Growth

Happiest Monday to you!

Thanks for all the happy tweets and messages for this past weekend’s baby shower.  It was wonderful and I feel so blessed to have my awesome bestie Andrea make it happen   Hugs to you A!!!

The last few days have been a whirlwind of activity, but yesterday we were able to spend a little time indulging and relaxing which meant a trip to Chevy’s (A’s fave Mexi restaurant) and then to Yoppi for some froyo.  Mexi and froyo in one day?  Talk about winning!  I didn’t take pictures – lame, but I was so over it.  However, this is what I ordered:

Hot damn, these were good.  Apparently I need to go to Chevy’s more often!

Froyo was also lovely.  I almost went back for seconds.  You see, I did my normal taste test and they just happened to have pumpkin pie flavor.  It was tasty.  But then that need for chocolate toppings took over (Shayla knows what I’m taking about) and I went with cookies and cream topped with cookie dough, butterfinger, reeses pieces, and oreos…and some caramel sauce   Well then after I was done, I was thinking of an awesome combo:

• Pumpkin pie froyo topped with cinnamon life crunch, granola, and graham crackers crumbs, drizzled with caramel sauce—>  Tell me that doesn’t sound like perfection?!?!  Sigh.  Next time.

Okay so yeah, yesterday alone could cause any waistline some growth, but I’m talking about some other kind of growth.  You know – that baby kind? 

Last week I snapped a picture (30.5 weeks) and recalled a picture I took in July when I was about 17 weeks, wearing the exact same jeans.  Check out how much GROWTH I’ve had …  MEEEP!

Yowsa right?  I have to say, I sort of love the belly.  Maybe not the bigger arms or thighs, but I do love the belly

Alright, tell me what maybe made your pants stretch a little this weekend?

What part of your body do you love?

Mexi Spaghetti Squash and Candy Corn Cookies

Guess where I went last night?  Sweet Tomatoes!!!  Yes it is deserving of 3 exclamation points because I never get the hubby to go to buffet-like places even if they are really healthy like ST.  Verdict –> Meh   Some parts were good, but it sort of was just another buffet like place where you are free to eat too much mediocre food.  You live, you learn right?

And moving on to some recent eats…

Do you ever get bored of the same creations?  Yeah, me too.  But I’m a sucker for being able to easily mix things together and have a delicious meal or treat result. 

Enter Mexi Spaghetti Squash:

How to make spaghetti squash (Shanna-style): wash outside of squash (so when you cut it, bacteria doesn’t get in); stab it multiple times (maybe 12) all around using large knife and going in 1/2”.  Pop in microwave and cook in 4 minute increments rotating lengthwise after each increment.  When you can push the flesh in with your thumb, it’s done!  A large squash will take about 14 minutes.  After about 10 minutes of cooling, I cut in half, remove the seeds/gunk and spaghetti away. EASY!

As for the Mexi flair, any ol’ mixings will do.  I used 2 green bell peppers, one small yellow onion, a can of roasted diced tomatoes, a can of (rinsed) black beans, some fajita seasoning and the salsa of your choice.

Saute the green peppers and onions in 1+ tbsp EVOO along with your fajita seasoning for 10 minutes.  Add your tomatoes and beans, followed by your salsa.  Let simmer at low heat (while your squash is cooking).

Serve with tapatio sauce and some chips!

And for a treat, Candy Corn Cookies:

And because I’ve been wanting an excuse to dig into my 2nd bag of candy corns of the season, I figured I could bake with them.  I used the original Nestle Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe as my base – minor changes, like adding in a dash of cinnamon, omitting the nuts, and halving the chocolate chips.

The special ingredient was 1 cup of candy corns cut in half.

The result is a tasty classic recipe jazzed up with a bit of Fall-lovin’

How do you jazz up your recipes?

What do you top your spaghetti squash with?

Do you love candy corn as much as I do?

Finds and Fails

It’s Monday again, and sadly I’m a bit excited for it.  Why?   Because I had the most boring weekend ever!  FAIL!  I don’t do well being bored.  I get antsy and cranky and inevitably eat way too much food .  Yeah so that sort of happened this weekend more than once.  Ugh.  Shame on me

Another FAIL?  Being super stoked all week to go out for Mexi food on Friday night to one of two places Palo Alto Sol or Fiesta del Mar, only to go elsewhere for convenience.  This wouldn’t normally be a bad idea, but when any restaurants idea of “vegetarian” is simply beans and cheese, I get a little disheartened.  Now I still have to find a way to get my Mexi fix…

As long as we’re on a roll, let’s hit you up with another FAIL.  This was my smoothie on Saturday before Bikram:

That doesn't look right...

You see, I have been wanting to incorporate Xantham gum into my smoothies to thicken them up since I don’t like to add a lot of extra calories via soy milk, Greek yogurt, etc.  I bought some Red Mills Xantham gum about a month ago and decided to bust it out.  I checked the back of the bag for serving size and it said 1 tbsp = 30 calories.  Alrighty then, 1 tbsp, it is!  Yeah, um, no.  My poor magic bullet was having a coronary trying to blend this sludge.  And it was so gelatinous.  DI-sgusting.  Oh and since I thought this was super weird, not only did I realize from other blogs that you should use 1 tsp per smoothie but Google also told me that “xantham gum in excess can cause runny diarrhea.”  Awesome.  Just want I want to worry about before 90 minutes of Bikram.  I stopped eating after only 3 bites an opted for oatmeal instead.  Can you blame me?

But this weekend wasn’t all bad.  I did FIND these guys:

New (to me) NuGo flavors

I sort of love NuGo’s nutrition bars.  My bestie got me hooked on them about a year ago and I’m still in love.  They are a pain in the arse to find, so I often will order them.  But Whole Foods does carry them so after our Mexi FAIL, we stopped across the street for this FIND.  I have a feeling the Pomegranate is going to pretty epic.  (Almond is the flavor behind it).  NuGo Dark, NuGo Mocha, and NuGO Mint are my current faves.

Remember when I showcased my Christian Louboutins back in October for Shoes-Day?  (No?  That’s okay ) Well I also really loved the dress I borrowed from my friend Mojan.

Kurt's wedding Oct 2010

Every girl needs a classic strapless black dress and she had the perfect one, thanks to White House Black Market.  I seriously coveted it!  Well, I decided to buck up and FIND myself one:

LBD

Here is a better shot from their website:

White House Black Market Ruffled Sweatheart dress

Even on the model it really doesn’t do the dress justice.  It is just so darn classic and cute!  And best part of it?  It was on sale for $80 from $170.  Now that’s a FIND!

So I may have ended up with more FAILs than FINDs this weekend, but I still say the good outweighed the bored bad.

What were your FINDs and FAILs of the weekend?

How the heck am I supposed to be using Xantham gum?