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Archive for the Category "Food"

Hello! Aug 03

Hello, my name is Erin and I’m addicted to breakfast.

Or is it carbs?

Lately I seem to spend half my morning daydreaming about what kind of bagel, muffin or danish the kid and I will be going out to get, and if the location with that item also makes an acceptable iced coffee beverage.

When I’m too hungry to go out, or my sensibilities get the better of me, I eat fried eggs with toast at home. I also have several acceptable options for iced coffee in addition to my Keurig.

When I go out, it’s possible to find me at Panera, Einstein Bros. Bagels, Dunkin’ Donuts, or even Publix in search of breakfast.

Panera offers some fabulous quiches, and the kid and I are both big fans of the Strawberries n Cream Scones and the Cinnamon Crunch bagel. They also have a pretty decent Iced Caramel Latte as well, although it is made with a slightly bold, slightly bitter coffee.

Einstein Bros. Bagels is THE place to go for a bagel, imho. The multigrain, cranberry, and dutch apple are all fabulous, and so are the cinnamon sugar Bagel Poppers. Whether you prefer sweet or savory, you will find a bagel to meet your needs. And if the thought of a bagel isn’t doing it for you? They also offer a few muffins and danishes that all look good as well. One day I’ll try them, but for now I’m stuck on the bagels. 😉 They do offer an Iced Caramel Macchiato, but there’s never enough caramel to suit my sweet tooth.

Dunkin’ Donuts has THE best iced latte around, and I think a lot of that has to do with their terrific bold coffee and the ton of fat and sugar that I’m sure are used in preparation. Some days, I just don’t care and try to do some extra walking to make up for the increased calorie intake. It is that good. DD also makes some great donuts, my favorites are always the filled kind! But the main reason I’m at DD these days is for the Iced Caramel Latte.

Publix is the local supermarket and my favorite place to shop, but not always for a quick breakfast, since there’s no drive-thru and very limited seating in the deli/bakery area. However, they do make a fantastic apple fritter and… I’m blanking on the name, I think it’s called a Toffee Apple Crunch, which is a flaky danish/croissant topped with apples and toffee glaze.

By now, I’m sure a few people have noticed that I “left out” the most obvious choice for on-the-go breakfast in Starbucks. However, I stated at the beginning of this ever lengthening post that I was looking for breakfast with an acceptable iced coffee beverage. Unfortunately, Starbucks doesn’t really provide this for me. Their drinks are always made/mixed well, but the coffee is too bold and acidic for me to drink with my acid reflux. So I patiently wait every year for the cooler nights of fall and cooler days of winter to enjoy my favorite Starbucks hot beverages – the Caramel Apple Spice and Caramel Brulee Latte (although I’m also a fan of the Gingerbread Latte and the Peppermint Mocha ;)). Also, while all of the baked goods available are quite tasty, the only ones that even begin to fill me up are the oatmeal, Banana Chocolate Chip bread or any of their fall pumpkin options. I’m hungry within 2 hours otherwise, and there are just too many calories in those baked goods to justify them.

Those are my favorite quick breakfast foods, what are yours??

Category: Food, Getting to know me  | Comments off
Almost to Christmas! Dec 20

This week’s weight: 156.2 (loss of 0.8lbs)

While still nowhere near where I want to be, I’m impressed with this number. And this is why…

Dinner

Chocolate Delights

Even more chocolate

Cranberry Cheesecake Bars

Tea Cakes

Chocolate Pasta

This past Saturday was the Christmas Baking Extravaganza at my house. I hosted them for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas this year after a few friends were so excited to help me bake last year. I’m not sure I’ll be repeating this event. Not only does it create a mountain of dishes that takes a good half dozen dishwasher runs to clean, but no one showed up remotely on time. The Facebook event was scheduled to start at 5, but one friend had a minor job change and wouldn’t be available til after 5:30. No biggie, things happen, 6 is also a fine start time, and will give us plenty of time to mix and bake prior to the start of the usual shindiggery that goes on at our house on Saturday nights. Except that the other baker didn’t show up until after 8.

She was off work all day.

And when she got here, she said she forgot all her ingredients at home. Luckily, it was an easy recipe and I had all the ingredients, but still, who says they’re coming to an event and then shows up 2 HOURS late forgetting important items? I was so frustrated, but letting the frustration interfere with the festivities was not part of my plan. So we ate, we baked, and then we ate and baked some more and ended the evening swapping Christmas presents.

