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Three Things Thursday

Posted on February 2, 2012 by kissmybroccoli

Hey guys!

Happy Groundhog Day…or as I like to call it, Thursday.

Tell me, does anyone REALLY care if that over-fed, hairy little rodent sees his shadow or not? I mean, if they we’re to have six more weeks of winter, should I expect snowflakes or the sunshine and 60 degree temperatures we’ve been having all week?

Eh, one of the more useless holidays we acknowledge in America. Now, fry me up a burger and declare it National Groundhog Burger Day and maybe I’ll think about it…sorry veggie lovers, but I had to go there! 😉

So, anywho! Let’s get on with the intention of this post, huh? No more traumatizing images of furry arms and legs sticking out of a hamburger bun…

Aww, c’mon…you’ve GOT to admit that’s pretty frickin’ hilarious!

Hang on…trying to catch my breath…

Ok!

So, speaking of burgers…guess what opened in my tiny little town of Clarksville yesterday which then prompted every.single.person in a 30 mile radius to get out in the rain JUST to go buy food.

1. PUBLIX!

For those of you who don’t have these in your area, it’s like a big grocery store, but with a LOT more options as far as natural/organic products…you know, because like half the people in this town actually know/care what the difference is.

After I finished yoga class yesterday, I was ~~crazy~~ zen enough to venture over to the grand opening just to check stuff out…aka, wander the aisles for 45 minutes without buying a single thing.

Believe me, I could’ve bought plenty, but this is the reason I left empty handed:

Yeah, that would be the sea of people I would’ve had to swim through to get to the check out lanes…which were all about 5 people (with FULL shopping carts) deep!

Thanks, but no thanks!

Instead, I just walked up and down each aisle looking like a completely normal person taking pictures of random things with my phone.

Can we just take a moment to appreciate the fact that I will no longer have to drive an HOUR to Whole Foods for my Arctic Zero!

Woot, woot!

And if that didn’t have me excited enough, I turned the corner and found the holy grail of beer selection:

BYO6P: Build Your Own 6 Pack!
So many flavors, colors, and pretty packaging to choose from! 🙂

Of course when I wasn’t snapping ninja camera phone shots, I was practicing my acting skills:

Glance over at the sample station…slowly make eye contact…when spoken to, answer with:

“Oh? You’re sampling something? Well, of COURSE I’d like to try it!”

Then walk around the corner, take off your jacket, throw on your shades, walk back to the sampling station and repeat the previous routine until satisfied….I joke, I joke!

Clockwise from top left: Fudge pie, chicken orzo with mandarin orange spinach salad, marbled bundt cake, and blueberries

There was also some teriyaki chicken, Boar’s Head turkey meat, and a cup of decaf coffee that went un-pictured…in other words, dinner #1 was quite tasty.

Once home, I was still on the Snacky Kathy train so I whipped up the BEST snack plate ever:

Dinner #2: A little bit of everything out of the fridge
with hummus and spicy mustard for dipping!

Sometimes it’s nice to switch things up and not break out the pots and pans for dinner!

Another thing that’s been getting switched up?

2. My workouts!

I’ve been getting a little bored with the same routine of classes/cardio/circuits lately so Monday night, I thought I’d try something new.

As you guys know I am a pretty big fan of Jackie Warner.

Well, on Monday night, I decided to break out the newest of her DVD collection. Honestly, I didn’t even know what the concept of the routine was until I hit the play button…I just saw a new J Dubb DVD and snatched it up! Lol

So what did I think?

The concept: Pyramids (starting at 1 and working your way up to 10 with complex moves working multiple muscle groups at one time)

A+

Organization: Combination of biceps, triceps, chest and back for one workout and legs, shoulders, and abs for the other

B+

Delivery: Fast paced…as in “I think I might be losing form because I’m trying to keep up”, constant counting from Jackie (sometimes forward, sometimes backward, but all the time annoying), and rethinking the combo of legs with shoulders (um, hello! The weights I use for working my legs is so not the same as what I can use for my shoulders!)

D-

The only reason I didn’t give it an F is because I really like the concept and I think I could incorporate many of the moves into my own circuit training to continue to mix things up a bit, but I VERY seriously doubt I will be using this DVD again…hmm, wonder if I could fashion it into some kind of frisbee or something? 😉

On a much more positive note, thanks to my free 3 month trial of Sirius XM radio that I received when I purchased Elvira, I have discovered a LOT of new bands that I love. Which means…

3. iTunes Update!

