Fabulous Southern Foodie

Finding the time....

2011-11-25T12:56:00.001-08:00

No one tells you how time consuming it is to be a new parent. I miss laying in bed at night, reading a book. Now, I give Jackson his last bottle at 10:30 pm, lay down to rea.......snore......snooze....snore......

And alas, when I am time starved, the last thing I want to do is cook. And clean up the kitchen. But somehow last weekend, I mustered the energy to cook beef stroganoff. And it was pretty darn good. I found the recipe on the back of a package of Publix brand egg noodles that was taking up space in the pantry. I amazingly had every ingredient on hand. The recipe was easy, yummy, and made enough for lunch the next day. I do believe this recipe is a keeper.

my plate....

Eric's plate....isn't her clever?

Publix Apron Meals - Beefy Stroganoff

Ingredients 1 small yellow onion
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 lb lean ground beef, 7% fat
4 oz pre-sliced fresh baby portabellas
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup flour
8 oz wide egg noodles
1 (10.5-oz) can condensed beef broth
1 (8-oz) container sour cream

Prep
Put water on to boil for pasta.

Peel and dice onion.

Steps

Melt butter in large sauté pan on medium-high, then add onions and garlic; cook and stir 1 minute to soften. Add beef, mushrooms, salt, and pepper (wash hands); cook and stir 5–7 minutes or until meat crumbles and no pink remains.

Stir flour into beef mixture; cook and stir 2 minutes.

Cook pasta following package instructions.

Slowly stir broth into beef mixture; then stir in sour cream. Reduce heat to medium; cook and stir 7–8 minutes to blend flavors.

Drain pasta; serve beef mixture over pasta.

CALORIES (per 1/6 recipe) 360kcal; FAT 15g; CHOL 100mg; SODIUM 520mg; CARB 31g; FIBER 2g; PROTEIN 22g; VIT A 6%; VIT C 2%; CALC 4%; IRON 20%

I have been cooking up something really special....

2011-11-20T13:47:00.000-08:00

So I have been missing from the blogosphere for over a year now. But I have a pretty good excuse...

I cooked up this cutie for about 9 months and gave birth in late July. I really hope to start finding pockets of time to focus on cooking, losing baby weight, and blogging about it. Please stay tuned....

where did i go?

2010-10-05T18:51:00.000-07:00

I'm here...I am just completely over-committed right now. My mama told me tonight I need to start cutting some things out of my extra curricular life. Mama knows best....I hope to be more centered and back to blogging soon.

Good night, ya'll!

Back from vacay...

2010-06-28T18:10:00.000-07:00

Today is our first day home from the First Annual Brannon/Stroble/Somers family vacation. I, Eric, Mama, Daddy, my brother Adam, his wife Kent, and Kent's parents rented a house for a week on Edisto Island. Oh yeah, this little cutie joined us too....

My brother and his wife are the proud parents of this little one. She owns a lot of my heart!!

In decompressing from our long trip back from the coast yesterday, I slept in and spent the entire day in my pajamas. I took my time waking up and then fixed myself a GIGANTIC breakfast sandwich.

This breakfast beauty consisted of an Arnold Sandwich Thin, mustard, 3 egg whites, a slice of reduced fat cheese, and two slices of lean ham for a total of 4 WW points.

I continued to lounge, unpack, and do laundry. Lunch was a freezer delight.

I really like this Smart Ones but could probably eat a whole other entree. I paired it with a Trader Joe's veggie egg roll for a lunch total of 7 WW points.

I couldn't leave the kitchen without a little chocolate action...

The uneventfullness of my day continued....yawn....

And then I whipped up dinner for the hubs and I.

Gorton's frozen fish fillets (2 WW points per filet), a cup of quinoa/ brown rice mix (4 WW points), a cup of green beans (0 WW points), and a piece of Pillsbury french bread (3 WW points). At the end of the meal, I had three points left for the day so I snuck another piece of bread. I. Love. Carbs.

I am off to watch the College World Series (Go Cocks!!) and catch up on the DVR with the hubs.

Good night, ya'll!!

I Am Back

2010-06-11T19:48:00.000-07:00

Whew. It has been quite a long time since I posted. Here's a quick rundown of what's been going on...

1. I got a full-time teaching job in Special Education.

Wow....that sounded like a lot more in my head, and it certainly felt like more as I was living through it day by day. I am now on summer vacation and can hopefully focus on some "me" activities over the next few weeks. I will be posting about my musings with food very shortly.

