Archive for November, 2008
« Previous EntriesNovember 30th, 2008: Lunch and Dinner
By Andrea | Sunday, November 30th, 2008
Hi guys! It’s been a long day of busy busy but I’m still not done! 
For Sunday breakfast we had Stuffing Frittata!
Mmmmm
I love this thing so much! So easy and tastes soooo good! In the middle are 4 clemmies that Scott and I split. I ate all of my slice and then went back in for another 1/2 slice. 
I ate all of that too but for just a few bites. I probably had 1.5 clemmies, it’s hard to tell when they are all in a bowl like that.
After brunch we started pulling out the xmas decorations and I started doing laundry. Now that my dryer is back in use, I’m trying to get caught up. The decorations actually took quite a bit of time, just getting them out and seeing what all I have.
Peppermint
We had some peppermint tea while going through the decorations. I ended up not eating the peppermint bark that is pictured.
Once all the trees were put together (I love trees slightly more than I love snowmen 
) we took a quick break for some wine and cheese!
wine and cheese
We finished the bottle we opened last night, which was just a small glass for each of us. It was enough for the cheese plate though. On the plate are some Raincoast crisps, ham slices, kashi roasted veggie crackers, 7 grain pretzels, and some apricot preserves. In the middle is LC light french onion and some sharp cheddar cubes. On the side is a sliced red pear. The pear is all for meeeee! I ate all of that! I also had one raincoast crisp with some LC on it. 3 of the kashi’s with apricot preserves and a cube of cheddar. One kashi with LC and a ham slice which I didn’t like as much as the other combo. And one pretzel stick.
I’m trying to keep things simple today because I’m still in t-day recovery mode and because we are in the middle of decorating. Scott had the leftover risotto and I had a salad for dinner. Scott was more hungry than I was, the frittata from lunch held me over all day long.
Salad!
My salad had:
- Romaine
- Peas
- Corn
- Edamame
- Banana peppers
- Cucumber
- Sunflower and pumpkin seeds
- Slivered almonds
- Crushed croutons (about 3)
I topped it with a sprinkle of old bay and some WF ranch dressing. Scott had a smaller salad along with his risotto and we both had a wee glass of red. While eating we finished the Pens game from Friday. Now I’m off to start the game from Saturday and then it’s bedtime because tomorrow is an early day!
Topics: Daily Eats | No Comments »
Leftover Idea: Stuffing Frittata
By Andrea | Sunday, November 30th, 2008
The cast
Still plowing your way through leftovers? This is one of my very favorite leftover recipes. I look forward to this all year long! I started doing this a few years back with leftover stuffing and have made it every year since. It’s so easy and so yummy! Perfect if you are hosting guests at your house and they are threatening bodily harm if you feed them another leftover. Disguise it!
Andrea’s Stuffing Frittata
- 1 C overloaded with stuffing
- 1 C of leftover chopped turkey
- 4 eggs
- 1 TBSP of olive oil
- Shredded Cheddar for topping
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium sized skillet, drizzle in the olive oil and heat over medium heat. Then add in the turkey and stuffing. Whisk the four eggs and pour that mixture over the turkey and stuffing. Making sure the egg mixture covers the whole thing. Turn off heat and plop in the oven for about 5 minutes until just slightly shy of being set. Turn off oven and remove frittata. Sprinkle top with as much shredded cheddar as you like. Put back in the oven for about 3 minutes until the cheese is melted and frittata is fully set.
Remove from oven, cut into four slices and serve!
Out of the oven
This dish is so easy to make and takes leftover stuffing to that next level of awesomeness. Stuffing is my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner, so I’ll look for any excuse to keep eating it! I have made this with just stuffing and no turkey. This year I had a few bites of turkey still in the fridge so I dumped it in. But omitted, the frittata is still just as yummy.
If you have leftover cranberry sauce, some of that warmed and drizzled over top would make a really nice sauce for the frittata. You could also use egg whites in this as well. It’s up to you! Even playing around with the cheese and maybe using a pepper jack for some kick would be great! Get creative with those leftovers!
Stuffing Frittata
Have fun guys! And remember, always play with your food!
