What I Pinned..Friday

Just popping in to say a quick hello on this lovely Friday.  I have so many projects swimming around in my head lately and not much extra time to do them in.

I've been trying to use a planning calendar for such things, but man...sometimes it just doesn't get done.

Well, these are some things that I've "pinned" to get done.

You can find the source for all on my Pinterest page.

These beautiful dip dyed napkins!

These are so bright and beautiful.  I think I need some cloth napkins in my life.  Or they would be a great housewarming gift!

Goat Cheese Guacamole?  Yes, please!

 

This guac has been on my mind for a couple days.  I love avocado and goat cheese together on sandwiches, so I don't see how you can go wrong with this appetizer!

A vertical flower garden!

I have a black (ish) thumb, but have a desire to get outside and make my yard beautiful.  I think this is just adorable.  Plus, it would make a cool gift for Mothers' Day, which will be here soon!

DIY Patterned Leggings!

This geometric pattern rocks my socks.  I was at Burlington the other day and they have whole racks of just leggings.  Methinks I need to buy a couple cheap pairs and make some running capris!  Oh, yeah...and start running again.  Yes.  That is on the list!

DIY Wall Art Using Instagram Prints!

I've been jonesing to make this little picture collage of sorts, so I just ordered some Instagram prints from Foxgram....only 25 cents a print.  Can't beat that!

Enchilada Pizza!

This can actually be on my "To DONE" list, because I made this pizza 2 or 3 weeks ago and it was even more delicious than the picture looks...and we all know that picture looks delicious.  Do it!

Cocktails!

Gin and tonics have been my favorite cocktail lately.  With lime...so much lime.  But, this spring-y twist on things must happen.  Soon!

You like how I overused my yearly quota of exclamation points?!  I'm just excited it's Friday!

Happy Weekend, All!

WIAW: Spinach Lasagna Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms

Happy Wednesday!!!

This above picture is from the Earth Day 5K this past Sunday that I attended with some of my favorite people (from the left: my brother, my boyfriend, me, my mom & my nephew in the front--my aunt and cousin also came)!

It also happened to be my birthday on this day, so that was cool.  I actually had plans to post something birthday related on Friday, like a birthday cake martini or something of the sort...buuuut I got lazy ;)

Oh, well.  Here I am now...posting some eats for ya!

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Breakfast #1: PB Toast

An oldie, but a goodie.  I had this toast smeared with crunchy Skippy before headed out for 5 a.m. bootcamp.  Next month I am trying boot camp at night (due to my current unwillingness to get up so early), so this is probably the last PB toast you'll see at the beginning of my WIAW posts.

Breakfast #2: Wafflewich

I wanted waffles this morning, but knew I needed protein after strength training...so, meet the wafflewich.
2 low fat Eggo Nutrigrain waffles topped with a slice of cheddar, 2 thin slices of deli ham and an egg plus egg white.
Topped with sugar-free syrup to bring it all home.

Yum!

Morning Snack: Cereal

I'm a sucker for new cereals, so I bought this overpriced box to try out.  It is quite delish, indeed.

I filled a pint mason jar halfway with almond milk and measured out a cup of cereal in a Ziploc.  Perfectly portable for work!

Lunch: Wrap, Broccoli 

I wish I had taken more pictures of this wrap, but this one will just have to do.  In the mix: a Flat Out Light wrap, 1/2 wedge of Laughing Cow Swiss cheese, 1/2 cup of pulled rotisserie chicken, spinach and tomato.  A side of leftover frozen broccoli gave me a veggie.
Then dessert.

I like these salted caramel pops from Starbucks and they are probably one of the lowest calorie options they got goin on (as far as treats go).  They are a little gummy in the middle, so I have it in my head that I'm going to make my own this weekend and improve on them a little.
Also, I drank a Trenta (read: half a gallon) unsweetened black tea with 3 Splendas.

Easily one of my top 5 favorite drinks of all time.

I had another busy afternoon at work, so no time to cut my apple that I brought for snack.

Fast forward to dinner time.

Dinner: Spinach Lasagna Stuffed Portabella Mushroom

This meatless meal actually tasted like lasagna.
No joke.
It was so good and filling, too!

