Saturday, November 28, 2009

Book Review, T-giving Recap, New Appliance, New Recipe

Thanks you guys! So glad you liked the rugs, and interesting to hear about your ‘days off patterns.’ I’ve been really trying to do 5 days/week – I’d prefer for the off day to be DURING the five days, but sometimes it’s Monday – Friday and I just take the week! I also really try to do what I want. Haha I mean, lately my legs/feet are getting used to running I guess? I dunno – but I’ve been more sore than usual so I’ve been letting that drive the amount of exercise I do!

So, to back up – here is my Thanksgiving in a nutshell!

Wednesdsay: I ended up at 1,646 calories, 194 carbs, 53 fat grams, and 82 protein grams. Here's what I ate.

Thursday:
  • Woke up, weighed myself at 118, had a brunch pizza square and headed to the gym: 3.5 miles walking/1 mile running - burned 265 calories.
  • Showered, had rotini sausage pasta and headed up to Austin's grandparents house.
  • Visited, finished Big Boned (review below!) and then ate lunch: lots of turkey, spoonful of dressing, spoonful of macaroni and cheese, spoonful of hashbrown casserole and one dinner roll (there were not veggies - I swear!). Then me and Austin split a piece of my snickers pie. Um, LOVED IT! (recipe below!)
  • Played in a spades tournament. Lost. Had another piece of snickers pie...eek! Did have a great time visiting with his family!
  • Left and headed home, fed Reuben and headed to my sister's house. Had a turkey sandwich with hummus and a slice of provolone. Had a slice of haverti on the side! Yum! Hung out with mom and Dev and saw of Dev's new home stuff (lamps, rug - etc. - love it!)
  • Headed home, Austin's little brothers came over at midnight, played pool, had a couple of vodka drinks, two beers and popcorn. Ended up at 2,328 calories, 206 carbs, 86 fat grams and 121 protein grams. Here's what I ate.

Friday

  • Weighed 118 (again - woo!).
  • Housekeepers showed up at 9:30 a.m. BLAH! I grabbed a yogurt and went to the gym to get out of the way. Walked 1.5 miles; ran 1 mile; did triceps, shoulders and abs. Burned 272 calories.
  • Headed home and made breakfast for the guys - bacon/egg/cheese muffins.
  • Cleaned and showered - had pizza soup for lunch. I think I REALLY love that stuff!
  • Mom, my stepdad Mike, Devon and her husband Zach came over and brought their puppers - Buster, Momo and Sadie!!
  • I had tons of Devon's AMAZING Buffalo Chicken Dip. By tons, I mean I had least had 3-4 tbsp and lots of scoops.
  • The guys watched the iron bowl, me/mom and Dev hung out and visited. It came up that there was a great deal on a stainless fridge. They were like are you kidding. GO BUY IT! So me and Devon left.
  • Long story short which included false advertising, Best Buy, Sears and Lowes - I ended up getting it at Lowe's saving about $700... say hello to my new appliance: Samsung french door fridge- woo! It will be here on Thursday. Merry Christmas to me and Austin fo sho!

  • Me and Devon headed back home, I made a beef enchilada casserole, played some pool then we all sat down to eat - first time I had a full table in my dining room. SO nice to have everyone together. Devon made homemade pico de gallo - um - AMAZING!! I had lots of it with, you guessed it - more scoops! Then I had a creamcheese brownie Devon brought -again - AMAZING. She was completely on top of the cooking - love it.
  • After dinner mom, mike, momo and buster headed out, so Austin/Zach went up to Austin's office for video games/beer and me and Devon hung out and talked some more - SUCH a good, chill night with my great family.
  • Had one glass of wine. Got in bed. Fell asleep at like 10:30 - niceeeee. I ended up at 1,913 calories, 218 carbs, 61 fat grams and 98 protein grams. Here's what I ate.

Extras:

Meg Cabot's Big-Boned Review


SO cute. I just love the main character, Heather Wells, and her humor. She cracks me up with her inner dialogue and her interactions with funny side characters like Tom and his constant score-keeping and Magda and her goofiness. There is a mystery but it's NEVER scary and you never worry about her - it's just a light, cute book -GREAT treadmill read. I give it a 4/5 - it would have been a 5 if it had been a bit longer (only 277 pages) and used those extra pages to develop a bit more of the love interest part of the story. Either way - CUTE, easy read!

Snickers Bar Pie Recipe

Recipe makes two pies

8 ounces cream cheese, softened (divided in half)
1½ cups powdered sugar (divided in half)
½ cup chunky or creamy peanut butter (divided in half)
3 regular-sized Snickers candy bars, chopped (divided in half)
16 ounces Cool Whip, thawed (divided in half)
Two prepared chocolate pie crusts
Lite Chocolate syrup for garnish
Caramel Syrup for garnish
Chopped nuts for garnish

In a large mixing bowl, beat 4 oz. cream cheese, ¾ cup sugar and ¼ peanut butter until creamy. Stir in one chopped candy bar. Add to pie crust, smoothing across top. Add whipped cream on top, smoothing for 2-3 minutes on top with a rubber spatula. Now, repeat with leftover cream cheese, sugar and peanut butter adding to other pie crust. Now you have two pies, with no toppings. Add syrups making a grid pattern, then top with nuts. Divide the third and final snickers bar in half, and top each pie with the pieces. Keep in refrigerator until ready to serve. They were SO good – it went over well with Austin’s family and mine- love that the recipe makes two pies! Next time, I’m going to try reduced fat cream cheese and cool whip – I don’t think you would have been able to tell!

