I need something, but I am not sure what it is. 

I love running, but I am feeling so blah with it lately. I see Caitlin, Meghann and Lindsay running in the Florida sun together and I am green with envy. Not that I run outside anyway, but they make it look fun. I am looking forward to joining a gym (once I get to N.J.), so I can try some new things and maybe some classes. Of course I will miss the treadmill in my parent’s house. It’s the most convenient thing in the world. I would sit on my butt all day long if not for that thing. Anyway, I did run today. A boring 5.3 treadmill miles and 1 mile walking. It’s not that I was bored when doing it. I was entertained by the Starter Wife, but I just don’t feel like I’m pushing myself at all. 

I continued my uneventful day with a game of Place Value Bingo with my niece. How do you say the word “Aunt?” I, and I believe all New Englanders say, “Ont.” 

Then I watched Drumline. That movie is good. Now Nick Cannon is married to Mariah Carey. What a riot! 

For dinner, I had two new things (1) Amy’s Vegetable Barley Soup; and (2) An Ezekial Hamburger Bun. That brought some pizaz into my day. 

It was definitely good for a canned soup, but not even comparable to theVegetable Barley Soup my mom made be on Oct. 27th. I think canned soup has a specific flavor that follows it no matter what brand.  But, it wasn’t greasy or overly salty like lots of other brands I’ve tried. 

I got the Ezekial Hamburger Buns upon Erin’s recommendation. Considering I’ve eaten an English Muffin produced by the Good For Life Company everyday (sometimes twice a day!) for the last three months, I enjoyed trying something new. I also like how they are already split in half so I am more likely to actually eat half like I always intend, but never ever do with the muffins. Definitely good, soft on the inside and crispy on the outside. I did miss the density of the muffin though. 

Today I also had a Macoun apple with Pumpkin Pie Spice. It’s so yummy. Two yums up. I can’t believe I just said that, yet I will not delete it.

About a week ago, I received a wonderful package from Megan at Megan’s Munchies I got lots of great stuff, including the three special Holiday Clif bars. I’ve eaten them all now and am here to share my humble opinion. 

I rank them in this order:

(1) Iced Gingerbread. Have you ever tried the Chai Luna bar? It’s similar in taste, but more moist and chewy.  A little spicy, but well balanced with sweet. Loved it. 

(2) Pear Apple Strudel. I was delightfully surprised by how much I liked the because I don’t generally like fruity bars. To me, they usually taste so fake that I don’t want to eat them, but this one had a subtle fruity taste and a wonderful aroma. I didn’t necessarily get a strong pear or apple flavor from it and I liked that. 

(3) Spiced Pumpkin Pie. I love  pumpkin dearly, so I was really looking forward to this, but there was nothing pumpkin aboout it.  I mean, pumpkin has such potential. It almost tasty minty to me. I actually checked to see if it was in the box next to something minty, but it wasn’t. V. sad.

Cookie of the Day: Lemon Squares

I love lemon, so a couple years ago I started experimenting with lemon squares. Eventually, I settled on a hybrid recipe. When making Lemon Squares, I combine the filling from this Emeril recipe (so I use the 4 eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and whole milk) and the shortbread base from this Gourmeet Magazine  recipe. I’ve made these a few times and everyone loves them. At first I was thrown off by the brown sugar/lemon combo, but they blend well and balance eachother out. Enjoy! 

And a special treat …

Date Balls

A visual for the Date Balls I posted a week or two ago. My mom made them today (I tried to help, but mine looked like cubes) and froze them for Christmas. The recipe made 77 balls this year.

It snowed today! Only a couple of inches, but it was still exciting. I love when it snows in December. Well, I spent most of the day in the library. It’s strange to mingle with undergrads seeing as though I’m pretty much a semi-professional student at this point in my life. I don’t think I stick out or anything, but I feel different. The care free attitude of having nothing to do but school work just isn’t the same now. Anyway, all my student teaching work is due Thursday and I have lots to do. I got a fair amount done, but only because I left the house so I wasn’t distracted by blogs, the call to bake and Christmas decorating. Of course I brought lots of snacks. Here is a sampling. 

Apple slices with pumpkin pie spice, plain Greek + non-Greek yogurt w/ flax, wheat germ and pumpkin pie spice, banana, decaf vanilla chai, orange and chocolate graham snacks in fun shapes. 

This snack fest was my actually my lunch. I made up for the lack of vegetables at dinner.  Oh, and aren’t orange such a hit or miss fruit. This one was kind of dry. Does anyone have any tips on picking out the juicy oranges? 

Cookie of the Day: Gumdrop Cookies

I found these Holiday Gumdrop Cookies last year at Oprah’s website. They might sound strange, but they’re cute and tasty. They’re really sweet though, so beware if that’s not your thing. I used red, green and white gum drops to make them pretty and festive. Last year I made two batches, one for a cookie exchange and one for my family. I omitted the pecans from the family batch because of my nephew’s allergy (my mom does not do nut free cookies because she is very set in her recipe ways, but I try to so Jack can have some cookie fun). Anyway, they both tasted great, but the pecans added a nice touch.