Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies – am I cheating?!

Had ya worried didn't I? I JUST posted about how well I'm doing on my Lent journey with giving up sweets, and now I'm blogging about cookies?? Actually, these aren't what you think… listen up!

I never realized how many sweets much crap I ate until these last few days. It's astonishing really. Despite being on Weight Watchers for the last year and a half, I still find ways to sneak in snack cakes, fat free ice cream, chocolate, granola bars, Pop-Tarts, etc into my daily diet. In fact, since I'm not a big veggie eater, I'm always quick to reach for the sugary snacks, rather than the more sensible, filling and probably more tasty option. Who am I kidding – is a salad really more tasty than some Ghirardelli? At any rate, it has been challenging for me to eliminate the sweets, and so I found one healthful way to get my sweet fix w/o including any junk into the mix. I searched my Biggest Loser cookbook for a healthy alternative, and found Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies (pg. 196). Three simple ingredients: pitted dates, old-fashioned oats, and peanut butter! This is my kind of snack – simple, quick and delicious!

Biggest Loser's Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

12 Pitted Dates
1/3 c. Old Fashioned Oats
1 Tbsp Reduced-Fat Peanut Butter

Simply chop the dates up in a mini-food processor until the dates stick together in a ball. They need to be very finely chopped! Transfer the dates to a small mixing bowl, and add the oats and peanut butter. You can either mix with your hands or use an electric hand mixer. I found it was easiest to do with my hands, since when I tried the mixer the oats began flying all over the place. Once well mixed together, divide the cookies into 4 small balls. Place each ball between 2 sheets of wax paper and press down on each ball until the cookie is 3" in diameter. The serving size is 2 – where you get 2 cookies per serving. If you're a WW follower, I calculated these at 4 POINTS per serving. I found them very sweet and filling, especially since the fiber is coming at you left and right from the PB, dates, and oatmeal! If you make them, let me know what you think – I definitely plan to be munching on these in the near future!

White Bean & Sausage Stew

As promised, I’m posting the recipe to this stew I made on Friday, courtesy of All You Magazine. My review of the stew is 2 out of 5 stars. First, my substitutions only consisted of the sausages – I used Shadybrook Farms Turkey Hot Italian Sausages. The rest I used exactly as stated below. To me, this stew lacked flavor and moisture. After the stew has cooked for 2 hours, you then have the option of adding some additional water, which I did not do because at the 2 hour mark, there seemed to be plenty of moisture in the crockpot, but not enough, because it was very dry when it came time to eat. Maybe if I did this over, I would not have drained the tomatoes – that could have added some additional moisture. I found the stew to be very bean-y, and it definitely yielded more than 4 servings! Joel and I are still eating it, and to make it somewhat better, we’ve been adding cheddar cheese and water to the dish after microwaving it. It wasn’t the worst meal I’ve ever had, but I won’t make it again.

On another note, I’ve had a great weekend thus far. Yesterday, Joel’s mom, Joel, and myself went shopping for kitchen cabinets for their house. While it was an unsuccessful trip, we had a good few hours together – driving through parts of MD and DC that I’ve never seen before. I always enjoy seeing new parts of this city, even if it is the ghetto! On the way back to the apartment, we did some grocery shopping and then took a trip to Wal-Mart for some insect killer. I’m having a big issue with my houseplants and gnats. Gnats are really annoying – flying around your face when you least expect it – the occasional one flying up your nose! Eww! I Googled a solution to this problem and found various options, including placing apple cider vinegar and/or wine next to each plant to attract the bugs, which will then kill them and help you identify which plant is the culprit. I don’t actually think I need the vinegar in order to figure this out! I tried it anyhow, and less than 24 hours later, I have yet to spot any gnats in the vinegar or the wine. Either way, I had a feeling this method wasn’t going to work, so I bought some insect killer for houseplants last night – I’m trying it out on 2 of the suspect houseplants to see what happens – my fingers are crossed that the spray only kills the bugs and not the plants! If you know me, then you know I love my plants dearly, but I do NOT love these bugs! I’ll let you know!

And on a final note, I’m progressing well on the “no sweets for Lent” situation. The first 2 days were rough, but yesterday I bought a ton of fruit that will hopefully help combat these sweet cravings I keep having. Fortunately I’ve been at home more than I have been in the office since Lent began, so that has helped out. It’s usually around 2 PM, or immediately following lunch, that I get the huge sweet craving! I will admit that thinking about why I actually gave up sweets is helping me a lot – rather than if I simply gave them up to try to help myself out on Weight Watchers.

Now, back to this Nascar race! Go Jeff Gordon, Go!

