Rockin’ It Solo

On Friday, we picked Bodhi up from the animal hospital and brought him home.

Poor puppy was so wiped out from the pain killers that he really didn’t want to do anything but sleep.

Wanting to keep things simple, we ordered pizza with mushrooms and broccoli and watched Runaway. Nothing like a throwback film to start the weekend off right! I had three slices of a 14″ pizza and cut them a bit smaller to feel like I was eating a little more. (I also topped it with some Sriracha, yum!)

On Saturday, The Huz headed to Boston to surprise one of our closest friends. Her fabulous boyfriend planned and executed a fabulous birthday party and, by the Huz’s accounts, it was a complete success. We both wanted to beat the bad weather that was on its way so I woke up at 6:30am to have a cherry pie Larabar mini before my run.

Then I was off to Central Park to meet Megan for a fabulous long run. There is something truly sublime about running with a friend. The miles ticked by as we talked about our families, hometowns, holiday plans, blogging and more. When we got back to our starting point, I suggested we tack on the 2-mile bridle path just because I wasn’t ready to part ways! Many thanks to Megan for humoring me and sharing a chilly, but sunny, Saturday morning run. All told, I ended up running about 11 miles so I was famished when I got home. So much so, that I didn’t take a picture of the Happy Herbivore cornbread I toasted with some cranberry sauce. Oops!

I did photograph my lunch, which was s(o)uper tasty: Amy’s Thai Coconut soup with deep sea salted soy crisps.

Unfortunately, the combination of lousy weather, missing Huz and sad puppy proved to be too much for me and I had not one or two, but SEVERAL little bowls of raw almonds, dried cherries and chocolate chips throughout the afternoon.

For dinner, I just made a bowl of pasta with marinara sauce and shaved romano cheese while watching Harry Potter. Now I want to get back into the books! For some reason, I stalled out after the third book, but my interest has been renewed. This is one of the rare times I wish I had a commute to work 😉

Sunday started with a long walk with Bodhi and my last Chobani (tear!). I had the blueberry flavor with a few handfuls of maple pecan cereal. It was tasty, but I’m so glad I got to try the other flavors – my favorites are definitely pineapple and peach. Many thanks to Chobani for sending me the samples I showcased here! Around 1, I hit the grocery store(s) for weekly ingredients and roasted an acorn squash for lunch. I only ended up having half before meeting The Huz at the bar to watch the second half of the Steelers game. Can you believe he went straight to the bar from the highway so he wouldn’t miss any more of the game?? At the bar, I had an Amstel Light, and cried into my glass while watching the Steelers’ season go down the drain.

The rest of the afternoon/evening involved dinner (baked organic king salmon, roasted red pepper and acorn squash), dessert (coconut sorbet with cranberry sauce) and more recipe testing. I made two more Happy Herbivore recipes that were definitely my kind of food – they involved peanut butter!

The first was a peanut butter spread, which was the perfect way to make a wonderful peanut butter flavor stretch a little further than your average spoonful and then I used the spread to make peanut butter cups. I’m not going to post the picture b/c I think I was a little overzealous with the peanut portion (it looks like a three-layer cake!), but the taste is really very good. The chocolate is more intense, like a dark chocolate Newman’s PB cup and the recipe is SO simple. I can’t wait to see Linsday’s finished cookbook!!

The last of my weekend was spent holiday shopping. I honestly don’t know how I ever did shopping before the internet. I’ve ordered everyone’s gifts except my father-in-law and The Huz.

If you have a significant other, do you exchange gifts at the holidays? What’s the favorite gift you’ve ever GIVEN?