All over the place....

Helllo pretties!

I've been a terrible person.. absolutely horrible.... and by that I mean I had a wayyy too crazy weekend and didnt even have 5 mins to sit down and blog it out ! I've been racing around running errands, trying to get out and have a tiny bit of time for FUN with friends, and I worked like a mad woman.... not to mention workout time, which is a necessity for me also :)

So lets get right down to it, shall we??

Tina's having a giveaway!! ...I'm personally excited about this one because it's a product I haven't been lucky enough to try cooking with yet but have wanted to for a while. TOFU!

Speaking of Tina... I'm going to backtrack to a very special Friday... one many of you, I hope, participated in...

COOKIE FRIDAY:

Cookie Friday started like any other Friday... got up, had breakfast, had a great workout and then got to thinking about where I was going to get my sweet treat for my first CF.

Lombardi's Bakery just so happens to be in the same town as my gym; leading me to believe it's fate that I wandered in here....

PICTURE THIS: Homade-made cannolis, perfectly fluffy overstuffed cream puffs, coconut macaroons, mini-Napolean cakes....

In the most amazing Italian bakery, how does a girl searching for perfection decide?

I see this out of the corner of my eye. Problem solved.

Gingerbread men in October!? You betcha!!!

Not running so fast NOW are we Mr. GingyPants? ;)

Amazing. I'm a giant gingerbread fan and the second I spotted these I knew they would make me the happiest... the cookie had a crunch around the edges but was soft & chewy in the center with meringue chocolate eyes. YUM.

And the excitement from Cookie Friday left me wanting to bake ohhhh I don't know... MORE cookies?

I'd been promising my co-workers I would bring in a home-baked treat for them ever since I mentioned I'm a baking fiend. No better time than now when I have a Friday off from work to come up with a recipe to satisfy the hunger of numerous waitstaff, bartenders, and kitchen folk!

I made Peanut Butter "Cows" as I like to call them....

Full of oatmeal (my favorite in a cookie), peanut butter, and both chocolate & white chocolate chips... hence the name, COWS.. black & white spots? You got it...

I adjusted the regular recipe just a tad to throw some healthy swaps in there and halved the recipe because Jilly has been threatening me if I don't stop baking because she feels she's gained 10 lbs. from my treats... Jilly-you're gaw-geous!!!! STOP IT! :)

Peanut Butter Cows:

• 1-1/2 c. oats
• 1/2 c. wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/2 (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temp.
• 1/2 c. Peanut Butter
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. packed light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 3/4 c. mix of chocolate chips & white chocolate chips

My co-workers loved them... they were devoured hours before my shift ended :)

Friday night's dinner was heaven sent...

I marinated a tilapia filet with lemon, pepper, & some seasonings for about 15 minutes...

Then baked it & served with roasted veggies & red potatoes.

Followed by a sweet treat (as if I haven't had enough on Cookie Friday) I had a scoop of After Dark Chocolate Stonyfield FF froyo with a sprinkle of Bear Naked granola. Perfect!




SATURDAY:


Saturday began the best way: with a yogurt mess, photographed in the morning light :)


Followed by me frantically getting ready for work & packing a few essentials to prevent fainting later in the day...

Apparently I'm in Kindergarten....

PB & J sandwich on Arnold thin aka MaraNatha smooth PB & Pear Hazelnut spread

A very crunchy organic Gala apple

Caramel Nut Brownie Luna bar

Work was beyond busy... all I could think about was the day being over.

Not that I don't LOVE my job!!! I do... and I love busy days because by the end of the night when I leave work with hard earned money in hand, it is all worth it... not to mention my job allows me to socialize with people... get to know them... our customers are very talkative and love to chit-chat with you even when you're racing around and don't have a single second to talk! But they're all great :)


Once I was finally cut, I realized it was Saturday.

What does Saturday mean to Allison you might ask?

Staffer Beer Day, OF COURSE!

On Fridays & Saturdays all employees get a free beer at the bar after their shift... so I bee-lined it for an open chair and told the bartender "Get Mama a #9" ;)... which I thoroughly enjoyed and savored until an epic thunderstorm came and left me shaking (I'm absolutely terrified of storms!) and waiting out the rain for about an hour and 1/2....

