Happy Coffee Day!

I have throughly enjoyed Dunkin Donuts Free Iced Coffee Day! I just returned from visiting Dunkin Donuts for the second time today, and I am currently enjoying my second free iced coffee of the day... this time, I chose decaf. (I'd be awake all night, otherwise.)

Here is iced coffee #1, which I obtained promptly at 10:05 am... and there was a line already! The D&D employees moved us right along though-- we were in and out within 5 minutes.


So happy with my free iced coffee! (I'm such a dork!)


Here's iced coffee #2... my afternoon treat. Again, the D&D folks were on the ball! We didn't have to wait at all.


Lunch wasn't nearly as exciting as Free Iced Coffee Day. Today's lunch was an Amy's All American Burger on Ezekiel bread with roasted red pepper hummus...


and cucumber slices and baby carrots with more hummus.


This ended up being a big meal all together. I didn't quite finish all of the veggies-- I also ate the same kind of veggies for dinner last night, so maybe I was just bored with them.


I wasn't in the mood for cucumbers and carrots, but I was obviously in the mood for Dark Chocolate Peanut M&Ms. I ate half of the bag after lunch. (I ate the first half last night... with a glass of wine! Mmmmm... dark chocolate and wine.)


Alright, back to work for me. Don't forget to get your free iced coffee today! (Ok, today has officially turned into a holiday for me!)

The Best Day of the Year!

Today is FREE ICED COFFEE DAY at Dunkin Donuts! We all know that I will be there more than once today! :) The promotion includes a free 16-once iced coffee and runs from 10am-10pm.

I woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning! (Obviously, looking forward to free iced coffee!) I got in a great workout-- I lifted my shoulders and back and ran 5 miles on the treadmill. It felt great! I had a new playlist too!

Breakfast this morning was two Van's blueberry waffles with sugar-free maple syrup...


and fresh cut strawberries with a dollop of Stonyfield vanilla yogurt.


Breakfast from above... and now I am (im)patiently waiting for my FREE iced coffee!


Free Iced Coffee Day is also Ask for Soy Milk Day

As you know, Dunkin Donuts has named today "Free Iced Coffee Day" at all of its stores. In response, Compassion Over Killing, a DC-based activist group, have named today "Ask for Soy Milk Day" at Dunkin’ Donuts nationwide.

So, if you head over to Dunkin Donuts today to grab some delicious FREE iced coffee, and soy milk isn't available, be sure to nicely ask the manager to carry soy milk in the future. Starbucks already offers this dairy-free alternative to customers, so Dunkin Donuts should be able to do the same. Plus soy milk is a healthy and humane option!

From the Compassion Over Killing website:

How to Get Soy Milk in a Dunkin' Donuts Near You!

Don't live in the D.C.-area? Don't worry—here are some steps you can take to encourage Dunkin' Donuts stores near you to start serving soy milk:

• Contact your local Dunkin' Donuts store. Click here for store locations and phone numbers. Or, better yet, stop in to your local Dunkin' Donuts and ask to speak to the manager about adding soy milk. Be sure to let him or her know that there are other Dunkin' Donuts stores already making this option available to customers.
• Email Dunkin Donuts' Consumer Care Office and thank them for adding soy milk to two DC-area locations, and ask them to make soy milk available in all locations, like most national coffee chains already do.
• Call Dunkin' Donuts' Consumer Care hotline at 1-800-859-5339.
• Write to Dunkin' Donuts. Express your concerns in a letter and send it to:
  
  Dunkin' Donuts Consumer Care
  130 Royall Street
  Canton, MA 02021

Happy Free Iced Coffee and Ask for Soy Milk Day!

Veggie-licious!

Oooooooh boy, dinner was veggie-licious tonight with broccoli, cucumbers, carrots, and kale. All of those veggies really filled up my stomach! I'm soooo full! Along with my veggies, I also had an Amy's All American Burger with a little buffalo sauce on top. I'm obsessed with these burgers-- 8 minutes in the toaster oven and they are perfect! 

Here's my big bowl of kale chips... I sprinkled sea salt and garlic powder on them tonight. 

Loads of veggies with roasted red pepper hummus, kale chips, and an Amy's burger from above...

For those of you who are wondering...