I'm back!

Night ya'll!

Christmas 2009 in review...

2009-12-27T20:26:00.000-08:00

Students brought me homemade yummies....

...which I had for breakfast.

I forged the madness of the Dekalb Farmer's Market with Amy on December 23...

I cooked a yummy breakfast for Eric and I on Christmas Eve...

Trader Joe's chicken sausage, Fresh Market cheese biscuits, tomato, fried egg, and cheese grits!

My kitty is not a lap kitty...

...but gave me the gift of a snuggle and a nap on Christmas Eve afternoon.

My husband is a goofball...

My daddy cooked his famous Christmas morning breakfast and it was De-lic-ious!!

maple sausage, bacon, and hashbrowns

fried eggs

make-your-own grits station

sleepy goofball husband

Then the opening of gifts commenced...

I think my daddy resembles a skinny Santa!

and my brother resembles Peter Griffin...

Christmas afternoon lunch of ham sandwiches and tomato soup

goofball husband looks homeless....

my daddy listens to my stocking requests!!!

Night ya'll...

Dear Santa, I've been a bad blogger...

2009-12-21T20:01:00.000-08:00

This whole working full time seriously put a cramp in my blogging time. However, now that I have two weeks off, I am back and eating with camera in tow.

Today I was able to sleep in until 9:30. Halleluiah!! Sleeping in on a Monday morning was strange but nice. Eric woke up about this time too; he immediately put on some clothes and headed out to work. I, on the other, proceeded to remain in my pajamas for the next TEN HOURS. However, being pajama-clad did not mean I was lazy. On the contrary, I was able to get a lot done around the house.

I first powered up with some cereal and milk. Because I normally eat breakfast in the car or at school, cereal isn't usually an option. So today, I decided to indulge a little. I ended up trying the Oat Cluster Cheerios Crunch I bought a while back on sale. I used up the last of our skim milk in my cereal bowl (oops!) and had a glass of Trop50.

After eating breakfast and catching up with Kathie Lee and Hoda, I had to get to unloading this...

(Georgia is such a good little helper)

...and do a little bit of this...

I then began to wrap Christmas presents when I realized that I had Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 on the DVR. I took a break from wrapping to watch the movie and about half way through, I had the craving for some popcorn.

My popcorn wasn't bad and the movie wasn't bad either. I love having enough time to lounge all by myself and watch movies I've recorded on the DVR. Christmas break is oh-so-very nice!!! After the movie was over, I felt it was time for lunch so I rummaged around in the freezer and put together an Asian inspired meal of Trader Joe's veggie egg rolls and chicken dumplings I had gotten from Costco a few months ago.

My afternoon of pajama wearing progressed; I continued to wrap presents and even worked on cleaning out my closet. I waited until the first official day of winter to switch out my warm weather wardrobe for my cold weather wardrobe! When Eric got home around 7-ish, he showered (and by this time I had finally showered too!) and we ran out to take care of a few errands. While we were out, we grabbed dinner at Cheeseburger Bobby's. I had the chicken and cheese sandwich and loaded it up with all of the veggie toppings from the bar.

And of course, I consumed what looks like a mountain of fries, too. 'Tis the season of indulgence I suppose! When we got home from errands, I realized I had received a package from Cooking.com. I ordered my daddy something fun for Christmas and it arrived today - yay! I was super excited upon opening the box to find that the folks at Cooking.com had packed a little surprise for me too:

I have yet to try the Starbucks VIA, so I am super excited about my free samples. Although my daddy drinks coffee every morning, this is one coffee he would not be interested in. So....Merry Christmas to me!

Night ya'll!

i can't believe i like watching the country music awards

2009-11-11T18:42:00.000-08:00

I do not know exactly where the past few days have gone. Busy days at school make for a fast week (I probably just jinxed the next few days and they will probably go by really slow). Any whoo - I'm just sitting here in my pajamas watching the CMA Awards reflecting on my noshing the past few days. Here's a recap:

Tuesday
Breakfast was a light multi grain english muffin, fat free cream cheese, and two leftover slices of center cut bacon. Mmmm...bacon. I also added some reduced sugar orange juice in my Wizard of Oz travel mug. (Love the WOZ!)

