I've Had Better...

...cookies, that is! Unfortunately, my baking experience this evening was subpar. I made Oatmeal-Apricot-Almond cookies, but they came out tasting... too healthy? They are basically balls of granola, not chewy and moist like regular oatmeal-type cookies. I guess I cooked them too long or didn't use enough oil/fat? Oh well. If you like crunchy, granola-y cookies, you might really like these guys! :) My cookies did make a nice addition to my dinner! 

Oatmeal-Apricot-Almond Cookies

Makes 24 cookies

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. 

Combine the following ingredients in a large mixing bowl:

3 tbsp applesauce 

2 tbsp of canola oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup oats

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup liquid egg whites

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup chopped dried apricots (or dates, raisins, etc.)

1/3 cup sliced almonds

Mix ingredients well and spoon mixture by tablespoon-fulls onto baking sheets sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake for 15-20 minutes until tops are firm to the touch. 

I wasn't in the mood for a "normal" dinner tonight, and our food selections were rather limited. (We're going grocery shopping tomorrow night.) Mal made himself a turkey sandwich on a bagel, but I just wasn't feeling it. Instead, my dinner was a bowl of sliced mango with 3/4 cup of plain yogurt, and 5 Oatmeal-Apricot-Almond cookies crumbled on the bottom of the bowl and on top of the yogurt. Surprisingly, my "dinner" was very, very filling!

My goal is to be in bed by 8:30, so I can spend some time reading and relaxing. The last few (crazy) months have finally caught up to me, and I'm craving some serious downtime. I never nap, but I passed out cold this afternoon ("fish mouth" and all) on the couch for 45 minutes. I guess my body really needs to rest!  

Good night, blogworld! 

Sunday Breakfast

My posts are all messed up. I apologize. I'm still not sure what I did!? Anyway, here's my Sunday morning breakfast...

Whole wheat toast with wild blueberry fruit spread and cottage cheese spread on top. I used about a tablespoon of each. 

With my "fancy" piece of toast, I also had one egg over hard... and, of course, I drizzled some hot sauce on top. :)

After breakfast, I went for over an hour long power walk by the ocean. It was kind of cloudy this morning, but there was a wonderful ocean breeze that cooled me down as I walked. 

Here's my iced coffee that I enjoyed while watching Sex and the City and reading US Weekly... ahhh, such a nice morning! 

Baking time for me! :)

Leisurely Sunday

It's been a leisurely Sunday for me. I slept in until about 8:00, watched a couple of episodes of Sex and the City, read US Weekly while drinking some iced coffee, then ate breakfast with Mal-- all in my PJs. Don't you just love mornings like that? Here's a recap of the rest of my Sunday... 

Today's lunch was a "everything but the... salad" with all sorts of random goodies from my fridge.

In my salad was lettuce, carrots, basil, pickles, capers, pumpkin seeds, cracked-pepper deli turkey, cottage cheese, and a few shakes of Garden Vegetable seasoning blend on top. I dressed my salad with cabernet vinegar. I loved that my salad had so many different flavors and textures to it. Each bite definitely kept me guessing!  

I followed my salad with a Van's Organic waffle with Claire's pumpkin butter, which was a perfect sweet snack. After lunch, Mal and I did some shopping, which included purchasing a Woolite Rug Stick (don't be jealous!) for a few of the tough stains on our carpet. (P.S. The Rug Stick works terrific!) 

Around 4:00, my stomach started to grumble. I made myself a small bowl of plain yogurt mixed with the last of my jar of pumpkin spread (very sad). I topped the mixture with a couple of broken Vanilla Snap cookies... almost like pumpkin pie, crust and all. 

I still wanted a little something more after finishing my snack, so I munched on another 5 Vanilla Snap cookies.

My snack is doing a good job holding off my hunger, and I just made myself a pomegranate-lemonade, so I don't think dinner will be for another couple of hours. I have no idea what we will make-- we don't seem to have "dinner foods" in our kitchen, so tonight's meal will probably be a little strange. :) I also might do some baking tonight! It's been way too long! :)

Family Reunion Recap

The family reunion was great-- and of course, everyone loved Mal! He fit right in! :) 

Mal and I were already starving when we arrived at the family reunion, which was held at Nashoba Valley, an outdoor function area that offered swimming, volleyball, horseshoes, and other fun activities. Our lunch BBQ wasn't scheduled to start for a couple of hours, so Mal and I filled up on veggies...

and fruit skewers. I ate 1 fruit skewer and probably about 10 veggie crudités with dip. 

The family reunion lunch included the usual BBQ foods: hamburgers, hot dogs, sausage, pasta salad, grilled veggies, potato chips, etc. 

My plate...

I ate everything except for the (white bread) hamburger bun (I don't even know why I got it) and the pickles, which tasted like soap/bug spray-- I think some sprayed themselves a little too close to them! 

Besides catching up with my family, the best part of the reunion was Make Your Own Sundaes with ice cream from Kimball Farms!!!

My sundae was a scoop and a half of vanilla ice cream with M&Ms, chocolate and peanut butter chips. Yum! I love sundaes! (Not gonna lie, I was a little bummed that there wasn't hot fudge!)

