Trader Joe’s… my love affair….

Sorry that I didn’t take pictures of everything when it was out, but in summary… lots of different types of meat and fish… TONS of veggies, fresh herbs, seasoning… etc…

But just imagine a fridge that literally only had 3-4 things on each shelf or in each drawer… empty… and then TJ’s happened…

FULL!!!!

At least 3/4ths of my massive purchase went into the fridge which makes me feel healthy…

salads and spinach

veggies!!!! even the stuff i don't usually get into!!

more veggies!!! they didn't fit in my crisper!!

meats, dairy, breads... yes breads, because miss minnie helps herself to them if left out anywhere...

That is the most unorganized, packed, beautiful fridge i have ever seen…

The motivation behind this cleanse was the crazy yard work the other day… and I decided to re-read the Jillian Michaels book “Master Your Metabolism” which while a lot of it I will not do, such as remove all plastic Tupperware and air fresheners I will stick with the diet…

Very few processed foods, few starches, healthy carbs and lots of protein and veggies…

It was not cheap – which hurt given that I’m the coupon queen these days – but I’ve got to detox myself some how!!!

blue cheese tilapia

I hate to do this but I have to give my ex credit for this super quick and simple dish…

Well it turns out this is his sister’s meal which he passed on to me and now I enjoy it when I’m hankering for some fish this is what I throw together…

The ingredients….

• tilapia fillets
• blue cheese
• any extra cheese you choose

star of the show

fishy fishy

These were some fillets I’ve had stashed in my freezer for who knows how long but they weren’t freezer burnt and defrosted fine…

Spray your dish down with non-stick cooking spray, pop in the fish and then coat with the dressing…

make sure to cover the fillets well, the dressing with cook down a bit in the oven…

Put into a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes…

and enjoy a glass of this…

I don’t own a wine glass so I old school it and just put it in a regular glass…

left half has gorgonzola cheese on it.

And then eat as is or do like I do and pop it on some buns for a nommy fish sandwich!

lighting sucks, hate my little camera sometimes

the blue cheese dressing keeps the fish so moist and it just flavors everything in a way that can’t be beat…

i’m telling you, you’ll love it…

i don’t even like blue cheese and this is one of my fav fall back dishes when I’m feeling lazy….

Here ducky ducky

Hi

that’s my new salt and pepper shakers/holder…. seriously… I was looking for a set because I don’t own any which apparently is a sin in the boy’s eyes and he shot down all of my choices and then when this came up on Amazon I jokingly showed it to him… and of course… he explains… “you HAVE to get that”

seriously

So now mister ducky is sitting on the counter craddling salt and pepper like they are two big bottles of booze…

After setting up the duck master of condiments I whipped up some sketti…

Sauce was just red onions and crumbled up burger from other night…

Tossed it with some angel hair pasta and some GOUDA love me my gouda and was a nice happy camper….

I wanna go home and eat left overs now… yum…

I’m in class til 7:30 tonight so those leftovers will get nommed up tonight when i roll myself in through the door…

and this guy will be there to greet me

He quacks me up……..

when it rains…….

it pours….

i was so hoping that my car would last me through grad school… Steve had helped me put new tires, new brakes, and a litany of other things into the car for it to pass inspection this year and now…. well… this…

That would be a massive crack across the bottom of my windshield… When I parked the car Saturday night I noticed a little crack and got out and could feel a ding in the windshield so I must have got hit by a pebble or something that cracked it…

But by Sunday night it had spread 2 feet wide…. and well lets add the fact that 3 dif mechanics haven’t been able to fix this….

which they all claim is from a simple wheel sensor malfunctioning but with the bad winters in Pittsburgh all I need is no traction control… and now how will I know if my care really does have something wrong with it…

So after much discussion with my mom and Steve and his parents we’ve decided that I just probably not too safe in the car… on top of this one of the head lights has a mind of its own and has decided that its fog light will constantly be on as well…

With finals this week and next week the last thing I wanted to do was go car shopping but it looks like that is the plan… and with having about zero income I’ll be looking at trying to get a lease… I don’t drive much other than too and from work and school and in 7 years have only put 70,000 on my car now which includes 10+ trips to DC when I lived there and a trip to FL… so I don’t expect mileage restrictions to be a problem…

