I did not forget about the Knock Knock Giveaway The winner has been chosen and will be announced…

TONIGHT!

I know I originally promised it this morning, but better late than never…right? Thanks for your patience! It’s Monday, after all ;)

Until then…enjoy this joke.

Or laugh at how it’s not actually that funny…I’ll leave that up to you

Hi everyone! Just wanted to let you know that I am not purposely trying to leave you in the lurch. I haven’t had Internet access at home since I got back to Chicago, but I will hopefully be back tonight or tomorrow (fingers crossed)! I will have more about my trip to Maui and can’t wait to catch up on what has been going on in your worlds, too Until then!

Happy Weekend!!

I’ve been absent for a couple of days, but that’s because I have been entertaining guests. So just who has been keeping me so busy, you may ask? Only the most ferocious of ferocious beasts…

I’ve got a couple of scratches here and there, but overall he’s pretty tame My extended family is in town for Homecoming Weekend! By the way, our team kicked the other team’s BUTT today. And I’ve been having some amazing eats, including pumpkin pancakes - SO good, I can’t wait to make them myself! – and stuffed green peppers from an amazing Italian restaurant. My taste buds are happy and my belly is full – as life should be.

It’s kind of the REVERSE of my Friday, which was a big DEBBIE DOWNER (as Erin would say) for me, since I found out that one of the jobs I’m looking at is currently “on hold” thanks to the “recent economic downturn.” GRRREEEAATT. I’m feeling better now because 1) I realized it’s still really early in the year and 2) It’s really out of my hands, anyway. But I would just like to say thank you to all of you who have been so supportive about that one – I’m loving the double combo of blogging + Facebook friends! – because it really helped make me feel better.

That’s my schpiel for now. I’m going to do some catch-up blog reading tomorrow morning and then catch up on my own blog, of course I hope everyone has a great rest of their weekend!

Ciao for now.

For lack of a better title, I chose to combine many of the foods I ate today into one:)

I’m so glad that you enjoyed the first official Bender’s Blenders post. I’m looking forward to seeing where it takes me and will definitely use some of your tips (nut butter, for example) in my upcoming recipes. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, click on that link above and feel free to leave any comments or suggestions.

BREAKFAST

Ah Monday. Definitely the worst day of the week. So what better way to liven things up than with a new addition to the breakfast mix? This certainly isn’t a new product, but it’s been a while since I last bought it and I thought I’d give it another go.

I know many of you swear by the peanut butter version, but I really like the original! I combined 3/4 cup Puffins with 1 cup Nature’s Path Puffs and a heaping tablespoon of white chocolate chips.

Another winning cereal combination. The Puffins are very airy and light and remind me a lot of kettlecorn. Just the right amount of sweet. Sheesh, do I EVER give a negative review about cereal? There are just so many great varieties out there – it’s nearly impossible not to like most of them!

And this next picture needs no introduction, I’m sure.

MORNING DRINK

No, not that kind of drink! Geez;) I got a skim mocha from Cosi to keep me warm at about 9:30 am. I swear they have turned the air conditioner way down in the past week or so, because it is F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G in my office! I always forget to bring a sweater too, because it’s so H-O-T outside. Need me to S-P-E-L-L anything else out? I’m in a weird mood right now – can you tell?

By the way, today I also neglected forgot to bring an umbrella even though it was predicted to rain. I thought to myself, “the minute you leave your umbrella it will pour” and guess what? I was right! So I got to work nice and sopping – have I mentioned that I don’t like Mondays?

LUNCH

Alright, I’ll snap out of my complainer mood to tell you all about my exciting lunch! It started out as pretty much all of my lunches have ever since I went to the grocery store, with a big sweet potato + ketchup!

Here’s where it got even more exciting – with a new soup!

I love tomato soup, as you can probably tell by the numerous times I’ve made it in the past couple of weeks. It’s also perfect for the cold office. I bought this box of Pacific Organic Creamy Tomato because it comes with two 100-calorie servings in an easy to tote box, which means 1) I can eat the whole box and 2) I can easily carry it in my lunch box and pour out as much or as little as I want throughout the course of the day.

I didn’t have a bowl, though, so I had to improvise with a mug.

It was really good soup, too! Very creamy and made with all organic ingredients, so you can’t really go wrong. I made about 2.5 mugs with the entire box throughout the course of an hour. It was awesome to be able to have a little at a time, so I could really space it out and stay full for hours!

AFTERNOON SNACK

I didn’t want to stay full too long because I wanted to save some room to test out one of my LARABAR samples for all of you! Today’s choice was Key Lime Pie.

