Gobble Gobble Yall

It's be an absolutely Fan-Freakin-Tastic day! I've got so many reasons to be happy and thankful today!

1. I woke up feeling good
2. I LOST WEIGHT (down another 1.6 lb)
3. I spent time with my family
4. We ate good yet healthy food
5. I'm off from work (4 day weekend...YEAH)
6. The weather was nice
7. I didn't spill any food on myself (I live with BIB jokes people)
8. All of my dishes tasted good (even my SAD pumpkin pie)
9. I had wine, this makes me happy....
10. Snuck in another episode of So You Think You Can Dance
11. Didn't have to cook dinner (you'll see why below)

Alright, enough joy sharing. Lets discuss my fabulous day shall we? It started early. I woke up at 7:30, poured myself a GIGANTIC cup of coffee and curled up with Oliver Kitty for a bit.

I love my morning cuddle time with Bubble But. Yeah, I call him Bubble But sometimes, and no, I have no explanation.

A while later I decided to have a little breakfast. Nothing major though. I needed to save ROOM for later. I decided to have a yogurt mess.

• 4oz Oikos Greek yogurt
• 1 banana sliced
• 1 tbs sugar free apricot preserves
• 2 tbs pumpkin puree
• cinnamon
• splenda

And MORE coffee!!!!

It was nearing 9:00 now and Ann was due by 10:00 to help me get the dishes ready for later. We were meeting up with the folks by 2:00 and I didn't want to run late. I told her to come over as early as possible. I quickly slapped myself together and brewed a fresh pot of coffee. HAVE TO FUEL TO FIRE BABY!

Ann showed up at about 10:30. LATE LITTLE DIVA! She immediately poured us a glass of wine to try and calm me down. It worked, however, I still put her ass to work. HA!



She helped me cut up the acorn squash, the butternut squash and the sweet potatoes for my...

Fall Casserole...

• 1 Acorn squash, cut into bite size pieces
• 1 Butternut squash, cut into bite size pieces
• 6 sweet potatoes, cut into bite size pieces
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1 tbs cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tbs Xagave Nectar

• Spray Butter to taste

I tossed all of these items into a large bowl and stirred till all of the ingredients were well blended. I sprayed a large casserole dish really well with some Pam, tossed these bad boys in there and turned the oven to 400. They would need a WHILE in the oven, which gave me time to work on my next dish.

Roasted Garlic, Mashed Red Potatoes...

• 1 large bag of red skinned potatoes (cut, boiled and drained)
• 1 packet of roasted potato seasoning packet
• 1 head of garlic (cloves roasted in oven then chopped fine)
• 1 container of Oikos plain Greek yogurt
• 1/4 fat free sour cream
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• black pepper to taste
• splash of plain Almond Breeze
• Spray butter to taste

I tossed the cooked potatoes (skin on) into a huge bowl, added a splash of Almond Breeze, the Oikos yogurt cup, the sour cream, spray butter and mashed till the potatoes were nice and smooth, yet chunky. Then I added the roasted garlic, garlic salt, seasoning packet and black pepper. I gave it a good mix and Voila. Ridiculously delicious and creamy mashed potatoes!

We then immediately began on the roasted veggies. I wanted to make a nice and healthy side for Ann and I. Simple yet delicious! :)

Roasted Brussel Sprouts and Carrots with Caramelized Onions & Balsamic Vinegar...

• 6 cups of Brussel Spouts, cleaned and cut in half
• 4 cups of carrots, cleaned, peeled and cut into one inch pieces
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp dill
• salt & pepper to taste
• dash of cayenne

I coated the veggies really well with a bit of spray butter and Pam, tossed in the seasonings and gave it a good mix. Then I tossed them on a cookie sheet and into the oven they went for 45 minutes or so.

While the veggies roasted I sauteed two onions. When they were nice and caramelized I added some of the roasted garlic and a splash of balsamic vinegar. When the veggies were done I tossed in the onion mix and gave it a good stir. DONE. Easy enough!

Yes, I love this next dish. I love it because it was the LAST THING LEFT TO MAKE and because it is to die for. Will I be having any though? Heck no! SO BAD FOR YOU!! The folks love it so I promised to make some. The recipe is easy enough. I bet you all know it but here it is anyways.

Classic Green Bean Casserole...