Also, if you are weird about mushrooms, this actually has very little mushroom flavor.  It might just convert you!

Spinach Lasagna Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms
serves 4

4 portabella mushroom caps
olive oil
salt & pepper

filling:

1 cup frozen spinach, thawed

salt & pepper

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

1/2 cup ricotta cheese (I used low fat)

1/2 cup spaghetti sauce

topping:

1/2 cup spaghetti sauce

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

3/4 cup shredded mozzarella

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Wipe the mushroom caps with a damp paper towel, remove stems and carefully scrape out gills with a spoon.  Discard stem and gills.

Rub a little olive oil on the mushrooms and add some salt and pepper.  Roast the mushrooms cap down for about 10 minutes.

While the mushrooms are roasting, combine the filling in a small bowl.

Once the mushrooms have roasted, they will have some juices they released.  Remove them from the pan onto some paper towels and drain the liquid from the pan.  Return the caps to the pan and fill each with 1/4 of the filling.  Top with sauce, a blob of ricotta and some mozzarella on top.

Cook for about 15-20 minutes or until bubbly and melty.

So good!!!  You guys MUST try this recipe!
I served mine on a spring mix salad with two toasty ciabatta bread triangles.

I ended my eats with a Garfiled mug full of cookies & cream frozen yogurt.

Here's a cute Bizzy picture to brighten your day!

She's really doing well.  Being super cuddly and lovey one minute, then a crazy, wild dog the next.  Thus is the nature of puppies.  Am I right?

I know this is the second picture I've put on here with her tongue sticking out.  I just always catch her as she is closing her mouth...she does not just have a permanent tongue out sort of thing going on, FYI.

Have a super fantastic week!!!

In case you missed it: Photo-An-Hour I posted Monday

Photo-An-Hour from 4-20-13

Happy Monday, everyone!

I decided to do another photo an hour on my Instagram this past Saturday.

I thought I'd share the pics with you.

Because I like you.

8 a.m.

 Boscoe (the cat) woke me up with loud meows around 7:45 a.m..  By 8, I made my way to the kitchen to have some cuddles with Bizzy the dog.  She loves her morning cuddles (although the picture does not depict that).

9 a.m.

Every bone in my body wanted to hibernate on the couch, but I got my butt to exercise class by 9 a.m.  I was glad I did after it was all said and done.

10 a.m.

I had some outside time with my guy and enjoyed a cup of coffee before heading in to get cleaned up.

11 a.m.

Pretty spring weather and a planned trip to the farmers' market prompted me to put on a colorful maxi skirt.
I made this skirt by cutting the top part off a clearance maxi dress I bought last year.  Not exactly masterful sewing, but I liked how it turned out.
Here's another picture of it, although this was not part of the photo-an-hour posting:

Pay no attention to my hair that is sticking up ;)

12 p.m.

We stopped at a food truck after perusing the farmers' market and got some bison tacos and gourmet grilled cheese to split.  It hit the spot!

1 p.m.

We took a quick detour on the way back home to take a silly photo shoot.  We got some strange looks.

2 p.m.

Back home to change into walking gear, I had to seek out Baby the Cat.  She was sunning in the home gym. She loves any opportunity to get her picture taken.

3 p.m.

I love these white ducks at our neighborhood park.  They are so cute and love when people feed them bread.  I did not feed them...just took pictures of their cute little tails and sang the Duck Tales theme song to them.  They were not amused.

4 p.m.

I guess it's just a dog thing to take any opportunity to get dirty and stinky, because Bizzy has been rolling around outside all week.  She got her weekly bath in the sink.  She was thrilled.  Can't you tell?

5 p.m.

I had to include Boscoe in my pics, but he flat out refused to participate.  Oh well, he's cute sleeping in a ball...so there you go.

6 p.m.

We met up with some friends at a Mexican restaurant and I had a "margarona."  It was perfection.  I also had a salmon wrap and a million gazillion tortilla chips.  I did not photograph those.

7 p.m.

 My sweet friends, Amanda (above) and Brigitte thoughtfully got me tickets for my birthday to attend a reading by one of my favorite authors, David Sedaris.

