On January 3, 2011 I came home after work balling my eyes out. I remember this date because it was the first work day of 2011 and I woke up that morning giving myself a little pep talk about how productive I was going to be. How this year I was going to be on top of everything. I was not going to get emotional – I was going to get my work done efficiently so I could keep getting better at what I did. So I could keep growing professionally and continue climbing the corporate ladder like I knew I could. Instead, about 2 hours into the day I realized that while I had a long list of things to do, I had zero motivation to get any of them done (I would eventually… I always did!). I watched the clock all day, trying to get some things done. Waiting for a reasonable hour to strike the clock so I could finally leave. I came home crying not because my boss was mean to me (my boss was the nicest guy ever!), not because I was unhappy with the pay, but because sitting at my desk, feeling like every fiber in my body was rejecting this, felt like torture. I wanted out. But first I needed a plan.

Here is where it gets sort of tough. You often hear people say to “Follow your dream!” but for that – you first need a dream. And so I desperately started searching for it. I like fitness; I like food; I care about the environment, about organic produce and humanely raised animals. I like helping people. Where does it get me? I don’t want to be a chef, what can I do with fitness… and how the hell can I help people and still make money? Can my skills in finance be used? I read a million articles on food careers; I talked to gyms about personal training (and realized that I hate the sales part of it!), I started blogging more hoping that would open doors for me… but I didn’t know how it would. Work got busier and busier. I was getting so burnt out and uninspired that by the time I got home all I wanted to do was plop myself on the couch and eat. I was going at 100 miles an hour and yet I was no closer to finding my dream. I was sad and fat and… still dreamless.

So I decided that I needed to quit my job first. I needed to let myself get bored. I figured that if I had all the time in the world to do whatever I wanted, I would figure out what “whatever” actually was. The thing is – sitting here right now I’m realizing that I didn’t really follow through with my plan. I didn’t give myself permission to really do whatever. I filled my to-do list with new things I should be doing. I created a new cycle of “I have a million things to do – I’m too tired – I don’t want/don’t have time to finish them all – I feel guilty – I’m eating – I still have a million things to do”. So here I am 6 weeks later, still aimless.

So here is the “new” plan – I’m going to embrace the discomfort and use it as my guide. This morning I started writing a completely different post… that just didn’t feel right. I kept trying to force myself to write but it wasn’t working (and I refuse to publish a post that doesn’t feel right to me).

Here is what discomfort told me: I’m not a natural writer (already knew that!) so whatever my future is, writing should not be at the center of it. Working with Cooking Matters has seriously been the highlight of the last 6 weeks. I loved how active it was. Honestly I loved being away from my computer and actually interacting with people, helping them in such concrete ways. I still don’t have a plan but maybe it will become more evident through the process of elimination

To tune in, I’m officially giving myself permission to slow down. To throw away the list of “shoulds” and fill it with “wants.” This instantly reminded me of the book The Kitchen Daughter.

I read it during the New Orleans trip and loved how the main character – Ginny – had this real connection to food. How present she was during the making of each dish. How romantic it made the whole process of slowing down and cooking. I wanted to spend days getting lost in my thoughts (dream revealing thoughts?) while stirring a big pot of soup. It was only appropriate to start with Ginny’s ribollita soup (Tuscan bread soup) and share it with my family.

It didn’t take hours but it sure was comforting. It was simple yet flavorful, fresh and so homey. My dad said it was something he could see on a Sweet Basil menu (<– my family’s favorite restaurant serving incredible Italian comfort food). I need to find another soup to stir!!

Ribollita soup (serves 4-6) – recipe based on Ginna’s ribollita soup from The Kitchen Daughter

• 14oz can cannelini beans, rinsed and drained
• 14oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 28oz can diced tomatoes
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 bunch of kale, thick stems removed, leaves cut in ribbons
• salt, pepper, dried oregano to taste
• 1/2 loaf of rustic bread, cut in 1” cubes
• olive oil
• shredded parmesan cheese for serving

Instructions:

• In a medium pot, heat a tablespoon of olive oil and sauté minced garlic until golden (not brown).
• Add chicken broth, a few shakes of dried oregano, salt, pepper, beans, tomatoes (with juices) and kale. Reduce heat to medium low and let simmer until the flavors meld (I probably had my pot for an hour, while making the rest of the dinner). Adjust seasonings prior to serving.
• In the meantime, sauté bread cubes in olive oil. I had a fresh loaf of bread and enjoyed how it soaked up some oil and remained soft on the inside with a bit of a crust on the outside. You can also toast the bread cubes with a bit of olive oil if you want crunchy croutons.
• Serve the soup with croutons and a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.

