Souper Package and Giveaway

When I walked in to my apartment after work today, Ryan informed me that I had one heck of a heavy package waiting for me.

I opened it to find about a billion different kinds of Progresso soup… all with less than 100 calories per serving.

Yay for Packages!

Sadie was also souper excited about this package and made a mess of helped me sort through the packaging.

Sadie Wanted In

Ryan immediately went to work building a beeramid soupamid of all the cans of soup.

Soupamid

(I can’t wait to try the Manhattan clam chowder!)

I also received a Progresso soup mug and a jump rope that keeps track of jumps and calories burned. The soup and fun gifts were sent to me as part of Progresso’s “Souper You Debut” contest.

Here’s some information about the contest from Progresso:

January 4 through March 15, visit www.Progresso.com/SouperYou to enter the Progresso “Souper You Debut” contest for the chance to win a full makeover in New York City. Three grand prize winners will be awarded a trip for two to New York City from May 21st-23. The prize includes roundtrip airfare, a two-night stay in a NYC hotel, a full makeover, a $1,000 wardrobe shopping spree and personal consultation at a New York department store.

To enter:

• Go to www.Progresso.com/SouperYou to learn more and enter the contest
• Submit your essay (200 characters or less) telling Progresso why you love Progresso Light or 100 Calorie Soups and why you would like a makeover
• In addition, please submit a photo of yourself that visually reinforces the theme of your essay

Once you enter, you’ll have the chance for your photo and/or an excerpt from your essay to appear on www.Progresso.com/SouperYou, so be sure to check back frequently! Once the 10 finalists are announced, you can visit www.Progresso.com/SouperYou from March 29 through April 12 to vote for your favorite.

In addition, throughout the duration of the contest you can visit www.Progresso.com/SouperYou to download a coupon for $1 off any three varieties of Progresso Soup.

Souper Giveaway

Progresso has also offered to giveaway two cans of soup, a Progresso soup mug and the calorie/jump-counting jump rope to one of you faaaabulous readers! To enter, simply comment on this post telling me what kind of soup is your favorite. Easy peasy.

I will randomly select a winner using Random.org’s random integer generator, and will announce the lucky winner tomorrow night.

Dog Park Fun

Since Sadie was a little too enthusiastic about the bubble wrap in the soup package, Ryan and I knew she needed some extra exercise tonight, so we leashed her up for a trip to the dog park.

"Best Ball Everrrr!"

Dog Park Smiles

Sadie was quite the daddy’s girl today and played several rounds of fetch with Ryan.

The Stand Off

"C'mon, Dad... Throw it!

Gotcha!

Though the ball-throwing was quite intense, another dog was the real source of excitement at the park today…

Wolf Dog

Yes, that would be a wolf dog. The wolf dog’s owner said she’s 80 percent wolf. She had yellow eyes and even started howling when a fire truck went by and the sirens were blaring. (I wonder if she is a member of the Quileute tribe??? Twilight nerd alert. ;))

Mongolian Beef Dinner

Eventually our bellies told us it was time to head home for dinner. While Ryan did the dishes, I got to work making Mongolian beef using a recipe I tore out of the December 2009 issue of Cooking Light.

Mongolian Beef a la Cooking Light

Mongolian Beef Recipe

(Mama, I finally got to use that hoisin sauce I stole from you! :D)

The sauce was really easy to make and the entire dinner came together in less than 20 minutes.

Beefy!

We topped steamed fresh broccoli with the beef mixture and it was deeeeelish!

My Bowl

Ryan said he thought this recipe would be great with shrimp as well and I totally agree. I see Mongolian shrimp in our future!

Dessert

Do I even have to say what I had for dessert tonight?

JELLO MOUSSE CUP! Yes, the love affair continues…

Even Sadie is affected:

Dessert

Thank You for Your Love

Thank you all for your wonderful comments about my new blog design (courtesy of The Blog Fairy). I’m so glad you are smitten with it, just like I am! 🙂 Emily did a wonderful job and was so open to my thoughts and suggestions. If you’re ever in the market for a blog makeover, I highly recommend Miss Emily!

G’night everyone! See ya mañana!

Peanut Butter Fingers Makeover

Peanut Butter Fingers got a makeover!

Emily, also known as The Blog Fairy, transformed this lil’ blog from a template design into a blog with an original design and I’m so excited! We’re still working on some additional smaller updates/changes (like font color, etc.),  but the overall look is complete.

