My Life In Candy

If seasons were measured in sugar, this one may be my favorite. It's around this time of every year that I gain several pounds. A result of one single culprit:

These little treats are so delicious! Chad caved and bought me a bag last night while running some quick errands post-work and I've nearly polished off the entire bag in 18 hours!

Inevitably when I mention my love for this tasty goody, most people assume I am talking about this nasty concoction:

Blech!

The Crammivian gang is due in town in a couple hours. It's our turn to entertain. Too bad there won't be any yummy candy eggs left by then. Sorry guys.

Friday Night Fun

Last night's dinner at 309 was fabulous. We enjoyed ourselves so much that I neglected to take any photos of the evening save this one of Chad with my leftovers bag:

We began the evening by meeting up with our friends at Tavern on Prospect, a quaint but chic little pub located in the same area as 309. While there we toasted to Jennifer's birthday and I presented her with a small birthday gift in a Twilight series gift bag. She is a total Twihard and I think it may have been her favorite part of the whole night.

Following the fun at Tavern on Prospect, we headed over to 309. Just as the last time we were there, the place was bustling. Even with the slight crowd, we were warmly greeted and seated promptly. (This time we were far from the restroom.) Jennifer and I perused the menu while we waited for the guys to square up the bill at Tavern.

After selecting a bottle of wine, the guys rejoined us. We got to work on our entrée selecting. For some reason I was really craving a burger so I went with it. Some Honey Glazed Winter Squash also caught my attention so I ordered that as a side. Chad decided on the Tuna Nicoise salad with Wild Mushroom and Truffle Oil Risotto. Tonight's selection were a little out of the ordinary for us, normally I order the salad and Chad's ordering the burger. We also started with a small plate of tasty calamari.

Every morsel of food I ate was delicious. My burger ordered to medium done-ness was superb. The crispy garlic fries were exactly what I needed. However, I must say that the honey glazed winter squashes made such an impression that I need to attempt duplication. Even though I quickly reached stuffed status, we finished the meal with the Rockslide Brownie. There is always room for dessert. It was tasty but not the best I have had.

Chad was pleased with his salad too. I stole a bite of his risotto and it was interesting and great-tasting. Our dining companions raved about their meals as well. A fantastic dining experience.

On a slightly less gourmet level, I neglected to document Thursday night's dinner with an entry. Tilapia with Shallots and Marsala was front and center for our night flanked by asparagus and brown rice. The original recipe called for broccoli as a side but I swapped it in favor of the asparagus - turned out out to be a great decision. Chad gobbled this right up!

Another exciting night planned tonight. We are headed to one of our favorite Illinois wineries, Willet's Winery in Manito for the best thing ever, Wine & Dine. I can't wait. Up first, a 10-miler followed by Body Pump with Liz!

Happy Half-Birthday to Me!

Like any child at heart, I LOVE birthdays - mine and those of my friends'. It only seems natural that I would also celebrate my half-birthday, marking the six-month countdown to my next celebration.

This tradition for me bore from school days. A summer birthday is difficult to celebrate with classmates so my mom suggested honoring the half-birthday as an opportunity to contribute special treats to my school peers. I have fond memories of proudly toting two-dozen glazed doughnuts, sometimes even still warm, to the kids at St. Mary's Elementary. Thanks to those tasty doughnuts however, nothing else since can compare. Sadly that bakery no longer exists near my hometown.

In honor of my half-birthday today, I baked up some Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars. Unfortunately I struggled to make them last night due to a late evening trip to WalMart Supercenter to complete the ingredient list and neglected to take a picture. Today they disappeared quickly from the office even though once I sliced them, they didn't look as pretty as the original post.

I personally have eaten so much of these treats that I currently feel ill. Not because they are not delicious but because my body is rejecting all the sweet I'm afraid. The binge began last night - testing the layers as I prepared beginning with the awesome graham cracker, butter and chocolate chip crust. Emphasis on the BUTTER. Because I skipped my workout, I was able to spend more time eating.

Tonight's plans include a trip to Peoria's trendy 309 restaurant with a friend, celebrating her actual birthday, and her husband. My friend Jennifer and I met at work but after our foursome enjoyed a few evenings out, our husband's hit it off and have had a few occasions of outings sans the wives to brew beer!
Source

Chad and I dined here last summer with the Crammivian gang but it has been too long. I thoroughly enjoyed our first visit but I am not much of a food critic. I like EVERYTHING.

