Two things...

It was supposed to be three but my phone won't let me send the picture of my lunch.

It's a Grilled Chicken Chipotle Snack Wrap from McDonald's.

I'm sure you're not going to cry over that one. :) I was so busy this morning that I didn't get a chance to eat before rehearsal. Thank goodness McD's in NYC have to list the calorie count. I so wanted one of those country chicken sandwiches or whatever they're called.

I'm proud I resisted.

Dinner was supposed to be leftover pasta - but the leftovers were better left. I boiled some more and added some odds and ends from the fridge. I'm relocating to LI after the surgery on Tuesday so any food here will just go to waste.



I used leftover veggies from the pizza last night, some white wine and pasta water with some red pepper flakes for the sauce and some cubed mozzarella.

I stopped by the store tonight and happened to wander down the ice cream aisle.

They had this - which they hardly ever have.



So I had this. And it was amazing.



Ramekins are your friend.

I want to try and get a quick run in tomorrow before I head uptown. The weather is gorgeous and I'm feeling antsy. Plus - running will be off limits for a while after Tuesday. My allergies are killing me tonight. At least I hope they are my allergies. If it's a cold I'm gonna lose it.

The good news is I'm down another pound. If I lose 7 lbs post-surgery I will actually meet my goal.

I cannot even believe it's so close. It sucks that this is the way I might get there but I'm not going to complain too much about it!!

Sleep well dear readers. I'll catch you in the am.

Crescent Heaven

Good morning!!

Sorry to be MIA most of yesterday. I was busy baking my little heart out.

So. As part of Pssst I hosted a MyGetTogether featuring recipes using Pillsbury Crescent Rolls. I modified the recipes a little bit - but you can find them if you click that link.

I honestly use Pillsbury dough all the time. Crescents are great for baked brie or sliced up for piggies in a blanket. Ironically - this time - though I served pigs in a blanket I put another dent in the gigantic box still in my freezer.

Anyway a good time was had by all and everything was de-licious.

First up, veggie pizza.



I modified the recipe since I didn't want too much wasted food. I used one can of dough and 3/4 of the cream cheese mixed with light sour cream. I picked up the reduced fat dough completely by accident but I tasted no difference.



Instead of using garlic powder I used lemon pepper.



Sidenote: Look at this pepper. It was pregnant with a little baby pepper inside. Kinda freaky.



Other changes: I steamed the broccoli, nixed the cucumbers and added roasted tomatoes and the aforementioned yellow bell pepper. It was incredibly tasty. There was only one little sliver left when all was said and done.




Oh! Carrie brought the cutest bottle of wine. I loved this.



Carrie also let me have both hands free and took the pictures as I made the bacon swiss tartlets. These were incredibly easy and delish. I was shocked.

Fill the muffin tins (lightly sprayed with canola) with a triangle of dough. Press so that sides of the tin are covered.



Fill with crumbled bacon (I used about 2 slices) and diced swiss cheese diced (about 2 deli slices again - I have an aversion to pre-shredded cheese)green onion and I also added parsley.




Then pour in an egg mixed with heavy cream S&P.








Ta da!! We all agreed these would be awesome for brunch. I actually had a leftover one for breakfast!



I also served the aforementioned pigs in a blanket.



and a coffee cake for dessert. It was supposed to be a cherry cream cheese coffee cake. I improvised with cream cheese, sugar, cinnamon and chocolate chips. Glazed with vanilla flavored confectioner's sugar.



Now I I have to do is the dishes. :)



It was a really fun night. Thanks to Pillsbury for the yummy food ideas. My friends all loved it. And for all her hard work (ha!) Carrie was the winner of the other apron.

Off to rehearsal. Be back later.

Quickie

Lots to do - not enough time.

Breakfast: Leftover frittata with potatoes.



Lunch: Leftover balsamic wings.



Back later with a bunch of doughy goodness.

Dinner and Drinks

So. I didn't eat lunch today. I had a site inspection at a hotel near my office at 2:30. At 3 they found me a chair to sit at so I could take a conference call. At 4 I met with them again and took some pictures of the space.

At 5-ish I was sitting in Union Square drinking wine and having appetizers. Some guy I met before walked in so I let him sit with me. ;)

We went to Heartland Brewery. I walked into Coffee Shop first but it was too noisy. Before he even got there I ordered the Ginger Chicken Wontons. I hadn't had lunch and was starving.

I was so hungry I forgot to take a picture. They were great though. Just the right amount of ginger.

Then we ordered sliders and wings. I ate 1 slider. They were so so.



I ate 2 wings. We had a few wings left over. He was going to take them home but he left them here so they are now in my fridge.



Oh. I might have had wine too. Times two. :)




Then I went shopping for my ingredients for tomorrow. With company. :) When I went to reach for the disposable muffin tins it was nice to have someone tall get them for me. Though he did watch me suffer for a bit trying to reach them before he offered.

Then we stopped at The Bluebell Cafe for dessert.

We shared chocolate mousse and ice cream. The ice cream is homemade. The chocolate and vanilla were nothing to write home about but the mint chocolate chip was a-mazing. You could taste the fresh mint in every bite.



But the chocolate mousse was far more chocolate-y than the ice cream.



I had suggested coffee but somehow I had another glass of Pinot Grigio. Probably because I don't drink coffee.

All in all not a bad day. :)

Working from home tomorrow. Plan is to go to the gym, get my dress from the tailors, work work work, make stuff with crescent rolls, eat it with friends.

See you then.

Pillsbury - My Get Together

I was about to upload the picture of my dinner last night (eaten at rehearsal) and my breakfast today.

The issue is they look identical even though they are two different things.





One of these is a cheddar and hummus sandwich - the other - peanut butter.

