Happy Halloween!

It's Funfetti® Cookies to the rescue again! I bought the box of mix a couple of weeks ago at Target and was just WAITING for Halloween! Aren't they cute? I made faces out of left-over Reese's Pieces and Candy Corn. All you have to do is stick them on while the cookies are still hot from the oven. Happy Halloween everyone! :)

Exercise TV is AWESOME!

TWD: Mini Chocolate Candy Corn Cupcakes

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie, we're making Chocolate-Chocolate Cupcakes. SO I thought I'd try to incorporate those into my Cookie Fridays by making Mini Chocolate Cupcakes! AND since it's almost Halloween, I added some Candy Corn so they'd be more festive. I also didn't top them with icing cuz I didn't want them to be too messy to bring to work. How cute right?


Ingredients: (24 mini cupcakes)

1 c all-purpose flour
1/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick butter, softened
3/4 c sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c buttermilk
48 Candy Corns

Prep:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line or grease a 24-cup mini muffin tin.

2. Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3. Working with a stand mixer or hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and beat until it is blended into the butter. Add the egg, then the yolk, beating after each addition and scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.

4. Beat in the vanilla, then reduce the mixer speed to low and add half the dry ingredients, mixing until incorporated. Scrape down the bowl and add the buttermilk, mixing until incorporated, then mix in the remaining dry ingredients.

5. Divid batter evenly among the muffin cups and bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until the tops of the cakes are dry and springy to the touch and a knife inserted into their centers comes out clean. Immediately press 2 Candy Corns into the tops of each cake.

Pizza Pizza!

I've been meaning to blog about this Philly Cheesesteak Pizza from Trader Joe's for a while now but Greg keeps eating them before I get the chance! It's from the frozen section and costs only $4.99! It takes just 20 minutes to heat up in the oven and is SO yummy! I wish we had a bigger freezer so I can totally stock up on them! :)

I Couldn't Resist the BOTTLE!

I bought this bottle of wine from Trader Joe's today and couldn't WAIT to open it! I just LOVE the picture of the Parrot on the bottle. The whole illustration just looks so artsy and cool! I went online and read up on Capolan Merlot and it's supposed to be a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Tempranillo. What does all that mean? I have NO idea but I LOVED the wine! It's dry but very light, not like most of the Merlot I've tasted, which can be REALLY strong! I'm definitely gonna pick up some more bottles from Trader Joe's this weekend!

Potato Overload

We had some mini potatoes in the fridge so I decided to make Potato Muffins! They're basically like mashed potatoes with some ham and cheese, then baked in the oven so they're portable. SO cute and yummy! :)

Ingredients: (6 muffins)

10 baby potatoes
2 Tbsp butter
1 c all-purpose flour

2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

1 c shredded cheese

1 c chopped ham

Prep:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.

2. In pot of boiling salted water, cover and cook potatoes until tender, about 20 minutes, drain and return to pot.

3. Mash in a medium bowl with butter, let cool for 5 minutes.

4. Add flour, eggs, baking powder, salt and pepper; stir until smooth. Stir in cheese and ham.
lined muffin cups.

6. Bake for 40 minutes, until golden brown.

BB: Veggie, No CHICKEN Pot Pie!

This time, our Barefoot Blogger recipe was Vegetable Pot Pie, but I knew Greg wasn't about to eat something with absolutely no meat in it! SO...I improvised and made Chicken Pot Pie instead! I've never even CONSIDERED making my own pot pie before but this was pretty easy! Of course, I cheated and used Bisquick instead of making the pastry from scratch and cooked chicken but, hey, I'm a working girl and this seriously beats the frozen Marie Callendar pies! :)



Ingredients: (4 servings)

12 Tbsp unsalted butter (1½ sticks)
½ c all-purpose flour
2½ c chicken broth
1½ tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
1 c frozen peas and carrots
1 c cubed cooked chicken
1 c Bisquick mix
¾ c milk

Prep:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. In 10-inch skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in flour, reduce heat to low, and cook for 3 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Slowly add the stock, salt and pepper, and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickens. Add chicken, peas and carrots; cook until hot and bubbly.

3. Spoon mixture into a 1½-quart casserole.

4. In small bowl, stir together Bisquick mix and milk until well blended. Pour evenly over filling mixture.

5. Bake 30 minutes or until light brown.

My First Cookie Carnival!