Did you ever have to work at finding a dream? What’s your favorite way to distress to reflect?

Do you have any favorite soup recipes?

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s get to the real topic at hand….

Last week I found myself with lots of seasonal fruit and a desire to take it easy on the sweets. Obviously, sweet seasonal fruit can replace traditional dessert and trust me, I’ve been snacking on peaches like it’s my job for the past month or so. I can’t get enough. It’s always a sad day when I go to a farmers market and they’re out… for the year. Thankfully, we have a bit of time until then so this past week I decided to turn my favorite fruits into some savory dishes… inspired by a few bloggers’ posts and a few cookbooks.

Since we already got on the topic of peaches, let’s start with a dinner I made last week. Adam was out playing poker with his buddies and that meant that I could whip up whatever I felt like. Nothing was off limits! This was going to be fun….

So I decided to make peach gazbacho, after seeing Sues’ post about it. She was in love with this undeniably refreshing and slightly sweet soup. And it sure looked pretty.

My peaches came from the farmers market and were incredibly juicy and sweet. I tasted the soup while it was still in the blender and then started playing with the flavors. I didn’t really want dessert for dinner (at least not in soup form) so some acidity and spice were a must. I added some lemon juice, then a mango habanero sauce… still not spicy. Then a whole bunch of hot sauce. Much much better. Dinner was served.

The crunchy fresh pepper and creamy/fatty avocado were great garnishes. A Dr. Kracker flatbread was also a yummy “side.”

Overall – I didn’t love this. I think it still wasn’t balanced enough. I expected more. It sure was fun to play though.

Next up I got up the nerve to make some peanut butter eggs…. kinda. I’m not going to lie, I actually enjoyed this breakfast yet this combo still sounds a little gross to me. And then again, I kind of want to make it time and time again. It’s like I can’t get over my own preconceptions. Let’s see what you think about it…

I made these egg, peanut butter and blueberry tacos last Friday, “inspired” by Cara’s recipe. And by “inspired” I mean scared yet intrigued because Jen also swears by the PB&J omelets. It was time.

I fried 1 egg + 2 egg whites, slathered them with some natural pb and stuffed them in these crunchy blue corn tortillas with fresh blueberries.

It’s hard to describe how this tasted. I think the corn tortillas were a bit too forward. That was kind of what threw me off at first, but then the whole thing grew on me as I was eating and I was full for HOURS. Like nearly 5 hours and the only reason I finally ate was because I had a lunch date. This never happens. Go protein and fats is all I can say. How do you feel about this combo?

Now that I thoroughly scared you with my “offbeat” dishes, here is something finally a little more “normal.” Corn muffins. Except with blueberries. Yes, this really works!

I followed this recipe (from Baking with Agave Nectar cookbook) for quinoa corn blueberry muffins and absolutely loved the addition of blueberries to this typically savory muffin. Actually, these guys are still quite savory with just a touch of natural sweetness from the blueberries and mild agave nectar, but they did work wonderfully with sweet spreads like almonds butter and preserves. I’ve been enjoying two at time for breakfast with a giant mug of coffee. Breakfast of champions!

One more comment on this particular recipe – I could taste baking soda in these muffins. I think I’m very sensitive to this as Adam couldn’t detect this. I’m in love with the blueberry/corn muffin combo but will either scale back on the baking soda slightly next time I make these or may even try a different recipe.

PS – I bought a new popover pan to make muffins. I like how they look like little bricks (popover muffin on left, regular muffin pan on right). Such cuties.

Have you ever used fruit in savory applications? Any success, or was it a bust?

We began with a few warm-up laps, walking lunges, kick-backs, etc. and then it was time to run timed laps. We were given pace tables to set our goals. Molly and I based ours on 8:27 minute miles at a 10K and our 400m lap goal was 1:37. Then we took off – three 400m laps. Molly stuck with me for the first 2 and then I told her to go ahead and finish strong. I did not have that much energy. My time: 5:58 for 1,200 meters. I definitely did not meet the 1:37×3 goal but there was no way in hell I could. After a few minute rest, we had to do it all over again. My time: 6:00. I was not in a good mental place anymore.

