Epic Battle: Cheeseburger vs. Ice Cream

Disclaimer: If you have issues with feeding animals people food, please do not read the following post. It will haunt your dreams.

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In honor of Sadie’s second birthday, Ryan and I decided to put an ongoing question to rest.

Ryan and I have continually discussed a certain situation involving Sadie for a couple months now.

If given equal access to a cheeseburger or a soft serve vanilla cone, which would Sadie pick?

 

Contender #1

Contender #2

I’m sure you’re thinking “C’mon Julie, she’s a dog! Of course she’ll pick the burger.” Well, Sadie takes after her mama (me) and adores McDonald’s soft serve vanilla cones. She doesn’t waste any time licking… she goes right for the bite and can polish a cone off in no time!

Ryan and I both agreed that she’d pick the cheeseburger first based on smell alone, so we thought we’d make the epic battle interesting. We thought that letting Sadie lick the cone first to get a taste of the sweet deliciousness before giving her free reign to select the food item of choice, might make the battle between the cheeseburger and ice cream a little more interesting.

And so, after ordering a vanilla cone and a plain cheeseburger from McDonald’s, the battle ensued.

Check out the video to see which one came out on top! 😀

(Click here if you cannot see the video above.)

Dinner

Before all the birthday excitement, Ryan and I enjoyed a simple dinner of homemade butternut squash soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.

The soup was really to easy to make and only used four ingredients:

• Butternut squash
• Carrots
• Onion
• Chicken broth

Onion + Carrot

Blended Up

Homemade Butternut Squash Soup

Who doesn’t love grilled cheese and soup? It’s a classic!

Grilled Cheese and Soup

Yum!

Dessert was a soft serve vanilla cone… and no, not the one we got for Sadie. 🙂

Jam-Packed

Today was a jam-packed day!

Within 30 minutes of waking, Ryan and I were off to Bradenton to meet his dad for breakfast.

Ryan and His Dad

Ryan’s dad’s birthday was yesterday, so it was great to see him and spend some time with the birthday boy.

We met him at Peaches, an adorable restaurant that serves only breakfast and lunch.

I ordered a veggie omelet with a side of fruit salad.

Omelet

Veggie-Filled Omelet

Fruit Salad

After breakfast, Ryan, his dad and I ran to the outlets to stop in some shops. I wanted to return a pair of running capris to the Nike outlet and I left with a new sports bra and workout top. Score!

Wedding Dress Shoppin’

After saying goodbye to Ryan’s dad, we headed back to St. Pete.

I hopped into the car with my mom and sister to leave for our 12:30 appointment at a wedding dress boutique that was hosting a San Patrick trunk show.

My Sister and Mom (The Consultants)

Gigglin' with Mama

🙂

They had the gown I loved the last time I was there, and I tried it on again. It really is beautiful! I apologize for the lack of pictures, but Ryan can’t see me in the dress that could be the dress until the big day. I’ll post pictures of the contenders once I actually select the dress, I promise!

After that trunk show, we headed over to the next trunk show featuring Maggie Sottero dresses. I had such high hopes, but was pretty disappointed. They only had a small selection of Maggie dresses and I didn’t see any of the ones I loved online. Oh well.

We were pretty darn hungry by the time all of our wedding dress appointments were over and headed to El Cap to pick up cheeseburgers for us and the guys to enjoy at home. 

Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger

I only wanted a few bites, so I shared a burger with Ryan. I was cravin’ dippy eggs and fixed myself a yummy plate.

Eggs and an English Muffin

I enjoyed a Honeycrisp apple and a bowl of grapes on the side.

Honeycrisp Apple

After a late lunch, Ryan and I decided to make a cake to enjoy for dessert tonight.

My mom loves tunnel of fudge cake and I gave her a box of the mix for Christmas. We decided to make this tasty cake and it made the whole house smell heavenly.

Tunnel of Fudge Cake

Before we added the chocolate to the mix, Sadie and my sister got to lick the beaters (one each) full of butter and sugar. They were in heaven.

Lickin' Beaters

Yummy

Once we added the chocolate to the mix, Ryan and I dug into the batter for more than one fingerful of the yummy goodness. 🙂

Tunnel of Fudge Batter

I can’t wait to enjoy this cake tonight. Yum.

Hope you’re all enjoying your weekend!

Cheeseburger (Pizza) in Paradise

With lean ground beef leftover from last night’s dinner and a boyfriend who is a self-proclaimed “meat man,” I wanted to find a way to incorporate the beef into tonight’s dinner but avoid having burgers again. I am a big pizza fan and with a package of Joseph’s lavash bread sittin’ comfy in my fridge, I figured I could use the bread as crust for a cheeseburger pizza that would satisfy both Ryan’s love for meat and my love for pizza.

I began by gathering all the necessary ingredients.

All the Goods

I rounded up Joseph’s lavash bread, ketchup, pickles, relish, mustard, light Miracle Whip, a plum tomato, light mozzarella cheese, lettuce and lean ground beef and was ready to begin!

First I preheated the oven to 350 degrees and sprayed a cookie sheet with cooking spray before placing the lavash bread on top.

Lavash Pizza Crust

I then mixed a little more than 3 tbsp. of light Miracle Whip (mayo will also work fine) with 2 tbsp. ketchup and a big ol’ squirt of mustard to make the pizza sauce. The mixture kind of reminded me of Thousand Island dressing, but in a less-complicated way.

Mayo, Ketchup and Mustard

Stir Baby, Stir

I added relish to the mix as well.

With a Lil' Relish

I then popped the lavash crust into the oven to crisp a bit while I tended to the beef.

Lean Ground Beef Burgers

We had leftover burgers from last night, so I got to work crumbling them into burger bites!

Meaty!

After the lavash was warmed and slightly crisp, I pulled it out of the oven and smothered it with the sauce before topping it with the beef crumbles and a generous sprinkling of the light mozzarella cheese.

Saucy Pizza

Lots o' Burger

Gotta Love That Cheese

While this was baking, I sliced the plum tomato to place on the cheesy pizza once it was ready.

Lettuce and Tomato

The pizza was ready for the toppings once the cheese was ooey-gooey and melted.

Melted Cheese

I sprinkled the cheeseburger pizza with lettuce, tomato and pickle slices.

Topped Off

Pizza! Pizza!

I cut the pizza in half and split it between me and Ryan. The portions were nice and big.

My Slices

 We ate our pizza with a side of steamed green beans, broccoli and cauliflower. The cheeseburger goodness was definitely the highlight of the meal and I think our veggies may have felt a little left out. I didn’t even snap a proper picture of the poor greens. 😦

One More Time

This meal managed to satisfy two cravings in a healthy, tasty way! Hooray for cheeseburger pizza.