Head over to my new website as I will no longer be posting on this one!
http://www.thefoodieinthecity.com
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And the secret is at http://www.thefoodieinthecity.com!
Please switch your readers and head on over to the new site. 
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First off, I would like to thank all of the servicemen and woman who serve and have served our country. I would like to thank you all from the bottom of my heart, you are all amazing people.
Today is even more special to me because it is my mama’s birthday!!
Now, you already know how amazing she is in taking Petrie in until Mike and my lease is up.
But words cannot even express how incredible she is as a mom, sister, friend, career woman, and the list goes on and on. Most importantly though, she has raised my brother and I to be the strong and successful individuals that we are today. She would do anything for us in the world, but she also taught us tough love.
As any family has, we’ve had our bumps in the road, but my mom has kept the three of us a tight-knit family through thick and thin. She is my best friend in the whole wide world and she deserves a long life of happiness for years to come. Happy birthday mama, I love you!
Moving on to today…
I got 8.5 hours of sleep last night and practically sprung out of bed this morning. It think a good nights sleep was exactly what I needed to not feel sickly and run down. Since I am obviously feeling better and have loads of energy, back to the gym routine it was for me. 7.2 miles in 67 minutes. Whoohoo!
For breakfast this morning, I dug into the freezer for inspiration last night. Guys, I love the freezer, and the freezer loves me.
Whenever we have leftovers that I won’t eat before they go bad, bread products, fruit, meats, etc., they all go in the freezer for future eating.
Now I obviously didn’t find my Barney Butter in the freezer, but is the star of my breakfast. How could Barney Butter not be the star of any meal that it is included in?
But what I did dig up out of the freezer is a pumpkin bagel!
I love buying ‘last nights bagels’ from the local bagel shops such as Brueggers and Panera. However, they don’t have the added preservatives, so they go bad much, much quicker than store-bought bagels. So into the freezer of love they head for purposes like today.
So yes, I am having a bagel + Barney Butter for breakfast. And a banana to have with breakfast or as a mid-morning snack.
Lunch today will be bought. 
Reasoning? Because my company has today off, but I am working. So if I am working, you best bet I will be treating myself to something good! (No worries, I get an extra vacation day for working today).
While I am out for lunch, I will also be sending Petrie, as well as one of my favorite bloggers and best bloggie friend, packages today.
Does your work/school have today off? If so, what are you doing to enjoy your day off?
I’m totally not feeling all that with it today, a little bit like a rusty engine that isn’t wanting to turn on.
I woke up in the middle of the night sweating and feeling a little cruddy. I am crossing my fingers whatever it is just works its way through my system. I am feeling slightly better already having gotten up and moving around. Positive thoughts!
Needless to say, my appetite is present, just not 100%. So I packed the components for a yogurt mess to make at work.
First up, the star of the show. Pomegrante Yumberry yogurt. It looked intriguing at the store. Has anybody ever tried/seen this flavor before?
The cereal component is one of my long lost loves. Go Lean Crunch. I always forget about this gem. It has the best crunch and fabulous staying power for me.
And an overripe banana. Nasty to many, delicious to me. And makes the perfect, easy mix in.
Soothes the soul, those yogurt messes.
For lunch I packed a hearty, comfort food meal. Leftover Shepard’s Pie and mini salad with spinach, snap peas and TJ’s three layer hummus.
I love hummus as a ‘dressing’. Especially this TJ’s flavor with the zesty cilantro layer.
Here’s to another work day, my friends.
My company gets tomorrow off, but I am working and catching up. I then in turn will get another vacation day. I am estatic because here is my vacation lineup:
And that still leaves me with three days to burn. Whoohoo!
Do you like overripe bananas? Or do you like yours more green? I have found people are VERY particular about their bananas. Mine need to be overripe.
Don’t forget to enter your recipes into this weeks Blogger Secret Ingredient Contest! The ingredient is ricotta cheese.
Hi everyone! Mike here, and I hope everyone had a wonderful day. My day was both good and bad. I woke up this morning feeling a bit under the weather so I took a sick day today. While feeling ill is unfortunate, I strongly believe that a full day of rest is often times just what the doctor ordered in order to regain your motivation and health. It worked and I am looking forward to hitting the grind hard tomorrow and getting some things done.
