Randomness...

Well, It's been almost a week since I was on here last. Just been really busy! Haven't had the mind at the end of the day to sit down and focus because I'm tired! I have been keeping down the water lately, although that's no thanks to my water bottles. I tried them, and they were metal, didn't like them, so I gave them to a friend. I got these babies though:

They are plastic, but I can reuse them...which if you ask me, is way better than regular plastic bottles. I tried something else this week:

Had half with breakfast, and then with lunch...I LOVED it!!! I would recommend it for those times when water just isn't cutting it.
Also,I made Kath's Summer Squash Gratin as a side dish with dinner last night. It was scrumptious!I did add some goat cheese to mine though :) I've been walking more lately and I found that it's really relaxing. I feel a lot better after a little walk, and I truly enjoy the peace and quiet of the night. I got this wonderful soap at the store the other day...

Yes, I use bar soap, but as far as I see it, it's one less bottle to throw away! It smells soooo darn delicious. Yummy citrus and ginger. Some more pictures of random things:



Scrumptious mix for tuna salad!






Have to go...I'll be posting later!

My 6 a day habit....

I have to admit, I'm a bit of an addict... I have a six a day habit... Six water bottles that is! Which is good for me, but not the environment... So as of this week, I'm doing this:


And buying a water filter! I also got a coupon for 5 dollars off! YAY!

In other news...I can't remember Saturday, it's too far away, sorry. Sunday was a ten hour day... Same old breakfast, and then for lunch, a 6 inch roast beef on wheat bread, no cheese, just veggies, but I threw away half the bread (too much!) and half of the roast beef (started to taste yuck after a bit). For some reason (maybe because I only got three hours of sleep!) I was really still hungry after that. I had a teaspoon of pb and some blueberries...You know what? My brain is way too tired and stressed out to focus on this right now...Why don't I let the pictures do the talking and I'll come back...
Oh, there was saturday...:)

must've been sunday morning breakfast.
then blueberries at work, and the pear was from monday night. I don't remember much from monday either except getting on Kath's blog and making a grocery list. Tuesday was the night when we all get together at my house. Matt and I had little ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch (after a normal breakfast) and I made turkey/chicken meatballs for dinner. Paired those with some jarred spaghetti sauce and some whole wheat pasta and voila: dinner for five! After that, I don't know if I want to talk about it. I started to get hunger pangs, so I had two (small) scoops of lactose free ice cream, with a cut up banana and some sunflower seeds on top. About an hour later (out of boredom?????) I felt hungry again, and went for tons of bread and pb, then later for tortilla chips and salsa, and finally (when my craving for chocolate kicked in) I was eating pb from the jar!!!! It was horrible! I was craving carbs. I don't know if it was from a lack of sleep, or maybe the fact that it's the first time I've had white bread in three weeks. Whatever it was, it was horrible. On to today...Had a banana and a handful of nuts because I thought we were out of milk, then ended up eating another handful of nuts over some cheerios (ran out of granola...sigh)and milk. Later, snacked on a granola bar I made, then another banana and a handful of nuts at work. When I came home, I had a small pb&j sandwich, about five strawberries, and a piece of cheese (for my "lunch"). I spent an hour and a half grocery shopping before work, and an hour and a half after work at Wal-Mart getting random things. Got a great big pink storage bin (yay pink!) For some old blankets I found while cleaning out the closet in our guest room. Only had to do that because it was supposed to be getting carpet in it, and when the man came to put it down, he pulled up the stuff that had been on the floor, and the wood underneath was dry rotted! Ugh! So he had to replace the whole floor in the room, but now there is awesome carpet in there...the only room in the whole house with carpet! Also got a water filter today. I started this post on Monday, and never got a chance to sit down and finish it, so I have followed my pledge and bought a water filter pitcher and two water bottles
(one for me and one for Matt). Also got some new bowls with twisty-tops so I can take them in my lunch bag! YAY! Is it weird that I get excited about Tupperware and other misc. things for my house...Like rugs and sticky notes? Oh, and this grocery list thing I discovered??? It's a grocery list generator...If you have Mozilla Firefox, you can get it as an add on, and it's pretty great! You add things to the list, then each time you use it, you can put a quantity, and it prints right out! Also stores and prints recipes! Go to www.grocerylistgenerator.com to find out the details! Well..I have to go make dinner, cause the hubs will be home any minute! Post ya l8ter! (wow that was lame...have about [insert witty quip here]...much better)

Not for the weak of stomach, the vegan/vegetarian, or the generally grossed out...You've been warned!

