Caroline Dines

This morning I woke up craving something sweet. This rarely happens (usually my sweet cravings only kick in after 8 p.m.!) so I decided to go with it and fixed myself a mug of hot chocolate. For a pepperminty twist I hung a mini candy cane on the rim which added just a hint of flavor while it dissolved in the hot, creamy beverage.

I simply couldn’t do the cereal this morning but wanted something “carby” and was delighted when I remembered that I had some “When Pigs Fly” Low Carb bread in the freezer. One small piece toasted with a smear of Kate’s Homemade Butter was the perfect accompaniment to a serving of Honey flavored Oikos yogurt.

I have been having the SAME routine for days now and it’s starting to get boring, thank goodness Christmas break is just around the corner. I need to mix things up a bit! After my yoga class I was starving and came home to a warm bowl of Tomato Soup. This is the Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup from TJ’s to be exact. I had the Low Sodium version for some reason and ended up adding salt! Whoops. I also added some cheddar cheese chunks for the oooey goooey goodness!

Since it’s almost Christmas, I wanted to share with you a few of my “holiday decorations” that have been keeping me company during the day. These little guys always put a smile on my face when I look at them sitting quietly on the book shelf. The big snowman was a present from Darin about 6 years ago, the little snowman was given to me by my Mom around the same era, and the reindeer I won in a Yankee Swap this year! They keep each other company.

I also wanted to highlight a few of my ornaments that MAY be of interest to you healthy food bloggers out there. First off the infamous Pickle Ornament. My Dad gave me this since pickles are really his thing and we always had one on our tree growing up.

I think this little Red Raspberry ornament is pretty old, I am almost certain it was my Mom’s as a child. Either way it reminds me of berry season which can’t come soon enough!

What foodie tree would be complete without a gigantic cupcake? Darin’s sister found this ornament two Christmases ago and knew that it would be right up my ally, she was right, I LOVE this ornament.

She also bought me this one which was picked out carefully as well since we completed a Tri-Athalon together a few years back and were both quite proud of our accomplishment!

And the last ornament I will highlight for you all is a special one because it was made for Darin and me by my mom the first year we lived together. This was on our first tree and I hope it will be for many more to come.

Alright, enough personal stuff, back to the food! For an afternoon snack I literally ripped into this red grapefruit. Such a mess but so delicious.

It was a good thing I had such a filling snack because dinner was being prepared for the house tonight by the Emergency Room Fellows at Children’s Hospital and I was not in control of when we got to eat! I was so hungry by the time everything was done! Check out the spread!

They did a fabulous job and I made sure they knew how much I appreciated all the healthy options. I mean look at this plate! They had spinach balls, lentil stew, turkey chili, salad, grilled chicken, and baked ziti.  Sorry the picture isn’t high quality, I had to snap it on the run since I didn’t want to draw attention to my food blogging ways with such a crowd.

Good thing I saved some room for dessert because there was NO way that one of these was going to get by me. This is a Gingerbread Cupcake with a half a gingerbread man sticking out the top (incase you couldn’t tell!). The frosting was H-E-A-V-E-N and the cake wasn’t bad either! YUMMMM. I love my job.