2 great contests going on right now, yoga mat bag giveaway and perfume/lip gloss combo.

The other day my grocery store was having a BOGO deal on bags of apples.  So, I got two. Then forgot I had them and got another bag of apples at Trader Joes.  Needless to say I was a little overboard with apples. So, a lot of them were getting soft and ready to go bad, so I decided to throw them in the crockpot and see what would happen:

I used my handy dandy apple slicer


Then I put the slices (about 6 small apples) in to the crockpot with 3/4 cup water, 3/4 cup orange juice, 1/2 brown sugar, liberal shakes of both cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice and 2 tablespoons of Promise butter spread. 



I then cooked them for 3.5 hours on high.  The result was perfection!  They were the perfect amount of mush and sweet and yum all rolled into one.  I had some with vanilla yogurt.  They were so good that I ate them standing in the middle of the kitchen and I was so enthusiastic about it ( I might have been repeating yes, yes YESS over and over) that the hubby asked me “what are they better than sex”…a man should never ask a woman eating dessert that question if he doesn’t want the real answer.


So, yeah you should make these.

For dinner I was craving some salmon so I splurged at the store and got a wild caught Sockeye fillet.  I covered it in balsamic vinaigrette and honey and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours. Then I cooked it at 400 degrees for 25 mins.


I paired it with some portabello mushrooms boiled in french onion broth:


Some Zataran’s Carbiean rice. This stuff is totally full of junk and chemicals, but oh so good. It has dried pineapple in it and makes me think of an island paradise somewhere! 


We also had some boring steamed broccoli.  I don’t think I like broccoli anymore. I did forever, but then when I got pregnant it was the first thing that I was repulsed by and the taste for it has never come back. I need to come up with some interesting ways to eat it.  Anyone have any suggestions?


After dinner my sweet tooth was seriously kickin.  As if making apples unhealthy wasn’t enough, I had to butcher a banana too and put this bad boy together:


That would be Skippy all natural chunky PB and mini chocolate chips on a non fair trade banana!  I looked at my grocery and they didn’t have fair trade bananas. I guess those would be found at Whole Foods.

Now I am stuffed and the kid is sleeping. Time to sit back and relax. I am reading:


This Side of Jordan is a tapestry of American life in the summer before the economic crash of 1929, and a quintessential novel of the rural Midwest offered unexpectedly as a crime thriller. Full of American landscapes and totems, images and notions, foibles and fables, beasts and the blessed, it follows the experiences of 19-year-old tubercular farm boy Alvin Pendergast.

It is written by Charles Shultz’s son.  I am about 100 pages in but not sure what I think yet. I think I will keep reading tonight and if I’m not into it by the time I go to bed then stop reading it.

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In the OnTheGo household I am all about quick and easy meals. That is why I love frozen foods. Now I know in the scheme of things that the extra sodium is bad for you, but there are plenty of healthy frozen food companies out there and I’m not talking about crap like Lean Cuisine.  In fact a lot of people say that frozen veggies are just as healthy for you as fresh.  Who knows.  I tried 2 new products tonight for dinner:

Risotto from TJ’s


Scallops from Target:


I actually made the risotto in the microwave. You just put it in a bowl and microwave for 5 mins, stirring a few times. It has a few different types of mushrooms in it and they are very big chunks.  The risotto was nice and creamy, but it wasn’t flavorful enough for the high calorie count of 300 cals a serving.  I’ll eat something that high in cals if it’s super yummy, but this was not. Usually I adore anything Trader Joes, but I won’t buy this again. It was nowhere near as good as the Archer Farms Risotto that comes in a box that I have tried before.

For the scallops, I took a few tablespoons of this yumminess and let it get sizzling in a skillet, then I put the scallops in and stirred them around until opaque.  These scallops were so good! They had a slightly sweet taste to them and they cooked perfectly in the garlic expressions.  I tossed them on top of the risotto and some frozen mixed veggies on the side.  I was so hungry that I forgot to take a picture!  Ooops!  Bad Blogger.


I didn’t make it to the gym today. Harper had her 9 month checkup. She is now 22 lbs and 29 inches tall. Still in the 95% for her age.  She had to have her finger pricked and they took blood.  She didn’t even cry.  I missed my beloved Beamfit class though b/c the lab took so long.  So I decided just to work out at home. I did 30 Day Shred 2.

I had previously done level 1 before and was planning to do it again, but it wasn’t available today on my In Demand. So I did level 2. I didn’t think it was necessarily any harder, just different exercises. THese DVDs are tough.  Jillian definitely gets you sweating and it only take about 25 mins.  I almost wish it was a little longer and she did an extra 5 mins of abs or something.  When G got home from work I took Fonzie for a 4.5 mile run. I haven’t ran since the half.  My hips ached a little, but for the most part I was just fine. 

Do you have any workout DVD’s that you like a lot? 

And can I just say again that I HATE Jillian on the Biggest Loser nowadays? I think she is a great trainer, but the in your face, try to make you cry, force your emotions crap is driving me crazy. Last night was just ridiculous. Yelling at that women and telling her that her kid was going to be fat just to get her to cry.  It’s obnoxious.  Discuss.

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I got creative all up in my kitchen tonight!  Up in here, up in here!  Who gets my DMX reference, anyone, anyone?  See # 6 from yesterday. 

I made steak tonight.  We very rarely eat red meat, but organic, grassfed beef was on sale at the grocery today.  I seasoned it with mixed up pepper and garlic expressions salad dressing then cooked it in a skillet.  In the pics below those white things are garlic bulbs. I was mad the whole time b/c I didn’t think it was going very well, the meat seemed so red and I was afraid it was either going to be raw or tough, but it actually turned out really well!  I seared it on both sides, then turned the heat down and let it cook for about 15 mins, I flipped it a few times.





We also had some roasted brussel sprouts (from the brussel sprout tree I bought last week, still good) and carrots.  I sprayed them with PAM olive oil, put them in a baggie with balsamic vinegar and this spice from TJs.  Then I gave it a good shake.  Cooked at 400 for 25 mins.  Perfectly crunchy and tasty.





Next I brought some Old College chicken broth with pistachios and orange slices to a boil and added my favorite grain blend.  You cook it for 10 mins. I was actually surprised that you could taste the oranges.  Bags of oranges were buy one get one free at the grocery today.  Anyone have a good recipe for fresh oranges?  Probably just make some juice.





All together now, yum!
Gary and I are going to watch a movie tonight, Knowing with bankrupt Nic Cage.  What are you up to this fine evening?