New Breakfast Place & Nightmares

Look who is feeling better!!!

Brent was feeling MUCH better yesterday and decided to meet up with one of his old chiro buddies for a round of golf!

SO happy to see my man back in action!

I shoved a bagel in his paw before he headed to the green. Gotta have some fuel for those 18 holes!

Since Brent was doing his favorite thing in the whole wide world (well, second to baking delicious brownies with me for hours and hours, of course), I decided to do some of MY favorite things:

7 mile run at the gym + some weight lifting

-then-

brunch with my momma!

I have been wanting to try out this new healthy eatery that is close to our house called Pure, so mom agreed to join me for some lovely Sunday morning nutrition.

Pure's mission is to provide delicious healthy meals that are all-natural, organic, & hormone-free, so I was a fan even before we arrived!

It was 11:00 AM, but I was still in the mood for breakfast, so I opted for the egg white sandwich (whole wheat english muffin topped with turkey sausage, cheese, and 5 egg whites) with a side of fruit and a coffee.

When my sandwich came to the table, my mom said, "Ohhhh, mashed potato sandwich, huh?"

Me: "Noooo maaauuuummmm, those are egg whites."

But I respect her brain for actually going there AND the fact that she wasn't totally surprised that I would order an english muffin packed with MASHED POTATO.

I do love the carbs.

And can you believe that my giant mashed potato egg sandwich+ALL of this fruit+my coffee only cost $5!!! And it was all organic!

I dominated this entire plate of fruit, my whole sandwich, and drank 2 cups of coffee.

Pure = food baby

Holy moly, I was FULL, but it was just so good, I couldn't stop!

Mom ordered the Mediterranean Salad with a side of AMAZING sweet potato fries that were "air-fried" instead of deep fried like normal fries. I had never heard of "air-frying" before, but I am definitely a fan. I kept sneaking these off of her plate and into my mouth :)

Pure's lunch and dinner menu looked amazing as well! Can't wait to go back!

So after a delicious brunch and a full (and HOT!) day of helping my mom move a bunch of empty boxes out of her new house (yay, she's all moved in!!), we went back to our house to find the hubs and his new little friend.

O.M.G.

I decided that this spider is the equivalent of what Spencer Pratt from The Hills would be if he ever joined the arachnid family, so I decided to name him Mr. Spidy Spencer Scary-Pants.

Yes, I like it.

So after checking out Mr. Spidy Spencer Scary-Pants and watching my mom totally freak out at the sight of him, we decided to head to Pei Wei for a late night dinner...after putting my large Calphalon saute pan on top of this container, of course.

Just in case he decided to grow super spidy strength and bust out of the half-sealed Rubbermaid.

You can never be too careful in times like these.

I ordered my normal Japanese Teriyaki Bowl with extra veggies...nothing special.

Now I am on the couch with the hubs, eating the other half of my leftover Pei Wei from last night, and relaxing since I had to work 10 am-7 pm on Memorial Day (bleh).

How was your Memorial Day??? I hope it was amazing!!!

And I hope my blog doesn't give you spider OR Spencer-related nightmares.

Equally terrifying.

Fulfilling Foods

I really really really love foods that make me feel SUPER full, but a good kind of full.

Good kind of full =  Oatmeal & Apples

Bad kind of full = Whole tray of Chickfila Chick-N-Minis before 10:00 AM.

Oh yeah, that happened.

So here are a few of my favorite food items that I seriously recommend when you have a hankering for a "good full" feeling.

Oatmeal! (hot or cold)

Oat Bars!

Great Harvest Bread! (or any hearty, freshly baked bread)

Toast topped with Crofters & Greek yogurt and apple slices!

Egg, Turkey, and Cheese Sandwich with a side of fruit

(because I have an obsession with anything protein+carbs)

Chicken Salad Sandwich with Fruit and Potatoes

Scrambled Eggs with Bacon and Fruit

Red Beans and Rice! 

(hmmmm, what fruit would go with RB&R?)

More Fruit!

Nuts (except pecans...bleh) & Nut Butters!

Coffee! (not a food, but boy is it filling!)

LOOOOVVVVEEEE CAAAUUUFFFFEEEE!!!

Big 'Ole Saladas...with fruit

I should probably eat more of these, because salads DO make me happy, but I honestly just prefer other green veggies (zucchini, broccoli, green beans, etc) over leafy greens because they are heartier to me and I can eat them in their natural state.

Now, fresh spinach with TOPPINGS that completely kill the nutritious factor of my spinach salad is a whole different ball game.

That is probably why I do not make salads very often...because I like cheese, bacon, nuts, and lots of dressing on my salads...which is probably nutritionally equivalent to a brownie...or something...and I would rather have a brownie.

Whole Wheat Pasta with TONS of Fresh Cut Veggies!

And I usually throw a couple of venison sausage chunks in there also.

Ok, so there are the my favorite fulfilling foods.

_____________________________________________________________________

Now, here is my beef with CEREAL.