Here’s what the company site says about this flavor:

“Cool, creamy and tangy. Every bite overflows with tropical flavors, just like a slice of real key lime pie. The limes themselves are low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium and high in dietary fiber, Vitamin C, calcium, iron and copper. The antioxidants in every bar may also protect against infection, cancer and heart disease. Who knew a treasure of the Keys could be so good for you?”

Official review from a skeptic: I actually liked this flavor! Honestly, this is coming from someone who has been very disappointed by these bars in the past (I think it was the apple pie flavor that just didn’t do it for me). Perhaps it’s because I really like foods that have a tangy lime kick to them. All I know is, I’ve finally found at least one LARABAR that I enjoy eating, and I hope the rest of the flavors are just as good! My only complaint is that the bars are so small – you don’t get much volume out of them.

DINNER

Because of Sunday night’s bike race festivities, omelette night was moved to Monday! My version called for 3/4 cup egg whites, spinach, mushrooms and a Laughing Cow cheese wedge. I also had a sliced raw red pepper drizzled in Annie’s Woodstock dressing and some whipped cottage cheese on the side.

It was my first time experiment with Laughing Cow. I really liked the way it melted because it permeated the entire omelette and every bite tasted extra cheesy. It seemed indulgent – but it wasn’t!

After dinner, I had a taste of smoothie. But I’m saving that for the next edition of Bender’s Blenders

Today was simply awesome. There’s a lot to talk about, so I’ll get right to it!

BREAKFAST

I tried out a new hot cereal this morning. I found it at Whole Foods yesterday and thought I’d use it to mix up my breakfasts a bit. It’s called Bob’s Red Mill Mighty Tasty Gluten Free Hot Cereal. Whew – that’s a mouthful;)

I combined 1/4 cup of the hot cereal with 1/2 cup water, 1/4 cup unsweetened chocolate almond milk and 1/2 sliced banana. I cooked it on the stove over medium heat until it started bubbling. I stirred and stirred and stirred - it took a while for it to get a thicker consistency! Finally, I added in about 1 tbsp. of ground flax to absorb a little more of the liquid.

The result? I really enjoyed the taste of this hot cereal! It actually tasted a lot like mushy oatmeal - I know that might sound gross, but honestly there wasn’t much of a difference between this and oatmeal other than the actual texture. I added some white chocolate chips on top to make it sweeter. I will definitely make this again, and can’t wait to vary up the toppings, just as I do with my oats. I also have to point out my new bowl – courtesy of a gift card to Urban Outfitters

I sipped a mug of Coffee Cocoa to round out the morning. I found the 365 Brand Organic Hot Chocolate and while it is slightly more expensive, it doesn’t have the sucralose and other crazy ingredients, so it was worth it. But I have to ask…

What’s your favorite brand of hot chocolate?

The rest of the morning was spent lazying around watching television and doing laundry. Oh how I love Sunday mornings with nothing to do!

LUNCH

I told you the sweet potato would become a staple in my diet:) I had another one for lunch today with some sliced turkey.

And for an extra treat, I had fresh & frozen blueberries + whipped cream!

But my sweet tooth just wouldn’t quit, so I ended up having a square of Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate – the one that’s 60% cacao. Delicious!

After lunch, I headed to the gym with Bobby. I did 30 minutes on the Stairmaster, 10 minutes on the stationary bike and my leg workout. Great sweat session I came back and made myself a shake…

Which you will see in another post – coming soon! Can’t wait to show ya…

EXCITEMENT + DINNER

And now for the best part of today! Originally I was planning on eating an omelette for dinner (a Sunday night trend), but Bobby and I got out and walked for a bit instead. All of the sudden, we ran into this:

Um, woah! I did NOT realize there was a bike race going on! Craziness. It was insane to see how fast this huge peloton (group of bikers, Bobby says) were going. There was a car out in front that would clear the way and then ZOOM! they came racing through. They must have done close to 100 laps, because they had 57 to go by the time we got there!

While we were walking around, wouldn’t you know we came across a Whole Foods booth! Turns out, they were one of the sponsors for the event. And I came home with…

FREE LARABARS! In flavors I have never tried before, too – I’m going to give them another chance:)

So in seeing the Whole Foods, we decided to scrap the idea of omelette night in favor of going to the actual Whole Foods location for…the hot bar!

I got myself some Greek salad with red and green peppers and tomato, corn salad with zucchini, bean salad with red beans and garbanzos, red potatoes, roasted garlic, artichokes and tofu!

