Chocolate Peanut Butter Breakfast

This morning while I was  ellipticizing (that’s Julie-speak for working out on the elliptical) at the gym, I flipped through the December Food Network magazine that my friend Minda gave me at our girl’s holiday movie night on Tuesday.

I saw a recipe for chocolate peanut butter cookies and a craving was born!

I honored my desire for chocolate and peanut butter with a healthy breakfast wrap featuring peanut butter and cottage cheese mixed with sweetener and lots of cocoa powder.

Cocoa Peabut Butter Wrap

(Sorry for the cruddy picture. My camera is crabby today.)

This wrap was d-to-the-e-to-the-l-i-c-i-o-u-s (can you tell I was listening to the Black Eyed Peas this morning?). If you’re cottage cheese averse, try adding a little sweetener and some cinnamon or cocoa powder to the curds. It totally changes the flavor.

Side note: I think the word “curd” might be in the top five of my list of disgusting words. (Other top contenders include slop and panties.)

Pump it Up!

BodyPump was awesome this morning. I feel like I’m getting some of my strength back from my week off of weight training over Thanksgiving. My biceps and hamstrings were a-burnin’ today! I rounded out my workout with 25 minutes of light cardio on the elliptical with Food Network magazine.

Food Network Magazine December 2009

The December issue features 50 (yes 50!) recipes for Christmas cookies! I can’t wait to make some. I’m going to a Christmas cookie exchange on Dec. 20 and am already excited!

Are you making any cookies for the holidays? What’s your favorite kind?

In case you missed it, click here for my Examiner article featuring low calorie Christmas cookies including the oatmeal, chocolate chip and pecan cookies pictured below.

Cooking Light's Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip and Pecan Cookies

Foodie Tees

How adorable are these foodie t-shirts?

Rad Radish

Rad T-shirt

I love simple t’s like these. A good gift idea for a foodie friend or a vegetarian perhaps???

Ryan the Food Pho-tog

This morning Ryan’s mom emailed me two pictures my photograph-savvy fiance snapped over Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Sangria

Table Setting

He’s quite the picture-taker, huh?

Also, is it just me or does that holiday sangria look freakin’ fantastic!? I could go for a glass right now… too bad it’s not even noon. 😉

Hope you’re all having a great Friday so far. Yay for weekend-eve! 😀

Pantry Scrounging Dinner

Tonight’s dinner was created from staples I always have on hand:

• frozen veggies
• soup
• bread
• cheese

I knew I wanted to use the box of V8 butternut squash soup that has been haunting me everytime I open my cubbard.

Box of Soup

As indicated by the severely torn box of soup in the above picture, I’ve  clearly never opened a box of soup before. I felt quite ravenous hacking away at the box. Just gimme my soup already! I let Sadie lick it clean and tear it up for good measure when I was done. Who’s the boss now, huh soup box!?

Butternut Squash Soup

Thank you to the readers who gave me suggestions as to what to do to transform my butternut squash soup craving into a meal. I followed your suggestions and decided to pair the soup with the old stand by: a grilled cheese sandwich.

Grilled Cheese

I made mine on a whole wheat Arnold’s sandwich thin and Ryan’s on Publix light wheat bread. His and hers grilled cheeses. 😉

We also split a box of Green Giant Healthy Vision frozen veggies.

Green Giant Healthy Vision Veggies

Grilled Cheese and Veggies

At the dinner table Ryan and  I concluded our dinner was fit for a five year old. 🙂 We loved every last bite. The soup in particular was really, really good. I’m a fan!

Low Calorie Christmas Cookies

Ryan affectionately calls me his little cookie monster because I’ve been known to polish off an embarrassing amount of freshly baked cookies on more than one occasion. They’re just too darn delicious!

I love baking Christmas cookies for Santa (and myself 😉 ). Nerd alert: My sister and I always bake cookies to ‘NSync’s Christmas CD. It’s amazing. There’s just something about that song “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays” that makes me wanna sing and dance!

Were you a Backstreet Boys fan or an ‘NSync fan… or just a hater? I definitely preferred ‘NSync. I love my Justin Timberlake (though J.C. was my fav at the time…  I had a soft-spot for Joey, too!) .

Annnyway, in my latest Examiner article, I’ve compiled a list of low calorie Christmas cookie recipes. Click here to check it out!