The good/bad news is that the coach noticed I had the wrong form. I wasn’t using my hamstrings or rotating my ankles. Apparently I was just propelling myself forward somehow without using the back of my legs so that’s why my quads and shins were screaming at me. On our next set I took it easy and concentrated on rotating my ankles and really lifting my knees up. It felt better but I didn’t push as hard as we were supposed to go and felt a tiny bit like a slacker. I know it’s better not to injure myself so I felt like it was the right thing to do but still. I didn’t even realize that I was having all these negative thoughts until Molly said: “Elina, you are doing great. You are so hard on yourself!” Whoa, I was being hard on myself!! Next set we did only 800 meters with 4 splits (pickup for 200, then jog, another pickup, then jog) and I finished in 3:55. A tiny bit faster than the first round but of course I had one lap less to do.

At the end I realized that I kind of shut down mid-way, and that’s not the right attitude. I talked to the coach later and she explained to me what I was doing wrong. I will work on rotating my ankles and picking up my knees. She said that I also have no hamstring strength, so I’ll work on that too. I’m actually surprised to hear that because I do lift weights and feel pretty strong, but we’ll see. Maybe a little more hamstring targeted exercises will improve my running form and will make it easier (and safer) for me to run.

The Harvard track in the distance…

Molly and her dog, Sydney… she’s such a cutie!

Molly and I – I hate this picture of myself. I look so chunky.

Instead of taking the train home, I chose to walk back. I needed to clear my head. There were some gorgeous views so I snapped a few photos. So pretty

My instinct when I’m down is to go to sweets. I was determined to NOT eat emotionally. Instead I made a delicious dinner.

DINNER

Tilapia in lemon/caper sauce, roasted asparagus, pickles and laughing cow with hot mustard on 12 grain bread + roasted tomatoes

Such a delicious dinner!

Then I turned my brain off and watched the Biggest Loser. It was emotional and inspirational. Exactly what I needed to lift my spirits! …. and then my amazing husband surprised me with this book:

I was so giddy with excitement!!! By then it was nearly 11pm and I really should have gone to bed but I couldn’t close the book. Every single recipe sounded amazing and since Dreena’s reputation proceeds her, I in fact know that all of them will taste amazing. I seriously would like to try every single one (Julie and Julia style? ). So yeah, the evening turned out just fine after all. I realize now that I was still running 8 minute miles (what was up with that stupid chart they gave us? just setting unrealistic expectations!!) and that the coach’s feedback was invaluable. I’ll be back there next Tuesday and see if she sees an improvement.

Now let’s rewind to…

BREAKFAST

Banana walnut muffin + banana stuffed with Barney Butter + coffee

Hearty and yummy. I’m back on the Barney Butter wagon. Can’t get enough of the stuff!!

LUNCH WORKOUT

The track workout was a last minute decision but I also attended a pilates class during lunch. It was pretty easy although my abs were burning a few times. Love that burn!

LUNCH

Taco soup with 1/2 FFL english muffin

This was a giant lunch. I pushed through it although I had to leave some chicken. I also saved the english muffin for later and enjoyed it with a tablespoon of Barney Butter as a mid-afternoon snack.

TREAT OF THE DAY

Chocolate white choc chip cookie my co-worker’s wife made. Heavenly!

How do you deal with stressful situations? Is it hard for you to be constructive while in the moment? Do you turn to food? I’m really happy I was able to deal with my frustrations in a non-destructive way. Sweets will never improve my running time so I’d rather feed myself right and work on that pace.

This is when my new rule (and the fact that my husband was in fact at the gym that very moment) came in handy. I planned on going for a run (if thousands can run 26.2 miles on this day, surely I could do a few miles, no?) but I told myself that just going out there and walking for 20 minutes will be enough, if that’s all I feel like (redefining success). I changed into my running gear, grabbed my ipod loaded with Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and took off.