+

It was so fun to get out and see something that really only happens during the summertime. I felt like it was really one of the first nights I enjoyed being in Chicago for the summer and taking advantage of one of the many things there are to do in this great city. Cheesy, I know – but it was fun:)

And now the week begins again with an early meeting with the alarm clock tomorrow.

Snooze button, anyone?

Happy Saturday everyone! I just got back from seeing the movie Hancock – has anyone else seen that yet? It was pretty crazy and definitely not your usual Will Smith role. But I really like him as an actor and there were some interesting twists throughout the movie that kept it entertaining.

I slept in this morning, but am still feeling tired. I think I need one more full night of rest to get back on track – but then of course it’s back to work on Monday and the cycle starts all over again. I’m not complaining, I love my internship – but I also can’t deny that I love sleep:)

BREAKFAST

Alright, one last day of this never-ending combination before I could get to the grocery store. I started out with some cereal - 2 cups of Nature’s Path Rice Puffs (one of the things I like most about this cereal is the volume you can get out of it) with unsweetened chocolate almond milk.

Of course it was topped with some TJ’s Anti-OXidant trail mix. Now that one is all gone, so that means I get to open a new bag!

And of course, this breakfast wouldn’t be complete without the microwaved poached egg whites with goat cheese, right? Here it is!

After breakfast, I went to the grocery store to get some much needed sustenance! Unfortunately, I didn’t see the request for a picture, and I forgot to take one this time. Sorry, everyone! I promise I will be better next time. But I will be sure to provide you with plenty of pictures when I eat what I bought

LUNCH

And the pictures of what I bought start here! I went to Whole Foods and couldn’t resist picking up these guys for lunch.

California rolls are my favorite type of sushi. These were made with real crab, avocado and brown rice. I opted out of the soy sauce and chose to drizzle them with Annie’s Woodstock dressing instead – YUM!

Along with the sushi, I tried out a new cracker, also found at Whole Foods.

They’re called Mary’s Gone Crackers, and as you can see from the picture, they’re a gluten- and wheat-free crackers made with quinoa and flax seed, among other ingredients. I tried out the herb flavor.

They were pretty bland. I think next time I will try spreading some goat cheese or peanut butter on top to give them more of a flavor. But I did like the texture overall.

DINNER

I’m quite proud of dinner tonight:) First of all, I finally bought SWEET POTATOES at the store today at a great price!

Aw, sweet!

Second of all, I tried out a new fish: Chilean Sea Bass. It was on sale at the grocery store and since I’ve recently started to like fish, I thought, why not? The end result was a great meal!

For the fish, I started by coating it with some mesquite seasoning, then cooked it in a pan on the stove on medium heat with some PAM cooking spray. It took a little less than 10 minutes, and came out really flavorful. It was a little bit “fishier” tasting than I’m used to, but I still enjoyed it.

As for the sweet potato, I took a page from Em of Gliding Calm’s book and microwaved it:) I cut it into circles and enjoyed every bite with ketchup. I don’t know why I haven’t been buying these. I really, truly love them. You will be seeing them much more often around here!

Before the movie, I wanted something sweet to top off what was already a lovely evening of eating. I decided on some rice pudding with a dollop of my new hazelnut butter on top!

The hazelnut butter is another find from my Whole Foods trip. I think Liz of VeggieGirl will be very excited to see this next picture;)

Yup, I found Futters Nut Butter! I decided on hazelnut butter because I had never tried it before. I am not disappointed. It is super nutty and thick, and requires minimal stirring which is a definite plus because I normally hate the oil at the top and it discourages me from buying those brands.

So there you have it! I found a way to incorporate many of my groceries into this post after all – by eating them! I hope you all have had a relaxing weekend so far.

Sweet dreams

**Posting Friday on Saturday**

Hurray for Friday, my favorite day of the week There’s nothing better than knowing that by Friday evening you have absolutely no tedious commitments for more than 48 hours!

BREAKFAST

I’m on an egg kick lately – for some reason I’m starting to like the savory flavor in the morning. That, combined with the fact that I haven’t made a trip to the grocery store lately, helps to explain my unchanging breakfast habits these past few days! I started out with the usual mix of egg whites, goat cheese and feta.

I mixed it up a little by also including a bowl of Nature’s Path Rice Puffs.

I topped the puffs with about 2 tbsp. of Trader Joe’s Anti-OXidant trail mix. I also used unsweetened chocolate almond milk.