I LOVE cereal, but seriously...let's all stop pretending that it actually fills us up.

And that any of us stick to that whole "one serving" mumbo jumbo.

All joking aside, I literally have to eat four times as much cereal to feel as full as I do after one bowl of oatmeal.

And oatmeal is (usually) WAY better for me, has less sugar, more fiber, takes longer to eat, has a better texture, and just tastes better!

I think all of the cereal in grocery stores should be replaced with oatmeal. 

Can you imagine how great it would be if we had as many oatmeal choices as we do cereal? This world would certainly be a better place.

We can totally still be friends if you are Team Cereal...but just make sure you have some oats in your cupboard when you invite me over for brekky.

Please and thank you.

Are you Team OATMEAL or Team CEREAL?

Not Ok

Brent's stomach issues are a bit more severe than we thought.

He woke up at around 2:45 this morning worse off than he was last night.

I heard him in the bathroom around 3:00, and when he came out, I asked if he was doing ok. 

He said, "No...I need to go to the ER."

This was a big deal coming from the man who avoids anything hospital-related as much as possible.

So I jumped out of bed, threw on some clothes, and we bolted out the door with the hopes of finding a 24-hour ER that wouldn't cost us an arm and a leg.

I also forgot my glasses on the way out, so I am SURE someone thought I was a drunk driver from my half-blind driving skills.

We arrived at St. Luke's Community Emergency Center around 3:30 AM and saw a doctor around 4:00 AM.

I feel like ANYTHING you do at this hour feels weird, but our little ER visit was somewhat strange in addition to the early morning hour.

Our doctor was a very tall and rather fit man with black hair that he had slicked back into a low pony. As he was talking to us about Brent's food poisoning, he all of the sudden said, "Oh my..you're not going to believe this!"

"Ummm...what?"

He proceeds to reach down to the floor with a paper towel in hand and returns to our eye level with the paper towel folded up in his hand and exclaims, "A TICK!"

"Ummm...gross. And random."

He then proceeds to be completely focused on his new little blood-sucking friend, says "We need to exterminate him" and grabs the ear scope off of the wall and smashes the tick that is inside of the paper towel.

Crunch.

After our rather bizarre and interesting experience with the tick exterminator doctor, we left the exam room and headed to the front desk...bracing ourselves for the ER price tag.

Much to our surprise, we were bid fair well by a chipper front desk attendant saying "Ok, that will be all! Hope you feel better soon!"

I responded with, "Ummmm...sir, we haven't paid yet."

The man responded with, "Oh, all of the exams after midnight are FREE!"

Brent and I proceed to stare at the man in silent disbelief for a good 10 seconds.

Me: Ummm...what?

Of course, I instantly become skeptical...and the fact that I watch way too much Dexter does not help...but we confirmed with the man that we did not owe anything and headed for Walgreens to fill Brent's prescriptions for 2 different antibiotics.

We arrived home around 6:00 AM and crashed.

I woke up around 9:45 AM...Brent around 11:00 AM.

While I was waiting for my french press coffee to finish steeping, I wrote the hubs a note on our Write Plate.

This is my preferred canvas of random communication between the hubs and me.

After waking up a bit, the hubs forced down a small gala apple and some gatorade and played on his PS3 while I took pictures of him.

The sacrifices he makes for my little blog...

Nova was very concerned about our early morning exit for the ER.

But still thought that 3:30 AM was the perfect time for some "hey mom, try to get my big red squeaky iguana from me" action.

Alright, one throw, but then I have to take your daddy to the ER...

Nova is insatiable when it comes to playtime.

Photo courtesy of Kevin & Amanda blog

You know what is also insatiable??? My sweet tooth (as if you didn't already know that...)

While I was browsing my normal blogs this morning, I came across this tower of utterly delicious insanity and realized that I HAVE TO MAKE IT as soon as the hubs is able to look at normal food without having to make a beeline for the toilet.

I can literally feel my taste buds perk up every time I look at this picture. 

I am the epitome of Pavlov's dog...I realize this.

I also have a special place in my heart for Oreos, but I tend to actually favor Newman's Own Newman O's. They contain no partially hydrogenated oils and no trans-fatty acids, and I think they taste much better.

They also come in Peanut Butter flavor, which would make this dessert situation even more delectable...if that is even possible.

Does anyone have any fun plans for the weekend? 

My plans are to work, take care of my sickly husband, and hopefully bake.

Anyone else planning on baking anything???

One Good Thing

Brent and I have not had very cooperative stomaches these past few days.

Last weekend, I had some serious stomach issues due to bad mushrooms.

Brent had a little bit of an unsettled stomach, but I think my reaction to the 'shrooms was much worse.

Well, last night, he arrived home around 6:00 PM and ate his usual pre-dinner snack (since I normally do not have dinner ready until 8:00. I always shoot for 6:30, but that never happens...)