Mal's surprise tonight was a trip to the driving range to hit some golf balls. Unfortunately, the driving range was craz-y busy, and we would have waited a long while to get some tee time. We had some errands to run tonight, so we decided to move our driving range date to this weekend. Let's hope the weather stays nice! I'd really like to improve my drive so that I can actually play a real round of golf! Mal is such a golf fanatic-- it would be such a blast to play with him! 

Go Celtics! 

Understanding Wine

One thing I would like to know a lot more about, but hardly know anything, is wine. I do know that I love drinking it, but I would never, ever consider myself anything close to a connoisseur.

My wedding shower is 2 weekends away (yay!), and the theme is a "Wine and Cheese Tasting." My maid of honor (my sister) knows me so well! :) Obviously, I don't need to show off my wine knowledge at the shower, but it would be nice to know at least something about wine! I'm not even sure if I have down the basics! So, I am looking for suggestions on how to increase my general knowledge of wine. I realize that there is a ton to know about wine and a lot of the learning comes from tasting, but any recommendations of books, websites, blogs, and other resources would be greatly appreciated! Even personal tips, tricks, stories, etc. would be helpful. Has anyone ever taken a wine course?

Ok, onto the food...

My afternoon snack is an orange and Fage with raisins and a packet of honey (Starbucks contraband). Sorry that there isn't a photo of the Fage, raisins, and honey all mixed together. I'm not hungry quite yet for my snack, but wanted to make sure that I got an afternoon post up today. (Don't worry-- I ate lunch yesterday! I just was super busy and lunch was boring!)


Lunch was leftovers from last night's dinner... still yummy 19 hours later!


Up close and personal with lunch...


Lunch also included a Van's Organic blueberry waffle with peanut butter spread on top. The waffle flavor was just a light taste of blueberry. I don't like that strong, artificial blueberry flavor that some frozen waffles have to them, but these Van's blueberry waffles had just the right amount.

Something A Little Different

Wednesday. Hump Day. How is it only the middle of the week? Why won't this week move along faster?!? Does anyone else have ants in their pants for the weekend?

This morning was atypical. I didn't go to the gym, slept in until almost 7:00, and didn't feel like oats for breakfast. (What is going on here?) Breakfast was something a little different: Ezekiel bread toast with peanut butter, banana slices, and strawberries.


I love the texture of the Ezekiel bread-- hearty, grainy, rough... it just tastes whole.


I cut up a few fresh strawberries and added them to my remaining banana slices. I ate the bananas and strawberries together in one bite. I love the flavor of strawberry and banana together!


All together, from above...


Nothing exciting to report today... just lots and lots of work to do! However, Mal has something planned for tonight. He's being secretive and won't tell me what it is. I am definitely looking forward to some quality M&T time! Ok, coffee time. I need it!

Pasta with Broccoli, Tomatoes, and Turkey Sausage

Dinner was yum tonight! I'm so happy that there are leftovers for tomorrow's lunch! The meal of the evening was pasta with broccoli, cherry tomatoes, and turkey sausage. 

The meal was quick and simple to throw together. I boiled some water for the pasta, steamed the broccoli in the microwave, fried-up the turkey sausage, and halved and sauteed the cherry tomatoes...

... then tossed all of the ingredients with a little bit of olive oil. Fast, easy, and nutritious! 

I topped my portion with a few shakes of parmesan cheese. Love this dish! 

Sorry tonight's post was so brief. I am totally distracted by American Idol! 

Oat Bran Muffins

I threw together a small batch of "experimental" oat bran muffins this evening. In the morning, before my workout, I like to eat a carby snack to give me energy to fuel me through my workout. I have trouble running on "empty" immediately after waking up, so I decided to give oat bran a try in my baking. 

These muffins came out grainy, somewhat dense, and not too sweet. They are more of a pre-workout snack or breakfast-to-go than a dessert. They'll definitely do the trick at 5:30 in the morning! 

Oat Bran Muffins

1 cup oat bran (dry)

1/4 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 skim milk

1/8 cup raisins

1/8 cup chopped walnuts

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 cup sugar-free maple syrup

1. Combine ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

2. Divide batter evenly between muffin cups coated with cooking spray.

3. Bake at 425 for 10-15 minutes until muffins are cooked all the way through.