A Dog, a Walk and a Dinner Date

Combine those three things and you’ve got yourself a DogWalkDinnerDate. 😉

Since the weather wasn’t too frigid outside, Ryan and I decided to take Sadie for a 2.5 mile walk around the lake by our apartment, stopping at Panera halfway through for some dinn-ah! (Gotta love Panera gift cards! 😀 )

Posin' by the Lake

You Pick Two

Sadie was obviously not allowed in Panera, and it was too chilly outside to eat on the patio, so we brown-bagged our grub and brought it home to continue our DogWalkDinnerDate in our cozy lil’ kitchen.

Brown Baggin' It

I always order the You Pick Two option and generally select either a half-salad or half-sandwich to enjoy with a hot bowl of Panera’s tasty soup. Today I opted for a half-sandwich with my soup, and selected the Smokehouse Turkey panini (hold the bacon).

Smoked turkey breast, smoked bacon, smoked cheddar & sun-dried tomato ale mustard grilled hot on our Artisan Three Cheese bread.

Smokehouse Turkey Sandwich

Artisan three cheese bread = phenomenal.

After debating between several different kinds of soup, I ultimately suck with the ol’ fallback: chicken noodle. You can’t go wrong!

Chicken Noodle Soup

What do you typically order at Panera?

I love hearing what people order at different restaurants. It always inspires me to try something new!

Ryan and I requested apples instead of the bag of chips and it was the perfect touch of sweetness at the end of the meal.

An Apple a Day...

Of course that wasn’t enough of a dessert for me, so I popped open a cup of my obsession.

Jello Dark Chocolate Mousse

The perfect way to end a meal. 🙂

Giveaway Winner

I selected the winner of the Progresso prize pack giveaway using Random.org’s random number integer generator, and the winning comment came from Dena who said,

“I’m all for chicken noodle soup! Yummm “

Dena, please email me (pbfingers@gmail.com) with your address so Progresso can ship your your prize pack. Congrats!

Lunch Date with My Mate

What a treat! Today I met up with Ryan for a quick lunch date at Jimmy John’s.

My Date

Lovin' My Lunch Date

Ryan met me at work and we walked a block or so to Jimmy John’s, possibly my favorite sandwich chain.

Today I opted for the Bootlegger Club… a turkey and roast beef “unwich” (aka a sandwich with lettuce in place of the bread) with all the veggies and avocado spread.

Turkey and Roast Beef Unwich

It was delicious and really filling. I am always surprised at how filling this sandwich without bread can be, but I think the double portion of meat and the avocado spread really help make it a more substantial meal.

Ryan ordered a beach club sandwich on 7-grain bread.

Ryan's Beach Club

“#12 Beach Club: Fresh baked turkey breast, provolone cheese, avocado spread, sliced cucumber, sprouts, lettuce, tomato, and mayo! (It’s the real deal, and it ain’t even California.)”

JJ’s really knows how to make amazing bread. I ate a few of Ryan’s crust scraps and enjoyed the fresh, doughy goodness.

Wanna know what else I like about Jimmy John’s? The fact that they cannot seem to let go of the holiday season either…

Merry Christmas! Love, Jimmy John's

This weekend I am making a promise to myself to actually get around to taking down the holiday decorations.

Is it weird that I’m still plugging in my Christmas tree every night?

How long do you wait before you take down holiday decorations?

Down on the Farm

Ryan’s super-secret date kicked off late this morning around 11 a.m. With a shared love for animals, Ryan knew planning a date to Green Meadows farm to pet many different farm animals and pick out a pumpkin would be right up my alley!

After buying admission tickets we were given super awesome neon green stickers to wear on our tour of the farm.

Super Cool Stickers

While waiting for additional group members we had fun entertaining ourselves!

Ryan and His Piggy

Farmer Julie

On the Farm

First up was milking a cow. Did you know cows eat approximately 20 pounds of food each day!? That’s a whole lotta hay.

Me and Ellie the Cow

Thirsty?

I loved petting all the different animals and holding a duckling and a lil’ baby chick!

Baaaaa

Ryan and His Favorite... the Goooooat

Baby Chickie

Baby Duck!

I don't know who's cuter!

It was tough ranglin’ a duck, but we both managed to catch one.

Quack, Quack

Donald, is that you?

(How cute is the little girl at the bottom left of that picture?)

The ostrich was huge (they apparently have a brain the size of a pea!) and made me a little nervous.

Eek!

Our day down on the farm was wonderful. We picked up our pumpkins and stopped by Whole Foods for a yummy (and a little too filling) lunch. Now part two of Ryan’s secret date is about to begin (with a scavanger hunt!!!), so I’m off to get ready.

Happy Weekend!

A Rosey Start to Lunch

My lunch hour started off on the most beautiful note.

Lucky Girl

My wonderful boyfriend sent me the most gorgeous bouquet of two dozen red roses in a wonderful vase. I am seriously obsessed with the vase. When I called Ryan to gush about my flowers, I couldn’t stop talking about the vase and he was like “Dang! Maybe next time I’ll just buy you the vase!” I must say the flowers are quite beautiful, too. 😉

The flowers were sent to kick off a secret date Ryan has planned for us tomorrow. Ryan and I take turns planning a special date for each other every other month and October is his month. I can’t wait to see what he has in store!

Now for my regular lunchtime update!

I began by gathering the ingredients for a simple chicken salad using an apple, fall’s favorite fruit.

Chicken Salad Goods

Canned white meat chicken, a crisp Granny Smith apple and light Miracle Whip are the only three ingredients I use to make this yummy salad.

First I drained the chicken and let Sadie lick the can.

"I Love Chicken!"

I then chopped the tart Granny Smith apple into large chunks and squirted about a tablespoon of Miracle whip in with the chicken.

After stirring the three ingredients, my chicken salad was ready to go!

Eat Me

Lovin' the Apples

I spread the chicken on a Tam-x-ico’s low carb wheat tortilla with broccoli slaw and shredded lettuce. (These tortillas are by far the best tortillas I’ve ever had.)

The BEST Tortillas: Tam-x-ico's

YUM.

Chicken on the Tortilla

Close Up

I rolled up this bad boy and dug in!

All Ready

What a great Friday lunch.

Also, don’t worry… I’ll be sure to keep you posted on the secret date plans. 🙂

Question: What’s your idea of the perfect date?