A Day of Deliciousness

Hello  loves!

Time for your weekly dose of food porn!

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Thanks Jenn for all the work you do each week to round up all our links for one super foodie celebration!

If you’re a blogger (any kind of blogger…no discrimination here!) and want to join in on the fun, just hop on over to Peas & Crayons for the rules of the game. Besides obviously drooling over some of the best looking eats, I love WIAW for the inspiration it gives me for new snacks and meals.

Check it out!

I have to say that today was a pretty delicious day…

It all started with my standard cup of coffee (Starbucks Christmas Blend FTW!) with a side of fuzzy robe sleeve…a must with the freezing temperatures we’ve had lately :-/

I didn’t really have time to make anything elaborate for breakfast this morning, but I was super excited to try a new cereal that I picked up at Target last night.

Anybody tried Kashi’s Golden Goodness?

It’s fantastic! Perfectly sweet, full of fiber, 7 grams of protein…AND a serving size is 1 1/4 cups which is perfect if you have a little fat kid inside you like me that HAS to have volume when it comes to breakfast! 😉

I added a sliced banana, cinnamon, and some unsweetened almond milk and it kept me full for about 3 1/2 hours…not bad for cereal!

My snack came in the form of some glorious (and almost forgotten) pumpkin pudding.

I haven’t made this little treat since back in March and had forgotten all about it until I finally got some peanut flour back into my possession last week.

Instead of following Gabriela’s original recipe (I was too lazy to look it up), I mixed 1/2 cup pumpkin, 1/4 cup peanut flour, 1/8 cup almond milk, a sprinkle of cinnamon and topped it with some pumpkin spice almonds.

‘Twas delicious!

Lunch made use of some of the turkey meat leftover from Thanksgiving. I was out of cranberry sauce to add to my sandwich (which is amazing!) so I chose some red pepper preserves as a substitute. There was also some of TJ’s sweet hot mustard, spinach, and a slice of provolone cheese.

And for “dessert” I had a SUPER ripe and SUPER sweet persimmon

My favorite!

After I got home from the gym and before I got started on dinner, I snacked on some broccoli and homemade Greek yogurt dip.

Greek yogurt + packet of dehydrated vegetable dip mix =

Y-U-M!

I had my friend Sherri over for dinner and since I know Olive Garden is one of her favorite places to eat, I decided to create a little Soup, Salad, and Breadstick action at home…only the multigrain loaf was on sale at the store and the breadsticks were not 😉

The soup was a recipe for White Bean and Mushroom Stew from the latest issue of Whole Living (my new favorite magazine…thank God I found out my mom just bought me a subscription for Christmas! ;)) and it turned out perfect! I was supposed to puree the tomatoes before adding them, but I prefer my soups more on the chunky side so I decided to leave them be.

The salad was FAR better than any OG salad I’ve ever eaten and it was chocked full of REAL greens…none of that silly iceberg nonsense!

Now as I sit here typing this up, I am enjoying some evidence of my roadtrip to Whole Foods this weekend…Liz’s favorite: Cookies & Cream Arctic Zero!

Oh and that’s not the lighting…it IS actually gray colored “ice cream”!
A little weird, but super tasty!

Water Count: ~ 72 ounces
Not my best day, but definitely better than last week!

Do you prefer your soups pureed or chunky?

What is your favorite way to use up Thanksgiving leftovers?

Posted in Breakfast, Desserts, Entree, Snacks, What I Ate Wednesday | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 58 Comments

Who’s Ready to Party?

Hey peeps!

Didya miss me yesterday?

Sorry to leave you hanging on the pancake front, but there was just too much fun happening this weekend to get to blogging.

Howabout a little party to take your mind off the MIA pancakes?

What kind of party, you ask?

A BIRTHDAY party!!

Yep, that’s right, my dear little blog is already one year old…my how time flies!

I’ll do my best to hold back the tears 😉

Hard to believe it all started with me cooking my first Thanksgiving dinner last year. Check out the post if you haven’t seen it before…let me just warn you that the photos are horrendous! Thank God that’s improved!

Over the last few days, I’ve been doing some reflecting on this past year. There have been so many changes in my life both blog related and not. I want to thank each and every one of you for reading because honestly, what would blogging be without someone to share it with?

Buying my first home…

Discovering life-changing sandwiches…

Finding my passion for running…

My trip to sunny California

Moonlighting as paparazzi in Nashville coffee shops…

Entering into the dating world and detailing my experiences…

None of it would have been the same without you guys!

I absolutely love coming home after a hard day and reading through all of your comments. It never fails, I always end up with a smile on my face by the end of the night!

To thank you all for your faithful readership, I’ve complied a little giveaway of a few of my absolute FAVORITE foodie items:

Up for Grabs:

The highly coveted Biscoff Spread
My absolute FAVORITE jam…Frog Preserves
Trader Joe’s Fig Butter
2 Erin Baker’s Breakfast cookies (Oatmeal Raisin & Banana Nut)
2 Cashew Cookie Larabars
2 Chocolate Cherry Jocolat bars (discontinued)
1 Peanut Butter Chocolate Power Crunch bar
1 Honey Graham Clif Z bar
And a few bags of my favorite Yogi teas
(Relaxed Mind, Lemon Ginger, and Chai)

So what do you have to do to get your hands on this fantastic prize?

Tell me…

What is one thing in your life that has changed over the last year that has brought you happiness?

That’s it! No facebooking, twittering, or standing on your head…just share some joy!

The giveaway will run until Sunday, December 4 @ midnight.
I’ll announce the winner next Monday!

Sorry guys, the giveaway is only open to US residents…I really wish I could include everybody, but I just can’t afford the international shipping rates. 🙁

Posted in Giveaway | Tagged , , , | 74 Comments

Elvira: Mistress of the Road

Hey guys!

Just wanted to pop in real quick and introduce you to the newest member of the broccoli kissin’ household!

She’s dark…

She’s sexy…

And her name is Elvira: Mistress of the Road

[source]

Not to be confused with Elvira: Mistress of the Dark

I realize that most of you aren’t old enough to remember this dark sexy vixen from the 80’s, but I just couldn’t help but think of her when I saw this beauty:

Only thing is, she know’s she’s got it going on…

Starting with her bling.

Heater leather seats, keyless entry, 6 disc CD changer, panoramic sunroof…

Wait, did I just say PANORAMIC sunroof?

Oh yes, yes I did!

Seriously, who wants to cruise with me down Broadway in downtown Nashville hanging out like we’re in a limousine?

What are you guys up to this weekend? Tell me, tell me!
We’ve been having some FABULOUS weather…it was 70 degrees today (*happy dance*)…so I’ve been doing the best I can to soak it all in!!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 27 Comments