Since I was at home all day, and since Jenna and I had purchased rough ingredients for it during one of our recent trips to the grocery store, I figured today would be the perfect day for slow cooked beef stew. So, when I got out of bed at about 8:15, I got to work right away so I could rest up and get better. If any readers haven’t used a slow cooker (honestly my first time using it for something other than an appetizer or dip), those things are awesome! Super easy to use and the outcome was delicious. Here is all it took to serve 2 (many recipes out there call for a family of 4-5):
1 lb. of Beef Stew Meat (usually comes pre-cut in the meat section – both inexpensive and convenient)
2 Carrots – chopped (obviously)
1 and a half of a Jumbo Russet baking potato – peeled and cubed
2 Celery stalks – chopped
about a handful of frozen pearl onions
1 cup of water
Half packet of McCormick Beef Stew Seasoning
3 Jalapeno Rings – chopped (Optional, Jenna and I add Jalapenos to just about everything if you had not noticed!)
Additional Spices as desired. For this guy I added in: Garlic Salt, Black pepper, a little over a teaspoon of both Roasted Garlic Worcestershire Sauce and Franks Red Hot for a kick.
All you need to do is toss all the veggies and meat into the slow cooker, mix the seasoning in a separate bowl with the cup of water, toss onto the goods, stir, add your extras, stir some more and cook on low in the slow cooker for about 7 hours. It was ready by the time Jenna got home.
Here are the photos, served with a side of sourdough baked in the oven:
Overall pretty outstanding meal if you ask me. Perfect for a cool, fall evening. Definitely will be using the slow cooker much more often.
Dessert is more of Jenna’s to-die-for apple crisp a la mode (aren’t I lucky to get all of these treats all the time?? I mean, come on!):
Thanks for reading. To go along with Jenna’s question theme: What is your favorite slow-cooker meal? Any good suggestions for something else to try?
Looking forward to posting again soon!
Mike
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It’s another week and another Blogger Secret Ingredient. Week 56 to be exact.
Thank you, Julie, for selecting me to host this weeks secret ingredient. As a reminder, here is how all the fun goes down:
Each week, a new host picks an ingredient and anyone (food blogger or not) can submit a recipe.
The rules:
Make sure you visit all of these fabulous bloggers that have hosted the secret ingredient week in the past.
Week 55: Savvy Eats- Maple Syrup
Week 54: Sound Eats – Dried Fruit
Week 53: MegaNerdRuns – Acorn Squash
Week 52: Healthy Tipping Point – Pancake Mix
Week 51: Live, Laugh Eat – Almond Butter
Week 50: Balance, Joy and Delicias! – Cauliflower
Week 49: Healthy San Diego Living – Chickpeas
Week 48: Thought 4 Food – Yogurt
Week 47: London Foodie in New York – Chocolate
Week 46: Johnstone’s Vin Blanc – Oats
Week 45: Guilty Kitchen – Figs
Week 44: Ordinary Recipes Made Gourmet – Peanut Butter
Week 43: The Sophisticated Gourmet – Brown Sugar
Week 42: My Kitchen Addiction – Lime
Week 41: Nutmeg Nanny – Coffee
Week 40: Chaya’s Comfy Cook – Broccoli
Week 39: Healthy Delicious – Plums
Week 38: Zoe – Feta
Week 37: ChezWhat- Potatoes
Week 36: Cinnamon, Spice & Everything Nice – Blueberries
Week 35: Girlichef -Greens
Week 34: The Ungourmet – Watermelon
Week 33: Bread + Butter – Bell Pepper
Week 32: Burp and Slurp -Corn
Week 31: Say Yes to Salad – Kabocha
Week 31 1/2: Simply Fabulous Now– Cherries
Week 30: Thinspired – Bananas
Week 29: To Be The Whole Package – Almonds
Week 28: Kristas Kravings – Lemon
Week 27: From French Fries To Flax Seeds – Coconut
Week 26: Plentiful Plants – Avocado
Week 25: Training Fuel – Eggs
Week 24: Dinner at Christina’s – Cabbage
Week 23: Hey What’s for Dinner, Mom? – Strawberries
Week 22: One Bite at a Time – Basil
Week 21: Just Sweet Enough – Black Beans
Week 20: What I Ate Yesterday – Kale
Week 19: What’s for Dinner – Orange
Week 18: Bran Appetit!–Spinach
Week 17: Tales of Expansion -Dates
Week 16: Biggest Diabetic Loser – Zucchini
Week 15: Sweet & Natural –Peppermint
Week 14: bella eats [and runs] – Ginger
Week 13: Coffee Talk – Walnuts
Week 12: For the Love of Oats – Pumpkin
Week 11: Trying to Heal – Sweet Potatoes
Week 10: The Inner Workings of a College Graduate – Eggplant
Week 9: Itzy’s Kitchen – Pears
Week 8: The Fitnessista – Cranberries
Week 7: Tri to Cook – Lentils
Week 6: Rhodey Girl Tests – Polenta
Week 5: Eating Bender – Butternut Squash
Week 4: Care to Eat – Apples
Week 3: On a Lobster Placemat – Mushrooms
Week 2: Hangry Pants – Tomatoes
Week 1: sportsnutritionliving – Quinoa
My secret ingredient came to me right away. So what is it you ask? Ricotta cheese!