Topics: Breakfast, Main Dish, Side Dish | 7 Comments »
Tags: Breads, Cheese, Eggs, Holiday, Turkey
November 30th, 2008: Morning
By Andrea | Sunday, November 30th, 2008
Last day of November! Hooray!! Although I do feel like we are flying through the holidays. Wasn’t is just Halloween?
Scott poured us another glass of wine while we watched the Pens game from Friday night. I also snacked on 5 more of those almond things. 
Okay, I got my little splurge in, now it’s time to seriously monitor the intake. The problem being they are the perfect size to just pop in your mouth. But mark my words, I am going to watch my eating of them. Sure I’ll have them and maybe even everyday since they seem to be my new crack but two at most, not five. Goodness!
I hit the hay around 11pm and was O-U-T out. When I sat down on the couch last night, “UMPH” my body said. It was worn out!
YUM!
I got up this morning at 8am, thanked Rocky for letting me sleep in a bit and then got the day started. I was unsure if I was going to run this morning only because my body was sore last night. I didn’t know if it needed a break or not. I sat down with my first try of the Oikos in blueberry. Along with morning coffee + peppermint creamer, and 1/2 a PB Z bar. The Oikos was very good! And for 0% fat it had a nice taste to it. I don’t care for the 0% Fage so I was a little unsure going into this but it turned out well. The blueberry gave it nice sweetness without it coming across as too sweet or sugary. The PB Z bar followed and was such a weird contrast going from sweet and creamy to dense and less sweet. As much as I love PB I don’t think the Z bar flavor does it for me.
After sitting on my butt for an hour I decided to head out and do my run. Today is the last day for the Pile on the Miles challenge and I had to get something in! I just ran an easy 2.5 miles but half way through bumped up my pace and put my HR into the 170s. I maintained that all the way home. YaY! I was so glad to get out and run! I only needed one pair of pants and my hoodie + toboggan. Whee! Can’t believe the warm weather.
CS Quiz!
I drank my CS and was back out the door with Rocky. I debated on taking him because on days when I can walk him with Scott, I would rather do that. I’m trying to get Scott out and about more. He exercises but it’s only MT and SF (which I don’t even count SF as working out really). He doesn’t run with me (even though he should!) and most times I walk Rocky by myself. Anyway, being Sunday I thought we could take him together later this afternoon. However, the forecast says rain and snow today. While it wasn’t raining when I was out, it felt like it was going to start raining soon, so I decided to take Rocks just in case.
Good thing I did! It started raining halfway through our walk and we were already past the place where we could have cut the walk short, so we had to power through it. It was miserable but we got home just before it really started pouring. It would be lovely if it started snowing as I was decorating. 
Pile on the Miles
Guys I can’t even begin to say how glad I am that I participated in this! I knew from the start that there was no chance of me winning. I don’t run nearly as far as the other girls who are also participating but for me it wasn’t about winning the challenge, it was just about the challenge itself. It was such a great motivator! There were days when I didn’t want to get out of bed, yet I knew that if I didn’t, that was a day lost and miles lost, so I got out of bed. It pushed me to finally find that 3-mile route and run it, which turned into 3.5 miles! And now I know I can run 3.5 miles. Yeah, I might be slow, and it might take me 45 minutes to run that but I’m still doing it and I can do it. That’s a really great feeling. If I can run 3.5 then I know I’ll be able to make it to 6.0 miles and then finally to 13.0 miles. I can do it!
Thanks Bobbi for such a great contest! It would be awesome to keep something similar going till the new year to keep us all motivated through the holidays.
Here are my miles since Nov. 8th:
Nov 9th -2.4
11th - 2.4
12th - 2.4
13th - 2.4
14th -2.4
16th -2.4
18th - 2.4
19th, - 2.4
21st - 2.4
23rd - 2.5
25th - 3.5
26th - 3.5
27th - 3.5
29th - 2.5
30th - 2.5
TOTAL = 39.6 miles 
Topics: Daily Eats | 3 Comments »
November 28th, 2008: Lunch and Dinner
By Andrea | Saturday, November 29th, 2008
Hi guys! For some reason today I was really dragging about going to MT. I felt like we had so much to do and not enough time to do it. I did go though! I didn’t get any exercise in yesterday other than Rocky’s 2-mile walk and there was no class Thursday so I needed some class even if my heart wasn’t in it. Once there though I was fine and everything went smoothly.
