Meat Free is Fine By Me

When I was growing up, one of my very best friends would eat a lettuce and mayonnaise sandwich for lunch. Yep, that’s it. Just lettuce and mayo.

At the time I thought it was missing something. No meat? How is that a sandwich without some sliced turkey or ham?

Today I find myself loving veggie-only sandwiches. Adding cheese or hummus for some protein does the trick!

Today my sandwich was another meat-free creation.

Tomato

Goat Cheese

I toasted a Nature’s Own whole wheat sandwich round and topped it with a sliced juicy tomato and melted goat cheese.

On the side I had cauliflower which I roasted last night after tossing it in a bit of olive oil and sprinkling it with garlic salt.

Garlic Roasted Cauliflower

I swear when I roast cauliflower this way it reminds me of popcorn. Call me crazy, but it does!

Lunch Time!

I also munched on a cool, crisp apple.

An Apple a Day...

I didn’t even miss the meat! 😀

Of Possible Interest

• 7 Best Foods for Women (CookingLight.com)
• 4 Simple Moves for Flat Abs (Health.com)
• Is Agave Nectar Healthier than Sugar? (FitSugar.com)
• Delicious Sandwich Ideas (WomensHealthMag.com)

Happy Blog Birthday

Happy blog birthday to MegaNerd Runs!

A Spoonful of Sugar Would Have Been Nice

Remember that song from Mary Poppins that goes,  “a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down?”

Well, I think I needed a spoonful of sugar to help my sugar-free Jello knock-off dessert to go down. It was NOT GOOD and tasted like cough syrup. Bleh. 😦

I love sugar-free Jello and eat a little snack pack after lunch almost daily. At the grocery store last night I saw a different brand’s sugar-free gelatin on sale for less than half the cost of Jello.

Being the savvy shopper that I am, I picked up a bulk-size pack of the stuff. Bad move. I don’t think I’ll be enjoying anymore Tylenol-flavored desserts in the near future.

Luckily, that was the only fail of my lunch.

My grilled zucchini and roasted red pepper hummus sandwich, roasted cauliflower and two dark chocolate Dove eggs saved the day!

Roasted Cauliflower

Sandwich

Tuesday's Lunch

I also had a cup of Greek yogurt for some protein which alluded any photographs.

My Jello knock-off dessert was the most disappointed I’ve been in a product in a while.

What product or food have you tried recently only to be disappointed?

Breakin’ Out the Grill

Good news! The rain has finally decided to let up and the lovely spring sun is shining in Orlando again.

Good weather = Grilling!

Meat Man

For the first time in 2010, we fired up the grill to make tonight’s dinner… and by “we” I mean Ryan. The grill intimidates me. 😉

Do you grill or leave the grilling duties up to someone else?

While Ryan tended to the grill, I prepped our sides and roasted fresh zucchini and cauliflower in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, flippin’ the veggies halfway through.

Within 25 minutes we had a tasty dinner of BBQ grilled chicken breasts with roasted veggies. It felt like a summer meal!

BBQ Chicken + Roasted Veggies

My Plate

Dessert

Guess what little treat I picked up at the grocery store yesterday?

Cadbury Eggs

Hooray for Cadbury mini eggs!

Great dessert… Just great. 😀

Play Time at the Park

Even after two walks totaling at least 4.5 miles (2 with Ryan and 2.5 with me), Sadie was as energetic and chipper as ever. Clearly a trip to the dog park was in order. 

Puppy Play Time 

I’ve never seen so many cars at the dog park! 

People came out of the woodworks to take in the sunny day at the park. 

Smilin' at the Park

"Well Hello There."

 Sadie found lots of treasures to play with today. A grungy ball, several sticks, a rope toy and more! 

"Look What I Found!"

Pretty Girl

I originally planned to make garlic soup from scratch for dinner, but a long trip to the park made both of us unwilling to wait the 1.5 hours needed to prepare the soup and let it simmer. 

Luckily we had a freezer fallback meal on hand! 

Dinner 

Having a frozen pizza in the freezer has saved me in numerous “I need dinner and I need it now” situations. 

Yay for CPK!

Sadie is Intrigued...

(Please ignore my slippers in the above pic. Also, don’t I kinda look like a bobble-head? What’s the deal!? 🙂 ) 

Ever since trying (and loving!) the BBQ chicken frozen pizza by California Pizza Kitchen, Ryan and I have been on a mission to try all of their flavors. Tonight the margherita pizza was on the menu. 

Hot 'n' Cheesy

This pizza was g-o-o-d! We both agree that the BBQ chicken and the white pizzas by CPK are our favorites, but we’d definitely buy this one again. Mmm, mmm. 

To get our veggies in, we served the pizza with a side of cauliflower roasted at 400 degrees for 20 minutes after tossing it in a bit of olive oil and garlic salt. 

Pizza + Veggies

My Plate

Ryan and I both want dessert and are craving ice cream, but we’re feeling pretty lazy and don’t want to go anywhere… It’s the sweet tooth vs. laziness. An epic battle, I know! Not sure which one will prevail… 

I hope you guys had a wonderful weekend! See ya in the mornin’.

Farts Are Funny

Potty humor to come… But before I ruin your appetite, I gotta post about afternoon activities and mah dinner! 

Dog Fun 

After work today Ryan and I entertained Sadie by taking her to the dog park before swinging by PetSmart to pick up some chews for the pup. 

Hooray for Dog Park Fun!

Take One

Take Two

As always Sadie enjoyed playing multiple rounds of fetch. 

Air Sadie

"Throw the Baaall!"

When the sun started to set, we headed to PetSmart where Sadie modeled the latest in doggie fashion. 

Sadie the Fashionista

 By the time we got home we were hungry! I knew dinner needed to come together quickly to satisfy our rumblin’ tummies. 

Dinner 

My favorite way to enjoy vegetables is to roast them in the oven with a lil’ olive oil, salt and pepper or garlic salt. It seems like this tried and true way of preparing vegetables works on almost any veggie. 

Roasted Cauliflower + Zucchini

Tonight I roasted a whole bunch of cauliflower and zucchini to enjoy along with al fresco sundried tomato chicken sausage. 

The veggies and sausage were a great combination and the flavors really complimented each other. 

Sausage Veggie Bowl

Dinner

Fiber One Bars = Lots O’ Farts  

Following a discussion about Fiber One bars today, my friend send me a hysterical link to one person’s experience after eating Fiber One bars. 

Fiber One Granola Bars

 

Let’s just say things got a lil’ stinky: 

“Step aside Kashi GoLEAN Crunch, and say hello to Fiber One Bars. Never, ever in my entire life, have a dropped as much ass as I do after eating these. I mean, check out the nutrition label, it speaks for itself! 

I’ve done some research and evidently it’s the chicory root that causes the gas. I don’t know about all that, but I do know that the human body is not designed to do what it does after eating these bars. 

When I think back on the top ten loudest and longest farts of my life, I can honestly say 10 of them happened all at once about 2 hours after eating a Fiber One bar. 

I conducted an unscientific test to see if others were affected like I was. One person told me they farted so loud that they woke them self up in the middle of the night. Another told me that her drug-free childbirth was much more comfortable than her brush with the Fiber One bar.” 

Toot, Toot!

 

I apologize to any of my more mature blog readers who do not find potty humor as hysterical as I do. 🙂