Cookiehead Cookies !

I have to start off this post with an apology. See I've been enjoying some really great tasting cookies and haven't shared them with all of you. Not only are the cookies kind to my taste buds but they are filled with some healthy ingredients!



Remember when I ran my first 5K back in May. As mentioned in that post one of the highlights of the race was being able to try these cookies:



To be honest, I wasn't all that excited to try the cookies when I first saw them. The reason being I've tried many healthy cookies and they've never really been all that great. But, when I saw how many people were crowded around the cookie display I knew I had to try them.

I'm SO glad I did! YUM!!!





I was able to take a box of the Belgian Chocolate Chunk cookies home:






Cookiehead Cookies!




I was extremely impressed that I could read ALL of the ingredients!




The cookies are smaller in size:




but packed with pieces of Dark Chocolate:




See, look at the size of the chocolate chunks!!! I think this is a cookie kids would really enjoy and parents would enjoy giving them to their kids:)



The inside of the cookie is filled with a bunch of healthy, great tasting ingredients:



I really liked these cookies but what impressed me the most was that my husband really liked the cookies! This was both good and bad. I'm happy he liked them because it is far better for him than Oreos or Chips Ahoy cookies. I'm not all that thrilled he likes them because it means I will have to share them:(

Now I need to head out and buy another box. I was told I could purchase them at Whole Foods in the Chicago area. If I can find them I will most likely try out some of the other flavors they offer!

If you are a cookie lover and looking for something a bit healthier you MUST check out their website: Cookiehead Cookies !


Question:

Have you tried these cookies before? If yes, what did you think?

5K, Williams Sonoma and Dogs - Oh My!

Saturday morning I woke up bright and early to get ready to run my first 5K. I was pleased to see that the weather was fantastic for a run!





I put on my running clothes, Polar F6 and laced up my sneakers with the orange band with the time chip in it.



After the national anthem and a police helicopter fly over with sirens blaring (I didn't even know the police helicopters had sirens) the race was started. As I ran through the start line I was greeted with people playing the bag pipes and was off to the races!

The race was an all-around good experience. I didn't do as well as I wanted but I was able to accomplish at least 1 out of the 2 goals I set for myself. I finished the race in 40 min 33 seconds. Not a great time but I'm happy I finished and finished under my goal of 45 minutes.

After the race my husband and I walked around the tents that were set up around Soldier Field. It was really a good time. I was able to talk to some Physical Therapists about some pain I was having in my hip. We were also able to watch the tots 40 yard dash. These kids were so into the races and fun to watch!





One of the highlights after the race was being able to try out some new healthy cookies! They are delicious and I will be doing a post about these later this week so be on the look out.




Sunday morning I woke up and promptly made myself a plate of cut up apples with a side of melted Mighty Maple Nut Butter!!!

I really like this combo. It tastes great and the nut butter really helps fill me up!

I also introduced my boys to apple slices:

They weren't really sure what to do with them at first. It was hilarious watching them. I think it took each of them 10 minutes to finish just 1 apple slice each!

Around 11:00 am, the husband and I headed out to Williams Sonoma to attend a cooking demonstration they were having. We learned about Copper Cookware as well as how to make a risotto dish that was delicious!

There is no way I can spend an hour in WS without purchasing something, just not possible to walk out empty handed:






New cutting boards. Love that these cutting boards are color coded so you always use the right board for what you are needing to cut:




I finally got a Microplane:





A couple new All-Clad accessories:





And some amazing tasting and smelling Roasted Garlic Puree:





I love this store! So many things I wanted to buy but I was strong and only walked out with what I could afford.

After our adventures in the city my husband and I came home to relax and spend some quality time with the dogs. However, I don't think Solera wanted anything to do with us because he shoved his head under the couch and just laid still for about 10 min:



No, he was not stuck, he was staring at a toy that was under the couch. He is such a goofy dog!

Question:

Do you have pets that do strange things? If so, what do they do.

And She's Back...

It's been over a month since my last post and I think it is about time to start blogging away. My big project at work is complete, woohoo!!! I'm still working away at some personal issues but to be honest I will be working on personal issues my entire life and I think this blog is a good way to work out some of the issues that will pop up over the years.

I do want to thank everyone for your kind words and well wishes. The blog community really does have a bunch of great people in it!

I've done a lot of things during my month long hiatus so I thought I would just touch on some of the more interesting items. If you follow me on twitter (TraceyVeggies) you probably already know about most of these things but I can give you more detail about it on this post:)

Running - I'm happy to say that I'm doing a good job with my running plan. I've worked my way from sitting on my bum all day to running 25 minutes straight. This is really impressive for me since I haven't run more than 5 minutes at a time during my entire 33 years on this earth. So, yeah, Go Me!!! Plus, running is a bit easier when you have these views to look at while doing it:

My first 5K is going to be May 1 - this Saturday. I'm doing the Run to Remember which is a race that benefits the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation. The Chicago Police Memorial Foundation is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing assistance to the families of our fallen heroes. This is such a great cause and I'm excited that it will be my first 5K experience!

Fleet Feet - A couple weeks ago I started getting really bad knee pain while I was running. I was bummed and frustrated because I thought this meant I wouldn't be able to continue my training for the 5K. I'm happy to say that I didn't just give up but instead headed to Fleet Feet to see what they could recommend to help reduce the pain.

I had the BEST experience at Fleet Feet Chicago. I ended up waiting about 30 minutes to sit down with, what I will call, a shoe specialist. I told my SS (shoe specialist) what type of exercise I was doing and the pain I was feeling in my knees. He put me on a treadmill and video taped my feet while I ran for about a minute. He slowed down the tape and shared with me the issues that could be causing the knee pain.