After class we ran to Lowe’s quick because Scott needed a new elbow something for the dryer vent. The part that connects the dryer to the start of the vent. Our house is weird (and now thinking on it, I should have taken a picture) and the connector was just odd. Whomever put it in did not do a good job. So Scott figured now was the time to fix it. While he was looking at that stuff, I headed over to the xmas decorations. I wanted to take a peek at the trees they had going on. Ours is okay but I wanted something in the same family just a little bigger. And I like the trees to look full, not spotty where you can tell it was put together. And I’m talking fake trees, as much as I love the smell of pine, we go the greener route and do fake. Anyway, the price difference between the pre-lit trees and just plain trees was amazing. Holy cow. I decided on plain because heck I can put lights on no problem. And if it saves me an extra $200 even better! I scored a nice skinny (Aspen?) 7ft tree for $78 and 25% off of that because they were having a sale. I also bought a new welcome mat and a really nice tree skirt that matches our living room. Wheee!
After Lowe’s we hit up Sam’s for some things we needed like TP and all that fun stuff. I got some food stuffs for the holidays as well like some scallops that are huge! And I’m talking like the size of my palm huge! And some lump crab meat and some really nice wines and cheeses. YUM!
Once we were finished it was finally time to head home! We got back home around three-ish and both of us were hungry. When we first got home I snacked on four of these.
new addiction
OHMY! These things are so good and so addicting I’m going to have to seriously watch myself otherwise I will convince myself that since they are cranberries and almonds they are healthy and I can have whatever I want. Seriously, these things are awesome and they even stopped my hunger in its tracks. They are made by True North.
lunchie
I still made a quick and simple lunch though. I heated up a can of light southwestern chicken soup and I added in more rice and some leftover turkey. I split the can with Scott and on the side I had a red delicious.
After lunch I cleaned the house. Scott moved the furniture in the living and I was able to swiffer then mop (hardwoods) behind them which needed done so badly. I fed Rocky and got him taken care of. Then I decided I needed to do a quick run. It was a quarter to 6pm and starting to get dark. I decided to just head out and do the best I could in the dark. It was so warm today that I only needed one pair of pants, shirt, and my hoodie.
mmmmm
I busted out a quick 2.5 miler and was soooo happy! Once home, I chugged my CS and then jumped in the shower. After showered I moved the furniture back and discussed dinner options with Scott. I didn’t really want to dirty up my nice clean kitchen too much. Plus I was pooped! I was thinking about what one-pot options I had and risotto came to mind!
Making supper...
While supper was cooking we snacked on this.
snackie
A small splash of red plus some cheese and 7-grain pretzel sticks. I had two pieces of cheese and two pretzels before the photo was taken. After I had my wine, another piece of cheese and another pretzel.
new wine
Since it was a long day, Scott decided to open up a bottle of wine for us to try. It’s a Sav blanc that I purchased during a recent outing but I can’t remember from where.
dinner
We had a red wine risotto with shrimp, scallops, garlic chicken sausage and some spinach. So good! Sometimes you just need to plop down on the couch with a glass of wine and a big bowl of something yummy to eat.
I had such a great day today! The only thing that didn’t get done was decorating and I can do that soon. Everything else got accomplished, even a run! So I’m very pleased with how the day turned out.
Topics: Daily Eats | No Comments »
November 29th, 2008: Morning
By Andrea | Saturday, November 29th, 2008
After posting last night, I offered to fix Scott a drink. I figured he could use something since he had to handle the dyer vent stuff all day long and I’m sure he was pooped. He didn’t want a beer or wine because I wasn’t having any. *sigh* He’s cute sometimes. I made him a fizzie with cider and cranberry juice instead. I thought about having one but the cider was too sweet (have we talked about how I’m not a sweets person? I can dig on chocolate but always pass on pies and cakes. Cookies okay, depending on the cookie. Bars no way. Brownies okay, blondies evil.) so I just stuck with water for the night.
We watched Heroes where I probably rolled my eyes every five minutes and if I wasn’t rolling my eyes I was checking the clock praying it would be over soon. When it was finally done, it was around 10:30 and I headed up to bed to read for a bit. I probably read for 45 minutes and decided it was time for lights out.
