Cookie Friday today? 

I did.  The bakery in our cafeteria is now open so I decided to celebrate.  But not with a cookie (they were sold out of my favorite kind) – with a GINORMOUS cupcake

It was delicious – except for the purple and white swirl frosting on the top.  I ate this entire thing minus that frosting.  The chocolate ganache with chocolate chips was my favorite part.

Few more hours of work and then no work until Monday…!

Looking forward to the weekend…

Today was unexciting – yet productive.

For lunch, I enjoyed a salad (romaine lettuce, tomato, cucumber, carrots, onion, egg whites (2), feta cheese, chickpeas, red pepper)

Plus a bag of Fritos

WHAT!  A bag of Fritos?!?  Let me tell you, this morning I had the biggest craving for Fritos.  Today’s craving + yesterday’s ham craving lead me to believe my body needed salt.  Two years ago I had a sodium problem – it was too low!  I never salt anything and because I’ve been eating less processed food lately (mostly salads at lunch) etc., I think my body really needed it.  I never crave salty foods – I’m a sweets girl.  Typically when anything is even remotely salty, I can’t stand it.  Today, this bag of Fritos, with all its sodium, was amazing. 

I even got comments from the lunch table like “you are going to eat that?!?”  I guess my healthy eating habits are noticed. 

Because it is Cookie Friday, I had to get this

Check this out – Patty, who works at the dessert counter, set me aside a cookie this morning just in case they ran out.  How amazing is she – as amazing as that cookie was.  I enjoyed this cookie about 3 pm this afternoon. 

After work I went to two grocery stores and Target.  I returned home thankful that dinner was already prepared – I was starving. 

Leftover Spaghetti Squash with Vegetables and Cheddar Cheese

I had another plate of this – I still have some left too!

After dinner, I opened up a Pomegranate, made Cranberry Sauce, baked and did a load of laundry.  Very productive.

Off to bed – I have a run scheduled plus I have to go to work.

Mid-morning I enjoyed a banana and some raisins for a snack – what a perfect combination. 

I did not eat all those raisins – I probably ate 1/4 of that container – save the rest for next week.

By lunch time I was hungry but not STARVING like normal.  I got a large salad

and a Texas Grilled Cheese – which I only ate half of even though it was delicious. 

Plus, to celebrate Cookie Friday, I enjoyed an Oatmeal Raisin cookie.  This was amazing.

Very soft and chewy – the way all cookies should be.

I have a few errands to run before dinner tonight so I just enjoyed an afternoon snack.

Oh Oikos how I have missed you during Dairy Detox. 

What a great day of snacks and food – much better then yesterday.

Be back later!

Today’s lunch started with a BIG salad….Romaine Lettuce, Spinach, Carrots, Onion, Tomato, Chickpeas, Red Pepper, Mushrooms, Tuna, Feta Cheese and Cucumber. 

I enjoyed this monster salad with a Whole Wheat English Muffin (that got stuck in the toaster and thankfully did not catch on fire)

Cookie Friday was changed to Cupcake Friday this week.  Sadly, my favorite cookie (the M&M Chocolate Chip) was not available today.  After carefully studying the bakery case, I decided on this BIG beauty.

Holy Batman this cupcake was delicious.  The cake itself was so moist and the frosting was sweet but not too sweet.  Amazing…well worth the change in Cookie Friday. 

Matt and I may head up to the outlets tonight…we shall see!

So I bought 3 things for lunch today.

1. Sweet Potato
2. Spinach-Vegetable Soup
3. Wrap with Mozzarella, Spinach, Tomato

I had planned on putting some sweet potato into the soup to add an extra oomph.  I sliced into my sweet potato to find a not-even-close to being cooked interior.  I thought the warm soup would heat the sweet potato up enough to make it edible so I scooped some up and added it to my soup bowl.

Keep in mind, our cafeteria still has the air conditioning on.  It was freezing!  All I wanted was warm soup.

Next, I moved onto my sandwich – I thought I would eat 1/2 and the move back to the soup.

The sandwich was great.  It is not too often that the cafeteria has this combo without pesto or hummus (two things I am scared to eat with my food allergies).  I was so happy to have this sandwich today – it was great!

I ate 1/2 and moved back to the soup.  First spoonful…I thought I had put a tablespoon of salt in my mouth.  Ok – stir it up a little – try again.  Nope – salt.  That soup was inedible.  Disappointment – 2 (soup and sweet potato)

I ate the other 1/2 of my sandwich and then went back into the cafeteria and got a veggie plate.