He picked out about 6 pairs of shoes that he thought would be good for me. I tried them out by running on the in-store track strip. I decided on a wonderful pair of Brooks sneakers, inserts and knee sleeves!

Old Town Oil - I found this amazing store which sells specialty olive oils and aged balsamic vinegars. If you are like me and love having balsamic vinegar on your salads or dipping a piece of french bread in a delicious tasting olive oil, you will love this place.

I love that this store does on premises bottling. The oils and vinegar are in spouted containers that allow you to taste before you buy. Once you pick the items you want an employee actually bottles and seals right in front of you, so you know you are purchasing the same product you just sampled! How great is that!

I wanted to take the entire store home with me but I knew that just wasn't possible so I made a touch decision and chose 1 vinegar and 1 oil.

The Jalapeno Balsamic vinegar has such an interesting taste and I love to add it to my salads!

The Garlic Olive Oil is so good I can't even put it into words. I've added it to salads, tossed veggies in it and roasted them in the oven, all kind of yummy creations can be done with this EVOO.

Freds - I was a bit leary of posting about Freds for fear that everyone would find out about this little gem located in the new Barney's building on Oak street. I really liked that I was able to get a seat on the patio without having to wait a couple hours. Freds is a restaurant with a little outdoor patio which is perfect to have a couple cocktails and dessert plate on a nice spring day. The food was okay, drinks were good, dessert was great and the view was spectacular!

The dessert plate was huge and plenty for the table to share:

I hope everyone has been doing great and I look forward to diving back into the blogging world!

Blog at ya later!

Busy Days

Wow, yesterday was a busy day in the office. I was happy about that because nothing is worse than being bored at work and stuck in a cubicle for 8 hours!

Breakfast

I'm so glad I fueled up for breakfast. I had 3 scrambled eggs.

Added some hot sauce for the heat. Nothing better with eggs than hot sauce.

Lunch

No lunch. I told yall it was a busy day. Didn't even have time to eat the Luna bar I had in my desk drawer.

Snacks

I had an appointment at Aniko salon to get highlights in my hair. It took me awhile to find a stylist that I liked and I'm happy to say I found the perfect person. She is great at coloring, cutting and blow outs! If you need a hair stylist in Chicago check out Aniko salon and ask for Stephanie. She's awesome!

When I walked into the salon I was handed a glass of White wine. Love this, the only thing that could be better is Champagne! But, I'm not going to be picky:)

After a couple sips of the wine I remember I didn't eat anything for lunch. So I grabbed a couple of these banana flavored Graduates puffs. Yep, I snacked on some kiddie food and it was very yummy.

Dinner

I love going out right after Stephanie styles my hair because it always looks so amazing. My amazing husband knows this and surprised me by showing up at the salon and taking me out for a drink at Gioco.

I had this wonderful cocktail, it was a lemon/lime vodka martini. Sorry I don't know the exact contents or the name but I didn't write it down and it's not listed on the website. But trust me when I say it was delicious!

After the cocktail we headed home and Patrick ordered us some pizza from Pat's. Here is a look at my plate, peperoni pizza and pesto pasta with broccoli.

The broccoli was really good!

Pizza was delicious!

I was so happy that the meal turned out okay because the first time I had Pat's pizza I got really sick. That was about 1 year ago so Patrick and I decided to give it another chance and I'm happy to say my stomach was a very happy camper after this meal!

Question:

Do you go to the same hair stylist each time you get your hair done - or - do you mix it up?

Since I've found Stephanie I always go to her. It's really nice going to a stylist who knows my hair and always does a great job!

Dress Shopping = No Love!

Look at this cute little face I get to wake up to:) His mission in the mornings is to look as pathetic as possible in hopes that either me or Patrick will stay home to keep him company. He is our little manipulator and he is pretty good at it!

Just looking at his little face makes me want to jump on a bus and get home...lol.

I'm happy to say that I did not allow yesterdays public transportation issues ruin my day. I vented on yesterdays post and moved on:)

Breakfast

This breakfast may have helped me with the moving on process. It was delicious and perfect for the kind of morning I was having. Oatmeal with granola, coconut, peanut butter and goji berries!

Peanut butter has always been the star of my oats:

But the addition of these Goji berries added a really nice flavor to the mix. The berries were much better in hot oats than the overnight oats I had the other morning.

To wash it all down, coffee + cocoa!

Adora disk for my vitamin D!

 

Lunch

During my lunch hour I had to go dress shopping again:( I hate it! And yet again I found nothing that will work for the function I'm going to be attending tomorrow night. How bad would it be if I showed up wearing the same dress I was wearing last year? I love last years dress and I really don't have the time or money to get a new one for this years event.

Because I was out shopping I picked up a Potbelly's sandwich to eat at my desk:

Turkey, provolone cheese, lettuce, hot peppers, mustard, mayo, onions and pickles all grilled together for a yummy lunch!

Dinner

By the time I got home from work I was tired and didn't feel like doing much of anything. I put together a fast dinner of angel hair pasta with tomato sauce:

Snacks

After dinner I turned on Ghost Hunters. It was their 100th episode and they were at Alcatraz! I also poured myself a Malibu rum and fruit punch cocktail.

Around 9:30 I started getting hungry so I whipped up a snack of toasted Pepperidge Farm Deli Flats.

Topped with mighty maple nut butter and butterscotch chips:

Pomegranate Jelly:

Patrick's mom gave this to us for Christmas. Well, she really gave it to me because she knows my love for Pomegranate is strong! I cracked open the jar of Trappist jelly for the first time last night and it was really good. I always forget how much I like jelly especially one that is a favorite flavor of mine.

I'm going to have to start looking around the jelly/preserves isle to see what flavors are available!

Question:

Would you wear the same dress to a charity event 2 years in a row?