So I want to share a tool that a lot of people my age really don't have or use. It can save a lot of money. I want to talk about cutting up a whole chicken. I spent 4 dollars on this chicken, and I will get two meals for my hubby and I (it was one of the smaller ones, only a little bigger than a Cornish hen, but you can use the same method for a bigger chicken....). It is a messy process, and it is essential that you keep everything clean, drain any juices from the package before you take out the chicken, and wash your hands in between everything!!! I started with the bird breastbone up. I sort of tore the wings off, because I knew I could just muscle it because it was so small. Usually you would have to cut the cartilage to get the wings off. I put the wings aside.
I then pulled off the legs, which I muscled through too. Mostly just jostling and twisting, cutting the skin and meat around where the thigh is (you know what a leg+thigh looks like...come on...), which was the hardest part (the cutting). I pulled the skin off while I did this, which i acutally difficult for the most part. But you just have to keep pulling until you're done! Now, on a normal basis, you would probably just make a cut next to the breast bone on either side and start cutting the skin off the bone. I, however cut the bird in half, cutting the breastbone in half, and cut the meat from the bone because it was easier for me to get a hold of. Then, I took off all the fat and skin that I could

...and voila, I have two wings, two legs+thighs, and two breasts, skinless (and the breasts are boneless...). Yuck! Look at all that fat and skin!! Well good luck! It's really not that hard if you start with small one and work to a big one, and once you do it once, it's a total breeze.

Sweet and Sour....

I tried this recipe from Eating Well... It's sweet and sour chicken. I did tweak it a little and messed it up. I used thin wheat spaghetti noodles (because after three days of rice a week, I needed a little change...) and I don't think I really like apricot preserves with veggies, so I used a little pineapple juice. I think that's why the sauce never thickened so it was just kinda watery. Tasted a little strange. The hubs didn't like it (I could tell, because he was hungry after the first bowl and instead of going back for seconds, he heated up some spaghetti sauce to put on the noodles and ate that plain..yuck!)Although it was a failure, hey, at least I attempted it! For dessert, I had a banana and some pb. I was just craving pb and I don't know why!!! Packing today's lunch already! Sorry I didn't get many pictures, I was trying to go fast....lol

Twitter...Weeeee!!!

I'm happy to say that I finally joined the online world in the craze that I don't really get...in 140 characters or less... Twitter!! Yes, I put random things up there, but not to worry, everything else will still be here!
Follow me: JustASpoon

Tuna salad fit for a king...

Lunch is becoming my favorite part of the day, even when I eat it in a rush, I always eat something good for me. I watched my coworkers down two pizzas (they are growing boys) and they all looked at me strange when I pulled out my lunch box. Yes! I TAKE A LUNCH BOX TO WORK!!! I MAKE AND PACK MY OWN FOOD FROM HOME!!! I'm so tired of them all giving me that look of disgust, but I guess I can expect nothing different, when I look at them and do the same. Yes, that pizza smells delicious, but I know after one bite, that it will be gross. I just don't like that anymore. Sweets, yes, pizza, greasy burgers, no. After my yummy breakfast and post, I packed up my lunch. I cut up some carrot, added some left over peas, a little onion, and made a little mix of 1 tsp each: olive oil mayo, brown mustard, and Dijon mustard. I packed a big hunk of bread, along with a banana, some almond butter and some mixed nuts.
I only ended up getting time to eat the tuna on top of the bread, but it was amazing tuna salad. I feel like everyone should try it! It was tangy and I got a little of my veggies in there too (only a little, but I'm working on that...). I'm posting dinner soon! See ya then!

Caramel whipped topping! YUM

Dinner was not that great yesterday...ok, wait, let me rewind. After work I came home for a bit, and then I went to the park...It was dark (it was 10pm) but there weren't really many people there, and that's the way I like it. I walked/ran FOUR miles!!! In a little over thirty minutes. That might seem slow for everyone else, but that's quick for me. I felt soooo good afterward! About dinner. It wasn't all that good. In fact for the first time in a long time, I threw away what was left of it instead of keeping it for leftovers. It was stuffed peppers, but something was weird with the peppers. The rice tasted funny too. I had dessert last night! It was a little piece (and i mean like a sliver) of chocolate cake with a caramel flavored whipped topping. It was delicious. Breakfast was the same it's been lately. Granola and cereal, with tons of strawberries (they were going bad) and sunflower seeds and dates. I have absolutely fallen in love with dates! I want to put up a recipe for my shrimp, spinach, and artichoke dip, but it's not exactly healthy. It's just something that my husband craves. I guess the only thing unhealthy about it is the sour cream and all the cheese. I bought a mini chicken this week. It's weird, because I usually buy frozen chicken breasts, but I decided that, since I already know how to cut a whole chicken apart,it would be cheaper and fresher for me to do that. Just takes a little bit of time and work. That is what I'll be doing when I get home from work tonight. Well, I'm going to the salon, and then I have to go to work. I'll be posting later!


ps: I have lost eight pounds in the past three weeks. YAY!! Ok, just had to say that!