Fall Semester 08 .... FINISHED!

Dinner: Leftover Pasta Bake with none of that sausage- a slice of turkey breast, extra italian cheese, and I put the last of that smoked salmon from TJ in there at first. It was absolutely way too salty- I didn't eat it- I hate wasting food but this was beyond salty. For some perspective, I really enjoy salt and vinegar potato chips, I can eat like 4 pickle slices a a time- this was way worse.

After Dinner Celebratory Cocktail: A splash of Bourbon with a Splash of Eggnog with a Splash of Milk

Body:

Rest- I ran yesterday and my toes are bothering me. My knee feels a little twisted for some reason, and my toes feel like they are kinda broken. Not sure what I did but I was glad to rest today. Its not like a serious "hurt" pain- its more constant , dull, internal soreness in very specific areas.

Mind:
FINALS ARE DONE!!!
My Metabolism Exam went AWESOME (i think) today! Phew, as did my exam on monday too. The professor changed his format, I think because most of the class had similar complaints for our two previous exams. We all studied very well and felt like we understood all of the study guide questions- but then test time rolled around and everyone got B's and C's ( not good in grad school). So I asked him lots of questions this morning and we talked about all the little mistakes I was making- I wasn't stating the obvious simple- I went for complex. So I was only missing a few points here and there but they added up!

I think/hope/feel that this exam went over much better! The questions were more applicable to our study material.

And.... We got our papers back! I posted the intro and conclusion to mine- It was due Dec. 1st and I was really trying hard to put it together by Thanksgiving Break. Result: 96/100 !!!! Wooohoo!

So Happy to be done for the semester and give my "mind" a little of a breather from the intensity. It is only for a few weeks though, and I have plenty to keep me busying. I already came up with lists of things I want to do over break!

Soul:
Break from classes.. Woohoo!
Did well on Exams.. Woohoo!
Found a WONDERFUL Volunteer Oportunity (nutrition related) through Engineer Emily.. Woohoo!
Jeff is going away for a business trip so I will be lonely but busy! I want to clean the house, get rid of things, have dinner with KC-Mo ( his lil sis)

HAPPY STUDYING TO ALL! GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE TAKING EXAMS SOON!

New Day

Pumpkin Smiley Oats

Organic Banana Mouth

Peanut Butter Teeth

Crystallized Ginger Nose

Nonfat Greek Yogurt Eyeballs

Pumpkin Butter Eyes

Lunch was skipped since I ate this oatmeal at 10:30 and more so because Jeff dropped me off on-campus to study then he picked me up when I finished (dinner time). It could have been worse but I will say that I hate skipping meals more than anything because it throws off my whole hunger levels/schedule.

Body:
No cardio today. After dinner , I did much needed Yoga for 40 minutes and some strength at home: BBQ ( back, biceps, quads) and abs... planks, side to sides, figure 8's ( I will hopefully get to explaining those exercises soon when I finish finals)

Mind:
Studied all the sections for Research Methods Exam but I feel like I don't remember any of it! Blah! I switched to Metabolism studying (Kreb's cycle, Oxidative Phosphorylation, Lipids)... Then called it a day.

Soul:

I just keep hugging Jeff, happy that the accident wasn't worse. We were supposed to get the xmas tree yesterday so Jeff came up with a great idea to pick out a tree today on the way to campus and decorate later tonight.

So that is exactly what we did, there is the farmer's market trees.

Jeff even surprised me by picking up Organic Eggnog for our "tree decorating night" while I was studying! Isn't that so sweet! I thought it would be great to bake some cookies to go with the tree and eggnog, So I baked Jeff's Mom's Neiman Marcus Cookies and Nana's Chocolate Windows ( hi Nana!). See Below for the details on the Neiman Marcus. The window cookies have to chill overnight, so I will post them tomorrow. Dinner before dessert right...

Dinner:
I did a spin on some menu items from this restaurant a fellow blogger went to the other night- Heather at HangryPants

I pan seared pork chops in the pan with some items I had in my fridge: red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, texas pete hot sauce and a dash of worchestire. Nutritionally this adds a few milligrams of sodium but adds no fat. If you were watching your blood pressure I would suggest cutting out the worchestire, and added fat is not necessarily a bad thing just not my personal preference. So its give/take and I personally think it reminds me of "Carolina BBQ Pork"...

I threw some mushrooms in the pan with a little splash of bourbon ( Jeff and I are both fans of bourbon) and tomato sauce. I added in that same pan some thawed frozen asparagus spears. After the pork was finished, I sliced Organic Polenta in that pan and let it heat up "real good" and I also sliced up a half of a sweet potato ( previously cooked in the microwave last night) in there as well.

I layered everything I could because all the flavors top down is sweet potato, polenta, asparagus, pork, mushrooms. Jeff was shocked I was eating it all together. This seems like a perfect example of how eating deliciously does not have to include lots of fat! I actually added NO fat ( no butter or oil at all!).


Now on to the cookies:
Jeff's mom makes these at christmas and they are DELICIOUS! I made changes as I always do to this recipe but not too many because I would hate to have a less than stellar comparison.

Out of The Oven

Inside

Very Happy with the final product- I think I ate about 8... okay I really had 3 plus a little mini one

Organic Eggnog and the cookies

Jack and our perfectly decorated charlie brown tree, we are contemplating a name for it.