The pumpkin cliche

She’s a blur in real life and in photos.  That’s her nature.

My morning plans fell through so I went to stroller strides.  I’ve basically been going twice a week since Kyle’s been gone because it’s all I can do to keep my sanity.  I switched to the unlimited for this month.  I don’t know why but the kids both love it.  P doesn’t get to go unless it’s on a Friday because he has school on Mon-Thurs mornings, but he always seems sad that V gets to go without him.  I have no idea why they enjoy it as much as they do, but I’m not questioning it.  It’s actually my treat to myself, but they think it’s a kid activity, soooo win win! And if nothing else, having them see me happily exercising and socializing with my friends all the time will plant the seed of a positive image of fitness in their minds.

I ran a ton of errands after strides and before picking up P, so that felt awesome as well.

Same salad, different nuts.  I added salty almonds by the handful as I ate this salad.  I think I ended up consuming about a cup’s worth.  Not bad.  I find if I add a bunch in the beginning I end up having seconds and thirds anyway, so I may as well start with VERY few and just add as I go.

Using up the last of the gobble stuffs (because I still haven’t gone shopping) for dinner, including the udon noodle stir fry kit items minus the protein it came with (I used the chicken two weeks ago).  But I had steak so I just used that instead.  This noodle kit gave me two separate meals because of how much it came with!  The noodles and sauce were definitely enough for more than the two portions it was supposed to be.  Winner!

At the end of his quiet time, P came out to join me in the kitchen and helped me make dinner.  Dude was stoked that steaks were on the menu.

Can you see the part of his hair that he twirls???  Ha.

Since I was making this in advance of dinner, I just wanted to cook everything separately and then (re-heat) and assemble later.

First I seared (and lightly cooked) the steaks, then I took them off and used the same pan to cook the veggies in some of the mushroom “gravy” sauce.

Meanwhile I showed P how to spiralize zucchini.  Once the veggies were done, I fried the noodles.

Once we got home from soccer I sautéed the zoodles with the sliced steak.

Oodles of noodles and zoodles (and veggies and steak).

My portion had, like, a week’s worth of veggies.  So good!  And I still have more sauce leftover!  The gobble portions are no joke!  And for me to say that means something because I eat above and beyond what the USDA wants me to every single day.

I baked a banana pumpkin thing that night too, in between football, snuggles, and dessert.

I had forgotten Kyle got me these a while back and I could hardly decide which to open first.  I went with the toffee and sea salt.  It’s really good stuff.  It’s dark and tastes like real bean to bar chocolate. But is still sweet enough to keep me interested.  It’s a nice fancy pants bar that still has the allure for those of us who like trashy sweets.

I had some See’s too, naturally.  BUT.  YOU GUYS.  I broke a record with this dessert.  I didn’t finish everything on my plate!!!!!  I’m not even joking.  My sweet tooth actually got a little overwhelmed by the See’s and I had to stop (!!!) before I ate the last truffle.  I don’t even know who I am right now.

Anyway, look forward to the recipe for this because I (dun dun dunnnnn) wrote it down!  Again, I’m blowing my own mind with all these uncharacteristic events.

I think it’s now 100% fall because this dinner used up the last zucchini from the garden and I baked a pumpkin dish immediately after.  The cliche is real.