I really wanted a picture of the kids marching… but I guess random ones will have to do…

I know, you’re probably super disappointed that I’m not writing about those amazing cookie dough stuffed muffins. I’m actually planning to make them tomorrow because I have a ladies even that I can unload them at, so we don’t eat an entire batch ourselves. See? I’m thinking ahead! If they are as delicious as I’m hoping they will be, I wanted to make sure I had a plan to not eat them all.

For today I’m back to an old recipe I used years ago, when I was doing Weight Watchers Online. Weight Watchers has come a long way and has fantastic tools. It’s super easy to use now and has great support groups. I know this because my friend Stacy, has been doing it for a little while now with AMAZING results. (I feel like an advertisment right now). But seriously. She looks AH. MAZING. And better than that, she feels amazing. Which is really the point, right? We want to feel better in our own skin again. And she’s so much happier. It’s lovely.

I just got together with her this past weekend to catch up. It was so great to reconnect

Anyway, back to the food part.

I love this recipe because it gives me the delicious pumpkin pie without the extra calories of the crust.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  I love crust.  A. Lot.  But when I’m trying to eat healthier, it’s nice.  It does call for Splenda, but you could substitute a little less regular sugar and it would be fine.  Not quite as low in calories, but fine.  😉

And, finally, before I go, how about a food fail?  I made myself a banana egg pancake (which is exactly what it sounds like = you mix one mushy banana with 2 raw eggs and then cook it) and apparently I wasn’t watching it closely enough…

No, I did not cover it in chocolate.  Yes, it’s really that burnt.  And yes, I did eat it.  Amazingly it didn’t taste that burnt at all!  Ha!

The kiddos have been going stir crazy wanting to run off energy the past couple of weeks–and being stuck inside… too close together… not enough space to run… getting on everyone’s nerves.

Enter amazing Auntie Kylene to the rescue!

She suggested I look into a place called PlayWorks that is just down the street from here.  It’s basically a big play area (think, McDonalds play area, and triple it) where they can run and scream and play as much as they want.  It’s amazing.  It even has access to arcade games if we wanted to pay for those (which we do not, ha!) as well as tables to do puzzles, or card games and even sells snacks.

So, it’s a big hit.  We’ve only had a membership for one 6 days and we’ve been there 3 times already.  Tee hee!

Oh!  And, here’s the best part–Kylene even gifted us a membership!  Isn’t she just the best most awesome, amazing, lovely sister ever?  YES!!!

I was going to make cookie dough stuffed cupcakes… but I ran out of time.  🙂  So, come back next week for that amazing (or perhaps not amazing) recipe and my thoughts on that.  I’m hoping to make that this weekend.  In between my craziness.

For today I’m going to post about the healthier foods I’ve been enjoying this week.  I made I.P. cauliflower “mashed potatoes” today, but I’m pretty sure I’ve already written about that.  If I haven’t and you’re curious, just let me know.  I’ve also had steamed broccoli and green beans but my favorite this week has been the sweet potatoes.  Which, I know, I know, that’s not a veggie, it’s a starch… but it’s healthier than what I’ve been eating for that past couple of months!

I love sweet potato fries, but it takes over 45 min to bake in the oven.  Sometimes I’m too hungry to wait that long.  Okay. Most of the time.  So I looked up the best way to microwave the sweet potato and I actually love it!  So, if you’re curious here is:

• Wash your sweet potato and stab it with a fork a few times.
• Wrap it in a paper towel and place in your microwave.
• Cook for 5-6 min.  (Mine needed 6 min)
• Done!

See?  I can wait 6 min to eat. I usually making the Littles food at that time anyway.  🙂

What’s your favorite healthy veggie?

Hey, let’s do a bullet point post!  It’s been a while since I’ve done a random post like this…

• Today is Kylene’s Birthday!  Yippie!
• What a great day to have a Birthday, right?  02/20/20!  Look at all those 2’s and 0’s!
• This week has felt weird because the kids had off last Friday and again on Monday… a 4 day weekend in the middle of February!
• I’ve been trying to be better at drinking more water this week and I’m pleased to say I’ve been able to drink 14 glasses a day.  Boo yah!
• This weekend is crazy busy with random activities.  I’ve got to make sure I’ve written everything down so I don’t forget anything…
• …And that’s the great thing about my new amazing watch–it will alert me!  (well, as long as I have it in my calendar)
• My back was a little worse today.  Not terrible, but a little tighter.
• On a positive note, my heel is feeling better!
• For the month of February, I’ve been teaching my students about 2 new composers each week.  Just a brief overview and an interesting fact.  It’s been fun telling them random facts.  Plus I’ve learned a lot too!
• I finished another book from the MHL list: Towers Falling. It was a quick read, but good.
• I have to go to the U of M on Saturday morning to test pianos.  I always get stressed out when I have to drive downtown.  Ugh.  At least it will be a Saturday with less traffic.
• Tim gave away a bunch of his train stuff this week.  He’s decided he’s done with that hobby.  It’s a little sad.  But really there’s no space for it right now.
• On a fun note:  the train stuff actually went to one of the families that I teach–the oldest son, who used to take lessons from me, but has since stopped now that he’s in high school.  Isn’t that fun?
• The Littles are going absolutely STIR CRAZY since they haven’t been able to get outside to run and play lately.  We are all eagerly anticipating spring.  Or just weather warmer than below zero.  😉

Well, my back is slowly feeling better.  I can say with confidence that I am loads better than yesterday.  Tim helped me research some good stretches, and I went walking (slowly) a bit this morning to keep it loose and I taught most of the day standing–and all those things seem to have helped.

I was hoping to work out tomorrow, but we’ll see how I’m feeling in the morning.  I don’t want to take one step forward and 2 steps backwards…

I did stay home from BSF this morning though since we were supposed to help in the kids area, and I knew there was no way I would be able to crawl around on the floor with the little ones.  Know your limits, right?  😉

So… we had an amazing Valentine’s Day and a great weekend…

And then this morning I tweaked my really low back (not sure how, maybe carrying the vacuum up the stairs?) and now I can’t bend over.  Or stand back up after I sit for a while.  It’s ridiculous. And I’m crabby about it.

I guess I’ll write more tomorrow.

Sigh.

We love Valentine’s Day here!  So we’ve been living it up ~ although I’m starting to repeat myself a bit so you’ll probably notice some things that you’ve seen before.  😉  If it’s still fun, why go through more work of trying to find new stuff, right?

For breakfast:  pink heart shaped pancakes with whipped topping, strawberries and chocolate drizzle.  Messy but oh, so good.

Then we moved on to a fun “I spy” worksheet and a cute card (each kid picked a name to write about another person)…

I even made Valentine’s for each student today…

For Lunch we had:  Pink mac & cheese with heart shaped hot dogs, pink powerade and grapes/strawberries.  No I didn’t take the time to cut the strawberries or grapes into anything.  I do have my limit you know.  😉  I also didn’t take a picture because they ate it too fast.  Ha!

Then I made a strawberry pie for Tim…

And for supper we’ve having heart shaped pizza (compliments of Tim).

For today’s recipe I’m putting up the one for the Strawberry Pie.  Very delicious, and quite simple.  The only catch is you have to stir it constantly for 10 min.  That’s a little frustrating for me when I’m trying to do multiple things at once… But other than that–it’s very easy.  Oh, and I use my amazing veggie chopper to make quick work of the strawberries.  I like to cube them up to mix with the sugar.  I feel like it helps break everything down faster.