Since that makes this post far from exciting I'll tell you about the little shindig I'm having tomorrow. As part of the Pssst Panel I'm hosting a My Get Together tomorrow night. I'll be making a bunch of appetizers and a dessert using Crescent rolls and my friends will help me eat them. Should be fun! Look for pictures and a full report on Friday.

Until then I'm super busy today wrapping up things as I'm out most of Friday and will be sidelined after the gallbladder and I part ways on Tuesday next week.

Honestly foodwise today is a bit of a bust. My lunch isn't going to be too exciting either.

BUT. Rumor has it some guy I've been hanging around with lately wants to meet me for drinks after work.

I'll keep you posted. :)

More of the same

I ate breakfast so quickly (and early) this morning I forgot to snap a picture.

I'm sure you'll forgive me since it was simply a PB sandwich.

I felt icky on the way to work and got a fountain DC and a bag of pretzels when I got here. After that I felt a little bit better.

I was hungry again around 1:30. Lunch was more of the same too. Just what I had for lunch yesterday. Only the venue has changed.



Plus a little dessert of chocolate.




I've been slacking on drinking water these days - mostly because I got rid of the last reusable bottle I had at work as it was not PBA free. I just picked a mug up from the cafeteria. This one is a #5 which is still said to be safe.




Until they tell us differently. You know how that goes. Something's always lurking around the corner. At least I'll get at least 20 oz of water in again.

I'm in an oddly crabby mood. Little things are annoying me. I plan to walk to chorus and shake it off.

Have a good afternoon. Be back later!

Sometimes it just happens

Sometimes you eat carbs all day long. But - truthfully, it's not every day I bake a loaf of bread or get a bagel and I think that's the key.

It's more like a special occasion. :)

Tonight I didn't want chicken. The quickest thing to defrost is shrimp and I didn't want that either. I had other options but Jen had sent me an email regarding asparagus this morning.



Wow that's small. Basically it says - if you eat asparagus you can metabolize liquor quicker.

I didn't drink tonight but that good info right there.

I had some whole wheat penne with asparagus, roasted tomatoes ricotta, pecorino and mozzarella.



with half a slice of garlic bread on the side



And I can also report I'm a failure as a Fireman's daughter. While making my dinner I didn't notice that something was sitting too close to an open flame. When I finally got to it it looked like this:



I didn't realize it right away because yesterday while cooking the chicken I did this:



It's now reassembled and back where it belongs.

Make sure you all check your smoke detectors. I guess there's a good reason we have them right?

I'm back in the office tomorrow and then a late chorus rehearsal.

And with that - I'm heading to bed. See you tomorrow.

Yummy

I'm torn as to what to eat for dinner but I knew that lunch had to include the bread that I made.

I took a slice and added some tuna and spinach.



Plus PopChips.

Exercise was walking to and from my tests today. It's gloomy and rainy and I'm content to stay in for the night.

See you later - hopefully with some dinner. I'm tired of chicken. :(

Carbo Loading

I've already been to the hospital and the tailor's today. The hospital for my pre-op tests - the tailor to get my God awful dress hemmed. They actually forgot to do one of the tests so I need to go BACK to the hospital at 1.

The nurse who I met with this morning was so sweet. She called and felt awful about making me come back.

On the way home I bought and pretty much inhaled this bagel w/scallion cream cheese. This bagel was from Ess-A-Bagel and was roughly the size of my head.



I also baked some bread.



Really. Jim Lahey has changed my life. Please note the version Mark Bittman included in How To Cook Everything is a little different. More flour and more yeast for one.

I just ate a slice with a little butter.

I need to find some protein for lunch. Seriously. That bagel looks almost as big as the whole loaf of bread!!!

And that's my day so far. Hope yours is treating you well.

Later!

Early to bed...early to rise

Today I did one of my favorite things. I pretty much spent the afternoon cooking.

I have dough rising on the stove (and will have fresh baked bread tomorrow), I marinated some drumsticks and had them for dinner. I roasted tomatoes and made a grilled turkey "club" for lunch.



That's honey turkey w/swiss and a slice of bacon. I spread a little Light Sweet Vidalia Onion Dressing on the bread too.

I also made (a variation of) Giada's Balsamic Wings for dinner.



These are so yummy. I love them. I ate two and still have two leftover.




Served with the other half of my leftover baked potato.

I also incline walked 3 miles at the gym.

Go me.

It's been so long since I've been there if it wasn't right across the street I'd probably have gotten lost. ;)

I'm off to bed early. I have my pre-op appointment at the hospital tomorrow at 8:30 am. It looks like just blood work and an EKG but wish me luck.

I have the smallest, hardest to find veins in America. :(

Sleep well. See you tomorrow.

Dinner & More

The thing with this - and maybe someone can help me - is that in one view for photos I can see the actual images and in the other all I see are file names. It makes it REALLY difficult to get the pictures I want posted. I know I have to be doing something wrong.

Anyway...here are some more shots from yesterday. Everything really was so beautiful. Even prettier now that I look at the photos actually.

















My dinner pictures are not quite as pretty but it was still good. The best part was the owners of the restaurant. I have to tell you - at the Arthur Avenue Cafe you definitely got your money's worth for an authentic Arthur Avenue experience. The place we went was once featured on Throwdown with Bobby Flay - though we didn't know that when we walked by and decided to stop in.

They truly treated us like we were friends just walking into their house.

We started with a fresh pecorino (more like ricotta) with balsamic that was insanely delicious.




Fried calamari



We shared the Award winning Eggplant Parm




and also some seafood risotto.



Today I made myself a frittata using this stuff.



Leftover caramelized onions, bacon, asparagus and goat cheese.






With a whole wheat EM on the side.

And I think that's enough for now. No Zumba today. It's rainy and I'm lazy but the gym is in my future.

See you later.