Thursday, January 29, 2009

Stalling from Packing

by Meghann on January 29, 2009

Usually I love to pack for trips. I always start packing days ahead of time, well prepared with different weather forecasts in mind and ideas for quick and easy eats. But for some reason I am just not feeling it this time. Here it is the 8:30 the night before and all I want to do is vege in front of the TV.

I have been forcing myself to pack, telling myself if I do this little part then I can check my e-mail and read one blog (yes, I am obsessed) before moving to the next task. Of course one of those bribes led to an hour of me updating my Itunes, one can never have enough new music to listen to on the plane, right?

What about you? Are you a packing hater or packing lover?

I did manage to pack some yummy snack for the plane ride/ week. This is just the starting off, I know I am going to starve myself sking all day so I plan to stock up on more yummy quick access bars once the plane lands.

Like my bags of cereal in the back? I pre-portioned and mixed them for our early morning flights. I am hoping to find some yogurt or fruit in the airport for a complete healthy breakfast as opposed to my family’s usual choice of Burger King or Krispy Kreme.

Heathe r, I also have packed the last of your cookies, which have become quite the little travels. They will have then been consumed in New Jersey, Florida, and Colorado, talk about traveling cookies!

I did get a lot accomplished at work today, I guess that’s where all my energy went.

While I was packing up and hipping tradeshow material for sales reps (those are some heavy boxes!) I snacked on a Trail Mix of sorts.

In my half cup container I had some 365 Brand Organic Teddy Grahams, Brazil Nuts, Kashi Cinnamon Harvest Cereal, and 5 TJ Mini PB Cups. Yum!

For dinner I made my favorite go to meal for using up all the veggies in the fridge before I go out of town!

I oven roasted a Sweet Potato, Brussel Sprouts, Asparagus, and Indian Eggplants which I coated with some curry seasoning, salt and pepper.

I topped the roasted veggies with some Shrimp & Scallops that cooked in Tomato Sauce and then garnished with Green Onion.

Seriously nothing is better then roasted veggies with tomato sauce! This was good.

Dessert was a 1/2 cup of Carmel Praline FroYo with a Ricotta Chocolate Chip sprinkled on top.

And, no, I promise I am not sick of these cookies yet! They are too good!

Now I must talk myself into more packing!

I think the fact that I don’t have a suitcase to pack anything in is what’s throwing me off. I am kind of just shoving everything into an oversized hamper and will transfer it to a real suitcase when I get to my parent’s house tomorrow. Its so not motivating knowing I am going to still have to finish packing another time. Booo..!

Either way, wish me luck!

{ 34 comments }

A Quaker Review

by Meghann on January 29, 2009

Now that I have a temporary camera to photograph with I feel like I can do a proper review of the New Quaker True Delight Bars I received as part of the FoodBuzz Tastemaker Program.

I’m sure you have seen these bars popping up all over the blogosphere this week, but here’s a quick run through, as quoted from Quaker.

You’re invited to be delighted with the new Quaker True Delights Granola Bars.

Made with only premium, delicious ingredients, these granola bars are an indulgent combination of real fruit, whole nuts and dark chocolate, mixed into wholesome honey-drizzled Quaker oats.

Enticing pieces of fruit, such as gently dried bananas and sweet raspberries, are nestled together with large macadamia nuts, cashews or toasted almonds and chunks of 45 percent cacao premium dark chocolate.

At 140 calories, True Delights are a wholesome granola bar that can be enjoyed everyday.

Well, with a product description like that why wouldn’t I want to dive right in?

The bars come in three different flavors

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Almond
Honey Roasted Cashew Mixed Berry
Toasted Coconut Banana Macadamia Nut

I am very disappointed the Toasted Coconut Macadamia Nut version contains banana, otherwise it would have been my favorite to try.

So instead I had the Honey Roasted Cashew Mixed Berry as my snack this morning.

At first taste this bar was very sweet, but the second bite did not seem as sweet as the first. As promised there were whole cashew halves and bits of dried fruit integrated in the bar, which I enjoyed.

All in all it was not a bad bar and I would probably purchase again if it wasn’t for my overflowing inventory of Kashi Bars at the moment. I can’t wait to try the Dark Chocolate Raspberry Almond version tomorrow.

Today’s lunch was quick and easy thanks to my well stocked freezer of leftovers.

I had some defrosted Chickpea Noodle Soup, which was still delish almost a month later.

On the side I dipped some Stacey’s Multigrain Pita Chips in the Lemon Curd Heather sent me.

At first the Lemon Curd was a bit strong to me but with the tiniest of dips with the chips, this stuff rocks. It was perfect on the pitas and I can’t wait to experiment with it further. This would actually be a great addition to cookies. Heather, you baking genius, I challenge you to make a recipe for cookies involving this Lemon Curd and I promise to make and devour it all on my own.

So, How is your day going? Just think in a couple of hours it will be FRIDAY and then the weekend.. woo hoo!!

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I Have Accepted the Challenge

January 29, 2009

Call me crazy, but I have accepted the Gasparilla Bud Light Challenge. I was given some early birthday money and was told to, and I quote, spend the money on something ‘fun, frivolous, and just for me.’ I know, I know there’s a ton of things that this money could go towards, but I was more »

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