Ricotta is such a versatile ingredient. It can be used for sweet and savory. My kind of ingredient.
Remember when I used it a few weeks back for my Super Stuffed Buffalo Chicken? I also have been meaning to make a stuffed french toast with the secret ingredient as well.
How you are going to use it is the most important question, my friends.
How to win/things to note for this week’s BSI:
Have fun!
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I just pulled a major blonde move. Wow.
But prior to the blonde moment happening, I had some delicious eats today. It was mostly a ‘snack yourself throughout the day’ type of day today, which most days are for me, post long run.
Here are a few things that I did capture though…
Pumpkin Honey Wheat Psncakes with mixed in berries. And, syrup of course.
Many, many thoughtless handfuls of this combo. Veggie Cheddar Goldfish and Baked Cheetos.
And then, my blonde moment came when it was time for dinner. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize until after dinner what had happened.
I was snapping photos of my dinner without the memory stick in the camera. And we have no cord for our camera. Ummm, duh Jenna! What makes it even better is me asking Mike how there were pictures of dinner on the camera. Yep, I forgot that cameras have a limited memory to hold pictures on the camera itself. Wowza.
I can describe my dinner though. 
First up, a pumpkin beer on our rooftop deck. It was a lovely evening in Minneapolis.
For our meal we made TJ’s Orange Chicken with rice. Also, cooked up some green bell peppers, snap peas and onion to mix into the dish to add some veggies.
Our thought on the TJ’s Orange Chicken? Pretty nasty. We didn’t look at the package when buying it to see that is said ‘dark meat’. We both aren’t fans of dark meat. While it was edible, there were some pieces that looked very questionable to us. And for Mike to say he wasn’t a fan of anything Chinese, that is saying, A LOT.
It was also my first experience not liking something from TJ’s. 
On the side, some TJ’s potstickers with peanut sauce. You can’t go wrong there. Regardless of the not so great chicken, I am definitely full and content.
And for dessert, the best part of any day, right?
We bought a school bus yesterday. But not just any school bus, one from Appletown School District.
I know, I’m so clever.
The bus turned into a lovely crisp, using this recipe for Maple-Walnut Apple Crisp.
I made a few adaptations based on what I had on hand. I used agave instead of maple syrup, nixed the walnuts and made the crumble topping x1.5.
I can’t wait to have a large portion of this crisp tonight, with whipped cream and Häagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream melted on top.
What are you having for dessert tonight?
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HAPPY FRIDAY!!! We’ve finally reached the end of the week my friends. Anybody have any fun plans this weekend?
I am going to happy hour after work with some work friends. Then tomorrow, Mike and I got football tickets in my company’s box for the Gopher football game tomorrow morning. After that, it is going to be 100% relaxation. Whoohoo!
Since I will be unable to workout tomorrow morning (at least without having to wake up at an ungodly hour, which I won’t be doing) and having the strict ‘I NEED to relax’ guideline for the rest of the day, I sucked it up and went to the gym this morning.
I usually take it easy on Fridays and either don’t workout at all or do some form of yoga. Today however, I ran 7 miles in 70 minutes. A nice, slow and steady pace. Now I totally deserve my scone.
Last week when we went to get our scones they only had three left. Thank goodness we had gotten there just in time. I mean, what would I have done if they were out? Lol. And lucky enough, there were three of us wanting scones.
My friend Brian and I fought over who would get the cinnamon chip that was left, both our favorite flavor. The other two flavors were blueberry (kind of lame) and toffee (sounded too intense for an a.m. ‘meal’). I of course got the cinnamon chip. Thanks Brian!
Totally lame of me for getting the same kind over and over. Semi-boring for you too. So, I’ve told myself that if they have a new flavor that I haven’t tried this morning, I will get it. No ifs, ands or buts.
On the lunch front…
So I’ve decided that if I bring my breakfast and lunch Monday-Thursday, I will treat myself to a healthy lunch out on Friday’s. So while I didn’t necessarily fulfill those requirements this week, I am going to pretend that they start next week. Ok? Ok.
I have been having a serious Jimmy John’s craving this week. There is one in our building and every single morning when I walk in I smell the scent of fresh-baked bread. It kills me. Literally everyday. So I’ll crush my craving today!
It is up in the air as to what I will be getting. Many of their sandwiches nutritionals are pretty frightening. So it will more than likely be between the Turkey Tom and the Vegetarian.