Lunch has been very unimaginative and very processed lately. I hope to go to the grocery store this weeked to stock up on healthier lunch options. In the mean time, Lean Cuisine will just have to do.

Eric was in charge of dinner because I had so many papers to grade. He ran up to our new favorite bbq place and ordered a POUND of shredded pork and coleslaw. I had a combination of the two (with a little mustard based bbq sauce) on a 1 point hambuger bun. I added a bag of the Weight Watchers pizza flavored pretzle thins. I LOVE these thins because they tast just like the pizza flavored Combos. Sinful yum!

Wednesday

I went to recreate the english muffin - cream cheese - bacon combination from Tuesday when I realized the rest of my english muffins were still in the freezer. Oops. So opted for the same combo, but this time on a spinach Flat Out. It was still delicious!

Lunch was still a little over-processed. But at least it included sugar free chocolate pudding. :)

Eric wasn't hungry at dinner time so I just fixed a littel sammy for myself. I recreated what is often referred to as a "turkey rachel" (a spin off of the reuben sandwhich). I used my 1 point hamburger bun as a base, then added light thousand island dressing, oven roasted turkey breast, melted asiago sliced cheese, and coleslaw. It ended up being a little soggy because of the dressing/ coleslaw combination, but it was a good sandwhich. Especially when paired with baked Doritos and a ginormous dill pickle. I. Love. Pickles.

In other exciting news, I got a special little package in the mail on Monday. Can't wait to try out the Nature Valley Nut Clusters and Chewy Trail Mix bars. I LOVE getting goodies in the mail!!

The eyelids are getting heavy....'tis time to retire.

Night ya'll!!!

Off Da Chain Seafood & Mo

2009-11-09T19:13:00.000-08:00

yet another reason why I love the state of South Carolina...

Like most women, I find Monday to be a day of fresh and new beginnings. I do, however, apologize for the multiple "new beginnings" I establish on this blog. Hey, maybe this is the one that sticks.

I started off the day early at school to prepare for the ~~chaotic~~ educational station activity for microscopes. I packed breakfast early and ate it during homeroom.

I really enjoy the english muffin/ almond butter combination! Lunch rolled around before I knew it, at which point I nuked a Lean Cuisine flatbread melt...

I had packed this little guy for an afternoon snack, but ended up eating him at the lunchroom table instead...

I ran errands after school, wandered around Publix for a while, and then came home to make dinner. We ended up having Kirkland brand turkey burger patties on Whitewheat buns. On the burger, I added 2% cheese, ketchup, mustard, dill pickles, sliced tomato, spinach leaves, and two slices of center cut bacon. It was SUPER TASTY and a very hearty burger for only 8 points. I rounded out our burgers with an oldie but a goodie - frozen twice baked potatoes.

At this point in the evening, I should be grading papers. However, I am pretty much exhausted and my head is starting to throb. To my comfy bed I go. Is it really only Monday???

Night ya'll!

yawn...

2009-10-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

I know I have been M.I.A the past few weeks - funny how life just sort of happens around us. Tonight's post will be short because I am pooped. I started day 1 of what could possibly be a long term sub job - yay! However, long days and little sleep make me a sleepy girl. Will post more soon...I promise!

I actually had enough time this morning to eat at home before heading out to school. I toasted a Thomas Light Multi Grain English Muffin and topped it with some Blue Diamond Almond Butter. This was my first experience with almond butter, and I really liked it! I rounded out breakast with some reduced sugar orange juice.

I took my lunch to school like a good little girl! I had a Lean Cuisine and a banana.

I was so very busy at school and the day sort of slipped away from me with no real opportunity for a snack. Which of course meant I was starving when I got home. The hubs wasn't hungry so I fixed an Asian inspired meal for myself. I found some really yummy chicken dumplings in the fresh foods section at Costco this past weekend. I had 6 dumplings, 2 Trader Joe's veggie egg rolls, and a cup of the CP shrimp wonton soup. The meal was very satisfying and helped to curve the Chinese food cravings I was having!

I still have 3 WW points left today- I think I will wrap things up so I can head into the kitchen for a goodnight-glass of chocolate skim milk!

Night ya'll!

The Real Number System

2009-10-13T17:15:00.000-07:00

I was a sub for a math teacher today and I realized I was soooo much better at seventh grade math when I was actually in the seventh grade. However, I had a good time and I was glad to work another day! The hardest thing about subbing at this particular school is the time schedule - my first alarm went off at 5:00 am. I finally rolled out of bed at 5:19 am...boo....