This of course has done a lot to take out that boredom that was creeping up on me.
What is it about having new additions to your workout playlist that immediately makes you eager to get to the gym?

I swear I cannot stop hitting repeat on the Band of Skulls song!

Your turn! What are your 3 things for this Thursday?

What song can you not get enough of lately?

Posted in Shopping, Thursday Things | Tagged iTunes, Jackie Warner, music, Publix | 19 Comments

Oatmeal: From Face to Bowl

Posted on February 1, 2012 by kissmybroccoli

I know what you’re probably thinking, but before you go developing any opinions on oatmeal rights and call the Quaker Oat Man on me let me first take a minute thank our Jenn of Peas & Crayons for hosting our favorite blogger party of the week:

Now…let’s see…where was I?

So after a REEEEEEEALLY early wake up the other morning (5:00am), I sipped on a hot mug of coffee while BB got his things together and was out the door for work.

Although I thought very seriously about walking back to the bedroom to snooze for another 45 minutes or so, the blogger in me couldn’t pass up a chance to get caught up on some reading from over the weekend.

While I was skipping around to some of my favorite blogs, I stumbled across a post of Lou’s. I was so intrigued by a recipe of hers that I got up from the computer, whipped open the cabinets, mixed the ingredients, and then spread it all over…

My face!

And then I uploaded the pic to Instagram…because that’s what addicts like me do!

Yes, I am aware that I have a combination of oatmeal, honey, and ground flax on my face…I am also aware of how gosh darn smooth my face has been since schmearing it on my face two days ago!

While I waited for my mask to set, I got this seriously intense craving for a big bowl of oats and as much as I thought of licking my own face, I thought ~~better~~ sanitarily and whipped up a bowl fresh from the pantry:

Vanilla protein oats topped with banana slices (I swear their under there), crushed almonds, mini chocolate chips, coconut, and chocolate-covered sunflower seeds (these guys INSIST on popping into about 75% of my breakfasts these days)

But that wasn’t all that was atop my bowl of morning glory:

Ohh.emm.gee!

And according to Nikki, I just HAVE to try these on ice cream! Mmm, can’t wait!

By the way, have you seen Nikki’s recipe spotlight over on Jessica’s blog…total drool-fest!

Breakfast held me over for quite a while (gotta love the addition of protein powder in your oats), but around 10:30, it was time for a little snack.

Who else has been enjoying pear season lately?

The perfect juicy snack to hold me over until I dove head-first into this beast of a salad:

So, what’s on the plate? More like, what’s NOT on the plate!

Spinach, carrots, red peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, red onion, annnnnnd grilled lemon-pepper shrimp leftover from the weekend all mixed up with the hunk of avocado at the top of the plate.

Yes it was delicious.

Yes I licked the plate clean.

#noshame

I also enjoyed a little cocktail afterwards since I’ve been feeling a bit rundown lately (must’ve been all the running around last weekend)

I actually picked up this new-to-me flavor of Emergen-C last weekend, and while it’s no pink lemonade (sadly discontinued), it’s a nice change from the boring orange flavor I normally drink.

After lunch, I rewarded my amazing salad making skills with a 2 hour nap and then SOMEHOW pried my butt out of bed and managed to get in a little workout with one of my DVDs (more on that later this week).

Before jumping in the shower, I threw a sweet potato in the oven to bake.

Once I was squeaky clean, it was time to make my tater a little dirty…and by dirty, I mean deeeeeeeelicous!

Split in half with a knife, I topped it with Trader Joe’s turkey chili (mixed with spinach…you know, because I don’t already eat enough greens), avocado, and then post-picture a ~~dash~~ mountain of nooch

Water count: 64 ounces = 2 liters = 2000 cc’s

So there you have it…a little oatmeal, a BIG salad, and a sweet potato loaded with stuff that I’m sure has some of you thinking “what the heck” while others are wiping the drool off their faces!

Remember my motto: Don’t knock it, till you try it! 🙂

Later gators!

What’s the best thing you’ve eaten today?

