Run, Work, Bake & Vote for Frank

Ahhh Thanksgiving week. How impossible is it to concentrate on work or school or being a hot mama(or two or three of these, if you’re a super hero like some of the amazing bloggers out there)? I decided to reverse my day a bit today and got up and went right out for my 8 mile long run of the week:

Then it was work, a few errands, and the start of my Thanksgiving baking! I am in charge of what I like to call “counter snacks”, aka eats that kind of sit out throughout the weekend that people can munch on. I made my first set of snacks tonight, two varieties of Granola.

Granola #1 was inspired by this post from my girl Alison at Mama’s Weeds. I have never put fresh fruit in granola and was excited to give it a go.

Ingredients
1 apple, diced
2 cups oats
½ cup walnuts
½ cup almonds
2 tablespoons ground flax
Sprinkling of cinnamon
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons honey

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 250.

Combine vegetable oil and honey. Add in dry ingredients, mix well to cover. Bake for 1 hour.

Pre-Bake:

Granola #2 was more along the lines of my usual with a little pumpkin flare:

Ingredients
2 cups oats
½ cup pumpkin seeds
¼ cup sesame seeds
¼ cup walnuts
1 cup coconut
2 tablespoons flax
Sprinkling of pumpkin pie spice
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons honey

Same Directions as Granola #1.

Pre-Bake:

Since our oven was occupied for most of the night, dinner was an easy throw together and utilized the remainder of our leftover black bean soup. I microwaved a sweet potato for me and a regular potato for Josh. On top of my potato went black bean soup and salsa with a side of apple (duh):

Josh will have the same toppings and an artichoke burger on the side.

Other fun stuff:

I got a sweet holiday card from Stonyfield Farms today (Thank you thank you!):

Frank is competing in a Hallmark card contest, please vote for him!

Frank A Dog Named Christmas

I want to send a BIG congrats out to Caroline (the WONDERFUL representative who sent me the V8 Soup to try) for doing awesome at her Body Pump training this weekend!!

AND (lastly) I have another request for all of you! I am taking a trip to TJs during Thanksgiving and want to know what TJs products you’re loving these days. On my list so far is:
Nut Butter
Gingerbread Coffee
21 Salute Seasoning & Smoked Chipotle Hummus (thank you Julie ;))