Chocolate Give-away, exercise, and my new peeler

First of all, I was perusing CCV's blog just a few minutes ago and she is having a Jocolat bar give-away. If you want to participate, here is the web address. http://chocolatecoveredkatie.wordpress.com/2009/02/26/so-what-about-this-chocolate-giveaway/ (Sorry, I don't know how to do links, so I just copied and pasted the URL.)
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It's a great blog. I visit it regularly. She had a recipe for Tofu pudding--basically just blended silken tofu with flavors. I had it for an afternoon snack yesterday--mine was tofu, cocoa, agave, and a splash of vanilla. It was really good. Who would have thought that something that simple would be that good?
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I'm really proud of myself. I have exercised 2 days in a row. Last night, daughter and I exercised while we watched Biggest Loser--about 35 minutes worth. And today, I exercised after the gals at the office went to do lunch and errands--about 30 minutes worth. I don't know why I have such a hard time exercising. I feel so much better after I do it, but I can't seem to get motivated to do it regularly. It's frustrating. I would really like to be a runner. I have daydreams of myself jogging out in the sunshine with our pup. But the reality is that I am so self conscious (I still see myself as a fat chick) that I only jog on the treadmill or in place in the living room. I am going to try to exercise more regularly.
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I was also proud of my daughter for exercising with me. We did it as sort of a game. I need to do that with her more often.
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Last night, daughter and I played with the Titan Peeler. I still love the peeler, but the jury is out on the julienne cutter. We were playing with the dinner potatoes--peeling, making "chips", making hash-browns, etc. All of the product went into the curry to cook. And all of the little bitty potato pieces cooked down to make the sauce really thick.
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Today, I julienned a zucchini for my lunch. It takes longer than my julienne attachment on my mandolin, but the clean-up was so much easier. Also, the shreds are a lot finer using the Titan. I like it, I'm just not sure if I like it better than my mandolin.
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Well, I ought to get back to work.
Ciao for now.

I'm going crazy!

OK for the last week or so, Ki-Ki, our big yellow dog, (that's her, under my desk) has been getting out of the kennel. We put her back in and hubby figures out where she gets out and patches the wire. She has been out of the yard several times and I'm afraid she's going to get run over.

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Well today, she got out of the kennel but stayed in the yard. I can't fix fence so I've let her stay in the house and the pup is driving me bats. The pup wants to go out, but then as soon as she sees that Ki-Ki is staying in, she wants back in. Over and Over and Over again.

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And the pup wants to play and Ki-Ki doesn't so there's been a lot of growling and trying to hide under me going on.

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I'm going crazy! Dog out, dog in, dog out, dog in, "Little Girl back Off!", dog out, dog in, "Little Girl back Off!". So right now, Little Girl is in her kennel whining and Ki-Ki is asleep at my feet. And I'm ready to scream!
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On a lighter note--the second Titan Peeler came in the mail today. I'm going to give it to my aunt and we're going to split the cost. I really don't need 2 of them. But I really like it. Did I say that earlier?

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Bye again.

I got a new peeler...

Yeah, I know. That doesn't sound really exciting, but I was excited. I saw an infomercial for the "Titan Peeler" and it comes with a julienne tool and a plastic thing that makes it into a mandolin. It looked so cool and hubby said to order it so I did. It is really cool. They are heavy tools--I expected them to be light and feel cheap. And it worked great! I made butternut squash soup for dinner last night and I have never peeled a butternut squash as easily as I did with that peeler. My old peeler just wouldn't even peel one--I had to do it with a knife.
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Below is a picture of the soup. Son used the "triangle cutter" on the mandolin attachment to make citrus crowns. I thought he did a pretty good job.

I was really nervous about purchasing based upon an infomercial, but I'm glad I did this one. It was supposed to be a 'buy one get one free' offer so with shipping, they ended up being $15 a set (14.99 for the set, 13 some-odd for shipping, 0.00 for the second set). I haven't gotten the second set yet, the paper said they were shipped separately so I would guess I'll get it today.

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I haven't tried the julienne tool yet. I'll do that later--probably for a zucchini salad.

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Yesterday, I also made blueberry-coconut fruit leather and apple chips. This time I turned off the dehydrator while it was still leather so we didn't end up with blueberry/coconut chips. Both the leather and the chips were really good.

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Speaking of fruit leather, daughter couldn't seem to get "leather" figured out when I made the strawberry leather. It got called "strawberry felt" and "strawberry velvet" before she finally got it straight.

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Right now, I have crackers dehydrating. The recipe is from Ani Phyo's Raw Food Kitchen. I hope they will turn out good. The certainly smell good, but I think they are more of a savory vs a sweet cracker. They will go better with soups than with almond butter and jelly.

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I had to get up at the crack of midnight this morning--well, not quite, but early. Son had his sixth grade ski trip today and he had to be at the school by 6:45. I think he'll have fun. He took his own skis and stuff so he could get on the hill faster. I hope he's careful! I'll pick him up (exhausted, probably) at around 5:30, feed him and send him to scouts.

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Well, I ought to get back to work now.

Ciao for now.