Much better. 

As it is Cookie Friday, I thought about the week.  Yesterday I had birthday carrot cake AND dessert at dinner.  Did I really need a dessert? 

I compromised and got Apple Crumble with no ice cream – hey it’s got apple in it.

That, to the right of my apple crisp, is my to-do list’s to-do list.  Excellent. 

Thankfully, I have accomplished MOST of the things off that list today except for the big one – my presentation for tomorrow. 

I see a night in front of the laptop in front of me.

Oh Cookie Friday how I love thee

Your soft, chewy center fills me with glee

I look forward to you every week

A date with you I will always keep

Do you celebrate Cookie Friday?

I always look forward to Cookie Friday – who wouldn’t?  I started lunch with a sweet potato salad.

In the mix was 1/2 a sweet potato, spinach, mushrooms, tomato, red pepper, onion, black beans and cheddar cheese.  No need for salad dressing – sweet potato took care of that. 

I also ate an unpictured egg white from a hardboiled egg. 

Sadly, the M&M Cookie was not soft and chewy according to Patty (the dessert lady).  I went with the M&M blondie today – which unfortunately, was also not so hot. 

It was very dry.  I ate about half of it and decided it wasn’t worth it. 

My co-worker Patrick and I are walking the campus in a little while trying to figure out a 5k route for a Family Weekend.

Today for dinner was another Clean Out the Fridge Night.  We are leaving tomorrow for NJ – we will be there through Monday for my cousin Katie’s wedding on Sunday. 

For dinner I had some leftover lentil loaf from Sunday.  Today I transformed the lentils into a sandwich melt. 

Using a toasted Pepperidge Farm Whole Wheat Deli Flat, I smooshed lentil loaf and covered with mozzarella cheese.  I then broiled the halves until the cheese melted.  MMMMM melty cheese. 

Look at that charred cheese – delicious. 

I think that may be the only time the Lentil Loaf is made in the runleangreen household.  It was good – not great.  Matt likes Snobby Joes much better and I think I agree.  This was pretty bland – I would need to do some recipe tinkering before recreating this again. 

I was intrigued by the Montana Whoppers cookies floating around the blog world.  Showing Matt the recipe was the only thing I needed to do to convince him that we needed to make them.  Fortunately Matt was off today, so he kindly made the batter while I was at work.  Matt would like to add that the batter was one of the best in the world.  Check out the original recipe here. 

Matt used soy nut butter so I was able to enjoy them (much appreciated).  He loved the batter so I am imagining these taste very PB like.  For chocolate, Matt used M&Ms, Chocolate-Caramel Swirl Chocolate Chips, and Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips. 

We baked these delights after dinner.  Look at them (Matt made some of them rather large).  

Oh.my.gosh.  Let me just say – this may be one of my top 5 favorite cookies.  I am VERY glad we are going to NJ tomorrow – we need to get these out of our apartment before they end up in our bellies. 

Simple Changes September 

September 18, 2009: Switch to On-Line Bill Pay

My secret is out of the bag.  I still get paper bills and mail checks to pay them.  Could I be stuck in the dark ages any more?  I must admit, I like seeing my bills and sitting down once a week and writing out checks.  I clean everything off my desk and get a feeling of accomplishment.  I realize that all this paper I am generating is pretty wasteful when I can pull everything up on my computer. 

Using this website, I am able to calculate the environmental impact of my paper bills.  Look at the results:

That’s not as bad as I thought – but it’s still something.   

I am committing to on-line bill pay – and joining the 21st century. 

TOPIC CHANGE WARNING:

Did anyone catch Caitlin’s discussion about the “vegetarian” label this afternoon.  Recently, I have been thinking about some of the points brought up – in the last few months I have cut back on the amount of meat I eat.  Before I really got into reading food blogs, I had decided to reduce my meat consumption to only once per day (fish to me do not count as meat – I would eat fish and meat in the same day). 

Since beginning Simple Changes September, I have committed to eating meat only twice/week max.  This week in particular, I am having troubles with it.  Knowing that Matt and I are going to NJ this weekend and staying with my sister (where they are meat eat eaters), I decided to “ration” my two meat servings to this weekend so I wouldn’t cause issues eating in someone else’s home (there are 6 adults and one small child there this weekend).  However, Thursday was turkey day in the cafeteria – if you remember correctly – turkey is one of my favorite things!  Therefore I denied myself something that I really enjoy just so I could “save” my meat portions for this weekend.  Is that really what I want? 