• 8 cans of french style green beans (making a lot, the men want leftovers)
• 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
• 2 tbs soy sauce
• salt & pepper to taste
• dash of cayenne (I'm sneaky)
• 1 can of French's Fried Onions

Basically, you mix all this in a bowl, pour it into a casserole dish and bake for about 30 minutes. When you have about 10 minutes left to go. Add a bit more fried onions to the top. DONE! This one was easy. Now on to the next one! I'M A MACHINE!

Ann also toasted some walnuts, crushed them (real angry like) and we topped my sad little pie with it. We were trying to make it look a bit better. It didn't work. HA!


WHEW! Now I can FINALLY sit for a second and hang out with everyone for a bit. With another glass of wine might I add! SO DELICIOUS! Both of Nicks' brothers showed up a WHILE ago and I haven't been able to hang because I've been a PRISONER in my kitchen. I was being such a BAD host!

After about 30 minutes the last dish was done so we loaded up the car and headed to Mamas' house. They were waiting on us with bewildered and hungry little eyes.


They didn't stay angry for long though. We're too adorable and they can't resist our charms!


HA! We set the table, made a cocktail (Captain and Coke) and then sat down to FEAST!


Everything looked SO good. I was starving!!!


Ann was so excited... She did a little shimmy shake while grabbing her plate.


Here is my plate. I ate almost all of this. ALMOST! I couldn't finish it all though...


A bit later I enjoyed a slice of my SLOPPY little pumpkin pie. It may look ugly but it tasted divine.


After dinner we all gathered in the living room and basically collapsed on the couch for about an hour. I almost passed out! It's been a long day to say the least! I finally made it home at about 6:30. All I had energy for was curling up on the couch. Basically I was being a lazy bum, moving from one couch to another. LAME! I felt very worn out though! I may have passed out for a bit. I'm honestly not sure. HA!

Somehow I actually managed to get hungry again at around 8:00. I blame the wine! At least I didn't have to cook. I came home with a TON of leftovers.

I decided to make a turkey sandwich on wheat with avocado and cran-apple butter from Trader Joe's. With a side of roasted veggies of course. YUM!


Well, it's about 10:00 now and Nick and his brother Dan just got back to the house and I'm going to hang out with them, and maybe put up the Christmas tree. I don't know, it's sort of late to just be starting on it. We'll see... WE'LL SEE!!!!!

Goodnight Yall.

Kiss Kiss....

Pitiful Pumpkin "Pie"

Are you READY for Thansgiving? I AM! Well sort of. I love getting together with the family to eat, drink some fine (cheap) wine and enjoy each others company. Even though we're Hungarian, we celebrate it every year. We fell in love with the Holiday as soon as we moved here back in 86. Any reason to feast with people you love is brilliant in my opinion!

I love turkey so much! Even if it doesn't love me back!

You know what else I love? A SHORT WORK WEEK! YAY! I won't even lie, I was a bit frazzled today. I was expecting it though. This is usually a very busy week at work so I came prepared. My arsenal included never ending cups of coffee, soothing music at my desk, plenty of water to keep me hydrated and a tasty yogurt mess for breakfast.

• 4 oz. cup of Oikos
• 1 banana, sliced
• a few cinnamon alphabet cookies from Trader Joe's, crumbled
• 2 tbs sugar free apricot preserves
• 1 packet of splenda

Ooey, gooey deliciousness! I like this flavor combo as well. Just the right amount of sweet from the preserves and the touch of cinnamon from the cookies was perfect!

I got a lot of things done after breakfast. GLORIOUS! I managed to archive a lot of older projects and get them off of my current to do list. I love doing that! I do a lot of this at the end of every quarter and especially towards the end of the year. I like starting fresh in January!

Lunch today was a bit, uhm, different. I basically made a big old mess of green beans.

• 1 bag of microwavable green beans (easy as pie)
• 1 serving of Crab Delights
• 2 tbs of salted Soy Nuts
• Spray Butter to season

Sounds weird I know but it's delicious I promise. Well delicious to me because I LOVE green beans with spray butter. I ate about half of this plate. I don't know what I was thinking. That was way too much food for one sitting.

Ann and I never left for a break today. Too much to do and not enough time to get it all done as is. So I just kept on working away.

My afternoon, pre-workout snack today was SO SCRUMPTIOUS! This was my first time trying the Peanut Butter & Company brand. Ann talked me into buying the Dark Chocolate Dreams variety a while back and I finally opened it this morning. I decided to try it with a nice honey crisp apple. HOLLY MY GOODNESS!


SO GOOD! CHOMP... CHOMP... CHOMP...