Needless to say, it was a coffee morning.

Unfortunately, I only got to drink about a third of my cup before I got super busy running around school. :(

Breakfast on early mornings like this must meet two criteria:
1. Easy to prepare
2. Easily eaten in the car

The only thing in our house that meet both criteria right now are Jimmy Dean D'Light breakfast sandwiches.

I was hungry by the time lunch rolled around at 1 pm. I had packed a fairly healthy lunch of lean sliced turkey and fruit, but the smell of School Pizza was calling my name. I had missed School Pizza and School Salad, so I splurged on a treat. I had forgotten that School Pizza smelled so much better than it actually tasted PLUS they went up on the cost of School Pizza and School Salad. $3.50 was a bit much in my opinion. I do not believe I will fall victim to the smell of School Pizza any time in the near future. (I was not able to take a picture of School Pizza and School Salad....let's just say the mention of a food blog to some of my fellow (male) teachers would serve as fodder for personal humiliation for weeks to come.)

Once I got home, I shut my eyes for 10 minutes before running a few errands with the hubs. We were both hungry when we got home so I started making dinner. I totally relied on the pantry and freezer for tonight's meal.

Amy's Tom Kha soup was pretty good for a canned version of the Thai restaurant favorite. I, of course, would always prefer the restaurant version, but for an at-home Asian inspired meal, neither hubs nor I could really complain. Same goes for the Hamburger Asian Helper. I did try to "freshen up" my boxed meal by adding sauteed baby bella mushrooms and green onions. And of course, I LOVE the Trader Joe's stir fried vegetable egg rolls!!!

I think a glass of fat free chocolate milk is probably in my immediate future. Then, I do believe it is bed time. Another early morning tomorrow!!

Night ya'll!

this goal's for you...

2009-10-12T18:09:00.000-07:00

She's so sweet....

Today was gross and rainy, but I was still positive and upbeat about the new week, new beginnings, and new goals. My plan this week is to write down everything I eat AND take pictures, workout at least 3 days, and blog every night. It may not sound like a lot to commit to, but I will be subbing 4 days this week, and as I've said before, middle school is exhausting. However, I am up to the challenge! Here's to a good week.....

Today's Food

Breakfast

egg white omelet (3 egg whites, sauteed spinach, tbsp bacon bits, tbsp parmesan cheese) DELISH!!!

Lunch

Arnold sandwhich thin, Trader Joe's roasted red pepper hummus, and turkey

1 cup of radishes! Great crunch!

Dinner

Grilled chicken sandwich and fries from Cheeseburger Bobby's.

Sleepy....night ya'll!!

middle school is so exhausting

2009-10-06T20:11:00.000-07:00

We got back from our weekend trip to South Carolina on Sunday. The wedding was so much fun; my friend Becky was an absolute beautiful bride! I have decided after this weekend, however, that the entire state of South Carolina (my home!) is my dieting anti-Christ. Nothing good ever comes from my attempts to eat healthy while confined to the borders of my home state. Should I expect anything different? I mean, come on, we learned in the third grade that the easiest way to recognize our state on a map was to look for the state shaped like a PIECE OF PIE!

Since being back, I have been good about taking pictures of my meals, and I had every intention of blogging last night, but I was EXHAUSTED! I substitute taught a 7th grade class yesterday and had a BLAST, but I was pooped once I got home. I did, however, make it to the gym!!! I was on a two and a half week gym hiatus, so it felt good to get back in. I started myself back slow - only thirty minutes on the treadmill. I then took a quick trip to Costco and made it back home by 7:00ish. I ate dinner and ~~passed out~~ fell asleep by 8:30! Middle school is exhausting.

I had my yearly physical and flu shot today. I normally feel a little poopy after the flu shot so I decided on an afternoon cat nap instead of a trip to the gym. My nap gave me enough of a second wind to cook a new recipe for dinner that was yummy...see a few pics below!

I have sub jobs lined up for the next two days and am waiting on confirmation of a job on Friday, so it looks like a busy week! Yay!! If substitute teaching won't get my foot in the door for a full time teaching position, I don't know what will.

Now, onto the food....

Breakfast

They made me fast for the blood work associated with my yearly physical so I was STARVING by the time I got out of the doctor's office. I mean, my stomach had starting eating my back I was so hungry. On my way home, I decided to try Goldberg's Deli.