This is my very FIRST Cookie Carnival recipe and it was SO much fun! The October recipe is Mini Pumpking Whoopie Pies. How fitting for Fall and Halloween right? I decided to tweak the recipe a lil (hum...who would've guessed?) and made Spiced Butter Cookies instead of Chocolate cuz I felt like they would go better with the Pumpkin filling. OMG these were SO good! The filling literally OOZES out when you bite into the lil cookies! YUM!

Ingredients: (6 Pies)

Spiced Cookies:
½ c (1 stick) butter, softened
½ c sugar
Pinch of salt
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
1 c flour

Filling:
4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
½ c (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ c sugar
¼ c canned solid pack pumpkin
Pinch of cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg

Prep:

1. Prepare cookies: Beat butter, sugar, salt, egg, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually stir in flour until well mixed. Refrigerate 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place on ungreased baking sheets. You should have 12 cookies.

Bake 15 minutes or until lightly browned around edges. Cool on baking sheets 1 minute. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

2. Prepare filling: In the bowl of a mixer, whip together cream cheese, butter and sugar on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg; whip until smooth, scraping down the bowl as necessary.

3. Pipe or spoon about 2 teaspoons filling on the flat sides of half the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies, keeping the flat sides down.

TWD: Pumpkin Muffins

Another Tuesday with Dorie. This time, it's Pumpkin Muffins. They were so easy to make and REALLY yummy! I halved the recipe and only made 6 but I'm sure I'll be making more soon since they're PERFECT for fall! This time I actually FOLLOWED the recipe and didn't turn them into something else! hehe

Sensible Portions Chips

I discovered another new snack at Walgreens, Sensible Portions Multi Grain Crips! Well, I've actually seen these in Single Serving Bags before but never bought them. OMG...they are SO good! So far I've only tried the Cheddar flavor but I'm excited to see if they'll be popular enough for Walgreens to start carrying the other ones. (They also carry the Apple Cinnamon but I don't really like sweet chips.) The Parmesan & Herb and Tomato Basil ones look really yummy! I'd totally order them online but I really don't think I could handle 12 whole bags at a time! :(

Lasagna Meals

I had a lot of time this weekend so I decided to make Lasagne! This was easy and so yummy. AND we have tons of left-overs! I love making my own "TV Dinners!" 4 meals in less than an hour, not bad huh?



Ingredients: (4 servings)

9 Lasagne noodles
1 lb ground beef, cooked and drained
1 jar Spaghetti sauce
1 container (15 oz) Ricotta cheese
2 c shredded Mozzarella cheese

Prep:

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Cook noodles according to package directions; drain and separate.
3. Spray 13x9 baking dish with cooking spray. Spread 1/4 Spaghetti sauce over the bottom. Place 3 noodles on top and top with 1/4 of the Spaghetti sauce, 1/2 beef and 1/2 of the Ricotta cheese. Repeat with second layer.
4. Cover 3rd layer of noodles with remaining Spaghetti sauce and Mozzarella cheese.
5. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake additional 10 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving or cover back with foil and keep in fridge for up to a week.

Guess What?

Ok I was bored...

Pumpkin Cheesecakes

I had a lot of Pumpkin Left-over from making my Risotto so I wanted to use up the can before it went bad. I found this recipe on the Nestle website and the thought of Pumpkin with Cream Cheese just sounded perfect! I used crushed Nilla Wafers instead of Gingersnaps because that's what I had in the cupboard and they were SO yummy! Don't you just love my matching Pumpkin Plate? I'm SO ready for Halloween! :)

Ingredients: (6 tarts)

1/3 c (about 10) crushed Nilla Wafers
1 Tbsp butter or margarine, melted
4 oz cream cheese, softened
½ c pumpkin
¼ c granulated sugar
½ tsp Nutmeg
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg

Prep:

1. Preheat oven to 325° F. Paper-line 6 muffin cups.

2. Combine cookie crumbs and butter in small bowl. Press scant tablespoon onto bottom of each of prepared muffin cups. Bake for 5 minutes.

3. Beat cream cheese, pumpkin, sugar, pumpkin pie spice and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until blended. Add eggs; beat well. Pour into muffin cups, filling 3/4 full.

4. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack. Remove tarts from pan; refrigerate.

Asparagus Risotto Cakes

Asparagus were on sale at Safeway so I decided to make some Risotto Cakes. I didn't wanna fry them so I baked them into muffins. They were really moist and creamy. Plus the chunky bites of Asparagus tasted so fresh! YUM!

