Nuts for Noodles!

I can’t remember the last time I went more than a week without eating some sort of pasta dish. Pasta is so delicious and so easy, I just can’t help myself. I’m nuts for noodles!

Tonight’s dinner was my weekly date with Carba Nada noodles.

Roasted Garlic Carba Nada Noodles

Into my pasta bowl went:

• Carba Nada roasted garlic  noodles
• Tomato basil marinara sauce
• Sauteed spinach
• Sauteed mushrooms
• Goat cheese
• Parmesan cheese

Veggie-Topped Pasta

I ❤ Cheese!

My Bowl

I love how stirring goat cheese into hot marinara sauce creates a creamy and delicious pasta sauce. My fav!

While making dinner, I popped in an awesome Christmas CD that kept me happy through doing the dishes after my meal.

'07 Baby!

I’m off to pack for our weekend of wedding appointments (including trying on dresses!) in St. Pete. We’re leaving right after work tomorrow and I’m excited to spend some quality time with the fam.

Happy Shopping Corner:

A Seinfield Fan’s Dream

Do you know any huge Seinfeld fans out there? Here’s an awesome Christmas present for anyone who loves Jerry, George, Kramer and Elaine. Amazon.com is offering the entire Seinfield series on DVD for $85 (with free shipping). It’s normally $250 – yikes! Click here to check it out!

$15 Off $15+ at The Limited

Click here to receive a coupon to The Limited for $15 off your purchase of $15 or more, or $30 off a $100 purchase or $50 off a $150 purchase through Dec. 13.

Express Coupon

Click here to print a coupon for $15 off $30 or $30 off $75 at Express through Dec. 13. You may also use the code 4493 to receive the discount on online purchases.

Ridiculous or Really Awesome?

Lunch

My lunchtime wrap was a meal fit for the day after Thanksgiving.

I know it’s nearly Christmas, but since I discovered that you can make cranberry sauce in the microwave, I’m still ridin’ high on cranberry sauce love.

Today my lunch was a slightly revised version of my favorite post-Thanksgiving meal: a turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce.

Yummy Cranberry Sauce

I used a Tam-x-ico’s low carb wheat wrap as my base and smothered it with a creamy Laughing Cow light Swiss cheese wedge before adding cranberry sauce and deli sliced turkey.

Turkey and Cranberry Roll Up

YUM

I had this for lunch yesterday and once again it was delicious! I’m a simple creature, apparently. 🙂

Can you eat the same foods over and over again?

Ryan can. I’m convinced he could exist on the same food for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a year. His meals would be:

• Breakfast: Two scrambled eggs and oatmeal with a scoop of peanut butter
• Snack: Protein bar
• Lunch: Turkey sandwich or salad
• Snack: Cottage cheese and yogurt
• Snack: Protein shake
• Dinner: Whatever random recipe I’m cravin’ 😉
• Snack: Cottage cheese and yogurt (round two!)
• Snack: Protein shake

Yes, that’s eight meals. He’s a growin’ boy! I like a man that can eat. Fortunately for me, Ryan likes a girl who can hold her own at the dinner table too. 😀

I can’t eat the same thing every day. I tend to overeat certain foods when I find something new I love. I be come so obsessed with my latest tasty treat that eventually it loses its luster… kinda like a new song on the radio that gets overplayed.

Rudolph Your Car

I called Ryan on my way to work today to tell him about my latest holiday discovery.

I’ve been kind of bummed this year because I purchased enough holiday decor in the past to adequately decorate our apartment. I haven’t been able to buy any fun decorations for fear that our place would look like an indoor version of the Griswold’s house.

Bling, Bling

I think it’s time to move on to decorating something else… my car!

I called Ryan the minute a gorgeous blue mini-van pulled up next to me sportin’ these bad boys:

Rudolph Car

How cool is that!?

Ryan told me I was ridiculous and would look like a 24-year-old soccer mom if I Rudolph-ed up my SUV.