The nice fella behind the counter talked me into their morning special. It was a bagel of my choice (I chose sesame wheat), egg, bacon, and cheese (I chose their house veggie cream cheese). NOT exactly figure friendly, but wholly cow, it was yummy!!

Lunch

Eric and I were both home around lunch time, so we shared an asian wrap with rotisserie chicken from the Costco prepared foods department that I purchased last night. I wasn't starving because of my big breakfast so I didn't have anything on the side. Just the wrap and a little bit of the peanut dressing drizzled on top.

Dinner

Tonight, I tried a new recipe from the September/ October 2009 issue of Weight Watchers magazine. I made the Turkey Milanese and found it to be really good. I have never cooked with turkey cutlets, but the recipe could not have been more easy. My only modification was that I placed the turkey on a bed of lettuce and sliced tomatoes as opposed to arugula and cherry tomatoes.

I rounded out the meal with leftover garlic toast (so good yet so bad!!) and whole grain rice blend from the folks at Rice-a-Roni. I also threw in two little Arancini Bites that I picked up at Trader Joe's today. They were apparently new and so very yummy. They are little rice balls filled with fontina cheese. They are a little heavy in the points (3 points for only 2 balls) but such a little yummy treat. Mr. Eric even liked them!!

'Tis past my bed time - have to get up super early to play teacher tomorrow. Wish me luck!!

Night ya'll!

Food just isn't good to me anymore....

2009-09-30T18:46:00.000-07:00

Those are some harsh words. Okay, so maybe food isn't good to me right now. How can food not be good to someone who loves all things food, a "foodie" if you will? I don't know!! But everything I have consumed today in the way of nourishment has just been a disappointment. Maybe I have discovered the deep, dark secret of why I am, and have always been, a little on the heavy side......I expect food to be more than just nourishment!! Perhaps if my love for food, cooking, restaurants, food magazines, food blogs, and grocery stores were to cease, I could possibly be thin. But then that wouldn't be much fun, now would it? Alas, tomorrow is another day...!

Breakfast was probably the most satisfying meal of my day. I heated up yet another Trader Joe's Triple Berry Bran Muffin and had a cup of skim milk. I was really craving a glass of cold moo juice.

Lunch was leftover from yesterday's lunch at Subway. YESTERDAY, I really enjoyed the new buffalo chicken sub. I had it loaded up with veggies and it was really yummy. TODAY, on the other hand, the bread was mushy and all the veggies were soft. I could barely stand to eat it...

At least the baked Cheetos were okay...

Even my afternoon snack was unsatisfying. I had Wallaby organic maple flavored yogurt with Trader Joe's pumpkin spice granola. Once I at the granola off the top, I realized the yogurt was a little to thin in texture for me so I gave up on my snack all together.

For dinner, we ran up to Johnny's NY Pizza (mind you, we are in Georgia). Eric got a Hawaiian (ham and pineapple) stromboli while I went for a side salad and their house calzone. Again, none too impressed. Wish I would have gotten a Hawaiian stromboli....Eric's meal was a hundred times better than mine.

So for today, I am giving up on food. I am sure this is just a phase...do not worry my foodie friends. I am sure I will be back to loving all things food tomorrow.

In completely unrelated food news, I was looking for a picture to take with me this weekend so that hairdresser knows how I want my hair for the wedding. (I am matron of honor in my bestie Becky's wedding). Looking through photos, I came across some of my bridal portraits. I can't believe its been three years!!!

Night ya'll!

Perhaps O'Charley's was a bad idea....

2009-09-28T18:03:00.000-07:00

Let's just say my tummy woke me up at 2:30 am. Enough said. No more O'Charley's for a while!

Because I had an upset tummy, I decided to have a lunch that my mama would most certainly approve of:

chicken noodle soup, crackers, and clear liquids

bland, bland, bland

I finally made it out of the house for a few errands. While I was out and about, I kept dreaming of Starbucks after seeing that Marisa had broken down and gotten a Pumpkin Spice Light Frappuccino. The nutritional stats weren't bad at all, so I had to get one myself.

I also needed yet another snack just a few hours later

After picking up my bridesmaids dress from Toni, the seamstress, it was time to cook up some dinner.

