Return of the Monster

Thanks for all of the sweet comments! Today was much better… which may or may not be because it included a trip to Sephora. I may not be able to fit into any cute clothes (or SHOES, for God’s sake) at this point, but I can still wear lipgloss

Breakfast featured the return of an old favorite:

The Green Monster!!! I was shivering as I drank it, but it was worth it. And no heartburn! Here’s the rundown:

• 1 C Vanilla Almond Breeze
• 1 Scoop Vanilla Protein Powder
• 1 Frozen Banana
• 1/2 C Frozen Cherries
• Several Handfuls Baby Spinach
• 2 Tbs Chocolate PB2
• Ice

I finally caught up on blogs this morning, put up some of Jack’s clothes, researched recipes… then my mom called and asked if I wanted to meet her for lunch at Subway. I usually order either turkey or veggie, but for some reason the new Buffalo Chicken sub sounded really good.

Thumbs up to Subway for their chicken! I was impressed. It was actually really tasty. I think I’ve voiced my trepidation about fast food chicken in the past (gristly bits = gag), but this was great! I would have been happy with more of the wing sauce.

After lunch I ran to Sam’s, then Northpark to spend my Sephora gift card. After browsing for a ridiculously long time, I walked out with these:

I’m a giant sucker for lipglosses and cheekstains.

On the way home I stopped at Newflower for groceries. Halfway through shopping, I realized that I was starving and seriously debated breaking into a bag of pretzels in the middle of an aisle… but no one wants to be that girl, right? So I managed to hold off until I got in the car:

Brian’s always really sweet about running to the store when I’m out of something, but I know that he’ll inevitably end up coming home with some random purchase along with whatever it was he went for in the first place. Like on Sunday, for example: I sent him to the store for sour cream, and he came back with a bag of pistachios and three giant packages of pork chops. THREE. Apparently Albertson’s was running some “Buy 1, Get 2 Free” special. So guess what we had for dinner tonight?

That’s right! Pork chops. I found a well-reviewed Giada recipe on Foodnetwork.com for Parmesan-Crusted Pork Chops and decided to give that a shot. It’s super easy. You just dip the chops in grated parm, beaten eggs, and bread crumbs and pan fry. Our chops were pretty thick, so I browned them in a skillet for 6 min/side, then transferred to a baking dish and finished them in the oven at 400 for 10 minutes.

Oh my goodness- these were the best pork chops I’ve ever had! Pork tends to dry out on me, but these stayed really moist and tender. Definitely follow the recipe and squeeze on some lemon juice at the end. On the side we had brown basmati rice- that I actually managed not to burn- and steamed asparagus.

Dessert was an exciting Central Market find!!

The only place that I’d ever seen these before was at a grocery store in South Carolina. They’re frozen banana halves dipped in dark chocolate. Yum.

I’ll be a lady and not repeat what Brian said about this photo.

Off to fold more clothes. Hope everyone had a good day!

-SURVEY-

(I’m stealing this from Margie):

Do you give food gifts at Christmas? If so, what?