Sweet Treats + a Coupon!

I was up bright and early this morning since my body didn’t want to let me sleep for real last night.  I woke up at 1:37 am and did that whole sorta sleep, not really sleep thing.  I guess it made it a bit easier to get up when it was rainy and stormy outside.

FUN THINGS OF TODAY:

I saw that ConAgra ~ the makers of a ton of things we eat came out with this 100 less challenge this week.  I LOVE the concept of their challenge to get everyone to eat 100 calories less each day.  Click HERE to read on.

Top Chef filming at Whole Foods in Napa on Wednesday to film ~ AWESOME!

I get to tour some wineries and restaurants to pick for our holiday party the next few weeks – LOVE it!

We have one month until our 1 year anniversary cruise!

I dreamt about my breakfast last  night and it was going to include my new cider sauce.

1/2 c Quaker Old Fashioned Oats

2 Tbsp ground flax seed

1 c water

Dashes of cinnamon and sea salt

1 mini fuji apple chopped

All cooked up in the microwave in 2 minutes.  Topped with a BU Tbsp Dollop of freshly ground almond butter and CIDER SAUCE!  Awesome ~ That’s all I can say.  I can see cider sauce having a permanent place in my life :)  I wonder if I can figure out how to make it…..Hmmmmm!

I had to run a few errands at lunch today so I made sure I included a stop at Whole Foods for some more Soup Creativity.  I pondered mixing Chicken Tortilla Soup with Black Bean Soup, but, in the end, the Southwester White Bean Chicken Chili with Sioux Turkey Chili won. 

I used 1/2 and 1/2 this time which made for a majorly thick chili soup.  I think I like the combo of 3/4 chicken and 1/4 turkey best.  Still it was AMAZING.  I managed to eat 1/2 of the soup and ALL of my corny bread.  I was happily full and warm!

Since Trader Joe’s is right next door to Whole Foods, I almost always go in for samples without a real purpose.  They finally had the Chocolate Crisps back in stock so I picked up both flavors.  DARK CHOCOLATE! 

MILK CHOCOLATE!

Did I mention that an entire serving is 12?! Awesome!

I had to make sure I sampled both flavors to give you all a thorough review :D  I started with the Milk Chocolate (next time, go dark 1st since it isn’t as sweet!)  I LOVE how they stack them like Pringles….

HI TJ’s Peeps! I think I seriously LOVE you (as if you didn’t know, but, honestly, I really do!)  Whose fantastic idea was it to make a  chocolate chip ~ it’s all chocolate with little rice crispies that taste like toffee in the shape of a chip.  I LOVED the milk chocolate ~ totally addictive!

All of my co-worker’s who are dark chocolate connoisseur’s LOVED Dark Chocolate best.  I LOVED them both the same and wouldn’t complain at all to have either.  The cool part is that they are both so rich to me that you really do not need 12 ~ BONUS!  As on co-worker pointed out, 6 are only 115 or 110 calories – BARGAIN!!!

After sampling both chocolates, I broke out the Pumpkin Fudge to share with everyone.  I cannot even come up with the words to describe this creamy, pumpkin-y goodness! 

On my way home, I saw the most BEAUTIFUL rainbow right above one of the orchards that had orange and yellow grape trees.  I wish I would’ve left earlier to capture all the colors to share with you all.  Yes, my commute can take forever on our 2 lane highway but when you drive pass wineries and stuff like this it makes you forget about all the cars.  I DEDICATE THIS RAINBOW TO THE HUSBAND!! 😀 Mwah!

When I got home, we picked up The Husband’s mom’s stove and delivered it.  I was seriously having cookers block.  Is there such a thing?  I couldn’t think what to cook tonight for dinner so I took the easy way out.  I started off with an colorful blurry salad.

Plus 7 Trader Joe’s Vegetable Gyoza ~ Pan Fried in a little oil then steamed in water.

I broke out all the sauces needed to make my meal complete along with fizzy water.

Then, I made everything saucy.  Srirayachi plus soy sauce on the gyoza and Trader Joe’s Low Fat Cranberry Walnut Gorgonzola dressing.

I was still hungry, so I decided to have dessert right after dinner.  The super cool Peep’s at Yoplait sent me some coupons to try out their new Yoplait Delights.  They come in 3 other flavors ~ Lemon Torte, Triple Berry Creme, Creme Caramel ~ MMMMM….can’t wait to try them!

The first flavor I picked up was the Raspberry Chocolate Parfait. (The Husband broke into the box B4 I could take a picture :))

2 Weight Watcher Points of creamy indulgence ~ Perfect for an afternoon or evening sweet craving!

I LOVE the concept of these parfait yogurts ~ they layer 2 thick and rich flavors of creamy yogurt.  I LOVED the raspberry part, but, chocolate yogurt is just ok to me.  I ate them in two separate layers since I don’t think chocolate and fruit belong together, but, you might and would LOVE to mix them up 🙂

Yoplait is giving ALL my readers a coupon for $1.25 off each 4-pack!!!!  Click HERE to print yours out ~ Yeah!!!

Tomorrow I have to tour Frazier Winery as a potential place to host our Holiday party .  Such a rough job, but, someone has to do it, right?  I LOVE that you can eat in their CAVES!!!

Have a great night all!  I’ll get back to cooking this week.  I STILL have a bunch of fun stuff planned for you ~ now I just need time to make it happen 🙂