Meatloaf Monday

I think we all get random cravings for certain meals sometimes. Yesterday Ryan had a hankerin’ for meatloaf, so that made tonight’s dinner decision an easy one.

I turned to Cooking Light, my favorite recipe resource, for a yummy yet healthy meatloaf recipe.

We started with lean ground beef, bread crumbs, chopped onion, BBQ sauce, spices and egg whites and mixed everything together before placing it in a loaf pan and letting it cook for an hour at 350 degrees.

Raw Meatloaf Mixture

While the meatloaf was cooking, we took Sadie on a quick 30 minute walk. She’s loving the cool Florida weather and was quite the energetic puppers.

"Walk Me!"

Helloooo

When we arrived home from our walk the apartment smelled fantastic! The meatloaf was ready for eatin’.

Meatloaf

I fixed myself a plate and included lots of green veggies to make up for the several days I severely neglected their existence.

My Dinner Plate

Tree Time

After dinner it was tree decorating time! Since tomorrow is officially December 1, I needed to have our tree up for the kickoff of Christmas month.

Ryan got the tree out of storage while I set up festive holiday music and did the dishes with Sadie’s help.

Dish Licker

Our tree is pretty teeny since our apartment isn’t too big, so it was up in a flash.

Our Little Tree

Last year Ryan and I were nervous to leave Sadie alone with our sparkly little tree, but she made it through the season without breaking any ornaments (though you may be able to see the blinds she attacked when she was a puppy last year in the above picture… grrrr).

I hope we have a successful repeat of no broken ornaments this year. I may have to bribe her to steer clear of all the holiday decor with some Snausages.

BBQ Meatloaf Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2  pounds  ground beef, extra lean (raw)
• 1/2  cup  dry breadcrumbs
• 1/2  cup  chopped onion
• 1/3  cup  barbecue sauce, divided
• 1  tablespoon  prepared mustard
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  chili powder
• 1  teaspoon  garlic powder
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 2  large egg whites
• Cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine the beef, breadcrumbs, and onion, 1 tablespoon barbecue sauce, and remaining ingredients except cooking spray in a large bowl.

Shape meat mixture into a 9 x 5-inch loaf or a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Spread remaining barbecue sauce over top of meat loaf. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a thermometer registers 160°. Let stand 10 minutes. Cut loaf into 12 slices.

Nutritional Information:

(Recipe yields 12 slices, two slices per serving)

Calories: 203 (24% from fat)

Fat: 5.4g (sat 2.2g,mono 2.2g,poly 0.5g)

Protein: 27.3g

Carbohydrate: 10.5g

Fiber: 1.1g

Cholesterol: 61mg

Iron: 3.2mg

Sodium: 517mg

Calcium: 26mg

Don’t Forget

Tonight is your last chance to enter the Pumpkorn giveaway. The winners will be selected bright and early tomorrow morning. 🙂

Apple Pumpkin Bowl

I was cravin’ something sweet and crunchy for lunch today.

I figured a random concoction using cottage cheese, pumpkin, sweetener and an apple would hit the spot.

Crisp and Crunchy Apple

I stirred together the pumpkin, sweetener and cottage cheese before topping the mixture with a chopped cold and crisp apple.

Monday Lunch

It looks kinda gross, but it was tasty! Sometimes I just want something sweet for lunch and a wrap or salad simply won’t do. Combining several of my favorite ingredients to create this lunch bowl satisfied my sweet craving in a nutritious and delicious way!

Pumpkorn Giveaway

If you haven’t already, be sure to enter my Pumpkorn giveaway. I’ll be announcing the winners tomorrow morning.

Pumpkorn Breakfast and Giveaway

This morning I woke up with a serious crick in my neck. Yesterday I had the same pain and today it decided to stick around. Ick.

Needless to say, I skipped my typical Monday morning BodyPump class in favor of my own total-body weight routine (coupled with 25 minutes of light cardio) that didn’t put stress on my neck. I feel like a goober because I cannot look from side to side. When someone tries to talk to me, I have to completely turn my body. I’m so creepy today!

Breakfast was tasty! I enjoyed a cup of Chobani Greek yogurt topped with dark cocoa Pumpkorn and Dorset Cereal.

Dorset Cereal

Ryan’s mom sent him to Orlando with this cereal for us to try. It’s pretty good! The only sweetness I tasted is from the dried fruit in the cereal.

Cocoa Dusted Pumpkorn

The dark cocoa Pupkorn tasted like a treat in my yogurt! I love chocolate for breakfast. 🙂

Monday's Breakfast

Pumpkorn Giveaway

I am so excited about this giveaway! I adore Pumpkorn products and haven’t tried a flavor I didn’t like. Alex from Pumpkorn agreed to offer a giveaway on my blog, giving readers a chance to win packages of Pumpkorn.