White-Bean and Sausage Stew
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 4 hours

6 (3 oz.) Italian sausages
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 (15 oz.) cans white beans (Great Northern or navy), rinsed and drained
1 (28 oz.) can chopped tomatoes, drained
1 tablespoon chopped fresh or 1 tsp. dried thyme
Salt and pepper

Poke holes in sausages and put in a large nonstick skillet. Add 1/4 cup water; bring to a boil. Lower heat and cook sausages, turning, until lightly browned and water has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; cook, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Add beans, tomatoes and thyme.
Put half of bean mixture into a slow cooker. Arrange sausages on top, followed by remaining beans. Cook on high for 4 hours. Check after 2 hours and add water if mixture looks dry.
Remove sausages; slice thickly. Season beans with salt and pepper. Return sausage to stew. (Stew can be kept, frozen and tightly sealed, for up to 1 month.)

Yield: 4 Servings

Do You Ever Have This Issue?

I’m 2/3 of the way through “Become a Better You.” And just like Joel Osteen’s other book, I love this one as well! This book has so much good information, that it’s hard to remember it all. Have you ever read a self-help book and at the time of reading it you’re thinking “Yeah, this is great, I’m going to put this all into practice”, but just as soon as you lay the book down, you practically forget what you read? That’s just how I feel with Joel’s books – the stuff he talks about is so great, and makes perfect sense, but then I have a hard time recalling all of those great things I’ve read about and applying them to my day to day life. Maybe I need to start taking notes or carrying a highlighter with me!

On another note, I’m really looking forward to the weekend! I don’t have any special plans, but I have a good feeling it’s going to be a productive one – I’ve been on a good roll since the week off of work due to the snow… I love it! I’m also looking forward to making some delicious food – cooking and thinking about cooking always calms my spirit, and that’s what I’m needing right about now. I’m thinking about making this White Bean and Sausage Stew tomorrow – I’ll post the link to the recipe later – it sounded good, and what isn’t good that comes out of a slow-cooker right?

News, News, News!

Going to try something a little different today on Pritt-y Story to Tell! Since it’s taking me a really long time to get through my current book and I don’t anticipate a post on that anytime soon, I figured I’d throw out some book news to the people – I know you want it!

So here’s the news, short and sweet: Apparently one of my favorite authors, James Patterson, is breaking in to the comic book world! I saw here that he’s looking for a way to essentially broaden his horizons into the Hollywood realm. “Witch & Wizard” and the “Murder of King Tut” will be his first books adapted to the comic book world. This new series will be available in May & June of this year, just in case you cannot wait! I’m a JP lover, but definitely NOT a comic book lover, so I’ll pass on this one Jimmie…

Also, I think I’ve finally decided to expand on this blog to include non-book related items. Since we had a week long vacation courtesy of winter weather and the government, that meant I did absolutely no reading. As much as I would like to continue reading when I get home at night, I cannot. I want to spend as much time with Joel as possible before he goes off to work, and that never allows any additional reading time. Also, since all of my reading takes place on my daily commute, and I had no commute for over a week, we arrive at the same excuse – no reading was done! AND, sometimes I feel like I have other interesting tidbits to talk about, and I’d like to include them on my blog, but then I think “this is supposed to be about books, not ‘other’ stuff”… says who? It’s my blog, I’ll make up the rules as I go, right?

So I know some of you, thanks to Face-space, have found out about my blog and *fingers crossed* have decided to pop in every now and then to check it out (Courtney/Megan!!). Thank you in advance! Then, you may have also seen my question I posted on my status message this morning about going back to school for nursing or pharmacy. I’m seriously considering this. I’ve been miserable with my current job for well over a year – not liking the work, not liking the commute, not liking the city itself, and just not liking the subject area (IT/finance). So, recently I made the decision to switch jobs, and while this has not yet happened, my wheels are already turning for what to do when Joel and I decide to actually leave the nation’s capital all together. My hope is that with the new job and new position, I will have some fulfillment at the end of the day – where I can say I made a contribution to the organization and have helped make a difference. However, I still think that, in the end, in the bigger picture of life, IT/finance isn’t for me. Now, IT and healthcare? MAAAAAYBE…. I don’t know! It’s hard to say since my experience solely lies in finance. The idea of going back to school somewhat excites me, but then again I love my freedom that the working world has brought to me, not to mention the money flow . I love NOT studying, I love NOT doing homework – I’m still not over the shock of the amount of time that going to college fulltime cost me! I’m still getting over the It’s-Sunday-and-now-I-must-cram-for-this-week’s-exam/assignments/etc dread, and it was ALWAYS dread for me. College was supposed to be a 1 time only thing, but now I’m reconsidering an entirely different career path, which means going back to school and giving up my time… *sigh*. What to do, what to do… I welcome the advice here…

I do know one thing – I’ve taken a giant, positive step in the right direction – and that is getting out of the current situation I’m in. While I have a job that currently pays the bills, with even some left over to have some fun, I want to at least make sure that it’s not causing me misery. With the new position, I’m hoping I can at least enjoy some of what I do, and not come home every single night frustrated and wishing I wasn’t in this city to begin with! That was step one – “Get out of current situation ASAP.”… Check! Step two – “Figure out what Hilary REALLY wants to do with the rest of her life”….In Process!