Ingredients: (6 muffins)

2 Tbsp butter

1 pkg Knorr Rice Sides Creamy Chicken

2 c chicken broth

1 c asparagus, blanched and cut into bite-sized pieces

1 c Mozzarella cheese

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese

Prep:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a 6-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

2. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat, then stir in Rice Sides. Stir in chicken broth and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes until rice is tender.

3. Stir in asparagus and Mozzarella cheese. Set aside to cool completely.

4. Stir in egg and divide mixture among muffin cups. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top. Bake for 30 minutes until set.

Barefoot Blogger - Risotto

This is my 2nd Barefoot Blogger recipe and I tweaked it quite a bit. It was supposed to be Butternut Squash Risotto, but they didn't have Butternut Squash at our little Safeway so I used Pumpkin instead. AND we also didn't have Arborio rice, so I used Knorr Rice Sides instead. Lastly, there was definitly no Saffron, so I used Sage. It turned out REALLY yummy and creamy though and we loved it! :)


Ingredients:

1 c canned pumpkin
2 c chicken stock
2 Tbsp butter
1 c ham, diced
1 pkg Knorr Rice Sies (chicken)
1 tsp sage
1 c Mozarella cheese
1 c Parmesan cheese

Prep:

1. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat, then stir in Rice Sides. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil over high heat.

2.Reduce heat to low and simmer, add sage, milk and ham, stirring occasionally. Simmer 15 minutes until rice is tender. Stir in Mozarella cheese and pumpkin. Mix well and serve with Parmesan sprinkled on top.

Reese's Pieces Cookies

What could be better than PB Cookies? PB Cookies with Reese's Pieces! These cookies are moist and FULL of PB flavor. Don't they just scream FALL?

Ingredients: (36 cookies)

1 c Reese's Pieces
½ c (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
¾ c sugar
½ c peanut butter (I used a combo of Crunchy & Creamy)
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 c all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt

Prep:

1. Heat oven to 350°F.

2. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until fluffy. Add peanut butter, beating until smooth. Add egg and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; add to butter mixture, blending well. Gently stir Reese's Pieces into batter. Drop by teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.

3. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

Birthday Cinnamon Coffee Cake

It's my boss (and best friend!), Devin's birthday today so I decided to bake him a special cake! It's his favorite...Cinnamon Coffee Cake! I got the recipe from this blog and it's just perfectly moist and cinnamon-y! My entire kitchen smelled SO good last night! Happy Birthday D-Vo!

Ingredients:

2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
¼ c butter at room temperature
1 c white sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 c buttermilk
1 c brown sugar
2 heaping Tbsp ground cinnamon

Prep:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9x5 inch loaf pan with non stick spray.

2. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl and set aside. Mix the buttermilk and vanilla in a measuring cup and set aside. Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl and set aside.

3. In a bowl cream the butter and white sugar together and then add in the eggs one at a time. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix to combine, then add 1/2 of the buttermilk mixture. Repeat this and end with the flour.

4. Pour 1/3 of the batter into the prepared pan and top with 1/3 of the cinnamon mixture, repeat so that the final layer of cinnamon mixture is the topping on the bread. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Biscottis gone Cookies

I joined Tuesdays with Dorie and this is my very first recipe! I was really excited to make the Lenox Almond Biscotti but they didn't work out quite so well for me. I tried shaping them after mixing AND after chilling the dough for 30 minutes with no success. SO I decided to just make them in to Almond Cookies! They actually turned out really good! They're soft and have a very distinct Almond flavor. I hope Dorie won't mind! :)

Ingredients: (2 dozen cookies)

1 ½ c all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1/2 c yellow cornmeal
1 stick (8 Tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 c sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp pure almond extract
3/4 cup sliced almonds

Prep:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together. Add the cornmeal and whisk again to blend.

3. Working with a stand mixer or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together at medium speed for 3 minutes, until very smooth. Add the eggs and continue to beat, scraping down the bowl as needed, for another 2 minutes, or until the mixture is light, smooth and creamy. Beat in the almond extract.

4. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated. You'll have a soft, stick-to-your-fingers dough that will ball up around the paddle or beaters. Scrape down the paddle and bowl, toss in the almonds and mix just to blend.

5. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the bottoms are lightly golden.

Got 5 Minutes?

Now we all know that we "should" do at least 30 minutes of cardio exercise everyday. BUT on some days we just simply don't have the time. What's my solution? Squat Thrusts! Yes, they're killer and yes they will make you TIRED but that means they're a GREAT workout! If you've only got 5 minutes in your day today, do 2 sets of 10 and tomorrow is another day! :)

Laguna AGAIN!

