My First Giveaway!

All the technical gods are smiling upon me today. My camera and laptop are communicating effectively so we’re all systems go.

First, you have to suffer through my eats and ramblings of the day.

I woke up STARVING which is becoming a daily thing lately. I had (another) bowl of Cascadian Farms Multigrain Squares with organic skim milk and a POM (“pregnant lady”) spritzer. No picture today. If you really want to see, check out breakfast yesterday.

Morning snacks were a Yoplait Light yogurt (Raspberry Yogurt flavor) and a Cookies ‘n’ Cream Luna Bar.

We’re starting month 2 of the workouts at work and I’m really glad. We lost 2 members, but gained 2 new ladies so that cost stayed the same. Our trainer forgot to bring the hand weights so there were more core stations than normal in our circuit. Loved it!

After my workout I had the leftover egg noodles from last night. I packed chicken breast and Italian dressing to put on top, but icky tummy syndrome has been hitting me in the afternoon and the only things that sound appealing are bland & carby eats. I just tossed them with a little EVOO and parmesan cheese. Forgot to snap a picture, but it would have been a really boring one anyway. I wasn’t hungry the rest of the afternoon so I guess my body got whatever it needed from that.

I was, however, hungry again at dinner time. I rubbed some pork chops with garlic, baked them and served baked potatoes on the side. The potatoes were HUGE. I only had half of one, but it was plenty.

See that delicious looking sauce served on the side? That’s Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce and it is DEEEE-licious! The very generous Al from Country Bob’s sent me some of their yummy sauce to sample. My husband and I were instant fans. The flavor is really unique without overpowering the food it’s accompanying.

*****CONTEST ALERT******

The generous folks at Country Bob’s have offered to send a not one, but TWO lucky readers their very own bottle of All Purpose Sauce to try and enjoy. All you have to do is this:

1) Comment on this post. Be sure to include your name and blog URL (if you have one) so that I can check out what you’re blogging.
2) Post a link back to this contest on your blog.

If you don’t have a blog, e-mail me at upfitcreek@gmail.com with just a quick blurb including your name and where you’re from. No need to be super specific unless you want to be. Just your state (or country if it’s outside of the US) will be fine.

You have until midnight EST on Sunday, March 8th to comment and link back or e-mail. I’ll randomly select two people to receive this fabulous prize. Winners will be posted on Monday after I’ve had a chance to review all of the entries and draw names. (Yes. The deadline has been extended!)

GOOD LUCK to everyone who enters!

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“Fast Food”

I went back to work today which was probably a mistake. The news made it sound like the roads weren’t too bad. My husband called shortly after he left to tell me that the streets were snow covered where he was, but that I’d be fine if I slowed down and took it easy.

Wrong. What normally takes an hour and a half took over two hours today. Basically my entire commute was like driving on gravel because of the ice with snow packed on top of it.. My car was shaking. I was shaking. It was loud. I thought if I just kept driving a little further it would get better. That was not the case, but by the time I decided I should probably turn around I was already halfway there. I kept pushing and eventually made it only to almost get stuck trying to pull into the parking lot.

Anyway, enough of my whining. I got to work safely and that’s really all that matters. On to my eats!

I wanted to get out the door as early as possible so I grabbed a Clif bar for breakfast. This was the first time I’ve ever had the Chocolate Chip flavor and it was good. Just enough chocolate without being overly sweet. I really like the texture of these bars. Not only are they hearty, but the consistency forces me to slow down when I eat. Here’s an after picture of the wrapper:

Lunch was a Lean Cuisine Chicken Club panini. Not exactly the most “natural” food ever, but they have good flavor and stick with you. I don’t like to have packaged lunches like this every day. However, they do work well when you’re in a hurry and they’re better than icky fast food.

An hour or so after lunch I was feeling anxious so I had a cup of Tazo Calm tea and did some deep breathing at my desk.

Snack was a few Kashi TLC crackers (one of my new addictions) and a wedge of Laughing Cow Light swiss cheese.

I worked through my lunch and got to leave at four so I could pick up the pooch and be home before dark. They’re calling for more snow tonight and I didn’t want to chance getting stuck in that if it came early. The drive was a little better than this morning. Still pretty icy and slow going.

I cooked Ranch Chicken & Potatoes in the crock pot yesterday so that we could just heat it up for a quick dinner tonight. My friend gave me this recipe and I’m not exactly certain of the original source.

1lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1 can cream of chicken soup (I use 99% fat free)
1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix (powder)
1/4 cup diced onion
20 oz. Yukon Gold potatoes, cubed & parboiled 10-15 minutes

Put all the ingredients in a slow cooker and stir together. Cook on low 4-6 hours.

On the side I had cottage cheese and a romaine & green leaf lettuce salad with a drizzle of Annie’s Goddess dressing. I won’t bore you with a picture of another of these salads. Seems like it’s becoming a trend.

I’ve had a horrible headache all day and ibuprofen isn’t touching it. Not sure what’s up. I normally don’t get headaches, but they’ve been an every other day thing for about the last week. I’ll be taking it easy this evening and probably heading to bed early again. Looks like I’ll need to be up and at ‘em early again tomorrow.

I’m really excited to be participating in the Valentine’s Day Blogging Exchange! Click here for more information or to sign up. You need to do so by January 30th (which is tomorrow) so don’t wait!

What’s your “go to” lunch when you’re in a hurry to get something together?

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Time Flies

It seems like my days off are super short. I feel like I just woke up and now it’s almost time for bed. I did have a productive day which makes me feel good.

One of the productive things I did was make this Quick Quiona & Turkey Stew from GreenLiteBites. Holy yumminess! It was really easy to make and tastes amazing. The only modifications I made were that I left out the onion (because I hate it) and used chickpeas instead of pinto beans because it’s what I had. After a couple of bites I divided the whole batch out into individual servings and popped them in the fridge. Ta-da! Lunches for the week are now taken care of.

After that I worked around the house (laundry, dishes, prep for the work week) and watched an episode of Jon & Kate + 8. Love that show! Those kids are just so stinkin’ cute. I know a lot of people say Kate is out of control and I agree that she has her over-the-top moments. All in all though I really admire her because of her planning and scheduling skills.

I wasn’t hungry right after my workout. It just hit me all of a sudden that I was starving! My late afternoon snack was a small glass of organic skim milk and a chocolate VitaTop. My grocery FINALLY started carrying these and I’m ridiculously excited.

My husband called as he was leaving work and I popped the pork chops and baked potatoes in the oven. The timer went off at almost the exact moment he walked in the door. How’s THAT for timing?

I wasn’t really in a meat and potatoes mood so I fixed myself an alternative. I had a salad of romaine lettuce, black olives, whole wheat croutons and a little drizzle of Annie’s Goddess dressing.

I also sliced up a tomato and topped it with cottage cheese and freshly ground black pepper.

After dinner I just relaxed and read my book for a while, dreading going back to work tomorrow. Oh well. Just gotta do it. I am excited to try new oat concoctions starting tomorrow. Stay tuned for the results!

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