Baked Hot Cocoa & Belgian Waffles

I think we found the location for our rehearsal dinner!

Last night Ryan and I met up with Robin at 400 Beach Seafood and Tap House, a restaurant within walking distance of our wedding ceremony site.

400 Beach Seafood & Tap House

Robin took us through lots of different options and made it pretty clear that we could build a menu and plan our event in whatever way we want. Gotta love that kind of flexibility!

Dinner

We came home ready for dinner!

Everyone was in the mood for pizza, so we ordered two large pizzas, one cheese and one veggie, from Pizza Hut.

Veggie Pizza

Cheese Pizza

I had several slices of each. I really like hopping back and forth between the two different pizzas… the ooey gooey cheesy goodness and the yummy veggies. Great combination!

After dinner, I made baked hot cocoa using a mix my sister gave to my dad for Christmas.

Hot Cocoa Mug Cake Mix

The hot chocolate cake was really easy to make and tasted like molten chocolate cake.

Of course we had to enjoy it with ice cream.

Mug Cake

Dessert

Yummy!

Breakfast

Yesterday after making banana walnut stuffed French toast, my family started talking about how nice weekend breakfasts truly are. I love taking extra time to create breakfast comfort food on a sleepy weekend morning.

Today we opted for homemade Belgian waffles.

Belgian Waffle

A Belgian waffle just isn’t a Belgian waffle without syrup and whipped cream.

Doctored Up

What a fantastic start to a Sunday morning!

We’re about to head out to church before going to see manatees today. Sounds like a fun Sunday to me! 😀

“Exercise Gives You Endorphins”

“Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t shoot their husbands, they just don’t.”

Elle Woods knows what she’s talkin’ about!

I woke up this morning feeling sleepy and blah. On my way to the gym I thought “I really don’t feel like working out today” a couple of times.

I repeated my motivating exercise mantra “I’ve never regretted a work out,” and headed off to BodyPump. Before I knew it, I was in the groove and feeling happier. Gotta love those endorphins!

After BodyPump, I did 25 minutes of light cardio while reading the latest issue of Oxygen magazine.

Breakfast

Today’s breakfast gets two thumbs up!

After last night’s eggplant lasagna, we have a big ol’ tub of ricotta cheese that we need to plow through before it goes bad.

When I popped open the lid on the ricotta cheese container, Sadie went into instant begging mode.

Cheese, Please

After giving her a couple spoonfuls, I scooped out about a quarter of a cup of ricotta cheese before adding a bit of Splenda and cinnamon to make it s a lil’ sweeter.

I spread the mixture on top of two toasted waffles before topping them with syrup.

Cinnamon Ricotta Waffles

Loved this breakfast!!

Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday. 😀

Great Friends, Fun Games, Good Food

Last night’s game night was full of laughs and yummy eats.

Game Night Spread

Everyone brought a yummy dish and we had quite the selection of tasty treats!

Rice Krispie Treats

Meatballs

Cinnamon Bread

Meat & Cheese

I kept coming back for those delicious Rice Krispie treats. I love ’em!

CatchPhrase seemed to be the game of choice for the evening and the girls dominated… until the boys took over. 😉 We also played charades and I picked some pretty difficult television shows and movies to act out. How on earth do you act out Fraggle Rock!?

Fraggle Rock

Today

The chill has officially hit Orlando! Woohoo!!!

When Ryan and I stepped outside to take Sadie on her morning walk, we immediately turned around to change into something warmer. What a great sign of real autumn weather.

We were in the mood for a warm and toasty breakfast and French toast seemed like the ideal morning meal.

French Toast

I made the French toast using a whole wheat Arnold’s sandwich thin with egg whites, cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice and almond extract.

Yummers

Of course I topped my French toast with sticky syrup.

Saturday Mornin' Breakfast

I also enjoyed some cottage cheese and grapes to fill me up a bit more.

Now we’re digesting our breakfasts and watching Remember the Titans before hittin’ the gym and running some errands.

We also bought a ton of food at the grocery store this morning and have all the fresh veggies and ingredients to make chicken soup later today. A perfect warm fall meal. 🙂

Happy Saturday!

A Very Autumn Meal: Apple Acorn Squash

Acorn squash!

Acorn Squash

After purchasing this lil’ guy at the grocery store at the beginning of October, he was relegated to the “produce basket” for several weeks.

Fruits and Veggies

I didn’t want to disturb him because he added such a nice touch of fall flare to the mix. (Looks like it’s time to use those bananers, huh?)

Alas, D-Day for the squash arrived last night.

Ahhhh

I’ve never prepared an acorn squash and I didn’t even realize they were used for anything other than autumn decoration until this year! I turned to my favorite resource (Google) to figure out how to prepare the squash.

First, as instructed by the MayoClinic’s Web site, I pierced the squash all over with a knife to allow steam to escape when I microwaved it on high for five minutes (turning at three minutes).

This made it suuuuper easy to cut into the acorn squash, unlike any experience I’ve had cutting into it’s spaghetti or butternut brothers.

Once the acorn squash was halved, I removed the seeds.

Lots o' Seeds

No Mo' Seeds

Because I didn’t just want to eat plain squash for dinner, I turned to autumn’s  favorite fruit to fill the squash – the apple.

Ambrosia Apple

I sliced the apple with my handy-dandy apple slicer before cutting it into chunks and topping it with brown sugar.

Apple Slices

Chunk-a-Chunk of Apple

Because Apples Apparently Aren't Sweet Enough...

I distributed the apple mixture between the two halves of acorn squash.

Apple Acorn Squash

I placed the apple-stuffed squash back in the microwave for another three minutes until the apples were warm, but still slightly crisp.

When the squash was done, I plated one half and smooshed it out, topping the squash with lots of cinnamon.

Cinnamon Apple Acorn Squash

It was delicious!

About halfway through my squash, Ryan casually mentioned he thought it would taste good with syrup, so I added light syrup to the mix and WOW. My fiance is an acorn squash genius.

For lunch today, you can bet I smothered my leftovers with syrup!

Leftover Lunch

This dinner and lunch was yummy and I’m excited to make it again, adding even more fun additions.

Possible recipe additions:

• Pecans
• Honey
• Walnuts
• Sunflower Seeds
• Peach Slices
• Pear Slices
• Craisins or Raisins

All in all, this was a tasty (and festive) meal!