I can't believe it's been a year since our last Laguna trip! We had another wonderful weekend at the most beautiful place on earth and I'm so sad to be back. We flew out Friday night and landed around 8pm in Orange County. Then we had a late dinner at a local Mexican restaurant, where we had big pitchers of Margaritas and awesome Mexican food. Then on Saturday, I spent the day shopping with Greg's mom, Priscilla. Here we are at this really cute Cafe at Fashion Island in between shopping. Their salads were SO good!


Then on Sunday, we watched football and had a relaxing day in Downtown Laguna. Then at night we attended the Awards Dinner where we got to dress up and look all fabulous. I loved every moment of it and I can't wait until next year! :)

Zucchini was on sale at Safeway so I bought a few and needed to do something with them. SO...I decided to make ZUCCHINI BREAD! I found this recipe on McCormick's website and it was SO yummy! This bread would make a GREAT breakfast, not too sweet and perfectly filling. :)

Ingredients:

2 c flour
1 c sugar
1 Tbsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 c shredded unpeeled raw zucchini
1 c chopped walnuts
1/2 c vegetable oil
1/3 cup milk
2 eggs1 tsp vanilla extract

Prep:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix flour, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder and salt in arge bowl. Stir in zucchini and walnuts.
2. Beat oil, milk, eggs and vanilla in separate bowl. Gradually add to dry ingredients, mixing until just moistened. Do not over mix.
3. Pour batter into greased 9x5-inch pan. Bake 55 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Woohoo for NEW Wheat Thins!

My mom and I found another new item at Safeway last weekend...Fiber Select Wheat Thins! They're REALLY yummy and the Vegetable Flavor we bought had a TON of little pieces of red and green veggies in them. I DEFINITELY can't wait until our little Safeway starts carrying them!

Food Funnies

I came across this website today and found some funny Food Jokes. Here are my favs:

"Avoid fruits and nuts. You are what you eat." - Jim Davis

"I love Thanksgiving turkey...it's the only time in Los Angeles that you see natural breasts. " - Arnold Schwarzenegger

"HAM AND EGGS - A day's work for a chicken; A lifetime commitment for a pig." - Anonymous

"Once, during prohibition, I was forced to live for days on nothing but food and water." - W.C. Fields

Halloween Decorations

It's October, meaning Halloween is just around the corner. So here is our Front Door Decorations. (I LOVE Target!)

Osha - Our Fav Thai Spot

We stayed home all day watching TV so we decided to go out for dinner. We wanted somewhere close and not too fancy, but fun, so we went to Osha, our favorite Thai restaurant. It's only about a 15 minutes walk away and the food is always good and spicy! We started out with my usual, Papaya Salad. Isn't it pretty? Then we shared the BBQ Pork with some rice and a hard boiled egg. It was yummy and really hit the spot! By the time we were done, both our mouths were on fire from all the chili we put in! Gotta love Thai Food!

Mommy, I hope you know I LOVE you!

It's not a special occasion, but you really don't need one to give something to someone so important right? ANYWAY...this is the "Project" I've been working on for seriously the last year and I'm finally finished. It's a Latch and Hook Kit for my mom. I know she'll love it! :)

Greg wanted Fish

Greg asked for FISH for dinner so I picked up a big piece on my way home from work. I wanted to get some Tilapia but all they had was Petitie Sole so that's what I got. I figured white fish is all pretty much the same. There really isn't much of a recipe here. All I did was pan-fry the fish for about 5 minutes on the first side and about 3 on the other side with some salt and pepper. Then I made a sauce out of whipped butter and lime zest. YUM!

More Cheez-It Muffins!

I decided to give Cheez-It Crackers another try since I still had half a box sitting there. These are REALLY yummy with Ham and CHEESE! I seriously recommend them since they were so easy to make too!

Ingredients: (6 muffins)

1 1/2 c Cheez-It Crackers, crushed in food processor

1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/3 c whole milk
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 c ham, chopped

1 c Cheddar cheese, shredded

Prep:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease 10 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
2. In a large bowl, combine cracker crumbs and baking powder. Stir in milk, egg, ham and cheese; mixing just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let stand for 5 minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.

