Meatball Madness

Things got a little meaty tonight after our evening walk with Sadie.

I tackled my first attempt at homemade meatballs!

To make the meatballs, I combined the following:

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 tsp. thyme
• 1 tsp. rosemary
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1 tsp. basil
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 c. fresh whole wheat breadcrumbs

To make the fresh whole wheat bread crumbs, I pulsated 1.5 whole wheat Arnold sandwich thins in the food processor, which yielded one cup of bread crumbs.

I added the crumbs to the bowl with the meat and spices and combined everything using my hands. I then rolled the meaty mixture into little balls.

I dropped the meatballs on a cooking sheet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray and placed them in my 400-degree oven for 15 minutes until they were firm and cooked through.

I topped roasted asparagus with several meatballs and a helping of marinara sauce before digging in.

 

Pretty darn delicious!

Thank goodness I had a tasty dinner to enjoy this evening because my night also included something not-so-fun.

Let me just say that washing a big-ass comforter and then hanging it up to dry (wet comforters are heavy!) is a huge pain in the tookus. The front of my t-shirt was soaked by the time I got that big thing over that little bar to dry out.

I think I earned my dessert tonight.

I’m off to eat some chocolate!

My Wedding Shoes!!!

Those of you who follow me on Twitter may remember my tweets of frustration a month or so ago as I tried, unsuccessfully, to locate this pair of Badgley Mischka pink pumps in my size for my wedding day.

Badgley Mischka Xango Pink Pumps

According to the woman Badgley Mischka referred me to when I emailed the company about the shoes, the pumps I wanted first became available in April and the pink ones sold like crazy.

Great for Badgley Mischka. Bad for me.

I searched all over the internet and in local stores that carry Badgley Mischka shoes without avail. The woman I spoke with encouraged me to call my local Nordstrom and ask for their assistance in locating the shoe.

The gentlemen I spoke with from Nordstrom told me the shoes sold really quickly, but that he would call around other stores and let me know if anything turned up.

Well, it did!

Woohoo!!! My wedding day shoes should arrive in 5 – 8 business days.

(For those of you who are wondering what happened to the shoes I originally wanted… Well, I decided against them because they were more than 5 inches high. Though this would work fine with Ryan’s height (he’s 6’2”) I am already taller than all my bridesmaids and didn’t want to look like Sasquatch on my wedding day. Sooo, I opted for a more modest heeled shoe. Still pink, though. 😉 )

Lunch

I wish my lunch was as exciting as my wedding shoes, but as a serious shoe lover, that’s basically impossible.

Well, unless lunch was an ice cream sundae from Houston’s.

My lunch was still delicious though, and that’s what really matters.

Using leftover taco-seasoned ground chicken from last night’s dinner, I made myself a taco salad that included:

• Spring mix greens
• Broccoli slaw
• Frozen sweet corn (It thawed by lunchtime)
• Grape tomatoes
• Taco-seasoned ground chicken
• Crumbled hard shell taco
• Salsa

Taco Salad

Salsa

Using salsa as salad dressing is one of my favorite ways to enjoy the slightly spicy tomato-based sauce. It adds so much flavor!

Frozen Corn Close Up

Okay, kids. Fun’s over!

Back to work I go! 😀

Pumpkin Peanut Butter French Toast

You read right.

P + PB + FT

Pumpkin + Peanut Butter + French Toast = Winning Combination

Last night as I was drifting off to sleep, I thought of this odd combo and had high hopes for a recipe success!

I’ve had a jar of PB2 powdered peanut butter collecting dust in my pantry for a while now, mainly because I typically overlook it in favor of real peanut butter.

As I was trying to think of creative ways to use the jar, a light bulb went off!

What to Do with PB2?

Combine the powdered peanut butter with pumpkin!

To bring PB2 to life, you typically add water, but I figured that by adding pumpkin, the powdered peanut butter would be much thicker and also take on a pumpkin flavor.

PB2 + Pumpkin

I combined 2 tbsp. of PB2 with about a third of a cup of canned pumpkin and stirred up the mixture until it was nice and thick.

I then got to work on the French toast.

Arnold Honey Wheat Sandwich Thins

I dredged one Arnold honey wheat sandwich thin in a mixture of one egg white and 1/2 tsp. of pumpkin pie spice.

Dunk-a-Roo!

After cooking the French toast on the griddle, I spread one half with the pumpkin peanut butter and placed thin slices of a ripe peach on the other.

Open Faced P & PB French Toast

After smooshing the two halves together, I dowsed them in syrup and sprinkled the ’em with nutmeg.

Voila!

Chomp!

I couldn’t wait to dig into this bad boy!

A Bite o' Yum

Eat Up, Buttercup!

This breakfast combined many of my different loves: peanut butter, pumpkin, doughy bread, pumpkin pie spice and fresh fruit.

Win!

Workout

Today’s workout included a five mile run with this little one:

Running Buddy

She’s such a good running buddy.

Sadie’s reward for keeping me motivated through our five mile run was licking the container I used to combine the peanut butter and pumpkin.

She was quite a fan.

Pumpkin Peanut Butter French Toast

Ingredients:

• 1/3 c. canned pumpkin
• 2 tbsp. PB2 (I’m sure regular peanut butter would work as well)
• 1/2 ripe peach, thinly sliced
• 1 Arnold sandwich thin
• 1 egg white
• 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• Nutmeg, to taste
• Syrup, to taste

Directions

• Combine PB2 and pumpkin in a bowl and set aside
• Whisk together egg white and pumpkin pie spice
• Dredge sandwich thin in egg white mixture
• Spray a pan or griddle with non-stick cooking spray
• Cook sandwich thin slices at a medium-high heat until egg mixture is set, flipping once
• Remove sandwich thins from griddle and spread one half with peanut butter mixture and layer peach slices on the other half
• Press two halves together and cover in syrup and sprinkle with nutmeg, if desired