Hi guys!  Let me just say that I’ve been having a fantastic day so far!  Moving and shaking all day long.

I realize that my post last night was quick and to the point, so I didn’t get a chance to discuss our pizza much.  Figlio is a place we’ve been wanting to try for some time and last night presented the perfect opportunity.  But I have to say, while both of our pizzas were very good they were also very expensive.  For the size of the pizza and the amount of toppings, the pizzas, we feel are a bit overpriced.  They are the perfect bistro pizza!  However for us, the toppings were a little sparse.  And Scott would have liked more cheese.  Would we check Figlio out again?  Maybe, just not for pizza.   I would much rather make pizza at home.  It makes for a nice and special evening.  It turns an ordinary Thursday into a fun day!

Okay, okay moving on my day!  I got up at 6am and after taking care of Rocky went straight to work.  I turned in a document I finished last night and busted out another one and completed it.  That cleared up my queue and my day!  Once that was finished, I changed into running clothes and headed outside for a fabbo run!  I only did 2.5 miles but I pushed it hard and finished in 25 minutes exactly!  Woot!

Small glass of CS and Rocky and I were out the door headed for our morning walk.  It was so beautiful out this morning!  I loved every minute of it and got a wee bit sad that Scott is not up that early in the mornings to witness the perfection.  I am loving September so far, it has just been gorgeous!

I changed back into my jammies and filled up with breakfast and coffee.

Stoneyfield whole milk plain yogurt with frozen blackberries, granola, cranberries, coconut, and ground flax.  Delish!

Ina, I will be making more pumpkin peach oats tomorrow morning, so I will post how I do it tomorrow!

After breakfast and playing around with my iPhone, I started groovin’ around the house!  First order of business was to clean it.  Once the kitchen and bathrooms were clean, I started cooking in the kitchen and didn’t stop till 6pm.   I know!

I made us some lunch and sometimes the best dishes come out of forced creativity.  Forced creativity is when you are low or out of ingredients and you have to make due with what you have.

I am out of salad stuff, thus forced creativity for lunch was upon me.

I have been seeing the swiss chard spring rolls pop up all over the blogsphere lately.  Well I had some veggies and I had chard so I tried my hand at making my own!

Does that not look beautiful?!  I washed, dried and removed the thickest part of the stem from the chard leaf.  The I split the leaves in half length wise, although now thinking about it, it could be done be across as well.

In a small bowl I mixed:

• Red onion
• Carrot
• Cucumber
• Beet

All very thinly sliced like match sticks.  Topped with red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  I let it sit for a bit to mix and get yummy.  Then I added in a spoonful of dijon mustard and mixed again.  Placed a small amount of the mixture on the chard leaf and rolled it up.

Smoothie!

• 1C Pineapple juice
• 1C US Cranberry juice
• 1C OJ
• Splash of carrot juice
• Kale
• Frozen banana
• Frozen blueberries
• Frozen pineapple

Creamy perfection.

Some minneolas in the middle!

There are three wraps on my plate if you can’t tell.  :p Lunch was awesome!  Both of us loved the chard wraps!  And it was totally filling. I was actually surprised by how filling it was because I didn’t expect that at all.  I thought for sure we were going to need some crackers and hummus.  But nope, this was all enough.  YUM!

And then after lunch I got down to some serious bidness in the kitchen.  Here’s what I made today:

• Prepped everything for tonight’s dinner
• Prepped tomorrow’s dinner (!!)
• Made a pot of pinto beans
• Made granola
• Made oatmeal power bars
• Made maple PB cookies (!!)

WOW!  Are you impressed?   Because I am!  I totally needed this time in the kitchen.  I had an icky week.  I didn’t make martial arts classes, other than Monday night.  My running was off a bit, I missed an event Inggrie was hosting, and work was stressing me out major!  Last night I just felt so blah!  I hate working late and try to avoid it at all costs.  Yesterday was the worst.  By the end of the night I was so toast.  I tried having a glass of wine but honestly only had a few sips and didn’t want it.

I KNOW!  Who am I?!

But since yesterday was weird and off and just not a typical day, I was not in the mood for a glass of wine.  Today has been so much better and makes up for the less than stellar week.  And having that extra time in the kitchen to just kick it all domestic style for the afternoon was bliss.

Once I was done, it was time to get busy with some eating some dinner!

Chicken chipotle burgers with salsa as well (all mixed with the chicken).  And grilled.  SO GOOD!

Beans! With garlic chili hot sauce on top. 

Parsnip fries, I have been craving these like mad.  Mmmm mmmm!  Grilled eggplant.

All together!  I made mini burgers for me.  The perfect size!  And there’s some kielbasa in there too.  That is one huge honkin’ plate of food and I did not clean it. Too full!  I made a dent though.

Scott has his burger official style meaning it was on a bun.  While my burger was topped with a wee slice of pepperjack, Scott’s burger was sporting this.

It’s sort of a take on pimentos and cheese.  It’s a little bit of olive oil mayo tossed in a mini food processor with two big chipotle peppers + adobo sauce. Mix till blended and then add some good shredded cheddar and mix (with a spoon, not the processor.).  It’s good! But a little spicy for me.  It’s also good as a dip with crackers.  I’m sure Greek yogurt would work instead of mayo.

Alright guys, I gotta hit the shower and pour myself a glass of wine!  Till tomorrow my pretties!