What is your favorite wintertime fruit/vegetable?
FYI: here’s a link to a really handy harvest calendar. I just love how it shows everything with pictures…it eases the 5 year old mind within us all! 😉

Posted in Breakfast, Entree, Snacks, What I Ate Wednesday | Tagged avocado, banana, coffee, Emergen-C, oats, salad, shrimp, spinach, veggies, water | 23 Comments

Trucker Hats & Trader Joe’s

Posted on January 31, 2012 by kissmybroccoli

Hey hey!

So glad you guys enjoyed an expense at my laughs from yesterday’s post…er, I mean, LAUGHS at my EXPENSE…yeah, that’s what I meant!

And if you missed out because…I don’t know…maybe my blog was down for HALF THE FRICKIN DAY, then I do apologize. I’ve been having some trouble with my CPU usage lately…seems like I’m a bit more loved around the blogosphere than I thought! All your little clickies are making my numbers go up, up, up, but also causing me and my web guys have to do a bit of thinking. We’ll be trying out some few things for the next few days so if I’m “not here” when you come for your daily dose of broccoli kissin’, puh-leeease check back later…or feel free to harass me on Twitter!

But seriously, check out the Apple Pie post if you’re in need of a good chuckle!

So last night, I hinted at a few other festivities from this past weekend…

sushi dinner…?

trucker hats…??

fro-yo?

and Trader Joe’s?!?

Well, allow me to explain. It seems I’ve not only found a man who knows how to cook, enjoys a good zombie-fest, and tucks me into ~~bed~~ my parent’s couch when I overindulge, I’ve also found a man who is addicted to sushi, loves a good laugh, over fills his fro-yo cups AND doesn’t mind being drug along grocery stores all weekend.

#win

Even though we just had a sushi date a couple of days before, we couldn’t help but both get a mad craving for it after a text from the sis got the idea in our heads.

I swear about 99.9994% of the time I get gypped on the fortune

Anyone eat the fortune cookie? I actually don’t even like them, but won’t leave a Chinese restaurant without breaking one open!

Later on that day, BB and I ran some errands, one of which was stopping by a place for some food for this little munchkin:

Oh the ponderings of a young feline mind…

Well, as it turns out, the store we happened to go to was running a special…if you pick up a bag of cat food the size of a toddler AND grab a jar of this on a whim:

You’ve officially spent enough $$ to get a FREE hat!

But not just any hat…a TRUCKER hat…

In PINK!!

You don’t have to tell me, I know I totally look badass in this! 😉

So badass in fact that while BB took to cooking up a bit of surf ‘n turf, I busted out some mad salad making skills:

One of the BEST salads I’ve ever had: spinach, carrots, red onion, honeycrisp apple, alfalfa sprouts, dried cranberries, cucumbers, and avocado

Mmm, I can still taste the amazing blend of all the flavors…can’t wait to make it again!

On Sunday morning, BB and I enjoyed a lazy breakfast before jumping in Elvira for a roadtrip to Nashvegas!

Avocado on toast with the new “Hoppin” FROG jam, which was pretty tasty (spicier than my other FROG due to the addition of jalapenos…I’m definitely seeing a FROG coated chicken dish in the future), Blood Orange Chobani (the final new flavor I had left to try…YUM) and some juicy green grapes.

Of course, before we hit full roadtrip mode, we had to make a detour…

It seems someone got a little jealous of my newest assessory:

So we went BACK to the store, bought MORE stuff, and got another “free” hat! And then proceeded to take a pic looking like total goofballs! Lol

But that was nothing compared the look on my face as I dove into this ~~cup~~ trough of goodness:

That would be cake batter and irish mint fro-yo topped with Oreos, yogurt chips and sprinkle-coated chocolate drops…

Oh sweetie, I think you have a little drool on your chin…maybe you should grab a tissue…hmm?

Then we rolled our fro-yo full tummies over to Whole Foods and signed over a quarter of BB’s liver (don’t worry, it grows back) and my spleen to get this:

Arctic Zero…my precccccccious, bulk goodies: whole wheat pastry flour, oats, and nooch, some unpictured red snapper and cod, and finally, an impulse buy at checkout: Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride! (I may or may not have taken all the boxes on the display!)

And then we were off to check out WF’s more attractive, budget-friendly cousin:

Trader Joe’s!