Happy Wednesday all! Can you all believe the week is already half over? I am not sure if it is because our days are action packed this time of year or because I am loving my new job, but, I love that there are only 2 days until our work holiday party and the weekend!
It was easy to get out of bed this morning because I knew there was a big box of Farm Fresh to You Organic produce waiting for us on the door step! This week’s box was totally packed full.
The Veggies:
- Radicchio (I am totally giving this away!)
- A Huge Fennel Bulb (giving this away too!)
- Mixed Greens
- Baby Bok Choy
- Carrots
- Broccoli
- Red Chard
And…..super cute mini red potatoes.
The Fruit included mandarins, pears, fuji apples and lemons. I continue to be impressed with all the boxes we have received ~ everything is 100% fresh, crisp and you can tell it was picked that morning.
Farm Fresh To You delivers “almost” everywhere in the US so if you sign up, do not forget to enter the code “6164” and my full name “Danica Pike” to save $10 off any box you choose.
After putting everything in the fridge, I hopped on the treadmill for a steady 30 minute jog to make sure I hit my 100% on AL today 
I refueled with a Healthy Egg Roll (SF + 1 WPA) – 4 points+
Plus a persimmon from last week’s Farm Fresh To You box. These are seriously sweet, crunchy and totally refreshing. I am always sad when it’s all gone.
Lunch today took about 15 minutes to make and to eat lol. I decided to work on cleaning out our fridge a bit starting with chopping up the last of the peppers from our garden, mushrooms, 1/2 a sweet potato and 1/2 a red onion.
Toss in a pan with a little olive oil.
Plus the remainder of our Simple Roast Pork Loin, paprika, oregano, sea salt and pepper.
100% Simply Filling and 110% Delicious! The entire pan is only 8 points+ and totally satisfying.
I love how the salty pork worked well with earthy mushrooms and sweet potatoes in this hash. This is definitely going on my list to make again.
I love receiving fun mail and today’s package were these Mini Beakers from OXO that come in 2 oz, 1 oz, 1 Tablespoon and 1 teaspoon measurements.
I have to admit, I totally love that Be A Good Cookie Spatula too! 50% of the proceeds for the Be A Good Cookie Spatula will be donated to the Cookies for Kids with Cancer Campaign.
I am participating this year in the OXO Good Cookie Bake a Difference Campaign to help raise money for Kids with Cancer by whipping up some delicious cookie recipes that will help their “bake sale”.
I am finally back in the mood for salads again and couldn’t wait to dive into tonight’s dinner. We made up huge @$$ Taco Salads that were amazing.
The Base ~ lettuce from our farm box, red cabbage, carrots, tomatoes and Trader Joe’s Fire Roasted Corn.
The Middle ~ 1/2 cup Turkey Taco Meat, 1 oz reduced fat cheddar cheese and a little guacamole.
The Toppers a la The Husband ~ Hot Sauce and drum roll please…..a couple of Chili Cheese Fritos because he said I always put crunch on my salads and didn’t have any. My Clown ~ I love him! (SF + 2 WPA) – 8 points+.
ACTIVE LINK STATS:
- 6 Activity Points, 118%
QUESTION OF THE DAY:
What is your favorite cookie to bake during the holidays?
I need ideas for the Bake Sale and will gladly “healthify” any ideas you have.
Night all!
I love the Barefoot Contessa’s shortbread cookies. Easy to make in different shapes. I also love a great chocolate chip cookie and my all time favorite is pecan tassies. They look like little pecan pies.
No Farm to fresh in GA. I get farm boxes once a week but this season there has been way to much greens (and I don’t mean lettuce!).
Peanut butter cup cookies or cream cheese cookies. We make both every year at Christmas!
Peppermint Bark, Peanut butter balls, and Andes mint cookies. Yum!
I agree!
My favourite cookie to bake during the holidays is my Maternal Grandmother’s Molasses Cookies.
For as far back as I can remember Grandmaman would whip these up around Christmas in huge batches and put them in old bucket-like tins from past purchases of hard ribbon candies. I have pictures of my as a child sitting on one of these buckets and munching on the cookies, only getting up to open the bucket, grab another one, and then seal it again and sit down. It was like eating moist gingerbread in a cookie format.
Grandmaman passed in 1997 so I took it upon myself to keep her tradition and memory alive by making the recipe every year and EXACTLY like she made it, fat and all. It’s my one indulgeant sweetness during the Holidays and worth every point.
My favorite all time cookie is “detta’s mistake cookies”. She messed up a recipe and liked the outcome so she always called them mistake cookies. They have oatmeal, chocolate chips, and toffee. YUM-O. Here’s a link to the recipe: http://theaverageconsumer.com/2011/07/consumer-cafe-dettas-mistake-cookies/
My favorite Christmas cookies to make are the peanut butter cookies with a mini Reese Cup pressed in the middle. Also the Magic Cookies bars (Eagle brand recipe): Graham cracker crumbs and Eagle Sweetened condensed milk for the base and layers of chocolate chips, coconut, and nuts. Yum! Also – super easy reindeer noses – pretzel topped with a rolo (or hershey kiss) and pressed down with an M&M.
Glad to hear you love your new job. Always makes getting up each day that much easier.
That taco salad looks delicious! I was wondering your thoughts on humus…do you eat it? If so how many points do you count it as on simply filling? I’m thinking it should count as 0 on simply filling since the only non-simply filling is soybean oil.
I was using FFTY over the summer and loved the “exclusions” feature as I also am not a fan of radicchio. When something on your exclusions list comes up for the weekly delivery, they’ll put in something else of equal value. If you call enough in advance, they’ll let you pick from a small list of possible alternates. SO handy. Highly recommend.
Really like the creative use of pork in a low calorie dish! (That radicchio and fennel in the food box looks like it has wonderful possibilities, too. And you are giving it away 🙂
My favorite are Mexican Wedding Cookies. But everyone else’s favorite that I make is Dark Chocolate Orange Bark and Sea Salt Caramels.
I would be FOREVER grateful if you can ‘healthify’ shortbread cookes 🙂
Danica,
Your hash looks amazing! I’ll be trying that one soon.
I think cookies are one of my favorite aspects of the holidays. I took on the role of Christmas Cookie Baker back when I was a kid and have been experimenting ever since. I think my favorite cookie is the Barefoot Contessa Shortbread that you roll in coconut and turn into thumbprints filling with your favorite jam. My husband loves them too.
Kerry, Weight Watchers magazine’s Nov/Dec issue has a recipe for a lighter shortbread with a couple of variations. It’s on my list to try in the next week or two.
I make spicy gingerbread thins. Crunchy, a bit spicy and so perfect for the holidays. Husband loves them,