So, how was your Thanksgiving?! Play any games? Have any yummy desserts? Buy any appliances?! Black Friday shopping, anyone?

I didn't take pictures. :( Hopefully i'll get some from my mom and/or sis so I can post later this week!!

26 comments:

homecookedem said...

Sounds like you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! :) Glad you were able to spend lots of QT with your family.

Thanks for the snickers pie recipe! That sounds like a definite must-try recipe to take along to a holiday party!!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. :)

Jenn Eats Nutritiously Now said...

That book looks interesting-- I may have to look for it!

Paige@ RunningaroundNormal said...

Happy Thanksgiving! That book sounds cute - and interesting!
Go you for getting that fridge! Shane and I ended upgetting a front loading washer/dryer set :D

Anonymous said...

That pie looks wonderful but I'd be afraid to have it in my home. I'm already having trouble staying out of the pumpkin pie!

I made a sweet potato casserole. No appliances though!

Mica said...

Thanks for the awesome Snickers bar pie recipe! I am a big fan of that!

I'm glad you had a nice T-giving. And your fridge is awesome!

Big Pissy said...

Thanks so much for having us over yesterday, Kel. We had SUCH a good time! I was impressed at how well all the pups got along. :)

Your house already looked amazing, so it's really neat to see how final touches like the rugs make such a difference. Can't WAIT to see the new fridge! :)

Kelly Olexa said...

I never go shopping on Black Friday; I take the whole day to decorate my house for Christmas! And I'm always surprised how much it tires me OUT!! ;-) And btw had to say thanks for your book reviews. I'm hoping for a Kindle for Christmas because I just started reading again and I'm loving it! ;-) You're awesome! Keep up the great workouts too girl!

Haylee said...

That cheesecake looks heavenly! Yum
I'm glad you had a good Thanksgiving.
I love meg Cabot books, I'll have to pick that one up!

Krissa said...

i tried to read everything on here but my mind and eyes kept going back to the snickers pie :)

THANKS FOR THE RECIPE!

laura dishes said...

Thanks for the Snickers pie recipe! Sounds like you got a great deal on the fridge...

Umm I bought a car today! My car died for the 5th time on Friday (Volvo couldn't figure out what was wrong with it... ugh I hate Volvo!) so I got a brand new Accord coupe. :) Hello, car loan!

laura dishes said...

Thanks for the Snickers pie recipe! Sounds like you got a great deal on the fridge...

Umm I bought a car today! My car died for the 5th time on Friday (Volvo couldn't figure out what was wrong with it... ugh I hate Volvo!) so I got a brand new Accord coupe. :) Hello, car loan!

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Anonymous said...

I'm glad you liked Big Boned! There are 2 books that come before it - Size#12 is not fat and Size #14 is not fat either. If you want them I think I still have them! :)

Thinspired said...

Matthew just looked over my shoulder while I was reading and now wants me to make your Snickers pie!! It looks sinfully delicious ;)

Nice that you got some exercise in on Thanksgiving :) Way to go.

Therese said...

Oh man I bet that fridge is gorgeous!

Don't worry about the snickers pie lady. I had two pieces of pecan and a piece of pumpkin. Whoops! At least I ate healthy for the rest of the weekend.

Joelle (The Pancake Girl) said...

I've made a cake jUST LIKE THAT, called "fat man's cake" (or "better than sex cake" haha), and it's delish. I used reduced fat Cool Whip and no one could tell AT ALL.

Hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend!

Anne said...

I am SO jealous of your Fridge! I am really starting to despise my side by side but I know there is no way I can justify a French door unless this one kicks the bucket.

Glad you had a great holiday!

Anonymous said...

snickers pie...drool.

and what a beautiful fridge!!

Diane Fit to the Finish said...

I think I'm coveting your new refrigerator. Let me think - yes, I definitely am!!

I think I've read a book by Meg Cabot before. At least her name sounds familiar. Right now I'm on an Elizabeth Berg marathon. I think I've read 3 this week alone!

Congratulations on 118!! WooHoo!

Erica said...

Sounds like you had a fantastic thanksgiving weekend! We had a blasty too. LOVE your new fridge- how exciting is that? The pie sounds out of this world too. I had the best froyo ever (as you saw in my post). Pumpkin ? Amazing! Black Friday deals were kind of meh this year. I got a couple good things form the Nike outlet

Jessica said...

Ohmigosh that Snickers pie is to DIE for.

Naomi(Onefitfoodie) said...

HOLY DESSERT!!!!

my thanksgiving was fabbbulous, lots of food, family and friends and it was just such a great time!

that book looks great! I am going to FL next week and need a good read for the plane :)

Tricia said...

Congrats on the fridge...and yum...that pie looks delish!

Melinda said...

Sounds like a great Thanksgiving!

I love Meg Cabot books- she is the best! :D

This was the first year I didn't go Black Friday shopping and only because we may be moving early next year and I don't want to move extra stuff- otherwise I would have been all over that lol

Mary :: A Merry Life said...

Glad you had a great thanksgiving! Mine was fun... no games but good food and fun Christmas movies with friends. :)

haute.teapot said...

Thanksgiving was great for me. That Snickers Pie looks AH-MAY-ZING...wow, so have to try it! Black Friday shopping was limited, just bought my mom and sister jackets for Christmas and that was about it. ;) Love your Thanksgiving pictures by the way!