About a minute later my garmin died. Normally this would freak me out and I’d treat it as a sign that a run was not in the cards, but all of a sudden the sun came out and it was gorgeous out. I checked the clock on my ipod and just started running. It was an easy jog, I ran while listening to my book and I swear I could keep running forever. It was amazing!! I think I can partly contribute this to the book “on-tape” because my mind was occupied the entire time (and it wasn’t occupied with ways to convince myself to stop). I finally stopped because I got really close to home and wanted to do a short cooldown walk – 46 minutes my ipod said. I’m guessing I just banged out 5 miles. Sweet! I felt like a million bucks. From now on – 20 minutes, that’s all I’m committing too. I’m sure some days that’s all it will be, but on others I may just surprise myself with a 5-miler. Now I can’t wait to go for another run!!!

BREAKFAST

TJ’s European style nonfat yogurt, 1/2 mango, All-bran flakes, apple butter + coffee

The mangos were not sweet enough and the whole mixture was pretty sour so I added a serving of TJ’s nutty american trek mix. The chocolate chunks transformed this breakfast into a new level of deliciousness.

MID-MORNING SNACK

LUNCH

This lunch was such a treat because both Adam and I got to eat a freshly cooked meal at home during lunch. It didn’t take long at all! I followed Cara’s recipe for sizzling haloumi with roasted asparagus and tomatoes but Whole Foods was out of the haloumi (which was supposed to be on sale) so I subbed some fresh tilapia for it instead.

I stir fried the fish in a sprayed skillet + 1T of EVOO, cooking it for maybe 3 minutes (if that) on each side. Wow, this was beyond fantastic!!! It was bursting with flavor. The delicate fish drizzled with the EVOO/lemon/caper sauce was so beautiful paired with the young roasted asparagus and the roasted tomatoes that popped in your mouth.

Both Adam and I were floored at how delicious and fresh tasting this was. Very spring-y. It’s going on our favorites list!!

MID-AFTERNOON SNACKS

A little brownie with walnuts from our secretary (my treat for the day)

Chocolate peanut butter granola for a pre-run snack

DINNER

During my lunch break, I also plopped all the taco soup ingredients into our crock pot. I love that the chicken breasts go in whole so there is no prep work. This literally took less than 5 minutes to “make” and dinner was waiting for me after my run. Adam already sampled it and “warned” me that it was amazing. 2 for 2 today?

I topped my taco soup with a bit of lite mexican cheese and a dollop of nofat yogurt + 1/2 tortilla wrap toasted and cut into pieces. After mixing the yogurt and cheese in, the soup got super creamy and man was it flavorful! A nutritious and delicious dinner in less than 5 minutes of prep? Sign me up. We’ll be making this again

I got used to having dessert after dinner but I’m trying to stick to one treat a day and see how that goes. Since I already had a brownie mid-afternoon, I chugged a bunch of water after dinner and it totally did the trick. Some tv, cuddled up with the hubs on the couch, also took my mind off snacking.

Are you a morning, afternoon, or a night exerciser? Is it hard for you to get out there if you’re thrown off your regular schedule? What are you tricks?

DINNER

This week’s CEiMB’s recipe was chosen by Grandma’s Kitchen. I rarely make soups so I was actually excited to be “forced” to make Ellie’s lemon chicken soup with orzo (recipe is on page 86 of The Food You Crave and has been retyped here). The idea of a lemony soup sounded so fresh and appealing to me. Adam wasn’t too psyched but once in a while he has to eat things for the love of the blog (plus I know what he’ll really hate and I wouldn’t serve that to him)

So chicken + lemon sounded delicious but onions and celery did not. For some reason most soups call for carrots, onions and celery as the only veggies. Given my hatred for the 2 latter veggies, I was determined to replace them with veggies I do like… but what would work in chicken soup? My twitter friends helped me out with this dilemma (follow me on twitter if you don’t already!). I decided to add a pepper, some frozen corn and baby spinach. I also realized I had some leftover cooked wild rice so I nixed the orzo for the rice. Since I wasn’t cooking the orzo in the soup (and my rice wouldn’t absorb much of the liquid), I also cut the amount of chicken broth to 4 cups in total. I guess at the end, my soup did not resemble that of Ellie’s much… although I did still use chicken + lemon.

Here are all the goodies!

The soup was lacking in flavor a bit so I added extra lemon juice and a dash of cayenne pepper to add depth and a bit of spice. Much better! I really liked how the egg made the soup a bit creamier. I’ll use that trick in my next soup adventure! What’s your favorite kind of soup?