I didn’t sleep all that well. I got hot, which is a symptom I either drank too much or ate too much. Since I didn’t drink anything other than water yesterday, it was eating too much. Yuck. I tossed and turned a lot and woke up a lot. I hate that. I finally decided to just get up at 7:30 and get the day started.
needs more hot!
I let Rocky out for his potty run and it smelled like snow outside. No snow is in the forecast for today though. I came back in and poured myself some coffee. It was okay but not quite hot enough. I love things super hot, almost burn my mouth hot. That’s when stuff is good! When you can take your time enjoying it because it’s all steamy hot. You can’t force down huge bites or sips because you will burn your mouth. That’s how I like my stuff. I would love it if coffee pots came with a temperature you could set yourself and it would always be perfect when you poured your cup.
mmmm
I wasn’t hungry so I sipped my coffee and read some blogs. Another sign I ate too much, I wasn’t hungry when I got up. It took a long time for me to actually get hungry and even then I was only eating because I had to. I can’t not eat before MT class, I wouldn’t have enough energy to make it through the class. Finally I decided on some 2% fage with some bear naked banana nut mixed in.
I hated not running yesterday and totally regret it. I should have done something small, something is better than nothing. It would be nice if I could run before MT class but I can’t. I get all sweaty and my hat makes my hair all gross. It seems silly to shower before class and then shower again after class. Today and tomorrow are the last two days for POM, so maybe I could run after class? I’ll have to think on things.
Plans for the day include going to class, possibly running when I get home, cleaning the house, and getting out xmas decorations. It’s time to put out all the stuff and light up all the lights! Wheee! My fav thing to do is have xmas music playing, sipping a glass of wine, and decorating the tree. I’m ready for that tonight.
Topics: Daily Eats | 2 Comments »
November 28th, 2007: Lunch and Dinner
By Andrea | Friday, November 28th, 2008
Hi guys! I actually got some major work done today! Surprisingly! While Scott was fiddling around with the dryer vent trying to figure out what is causing the very nasty smell, I was working and getting things more organized. I got a bunch knocked of my to-do list and that included a little xmas shopping. Online! Unless there is some real crazy deal going on I do not venture out for Black Friday because me + huge crowds do not equal a good time.
Just raisins
I was starving and finally decided it was time to make lunch. I was also sporting my gnome jammies because that’s the kind of day it was. While lunch was heating, I snacked on some raisins and some veggie chips. Finally deciding I did not care for the chips after all. I’m not sure what they were cooked in but they had an odd sweet taste to them that didn’t sit right on my tongue.
Lunch
For lunch, I split a can of southwestern veggie soup with Scott. On the side I had an open face sammy on WW bread with spinach and tomato, topped with a slice of pepper jack and toasted till everything was warm and melty. I cleaned my plate and went in for a pear!
YaY! Pear!
I ate about half and became very full! After lunch, Scott went back to dryer vent duty and I did a little more work. I got my December calendar sort of planned out, at least a basic idea of what’s going on. I wrote some letters and tried to get caught up with things as best I could. Finally needed to step away from the computer! And no matter how appealing it sounds, I have discovered I am not a sedentary person. I could not be inside and sit around any longer! I grabbed Rocks and we were out the door for a super long walk. We probably did about 2 miles today, good for about a 200 some calorie burn. It was beautiful outside! The wind was cold but bearable.
When we got back, Scott yelled that he needed some help with the dryer vent stuff. I went into the basement to see what was going on. He was in an area where the dryer vent turned making it a little tricky. I helped by providing the light and other materials. When he pulled off this part of the vent, he found the culprit. A dead bird! EW! EW! I don’t even know how it managed to crawl into my dryer vent, let alone make it as far as it did. Jeeze! He got it removed and didn’t need my help any longer. I hit the showers so I could be ready for the evening and get my real jammies on. When I got out of the shower, Rocky was all snug on the bed and I thought that was a splendid idea. I turned on the heating blanket, got under the covers and read for a bit. Finally my hunger took over and I made my way downstairs.
pre-dinner
I had the other half of my pear, four 7 grain pretzel sticks, some smoked almonds, and about four pieces of the cheese pictured. Scott assured me he was going to be done soon putting all the dryer vent stuff back together. In the back of my mind, I realized this was not to be the case. Finally over an hour later, I decided to just start heating things up and keep them warm till he was done. I was getting hangry but trying very hard to keep it together because he did just clean out the dryer vent and got rid of the dead bird (ew!). Oh the drama of home ownership. My downfall was snacking on some onion straws (like the onions used for greenbean casserole) that I picked up from WF. I kept picking at them and picking at them. Grrr! Around three hours after he initally told me, “it would be soon”, we ate.