Pecan + Butter = Melt in Your Mouth Cookies

This week, I wanted to bake cookies that my mom would like since she's leaving for Shanghai next Friday and won't be back for 2 weeks. I also wanted them to be something she could take with her to give to my Grandma and Aunties. ALL of my family members seem to LOVE Shortbread Cookies (can you blame them?) so I decided I'd give them a real treat! I also wanted to add some Pecans because over there, specialty nuts (anything that's not peanuts) are considered very gourmet, not to mention PRICEY! I found this recipe on the Kraft website and it was just perfect! Such simple ingredients but SO good! Kraft calls them Mexican Wedding Cookies but the ingredients are the same as Shortbread except for the fact that you roll them in sugar before you bake them. I also left the Pecans in big chunks instead of finely grinding them. Don't they look like bite-sized pieces of heaven? :)

Ingredients: (4 dozen cookies)

1 c (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 c powdered sugar, divided
1 tsp vanilla
2 c flour
1 c chopped Pecans

Prep:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Beat butter, 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar and the vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually add flour and pecans, beating on low speed after each addition until well blended.
2. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place, 1-1/2 inches apart, on ungreased baking sheets.
3. Bake 15 to 20 min or until bottoms of cookies are lightly browned. Cool 5 min. on baking sheets. Roll warm cookies in remaining 1/2 cup powdered sugar until evenly coated; place on wire racks. Cool completely. Store in tightly covered container at room temperature.

Wine Stuff

BEHOLD...our beautiful wine collection! OK...so it's not much but we're getting there! On top is the new Wine Rack we bought at Target.com last week and below is the Mini Wine/Beer Fridge we also bought at Target. Yes...I LOVE Target! In fact, if we had a Target next to our apartment, I may never leave the city EVER again! (OK...I lied...I would still visit my mommy every Sunday!)

Borsetti = Little Pasta Purses

I found a new (and cute!) pasta at Safeway today! They're called Borsetti and they're basically little stuffed pasta purses, kinda like Tortellini, but cuter! It's the first time I've ever seen these and they're stuffed with Roasted Chicken and Prosciutto (Safeway brand). I was pretty sure you wouldn't really taste much of the meat since they're so tiny so I decided to add some bacon to the sauce. This was YUMMY!
Ingredients: (4 servings)

1 pkg (9 oz) of Borsetti pasta
5 slices of thick cut bacon
2 c Marinara sauce
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 c Mozzarella cheese
1/2 c Parmesan cheese

Prep:

1. Cook bacon in a skillet on medium heat for about 10 minutes on each side, until crispy. Drain on paper towels.

2. Cook pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water according to package directions. Drain of most of the liquid.

3. Add Marinara sauce and pepper and turn heat down to low. Crumble bacon into the pot and mix well. Stir in Mozzarella cheese until melted.

4. Serve with Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

Why Diet Plans Don't Work...

1) ...Because we're not psychic and cannot foresee everything that will happen to us. In other words, we're not able to eat every specific food item at every meal EVERYDAY.


2) ...Because we're not able to purchase food items in the required amounts. For example, we cannot go to the grocery store and come home with 2 Tbsp of Peanut Butter, 3 cups of Oatmeal, 1/4 cup of Cottage Cheese, 10 almonds, 2 sticks of String Cheese and 4 oz of Turkey Meat for the week.


3) ...Because we're usually tempted to overeat due to the multiple numbers of servings that come in a box or container of "healthy foods." (See #2) This leads to the inevitable "Eat the whole box, start diet tomorrow" attitude.


4) ...Because some of us are not comfortable with giving very specific orders at restaurants like "Dressing on the side, no cheese, no bacon, basically nothing but lettuce, please" or "Chicken Sandwich, but with boiled chicken, no oil, no salt, no mayo, no sauce of any type, just dry with lettuce and tomatoes, please."


5) ...Because Fast Food is an essential part of America and Fast Food Salads are just gross.


6) ...Because most of us can't even remember to write our moms a birthday card, let alone write down EVERYTHING that we eat in a Food Journal.


7) ...Because most of us have JOBS and don't have time to make the "Simple Recipes" that actually take a lot longer to make. Even 30-min Meals are sometimes too time-consuming after a 9-hour work day!


8) And lastly...Because we're "Normal People" and not soldiers who are used to rations and strict guidelines. We enjoy socializing around meals, chatting around a bottle of wine, and exchanging presents while nibbling on desserts. Life is too short to let a piece of paper determine how we should live and how we should EAT!

Therefore, the best Diet Plan can be described here. (Brought to you be hi'ya bunny!)