While I won’t be getting the below sandwich, which I believe is the Vito, it sure looks rather tasty.
So while I was looking at nutritionals for the different sandwiches, the question of the day popped into my head. **FYI, I do NOT count calories. It just is interesting to me to see where different sandwiches at a major chain rank in terms of the value they provide to our bodies.
What is your thought on the new regulations that enforce the calories to be listed next to the corresponding menu item? There are many, many articles relating to this topic. But if you are unfamiliar with it, here is one article published in the NYT’s.
I could really see it either way.
On one end, it will bring a ‘sticker shock’ realization to many restaurant goers as to what they really are putting into their bodies. I believe a large portion of our country’s population really have no clue what proper nutrition is. What it would look like. And just how many calories they can consume in one restaurant meal. Hello, like a whole days worth!
On the other side though, I believe it sends a negative message out to young girls and boys, even adults, that calories are the end all be all. Which could encourage people to get so caught up in calorie counting and then spiral to behaviors unintended, for instance, eating disorders. We are already bombarded with unrealistic body types, workout regiments, and menus everywhere we look. Celebrities, Entertainment Tonight, gossip magazines, fitness magazines, all sources of, at times, negative energy.
While you may not agree with my two cents, that is just fine. It just one persons opinion. Please, feel free to share your own.
Happy Friday, y’all!
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Good morning!
I have to say, I am feeling refreshed and rejuvenated after getting 9 hours of sleep last night. My body has been telling me it is tired lately. What better way to cure that then sleep and skipping the gym!
Other than that, not much to report on my front. Same old, same old for me today. But I did manage to pack both breakfast and lunch. Lately, as you know, this has been a struggle! And better yet, I actually want to eat them.
So, as I was searching through our mess of cupboards last night, I found this.
Okay, so totally not the healthiest thing around, but hey, it was an impulse by a few months back, and I’m not going to throw it away.
However, to make these gems a bit healthier, instead of adding for the 1/3 cup of oil it called for, I used canned pumpkin. Who needs oil when you have pumpkin??
Mmm mm mmmm, look at the strusel topping. I am packing two of these for breakfast this morning, they are on the small side.
Along with an overripe, juicy pear. Just how I like them.
Lunch is, of course, leftovers from last night. Who else loves leftovers? Seriously, all you have to do is put food in a container, and bam, you have your lunch. Usually I think food always tastes way better the next day anyway!
We’ve got leftover butternut squash with the tofu in the middle. Surrounding the squash is a can, yep, a whole can, of green beans. Soooo good.
There of course will be some miscellaneous snacks throughout the day. I am a total grazer.
I’m off to work, have a wonderful Thursday!
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What is your eating schedule like? Do you stick to three meals a day? Or do you have smaller meals with snacks in between? Please share! I stick to three smaller meals a day with two snacks and a dessert. Slow and steady meals throughout the day wins the race for me.
Has anybody ever heard of, or been to the Cake Wrecks website?
I was reading People magazine at the gym this morning and stumbled across a blurb about this site. I couldn’t wait to visit the site!
The founder of the blog, who now has a cook out, Jen Yates, collects photos of cakes that may not have turned out how they were intended.
For instance…
How hilarious is that? Head over to the website I linked above. It will give you some great laughs.
So, it has been awhile since I’ve had oats, no? I have to admit, I kind of forgot about them. Gasp!
This morning, I made a big bowl of oats at work. Not just any bowl, pumpkin chocolate chip oats. An ode to my favorite muffin.
The bowl started with two packets instant oatmeal. (Hey, I do what I can with the microwave at work )
About 1/3 cup of canned pumpkin. I thought a photo of the can would be better. Pumpkin in a container is not very pleasant to look at.
About one heaping tablespoon of chocolate chips.
And of course, some agave for sweetness.
Holy yum. Talk about a party in my mouth! What would realllly be good is a little bit of crumbled pumpkin chocolate chip muffin in this bowl!
When we went to TJ’s last week, I picked up what looked to be the most interesting hummus available.
Look at the beautiful layers!
I of course had to try this last night with some pita chips. The zesty cilantro (green layer) is a-mazing. It has a serious kick to it.
This now staple in my household was the base of a wrap I put together for lunch.
So what is in the wrap?
On the side, I’ll venture out and get some chips of some sort most likely.
I have an enormous honeycrisp apple for snack later. And my bosses boss left a gigantic bag of mixed Halloween candy on my desk. Is she trying to put some lbs on me??
Don’t forget, you have until 8 pm tonight to enter my giveaway!
What is your favorite oatmeal combo?