I saw Food Inc and have seen how poorly animals are treated.  I realize how a meat-based diet is horrible for the environment.  Already I have done wonders with my diet – Matt and I have tried MANY new recipes and we both are eating less meat.  Do I need to feel guilty about wanting to eat turkey for lunch – especially when turkey is one of my favorite things? 

I don’t think I could ever become a complete vegetarian – I would safely say I am a flexitarian (only eats meat occasionally). 

What are your thoughts on food labels?  What would you consider yourself?

But first, another Mac ‘n’ cheese creation like Monday.  I took a monster salad including:

• Spinach
• Romaine lettuce
• Kidney beans
• Sweet Potato (about 1/2 of one)
• Mushrooms
• Cucumber
• Tomato
• Red Pepper
• Steamed Broccoli
• Cheddar Cheese

And combined it with Bow Ties with Feta, Tomato and Spinach from the Vegetarian Line.

Close up

I really like the addition of a “warm” pasta to my salads – makes things interesting.  The spinach wilts a little, the salad is more filling and substantial, and I get a good serving of vegetables. 

In honor of Cookie Friday, I went up to visit my friend Patty at the Dessert Counter.  Patty informed me that the cookies were not soft today.  Not wanting to waste my Cookie Friday treat on a sub-par dessert, I chose a M&M Blondie.  I must say, I have a thing for desserts with M&Ms in them.  This did not disappoint. 

There was a strong vanilla flavor, a moist, gooey texture and M&Ms…how could you go wrong. 

Looking forward to going home this evening…Matt is off today and he is working on a batch of cookies.  Cookie Friday will continue later!

What a busy and stressful day.  I am very glad to be home and relaxing on my couch. 

Let’s rewind to lunch.  I started with a bowl of Minestrone Soup

Moved onto a green salad with spinach, romaine lettuce, cucumber, mushrooms, tomato, carrots, shredded cheddar cheese and Corn and Black Bean Salad I made earlier in the week. 

Then, I enjoyed Cookie Friday!  Patty, who works at the dessert counter, hadn’t put out the M&M Chocolate Chip cookies but ran in the back to get me one; she remembered my favorite.

This cookie was the perfect consistency – soft, mushy and almost a little raw in the middle.  Patty made my day. 

About 3 pm I called Matt and asked him to bring home a bottle of wine.  That’s the kind of day I was having.  He is amazing and went to 2 stores to find our favorite bottle

I know – we are classy wine drinkers.  There is something about this wine that is the perfect sweetness.  I love it.

We set to work on our dinner – Calzones.  We were using frozen pizza dough from a few weeks ago. 

We rolled out our dough and started working on the filling.  My filling included:

• Sautéed Spinach
• Sautéed Mushrooms
• Slightly steamed broccoli
• Tomatoes
• Part Skim Ricotta cheese
• Part Skim Mozzarella cheese

Check out this monstrous calzone

I ate 1/2 of this – check out the cross section

Both Matt and I agreed our calzones were a little off tonight – no particular reason why – just not as good as usual. 

With some homemade marinara sauce to dip (can of diced tomatoes, can of tomato sauce, diced garlic, dried basil and dried oregano)

The extra broccoli

Plus my glass of vino

I realized I have not had much fruit today so for dessert, I made a quick fruit salad containing apple, banana and orange (which just happens to be my favorite fruit combination).

I did not get a run in this afternoon – it was POURING when I left work.  I am hoping the rain moves through before tomorrow morning – I would like to get a run in early.  My friend Becky and I have a hot lunch date at Whole Foods!

Simple Changes September:

September 11, 2009:  Make a List

During the school year, I am less organized then I am during the summer.  Both Matt and I have odd hours and eating schedules.  Oftentimes, I have less desire to make dinner (remember soy nut butter and jelly was for dinner last night) and because of this, tend to make more 2-3 trips a week to the grocery store.  These frequent trips to the grocery store are not only bad for the environment, but bad for my wallet. 

I need to get back to my summer meal-planning and make a weekly menu (including items Matt can bring for lunch).  After making my menu, I need to consult my fridge, freezer and pantry for the ingredients needed (or better yet, make recipes that use ingredients I already have). 

Once in the grocery store, I need to stick to the idea of BUYING ONLY WHAT I NEED.  Go up and down the aisles that have the things on my list and not tempt myself with other things. 

I am hoping to do my grocery shopping tomorrow so I need to get crackin on my list. 

Do you make a grocery list?  How do you plan out your meals for the week?