A Productive Snow Day

Monday morning I awoke to a rare sight in the south:  A healthy amount of snow and it was still falling...

Love it!!

I also knew that my office was probably closed.  I was right.  As much as I may have complained about being lonely at home over the weekend, I still was excited to have a snow day.

I immediately took the opportunity to make a fancier than normal weekday breakfast.  I decided to make a frittata.

I used:

-1/3 green pepper

-1/3 onion

-1 small potato

-3 eggs

-a sprinkle of paprika

-shredded cheddar

I peeled the potato and cut it into "match stick" shaped pieces.  I did the same with the onion and pepper, then I sauteed them all in about a teaspoon of oil and sprinkled with the paprika.  Cook them for about 5 minutes.

Then I added the eggs, which I had whisked.

You cover the pan and let it cook on medium for about 5 more minutes.

Then the tricky part, you need to run a spatula under the frittata and then place a plate over the pan and flip it.  Slide it back into the pan to cook on the other side for a few more minutes.

At this point I sprinkled on the cheddar cheese to melt.

Pretty good!

After lounging for a while in the morning, I was motivated to sweat.  One of the unfortunate things about having a snow day was that my doctor appointment was also cancelled, which meant I didn't get treatment on my leg.  I really didn't have a lot of options if I wanted a sweat session anyway, but running was definitely out since I couldn't run outside and didn't know if my doctor would ok it. 

I decided to try something new- the bike, which was something the doctor had said I could try.

(excuse my MESSY basement)

I am proud to say I had the foresight to ask my hubby to set up a bike on our trainer before he left for Houston.  I may be using this a bunch more this winter.

I did 45 minutes and it was a little tough, but felt good.  It's been hard to get in a good sweat session without running, so this did the trick.

I followed it up with some sit ups on the exercise ball.

Later for lunch I broke into my grocery store purchases.  I had seen these chicken sausages on Blondie's blog, and was intrigued, so I picked some up on Sunday.  The ones I bought were red pepper and Asiago cheese.  I had one sausage grilled on half a french roll with spinach, tomato, and cheese, and some cottage cheese on the side.

The chicken sausage was pretty good!  I want to try it in pasta next.

I did some cleaning and tv watching in the afternoon and then got in the mood to bake.  I had heard about marathon cookies on some blogs and figured try making them. 

I basically did my own version, but losely based it on this one.  I have to say, it kind of ended up being a FAIL, and you'll see in a second when I show you the photos what I mean.  I think this recipe could work with some tweaking, or I might just try making chocolate chip cookies and adding the almonds, cherries, and coconut next time...  Anyway, here's what I used.

Ingredients:

1 cup almonds, chopped
1 cup chopped cherries
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
3 cup flour (I used 1 1/2 cups oat flour and 1 1/2 cups all purpose)
1 tsp each of cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

I creamed the brown sugar and butter, added the eggs, then combined the dry and wet ingredients and added in the cherries, nuts, coconut, and chips.

Dropped by spoonfuls on a greased cookie sheet and baked at 350 for about 9 minutes.

The first batch came out really flat and un-cookie-like.

I removed the crumbly messes and put them on a plate in a big sloppy pile.

I was thinking the dough seemed kind of wet, so I added some flour and tried again.

The next batches were better, but still not great.  The texture was definitely off and not even close to looking like the ones on the blog I found the initial recipe on.

Oh well, I'll still eat them, but like I said, I think next time I'll try a chocolate chip cookie recipe and add the other ingredients and see if the texture is better.

Post cookie baking, I shoveled the driveway, while trying not to further injure myself. 

I then came back in and made a Greek salad for dinner.

It included:

-chick peas

-kalamata olives

-feta

-lettuce

-spinach

-tomato

-artichoke hearts

-red wine vinegar

-lemon juice

-olive oil

-salt and pepper

Yum.  My favorite salad :)  I followed the salad with more crumbly cookie.

I'm heading back to work today.  We had a two hour delay, but apparently we're back at it today.

Did you have a snow day?  What did you do?