Ten of the Worst Valentines Day Gifts

Valentine's Day is just around the corner friends! Today I wanted to list for you the worst possible Valentine's Day gifts. These gifts are to remind all of you single girls why it's better to be single than to get these things and a list for you attached girls to print and give to your boyfriend/husband/dog as a DO NOT.

1. Snuggie. I know some of you may think this is an awesome gift, but it's not. Anything that says "Just Like on TV" is not an acceptable gift.

2. Tools. This happened to my mother once, true story. She cried. It was ugly.

3. Love coupons. The gift that keeps on giving, right? Wrong. All love coupons do is show your significant other just how lazy and cheap you really are.

4. A Gym membership. Nothing says I love you like I think you need to go to the gym...because what that really says is "get your ass in shape fatso"

5. A tattoo. This may be the worst gift ever. If you get one for yourself with your honey's name on it, that shit is PERMANENT. Unless you plan on only dating people with the same name as your current squeeze (or you think you're going to be together forever you think) you are going to regret that ink.

6. Singing stuffed animals. Yes, it's fun to press the tummies of every single one of them at Walgreen's just to annoy the people that work there, but it's not fun to actually get one.

7. Electrical appliances. Pointing out the domesticity of your wife or girlfriend is not going to go over well. Yes, she wants appliances. As wedding gifts from cousins, not from her husband or boyfriend when she is expecting jewelry or flowers.

8. Money. Sure everyone loves money, but giving your girl money shows her that you couldn't be bothered to put the thought or effort into getting her an actual gift. Though some girls might actually like this, I think it's horribly tacky.

9. Christmas candy. Nothing says cheap like getting candy off the clearance rack just because it happens to be in a red box and could possibly be passed off as Valentine's Day candy. You're not fooling anyone cheapskate!

10. Anything Valentine's Day themed. Mugs, keychains, t-shirts. Anything that says or implies Valentine's Day is not a good gift. These are generic gifts that you get when you have absolutely no idea what else to get...wise up boys. Get flowers.

What is the worst Valentine's Day gift that you've received? Anything to add to this list?

I'm a Travelin' Man (Actually Girl)

Greetings from Washington DC!

In case you are new to the blog or don't stalk my life...I am in the Washington DC area for work for the next two weeks. I have to do some training for work, but don't be misled. I fully plan on enjoying the area (I am a huge DC lover and come here at least twice a year).

After a long day of traveling and a turbulent flight, I finally arrived in our nation's capital late yesterday afternoon. Why is it that I always get the super chatty cabbies? When I've been traveling all day, the last thing I want to do is make small talk. But I digress.

The first order of business when I finally got to my hotel was to order up room service because I was STARVING. While I was waiting for my food, I unpacked. Just to give you guys an idea of how I stay healthy while traveling, I always bring supplies. In this case, I brought along Justin's almond butter and some LaraBars for snacks.

After I unpacked a little, I opened up the goodie bag that I got at the hotel desk! I love love love goodie bags! Who doesn't love free stuff??

Inside was some drinks and snacks as well as a map of the area. All of the snacks looked fairly healthy except for the regular coke and Famous Amos cookies...but let's be honest...you know those cookies will be the first thing to get eaten. I have seen Kind bars before but have never tried one. I will do a little mini review for you guys once I give it a try, it certainly looks tasty.

Finally room service came and I practically attacked the poor girl for my food. On the side of my tray was a bunch of mini condiments that I thought were the cutest thing so I snapped a photo ;) Who doesn't love things mini sized? So cute. I wish they sold these in supermarkets so that I could have mini condiments in my fridge.

I ordered the Mediterranean Chicken sandwich with fries from the room service menu and I have to say...WOW. The sandwich was truly amazing. It was chicken breast, roasted tomatoes, spinach, goat cheese, and balsamic vinegarette. The fries were perfectly crisp on the outside, soft on the inside, and optimally salted. Maybe I think this meal was so great because I was so hungry, but even so, I highly recommend ordering this if you ever stay at a Hilton Hotel.