One more Magic Hat... a half order of our Gingerbread sundae with all-natural pumpkin ice cream.... & a lovely somewhat tipsy convo with my lovely coworkers later... and I was outta there!

Brought home a Staffer Pizza for the fam....

(yes we get free pizza too..)

;)

Our Special BBQ Chicken pizza ( I definitely snagged a small slice or two... a girl's gotta eat with all those Magic Hats making themselves comfy in her belly )

• Free-range chicken
• Organic carmelized onions
• Oven-roasted red bell peppers
• Organic corn
• & a homemade BBQ sauce drizzled on top.
  
  Oh yeah... you know how we do.
  
  The night then ended with a night at Cambridge Brewhouse a couple towns over that I had yet to check out but my lovely friend Angelica had been working at for months now. So a few of the coworkers and I met for a few home-brewed brewnanas & some live music... plus a fight outside the building, which was MUCHO fun to watch. Oh yay. Boys need to learn to control their anger, for serious.

I chose the Kona Longboard Lager... the Hawaiian brewing company aced this.. it had great flavor and was light enough for girls like me to enjoy who don't go any darker than... oh yeah, Magic Hat. Two of those and I had MORE than exceeded my alcohol intake for the day... It's very rare I have more than one or two glasses of wine anytime I drink so this was a nice little change for once... I had fun, enjoyed the company and the drinks, & still got home at a decent hour without dreading a morning hangover.

SUNDAY:
I woke up to this on Sunday morning outside my front door....

Beautiful Fall weather at it's finest :)

...And it was warm! Almost 65 degrees when I woke up: gorgeous!


Beautiful Fall days call for Beautiful Warm breakfast :)

And what's this??? A seemingly yummy jar of my beloved Teddie PB? But it's so much more than that....

*GASP!*

EMPTY JAR OF MY BELOVED TEDDIE PB!!!!

And as all of you genious foodies know.... that means only one thing:

Oats in a Jar!

it's what's for breaky :)

In the "empty" jar:

1/2 c. Oats

1 c. water

1 naner sliced (1/2 cooked in the oats, the other 1/2 on top)

Pumpkin Pie Spice

Sprinkle of Almonds

I loved it down to the veryy last bite...

Then it was Off to the Gym I went...

4 miles on the treadmill - 471 calories schooled

25 mins. elliptical - 200 calories sucka-punched

Plus some intense leg & ab work and I finally felt I'd redeemed myself for my excessive Cookie Friday ;) I felt really good after this workout... I was practically buzzing the rest of the day.

Don't you love when a workout leaves you feeling motivated and inspired to continue an ultra-productive day?

So I did just that and ran some errands... including going to the grocery store:

Picked up these bad boys and gave them a shot for lunch...

All I can say is... I love hotdogs once again! :)

These have a mere 45 calories/ZERO fat calories per dog...

And they're great with some spicy mustard...just FYI ;)


I made a yummy salad to go alongside it...

Lettuce mix

Chopped tomatoes

1/2 an Avocado cubed

Sprinkle of almonds

Sliced baby carrots

Chopped celery

Drizzle with Annie's HM Dressing

I headed off to work the dinner shift and was bombarded with tables the whole time... like I said, I LOVE MY JOB haha... but it was a successful night (minus a headache that lasted the entire day with NO help from my friend Advil)

It felt so so good to come home and just rest last night.. I got a great night sleep and gave my legs the break they deserved.

Today's plan? Make some phenom breakfast (I still can't decide on something!) and get a killer workout in at the gym! Everything else is up in the air...

Happy Monday lovahs!

I'll leave you with a workout question...

Do you find it better to eat breakfast prior to a workout or make your workout the first thing you do in the A.M. followed by a hearty breakfast?

...I've always been a first thing in the morning runner followed by a good solid breakfast but ever since I started working more often and have to drive to the gym, I find it easier to have breakfast while it's still early since I won't get back from the gym until lunchtime...