Butternut Squash and Apple Pizza

When I arrived home from work today a sorry sight greeted me.

Sorry Lil' Pumpkin

It looks like Grimace the pumpkin has officially kicked the bucket.

Fortunately the other Halloween decorations are not perishable.

Outdoor Decor

Dinner

Oooooh yum. Dinner tonight was D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S.

Butternut Squash and Apple Pizza

First I plucked a small butternut squash from our produce basket, peeled and cubed it. After cutting up a red onion, I tossed the veggies in olive oil and salt and baked them for approximately 20 minutes at 375 degrees.

Butternut Squash and Onion

After the veggies were toasty, I crisped a Joseph’s lavash bread in the oven before topping it with the cubed butternut squash, red onion, chopped spinach, sliced Honeycrisp apple and goat cheese.

Yummy!!!

I ate the whole thing and licked my fingers clean.

I’m off to continue my Gossip Girl marathon with a tasty cup of hot chocolate.

Whole Lotta Veggies

Last night I was loving the taste of the sauteed portobello mushrooms and onions in my pasta and wanted to incorporate them into my lunch today.

I made a big ol’ veggie bowl with onions, mushrooms, steamed broccoli florets and chickpeas.

Veggie Bowl

I smothered the veggies in a French onion flavored Laughing Cow cheese wedge for added creaminess. Very tasty.

Veggies with Cheese

I think artichoke hearts would make an excellent addition to this veggie bowl. Next time!

Snack Time

As I’ve mentioned before, I do not typically post my snacks since they’re usually the same thing over and over and I don’t want to bore you. Today, however, my morning snack was so darn tasty and I actually snapped a pic to share.

Cottage Cheese Blended with Pumpkin, Sweetener and Pumpkin Pie Spice

I blended cottage cheese with pumpkin, sweetener and pumpkin pie spice. This mix reminded me of pumpkin pie and got me all the more excited for Thanksgiving.

I used a no salt added cottage cheese. This was my first time using cottage cheese without any added salt. I picked up the container at the grocery yesterday since I had a coupon. I didn’t even know there was a lot of salt in cottage cheese, but let me just tell you that when it’s removed, you notice! Wow. It was great blended with the pumpkin, but repulsive on its own.

I would definitely buy the no salt added cottage cheese again, but only for use in recipes. I don’t want to punish my mouth by eating it on its own ever again. Bleh!

Attack of the Snake Sprinkler

Throughout the night little Miss Sadie was one restless sleeper. She hasn’t been allowed to sleep in the bed lately, but last night I was worried about her belly from the poopie incident earlier that day and let her cuddle up to me. She was antsy all night long which made my decision about what to do for my morning workout an easy one: a run with the pup!

Little Miss Sadie Lady

She’s used to me heading out the door for the gym in the morning before she gets her daily walk, so when she saw me head for her leash instead of my gym bag, she spun around in circles!

After running for 50 minutes, I gave Sadie a pat on her head for a run-well-done. She immediately grabbed a stick off the ground and started bounding around me trying to entice me (I’ll admit, it was one fancy lookin’ stick), and I knew she wasn’t ready to be done. We walked around the lake by my apartment another time (it’s about a mile around the lake) and then headed home.

On our way home, I was in a bit of a music-daze listening to my iPod when, all of the sudden, Sadie and I heard a loud hiss that made us both jump! I freaked out thinking that Sadie stumbled upon a snake or something that reared up and hissed or struck at her. Sadie ran inbeteween my legs and I then realized what the noise was: a ferocious sprinkler. Watch out, they’ll get ya. Needless to say, after the attack of the snake sprinkler, I was wide awake.

Breakfast

Yesterday at the grocery store, I went to pick up a pack of my favorite sweet wheat Alternative Bagels when I saw onion bagels right beside them. I genuinely prefer wheat bread and bagels to white bread, but the oniony flavor intrigued me and I picked up a pack.

This morning I used one of the onion bagels in my breakfast sandwich.

Onion Bagel

I topped the bagel with a Laughing Cow light Swiss cheese wedge, two egg whites and a slice of Canadian bacon. SO tasty. I adore breakfast sandwiches.

Onion Bagel Sandwich

Nice and Thick

Tuesday's Breakfast

When the Halloween Candy Hits

Halloween is this Saturday (BOO!) and everyone is stocking up on tasty treats and candy bars for trick-or-treaters. Click here for tips on how to maintain your healthy lifestyle when the Halloween candy hits in my latest Examiner article.

Question: What’s your candy strategy going into Halloween? Avoidance? Indulgence? Share!