[Rewind]

BREAKFAST

TJ’s european style yogurt, chia seeds, mango, muesli + TJ’s nutty American trek mix

My favorite trail mix is back at TJ’s!!!!! It’s been gone for probably a year (I thought it was discontinued) so I almost squealed with excitement when I saw it at TJ’s a few days ago. I bought 2 packages – just in case.

Best yogurt bowl I’ve had in ages. Amazing!!

LUNCH

The yummy eats continued with an amazing sandwich. TJ’s ww Tuscan pane with pesto, turkey, mozzarella and tomato. All ooey, gooey…mmm

Steamed brussels sprouts + a pickle for some added veggie love

And an impulse V8 juice I spotted at the back of the fridge. I love this juice but need to get used to the low sodium kind.

SNACKS

Mid-afternoon I snacked on a Zbar (brownie flavor) and an orange and after dinner this guy was very much enjoyed…

Whole wheat Tuscan pane with roasted garlic hummus and avocado

Definitely lots of deliciousness all around.

I skipped my workout for the day because my mid-morning meeting ran into lunch and I missed my spin class. I had no motivation to do my own thing so it turned into a rest day. I used the extra time at night to research Haiti relief programs and chose to donate 100% of my February blog earnings to the National Nurses United. Every dollar donated is used to send volunteer nurses to Haiti.

Happy Thursday… and please wish my mom a happy birthday in the comments. I know she’ll feel the love.

[Back tomorrow with a restaurant review]

Look at this big guy!!

Prosciutto, goat cheese, fig, arugula on a french baguette

I had all these plans to eat just half, or eat it open faced – nope, it was too amazing. I just couldn’t stop eating it. I did give Adam a few very generous bites (you know, “guy bites”). Tatte is definitely my favorite bakery in the Boston area!!!

After my celebratory dinner, I called my parents to share the good news with them, and Adam poured some “champagne” for us (edited to add: my dad would like to point out that Korbel is a sparkling wine – not champagne. So technical! ). He even took the pictures for me.

I was laughing hysterically at this picture below. Yeah, food stylist he is not.

The rest of the day’s eats…

BREAKFAST

Turkey, egg, cheese and avocado on a FFL english muffin

It was hard to taste the avocado but the few bites I did get with it were excellent. Kind of a fun veggie addition to breakfast.

[378 calories]

MID-MORNING/PRE-WORKOUT SNACK

A mini Larabar – these are tiny but today one did the trick

[110 calories]

WORKOUT

During my lunch break, I took the Rope’n class I’ve blogged about before. We start with 3 minutes of jump rope, then alternate between 1 minute jump rope (with different moves – high knees, twists, sideways, etc.) and 1 minute some other exercise, finishing with jump rope sprints. Man, this class was tough! I still did everything the instructor asked for but I was definitely feeling it. I’m glad my legs were up for such an intense workout after my 9 miler.

LUNCH

Ellie Krieger nutty sweet potato soup (I froze 2 servings and reheated one today) + Ryvita crackers

This soup is so flavorful. I just love the peanut buttery goodness!

[390 calories]

MID-AFTERNOON SNACK

An orange with 1T pb

[165 calories]

Celebratory truffles after dinner. The white heart had a lemony filling and a gold leaf on top for decoration. I’m really in love with these truffles.

How do you like to celebrate special occasions?

Katie is as health conscious as I am (maybe even more – she’s getting married in 6 months!) so our whole menu for the night was from Cooking Light. Awesome!! I started with a glass of this Louis Latour Pinor Noir. I’m not the biggest fan of Pinot Noir but this was a crisp bottle – a nice way to start the meal.

Mike made sure to refill my glass when it was getting low, so I have no idea how much I really drank (maybe 4 glasses?). Between the 4 of us, 2 bottles of beer and 4+ bottles of wine were consumed. The guys did most of the heavy lifting Like I said, it was a good time!

After getting the tour of their place, which is gorgeous (!!!!), we sat down for dinner. Our first course was a roasted cauliflower soup, finished with truffle oil (recipe can be found here, onions were omitted and hazelnut oil was replaced by truffle oil).

