Wednesday, November 12, 2008 at 12:17 AM
Mal offered to cook dinner tonight, so I could spend time playing with my new “toy.” I’ve been setting-up my Mac and getting used to all of the new features for hours now. It’s been a blast so far! 
For dinner, Mal cooked chicken stir fry with diced chicken breast, low-sodium soy sauce, broccoli, onions, and red and green peppers. It was awesome, especially the no-cooking part!
Mal is such a good cook! I wish he cooked all of the time!
Afternoon Snack
I’ve been moving non-stop today, so food hasn’t been on my mind much. However, mid-afternoon, my stomach let me know that it was time to eat! My snack was a banana, cut in half, with Barney Butter and granola on top. It was a sweet, creamy, and crunchy snack all in one!
I took a 30 minute break to have a quick bite to eat while I watched last night’s episode of The Hills. Oh, the drama!
The Best Apple Crisp
These four apples were just dying to be baked into an apple crisp! I told them that I could make all of their dream come true!
Here’s my Apple Crisp right out of the oven…
I love the way it makes our apartment smell! The aroma is so amazingly strong– it’s almost like lighting a Yankee Candle!
My portion of apple crisp…
I’m telling ya, this is the BEST apple crisp recipe! Holy yum!
I’ve Been Tagged!
I’ve been tagged by a few different bloggers. (Thanks, if you tagged me!) I don’t want to be a party-pooper, so I will play, but I’ll leave the continuation of tagging up to anyone else who wants to participate!
Rules of tagging:
- Link back to the blog that originally tagged you
- Post the rules on your blog
- Tell your readers 6 random things about you
- Tag 6 other blogs and link back to their sites
- Leave a comment on your chosen blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged
- Let your tagger know when you’ve posted your entry
1. I love pugs! Like, I really, really, really love them! I don’t own one, but I talk about them everyday and I cannot wait until the day that I have my very own. I especially love their curly tails!
2. I thought the “glove compartment” in the car was called the “glove department“… until I was in college. Seriously, I have no idea why I didn’t realize I was calling it by the wrong name.
3. I played the flute until my freshman year of college. I even went to summer “band camp,” but nothing inappropriate happened there.
4. Before I go to bed at night, all closet doors must be closed. I have no idea why, but this is a must!
5. My first name is actually ‘Christina,’ but I’ve gone by ‘Tina’ for as long as I can remember.
6. When I’m at home, I’m always wearing sweats. I walk in the door from work, and I immediately change into my “movie suit,” as Mal calls it. If I’m not going anywhere on the weekend, I’ll lounge in sweats all day long. I’ll even shower and change right back into sweatpants and a comfy shirt.
Posted by: Tina
Posted in: Uncategorized, recipe
Tags: apples, broccoli, chicken, onion
Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at 05:38 PM
My recipe for apple crisp is sort of a family “secret,” but it’s so easy to make and SO delicious, it just needs to be shared with others! This is honestly the best apple crisp recipe– I enjoy it even more than cake… and that should tell you something!
Ingredients:
- 4-5 medium apples (almost any kind will work)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour*
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 stick of butter (or 7-8 tbsp of your favorite butter alternative)
- Cinnamon and nutmeg
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350* F. Haphazardly slice apples into small pieces. (I used Macoun, Macs, and Fuji.) You don’t need to worry about how the apple pieces look. The different size pieces “fit together” nicely once all of the ingredients bake together. This recipe is great for less-than-perfect apples– you can just cut off the rotten part and use the rest of the apple. You can also peel the apples, if you’d like, but I prefer to leave the skins on for this recipe.
2. Next, sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg all over the apples. Feel free to add as much or as little as you’d like. I try to cover the entire top layer of apple slices with both spices.
3. Combine flour and sugar (and a little more cinnamon and nutmeg, if you want) in a small bowl. Next, using a fork, combine butter with flour and sugar. (I used Smart Balance instead of butter.) The mixture will begin to look lumpy. Make sure that the majority of the dry ingredients have combined with the butter. 
4. Cover apple slices with flour-sugar-butter mixture. Spread evenly over top layer and fill in all around the apple slices.
5. Bake for 30-40 minutes until top becomes slightly “crispy” and apples are soft. Your house will smell AMAZING at this point!
6. Remove from oven and let cool for 10-15 minutes. Serve alone or with French vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!
* I used whole wheat flour for this batch of apple crisp. It ended up tasting wonderful, but all-purpose white flour definitely tastes better and produces a better “crisp” on top.
Posted by: Tina
Posted in: Uncategorized, recipe
Tags: apples
Friday, October 17, 2008 at 10:24 AM
I’m so happy that it’s fall (and Friday)! The cool, crisp mornings and sunny afternoons make me feel so alive. I feel so peaceful, but energized at the same time. Does that make sense? It’s such a nice feeling. Anyway, not sure where that came from, but onto breakfast!
Breakfast was my usual favorite: oats with oat milk, banana, ground flaxseed meal, and Barney Butter (2 scoops like always).
… from above with the newest edition of Real Simple, which is easily becoming my new favorite magazine. It’s so smart and definitely makes life more simple!
Breakfast also included a mug of coffee brewed in the office. Our office Keurig machine is where all of the coffee magic happens! Keurig makes single cup coffee makers for the home and office, and they brew a wide variety of gourmet coffee and tea, one cup at a time in seconds. I love this little machine!
More than a year ago, Mal and I attended a bridal event where we learned all about these Keurig coffee machines. We really, really, really wanted to add one to our wedding registry, but when we thought about how much we’d really use it (Mal only drinks iced coffee and occasionally espresso), we decided against it.
However, I decided that it would be fantastic to have one at work in our office. Our office is small-ish (9 people), but we all have different tastes in coffee. So, I did a ton of research on these machines and wrote up a proposal (including a cost analysis and recommendations) for my boss to consider. When I crunched the numbers, it turned out that each cup was a fraction of what it would cost to buy a regular fresh cup of coffee. My boss loved that! She also liked the idea of having so many coffee options. For instance, she likes dark roasts, but can’t stand flavored coffees like some of the other people in my office. After seeing all of the benefits of the single-cup coffee machine, she was all about it, and we ordered one! I’m a dork, but when I really want something, I can usually make it happen!
We have a number of coffee, tea, and hot cocoa selections to chose from. The flavors change every other month or so… and I do the ordering, so sometimes I will pick flavors that personally interest me!
Today’s pick was “Rainforest Espresso.” Exotic-sounding, huh? 
I added soy milk and agave nectar to my brew, which made the end result dark, intense, and a tad sweet.
And while we’re talking about my office, the first ever healthy treat passed through our doors this morning! A lovely bowl of apples was leftover from a meeting yesterday afternoon, so a coworkers brought them to our office. I already snagged a couple of them to take home and my boss was talking about making some into apple sauce for the office. Yay to healthy office snacks! The true, sweet treats are soooo tough to avoid, but you guys had some great tips for avoiding office temptations that I utilized quite often!
Question of the Day
I’m headed to a “Pamper Party” hosted by my sister and her friend this evening. I don’t like showing up to a get-together empty-handed, but I didn’t make anything for it last night… mostly because I didn’t want to truck-around a dish all day since I am going to the party right after work. I’m planning to bring a bottle of wine, but I also wanted to bring a simple, easily-transportable, and crowd-pleasing appetizer. What would you bring?
Posted by: Tina
Posted in: Uncategorized, products
Tags: apples, coffee
