Back at it

Monday, November 30, 2009

Yupp! I am back at it...school that is. This morning Mama drove me back up and then I was off to go to classes for the day and she was off shopping for the day ;) Christmas shopping perhaps? I hope so!

Breakfast was eaten during the ride up since I wanted to spend every last minute I could in my comfy bed at home ;) But to look on the positive side, I will be home again for Christmas break in two and a half weeks!
Breakfast was a yogurt mess in a container, it contained the remaining TJ's plain yogurt with a sliced banana and Puffins on top with a glass of milk on the side. I love when I get to eat yogurt messes or oats out of a jar or container! I was bummed I did not have my camera to get a pic but oh well.
The weather today was cold, rainy, and dreary. Yuck. After my morning classes I hate some lunch (which went unpictured) before my lab. I had turkey on sandwich thins, a Red Delicious, and a serving of pretzels with milk. Dinner tonight was broiled chicken, asparagus cuts, and a Harvest dinner roll with milk. Ok so this mught seem a little weird but my friends claim asparagus makes your pee smell weird! I am not quite sure if I believe them but that is what they say.
Has anyone else ever heard of that or do I just have extremely WEIRD friends?
Christmas is my favorite time of year and I absolutely LOVE decorating! I decorated my dorm room and here are some pics...My Christmas tree ;) Of course it is blue and green because it has to match everything else in my room!

and the roomie's Christmas tree with a Bob Marley poster in the background.

I forgot to take a picture of my stocking but I will show you all tomorrow. So tonight is a really BIG game for the New England Patriots because they are playing the undefeated Saint's. So you know what I will be watching tonight...Monday Night Football! Oh yes and of course the new episode of Cake Boss and possibly Gossip Girl.

LET'S GO PATRIOTS :)

Italiano Night

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Ciao! I can't believe this Thanksgiving break is almost coming to an end :( Tomorrow morning Mama will be driving me back up to school. I had a great time at home with my family. Although there was a few ups and downs here and there, for the most part it was great :)
Breakfast this morning was the same old yogurt mess I had all the other mornings here while I was home, TJ's Plain yogurt, Puffins, and a sliced banana with a glass of milk on the side but it went unpictured. I was debating whether or not to have a yogurt mess or oatmeal, since I found some oats in the kitchen cabinets! I had no idea we had them, but I was happy to know we did! But in the end I went for the yogurt mess. I really wished I had switched it up just one morning :/ I am very indecisive and it is really hard for me to try new things and switch up my eats. Any helpful ideas?
Oats I found in the kitchen cabinet! I didn't know we had them!
At noon I went to my lil sister's basketball game where she kicked some butt, I think she had ten points! I am so proud of her :) Then I came home to have some lunch (which also went unpictured). I had a turkey sandwich on Pepperidge Farm Farmhouse Soft 100% Whole Wheat Bread Mama picked up for me at the grocery store. This was the first time having this bread. Overall I thought this bread was good and very soft just like the package said. Although nothing compares to my love Arnold's ;) I also paired my lunch with a Gala apple and some pretzels with a glass of milk.
Now on to the FUN part of the day when I baked my first ever SPAGHETTI SQUASH! After looking at several different recipes on-line I finally decided on one from Food Network. I always go there when I don't know how to make something and it never let's me down!
So here is what I did:Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees and cut the squash in half lengthwise and scraped out all the seeds inside. It reminded me a lot like carving a pumpkin!This is what they should look like after all the seeds are out.Place the squash facedown on a pan filled with about 1/2 cup water and cook for 3o minutes.This is what they looked like after cooking in the oven for 30 minutes. Oh Em Gee I must tell you, the smell was unbelievable!The spaghetti squash looked so good I wanted to eat it right away. I waited for the squash to cool down until I started to scrape the strands from the inside.You can't tell me that does not look good! I was kind of hesitant of scraping the insides out of the squash because I didn't know how it was going to come out but it came out great. I took a kitchen fork and scraped all the insides out. A small whole spaghetti squash will yield a TON of cooked squash! Trust me. I stored all my spaghetti squash in a Tupperware container until I was ready to eat dinner. I also cooked a slice of Perfect Portions Perdue Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast while I cooked my squash.
I have noticed cooking and preparing my meals ahead of time and then refrigerating them works better for me because when the time comes to eat I just want something quick and easy to make. So by making it ahead of time, when I am ready to eat I already have a nice healthy meal to heat up, eat, and enjoy :)
When I was ready to eat dinner all I had to do was heat up some spaghetti squash topped with a lil marinara sauce with a cut up sliced chicken breast on top. It was quick and easy, perfect! I also had a glass of milk with my dinner. The spaghetti squash was INCREDIBLE and I will definitely be making it again sometime soon! It was just like eating pasta but except for it was not...it was SPAGHETTI SQUASH! It was so yummy and I recommend you try it soon if you have not yet! My mom also cooked a homemade lasagna! Half of it was cooked with ground lean meat but the other was cooked with just cheese, since my younger sisters don't really like meat. They are EXTREMELY picky eaters!
Well I must press POST before my computer dies on me! I hope you have a great Sunday night and a great end to your Thanksgiving break :)