The Next Big Thing by Johanna Edwards

I’ve been slacking big time in the blogging department! There’s been so much going on with the holidays and buying a new car…and my ‘mild’ obsession with Legos Star Wars on the Wii that I’ve neglected my dear, little, old blog. Whoa is me.

Alas, the first book I read off my 2010 book list was “The Next Big Thing” by Johanna Edwards. If you have an interest in reality television, particularly ones centered on weight loss, then this book is for you! It was a very easy and entertaining read. I actually really enjoyed it and looked forward to my lengthy commute home so I could dive in. It was literally like a soap opera in print!

“The Next Big Thing” is about an overweight girl, named Kat, from Tennessee. This book delivers nothing short of dramatic situations – from her internet relationship with a European hottie, to her stint on the reality television series, From Fat to Fabulous. I’m not one to judge internet relationships – that’s how I met my boyfriend of 2.5 years! However, I did not lie to my boyfriend about my looks – Kat did. She had Mr. European Vogue convinced she was a size 4 skinny minnie – oops! She had good intentions though. Kat’s plan was to finally lose her weight by trying out for the reality show, and then meet up with her boy toy after the show was over. The book goes through the trials and tribulations of getting cast for a reality tv series, then once Kat is accepted onto the show, it’s a lot of pages surrounding her life in the From Fat to Fabulous house. The House can be thought of as a Real World type setting – where there are only about 6 girls who live in it and are competing for the prize of the most weight lost, plus a nice chunk of change to go along with it. There’s the same type of drama that happens as well – there’s a vixen, an innocent one, a few normal people, and woman who blames her 7 year old child for her weight gain. What I found interesting about the depiction of the Show was, when relating it back to reality shows we watch on TV today, you forget that there is a lot of downtime off camera. On the show, they had the ladies play games, and planted little seeds for dramatic encounters to ensue, but overall there was a lot of time where they’re just in the house doing nothing. Yeah, they can work out (and are supposed to given the premise of the show), but they don’t have TV, books, magazines, etc to entertain themselves – they just have each other. And in this case, that’s not a good thing b/c Kat doesn’t get along with most of them.

By the end of the book, and the Show, a few wrenches are thrown into the loop. Other reviews have said the ending was so predictable – I, for one, did not predict the ending. I won’t spoil it for you unless you really care to know though – send me a message if you do!

Overall, I really liked the book. On a scale of 1 – 5, I’m giving it a 3. It was a good chick-lit style novel and had me wanting more!

2010 Book List Bonanza!

I'm pleased to share with you my list of books for 2010 - I'm very excited to get started on these!! :) My goal for 2009 was to read at least a book per month. However, I managed to read a total of 19 books all year, and I could have definitely made it 20 but I wanted to take some time off and catch up on my magazines :). I'll be getting started on this list come Jan 1, and I'm VERY much looking forward to it! I hope you enjoy :)

Hilary's favorite books »

Mitch Albom's For One More Day

I recently read Mitch Albom’s “For One More Day”. I’d give it 3 stars out of 5. I had high hopes for this book, since one of my all time favorite books was “The Five People You Meet in Heaven”. I did also read “Tuesday’s with Morrie”, and it was good, but not near as wonderful as TFPYMIH.

For One More Day kept me turning the pages as I constantly wanted to find out what was going to happen to main character, Chick, next, or how his deceased mom was going to teach him yet another valuable lesson of life. I particularly enjoyed the chapter dividers titled: “Times my Mother Stood Up for Me” & “Times I didn’t stand up for My Mother” – or something similar to that – I don’t have the book with me now to do a true, direct quote! :) Regardless, these little inserts were tidbits of life lessons in their own way – times that Chick has reflected on from his childhood and probably regretted in most cases. The main take away of the book for me was to take advantage of the time you have with your parents right now – make amends with whatever issues you have with them now while you still can because they won’t be with us forever! Also, that issue you have with them that you continue to harbor will most likely blow up in your face in the form of depression, alcoholism or some other type of negative behavior. This was the case for Chick – who defied his mother to gain his father’s approval and attention repeatedly throughout his child and adult life, and as a result missed out on one of the last moments he had to share with his mother before her death. In the end, Chick was defied by his own family and was left alone to alcoholism and attempts at suicide – not a lifestyle I think any of us desire!

It was a quick read, and if you’re a fan of Albom’s other books I’d still recommend it simply because how can you NOT read all of the books by one of your favorite author’s!

Stay tuned for my 2010 reading list! I'm so excited to put it together :)