And some Coffee Cocoa minus the cocoa again. The reason for this is because I just realized that the hot chocolate I’ve been using has sucralose in it, among a bunch of other random ingredients that I just don’t think I want to be drinking every day! I’m planning a trip to Whole Foods to see what else I can come up with. Life is short. Stay awake for it. Hehe;)

MORNING SNACK

Here’s some exciting news – a new snack bar to report!! It’s called Mrs. May’s Naturals Trio. My mom picked up a box for me from Costco when she was here. They are vegan, kosher and free of gluten, dairy, wheat and GMO. It sounded good to me!! I tried the strawberry flavor first.

The reason (I’m guessing) it’s called Trio is because there are three types of nuts, three types of seeds and three types of fruit in each bar. The ingredients in this one are: CASHEWS, ALMONDS, PISTACHIOS, STRAWBERRIES, SESAME SEEDS, SUNFLOWER SEEDS, PUMPKIN SEEDS, DATES, RAISINS, RICE MALT, NATURAL FLAVORS, CANE JUICE, SEA SALT. Here’s what it looks like out of the wrapper:

Personally I think it looks pretty yummy – and it WAS! It was crunchy without being too hard to chew, salty from the nuts and seeds and sweet from the fruit. The perfect blend of flavors! It’s definitely a bigger bar than I’m used to as a snack: 230 calories, 16g fat (healthy fat from the nuts and seeds), 20g carbohydrates – including 3g fiber and 8g sugar – and 6g protein. I totally thought it was worth it though, because it kept me full for a really long time! Thanks for the recommendation, Mom

LUNCH

I met up with Bobby for lunch at Corner Bakery, a restaurant with several locations in Chicago that I’ve mentioned before. I decided to stick with the “trio” theme and get their Trio Salad, where you can choose three mini salads off of their overall list. I went with two fruit salads and one Asian salad.

The Asian salad had grape tomatoes, asparagus, edamame, cucumber and carrots. It came with a ginger dressing – which tasted alright. I would’ve liked the vegetables by themselves more!

The fruit salad came with melon, apples, pears, watermelon and purple grapes. No complaints there!

AFTERNOON SNACK

This afternoon I was really dragging so I allowed myself to have another organic skim mocha from Hannah’s Bretzel. I just love the foamy top!

DINNER

After a long day at the office (haha), Bobby and I decided to break out a bottle of wine. My mom suggested several different kinds while she was here. Today we opened a bottle of Riesling called Polka Dot.

Here’s my 5 oz. pour – this tasted great. It was very fruity and sweet!

The wine went great with dinner, which was a mix of chicken breast seasoned with taco spices, black beans and diced tomatoes.

I definitely had more black beans, but the chicken was really filling!

DESSERT

After dinner, Bobby and I had plans to go see the movie Hancock. We didn’t want to see The Dark Knight simply because we like to wait until it’s not quite so busy. But when we got to the theater, we saw a huge crowd outside and realized the power was out! There were movie theater officials outside the door who said they didn’t expect it to be back on before the night was over. We will still be able to see the movie with the tickets we bought, but it was kind of a bummer!

So instead, we went to a local ice cream shop and got some Edy’s strawberry frozen yogurt to share. Not a bad consolation prize!

Then we went back to my apartment and finished the first season of Lost, which is SO ADDICTING by the way! Now we have to find out a way to get our hands on the other seasons – and FAST!

A great way to kick off the weekend, for sure. I hope you all have some exciting things planned as well. I’m off to hit up the G-store (groceries!) and read some more blogs – it’s a rainy day here, so unfortunately any plans to go outdoors will have to wait!

TGIF!! Sorry this post is up late – this morning I woke up to find my lovely Internet said it was working, but the pages wouldn’t actually load! I spent about 30 minutes trying to figure it out before I had to start getting ready for work. Luckily it worked by the end of that time!

Thanks to all who have left their advice and comments regarding the reader question in the last post. It’s always a good idea to get as many different opinions as possible, so keep them coming!

BREAKFAST

Thursday morning I decided to switch up my usual breakfast. I had some ripe bananas that needed to be used up – so I started out by slicing one of them and topping it with some Better ‘n Peanut Butter.

The double sweetness from the banana and the Better ‘n Peanut Butter (which has less fat, but more sugar than regular PB) really appealed to my sweet tooth in the morning:mrgreen:

I also made one of my microwaved poached egg whites with goat cheese and feta. I’ve heard from Kelly T. twice now that these look like potatoes. I agree they look a little weird interesting, but they are awesome. Full of flavor and they also cook in less than 2 minutes!

