2008 November 18

I had every hope and intention to pick Abbie up from the Vet after work this afternoon. Unfortunately, the Vet had other plans and would like to keep her overnight for observation. They assured me that she is doing fine; they just wanted to hold her to make sure whatever was wrong with her is now out of her system. Of course, I have now been thrown into Concerned Mommy overload. I will hopefully be able to pick her up tomorrow during my lunch hour. Until then my apartment is sad and lonely without her to keep me company.

After I talked to the Vet this afternoon I decided it was the best time to indulge in my afternoon snack. Nothing like something sweet and creamy to lift my spirits. (Yes, I am an emotional eater L).

I broke into my second Peach Chobani and packed a ¼ cup of Quaker Oatmeal Squares to give the yogurt a crunch. Do you like the fork action? Its all we had in the office kitchen.

I know this is only the second flavor of Chobani I have sampled, but it is definitely my favorite. I meant to try the others and then come back to peach, but this morning I saw the pretty orange container calling my name and just had to grab it. Sigh.. now I am sad all of the peach flavors are gone, maybe the Blueberry flavor I had left will intrigue me as much as the peach has.

Too keep my mind off of Abbie I decided to get crafty this evening and attempt my BSI submission for the week. I was overly excited when Lindsay selected Pumpkin for this week’s BSI and had a zillion possibilities of what to make. First I narrowed down that I wanted to go out on a limb and attempt something savory. Second, I decided to I wanted it to involve either chicken or tofu, since that is what I currently have in my fridge at the moment. Finally, Third, I of course wanted to think of something I had never seen before to boost up the creativity points I am so fond of.

So what did I come up with?!?!?!

Pumpkin Pecan Encrusted Chicken

1 Chicken Breast
1/2 cup Pumpkin
1/4 cup Egg Whites
3 tablespoons Fat Free Milk
Pumpkin Spice
Cinnamon
1/2 cup Crushed Pecans
1/2 cup Whole Wheat Bread Crumbs

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

2. In one bowl combine the pumpkin, egg whites, fat free milk and a dash of each of the seasonings.

3. In a separate bowl combing the pecans, bread crumbs and another dash of spices

4. First coat the chicken with the pumpkin mixture and then with the pecan mix.

5. Bake the chicken at 375 for 30 minutes.

Mmmmm….. the chicken reminded me of Thanksgiving! The perfect Holiday meal. Pumpkin and Pecan are an ideal combination which complimented the chicken perfectly. This meal also got me thinking how great a pumpkin and pecan stuffing would be for Thanksgiving Turkey. I think I am going to work on that for next week!

On the side of the chicken I attempted Yucca for the first time.

I have always been a huge fan of Yucca, but have never attempted to cook it. The exotic root was tempting me during my ill fated grocery trip so I threw it in the cart and decided to give it a try.

I was too lazy to look up instructions how to cook it properly so I decided to just bake it as I would any other root vegetable. I peeled it, cubed it, seasoned it with salt and pepper, then placed the root in the oven to roast with the chicken.

As with any other new cooking experience I’ve had, simple is always the best. The Yucca came out amazing! It was perfect and starchy. The Yucca was also really cheap, less then 50 cents! I will be sure to buy and prepare this vegetable a lot more in the future.

I also steamed some Snap Green Peas to add some pretty color to my plate.

The meal is filling and satisfying. The perfect combination to keep my mind off of my poor puppy.

For dessert I had a half a cup of Peanut Butter Cup Frozen Yogurt with some Puffed Brown Rice.

I do love me some Frozen Yogurt.

Now I’m off to catch up on the DVR and then get some sleep. I am going to hopefully attempt another run tomorrow morning. Cross your fingers I can actually make it out tomorrow.

Good Night!

{ 38 comments }

I apologize for not having a breakfast post; it has been a crazy busy morning. All the craziness started last night when Abbie got very sick. It was to the point where I was on the phone with the Vet’s after hours phone line in tears trying to figure out if I should bring her in or not. Luckily she started to improve and they told me there was no emergency. Of course that didn’t stop me from waking up periodically throughout the night to check on her and make sure she was ok.

Abbie seemed like her usual self when I woke up this morning, but she had developed another symptom that disturbed me (I will not go into details), so I immediately called the Vet and brought her in first thing this morning. She is still at their office under observation and I have been assured she will be fine.

I was a very concerned Mommy last night and this morning, I don’t know how I am going to survive when I have kids and they get sick. It was complete and utter torture to watch her in pain and wanting to do everything possible to make sure she’s ok. A huge weight was lifted off my shoulders when I realized Abbie was going to be fine.

Before I went to the Vet I managed to have a quick cereal breakfast.

In my bowl I had the rest of my Canned Pear I opened for dinner last night, 4 Blackberries, ½ cup of Quaker Oatmeal Squares, and ¾ cup of Kashi Honey Sunshine. Even though I ate this in a rush, I thoroughly enjoyed the canned pear in my breakfast. I will need to purchase more of that in the future since my fresh fruit options are limited in the current season.

Due to the impromptu Vet visit I was late to work and was immediately rushed to a photo session for our upcoming newsletters. The photo shoot kept my schedule jammed pack until lunch, when I finally was given a break to eat and actually go about my normal day.

I did manage to run to my desk for a quick snack of Almonds at one point.

When I knew I was going to be bringing Abbie to the Vet I decided to pack a quick lunch to have at the office. I packed a Mint Green Tea, a Veggie Wrap, Grapes, Carrots & PB.

I love Kath’s Foiled Wrap Method, it works so well. In my wrap I had Plain Yogurt, Sprouts, Spinach, Tomato, & Cucumber.

I felt I deserved some chocolate after my Night/ Morning so I dug into my chocolate stash and had this Dark Chocolate Snickers.

It was definitely the chocolate fix I needed. J

—-

I went immediately to work as soon as I walked into the office this morning and did not even have time to turn my computer on. When I did have a chance to turn my computer on an hour or so later I had a few concerned messages in my e-mail from Caitlin wondering where I was, I then checked my cell and saw a missed call, voicemail and text from her as well as a matching voicemail on my work phone. Apparently she was a little worried where I had disappeared to.

I had mentioned I would be going for a run this morning on last night’s blog post and when I was unreachable this morning, Caitlin was concerned that something had gone wrong. I immediately called her and assured her that I was indeed alive and everything was ok. It did get me thinking though…

Since I live by myself and run early in the morning, there is always the thought in the back of my head that if something were to happen, how long would it take for anyone to know that I was missing? I run with pepper spray and am very aware of my surroundings, but there is always that risk of something happening. When Caitlin showed her concern this morning I realized how thankful I was for her and our friendship, she knows I run in the mornings and she knew something was up. I am glad she left all of those messages, even signing my Sister’s Facebook wall, it shows me that if something does happen that there is someone out there who will notice right away. Thank you Caitlin!

To take even further precautions I let my Supervisor know that I do run in the mornings and in the event that I am a no show at work and unreachable by phone to please call someone and let them know something is up. I hope all of my fellow early morning or night runners out there are taking the same precautions. It is a scary world out there, this does not mean we should stop doing the things we love, we just need to have plans set out in case something goes wrong.

Now that I have done my little PSA about Safety Precautions, I want to know some safety measures you have set out for running? Do you carry Pepper Spray or let someone know when you are heading out for a run? Please share, I would love to see some great advice.

{ 34 comments }