Archive for

Digging out

After breakfast, I ventured outside to dig Focus out of his snowbank. After two days of walking to work, I was determined to drive this afternoon. It was no easy feat, with what I had to work with:

You say there's a vehicle under all that snow?

I could barely see my poor little car for all the snow. After clearing just enough snow to see, I backed into the road so I could leave all that stuff on the road instead of in our driveway.

Not perfect, but at least I can see.

About 10 minutes later, the car was finally driveable.

I treated myself to lunch out, then hit the grocery store to pick up a few things. While I was there, I found Oikos Chocolate and Caramel yogurt. At $4.99 for four 4-oz cups, it’s not cheap, but I  picked  up some of the chocolate. I remember Tina raving about it on Carrots N Cake last summer.

There was also a space on the shelf at Albertson’s for the elusive pineapple Chobani others keep blogging about. I nearly jumped for joy … until I saw it was empty. I’ve been wanting to try it, but the Safeway I usually frequent doesn’t carry it. I’ll have to check back at Albertson’s next time I’m over there.

After the grocery store, I stopped at Barnes & Noble. I had a gift card from my brother that, while not burning a hole in my pocket, came in handy for buying my next book club picks. We’re reading “The Art of Racing in the Rain” and a memoir about a big Mormon girl who loses 80 pounds and falls in love with an atheist. (It has a really long title that I can’t remember off the top of my head, and I left the books in the car. Something about a New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance, I think.)

Next up? A couple of episodes of “Twilight Zone” on SyFy before I head to work. At least I’ll be earning holiday pay (for today, but not the actual holiday tomorrow. Go figure.)

Breakfast treat

Inspired by my friend Di over at The Treadmill Diaries, I made a variation on her Banana Bread Scramble for breakfast when I woke up this morning at the decent hour of 9 a.m. (Thanks, Boyfriend, for calling just as I opened my eyes. It made closing them again to go back to sleep impossible!)

Arlene's Banana Bread Scramble

It might not look like much, but I can assure you it tasted delicious.

To make my Banana Bread Scramble, I used a thawed banana-nut VitaTop. I soaked it in a mix of 1 egg, 2 T vanilla almond milk and a sprinkle each of cinnamon and nutmeg.

I cooked it in a skillet until it formed those little crumbs, then topped it with spray butter, cinnamon, sugar-free syrup and half a banana.

A delicious (and hopefully filling) way to start New Year’s Eve!

Going homemade

Since I was up until 3:30 a.m., working on my nephew’s (late) Christmas gift, I slept until 1 p.m.  That gave me barely enough time to eat before getting ready to go to work.

It wasn’t because of my yet-to-be announced resolution to cook more of my own meals that I fixed lunch for myself. I didn’t want to dig out my car. Friday is soon enough for that.

I decided to make myself a burrito-burger of sorts, with green chiles, cheddar cheese and a Boca patty wrapped in a 100-calorie tortilla. I served it with some homemade garlic Foreman fries and a salad topped with salsa.

Not as delicious as the one from Burrito-Burger, for sure.

Passably tasty, but next time I think I’ll use more chiles and a real hamburger patty. Normally I like veggie burgers, but this time its flavor was a little strong. (Hence, the extra peppers … and maybe a little more cheese. I only used 2 T.)

I also just remembered the ones from Burrito-Burger also have mayo on them. Hmm … That might help.

I can take comfort in the fact that I ate a lot fewer calories than I would have had I driven across town. And I needed to, considering the slice of pizza and two more almond-coconut candies I ate at the office throughout the evening.

That was on top of the Lean Cuisine, my breakfast Overnight Oats (that I used as a late snack) and two Oreo Balls I brought myself from home.

Well, it could have been worse. So could my late Christmas gift. Last year, poor Alex didn’t get his Christmas gift until Halloween!