Post-work but pre-dinner we are headed to buy me some new running shoes. I have been wearing a variation these beauties since just before the marathon:

They are in dire need of replacement with well over 400 miles on them. My knees hurt just thinking about tomorrow's scheduled 10-miler. We are headed to Running Central to pick up a new pair. Peoria area runners are fortunate to have a great running store in town.

A fun weekend ahead! Hopefully I can remember to take some of those grainy photos I'm so good with.

Way Too Many Cookies Wednesday

Today was a great day. My friend from work celebrated her birthday so that meant treats and a lunch outing. At our workplace, the birthday person brings treats for the rest of the office and chooses the lunch destination. Her pick, Flat Top Grill, a create your own stir-fry restaurant.

For the treat portion, today's birthday girl brought in a long-standing Peoria favorite, Trefzger's Bakery. Her contributions were thumbprints and a traditional chocolate chip cookie. Due to my proximity to the treat area I could not resist to the tune of one each of the aforementioned varieties. I blame the birthday girl! (Another cookie was consumed later that she could not be blamed for. Chad had one remaining Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookie that I discovered stashed in his office as we were heading out for the day. I ate it in no time flat - yikes!)

All that cookie eating is likely the reason I had no trouble getting myself to the gym for Body Pump and a 30 minute EZ run. I'm finishing out my last week of my winter maintenance training program before starting my half-marathon training for real. Race is April 30.

Following my trip to the gym, Chad was at home already getting started on dinner by chopping the butternut squash into cubes. Butternut squash is working its way up my favorite veggie list. We enjoyed black bean and butternut squash wraps. So delicious!

The finished product doesn't look all that appetizing but some chipotle peppers in adobe sauce added some spice with the slightly sweet taste of the squash - it was perfecto! One of our favorites. Chad does not even complain about the lack of meat in a dish like this.

Time for some relaxing and trashy TV watching!

A Look at Our Snow Day

This post is a few days late, I think I was attempting to forget Snowpocalypse ever happened!

An action shot of Chad attempting to keep up with the accumulation on our deck:

After the storm passed, I had to get out for a walk to stretch my legs. The gym wasn't an option:

It got pretty cold quickly, so I bundled up:

We warmed up with a tasty dinner of Spicy Chicken with Raisins & Jasmine Rice:

We were back to work as normal on Thursday but it was fun to be "stuck" at home for a day and a half.

Super Gluttony

Like any self-proclaimed, "eater," I like to eat my weight in junk food on Game Day. Yesterday being the culmination of an entire football season, I decided to go crazy. (Only adding to the pressure was a weight-loss challenge first weigh-in scheduled for today. Good strategy would suggest that bulking up the day beforehand is a brilliant idea, I went with it.)

To fit the gluttonous bill, I stumbled across these large treats, Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Cookies, on another blog.

I started by taking some of this:

Sandwiched around one of these:

...and this was the glorious result:

Unfortunately the photo above does not show their truly large scale. The recipe only made about a dozen of my version. They were so delicious out of the oven though, I had to force myself to stop at two face-sized cookies.

Since I can't be trusted around goodies like these, Chad took the remaining cookies to work today. Apparently they were a hit there too!

A tip if you want to replicate, Kroger store brand, Private Selection Chocolate Drops are the BEST semi-sweet chips available.

Writing this post made me hungry.

Laid Back Tuesday

Normally in the evening, I'm literally running around after work attempting to squeeze in a good work out and rushing home to join Chad in making dinner. Most nights we sit down to eat around 8 pm - a little later than we would prefer but it works for us.

Tonight due to the extreme snow, we changed up the plans a bit. We continued with dinner as usual but I skipped my scheduled workout due to the gym being closed. Boo to that.

To get dinner started Chad chopped the veggies and prepped for Spicy Chicken with Raisins and Jasmine Rice. It's a new dish for us but so far it is one of the more fragrant dishes we've made. Our house is filled with smells of ground cloves, bay leaves and garlic.

Our new recipe was a success! We have marked this Middle Eastern dish as a favorite on our meal planner.

The great photo is courtesy of Chad's new camera and his talented picture-taking skills.

Time to relax and stay warm!