Exciting News, Travel, and Sex in A Pan

n exactly 18 days the hubby and I will be headed to NY for a week vacation! We have never been, and I have only been to 6 states in my life (Nevada, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Hawaii). NY has been on the top of my travel list for as long as I can remember. Other places on my list include: Egypt, India, Iceland, Samoa, Tonga, and many places in Europe.

What places are on your travel list?

On to food ...

Breakfast today was a smoothie made with 1 cup almond breeze, 1/2 banana, 1 T almond butter, 1 scoop chia seeds, Hemp/Cacao/ Maca Twister Powder, and 2 packs of Amazing Grass.





It was very protein, nutrient and antioxidant rich, and it kept me full all morning.

For lunch I ran out to Extreme Pita and got a vegetarian pita pizza:



I most definitely inhaled every last bite.

In the afternoon I had a glo-bar and a piece of cheese.

I went to the new organic grocery store in town after work today. It is my new favourite place. The customer service is exceptional. The food (including the produce) is of very high quality, and the prices are reasonable. I bought all of our groceries for the week from there. One thing I bought was organic sausage (4 large in-store made sausages for $4.49). We had the sausage for dinner tonight with rice and an avocado/ tomato salad. I topped my rice with green salsa.



I realized after your comments on yesterday's post that I cannot throw around phrases like "Sex in a Pan" and not provide a recipe. Here you go:

Sex in a Pan

Crust:
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup flour
2 T sugar
1/2 cup finely chopped nuts

Filling:
250 g softened cream cheese
1 cup icing sugar
1 cup whipping cream
1 pack instant chocolate pudding
1 1/2 cups milk
1 pack instant butterscotch pudding
1 1/2 cups milk

Crust Directions:
- Melt the butter in a saucepan
- Stir in the flour, sugar, and nuts
- Press into 9x13 pan
- Bake @ 325 F for 15 minutes

Filling Directions:
- Blend cream cheese and icing sugar and spread over the crust
- Whip the cream, and then spread 1/2 on the cream cheese layer
- Mix the chocolate pudding and milk for 2 minutes and pour over the cream layer
- Mix the butterscotch pudding and milk for 2 minutes and pour over the chocolate layer
- Top with the rest of the whip cream

Chill over night. Top with shaved chocolate before serving (optional).

I have had this dessert made numerous ways, and this is the BEST in my opinion!

Very exciting news!!!!!!!
As a Featured Publisher of FoodBuzz I had the opportunity to enter a contest called 24, 24, 24. To enter, one must submit a proposal for a dining experience that they want to partake in, and want FoodBuzz to fund. Twenty-four people were chosen, and all must make their meal happen within the same 24 hour period (March 27th) and blog about it the next day (24 blog posts). I was one of the winners, and will be given the cash to make the meal/ and evening come to life.

You will have to wait and see ...

In light of my BIG trip in 18 days, I am going to do a giveaway.
See my post tomorrow for details!!

How many US States have you visited? Which ones?

Just Another Saturday

I had a great sleep last night, and slept in until about 9:30 this morning. I made a quick Green Monster (3 cups spinach, 1 banana, 1 pack wheat grass, 1 kids chocolate amazing grass, 1 cup almond breeze, 1 scoop chia seeds, 1 t peanut butter), and headed to work for the day.



I get so much more done when I am the only one at work - there are no distractions, and no one to get in my way.

The hubby brought me lunch to work. He brought organic peanut and veggie curry on brown rice.

Looks ugly, but it was tasty.



For some afternoon fuel I ate a glo-bar.



As I said yesterday, my hubby and I bought a house about 2 1/2 years ago. It was structurally sound, but it was NASTY. The lady that lived there before us was a pack-rat, and the house was filthy. We ended up gutting it to the framing and re-did the drywall, ceilings, flooring, electrical, kitchen, bathroom etc.

Most of these before pics were taken right after we bought the house (before we had possession). A lot of the crap you see in the first two pictures was cleared out before we moved in - but not all of it ...

Main Floor BEFORE Pics















Gotta love those bathroom curtains ;-)

Stay tuned tomorrow for the AFTER pics!!

What do you have planned for your Saturday night? Staying in? Going out?

It is my friend Tyler's birthday today. We are going to his place tonight, ordering food in, and having a little party with all our friends. I will recap tomorrow!

Is it only Tuesday? It feels like I have gone through a whole week already ... blech.

I am not being very productive with my thesis peeps ... I am just having trouble getting into my groove (I think it is because there are so many other things I would rather be doing).

Breakfast this morning was a bowl of POM oats:

I added the arils of 1 POM to the oats as they cooked, and then topped them with 1 tsp of mini chocolate chips, and organic unsweetened coconut.

My mid-morning snack was 1/2 of a glo-bar:

Lunch was leftover chicken, and sweet potatoes:

As well as a fruit cup:

And some cheese:

Dinner was Ristorante Dr. Oetker Spinach pizza:

(The pieces are mini)

And a large side salad:

(lettuce, mushrooms, tomatoes, green onions, green peppers, cranberries, almonds, cheese, and a fig balsamic dressing).

