Eating breakfast and a giveaway.

It happens every year…. I’m sure I’m not the only one – we over indulge around the Holidays! For me it most definitely starts around Thanksgiving – portion control goes right out the window when there’s creamy mashed potato on the table, along with green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, not to mention desserts! But Thanksgiving is over and I don’t intend to carry on those kind of eating habits for the next month. I need to get back to eating healthier and shedding a few pounds before the next holiday – Christmas!

I hate the word ‘diet’, it always makes me feel like I can’t eat so many things I like. The way I prefer to think of it is just ‘eating better’. And eating better for me starts with a better breakfast. I recently was asked to try Fiber One cereal. I don’t know about you, but some breakfasts just leave me feeling hungry again an hour later! With Fiber one I feel like I’m getting something ‘filling’.

One serving of Fiber One Original cereal provides more than half (57%) of the Daily Value of fiber. It has 0 grams of sugar, 14 grams of fiber, 60 calories and 1 gram of fat per serving.

There are quite a few to chose from.. I tried the Caramel Delight recently, I really enjoyed it. The sweet caramel taste and crunchy wheat squares made me feel like was ‘indulging’ in a cereal that wasn’t so good for me. Knowing it WAS good for me made it taste even better:)

So from now til Christmas (and of course in to the New year too I hope), I will strive to eat a better breakfast. I plan on checking out the yummy Fiber one Pancake and muffin mixes too.

What about you? What are your worst over-indulgence’ moments?

I was sent a ‘Take the hunger out of dieting’ prize pack from General Mills and MyBlogSpark and one to giveaway to my readers.

What about you? What are your worst over-indulgence moments? If you would like to win a prize pack from General Mills just leave me a comment telling me what you normally have for breakfast.

I will pick a winner this weekend.

Melanie

Saturday Fun Day.

A couple of Saturdays ago, CSX had a family fun day. It was held at the rail yard and all the workers were invited. This is something that they do occasionally for the employees.

This get together came at a time where Gary had been working about 30 days straight and Caden and I hadn't seen him much. I decided that the only way to get Gary out of the office and be able to see him for a couple of hours was to take Caden and go.

They had a bouncy thing, a cotton candy machine, a face painter, and a climbing wall. It was really geared toward small children but it was nice.

They had hot dogs, hamburgers, bbq chicken, and sides.

After we ate, they were playing bingo and I wanted to play. Of course Caden didn't but after a round or two, he came on board:)

Then we toured an old caboose and headed home.

It was a nice day that we had as a family.

Hope y'all are having a good week.

Melanie

The Farmers Market in San Francisco.

On our second day in San Francisco, I took Gary to the farmers market. Okay, maybe I didn't take him along but I did ask him to take me;-) We let the teenager sleep in while we went and enjoyed food, flowers, and handmade things.

This is the first thing that we came upon. Everything and I mean everything is beautiful out there. I guess their climate is perfect to grow anything. And I tell you, they grow it.

Just look at the veggies. They are beautiful and on a sidenote, I didn't photoshop any of the pictures. Everything really is that bold and beautiful.

I wanted to take home some flowers but of course I wasn't going home. How nice would it be to go to the farmers market and buy your fresh ingredients for supper and pick of flowers for the table?

And then we headed inside. My oh my did I think that I had died and gone to dessert heaven.

I tried my first macaroon from this shop. It was the chocolate lavender one and I have to say that it did not live up to all the hype.

And then there was the bread. Oh the bread:)

Then we headed to The Cowgirl Creamery. I would have bought every typed of cheese they had if I could have.

After walking around and enjoying all the fruits, vegetables, flowers, and desserts, we headed outside and bought our lunch. I can't wait to show you what we got. I couldn't believe that Gary tried it and loved it.

We had a nice lunch outside at the farmers market and I will tell you about that next.

Ta Ta for now,

Melanie

Macaroni and Cheese.

There won’t be a Pioneer Woman recipe today because Denise is under the weather but she will be making a few things in the next couple of weeks that I won’t be making . They are things that our family (including me) don’t eat. I will try and post something that I cook that we love and link up to that recipe.

So this week, I made my baked mac & cheese. I don’t really have a recipe that is written down but I will tell y’all as best I can.

The cast of characters as Ree would say.

I salt the water and get it boiling for the 16 oz. of macaroni.

Boil that until almost done. Drain.

Add a stick of butter (or less if you want) to the hot noodles.

At this point I add a couple of pinches of red pepper & garlic powder. Just do this to taste. You might like it salty with a kick like we do or you might like it a little less salty. Just season to taste.

Add the beaten eggs and milk to the noodles. As you can see, I just eye it. Just make sure to cover the noodles.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes. This is more of a custard style mac & cheese so it is ready when it is set up.

After as many times as I have made this, I was in a rush and I didn’t let it set up long enough. Hungry hubby and hungry wifey and I didn’t wait long enough.

This is a really good recipe but the end result doesn’t look that good. I think that I need a photography lesson from PW on how to take pictures of food;-)

This mac & cheese heats up well too. We eat on it a few times and there is never any left over to throw away. Also, most of the time (when I am not in a rush) it sets up better. It is more ‘held’ together and not falling apart….if that makes sense.

Try it and let me know if you like it.

Melanie

Pioneer Woman’s Tomato & Pesto Pizza

This week I asked Denise if we could change our recipe from sugar cookies to pizza because I knew that I would not be able to resist eating them. I made this pizza while I was in Georgia so I actually didn’t have to make anything this week.

While I enjoyed the fresh ingredients on the pizza, I did not enjoy the crust.

The crust had no flavor and was a little bit dry and crumbly.

Verdict: I would not make this again. I follow Smitten Kitchen and she has a wonderful dough recipe. It has honey and white wine in it and I haven’t found another crust recipe that is as good as that one. Caden and Gary love that crust the best. It took me a few times to get the hang of it but I kept at it and finally got it down.

I would definitely suggest checking out Smitten Kitchen and trying some of her recipes and if you are in the mood for homemade pizza, try her crust.

You won’t regret it:)

Melanie

Pioneer Woman’s Mac & Cheese

I love macaroni and cheese. I like it cooked on the stovetop with a rue or custard style baked in the oven.

I really wanted to love this recipe and I thought that I would. I used sharp white cheddar and it was really strong. Gary didn’t like the white like he does the regular.

It was easy to make but I made a mess while making it:-)

This is what it looked like before I put it in the oven.

And the final product.

Verdict: good but not a keeper. Gary definitely likes mine better. He loves the custard style the best. I liked it when it first came out of the oven but when I heated it up the next day, it wasn’t good. It had separated and wasn’t creamy. It also made a large amount. I ended up throwing it away:(

Hopefully next week I will have better luck.

Melanie