Final leftovers
Dinner was leftovers! The last official plate of Thanksgiving dinner, starting tomorrow is when I work on doing other things with the leftovers. I did not clear my plate, I got so full and felt like I overate. Ick! Stupid onion straws. Oh well, not going to feel guilty about it. A couple bites of onions aren’t going to do major damage.
I’m off to sit on the couch with my boys. I need to get in what I can. I’m bummed that on our “free” day, I didn’t get to spend any time with Scott. 
It took him all day long to deal with the dryer vent and I mean all. day. long. I have to cram some time in! See you tomorrow!
Topics: Daily Eats | 1 Comment »
Leftover Idea: Potato Puffs
By Andrea | Friday, November 28th, 2008
Thanksgiving OHC Style
Hi guys! I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving full of yummy food, laughs, and naps! Over at OHC HQ we had a beautiful day, the skies were clear with a very mild temperature outside. Perfect for an afternoon stroll to help digest the big meal.
Here we are the day after and while some of you may be shopping and scoring deals, others of you may be wondering how to handle all those leftovers in your fridge. My suggestion is to turn them into something else!
For example, if you have leftover mashed potatoes and the last thing you want is another scoop of them, try my little Potato Puff recipe!
This is a recipe you can play around with and discover new combinations! Possible mix-in ideas can include:
- Leftover greenbean casserole
- Leftover corn or corn pudding
- Turkey and cranberry sauce
- Corn and stuffing
Or you can even make a sweet potato puff! Don’t get in a leftover rut, use your imagination and get creative with leftovers!
Happy Holidays from OHC!
Topics: Side Dish, Snackies, Tips | 6 Comments »
Tags: Cheese, Holiday, Veggies
November 28th, 2008: Morning
By Andrea | Friday, November 28th, 2008
Hi guys!! I love having Thanksgiving early in the day and will continue doing that from now on! Growing up, it was always dinner early, which was okay. When Scott and I moved out on our own, I wanted to be all fancy and have the big meal in the evening with candles and such. And that was nice too! But man it makes the day so much longer and before you know it, it’s after 8pm and you’re still doing cleanup! Yesterday everything was done and clean by 3:30 and the rest of the day we had to do whatever. Which equaled crashing for me.
After feeding Rocky his Thanksgiving meal:
Rocky's meal
He’s allergic to turkey and I usually make him chicken but this year he had a salmon loaf filled with lots of goodies. And some carrots, butternut squash, and green beans. Stuffing (bread cubes) on the side and a wee dollop of yogurt. All mushed together after the picture. Here he is digging in!
chow hound
That’s me and my jammy leg holding the bowl so I could get a picture that wasn’t blurry.
Round 2
Once Rocks was taken care of, we had our second meal of the day around 7:30ish or so. Here’s my plate, same as before minus the sweet potatoes and apple sauce put in their place. Oh and a glass of wine. We finished off the bottle throughout the night. No dessert. I did make a pumpkin pudding but it turned out icky (to me, needs work) so I didn’t have any but Scott had a small bowl of it.
I was in bed by 11pm and I’m surprised I managed to stay up that long! I was yawning and passing out earlier as I talked to my mom on the phone.
Breakfast
I almost got up for a run today but my body is telling me it needs a break. She’s been going, going since Monday and it’s time to chill. My biggest thing I’m doing today is making lunch because dinner will be more leftovers. Scott has one chore he needs to do for me today and then we are sitting down and just gaming our hearts out. The house needs its weekly cleaning but I’m just saying meh. I need a jammie day.
See you guys later!
