Little holes in all my shirts... now it all makes sense...

ALL of my shirts have little holes in them, right at the bottom.  This has plagued me for years and I had no idea what was causing it.  Cheap shirts? Poor quality? Possibly.  I buy most of my shirts at Old Navy, or at least I used to.  Their selection lately has been less than flattering clothing and with me shrinking into a size Small in old navy shirts nowadays I've gotta go shopping for new clothes soon.  But I digress.

The little holes plaguing all my shirts like this

It didn't even cross my mind that it could be my kitchen counter causing this until I was reading through this article at lunchtime from Faith in The Kitchn and saw this Is Your Kitchen Causing Holes In Your Clothing?

I have plenty of aprons and kitchen shirts and I'm not opposed to wearing them regularly, but I really only use them when I bake.  I suppose that's gonna change now (or as soon as I revamp my wardrobe, which will be very soon!)

Quaker real medleys

Running through Walgreens I stopped and thought it might be a good idea to grab some cereal or something because I tend to not eat in the morning. I saw these Quaker real medleys and thought oatmeal is always a good idea.

Holy cow was it fantastic!! Apple walnut oatmeal+ was the one I grabbed an it was loaded with bits of apple, big pieces of walnuts and big dried cranberries. It was quick to pop into the microwave with some milk (I do not like water in my oatmeal).

This was a good filling breakfast and I will definitely buy this again! Totally worth the $2.

It probably would have been a good idea to show a picture of the full oatmeal, but I didn't think of doing a post until it was almost gone. Oops. It's good stuff 😊

Lean Cuisine serves up lunch with their Chef’s pick entrees

As part of the Daily Buzz Food program I was given the opportunity to check out the new line from Lean Cuisine.  I don’t usually buy pre packaged food but I didn't want to pass up the opportunity to check out a convenient lunch that I could eat at my desk and with all the new offerings what’s not to love?

I got my coupon in yesterdays mail and this morning on my way into work I stopped at the King Kullen grocery store down the road and was a little disappointed in the selection this grocery store had.  I went with the Chicken Makhani when I couldn't find the chile lime chicken (which was what I would have preferred).  In this particular grocery store the only Chef’s pick entrees they had to choose from was the Chicken Makhani or the Chicken Carbonara.  They have a pretty impressive lineup of meals to choose from including Steak Tips Portobello; Chicken with Basil Cream Sauce;  Thai-Style Chicken; Chicken Marsala; Lemon Chicken (which my BF insists is their best one, I'll have to try it for myself); Orange Chicken and Chicken Pecan are among just a few of the entrees you have to choose from.


After the suggested 5 minutes in the microwave and 2 minutes resting it was time to sit back down at my desk and have lunch.

It was... meh.

For 300 calories it was filling, there was plenty of rice, the chicken was moist and tender but the serving of chicken seemed quite small and the peas and carrots were almost nonexistent.  The sauce was terribly bland and that was a shock to me because as it was cooking it smelled fairly good. Upon eating it though, it could have used more seasoning and if I was home I would have added seasonings to it.

I would like to try the Chile lime chicken if I happen to come across it while grocery shopping.  I won't make a special trip to the store to find it though.

I have partnered with Lean Cuisine through DailyBuzz Food to help promote their new line of Chef's Pick products. I have been compensated for my time commitment to work with this product. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments. Thank you Lean Cuisine!

Dear Blog Friends,

Christmas cookies

So far this year I've started my dough making early so as to not drive myself crazy by making dough and baking all in the same day like I've done the past few years.  There is an obscene amount of cookie dough in my fridge... But I'm a girl on a mission as I've got more than a handful of friends I'm gifting cookies to that I need to get out next week! (OMG 11 days 'till Christmas People!!)

Last night I made a chocolate dough for chocolate candy cane cookies.  I saw this cookie come up one day in my FB news feed and automatically bookmarked it and added it to my Christmas cookie list.  This is a completely new cookie I'm trying out this year, but as someone who doesn't always follow the rules instead of using regular cocoa powder in the dough I decided to throw caution to the wind and use the Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder and see how it comes out. I'm sure the filling for these cookies is going to be super sweet so with the dark chocolate.. Mmmmm.  The dough is dark.. black as coal and I can't wait to get these cookies in the oven tonight and see how they taste!!

This dough came together really quick, I was done in less than 15 minutes, put the ball of dough into a Ziplock bag and put it in the fridge with the rest of the Christmas cookie dough balls that are chilling.

This is a recipe from Bon Appetit, a magazine that I've been a subscriber to for at least the last 12 years.. one of my very favorites :)

Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies

Cookies

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 large egg

Filling

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons powdered sugar

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

2 drops (or more) red food coloring

1/2 cup crushed red-and-white-striped candy canes or hard peppermint candies (about 4 ounces)

Directions:

For cookies:

Whisk flour, cocoa, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until well blended. Beat in egg. Add dry ingredients; beat until blended. Refrigerate dough 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop out dough by level tablespoonfuls, then roll into smooth balls. Place balls on prepared baking sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart. Using bottom of glass or hands, flatten each ball to 2-inch round (edges will crack). Bake until cookies no longer look wet and small indentation appears when tops of cookies are lightly touched with fingers, about 11 minutes (do not overbake or cookies will become too crisp). Cool on sheet 5 minutes. Transfer chocolate cookies to racks and cool completely.

For filling:

Using electric mixer, beat powdered sugar and butter in medium bowl until well blended. Add peppermint extract and 2 drops food coloring. Beat until light pink and well blended, adding more food coloring by dropfuls if darker pink color is desired. Spread 2 generous teaspoons filling evenly over flat side of 1 cookie to edges; top with another cookie, flat side down, pressing gently to adhere. Repeat with remaining cookies and peppermint filling.

Place crushed candy canes on plate. Roll edges of cookie sandwiches in crushed candies (candies will adhere to filling). (Cookie sandwiches can be made ahead. Store in single layer in airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days or freeze up to 2 weeks.)