I think it’s FABULOUS, and for $14.99, you can’t go wrong.

Also, good news for Ryan, I found other car costumes he can buy to sport some holiday cheer too!

Happy Holidays!

So now I gotta ask… Whose side are you on? Is this ridiculous or really awesome?

“If Everybody Looked the Same…”

“… we’d get tired of looking at each other.”

Do you remember that song by Groove Armada? It’s fantastic. It actually came up on my iPod on my morning walk with Sadie and got me thinkin’.

Last night at our girl’s holiday movie night, we all talked about how pretty the actress who plays the part of Natalie is.

Natalie in Love Actually

Pretty!

This woman is not a stick-thin actress, but she is beautiful. (Hey, even Hugh Grant couldn’t resist her!).

Everyone thinks different people are beautiful. Today it seems like being thin is almost synonymous with being beautiful. I consider so many people of all shapes and sizes beautiful. If everyone looked like Heidi Klum we’d all be gorgeous, but wouldn’t that be boring? Like my Groove Armada friends said, “We’d get tired of looking at each other.” Embrace your uniqueness today! It makes you beautiful and fun to look at. 😀

And that was my random thought of the day! 😉 Back to normal blogger Julie:

Double Brownie Batch

Last night before dinner and holiday movie night, I baked two batches of brownies for a holiday party at Ryan’s work today.

Brownie Mix

• Duncan Hines Candy Shop Peanut Butter Cup Brownies
• Betty Crocker Cookie Brownie Bars

Is there anything better than brownie batter? Well, maybe cookie dough… but in the case of these cookie brownie bars, I got to enjoy both.

Cookie Dough annnnd Brownie Batter

How fantastic does that look!?

Our apartment smelled wonderful, but I had to leave for movie night before they were done. Ryan was a little nervous about taking them out of the oven at the right time, but they turned out perfect.

Cookie Brownie Bars

Double Brownie Batch

I really enjoy baking from scratch, but boxed brownie mixes are tasty and so easy when you’re short on time.

Movie Night Recap

I headed over to my friend Kaitlyn’s around 7:15 p.m. to hang out with mah girls and watch Love Actually.

My friend Laurel, me and the movie of the night

As always, we talked through most of the movie, but made sure to stop long enough to watch a few key parts (like the “To me you are perfect” sign scene… aw).

Throughout the night Laurel was a busy little baker and made multiple batches of homemade banana muffins for a work breakfast this morning.

Laurel the Baker

They smelled phenomenal. Drool…

Merri and Kaitlyn enjoyed hammin’ it up for the blog by holding up Kaitlyn’s computer with Peanut Butter Fingers on display. Unfortunately the computer screen reflected, but you get the idea.

Merri, Kaitlyn and Peanut Butter Fingers

Look how into my blog Merri is! What a dedicated friend. 😉

Workout and Breakfast

This morning started out with a nice and sweaty workout.

• 15 minutes stair master
• 10 minute run
• 25 minutes incline walking

Simple and effective.

For breakfast I knew I wanted to use one of Ryan’s very ripe bananas since he said they’re gonna go bad soon and needed to be used ASAP.

Banana Slices

I decided to make Elvis’ favorite peanut butter and banana sandwich: the PB & B.

I toasted two slices of whole wheat toast, spread lots o’ peanut butter on top and added the banana slices.

Elvis would be proud

PB & B

I enjoyed my breakfast sandwich with a hot cup of eggnog tea.

Thursday's Breakfast

Pop Secret and Emeralds Nuts Giveaway Winner

Using Random.org’s random number generator, the winner of yesterday’s giveaway is Cindy!

Cindy said: “I try and bring my own food in but growing up I always picked up the Junior Mints.”

Please email me (pbfingers@gmail.com) with your address so I can send you the goodies!

Also, just in case you were curious, the most popular movie theater favorites were popcorn and M&Ms. You guys have great taste! 🙂