This is Something I Don’t Do…
Blog friends.
Erin has exciting baking news! I don’t bake but I’ve had a hankering for something sweet and homemade lately. And in my efforts to keep my wallet closed, I needed to find a recipe for which I had all the ingredients on hand.
Enter Bisquick Heart Smart and a fabulous recipe for Glazed Lemon Coconut Bars. I’m not allowed to copy the recipe here, but you can find it if you Google Eat Better America and search for the lemon bars recipe.
I was agonizing over the fact that this wasn’t a “whole grain” dessert. And then I reminded myself of some advice I gave a friend recently…
“everything in moderation, even moderation”
So I talked myself out of my tizzy and just used the Bisquick and real sugar to make this delightfully tasty yet light dessert! Sometimes you just have to indulge….a little bit. These are truly delicious, even Hubz says so!
Exercise last night was an easy one b/c my ankle still hurts. 
I did 20mins of hard ellipticalling followed by arm weights ala Seinfeld (watching Seinfeld and lifting hand weights). This is what I like to call Hillary Interactive Exercise. She noses her way into my space, oblivious of the fact that I am trying to get buff. Dogs! How can you do anything but LOVE them!
Din!
- TJs mushroom risotto
- leftover hot pepper turkey sausage + sauteed mushrooms + peas
- atop a bed of spinach
- tossed spinach and green leaf salad on the side
I’m convinced you can add almost anything to risotto and it will be amazing.
I worked. 
Lunch was a mix of celebration and normal. 
Our boss hosted a little picnic for staff today due to a major work accomplishment. In the picnic grove outside:
My plate:
- 7-layer dip + a few tortilla scoops + raw veggies
- half a cup of diet coke
I had packed a yummy lunch and didn’t want to waste it, so I sat out with my friends and enjoyed my plate of appetizers!
Lunch 2:
- leftover whole wheat quesadilla stuffed with black beans and salsa
- water to drink
- a half a pink grapefruit later in the day
A perfect amount of food!
I worked.
Breks was a berry berrylicious smoothie.
- ice
- 1/4 cup vanilla almond milk
- 1/4 fresh watermelon juice
- 3 T ff vanilla yogurt
- frozen peachs + black raspberries
- half a banana
I enjoy drinking this dude on the drive to work.
Who’s on a summer smoothie kick right now?
Today’s EcoTip comes courtesy of a cool article at Civil Eats about our broken food system and an attempt to define a new method and protocol for sustainable & inclusive eating!
For anyone feeling crabby, Rose is hosting an Old Bay giveaway! A fun combo of Old Bay items in celebration of their 70th Birthday.
© 2009, Erin. All rights reserved.
Tags: baking, eco tip, Hillary, lemon bars, My dog, risotto
This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 10:10 AM and is filed under Breakfast, Dinner, Exercise, Lunch, Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
July 1st, 2009 at 10:44 AM
brandi says:those bars look amazing! sometimes it’s worth it to make things as-is
the smoothie is beautiful, AND i noticed that you commented on Rose’s contest that you love Old Bay chips too! They’re amazing, right? yum…I haven’t had them in so long but those and the Utz Salt and Pepper chips are my favorites!
July 1st, 2009 at 10:46 AM
TorontoGirloutWest says:That looks like a SERIOUS spread! I’ve no idea how you managed to show such self restraint! LOL
July 1st, 2009 at 10:52 AM
Jillian says:I totally jumped on the green monster bandwagon early this spring and I am now riding on the smoothie wagon too! I’m big on using strawberries and raspberries right now.
July 1st, 2009 at 12:28 PM
Marianne says:Lemon & coconut? Yum! Send me some
I’m also eyeing up that mushroom risotto. I have to agree, I don’t think you can make risotto bad. Love that stuff!
July 1st, 2009 at 12:40 PM
Graze With Me says:The smoothie looks really great. I wish I could make smoothies more often for breakfast but I’d feel bad for waking the husband up with the blender….
I love homemade treats but I always have to give about 3/4 away or else I eat it all.
July 1st, 2009 at 1:11 PM
janetha says:i must google that recipe. those look amazing! and i love the risotto, it looks so delicious. the drinking anddriving looks like it would be tasty as well
July 1st, 2009 at 1:17 PM
D says:I love smoothies, any time of the year. I like to throw some peanut butter and oatmeal in mine, to tide me through the morning groove. I use Greek Yoghurt in mine, for the added protein, since I have yet to find a protein power that sits well with me.
July 1st, 2009 at 2:08 PM
april says:For some odd reason that quesidilla looked like some sort of dessert! lol
July 1st, 2009 at 3:13 PM
Anne K. says:Those lemon coconut bars look yummy! It’s nice to have a non-”healthy” dessert once in a while
Your dinner looks delicious, too. Love the risotto!
July 1st, 2009 at 4:41 PM
Melissa (Nibbles and Wiggles) says:Oh my husband would just adore those bars.
Love the quesadilla - YUM!
July 1st, 2009 at 5:10 PM
Rebeca says:oh yum dessert yum yum yum
i’m gonna look it up!
July 1st, 2009 at 5:57 PM
K says:Oh dang! That mushroom risotto looks so creamy and delicious!!
Eat Better America is such a lovely website! I love their ‘healthified’ recipes
Those bars sound awesome whole-grain or not!!
July 1st, 2009 at 7:30 PM
Lynette says:That smoothie looks and sounds soooo good. I have everything on hand except the black raspberries. I may have to try it with a substitute fruit.
July 1st, 2009 at 8:35 PM
Lauren says:I have seen this recipe on Eat Better America and have placed it in my “recipe-bank” to make. I adore the Kraft lemon bars but wanted to find a bit healthier version and when I saw these, I thought they sounded perfect.
I am so happy that you made them and loved them.
I definitely don’t bake either, so the quick and mindless baking recipes are the only ones I can handle.
Hope your week is going by just splendidly!
July 1st, 2009 at 10:31 PM
Kailey says:oh my that smoothie looks beautiful!! great eats girlie!!
July 1st, 2009 at 10:48 PM
Christina says:I love watching TV (especially Seinfeld) and lifting weights simultaneously. It goes so much quicker!
Your tortilla lunch looks delicious, I would have held out from the picnic foods too!
July 2nd, 2009 at 1:21 AM
Brooke says:Baking beauty! Those look faaabuuuuloooouuusss!
How did you only drink a half cup of DC? When it comes in picnic forms and free, I down 4+ cups.
July 2nd, 2009 at 1:28 AM
Ashley says:OOoh, I love LOVE lemony dessert bars. They are my absolute FAVOURITE. Better than anything with chocolate I don’t think they are popular in the States, but my favourite dessert is a ‘lemon slice’ which has a biscuit bottom which you don’t cook and then has buttery/lemon icing on top. Here’s a link: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/17268/lemon+slice
Ok, enough about lemon desserts… your work had some awesome food out! Those cookies look delish. And so do the little rolls. Yummy. But I still think I like the lunch you bought better.
Smoothie looks great! My favourite summer smoothie is a plain old banana smoothie. With honey. Throw in some rum, and its REALLY good.
July 2nd, 2009 at 10:03 AM
Holly (The Healthy Everythingtarian) says:those lemon bars look bangin’ girl!
also, what a perfect lunch - a bit of everything is so satisfying! i LOVE the color of your smoothie too!