I did some work for my thesis tonight, but no writing - just more research.
There is NO way I will have my draft done for tomorrow like I hoped. Crappy.

I am done working for the night, and am going to make a snack and sneak in a 1/2 hour show with the hubby.

I want to make a Christmas CD (or buy one) over the next few days ...
Any song or CD suggestions?

Brain Dead ... Or Not?

Okay, there are reasons to believe that I have gone brain dead today.

Reason #1 - I totally thought that I took pictures of my packed lunch before leaving for work this morning ... but my camera will tell you a different story.

Reason #2 - I swear I put my little camera into my purse to take a pic of my dinner before my exam. But my purse would tell you a different story - and so would the camera sitting on my desk at home.

Needless to say, I only have food pics from the morning. But, I will still share what I ate.

Breakfast was my usual GM with 1 cup of this:



Some lightly steamed spinach:



A nanner:

1 T of Amazing Grass powder:



1 scoop of Chia Seeds:



1 T of almond butter:



It looked like it always does when it was done:



Mid-morning I had a glo-bar:



Lunch was a lean cuisine, 1 babybel cheese, and vanilla yogurt with blueberries.

Dinner was Subway (a 6" sub with chicken, lettuce, tomato, banana peppers, cheese, olives, and fat free dressing). I also had a couple little bites of leftover ham.

Now, there is one reason to believe I have NOT gone brain dead.

Reason #1 - I stared a class (the History of Psychology) in February as a correspondence class, as it was not offered at a time I could take at my U. I had to read 17 very detailed chapters, write 6 quizzes and a final exam that consisted of 100 m/c questions taken from anything in the most detailed 17 chapters I have ever encountered in 10 years of university. I slacked, and procrastinated like I have never done before and as of yesterday still had 6 chapters to read and 3 quizzes to write!! I didn't read the 6 chapters, as I didn't have time, and instead just skimmed to find the answers to the online quizzes. (The quizzes were open book - but the final was not - I had to go somewhere to write it).

I had read the other chapters many months ago, and had no time to look them over. So I went to the final exam in panic mode - stressed to the max, as passing this exam was crucial.

The classroom manual says that the exam can be completed in 90 minutes, but 2 hours are allotted in which you can complete the online exam.

Well, I pretty much had to guess (or so I thought I was guessing) on all the questions, and ended up finishing in 17 minutes because I wasn't even really reading the questions, because I didn't know anything! When I left I wanted to cry. This final is worth 70% of my grade!!

I drove home extremely upset ... but then I checked my grade online (it was an online test so the marks are up right away). Some how, by a miracle, I got 78 questions right out of the possible 100 m/c!!!!! This is definitely the lowest mark I have ever gotten on a test ... but I will SO take it!!!!!!!!! I don't know how I did this - I think my subconscious knows more than I do, and wrote the test for me. Overall in the class I ended up with an 85%. Not bad.

After all the excitement of this evening, I just want to crash on the couch and watch trashy TV. And eat a snack.

What do you snack on at night?
(I will let you know tomorrow what I end up having)

Hello blog faces!! Sorry I didn't post yesterday - I wasn't at home all day/ evening/ night.

Recap from Yesterday, Friday the 13th:

I woke up and made a lovely breakfast - pumpkin pie French toast:





I toasted 2 slices of bread, and then dipped them into a mixture of 2 eggs, 1 T unsweetened vanilla almond breeze, 3 drops of this vanilla Stevia that Ron from NuNaturals sent me to try:



And a sprinkle of this:



I then grilled the French toast until perfectly cooked and crispy! Mmmm! The vanilla Stevia added a lovely vanilla taste and smell to the French toast, with a tiny bit of sweetness. Perfect.

Lunch was leftover ham and potatoes:



I dipped the ham in my homemade apple sauce:



I also had one of these:



And one of these:



After work I went out for a drink, and had 1 Caesar. Then the hubby and I packed the car and drove to a small town about an hour from our city. 8 of us drove out to the small town where our friend Heather lives, so that we could hang out at her place for once, instead of her always having to come to the city every weekend. On the way there I ate this:



When we got to Heather's there was cheese all over the counter (leftovers from the cheese party). I attacked this lovely guy:



I also had some crackers with goat cheese on them, and a few other tiny pieces of cheese.

For dinner we went to the local pub/ bar. The hubby and I shared this small basket of battered mushrooms. In case you didn't know ... battered mushrooms are totally a health food. They are. Don't argue.



I ordered the chicken wrap and sweet potato fries:





And I had 4 of these over the course of the evening:



The 9 of us had a great sleepover, all sprawled out across Heather's living room and kitchen floor :-) It was fun!

This morning we got up and went for breakfast before heading home. I had a mushroom and swiss omelette and 3 pieces of bacon. I did NOT eat the toast, and I ate about 3/4 of the omelette, and 1/2 the hash browns:



On the way home we picked up shakes. I had 1/2 of this small vanilla shake:



Being away from the computer for a day is really hard for me! I had SO much to catch up on today. I don't know what I am going to do when I am gone to the Dominican for a week this winter!

Tonight I am thinking of avoiding homework by going to a movie.

Have you seen any good movies lately? What do you recommend?