Then I dove right back into work. But for HOW LONG IS THE QUESTION! Not that long my lovely friends. Not that long at all. We usually receive an email every year telling us that we can leave at 3:00, however, this year, no email came.... BAH!!!! I was all caught up with my work so my coworker and I discussed it and because she was cool with it, I took off at about 3:20 instead of 5:00. (REBEL) YEAH! I felt so bad, Ann still had work to do and stayed behind. BUMMER!

I found myself heading to the gym..... alone..... for the first time since Ann and I joined..... DA DA DAAAAAA!!!!!!! I was a bit anxious but couldn't figure out why.


With all of this extra time on my hands I decided to really BUST OUT a good workout before the DREADED and EARLY weigh in tomorrow morning. As you know, I usually weigh myself on Friday mornings. However, the idea of stepping on the scale post Thanksgiving feasting just seemed like an idiotic idea. So tomorrow it is! Oh how I hope it goes well. The last two weeks have been a disappointment to say the least! Here's what I did at the gym today.

Treadmill (20 minutes, 1.11 miles)
5 min. at 3.2 speed
5 min. at 3.4 speed
5 min. at 3.6 speed
5 min. at 3.4 speed
Bike (20 minutes, 7.2 miles)
Level 5, Random Setting, 137 calories
Ab Machine
70lb x 20
80lb x 20
90lb x 20
Rotary Torso Ab Machine
30lb x 20 (per side)
40lb x 15 (per side)
Leg Raise Reverse Crunches
x20
x20
Oblique Twist with Bar
x150
Barbell Curls
20lb x 20
25lb x 18
30lb x 12
Tricep Cable Pulldown
40lb x 25
50lb x 25
60lb x 20
Hammer Curls
7.5lb x 20
10lb x 20
12.5lb x 10

Hot damn, I was tired. I started at 3:45 and was done by 5:15. Not bad, not bad at all.

I hurried home so I could get a head start on some of the dishes that I was in charge of for tomorrow. I planned on making both the healthy pumpkin pie and the cranberry sauce tonight. The less I have to do tomorrow the better!! I also planned to clean the house up a bit. Both of Nicks' brothers were coming over tomorrow to hang out before heading to their dads' to eat and I wanted the place to be clean. Because of all of this running around, I decided to keep dinner simple. Cereal sounded nice and easy. I know, lame right? It was tasty though. I received my free, mini sample box of Kashi Go Lean Crunch the other day and decided to try that tonight.


I mixed in some Kashi 7 Whole Grain Honey Puffs as well.


Then I added a sliced banana and a cup of Vanilla Almond Breeze. YUM! It's been so long since I've had cereal.

Now for some PRE-Thanksgiving dishes. Time to party in the kitchen!

Cranberry Sauce

• 2 bags fresh cranberries
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup POM
• Zest of one orange
• Juice of one orange
• 8 packets of splenda
• 1/4 cup golden raisins

I simmered this for about 20 minutes. That's it. Nice and easy AND delicious!

Healthy Pumpkin Pie

• For the crust I simply crushed two 100 calorie bags of cinnamon graham crackers and poured them into the bottom of a pie pan.

Then for the bottom Cheesecake layer I blended the following together.

• 1/2 package (4oz) fat free cream cheese
• 1 tbs vanilla almond breeze
• 2 packets splenda
• 1 bin of fat free Cool Whip

I poured this into the pie crust. Then I made the top pumpkin layer with the following.

• 1 cup Vanilla Almond Breeze
• 2 packets splenda
• 2 packets (1oz) fat free vanilla pudding mix
• 1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree mix
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• dash nutmeg

Now for the 'SLIGHT" tragedy confession. I was following a recipe which made NO MENTION of perhaps putting the bottom layer into the fridge for a bit to let it set up before adding the second pumpkin layer. So I just added the pumpkin mixture right away. WELL, the cheesecake layer was TOO soft and the pumpkin was too heavy. The cheesecake started pushing towards the top all the way around the pie pan and the pumpkin started sinking in the middle. Oh well. It will taste good no matter how insane it looks. Look at it, looking all sad in my fridge! BAH!


Ann plans to bring some walnuts over tomorrow which we will crush and put on top of this hot mess. Camouflaging it's sad little shape. HA!

Well, now I have to go clean my whole house. FUN STUFF! No, seriously. Cleaning is fun. Try it with headphones in. It makes all the difference!

Goodnight everyone!