It was so thick and rich, I hesitated about finishing my portion but everyone else polished theirs off so I slowly followed suit. I was shocked to find out that this was only 87 calories/serving. Seriously, Katie didn’t tell me she used Cooking Light recipes until the end so I thought she chose to serve us full fat meals for dinner. The truffle oil gave it a real depth. Very delicious!

Next up, Mike got to carve the roasted chicken (recipe to come).

On the side we enjoyed some hericot verts…

… and whole wheat couscous with dried fruit

My portion (I had a little bit more of the chicken).

The chicken was the star for sure. I’ve actually never roasted a chicken before and was impressed with Katie’s skills – it was so moist and flavorful! She rubbed it with spices under the skin, so when the skin was removed, there was a lot of flavor. She convinced me to give it a go once we have our kitchen back.

And now, my favorite part of dinner (shocker, I know!) – dessert.  Katie cutting the cake…

She made this carrot cake with toasted coconut cream cheese frosting. OMG – so incredible!! The cake was super moist and rich and full of plump raisins and then the cream cheese frosting put it over the top. Perfectly sweet with a fun twist of toasted shredded coconut.

We all loved it (including Adam who supposedly hates carrot cake and coconut – yes, even he wanted seconds). Speaking of seconds, I couldn’t help myself. My sweet tooth nearly always wins, what can I say And that, my bloggie friends, is how you consume nearly 700 calories in just dessert!

I took pictures of the rest of my eats from earlier in the day, but I’m going to leave them off so this meal gets its full blog glory.  The dinner was absolutely fabulous! Thank you, Mike and Katie for hosting us!! We can’t wait to have you over for dinner again when our kitchen is done!

When you have people over for dinner, do you try new recipes or serve tried and true classics? Healthify them or make it a full splurge and stick with the full fat versions? I’m all about doing it Cooking Light-style!

I kept the rest of my toenails in tact, with some pilates and nutritious eats

BREAKFAST

Egg whites, cheese and bacon on a FFL english muffin + coffee

[308 calories]

LUNCH

Ellie Krieger nutty sweet potato soup

[290 calories]

Eaten while on a conference call to make sure I have enough fuel for pilates.

SNACKS

[280 calories]

[120 calories]

+ a Hershey’s chocolate almond bar (unpictured). I don’t know why, but these are my guilty pleasure. I really wanted chocolate so I hit up the vending machine. I hope to keep these incidents to the minimum. [210 calories]

DINNER

We have a few more days with our old kitchen so we’re trying to use up everything we have in the fridge that we won’t be able to cook once construction starts. Today’s dinner was easy and super delicious!

Nuovo portabella & fontina ravioli with peas and vodka sauce + roasted cauliflower

The ravioli was delicious! I love fresh made pasta. These were not only yummy but very pretty – great for a meal for company that can be made in less than 10 minutes! (the ravioli took 4 minutes to cook once the water boiled).

The roasted cauliflower was pretty awesome too (even Adam loved it even though he wasn’t excited about this addition to dinner beforehand). I roasted it for about 20 minutes at 450*. Easy peasy

[~350-400 calories]

Then the snacking began I swear, every time I watch the Biggest Loser, I eat! How screwed up is that?!! I had a packet of almonds and 4 squares of chocolate. I wanted to continue going but realized that there was absolutely nothing I was craving and that I wasn’t hungry, so I forbid myself from going back to the kitchen. Crisis (kind of) averted.

Total calories consumed: over 2,000. It’s still a work in progress, obviously. At least my workouts have their luster back

Have you ever had exercise related injuries… or lost soldiers?

I worked a half-day yesterday, so between that, a workout, some last minute Christmas shopping (just a few more stocking stuffers), gift wrapping and a manicure, there wasn’t much time to eat. I had an english muffin with Barney Butter and kiwi for breakfast and a few clementines at the office, but that’s about it.

This meant that by 5pm when we arrived at my in-laws’, I was starving with a capital S. Seriously, I’m pretty sure I was counting down to “food-time” on our ride over there. A few happy (very excited about Christmas!) faces reminded me that it wasn’t all about food and gifts – this was a special evening with family!

Oh yeah, but I was starving. So I decided to hit up the table with all the yummy calzones, apps and dessert. Thank you Jane and Velika for cooking! It was all delicious

Justin is a cookie-monster (possibly more so than I am )

Cookiiiiiiiiiiie

Little Colby had some butternut squash – he ate the healthiest out of all of us!