Can never go wrong with Amy's

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Good Evening! I am going to make this super quick because I am about to watch the movie ELF with my two sisters and cousin! Has anyone ever watched it? I have heard it is a really funny movie. But I guess I will have to watch it first and then I will be the critic ;)

Anyways, for a quick recap of my day. My Saturday morning started out with a yogurt mess with Trader Joe's Plain yogurt, Puffins, and a sliced banana on top with a glass of milk. To me the TJ yogurt was okay but tasted just like Stonyfield Plain Oikos yogurt, no great shakes. I prefer my Vanilla yogurt :)

Earlier today I went to the mall with my best gal friend Claire and just looked around. The mall was pretty crazy! I said good bye to her today since she is going back to school tomorrow but no need to worry because we will be seeing each other again in like two weeks for winter break. Crazy, right?!
I then came home, packed up a lunch to go, and then I was off to my lil cousin's 3rd Birthday party for the rest of the day with the whole fam. I packed a turkey on sandwich thins with lettuce and tomato, pretzels, and a Gala apple.
By the time we got home I was ready for dinner. I decided on Amy's Non-Dairy Burrito. You can never go wrong with Amy!

'Twas a delicious burrito. Look at all that yummy goodness!

Well I am off for a movie night with the gals. I am already in my pj's and I am ready to curl up in a blanket and watch ELF!

Does anyone else call their pajamas "pj's" besides me?

The Day after Thanksgiving

Friday, November 27, 2009

Hello everyone :) I hope you all had a great day after Thanksgiving. My day was filled with Christmas decorating and I could not have asked for anything else.
My morning started with a yogurt mess with Stonyfield Oikos Plain yogurt, Original Puffins, and a sliced banana on top with a glass of milk on the side. I really dislike the Plain yogurt because it has NO flavor whatsoever, the Vanilla is definitely the way to go ;) I honestly don't know what I was thinking when I bought them...clearly I wasn't!Then I was off to bring up all the Christmas boxes from down in our basement, which is about ten huge boxes! I organized mostly everything and then I got decorating with the music in the background. It was a great day :)I also forgot to mention a few new products I picked up from Trader Joe's the other day, they are nothing exciting but I thought I should share them with ya! I bought a SPAGHETTI SQUASH, TJ's Greek Style yogurt, and 2 cans of tuna. I am kinda excited to try the spaghetti squash for dinner one night and I can't wait to try the yogurt tomorrow with breaky!Lunch was a simple turkey sandwich (paninied on the George Forman obvs) with pretzels and a Gala apple with a glass of milk. And then dinner was super quick and easy because I was not in the mood to really cook anything. I settled for one of my favorite Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers meals. I also had a dinner roll with a glass of milk to complete my dinner.
Sorry lovies for such a boring post but I am trying to spend all the time I got at home AWAY from my computer and more time with the fam!

Christmas Decorating

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving Day! Yesterday I had a great day with my family. It was filled with laughter, fun, and food, exactly what Thanksgiving is all about :)
Today my family and I am putting up all the Christmas deocrations in our house. It is a tradition every year we do and I absolutely love it. We have the Christmas music blarring and are dancing all around the house. It is a great time!

Today I want to spend time with my family and enjoy every moment I have with them at home! I hope you all understand and I hope to post later on tonight. But I will leave you with some awesome packages I received this week at home.
I got some Protein Pretzels and BBQ Soy Crisps from Newman's Own.

I also recieved some awesome HONEY peanut butter from the people at Justin's Organic Nut Butter which I am super excited to try. I got 10 little individual packets, perfect for on the go!

And last but certainly NOT least, a few weeks ago I won a mystery giveaway from Julie at Julie Go Lean. The package was filled with all sorts of goodies! Thank you so much Julie! I can't wait to try everything.

Well folks my family is calling me so I better get back to decorating the house. I certainly do not want to miss out on anything!

What do you usually do the day after Thanksgiving? Any Black Friday crazy shoppers out there?

Happy Thanksgiving

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

I first want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you have a great day with family and food :) I am thankful for my family, my health, my blog, and school. Today I will be going over my aunt's house on my dad's side and then over to my aunt's house on my mom's side. I can't wait to spend the whole day with all of my family. I am such a family girl ;)

So let me rewind a lil back to yesterday for my eats. For lunch I had a tuna salad sandwich on Sandwich thins with lettuce and tomatoes along with a Gala apple, pretzels and a glass of milk. It was a delicious lunch and a great change instead of turkey! Last night for dinner I went to Panera on a dinner date with my best friend Claire! It was so nice to see her since she goes to school eight hours away. We had a great dinner and had a blast catching up!
This morning I woke up and had a yogurt mess, Plain Stonyfield Oikos yogurt, Puffins, and a sliced banana with milk on the side while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! To me it is not Thanksgiving without watching the parade! It just puts me into the Holiday spirit.
I already cooked my Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Butternut Squash and Chestnuts and they look deliscious! They were super quick and easy to make, just what I like.