I hope you guys like it! I know whenever a blog I love gets a makeover it takes me a while to hop on board and embrace the change, so I hope you will eventually love it if you don’t already. 😀

Funky Chicken

Who doesn’t love the funky chicken dance?

Funky Chicken

What’s your favorite choreographed dance song?

If you say the Macarena, don’t worry. I’ll still love you.

My favorite is definitely the Cupid Shuffle!

(Aaaand now I’m officially dancing in my chair…)

A note to my friends and family who will be attending our wedding in October: You may expect to hear every corny, cheesy dance song in the book at the reception. I have no shame.

BBQ Funky Chicken Salad

I decided to add a little extra funk into my chicken salad for lunch today… the addition of BBQ sauce!

BBQ Chicken Salad

I’ve made BBQ chicken salad one time before, but changed it up a bit this go-around by adding sweet corn and celery to the mix.

My chicken salad included:

• 1 small can of chicken
• 1 tbsp. light Miracle Whip
• 1 tbsp. BBQ sauce
• Sweet corn
• Celery

I stuffed my BBQ funky chicken salad into a whole wheat pita pocket and enjoyed it with fresh carrot sticks on the side.

Chicken Salad Pita Pocket

Carrots

Tasty lunch indeed.

Back to dancin’ work…

Fibrous Scrabble

After dinner last night Ryan and I decided to play Scrabble in front of the fire. Ryan let me start the game and my first word was quite blog-appropriate: fiber! Do I make you guys proud? 😉

Well, my blog-inspired word was likely the death of me in this particular game, as Ryan tacked on an “ous” to the end of the word and got mega-points!

Scrabbletastic!

(As I posted this picture, I realized “fibrous” is actually spelled incorrectly on our board… there’s no “e” in fibrous! Ryan, I want a re-match!)

We were actually quite proud of ourselves for filling up the entire board and playing until there was only one letter remaining! We made a concerted effort to play up or to the side so the game could actually continue.

Ryan was our score keeper (I hate math) and used the nifty vizsla notepad I got in my Christmas stocking to keep score.

Score Board

(I know, we’re obsessed with our dog…)

Whenever we play any games, Ryan is always the score keeper. He’s my number cruncher! Whenever I’m cooking or baking in the kitchen and need to condense a recipe, he’s my go-to guy for figuring out how to divide the recipe in thirds or quarters. 😉

Are you a number cruncher or a wordy one?

I’m definitely a wordy girl… I leave all the math and number fun to my financial fiance.

Workout and Breakfast

I had my first good cardio workout of the year today! Though I’ve hit the gym for cardio several times since the start of 2010, I haven’t really left feeling like I really challenged myself too much or got my heart pumpin’ too hard until today.

I did a 50 minute treadmill workout that looked like this:

• Walk at 4.0 at 7.5 incline for 4 minutes
• Jog at 6.5 at 1.0 incline for 5 minutes
• Walk at 4.0 at 7.5 incline for 4 minutes
• Jog at 6.5 at 1.0 incline for 5 minutes
• Jog at 6.5 at 2.0 incline for 3 minutes
• Run at 7.0 at 1.0 incline for 3 minutes
• Run hard at 8.0 at 1.0 include for 1 minute
• Jog at 6.0 at 1.0 incline for 1 minute
• Run hard at 8.0 at 1.0 incline for 1 minute
• Run at 7.0 at 1.0 incline for 1 minute
• Jog at 6.5 at 1.0 incline for 3 minutes
• Walk at 4.0 at 7.5 incline for 4 minutes
• Jog at 6.5 at 1.0 incline for 5 minutes
• Walk at 4.0 at 7.5 incline for 5 minutes
• Walk (cool down) for 5 minutes

I left nice ‘n’ sweaty and ready for a yummy breakfast.

While I showered I cooked up a batch of steel cut oats because a hot breakfast sounded perfect on this chilly morning.

Steel Cut Oats

I really do like steel cut oats better than plain old fashioned oats because I feel like they are creamier and nuttier, though I usually gravitate toward the old fashioned variety because they cook up nice and fast!

The big bowl of steel cut oats was quite a nice treat today!

Oats

I stirred in half a scoop of All the Whey cupcake batter protein powder and a sliced apple to round out my oatty bowl.

Sliced Apple

Tuesday's Breakfast

Oats 'n' Apple

I burned my throat a bit gulping down Barnie’s Santa’s White Christmas coffee (free from the gym!). Easy does it!

Happy Tuesday, wonderful readers!