Roasted chicken from Costco, whole grain rice/ orzo, biscuits (1 point per biscuit!) and roasted tomatoes with parmesan cheese

I had enough points left for a little bite of desert:

Got these little yogurt parfait bites from Costco (wow! we buy a lot at Costco!). Four points for such a small portion...I'm not quite sure they're worth it!!

Night ya'll!

Where have I been?

2009-09-27T19:53:00.000-07:00

So I've been somewhat MIA the past week. The rains in North Georgia were horrible. The worst of it came this past Monday - at one point, I was using the Shop Vac to stop the water that was coming in through the main wall of our basement while Eric was amassing sand bags for the side of house adjacent to a creek. I was at my breaking point!! I called my parents out of desperation for them to check the weather forecast for me...I had to know when the rain would stop. And since both the internet and the satellite were out, I had no access to any news media. My daddy (the best daddy in the world) could most certainly sense my distress and offered to drive three hours in the terrible weather to come help. How could I say no? Although the worst of the rain had stopped by the time he arrived Monday evening, I was so happy to see him! He ended up being more help than we could have imagined. We ended up needing to do a lot of work in the basement to prepare for the installation of a waterproofing system so that minor flooding will no longer be an issue. Daddy to the rescue for sure - we could not have done it without him!

Needless to say, eating healthy and exercising were not my priorities for the past week. But I am now back to some normalcy, so here comes the food.....

Saturday

Breakfast

Trader Joe's Triple Berry Bran Muffin and reduced sugar orange juice

Lunch

Trader Joe's Stir Fried Vegetable Egg Rolls x2 with hot mustard (only 2 points each!)

CP Shrimp Wonton Soup (only 2 points!)

Dinner

Salad: red leaf lettuce, chopped tomato, 2 tbsp rf shredded cheese, light balsamic vinagrette

hot dog rolls: rf hot dogs wrapped in rf crescent rolls

baked onion rings

a little bit of ketchup for dipping

Sunday

Breakfast

Eric "cooked" breakfast for us before church! He reheated leftover hot dog rolls from Saturday night, fried an egg, and sliced up a tomato. He even let me drink the rest of the reduced sugar orange juice. What a good husband!!

Lunch

Pepperoni pizza from the Costco food court. How will I ever get to goal weight with a Costco membership?!?

Dinner

I didn't feel like cooking, so we took advantage of the O'Charley's 2 for $14.99 meal deal.

I started with a salad to get some greens in.

O'Charley's rolls are the DEVIL. I only ate ONE - that is indeed progress!

The "healthiest" option on the 2-for menu was the Baja Chicken. It was good but I am sure not nearly as healthy as I wanted it to be.

Now it's bed time. I have to start getting up early in case the schools call for me to sub!

Night ya'll!

'Twas a good weekend!

2009-09-20T16:37:00.000-07:00

I started this weekend off with a little trip to Weight Watchers on Saturday morning. Because of Labor Day and then Becky's bachelorette party, I had not been to a meeting in two weeks. I was a little nervous of what the scale would say, but I had decided it was time to recommit (again!) to the program. I was pleasantly suprised when the scale said I had lost another 1.6 pounds. I am only half a pound away from being down 10 pounds. I know 10 pounds doesn't seem like much, but it's a lot to me!!

At the meeting, I got myself a few treats:

I always wait to eat breakfast AFTER my WW meeting - every fraction of a pound counts? After I weighed in, I had a Peanut Butter & Jelly LaraBar. I LOVE THIS BAR!! I am not a big bar eater because they carry a high amount of points (4 for the PB&J). However, for a quick yummy to break the fast, it was phenomenal. I will definitely be grabbing more of these at the store!!

For lunch, Eric and I hit up Chick-fil-a. He had coupons for free sandwiches so we got out on the cheap. I had a grilled chicken sandwich and splurged on their yummy waffle fries:

Eric got the ~~fried delicious~~ traditional chicken sandwich and waffle fries as well. We couldn't decide if his chicken patty was shaped like the state of Texas or South Carolina. What do you think?

Amy and I decided to hang out for the evening. The original plan was to shop at Perimeter Mall and then head to the Dekalb Farmer's Market. Although we did make it to the mall, all of the shopping made me hungry so we decided on dinner instead of the farmer's market. We decided to hit up Fox Brothers BBQ for a foodie adventure! The menu offered too many things that we each wanted to taste, so we ended up getting LOTS (and I do mean LOTS) of different things to share:

The menu

The wings

The Tomminator

(Tots smothered in Brunswick Stew and topped with Melted Cheddar)

Fried Dill Pickles

Fox Bros. "Burger"

(Chopped Brisket topped with bacon, tomato, red onion, pickles, melted pimento cheese, and jalapeno mayo)

Veggie Plate

(Whole fried okra, brisket chili, mac & cheese, green beans, and collards)

My partner in foodie crime, Amy.

