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VitaTop recipe contest idea

Remember when I said I won a free sampler pack of VitaTops through a contest at Roni’s Weigh?

My VitaTops arrived last week, and now that I’m done with NaNoWriMo, I actually have some time to spend in the kitchen again.

Tonight, I polished off the rest of the leftover turkey with a side of this:

What is this, you ask? Stuffing, of course.

But it’s not just any stuffing. This is healthy stuffing, made with — among other things — a CranBran VitaTop.

Better yet, it’s delicious, too. Just slightly sweet and very satisfying.

The recipe, as I made it:

1 teaspoon olive oil

2 Tablespoons finely chopped onion

1/2 cup diced zucchini

1 Tablespoon Craisins

2 small slices pumpernickel bread

1 thawed CranBran VitaTop

1/2 cup chicken broth

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Heat oil in small skillet. Sautee onion and zucchini about 5 minutes, until soft. Add Craisins and cook another minute or so.

While the veggies cook, tear bread and muffin into bite-sized pieces. Turn off heat and add to skillet. Add chicken broth and stir until moistened.

Put into small baking dish and bake 20 minutes. (I think it might have benefitted from another 10 or so in the oven, but I was running out of time on my dinner break).

The result:

 

 

Sorry the picture turned out blurry. I don’t know why my camera does that sometimes.

Like I said before: Delicious. And the variations are probably endless. If you prefer your stuffing with celery, cook it with the onion. (Me, I’m not a celery fan. I’d rather have zucchini any day.) And use your favorite bread. (I happened to have pumpernickel in the fridge.)

Interesting choices

Today was the day I finished my NaNoWriMo story. I hit the required 50,000 words before bed Saturday night/Sunday morning, but still had some story left to tell.

I did that today, before heading to work for the evening. Final word count (for the first draft) is at 53,095.

I tell you this because I spent the day at Barnes & Noble, which made for some interesting food choices.

Woke up around 9:45. Before I left the house, I had Overnight Oats with banana and walnuts. It was snowing, so I ordered a hot chocolate when I got to the cafe at about 10:30. (I also had three black teas with sugar-free vanilla syrup throughout the day.)

At about 12:30, we took a lunch break. I ordered the soup and half sandwich (a step up from the pizza pretzel I sometimes snack on while I’m there). It was a spicy Southwestern chicken flatbread sandwich and chicken tortilla soup — and both were delicious.

Another couple of hours passed and I broke down and ordered a slice of pumpkin cheesecake … the worst choice I ate all day.

When I finally left just before 5 p.m., I headed to Safeway to pick up something for dinner.

Here’s where it gets interesting. I decided I simply had to have hummus and pita chips. So that was my dinner, along with a package of Nature Valley peanut butter granola bars from my desk drawer.

When I got home after work, I snacked on a sandwich of leftover turkey, a mug of milk and a few chocolate-covered graham crackers. Okay … it was more than a few. It was six. But they’re smaller than I remember!

I didn’t count Points or calories or anything else. I wonder, if I did (and discounted the cheesecake), if the total would have been too terrible.

Color me surprised

As you know, writing has taken over my life this month. I’ve been busy with NaNoWriMo — but now, with less than 1,000 words to hit 50K (and about 6K to finish my story), I feel things have slowed down enough to visit my blog again.

Plus, I have more news on the writing front: One of my manuscripts finaled in a contest — my first contest final ever. You can read all about that on my writing blog, Love & Laughter.

I’m surprised — but thankful — that I have faithful readers who keep visiting for new blog posts even when I haven’t made one in dog’s years.

Part of that is because, as you’ve probably guessed, things aren’t going all that well on the healthy living front. I’ve been up and down — mostly up.

I am, however, excited to be talking with Jenn from Live Well Fit Now. We’ve been chatting about a few things I’ll surely be blogging about once I finish my “month of writing dangerously.”

I’m also excited about Roni’s VitaTop challenge. My muffins arrived a couple of days ago (with a bonus box of Vita Brownies that I can’t wait to try). Now, all I have to do is come up with a good recipe. Using up leftover turkey is high on the to-do list, too.

That’s it for now, but you’ll be hearing from me more often again. Promise!