I rounded out breakfast with a mug of Coffee Cocoa – minus the cocoa today! I decided to try something different, and found that I liked the coffee with just cream almost as much. Almost.

MORNING SNACK

At about 10:00 am, I was in need of something warm. I think the heat from that past two days is causing the office to be turned into an ice box – I constantly have goose bumps, even with a sweater on! I went to Hannah’s Bretzel to get an organic skim mocha – made with all organic ingredients, gluten-free, and all around delicious.

I can see this drink easily becoming a “staple” in my diet. It’s just too good not to! I don’t want to waste my paycheck though, so perhaps I will have to limit myself to a few times a week;)

LUNCH

And the warm trend continues! I decided to have soup for lunch because I was still cold:) I went to a little stand called Fresh Start near the office and decided on the spicy vegetable soup.

It was hot, hot, hot! It came with corn, carrots, potatoes, and…JALAPENO peppers!!

My mouth definitely needed to cool down after eating that soup! I sliced up a juicy peach to bring back the cool

I rounded out lunch with a bag of David pumpkin seeds. Here’s one of several handfuls:

AFTERNOON SNACK

I don’t have a picture of my afternoon snack, but I wanted to mention it just because it was so much fun On certain Thursdays, our office has a get together at the end of the day. Today’s theme was the Tour de France – complete with wine, cheese and…FRENCH FRIES! Ha, pretty creative if you ask me. I had sips (about 2 ounces each) of Merlot, Chardonnay and Champagne, all of which were very good! I tried brie cheese, swiss cheese and some elegant looking cheddar. And of course I couldn’t pass up a handful of those McDonald’s French fries I haven’t had those in a loonng time!

When I got home from work, I wasn’t that hungry. Bobby and I had plans to go play tennis, so I just grabbed a handful of Trader Joe’s Anti-OXidant trail mix to hold me over.

“DINNER”

Tennis was so much fun last night. I honestly think I’m getting better – though it’s definitely a challenging sport when you start taking it up later in life! When I got back, I still wasn’t very hungry, but I knew I should eat something so I decided on something sweet (tough decision for me, right?). I made this concoction with a cup of Kozy Shack rice pudding, a sliced banana, and another spoonful of Better ‘n Peanut Butter – and now the title of this post is explained. Twice in one day!

This combination was good and filling, but not very balanced I suppose. I was definitely lacking in the veggie department today. Oh well, that’s what tomorrow is for!

To secure my veggie-less day, I finished the night splitting a bunch of Rainier cherries with Bobby while watching some more Lost. At least I wasn’t lacking in the fruit department;)

Off to respond to comments and read other blogs! Have a great Friday, everyone!

A BIG THANKS to those who voiced typed their opinions on the article featured in my previous post. I agree that one of the main questions (posed by many of you) that will be need to be asked in the coming months is, “does this help the people who need it most?” Hopefully (fingers crossed) it will, and other cities and even states can follow suit. It’s true that many people still buy junk food with the nutritional information posted right on the container. Perhaps the same could happen here. Only time can tell – but I’m very glad that it’s something rather than nothing.

Speaking of somethings, there were several that went into my mouth today (stretching with this transition a bit, I know).

BREAKFAST

I started off the morning by trying out a new brand of instant oatmeal. I know I said I wasn’t going to buy instant again (to encourage myself to use the stove), but I figured I should have some in stock – just in case This morning was one of those mornings, as I took a little extra time to say goodbye to my family So I brought out the Kashi Honey & Cinnamon Instant Oatmeal.

I mixed one packet with 1/2 a mashed banana and stirred in 1/2 cup of unsweetened chocolate almond milk. I heated it up in the microwave for 1:30, stirred, and stuck it back in the microwave for another minute. Then I added 1 tbsp. of flax and some Trader Joe’s Anti-OXidant trail mix.

I really liked the Kashi brand. It was creamy and the oats seemed pretty big for instant, so there was a lot more chew. It’s a bit on the pricier side compared to other brands, but a good buy every once in a while.

I also had the obligatory mug of Coffee Cocoa (hot today!).

But when I got into work, I was freezing! It was scorching outside, so they must have blasted the A/C a little extra. I made myself a cup of hot chocolate to fix the problem:)

LUNCH

Unfortunately, no picture of lunch because it was during a meeting. Today’s lunch was an entire spread of taco fixings! I made myself a “Burrito Bol,” Chipotle-style, with chicken breast, black beans, Spanish rice, guacamole (YES!), and tomato salsa. It was a great break from the usual sandwiches!