A little vino was very much in order…

And of course a little more dessert…

Then the kids got to open 1 gift each (that includes ME! yay!!)

[I got a cute bracelet from my sister in law. ]

And finally it was time for the little ones to go to bed because Santa needed a little help gift-wrapping This is before Santa’s arrival. Man, there were a lot of gifts!

Fast forward to 5:30 am this morning, Justin woke us up digging through his stocking. He was beyond ecstatic that Santa did in fact arrive at night and got him all of his favorite things. After only 5 hours of sleep, I tried to be excited for him and grabbed my camera to document this.

Thankfully I convinced Justin to go upstairs and wake up his parents, who held him upstairs for over an hour while I snoozed a bit more. Coffee + blueberry coffee cake were real life saviors once we finally got up!

A little later I had an egg bagel with light cream cheese (I had a little over 1/2 – Adam helped me finish the rest).

More family fun… This was Colby’s 1st Christmas!

He enjoyed one of the teething toys we got him:

And I enjoyed another seven layer bar… I bet it was much tastier

Lucy wanted some too!

Oh look, I even had some fruit!

After all the gifts were exchanged (this was just part of the loot from my stocking!), it was time to do a whole lot of nothing!

It was a long time since I seriously did absolutely nothing. All the stores and the gym are closed so we couldn’t run any errands, and I wasn’t home to catch up on tv and blogging. I just snuggled on the couch, chatted with Adam and my parents in law and that’s it! Awesome!!

Here are the coolest foodie presents I got – a Vitamix blender from my hubby and an ice cream maker from my parents in law.

You know I had to put the Vitamix to use as soon as I got home!! The cream of tomato soup (recipe came from the blender cookbook) took literally 10 minutes to make from start to finish, and even that wasn’t all “active time.” Skim milk, a little piece of potato and some cherry tomatoes were transformed into the best creamy (yet light, almost fluffy!) tomato soup. I am beyond excited for this gift!!!!

The little cheese sandwiches with gruere cheese and Dave’s habanero mustard were perfect for dipping!

Yum yum yum. I couldn’t be happier right now despite the fact that I actually got sick. My nose is runny and stuffy but I don’t care. It’s Christmas!!

Do you celebrate Christmas? Did you get any fun gifts this year?

But let’s rewind to…

BREAKFAST

I’ve been having a bagel with lox craving for a few days now so today I made it a reality: 2 Kim’s Light ww bagels with whipped cream cheese, wild lox, tomato and dill

The bagels are only 110 calories a pop, so I had 2. This breakfast kept me full for over 5 hours and even then I only ate because it was convenient. That’s some awesome staying power!

LUNCH

B.good southwestern chicken salad – still one of my favorite restaurant salads of all time!

Mesclun, avocado, corn, tomatoes, black beans, toasted corn, and chipotle balsamic dressing – all super fresh and incredibly tasty.

MID-AFTERNOON SNACK

A mini-brownie at the office. Double this pic because I couldn’t help but go back for seconds. Brownies are my favorite dessert!!

DINNER

Well today is Thursday, which brings us another Ellie Krieger recipe. I followed her recipe for confetti chili (named three bean and beef chili online), except I made it in a crock pot since I knew I was going to the gym after work and was going to be home late. I threw all the ingredients in the crock pot this morning (browned up the beef in the skillet before throwing it in there) and turned it on during lunch (you could leave it on low all day long), and voila – dinner ready for you when you are!

The colors were beautiful but the taste was missing something – a little more salt and cumin fixed this right up. I enjoyed a second (1/2) helping after gobbling this up. Thank you, I’ll Eat You, for picking this recipe for us. It was perfect for a busy night like tonight. What’s your favorite crock pot recipe?

A little dessert for the road… I resisted a cookie and made a yummy healthy dessert: 1/2 FFL english muffin with Barney Butter

A few more spoonfuls of BB jumped into my mouth This stuff has crack in it, I tell ya

And that’s today in a nutshell. I just finished watching So You Think You Can Dance and am once again touched and inspired. Love this show!!

How was your day? Was it unusually warm where you are? If so, did you take advantage of it?

Don’t forget to enter my Waterpik giveaway! Oh and I am still missing addresses for 2 winners of the NuNaturals giveaway. Please send me your addresses asap or I will have to redraw. Thanks