I said it was a lot of food. Maybe you didn't believe me at first.....

With so much excitement on Saturday, I was happy for a low-key Sunday. We had lunch at my MIL's. I do believe the highlight of the day was Eric trying "Sweatin' to the Oldies."

Move over, Richard Simmons.

Night Ya'll!

in the words of missy elliott....

2009-09-17T16:16:00.000-07:00

...I can't stand the rain. We have been drenched for what seems like days and the ground is finally super saturated (that's the unemployed science teacher in me talking). Thanks to all the wetness, our basement decided to get weepy...yep...flood #3 since moving in four years ago. THANKFULLY, we realized it pretty quickly so the damage was minimal. Clean up will be a PAIN, but we are actually going to have some foundation companies come out and give estimates for fixing our wet basement. I want to enjoy my finished basement and both hubs and I would like to finally be at ease every time it rains. So needless to say, I'm a little behind with my blogging. Here's the update from yesterday...

First, let me introduce you to my nice little find from the Williams Sonoma outlet:

All three beautiful melamine nesting mixing bowls were only $12.99!! I love a good deal!

I used the middle bowl in the creation of yesterday's breakfast:

One muffin was only 2 points so I added a glass of reduced sugar orange juice for a yummy breakfast.

Hubs finished working around lunch time so I met him out at Subway for a yummy lunch. The sub of the day was turkey breast - with the sub of the day, you get a 6-inch sub, a bag of chips, and a drink for only $3.99. A good deal fo sho!!

Later in the afternoon, I finally made it to the gym. Hooray!! I walked on the treadmill for 15 minutes and then did the elliptical for 25 minutes. By this point, the monsoon-style rains had begun. I got home and was a little shaky so I rummaged through the kitchen for a post-workout snack:

Yes, that is turkey breast and peanut butter. But I did not eat them together. I am all about different food combinations but never would turkey and peanut butter end up on the same sandwich. FIRST I ate the turkey THEN I ate 2 tablespoons of the peanut butter. Said flood occurred soon after my snack and our early evening was a little hectic. By the time we had shop-vac'd all the water up, I was in no mood to cook. Hubs had a left over quesadilla and I whipped up a breakfast sandwich and a bowl of grits.

Breakfast sandwich: WW bagel, ff cream cheese, one egg, a slice of ham, and sliced tomato

The secret to fabulous grits? A little garlic powder in the water before the grains go in.

I'm caught up with what happened yesterday. Assuming we don't float away, I'll update you on today's events soon.

Night ya'll!

just another manic monday....

2009-09-14T18:43:00.000-07:00

Playing the part of housewife while looking for a job may not allow me to refer to a Monday as "manic," but I was busy nonetheless. I awoke a little too late for my liking, straightened around the house a bit, checked email + FB + job postings, and then put on my gym clothes. I heated up a Jimmy Dean D'Light breakfast sandwich before heading out the door.

I had to go to the Vinings area to kitty sit one last time this go round. I sometimes can't believe my only current source of income consists of checking on a former boss's cats every so often. Funny how life unfolds before our eyes!! After checking on the kitties (they really are super sweet cats!) I headed to the bank and to Kroger for my weekly grocery trip. I got lots of fresh veggies, but I also stocked up Lean Cuisines. Kroger has a promotion where if you buy 10 LC's, the final price per product is only $1.67 PLUS I had a $1 off coupon. Frozen dinners aren't the healthiest meals to have on hand, but they are convenient and won't bust the Points bank when I'm in a hurry or low on fresh lunch ingredients. In fact, for lunch, I heated up the LC shrimp alfredo.

I doctored it up a bit by sauteing some sliced mushrooms (on sale at Kroger for $1!) and it turned out to be a tasty little lunch.

I rounded out my meal with 100 calorie yogurt cup. (crappy blurry photo...sorry!)

Hubs came home shortly thereafter; I whipped up a turkey sandwich for him before we headed out the door. He drove me to a customer of his who does dress alterations; time to get my bridesmaids dress looking good for Becky's wedding in three weeks!!

