Rest Day = Baking Day

I had so much fun reading all of your comments on what it is that you’re most thankful for! 😀  I loved hearing what you all had to say.  It’s such a nice reminder to be thankful for the simple things in life. 😀

This morning I had a big bowl of fun and flavor!

On the left, I combined:

• 1/2 apple (and ate the other 1/2)
• 2 T. flax
• 6-oz. plain yogurt

On the right was a cup of kashi heart to heart.

On top?

• 1/2 whole wheat pumpkin ‘n’ raisin muffin
• 1 tsp peanut butter

The morning flew by so fast, I hardly knew where it was going.  There’s a whole lot to get done before tomorrow’s moving day at Nicole and Nate’s apartment, with some extra baking on the side.  It all got done in the early AM. 😀 

…Chop the veggies for a crudite platter?  Check!

…Bake the crescent rolls? Check! (Mom made these, and the house smelled heavenly all day!)

…Bake the chocolate chip cookies for tomorrow?  Check!  (**Advice needed: anyone know what it is that  causes a cookie to spread out when you bake it?  I’m sure they’ll still taste fine, but I was hoping they’d come out nice and plump, but now I’m calling them flying saucer cookies. 😉 )

…Bake some Cranberry Orange Muffins for Memere and Pepere?  Check!  And, might I just add, thank goodness for a food processor when it comes to chopping frozen cranberries!  It saves a ton of time. 😀

By the end of all the baking, I was ready for a morning snack.  Although I have to say, breakfast did a pretty good job of holding me over for a good 3 hours. 😀 

I decided on a refreshing orange…

And a handful of mixed nuts.  I didn’t put  much faith in believing this would hold me over, but never underestimate the power of nuts!  They’re incredibly satisfying.

In between baking batches of cookies, and mom baking her crescent rolls, we both took a break for lunch a little after noon.  I had tuna sandwiches on the mind, so that’s what I went with.  I decided to be resourceful and use an overripe avocado instead of mayo in the sandwich.  If you can get past the green color, it’s actually a very tasty addition. 😉

• 4-oz. chunk light tuna (I try not to eat too much tuna due to the mercury levels, but when I do, I’ll opt for “chunk light,” which has been shown to carry lower levels of it.)
• 1/2 avocado, mashed.
• pepper and diced onions

I then topped the mix with lettuce and tomato, and grilled it between two slices of Flax & Grain Whole Wheat Bread to get it crispy on the outside and melty on the in.

Served with a side of carrot sticks, cucumbers, yellow bell peppers and a glass of milk.

+ a pear which I saved for a snack when I brought the muffins over my grandparents’.

This afternoon was equally as busy as my morning!  I didn’t get home from visiting the grandparents and running errands until 4’ish, and I decided to hold off on having a snack so that I wouldn’t ruin dinner’s appetite. 

Speaking of dinner, it was kept really simple for the simple sake of not wanting to spend another ounce of time doing dishes. 😉  I’m an admittedly messy cook, so baking this morning left me with pile after pile of dirty dishes.  I decided to avoid this with dinner and went with a delicious oversized salad:

• mesculin greens
• carrot
• cucumber slices
• betterthencandy cherry tomatoes 😀
• black olives, sliced
• yellow bell pepper
• cauliflower
• 1/2 c. black beans
• dressing: 1 tsp each of olive oil, orange juice, balsamic vinegar.  Sprinkled with plenty of garlic powder and dry mustard.

This salad was ginormous and amazing. 😀

Served with a side of oh-so-crunchy Docter Kracker Hummus Crisps. 

 I still felt hungry after dinner, probably relating to the fact that I didn’t have a pre-dinner snack this afternoon.  I broke out the whipped cottage cheese and topped it with half of a whole wheat pumpkin ‘n’ raisin muffin and a tsp of peanut butter.

Okay, so let’s talk a little bit about…

…CHOCOLATE!

Last night I promised to do a full re-cap today of the Endangered Speciecs Milk Chocolate and Peanut Butter par.  I only had one square to sample, but it was more then enough to get a full feel for the bar. 😉 

First…To be honest, I’ve always been more of a dark chocolate fan, and usually I’ll go for the 87% cacao.  I like my chocolate to snap when I bite into it, and I like it to be bitter.  The more bitter the chocolate, the more I love it.

Second…If I do eat milk chocolate with peanut butter, I want it to be the real deal (ie, peanut butter cup.) 

The chocolate was creamy, and I think milk chocolate fans would probably really enjoy it.  However, where was the peanut butter?  I was expecting there to be a pocket of peanut butter at the center, or at least some hint of peanut butter flavor.  But honestly, unless you told me that it was peanut butter chocolate, I would have never known.  All in all, I’d say that it was a good after dinner sweet-tooth satisfier, but it wasn’t great, either.  I have a feeling that I’ll have more positive things to say about the dark chocolate flavor which is what I’ll be trying once this bar is gone. 😉

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Off to get dinner ready for Dad—he’s finally coming home tonight after a business trip, and I can hardly wait to hear all about it. 😀 

I also hope to hit the hay early tonight, so that I can fit in a morning workout before helping Nicole and Nate move.  Ahhh…after tomorrow, we’ll practically be neighbors, Nicole!

Happy FRIDAY everyone!

Advertisement