Pumpkorn Packages

Since I have five packages to give away, I figured I would split the winnings in two so two readers will have the chance to win. Gotta love extra winning opportunities, right?

The first winner will receive three packages of Pumpkorn (sea salt, honey ‘n’ flax and adobo chili flavors). The second winner will receive two packages of Pumpkorn (dark cocoa *my favorite* and original tamari garlic flavors).

To enter simply comment on this post saying which Pumpkorn flavor you’d most like to try. I’ll announce the winners tomorrow morning.

Cyber Monday

I am a huge online shopper and am lovin’ Cyber Monday. Since Victoria’s Secret feels the need to email me with special offers daily, I figured I’d share this awesome deal with all of you!

Choose three sweaters for $30 and receive a free scarf!

VictoriasSecret.com Free Scarf!

You can also save 20% with the code vssave20. To receive the three sweaters for $30 use the code 3FOR30 at checkout. To get the scarf for free use the code scarf09.

Happy shopping!

Soothing Dinner and Sleepy Sadie

This evening Ryan and I went to the grocery store hoping that our dinner would be inspired by something on the shelves.

Luckily one of the Monterey Pasta Company’s ravioli flavors that we haven’t tried called out to us.

Tomato, Basil and Mozzarella Ravioli

We cooked up the pasta poofs and served them with tomato basil marinara sauce and lots of veggies.

Ravioli and Sauce

Mushrooms and Onions

Ravioli Topped with Veggies

Yum!

My Bowl

 Dinner was the ultimate soothing comfort food.

Now we’re cuddled up on the couch watching It’s Always Sunny in Philadephia on DVD with one sleepy little dog.

Sleepy Sadie

Messin' with Sadie

I love relaxing Sunday nights with my little family. 🙂

Settling In

We’re baaaack!

Ryan picked me and my family up from the airport around 8:30 last night. It was so good to see my smilin’ fiance and crazy puppy!

We spent the night at my parent’s house in St. Pete and hit the road for Orlando this morning after a breakfast of fluffy oatmeal pancakes.

Oatmeal Pancakes

Syrupy Pancakes

On our way to Orlando Ryan and I stopped by Starbucks and ordered a grande Tazo chai tea latte to share. We’ve tried and tried but cannot seem to recreate this drink in our own home. The ‘Bucks just does it better!

Yesterday

Since yesterday was filled with traveling home, I didn’t get a chance to blog (despite more than three hours sitting in the Baltimore airport).

Allow me to update you today! 🙂

After breakfast and saying goodbye to my grandma, aunt, uncle and cousins, my family and I headed out to visit my other grandma and Aunt Barbara.

My Sister, Mom, Dad and Me

My Sister, Grandma (Nana) and Me

My Sister, Aunt Barbara, Me, Nana, My Mom

After a good visit with my grandma and lots of discussions about the Florida/Florida State football game that evening, we headed over to visit my cousins Rick and Jenn and Jenn’s baby girl, Sophia.

The Whole Gang

Baby Sophia was perfect and wide awake for most of our visit! It was wonderful to spend time with Rick and Jenn and emotional to leave. 😦 I hope we can get together again soon.

Lunch

With grumbling tummies, we headed for downtown Gettysburg to stop by Tommy’s Pizza for a slice of cheese pizza and a cheeseburger sub.

Tommy's Cheese Pizza

The BEST Cheeseburger Sub EVER

Was this food good for you? No. Was this food good? Yes! I’d say Tommy’s cheeseburger sub is in my top five favorite meals. It’s so delicious and I’m all about indulging every now and then. Since we’re rarely in Gettysburg, I’ve gotta take in all the local favorites.

After lunch we piled into our car and drove to the Baltimore Airport to wait for hours for our flight. Luckily the Florida/Florida State football game was on which kept us entertained… for a little while at least. I eventually turned to a new bridal magazine my mom bought me for entertainment.

With the help of Sudoku, cross word puzzles and the first Sookie Stackhouse book, the flight to Florida flew by.

After collecting our baggage, Ryan picked us up and we headed home for a late dinner. I cooked up Carba Nada noodles with marinara sauce and MorningStar Farms soy veggie crumbles.

Pasta Dinner

It was tasty and filled us up. I was already a little full from eating almost an entire bag (the big version) of Combos in the airport. We had some oatmeal raisin cookies leftover too which we promptly polished off! 🙂

Today

We’re now back in Orlando and are slowly checking things off our to do list. Gym: check! Dog park with Sadie: check! Unpack: Half check!

Still on the to do list for today: unpacking, laundry, grocery shopping and putting up our Christmas tree! I scanned the Orlando radio stations for the all-Christmas music station and can’t find it. I’m bummed and am thinking they may begin playing non-stop Christmas music  beginning December 1st. Let’s hope so.

I’m still sweaty from the gym and stinky from the dog park… off to shower.

To come: an AWESOME giveaway. I’m excited and you should be too! 🙂