Last night was the first night since Christmas that we either didn’t eat leftovers from Christmas dinner OR have dinner out, so I decided to embrace the occassion and whip up a new recipe since I had plenty of time to get crafty with it.  I spent a majority of yesterday reading through recipes on blogs and websites and menu planning our meals for the next two weeks.  I typically always plan meals one week in advance, but I am trying something new for this year and trying to plan out 2 weeks of meals now instead in the hopes that it will cut back on my grocery trips and save me some time too!  I found this shrimp and tomatoes over polenta recipe and thought I’d give it a whirl. 

It turned out quite yummy – I loved it.  I especially love polenta and it’s been a while since I last had it so I think that was my favorite part of this dish.  The hubby was a big fan of the shrimp and loved the kick from the red pepper flakes but he thought the polenta was “interesting” whatever that means   I must say for some reason I could not get my tomatoes to simmer and thicken into a sauce despite letting them simmer for a good 20-25 minutes, so I wound up having to drain a lot of the liquid and just using the diced tomatoes.  I think next time, I won’t add the 2 cups of water that the recipe calls for.

We spent the rest of the night watching Julie and Julia, courtesy of the Redbox machine at my supermarket (love those things!).  I totally LOVED the movie and even teared up a little bit.  It brought back memories of watching Julia Child’s cooking shows on PBS with my parents on Saturday afternoons (yes even when there wasn’t a Food Network, my family was still into cooking shows!).  Of course when the movie alluded to the fact that Julia Child was not a fan of Julie’s blog, I had to do some investigating and then it kind of changed my perspective of the entire story.  I found the real Julie’s blog (which was not as positive and squeaky clean as I had thought) and also read Julia’s comments (per Judith Jones).  I guess the movie, from my perspective, made me think that her blog was going to be a true food blog that went in depth about the food and I didn’t really get that vibe after reading a few of her excerpts especially when she said she is ultimately a writer not a serious chef.  All in all, it was a really good movie, even if it isn’t 100% based on the truth. 

While the movie was on, I decided to prep a Breakfast Cookie as a treat for New Year’s Eve morning… it’s been a while since I had one and when I tasted it this morning, I really wondered why I haven’t made them in so long!

My “cookie” included 1/3 c oats, 1 T Uncle Richard’s Chunky PB, 3/4 mushed banana, 1 T raisins, and a sprinkling of light brown sugar.  Pretty simple, but oh so good!  It was the perfect breakfast to give me fuel for the gym today   Who doesn’t want to wake up to that?

I did 45 minutes on the treadmill doing intervals (in terms of incline)… I’ve been doing a lot of elliptical lately so it was nice to switch it up!  When I got home I made myself a spring mix salad and a toasty Arnold’s Thin with my new favorite hummus obsession: Sabra Greek Olive Hummus.  This stuff is so good if you love olives like I do… If I didn’t restrain myself I could probably eat the entire container with a spoon in one sitting.

Ok well now I’m off to relax and enjoy the lazy day until we head out later tonight.  I’ll be back with a reflection post on the year a bit later!  Hope you all have a safe & enjoyable New Year’s Eve!