GO TEAM USA!

I can't believe the weekend is already almost over! It's been a good one.

Yesterday I did not go to the gym; I was very stuffy and congested so I felt that working out was not a good idea at all. However, I STILL DID NOT FEEL SICK! SO annoying.

I did have a sugar free Red Bull to pep me up:

I don't really care about the sugar in red bull, but prefer the taste of this instead of original Red Bull.

Kyle had an eye appointment around 11, so we headed out to Laurel for that. On our drive up there, I saw something that made my heart skip a beat!

I love love love Jersey Mike's. Hands down my absolute favorite sub shop of ALL time. There used to be a bunch of them in the Durham-Raleigh-Chapel Hill area, but I think they expanded too fast and most of them closed. So I was over-joyed to see one had just opened a few miles up the road from us!

We stopped there for lunch, and it was amazing!

I got the Number 8: Turkey, Ham, Provolone, Bacon... then "Mike's way" for toppings: lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, oil/vinegar, and special spices. SOOO GOOD! I ate about 2/3 of this, and was very happy. I also had one of Ky's BBQ chips.

After lunch we went to Starbucks, and a I got skim Chai Latte:

The afternoon was spent at the Columbia Mall, which was a total freaking zoo. So obnoxious; we had to park forever away and could barely walk through the mall without running into someone. Apparently there is nothing else to do in Columbia besides go to the mall.

After we got Kyle an interview suit and me an essential black cardigan, we headed back to our neck of the woods. On the way we stopped at the Laurel Meat Market in Laurel's historic district. The front of the store is a typical corner grocery store, but the back half was full of amazing meat, poultry, and seafood. They had EVERYTHING from lump crab meat to lamb chops to pickled pig feet. Since we hadn't figured out a grocery list, we didn't get much, just 4 hot Italian sausage links.

During our downtime at home, we split a bag of Annie's bunny mix:

Not that great; it had almost no flavor. Won't be getting this again, I'll stick with fruit and nut mixes!

For dinner we went to Franklins! Remember a few weeks ago I was dying to go there and it didn't work out? Well, last night Ky took me there for a good, fun dinner.

To start I had a vodka soda and some bread:

I was in a nibbling mood and had chunks of each piece of bread throughout dinner, sans butter.

For an appetizer, we split the seasonal special, the Cajun Mac and Cheese:

I had just under half of it; I really liked the cheese sauce and andouille sausage. However, the pasta was way over-cooked, and there was no crawfish in it. All in all not bad, though.

For my entree I went with the Vegetarian Flatbread, with Buffalo Fries:

I was drawn to this because the veggies were roasted, and I LOVE roasted artichokes and red peppers. It was really good, and I ate all the veggies and no flatbread. I decided I would rather have my fries with buffalo sauce ;-)

After dinner Ky and I headed home to download music and watch the Olympic Hockey game for the Bronze. I also had 2 un-pictured rum and ginger ales.

This morning I slept in super late, until 10:30. I passed on the gym again to be on the safe side. Breakfast was really good, I got Kyle to make his fabulous breakfast potatoes which we have not had since before the original oven broke.

• 1 medium golden potato chopped and fried in evoo, paprika, black pepper, garlic and covered in tomatoes
• piece of wheat toast with a fried egg and provolone on top
• we split a juice orange and grapefruit

In the afternoon I did a bunch of schoolwork, and then made chili with Kyle (recipe to follow!). We even wrote it all down in our recipe book so we could evaluate the recipe as needed.

It was actually Kyle's idea, believe it or not! He and I both cook by experimentation and throw things together often. We wind up with really good food a lot of the time, but can't ever replicate it because we don't write it down!

It was his idea, but not his choice to have the pretty flower journal. After cooking, we split a blood orange and a small scoop of trail mix:

Dinner was my own creation tonight; we wanted to use some of the Italian sausage we got yesterday and a TON of veggies to make a healthy pasta.

Ingredients:

• 4 oz whole wheat pasta cooked and set aside
• 1 zucchini cut into medallions than cut in half
• 1/2 container of chopped mushrooms
• 1 jumbo white onion coarsely chopped
• 2/3 cup of chopped carrots (julienned or very thin so they cook through!)
• 1/2 bag of spinach
• 1 cup of low sodium been broth
• 1 can diced, no salt added tomatoes (drained)
• 1 tsp minced garlic with reserve juice
• 1/2 lb italian sausage (1-2 links)
• parm (for garnish)

1. Place sausage (take off casing) in a skillet over medium heat. Stir occassionally to crumble it.

2. While sausage is cooking, cut veggies

3. Turn another skillet on to medium-high heat, and add minced garlic, carrots, and onions

4. When onions translucent, add mushrooms, zucchini, and 1-2 tbsp of broth

5. Check sausage; when cooked and crumbled remove from heat

6.When zucchini have softened, pour the rest of beef broth into pan and top veggies with a layer of spinach. Cover and let steam for 5 minutes

7. Add in can of tomatoes and sausage

8.Stir and top pasta with some parmesan

It was really, REALLY good! Using beef broth instead of oil or water gave everything a great flavor, and it was all low sodium. Granted, I don't know what is in the Italian sausage, but that is the only factor that wasn't so great.

I really enjoyed this and Ky liked it, too.

Now I am about to settle in to do some work, have a great night, everyone!