8 p.m.

This is the worst picture ever!  Ha!  I snapped it just as the lights went out and the spotlight just made David Sedaris look like a ghost.  Oh well.

It was a great day!

Thanks for looking at my pictures.  I had fun taking them :)

See you for What I Ate Wednesday!!!

WIAW: Meals in 20 Minutes or Less & A Puppy Update!

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Hi, hey, hello!  Hope everyone is having a great week so far.

Well today (yesterday, actually) was all about quick and easy meals.  Some days I have plenty of time to prepare extravagant and time consuming meals, but I don't have the motivation to do so.

So, I thought I would share with you what I do when that situation pops up.

Breakfast: Part I

This bar was eaten on the way to boot camp at 5 a.m.  Well, I ate half of it before and half after.  I usually go eat my pre-workout snack in the kitchen, but that is where Bizzy is doing her kennel training.  So, I didn't want to wake her up and get her all excited to start the day when it was so early.  I snuck out all sneaky-like and ate this en route to my workout.

Breakfast: Part II

Boy, do I eat alot of eggs.  Not really.  Maybe eggs 2 or 3 times a week, but it seems like I always have eggs on Tuesdays.  Meh.  Well, I had a half liquid egg white half whole egg omelet with smoked salmon in it and an everything bagel thin with a Laughing Cow cream cheese wedge (fun fact: this is not actually cream cheese..it's just flavored to taste like it).  And coffee, of course.

Morning Snack: Parfait

Gosh, I was craving some sort of carb for snack today, like a muffin or a piece of toast.  Luckily, I didn't have those things and I turned my fruit and yogurt into this:

A totally satisfying parfait, FTW!

Lunch: Taco Salad

I made this quick 15 minute meal for Monday's dinner and enjoyed the leftovers for lunch.  Chopped some lettuce, browned some lean beef in taco seasoning and opened some cans of beans and corn.  Top it off with some salsa and guac and you got something going on right there.
I did have some lunch dessert.  I went home for lunch, so I had the last piece of coffee cake from our family brunch on Sunday.  Coffee on the side.

I was pretty stuffed from lunch, but did enjoy a couple of mint M&Ms because I am a picture of health.

Ok, so we went for Indian food a few weeks ago and it was underwhelming.  I thought I'd whip up a quick Indian inspired dish using this junk:

 Well, it wasn't junk, but it wasn't homemade, either.  Buuuut, it was delicious.
All I did was grab an already cooked rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, picked it apart and threw it in a skillet with 3/4 of this jar of sauce and heated it up.  I also added about 1/2 tsp of curry powder, because this wasn't "curry-ish" enough for me.

Some store bought naan bread, microwavable brown rice and grilled zucchini rounded out the meal.

Soooo good and super quick!  Can't wait to have leftovers for lunch today.  

Dessert was a super yummy (but almost too sweet) Mike's Hard.  I have to buy anything that says "blood orange" on it, because I'm a sucker for it.

Time to overload you with Bizzy pictures!!!

If you didn't read last week's WIAW, Bizzy is our new puppy.

 This is Bizzy, me and my guy.  He's awesome.

We have had Bizzy for one full week.  She is a 6 month old daschund beagle mix.

Puppies are super fun......and sometimes super exhausting!
This girl is always busy.  Hence the name ;)

She spent all weekend outside with us being her crazy self, so she needed a bath.  This is her after bath picture.  Probably one of the most unflattering pics of myself.  But look at her cute, wet ears!

Bizzy loves the couch.  She acts like a little princess.

She's getting better at walks.  She still is a little spazzy on a leash.

 Her first puppaccino!  If you go to Starbucks, they give you whipped cream in a cup for your dog (upon request).  She's a little one, so she just got a top filled with whipped cream.

She's still not co-habitating too much with Baby & Boscoe (the cats).  She freaks them out, but they are getting more and more curious about her and come up to the baby gate to sniff her and such.  She's chased both of them (not in an aggressive way) and they are not too thrilled about it.  But we're all hanging in there and hopefully all will be harmonious by next week!

Until then..have a lovely week!!!