An old sign from my family's dairy farm was displayed at the reunion. My great grandfather owned and managed a dairy farm for over 50 years until his death in the late 1980's. My mom, sister, and I actually lived on his farm until I was 12 years old.

My cousin, Andrea, Mal, me, my sister, and her boyfriend, Pat at the family reunion... we all enjoyed an afternoon beer together. I had a Sam Summer, while everyone enjoyed Coronas. 

All in all, an amazing family reunion! Rumor has it that almost 100 family members were present yesterday! Nuts, right? I have about 60 2nd cousins, which is why we only get together every 10 years or so! 

Peanut Butter and Banana Panini

Mmmmmm... panini. Our panini maker is getting so much use. I love the thing! This morning's breakfast was a peanut butter, honey, and banana panini. The melty peanut butter, mushy banana, sweet honey, and warm whole grain bread was outstanding! So delicious all together! I could easily eat another, if I wasn't already full!

Also for breakfast, iced coffee with milk and sugar...

Red Sox-Yankees Game

The Red Sox lost in a close game last night. It was a bummer, but we had such a great time, I wasn't too upset about the outcome... plus it's only the first game in the series. 

Before the game, Mal and I and our friend, Josh (more about him next week!) checked out the new Bleacher Bar, which is located under the Fenway Park bleachers. The bar has a garage door that has been converted into a large window where you can watch the players warm up before the game. Very cool. We grabbed a beer there, and then met our friends at Boston Billards for more beers and food. 

Mal and I ordered a plate of nachos, but we barely ate them because they were so horrible! They were probably the worst nachos I've ever eaten-- hardly any cheese, few toppings, and soggy chips that were pretty much mush. So disgusting. Ewww. 

Newlyweds at Fenway... 

After our unfortunate nacho experience, Mal and I were still hungry, so we decided to get a couple of Fenway Franks at the game. 

I ate my frank with ketchup and mustard. I'm not a fan of white bread/buns, so I mostly just ate the dog. It was delish, especially when eaten at Fenway! I also drank 3 big beers at the game. The beer was flowing last night! Over the course the of night, I drank 5, and I am feeling it this morning!

We're off to a family reunion this afternoon. Mal is getting the grand introduction to my family today. Hope he's got his game face on! :) Happy Saturday!

Iced Coffee Addict

The work week is almost over! Yippee! Obviously, I have ants in my pants to get the weekend started! :)

Lunch today was a big ol' salad made of veggies from home and the cafe's salad bar. From home, I brought lettuce, tomatoes, and broccoli, and then loaded up on more veggies and "fun" stuff from the salad bar.


Bringing some of the heavy veggies from home definitely saved me some money at the cafe. My salad bar toppings were just $2.11... a wicked cheap lunch, if you ask me! After my huge, healthy salad, I balanced out lunch with an enormous chocolate chunk cookie that was leftover from yesterday, which was sooooo frickin' good!


I'm making up for lost time with the D&D iced coffee... 2nd one of the day! I ordered a small this time. In it, I tried 3/4 of a packet of the caramel-flavored Splenda, which made it super sweet-- almost too sweet for me. I'm not sure I like how my iced coffee tastes now. Meh.


Less than 2 hours of work left! Yay to summer hours! I'm meeting Mal and our friends down on Lansdowns Street for appetizers and beers-- glad I went to the gym this morning! I really want cheesy nachos! :) GO SOX!

Fr-Fr-Fr-Fr-Friday!

TGIF! So glad the weekend is almost here! Even with Monday off, this week felt soooo long!

I finally made it to the gym this morning. I haven't had a morning workout all week-- it's been really hard getting back into my usual AM routine. My workout today was great though! Just what I needed! I did a Total Body Circuit of free weights then walked on the treadmill for 30 minutes while watching with the news.

Breakfast this morning was a toasted Thomas' whole grain English muffin with Teddie peanut butter on one side and Claire's pumpkin butter on the other... and...


a mango-berry smoothie. We had quite a bit of very ripe fruit that needed to get eaten up in the next couple of days, so the solution was a smoothie. Summer + smoothie = amazing.


Mango-Berry Smoothie
(approximate measurements)

1 cup diced mango
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1 tbsp ground flax seed
1 tbsp honey
6-8 ice cubes
splash of milk


I arrived to work almost 15 minutes before my start time, so my friend, Blain and I decided to grab some iced coffee from D&D. I love summer Fridays and no traffic-- extra time to get iced coffee! :)


Let's hope this day flies by! I'm going to the Red Sox-Yankees game tonight! Super excited! :) Happy Friday, folks!

Almost forgot...

Question of the Day

Are you a professional/college sports fan? If so, what is/are your team(s)?

Me: The teams that I follow are the Red Sox (obviously), BC football, and UVM basketball (Mal's alma mater). Mal's goal is to get me into the Patriots this season too-- he wants me to learn all of the players' names and watch with him. He's obsessed with the Pats (and the Red Sox... and UVM basketball... and the Celtics)!