Despite a rough start, it was a nice evening. 🙂

Getting back to McFatty Monday, you probably understand by now that I’m impressed that I’m down ANY weight after all the goodies that I’ve been devouring for the last month, and will probably continue to devour for the next two weeks or so as we get through the New Year. All I’m doing is trying to stick to one semi-reasonable serving of the things that I really want. So far, it’s working, and I hope it continues to. 🙂

Category: Food, McFattyMonday  | 2 Comments
Top Ten Tuesday – Holiday Food Dec 14

Yep, it’s another fantabulous Holiday themed meme, this one from Sluiter Nation. I’ve tried several times to join in to her Top Ten, but I’m not good with things that have short deadlines. However, today as I was walking through Target dreaming of the thousands of goodies I could make if only I had more time and money, I decided to give it another chance. I mean, if I don’t have time to make all this stuff, why not toss the ideas out there and maybe someone else does?

Also, it is very hard for me to pick just ten foods for any label, so I’m going to list my holiday foods in no particular order and the first ten that come to mind. Be forewarned, I have a huge sweet tooth, and it’s possible that the majority of the list will be sweet treats. Just sayin’.

1. Ever since I made them last year, people have asked for more Red Velvet Whoopie Pies (decorated with green sugar for festivity, of course!), so I WILL be making these this weekend during the Christmas Baking Extravaganza. I will also be attempting their cousin, White Chocolate Raspberry Whoopie Pies.
2. Home made sweet potato casserole. Only my brother and I are big sweet potato fans, but if you make them “just right” the whole family chows down.
3. Baked brie. The family version is brie doused with honey and cherries and wrapped up in Pillsbury Crescent rolls. Served with water crackers or eaten with a fork, it’s a warm and gooey delight.
4. Cookies. I make tons of cookies at the holidays. They are rarely made the rest of the year, because you just can’t find the cool chips any time except the holidays, and I don’t like “everyday” cookies. So far this year, I’ve made Toffee Apple, Dark Chocolate Peppermint, and Dark Chocolate Andes. I’m hoping to get some Oatmeal Scotchies made too, but we’ll just have to see how things go.
5. Turkey. For some reason, we only eat turkey at the holidays, so it’s definitely a favorite. I prefer mine smoked or fried and ALWAYS with gravy. I have a bit of an obsession with gravy, just ask my real life friends or family if you ever see them perusing my blog. I’m sure they’re all nodding their heads.
6. Pumpkin and Banana bread. I made Peanut Butter Banana Bread a couple weeks ago (Wow, that recipe is getting a lot of hits!) and pumpkin bread back at the beginning of November. I love all the specialty breads, and wouldn’t mind finding the time to make an Orange Cranberry Loaf. Just one more item to add to my To Bake list! 😉

Oooh, this is getting tough. It’s making me a little hungry to make this list. I also want to go bake something, but I really need to tuck the babe in for her nap. Let’s see if I can get to 10…

**Please hold, the babe requires rocking and snuggling for nap time**

Well, I didn’t make it to 10 before nap time, but let’s see if I can come up with a few more now that the babe is tucked in.

7. Sausage balls. The old school ones with just sausage, cheese and Bisquick. Easiest appetizer ever.
8. Gingerbread. Snaps, houses, cookies, all tasty and also fun to decorate!
9. O.M.G. How have I waited this long to mention EGGNOG??? Oh, eggnog, how I love thee, let me count the ways… *sigh* *drool* While it’s a pain to make yourself, I prefer the homemade kind, because most store bought have too much nutmeg in them. Land O’Lakes used to make eggnog without nutmeg. It was the greatest. I haven’t been able to find that in a few years, so now my fave is Southern Comfort Vanilla Eggnog. It does not actually contain SoCo, and has only a little bit of spice, so it’s my go to ‘Nog!

Well, I don’t have ten, but I think I have everything important for the holidays. Eggnog, baked goods, appetizers, entree and sides… Yep. I’m good with that list. For now. 😉

P.S. I’m sure everyone is now aware why I needed McFatty Monday. 😛

Category: Food, meme  | 3 Comments