Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, y'all! I'm finally done with the most intense semester of my life. And other than doing some planning for next semester, I'm home free until January 11th. Next semester won't be nearly as insane but that will mean I have less money. It's what I believe they call a double edged sword. Also, I'm working out super hard, especially now that I have more time, but in terms of diet, I'm hanging on by a thread. I'm hovering around 5 pounds up from Thanksgiving still (Thanksgiving was great btw) and it's only going to get worse as I travel to Nashville and Chattanooga and then spend Christmas at home. I'm trying not to go crazy but there's always something holiday/calorie-related challenge thrown in my face. This is how it is every year but the problem is, the older I get, the harder it is to lose the holiday weight. But, I feel optimistic.
The last couple weeks of school were rigorous and I was tired of frozen meals so Ian whipped me up some ground beef/taco seasoning. I split it up and every day that week I brought it along with a spinach tortilla wrap and some leftover Moe's salsa to go with it. It was great and easy...especially since Ian made the meat.
Also, I had some frozen lemonade leftover from my vegan for a day experiment and used it to make a more calorie friendly margarita for myself and Cassandra. They were DELICIOUS! I put the frozen lemonade in the blender, added tequila and a little bit of skinny margarita mix. It was pretty much a stroke of genius on my part.
I've experimented with Blue Apron before but then a friend sent me a free week of Hello Fresh. It's essentially the same as Blue Apron but for Ian, I think the options are slightly better for a picky eater on Hello Fresh. First, we had a yummy chicken pesto pasta. They sent enough chicken and extras to have a chicken salad sandwich the next day. The next meal was a giant, delicious, juicy cheesy burger. The last dish was a simple but tasty chicken and rice dish. Ian really likes cooking these because they make him feel fancy. Plus, all the groceries are right there for us. For me, it's a bit pricy so we won't get them all the time, but it's nice occasionally.
For a quick breakfast, I tried the frozen Special K Quiche that had quinoa, cheese and mushroom. I put it on top of toast and to be honest, for a frozen meal, it wasn't too shabby. It was filling and mostly enjoyable.
My mom cooks dinner every Sunday and so I got an urge to cook for my family and give my mom a break last Sunday. I wanted to bake a crap ton of Christmas cookies and four hours later on a Saturday night there were one million cookies in my house. On Sunday night, I wanted to get fancy so I make a standing prime rib roast, havarti and spinach mac & cheese and yorkshire pudding. I am always getting pictures of the process but sometimes I get excited and forget to take a picture of the completed meal. The prime rib was SOO good. I was scared to make it because it's an expensive piece of meat...but I played it low and slow...and it turned out fantastic. The rest of the meal was great too. Lots of food and fun and family right now. I'm in the "bowl full of jelly" portion of the Santa story right now.
I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!
Roll Tide!
See you all in January!
Buhbye!
