“If Everybody Looked the Same…”

“… we’d get tired of looking at each other.”

Do you remember that song by Groove Armada? It’s fantastic. It actually came up on my iPod on my morning walk with Sadie and got me thinkin’.

Last night at our girl’s holiday movie night, we all talked about how pretty the actress who plays the part of Natalie is.

Natalie in Love Actually

Pretty!

This woman is not a stick-thin actress, but she is beautiful. (Hey, even Hugh Grant couldn’t resist her!).

Everyone thinks different people are beautiful. Today it seems like being thin is almost synonymous with being beautiful. I consider so many people of all shapes and sizes beautiful. If everyone looked like Heidi Klum we’d all be gorgeous, but wouldn’t that be boring? Like my Groove Armada friends said, “We’d get tired of looking at each other.” Embrace your uniqueness today! It makes you beautiful and fun to look at. 😀

And that was my random thought of the day! 😉 Back to normal blogger Julie:

Double Brownie Batch

Last night before dinner and holiday movie night, I baked two batches of brownies for a holiday party at Ryan’s work today.

Brownie Mix

• Duncan Hines Candy Shop Peanut Butter Cup Brownies
• Betty Crocker Cookie Brownie Bars

Is there anything better than brownie batter? Well, maybe cookie dough… but in the case of these cookie brownie bars, I got to enjoy both.

Cookie Dough annnnd Brownie Batter

How fantastic does that look!?

Our apartment smelled wonderful, but I had to leave for movie night before they were done. Ryan was a little nervous about taking them out of the oven at the right time, but they turned out perfect.

Cookie Brownie Bars

Double Brownie Batch

I really enjoy baking from scratch, but boxed brownie mixes are tasty and so easy when you’re short on time.

Movie Night Recap

I headed over to my friend Kaitlyn’s around 7:15 p.m. to hang out with mah girls and watch Love Actually.

My friend Laurel, me and the movie of the night

As always, we talked through most of the movie, but made sure to stop long enough to watch a few key parts (like the “To me you are perfect” sign scene… aw).

Throughout the night Laurel was a busy little baker and made multiple batches of homemade banana muffins for a work breakfast this morning.

Laurel the Baker

They smelled phenomenal. Drool…

Merri and Kaitlyn enjoyed hammin’ it up for the blog by holding up Kaitlyn’s computer with Peanut Butter Fingers on display. Unfortunately the computer screen reflected, but you get the idea.

Merri, Kaitlyn and Peanut Butter Fingers

Look how into my blog Merri is! What a dedicated friend. 😉

Workout and Breakfast

This morning started out with a nice and sweaty workout.

• 15 minutes stair master
• 10 minute run
• 25 minutes incline walking

Simple and effective.

For breakfast I knew I wanted to use one of Ryan’s very ripe bananas since he said they’re gonna go bad soon and needed to be used ASAP.

Banana Slices

I decided to make Elvis’ favorite peanut butter and banana sandwich: the PB & B.

I toasted two slices of whole wheat toast, spread lots o’ peanut butter on top and added the banana slices.

Elvis would be proud

PB & B

I enjoyed my breakfast sandwich with a hot cup of eggnog tea.

Thursday's Breakfast

Pop Secret and Emeralds Nuts Giveaway Winner

Using Random.org’s random number generator, the winner of yesterday’s giveaway is Cindy!

Cindy said: “I try and bring my own food in but growing up I always picked up the Junior Mints.”

Please email me (pbfingers@gmail.com) with your address so I can send you the goodies!

Also, just in case you were curious, the most popular movie theater favorites were popcorn and M&Ms. You guys have great taste! 🙂

Crock Pot Pork Chops and Apple Sauce

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This is a long shot, but does anybody remember the episode of The Brady Bunch where Peter (I think) says “pork chops and apple sauce” in the goofiest voice?

Well, as a former Nick at Nite fan, I used to watch reruns of The Brady Bunch with my sister and we somehow picked up on this little quip.

The Place for T.V. Reruns!

Now, whenever I think of pork chops, I always think of apple sauce. This word-association inspired my dinner for tonight.

What are your favorite T.V. show reruns?

My favorite reruns are definitely episodes of Friends. Hands down, no competition there! After all, Joey and I do share an affinity for Peanut Butter Fingers!

Crock Pot Dinner

This morning before I left for work, I prepped dinner in the crock pot.

I started by trimming the fat off pork chops before placing them in the crock pot and covering the meat with applesauce and cinnamon. I let this cook on low for about eight hours.

When I arrived home from work, the aroma smelled fantastic. I bet it was driving Sadie crazy all day!

Cinnamon Apple Sauce Pork Chops

Cinnamon Apple Sauce Pork Chops

Ingredients:

• 4 pork chops
• 3 c. apple sauce (or enough to coat the meat)
• Several dashes of cinnamon

Directions:

Trim unwanted fat from pork chops. Place in a slow cooker and top with apple sauce and cinnamon. Stir mixture so cinnamon and apple sauce coat the pork chops. Cook on low for 6 – 8 hours.

The chops were pretty good! Nothing amazing, but we agreed we’d make them again.

We paired the choppers with a bowl of Amy’s organic black bean vegetable soup.

Amy's Black Bean Veggie Soup

I love Amy’s products for the simplicity of their ingredient list. Here are the ingredients in this soup: (VEGAN) ORGANIC BLACK BEANS, FILTERED WATER, ORGANIC ONIONS, ORGANIC CARROTS, ORGANIC CORN, ORGANIC POTATOES, ORGANIC CELERY, ORGANIC LEEKS, SPICES, ORGANIC CILANTRO, ORGANIC GARLIC, SEA SALT, ORGANIC HIGH OLEIC SAFFLOWER AND/OR SUNFLOWER OIL, ORGANIC BLACK PEPPER.

I recognized every last one except for high oleic safflower oil – huh??? A quick Wikipedia look up informed me that safflower is “a thistle-like annual, usually with many long sharp spines on the leaves.”

Plants and flowers = good for you, right? The use of safflower in my food is a-okay by me.

Delicious Soup

This soup was tasty! Both Ryan and I gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up. 😀

Holiday Movie Night

Tonight I’m heading to my friend Kaitlyn’s house for our weekly girl’s holiday movie night. The movie on the agenda for tonight is Love Actually.

Love Actually

“I feel it in my fingers,
I feel it in my toes,
Christmas is all around me,
and so the feeling grows”

My favorite part of the movie is this scene:

Together Now: "Awwww!"

Ryan, if you’d like to hold up love posters for me I wouldn’t object. 😉

…And I’m off to movie night! G’night all!

Giveaway

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway! The winner will be announced tomorrow morning.