I also enjoyed 1/2 of this raspberry bar. Mainly the top part with all the goodies – raspberry jam, almonds, and sweet icing – YUM!

AFTERNOON SNACK

A few hours later, I snacked on a Fuji apple. Nothing much else to say about that!

DINNER

I wasn’t in the mood for a huge to-do with dinner. I started out with microwaved poached egg whites with goat cheese and feta. I really do love this combination!

After the egg whites, I went back and spooned out 1/2 cup of whipped cottage cheese and stuffed it with some spinach. I enjoyed eating it like a salad until the spinach was gone, then spooning up everything else:)

And later, Bobby and I split a huge plate of fruit while watching Lost.

I love fruit plates! I don’t make them as often as I should. This one had blueberries, peaches and Rainier cherries. An extra sweet way to end the evening.

Only two days left until the weekend! Hope everyone has been having a great week. THANKS AGAIN for all of your feedback on the article – I really enjoyed the discussion we had going. I will try to do that as much as possible!

Have a good one

Yesterday, Ashley of healthy ashley straight up DARED me to try something revolutionary by my standards: blend my Coffee Cocoa. So I did Basically, I used my regular recipe, added 1/2 cup of unsweetened chocolate milk and 6 ice cubes in a blender, flipped the “on” switch and voila!

These pictures look so indulgent – and it tasted that way, too! Next time I would probably add a bit more cocoa or some other sweet ingredient (simply because of my extra large sweet tooth!), but other than that I was very happy with my new creation. Thanks for the challenge, Ashley

Along with the Blended Coffee Cocoa, I had a bowl of cold cereal – 1/4 cup TJ’s High Fiber O’s, 1 cup Nature’s Path Puffs and 1/2 cup unsweetened chocolate almond milk, as usual;)

I topped the cereal with a sliced banana and a handful of a new trail mix from Trader Joe’s.

This mix is called Anti-OXidant Nut & Berry. It has almonds and walnuts + dried blueberries, cranberries, raspberries and raisins.

Another winner from Trader Joe’s!

MORNING SNACK

I decided to try to go 3 for 3 today by trying out the last flavor in the Clif Mini box: Crunchy Peanut Butter! I was feeling good about this one given my love for PB!

Turns out my instincts were right – another winner! I enjoyed every bite, and think this one might even be my favorite. I’m going to take this research and apply it to the big Clif bars now, using all of YOUR lovely suggestions of course:)

I especially like the way these bars stay so moist. Although I think Julz of SIMPLE and DIVINE would agree that leaving it out to harden a bit is really the best way to go about it!

LUNCH

The bar held me over a little longer than usual today. Finally around 1:00 pm, I was ready for my juicy peach!

Then I whipped out a new find from the grocery store last weekend.

I absolutely love tomato soup, and this seemed like a good way to enjoy it at work! There are two servings per container, but since it was lower in sodium than a lot of soups are (300mg per serving), I just ate both servings as my lunch! All you have to do it heat it in the microwave for roughly 2 minutes – easy peasy!

It tasted good, too. I wouldn’t have minded a slightly thicker consistency, though. Next time, I’ll bring things to add to it to make it a more well-rounded meal.

DINNER

We chose to eat at a “new” restaurant that I’ve walked by many times before but have never actually eaten at called That Little Mexican Cafe. Yes, that’s actually its name;)

I was feeling a little adventurous, so I ordered a margarita with my mom.

We started out by ordering some guacamole. Little did we know that a woman would soon be coming over to our table with a cart full of ingredients to make the guacamole FRESH for us. Doesn’t get much better than that (right Liz?!):mrgreen:

Here’s my portion with some tortilla chips. The lime juice really made this guacamole the best I’ve ever had. Next time I buy it, I may add some extra lime juice – it gives it a good kick!

For dinner, I ordered the black bean soup. It came drizzled with some sour cream, which I thought looked pretty but tasted just alright (I’m not a big sour cream fan).

I also ordered the Mexican Fire salad, which basically meant mixed greens, carrots, and some spicy red, green and poblano peppers. It was tossed with a cilantro dressing and topped with a little bit of cheese.

It was by far the lightest entree I have EVER ordered at a Mexican restaurant, and I really felt much better afterward. I think all the cheese in some dishes really bothers my stomach, so I’m glad I went this route instead.

After dinner, I went to the gym and did 30 minutes on the Stairmaster + an arm machine workout. Now it’s about that time where I get into bed and fall fast asleep…ZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZz

Sweet dreams