He had a leftover shrimp quesadilla from our dinner this past Sunday at Lupe Tortilla that he thought would make a suitable snacker.

Bad choice. I am the QUEEN of trying to justifying expired food, and even I was hesitant to eat that quesadilla.

It was not suitable. Not one bit. I advised him against it, but it was a pretty delicious 'dilla on Sunday, so I understand his desire to not waste it.

So, due to last nights leftover shrimp quesakillya...well, let's just say it is 9:45 p.m. here and he is currently in the fetal position next to me on the couch and his total food consumption for the day has been 1 small apple, 1/2 cup of carrot ginger soup and some Wheat Thins.

Poor guy.

The ONLY good thing about this situation is that his work had a fancy birthday lunch for one of his coworkers today at Amerigo's and Brent had his meal packaged up to-go while they were there (since his pre-meal soup sent him to the bathroom in a cold sweat).

So he brought me home a giant filet of AMAZING buttery breaded snapper topped with artichoke hearts, tomatoes, and spinach then drizzled with more butter.

I cut it in half and paired it with some roasted sweet potato chunks and steamed broccoli.

I also toasted up some raisin bread and topped it with...more butter.

Holy food poisoning Batman...this.was.good.

Even after being microwaved for 2 minutes, the snapper was still SUPER SUPER tender and simply incredible.

Soooo, I feel really sorry for him and his illness...but...not sorry enough to feel bad about hoping that I get to eat the other half of this delightful dish before he starts to feel better... :)

And for dessert (AND keeping with the butter theme)...Blue Bell Butter Crunch Bars!!!

Butter Crunch is my FAVORITE Blue Bell Flavor and it now comes in bar form!

Two good things about this situation: 

1. I now have Butter Crunch portion control.

2. It's Butter Crunch dipped in CHOCOLATE.

Hi...my name is Emily, and my kids will not go to college because I will more than likely use those savings to buy more Butter Crunch Bars.

Now, I know this is weird, but I still like to put it in a bowl even though it is a bar.

I do this to all of my "non-tub" ice cream treats.

I have this weird idea that if I put it in a bowl and mash it all up, I am getting more.

I'm all about more when it comes to ice cream :)

So...random...but I was at work today and realized that my coworkers and I had sporadically talked about FOOD throughout the entire 9-hour day.

Am I just completely obsessed or can you talk about food all day too?

In college, my sister, my cousin, and I all lived together and would sit in our living room and have food-related conversations that would literally last for hours. It was glorious.

Things I can talk about ALL DAY LONG:

Food

God

Brent

Nova

Baking

Exercise

Breakfast (oh wait, that's still food...)

How I want to move to NYC

What are some things that you can talk about all day? 

...please say food.

Brussels and The Heffer

Every now and then, I decide to introduce a new food to mine and Brent's diet.

Neither of us had ever eaten brussel sprouts, and I think they are just about the cutest looking things EVER, so I decided to pick up a 1 lb container of these little darlings to serve with our meatloaf & sweet potato dinner last night.

I have been SO lazy lately when it comes to cooking dinner and have been dumping the following ingredients in a baking pan and calling it meatloaf: 1 lb ground turkey, 1 lb ground venison sausage, BBQ sauce, dijon mustard, whole grain dijon mustard (1/4 cup each), 2 eggs, 1 cup Panko bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and onion powder (1 tsp each).

Bake at 400 for 20 minutes. So delicious and super easy.

Not the most visually appealing dish, but it works.

And keeping with the laziness theme, I nuked some sweet potatoes in the microwave for 5 minutes and threw some Texas Toast on the baking sheet as the brussel sprouts were finishing up.

Now, here is the verdict on the brussel sprouts.

After slicing each in half, I placed them on a baking sheet, tossed them in about 2 Tbsp olive oil, and generously seasoning with salt and pepper. I then baked them at 400 until they were tender (about 25 minutes).

Overall, I feel pretty "meh" about these guys. 

I have a love/hate with the texture. The flavor is good, but I don't think I will make these again...sorry brussel.

Brent, on the other hand, had the genius idea to squirt some MUSTARD on top of these guys, which definitely made them a bit more palatable.

But I think there are better veggies out there to spend my mooolaa on, going forward :)

And half Triple Chocolate Peanut Butter Sundae, half Cookie Dough ice cream heals all distasteful dinner wounds.

Nom.

Ok, so here is where "The Heffer" title comes in to my blog post. For the past couple of weeks, the hubs has had a pretty meager appetite and I have been eating twice as much as him (literally) for dinner every night and still having dessert (he hardly ever eats dessert).

I feel pretty secure with myself in group situations and never really think twice about devouring dessert at a table where girls are barely picking at their food, but for some reason, I tend to feel like a HEFFER when I end up licking my plate while the hubs barely finishes half.

I know that this is crazy and that I am not a heffer, but can anyone out there relate to this? Do you normally eat more than your significant other? If so, do you not think twice about it or tend to feel like a roly poly? 

I appreciate your thoughts!