Heh, on top of all of this, two days ago I locked my keys, purse, cell phone, laptop and books in my car when I got home… how? who knows… but by the time Steve’s friend came to get them out I just wanted to push the car off a cliff…

So what cars am I looking at?

the Mazda 3

source

Its big brother the Mazda 6

source

And the VW Jetta

source

They’re all generally smaller than my Oldsmobile intrigue but all a little more reliable and have pretty good reviews and ratings it seems… plus decently affordable leases…

Tomorrow afternoon/evening…. me and steve versus the car dealers…. bring it….

On another note… I actually prepacked lunch today… Starting the day out by actually getting out of bed when the alarm went off at 6am was what I needed I guess… I did 35 min on the treadmill walking and running and then had yogurt with a little spoonful of pb for breakfast…

And here’s what I get to look forward to for lunch….

I haven’t had Progresso in forever but I picked up a few of these at the grocery store the other week and figured why not, the office has a microwave might as well use it…

And some of this to snack on

yes those are chocolate chips… dont’ judge… I’m an addict and I cannot go cold turkey… along with some laughing cow cheese which I LOVE especially the new flavor, light mozzarella, sundried tomato and basil… but i packed the creamy swiss today… and some applesauce to round it out… nom nom!!!!

hope you all have a great day!!!! i’m off to do some work, some studying and then attending a meeting later before heading home to relax….

So beat…

It’s Tuesday and I’m already ready to call it a week…

Ok I wrote that first sentence went to bathroom and while I was washing my hands looked in the mirror and counted 5…. FIVE grey hairs…. 2 in my bangs… that is NOT ok ppl… and I’ll tell you why… because I pulled out 4 grey hairs last week… the curse of Grandmother is coming… I can feel it… she was grey by 28 or something rediculous and the stress of work and school is just bringing it on that much faster… AHHHHHHH i wanna cry…

Ugh… but seriously, life is insane, can you tell my by complete and utter lack of posts… maybe 2 a week at this rate… and that’s even including the fact that I have weekends off… I stilllll can’t keep up… doesn’t help that my flash drive decided to die on me yesterday… technology hates me I tell you…

But none the less… this schedule is a killer… you would think the 10 am start would be fabulous which it is… but the walking in the door at 7:30-8pm at night… not so fab… bah… humbug…

And late night dinners… killing me… I need to get a fix on the food/dinner thing and fast… Steve even said so because its the one meal he consistantly eats and he’s eating like 3 portions and at 8:30 pm… gotta fix it…

But on the good note… Some day last week I can’t remember when… I discovered that Steve has a thing for citrus… lemon flavored things, orange flavored things… so when I made the lemon butter chicken he about died…

In the spirit of citrus I made parm panko crusted chicken (my fav) and lemon butter spaghetti with peas… BIG HIT!!! goooooo me…

some of the yum yum parm panko chicken

his plate* i'll explain the his plate her plate in min

her plate

someone kept trying to help herself so she got a timeout

So Steve is a rediculously picky eater….. like as in, i don’t want chunks in my pasta sauce picky… there shouldn’t be meat in my lasagna picky…. i don’t like thick burgers because they don’t cook right picky…. (and I thought I was bad when I was a kid… at least I had a go to meal of mashed potatos peas and a hot dog)…

sooooo basically I’ve started to make half the meal Steve’s way if possible (casseroles he has to suck it up and pick ou the chunks) and half my way… and to tell the difference we use a white plate for him and a blue plate for me… kinda sad but it is damn efficient…

The white plate is also a little more spill proof because it has a little lip on the edge which he swears I need more than him but with the speed that he eats I’ll let him have the food guard…

Hoping to make stuffed shells tonight inspired by Picky Palate … because i’ve got some italian sausage in dire need of cooking and some shells and ricota cheese begging for my attention too… once again… steve’s will be special made Mr. no meat in my pasta sauce… god i don’t know how the italian in me can date him….