P.S. Maybe it would be nice to talk about my breakfast? Jeeze, can you tell I’m already on auto-pilot? Mercy! Okay, I had peppermint coffee with peppermint creamer, divine! Some 2% Fage with applesauce and some chocolate Bear Naked. There is also a peppermint square pictured which I didn’t eat because I forgot about it. Boo!
Topics: Daily Eats | No Comments »
November 27th, 2008: Thanksgiving Dinner
By Andrea | Thursday, November 27th, 2008
Hi guys! After posting this morning I got my butt in gear! I got the turkey in the oven and the stock started on the stove. Scott was up by this point and poking around the kitchen. The turkey wasn’t in the oven for more than 15 minutes and it smelled amazing. Mmmm! I ran up to shower and get dressed.
apple
I was pretty hungry when I got out of the shower so I munched on this bizarre red delicious. Half of it was super yummy and the other half was mealy and gross. Weird! I then got moving back in the kitchen to get started on everything else. While I was prepping other things I put out some cheese and crackers.
cheese and drinks
Parrano and some sharp cheddar with kashi roasted veggie crackers. We were sipping on some cranberry lime fizzies. Then I had a slight panic attack and a moment of feeling super overwhelmed.
I was using the convection oven to roast the turkey and I didn’t take into account it would cook the turkey faster than a conventional oven. My bird was cooking at lightening speed and I had nothing else ready except for the sweet potato casserole that I could start heating up in the bottom oven (thank goodness for you bottom oven!). Then I calmed myself down and said everything would work out fine. It’s just us so the food can get plated whenever. My husband stepped up to the plate and was such a help! He did dishes as I went along and he also took care of the table getting it ready for dinner. Awww, love hims! Everything came together like a picture.
Thanksgiving Dinner
Ta-da! This is how OHC rocks Thanksgiving! I got to use my grandma’s china for the first time today and I was really excited about that. My grandma always served Thanksgiving dinner on her china. Never failed, special dinners deserve special plates.
cold and crisp
Of course we had wine with our meal (1 glass each) and this was the bottle we opened. I picked it because it’s a blend and also because it has an oak leaf on it, very fall and Thanksgivingy. The rest of the wine is for later!
My plate
Here’s my plate. My plan of attack was to portion everything out and take it slow.
all done!
Here’s my plate after. Mmmmm! I was completely satisfied! Full but not stuffed or over-full by any means. Scott and I cleaned up which took a fair bit of time. After cleanup, Rocky got taken out for his walk and when we got back I changed into my jammies!
We ate at 2pm and it was so nice eating early! Now everything is clean and all I have to do is relax and pick at leftovers. My favorite leftover? Cold stuffing. Heaven! What’s your favorite leftover?
Topics: Daily Eats | 1 Comment »
November 27th, 2008: Morning
By Andrea | Thursday, November 27th, 2008
CS
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Wheee!! Last night I had two more glasses of wine and a peppermint bark. I was in bed by 10pm too! Too much wine but I was only a little dehydrated which was easily taken care of. I jumped up out of bed at 7am this morning and got moving! I did my run right away so I could have that done and focus on yummy turkey dinner! I did 3.4 miles today and it was awesome. Perfectly cold outside with no wind. I even got a little warm. No one was out but me and it was really peaceful.
I came back and slammed my CS and changed out of my running clothes. Rocky was too busy laying in the sun and my right knee was aching just a tad so his walk is getting pushed back. Plus I needed to get moving on t-day prep! I did a small amount of stretching and then moved on to bigger and better things. I pulled my turkey out of the brine and got it rubbed down with garlic and herbs, sitting in the roaster taking the chill off a bit. It’s going on the oven soon. Once that was done and I cleaned everything, I moved on to breakfast.
T-day oats
I was going to wait for Scott to get up and eat with him, but I was hungry. I’ll be cooking when he gets up so we can still hang out together in the kitchen. I had leftover oats mixed with some applesauce that I made yesterday. Along with coffee + creamer. I think the coffee was peppermint mocha but I’m not positive. If it was, I wish I had known because I would have mixed my peppermint creamer in with it.
Heaven
Now I’m off to get that turkey in the oven and get started on the stuffing. YUM!!!!
Topics: Daily Eats | 2 Comments »