Poo Smell and Cooking Do Not Work

While I was trying to clean the house, my sweet, sweet dog went outside and went to the bathroom in the backyard. He comes back in and I start smelling something nasty. He has stepped in his own poo and tracked it all through the house. LOVELY.I realize this is a food blog, so this isn't what you are used to reading, but I just had to share because it is funny. And I know my boy didn't mean to do it...so he gets a treat. :)(Please excuse my ratty sweatshirt - it is the most comfortable thing in the world)

The turkey is in the oven, so the poo smell is finally being covered up by that. I made the cheesy scalloped potatoes and corn casserole last night. I substituted 0% greek yogurt for the sour cream in Paula Deen's recipe to try and make the corn a little healthier, but who am I kidding? There's a stick of butter in there and I wouldn't expect anything less from Paula. When it comes to entertaining - I usually just go all out.

Today, I plan to make the Barefoot Contessa's Cauliflower Gratin that Erica recommended. It sounds so good! Oh and I also want to try and make pumpkin bars for my BSI submission. We'll see if I can get it all done! Pictures and recipes will hopefully happen tomorrow!

Have a great Saturday!

Read more...

Prepping for a BIG weekend and Touchdown!

Tonight, I headed over to my dad's gym for a spin class. The instructor was pretty tough and yelled alot at us. The spin class instructor was also my dad. :) There was only 3 of us in the class and it was a definitely a good 45 min workout. I knew my hamstring was there, so I wasn't trying to really push it on sprints and hovers. I think this worked out well because I didn't have any aching pain after the work out. What I thought was cool was that when I went into the class, I had a headache and felt like my throat was starting to hurt. When I came out - I felt completely fine.

After spin class I headed home and had some frozen pizza for dinner.After pizza, we headed over to a nicer grocery store (Giant) a little ways away and bought a ton of stuff in preparation for Turkey Bowl. I was excited to find the agave nectar that I have been seeing around. Need to figure out how to use it now!Erin's comment from this morning made me think that I should do a before and after of my fridge, since I have been using stuff up/cleaning out in preparation for this weekend. Good idea!

Here is the before shot - lots of room. The fact that I was taking the picture made me wipe down the shelves. This blogging thing really does help me. ;)Oh and the basketball pic is me when I was 10. My parents found it when they were cleaning out some stuff and Kevin thought it should be on the fridge. I was wearing white khaki shorts to play basketball. The epitome of "cool".

Here is the after shot of the filled fridge with our Turkey! I am slightly obsessive about putting away groceries. I make Kevin clear out of the kitchen so I can put things where I want them to be.It is looking like it will be really cold for the football game on Saturday, so I may wimp out. I wouldn't be going full force anyways because of my hamstring. Don't want to make it any worse. SO since nothing like this will probably happen - check out this touchdown pass from last year. Kevin is quarterback (#51) and I am wide receiver (#47) and we had been practicing this for weeks.

Tomorrow is my favorite nephew's 6th Birthday. It is going to be a duckpin bowling party with a bunch of 5 and 6 year olds. I better win.

Also, this Sunday is "Friendsgiving"! My friend from college, Chrissi and her husband, are hosting a Thanksgiving potluck with a few of our friends to get together, eat, and be thankful. Should be FUN. I will be having a FULL weekend. Full of friends, family and thanksgiving food. :)

Off to get some sleep. Took a half day tomorrow to be here while the dishwasher is getting repaired (FINALLY), to finish cleaning, and start cooking. Cant wait.

Read more...

Popcorn and Recipe Roll Call (11.20.2008)

Last night - Kevin and I took advantage of $12 entree night at Helen's Garden in Canton Square. I forgot my camera and was really mad at myself because my entree was delicious! I ordered the Greek Chicken which was grilled marinated chicken skewers with rice, veggies & tzatziki. The veggies were roasted yellow squash and tomatoes. I ended up mixing everything together and it tasted great. I think I could eat tzatziki sauce on everything.

My eats today aren't exciting enough to feature. Oatmeal, peanut butter and apple butter sandwich, banana, yogurt with grape nuts and a sugar free rice pudding. All great, but pretty standard fare.

I did want to show this new popcorn (new to me anyways) that I tried yesterday afternoon at work. It came in my Baltimore Marathon freebie bag and I have been meaning to pop it up. Smart Balance Light Butter.

I love popcorn and have a hard time fully enjoying most of the healthy ones. Anyways, this stuff tasted like the full fat stuff - in other words...good. Check out the ingredients and nutrition facts at the link above!

This Saturday is my BF's yearly Turkey Bowl event where our friends/families get together to play a co-ed football game and then go back to the house for a thanksgiving potluck meal! Oh and there will be beer - lots of it. We are setting up 2 beer pong/beirut tables - which makes me SO excited because I love that game. I don't care how old I am.

Needless to say - I have been in major clean out mode. Going to be taking a trip to the dump to get rid of alot of junk. I have also been preparing for a pretty big cooking fiasco from Friday afternoon (took a 1/2 day off work) - Saturday. Kevin always cooks the turkey and makes his famous gravy. This year, I am going to make scalloped potatoes, corn casserole, zucchini casserole, and hopefully something with the BSI this week - pumpkin.

Anyone have AMAZING recipes that they want to share?! I am going grocery shopping tonight and am open to suggestions to replace any of the items above!

Read more...