Well I am off to get ready and will not be posting again until tomorrow with a full recap of my day!


Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day :)

Exciting post title, right?! Yeah, I know! But I am obviously home right now and I am very happy :)
Last night I had some of Amy's Chunky Vegetable Organic Soup. I picked this up yesterday afternoon when I went to the grocery store to pick up a few staples, but I am going on a bigger grocery shop for Thanksgiving with mom today!This is the first time I have had soup in a very long time! I was very cold so I was in the mood for something warm. Overall I thought this soup was okay, nothing special. The soup had a bunch of veggies including tomatoes, spinach, carrots, green beans, corn, peas, onions, baby lima beans, and celery.
Along with the soup I had Arnold's Whole Wheat Sandwich thins with a glass of milk.
Last night I went to the mall to buy a new outfit for Thanksgiving even though I have so much clothes in my closet it is unreal. I just always seem to buy new outfits for the holidays! I bought this wicked cute black and grey striped sweater dress from Express which I am going to wear with black leggings and my black Uggs. It is such a cute outfit and I am very excited to wear it tomorrow!
Does anyone else buy new outfits just for the Holidays?
I am happy to say I got a great nights sleep in my big comfy bed at home! I don't think I woke up once, I slept for a solid 9 1/2 hours. 'Twas great!
Breakfast this morning was a yogurt mess with a few changes ;) I had Stonyfield Plain Oikos yogurt, Barbara's Original PUFFINS, sliced ripe banana, with some Crazy Richard's Creamy peanut butter on top with a glass of milk on the side. Now when Crazy Richard's means CREAMY peanut butter they are not lying, it is soo creamy!
This was the first time trying these Puffins and they did not disappoint! I have seen a lot of other bloggers having the peanut butter Puffins but I decided to try the Original first. The puffins are big in size and very fluffy. They were a great topping to my yogurt mess. All together now!

Well folks I need to peace outta here because I have a busy day ahead of me! I am going to watch my lil sis in her powderpuff football game early this afternoon. Then I have a hair appointment with my mom and sister. We always get our hair done the day before Thanksgiving! I will show you all the new hair later tonight ;) I am in desperate need of a hair cut and a highlight! Then we will be going to the grocery store to pick up all the goods and tonight will be spent cooking in the kitchen!

I am 99.9% positive I am going to make Kelly Ripa's Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Butternut Squash & Chestnuts which I saw this morning on the show. It looks super easy and good. Tell me what ya think. I like this recipe a lot because first of all it is a VEGGIE dish and it has my favorite veggies, brussel sprouts and butternut squash!

Are you making anything special for Thanksgiving?

Turkey Gobbler

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Good Morning! It is Tuesday and you know what that means, only two more days until Thanksgiving!
Ok so my computer decided to be nice this morning and let me upload my dinner eats from last night. I had broiled chicken, green beans with mint, and a HUGE country roll (I was not kidding when I said huge) with milk.

On Tuesday and Thursdays I usually start my day with breakfast and then have three classes in a row. But today since my second class was cancelled I decided to wait to have breakfast until after my first class.I was in the mood for some cereal, well not just any cereal, but some protein cereal, but not just any protein cereal but some Honey Almond Protein Cereal. I apologize for my wicked blurry pics but my camera was definitely on the wrong setring, clearly!I had a bowl of Honey Almond Protein Cereal, with milk, topped with a sliced banana, and Teddie's peanut butter. This was the second time trying this cereal and I must say I absolutely LOVE Kay's Naturals! The cereal is very light and fluffy with a great taste, you can really taste the yummy honey almond flavor. The first time I had French Vanilla and loved the flavor. I still have one more flavor to try, Apple Cinnamon. I am excited to try the last flavor but will be very sad once it is all gone :(Ok so my college is very much into the holidays and my caf decorates the dining hall very nicely for each holiday. I love it! It totally gets me into the Holiday spirits!

For Thanksgiving, the dining hall sells pies, cheesecakes, and turkey gobblers! Last year I purchased a bunch of pies and cheesecakes to bring home for Thanksgiving and they were amazing! I already purchased a turkey gobbler which is a Dinner Roll centerpiece. It is a bunch of rolls put together in the shape of a turkey, can you see it? It is so cute :) This year again I will also buy some pies and cheesecakes once my mom gets here to pick me up to go home!

Well I am off to one more class and then my Thanksgiving Break officially begins! Next time I post I will be home sweet home :) Catch ya later lovies!

What is your favorite Thanksgiving food?