

But first, last night’s dinner.  The in-laws are visiting, and Hubz requested that we go to our neighborhood TGIFridays for a fun dinner out.  And it WAS fun!  They actually have a very good menu, so long as you put health and nutritionals away for the evening, lol.

I got the Sante Fe chopped salad (romaine + olives + black beans + corn + tortilla strips + chicken) with the chipotle ranch dressing on the side.  I only used about 1 T of that for the whole salad.  It was good it didn’t need much dressing. 

Oh yeah.  You see those fries back there?  I snarfed ‘em all.  Just shooting for some healthy + unhealthy feng shui.  I also had that Blue Moon up there. 

My MIL is an excellent maker-of-desserts, and she brought this blueberry graham cracker creamy dessert to our house for the weekend.  It’s one of my faves, so I indulged in that bit you see there.  Yum!

 Now.  About the Roaring Rivers.  We got torrentially bad storms mid-day yesterday.  I am not sure how much rain we got, but it was enough to raise the river (across the street from our home) SIX feet and crest at its bank.  In stream ecology terminology, this is called a Bankfull Flood.  It normally happens during storm events that only occur once every hundred years or so (statistically, based on the amount of rain those storms generate).

Woah.  Who’s bored of science already??

Pics of the River!

 Nutty, right?

Look, Hillary is really intrigued.  In fact, I don’t think she even can see the river from her vantage point.  Poor short-legged little doggy…

The inlaws checking things out (and lovin on Hilly dawg).

They pointed out a bunch of wild blackberries.  They told us they’d likely be ripe for our picking by Wednesday!  I’ll report back later in the week to let you know if they’re right. 

Wet toes from tromping across the squishy wet field to see the river.

During the ugly weather, we compensated by having a lovely lunch!  Crockpot potato leek soup with broccoli, white beans, and chicken.  Served with toasty whole grain bread and a bowl o cheeries and grapies.

 Delicioso.

We had friends over for a typical NJ bagel breakfast.  Look at all those mahvaluss carbs!

I got a cinnamon raisin, toasted that beast, smeared it with a little butter, and ate it very very slowly, savoring each bite!

And with that, I leave you, for today, with this gloriousness…

Um.  She’s sitting on his shoulder.  What IS she doing??!!  LOLOL!!