Creature of Habit (or boring eater)

You know those diet/healthy living blogs where the blog author chronicles every single thing she/he eats in a day? I like those blogs, I really do. However, sometimes I get tired of seeing 20 pictures of their oatmeal every single morning. I do get a lot of ideas for meals from those blogs but I have a confession to make. You won't see that from me. Here is the main reason, and I am almost embarrassed to show you all this, but here goes. I am an extreme creature of habit.
I'll allow you to check the evidence and make a ruling on your own:


This is a salad with a cut up chicken burger (purchased at Sam's, they are sooo good). I have eaten this exact same salad at least 3 times this week.

Next up, we have something that looks like breakfast, and probably was on at least one occasion,

but I'm not too proud to eat eggs, toast and salad for lunch, two days in a row.

Even when I am with Jennifer, I usually can get her to eat the same thing,

Here we have our normal Country Club Grill lunch. A vegetarian Reuben, sweet potato fries and a Greek salad (shared of course). I think we've had this three times since the summer started!

I also eat lots of frozen yogurt! I ALWAYS get the tart flavors and load my cup with fruit.

And I am a little ashamed to admit that this has been my lunch (and lunch for my kids) on more than one occasion. (OK, maybe like 6 times...)

Here is a salad I tend to repeat like crazy.

Spinach, tomatoes, cottage cheese and tuna. I love it. It loves me.

Breakfast is so predictable,

This is a bowl of mixed up cereals. Kashi Heart to Heart, Natures Path Pumpkin Flax Granola and Grape Nuts. I pour vanilla almond milk on it. Its good. I eat it a lot. I know, boring.

A big bowl of veggies for lunch.

Is anyone still reading this post?

Yogurt pancakes.

I am totally in love with them. I could eat them daily. I have eaten them every day for a week before.

Here is a twist on scrambled eggs.

And it would be exciting except I probably ate this every morning for breakfast back in April because I was on my "Jana's best Salsa" kick. Oh, that sounds good, maybe I'll make some today!

Oh, wait, this is different,

No, just another bowl of veggies.

Question of the day:

Are you a creature of habit? If so, what foods/meals do you turn to often?
Yes, I am. The evidence speaks for itself, however, this proves that I am loyal! I eat eggs and salad, a lot!

Do you like eggs? What is your favorite way to eat them? Do you put anything on them? I love eggs, and I like to cook them any way possible. I love to top scrambled eggs with salsa.

Do you like frozen yogurt? What are your favorite flavors/toppings?
I adore it. My favorite flavors are the tart ones. Currently its Original Tart swirled with Pomegranate! I am a fan of our local yogurt place on Face book so I can see the menu daily, lets just say if they have Pomegranate that day I may or may not arrange my day to be somewhere near! My favorite toppings are fruit and granola. I am not a fan of candy as toppings nor am I a fan of frozen yogurt that tastes like ice cream!

Have a wonderful day. I have big plans. To lay out at the pool and read, ALL. BY. MYSELF.!

See Ya, Carie

Its my Anniversary, so I made a date (cake)!

Cheesy post titles not withstanding, it was my 13th wedding anniversary! We celebrated a couple of days before since it fell on a Monday and of course Golden Boy had to work, I had a busy with my job as a chauffeur, and we spent the evening doing this:

That's Little Brother up to bat at his T-Ball game!

So, in honor of my 13th wedding anniversary I made a date cake! Actually, in England they call it "Sticky Date Pudding". However, after it baked, it had the consistency of a cake, so we are going to roll with that title, ok?

Sticky Date Cake (Pudding) with Caramel Sauce

For the Cake:
1 c. chopped dates
1 tsp. baking soda
1 c. boiling water
2 eggs or flax egg substitute*
1 c. brown sugar
2 TBSP. Butter
1.5 c. self rising flour

For the sauce:
1 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. whipping cream or whipping cream substitute*
1 tsp. vanilla
2 TBsp. butter

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Place dates in a bowl, mix in baking soda and cover with boiling water.



Set date/water mixture aside and let them do their thang. The hot water will make the dates "melt".

Cream butter and sugar, then add the eggs (one at a time if using eggs) beat well, after each addition. I used the flax egg substitute because I was out of eggs. To make flax eggs mix 1 TBSP. ground flax with 3 TBSP warm water for each egg you need. I needed 2 so I used 1 TBSP. flax and 6 TBSP. water. Allow this mixture to sit for just a minute and it will get sort of gooey, with the consistency of an egg and look like this:


Because I used the flax eggs I just added the whole batch to the sugar/ butter mixture all at once.

Next, fold in flour and date mixture and pour into a greased round or square cake pan.



Now, bake the cake (pudding) at 375 degrees 30- 40 minutes, testing with a toothpick to make sure the middle is done.

Mine came out looking like this:




For the caramel sauce, I didn't have whipping cream so I googled a substitute. Don't you love technology? There really isn't anything you can't find out just by simply searching the Internet. I just googled "whipping cream substitute" and was given 3 or 4 options. I chose the low fat option. Whisk together 1 cup low fat milk (I had 1% on hand) with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. Add 1 tablespoon of flour and whisk. Let this sit for just a minute. In a saucepan combine sugar, butter vanilla and 3/4 c of the whipping cream substitute. Bring to a boil, stirring, and simmer for 5 minutes.



Serve cake on a warm plate topped with warm sauce.



Oh yall, this was good! I wish I would have had some ice cream on top!



Happy Anniversary Golden Boy! To bad you don't really like dessert because this is good! (scratch that, I'm not sorry, there's more for me!) I am honored to be your wife and can't wait to see what the next 13 years will bring us!

"...(love) always protects, always trust, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails..." 1 Corinthians 13:8