I got hungry around six-ish and began to whip up dinner. While the turkey burgers and oven roasted potatoes cooked, I had a little appetizer - oven roasted brussel sprouts. SOOOO STINKIN' GOOD!! I had never had brussel sprouts before but had heard they were delicious when they were oven roasted with a little bit of EVOO, salt, and pepper. I grabbed a few out of the bin at Whole Foods last week just to give them a try. They roasted for about ten minutes and were absolutely delicious. I made hubs try one - he was not impressed. How can I make him love vegetables as much as I do?!?

I had my turkey burger on an Arnold Sandwich Thin with a slice of asiago cheese, tomato, dill pickles, ketchup, and mustard. And of course I never go wrong when I make these oven roasted potatoes.

I have already written down in my Tracker than desert is a Kudos bar (perhaps of the Snickers variety???) and a glass of skim milk. Not really hungry, but would really like the taste of some chocolate. We'll see what happens between now and bed time!

Night ya'll!

Is it fall yet?

2009-09-09T18:44:00.001-07:00

Do you think if I change the seasonal decor in my house that the weather will follow suit? Ehhh....I'm changing things anyway.

I slept in again this morning (probably a combination of Benadryl and Advil PM before bed) so again no breakfast.

For lunch, I found a Trader Joe's Mushroom Rice Noodle Bowl in the pantry. I paired that with a Trader Joe's stir fried veggie egg roll for an Asian inspired meal. I really wasn't all that impressed with the noodle bowl - it was no better and no worse than any other "just-add-water-noodle-bowl." The TJ veggie egg rolls, on the other hand, are AMAZING. Throw on a little hot mustard and you have quite the little (healthy!) treat.

I spent the afternoon cleaning house and getting caught up on Gilmore Girls on the DVR. I have just discovered the Gilmore Girls but I absolutely love that show!! For a little afternoon snack, I had half of a granny smith apple and 1/3 of a cup of Trader Joe's Country Pumpkin Spice granola. I love pumpkin anything - and I LOVE this granola. Again, perhaps eating fall foods will encourage the weather to get cooler.

At dinner time, I warmed up creamy Italian chicken from the freezer and served it over whole wheat spaghetti noodles. I paired the chicken with a side salad and ghetto garlic bread (made on leftover whole wheat hamburger buns). I got the recipe for the chicken from the Sandra Lee Semi Homemade magazine. I think the recipe is super tasty but hubs isn't too impressed. Do I try the recipe again or trash it because my other half isn't a fan?

Go Gamecocks!

I remained in pajamas for the majority of the day...tomorrow I will at least try to make it to the gym.

Night ya'll!

Pooper of a Day

2009-09-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

'Twas a pooper of a day....will climb back on my happy wagon tomorrow.

Night ya'll

Today is a New Day

2009-09-07T18:04:00.000-07:00

Time for something new....a blog perhaps? I have been following several fabulous blogs written by several fabulous women for the past several months. Within these blogs, I have found helpful healthy lifestyle tips, yummy recipes, and most importantly, inspiration. I myself have always struggled with my weight. I am currently a Weight Watchers member and am hopefully on my way to a healthier - and happier - new me. I have lost seven pounds but still have many pounds to go. I think my blog, as evidenced by the name, will center around food - from what I eat at home, to new food adventures I take, to new products and recipes I try. I think a virtual food journal will help keep my food choices balanced and help me to be accountable. In documenting what and how I eat, I hope to inspire others who wish to make better life choices, including what they eat and how they view food. I am most certainly embarking on a brave endeavor, but I think I can stay honest and true as I blog about my constant journey to live a healthier more fulfilling existence. Now....on to the food!

Breakfast
Woke up at 10 am and went straight to the gym....so no breakfast today.

Lunch

Cheeseburger (Arnold Sandwhich Thin, 1/2 leftover hamburger patty, 2% sliced cheese, lettuce, tomato, and onion)
Weight Watchers Pizza Pretzel Thins
Dill Pickle Spear
Mrs. Freshley's SnackAway Yogurt Oatmeal Cremes
Diet Coke

Dinner
Went to El Azteca with hubs and his sister. I felt weird taking a picture so I'll just describe....a grilled chicken wrap and way yummy black bean soup.

Here's to new beginnings...

Night ya'll