Since I'm staying at a Hilton, I was hoping to see Paris roaming around the halls, but no such luck yet. I have a tendency to spot random celebrities when I'm here so who knows? I could be Paris Hilton's new BFF. Y'all know I watched that show. Both seasons.

As I mentioned, I have some guest posts lined up so be sure to check back for those!

Have you ever been to Washington DC? Do you ever order room service at a hotel?

Wicked Restaurant

Happy day after the Superbowl! So glad the Packers won. In case you didn't know, the day after the Superbowl is the most called in sick day of the year. Luckily for me I didn't have to call in sick because today is a travel day...I'm heading to Washington DC! I have some guest posts lined up for you guys and I'm going to try to post as much as possible while I'm away.

In the meantime, after all the less than stellar restaurants I've been visiting lately, I finally found one that I love. For lunch yesterday I met up with my friend Emily from college to try a new restaurant at Legacy Place in Dedham, Wicked Restaurant. They also have a location in Mashpee.

The restaurant advertises it's "wood kissed pizza" on the sign, but in all honesty, the major draw of the restaurant is that almost everything is organic, freshly prepared, and locally acquired. The decor inside is a little funky, yet cozy. We were lucky enough to go during lunch when it was not busy and therefore got a booth, however, the tables in the middle looked very close together (something I really hate at a restaurant). Other than that, the restaurant was very open, and even appeared to have a loft area with tables.

Oh yeah, and we had a TV in our booth. HUGE bonus points for that. Who doesn't love being able to watch Jerry Springer while munching on pizza???

The menu does consist of more than just pizza, with a decent sized appetizer menu, selection of sandwiches and regular entrees.

To start with, we decided to start with the Parmesan Fries with Truffle Oil. Wow these were delicious. While a little overcooked and a little under-cheesed (yes that's a made up word, but whatever) I would still highly recommend getting them because they give you a good amount for only $5.

Of course we had to get pizza since that's kind of what they are known for. We went with the Margherita. Not very adventurous, I know, but a lot of the pizzas had either onions or mushrooms and their Margherita pizza had kalamata olives on it. I LOVE kalamata olives so it was the only logical choice. It did not disappoint. This may have actually taken over Bertuccis for my favorite Margherita pizza. The crust was perfectly soft and chewy and the flavors melded beautifully.

The dessert menu has a little bit of everything and has something for everyone. We settled on the Chocolate Torte. The Torte was extremely rich and sinfully chocolatey. It was the perfect amount to split and came with homemade whipped cream and raspberry sauce.

At the end of the meal, our waitress gave us the Wicked rewards card. I love it when restaurants do this. There are a few restaurants that I go to a lot and I think it would be nice if they had the same sort of rewards system for frequent customers. Thankfully, I liked Wicked so much that I will definitely be going back again and again.

What is your favorite pizza topping? Do any of your favorite restaurants have rewards programs?

A Little About Protein

Why helloooo Friday. You're lookin' good.

So I received a couple of questions about protein powder recently, and I thought I would write a quick post about it. While I know that I am not necessarily lacking in protein (I am a meateater after all) I find that having a little protein with breakfast helps to keep me full longer...and to be honest, I am not one of those food bloggers who think that peanut butter in my oatmeal or smoothies is delicious. Yuck.

I have two kinds of protein powder in my pantry. The one that I use most by far is the vanilla. The brand is Dymatize and I get it at the Vitamin Shoppe. It has 24 grams of protein and 114 calories. This I mostly use for oatmeal.

I typically only use half a scoop. I add it to the oatmeal and water and cook it as I normally would. Be sure to mix your protein powder in WELL before and during cooking otherwise you will get weird protein clumps that have the consistency of scrambled eggs. That may be your thing, but I personally think it's disgusting. As long as it's mixed in well, you won't even know the protein powder is in there.

I have GNC brand Whey Protein in Strawberry that I use mostly just for smoothies.

This one has 20 grams of protein and 110 calories. Again, I typically only use a half a scoop in smoothies, just because a little protein goes a long way for me.

Both brands are whey protein (a protein found in cow's milk), so if you have an allergy to whey (which I know a lot of people do) both the Vitamin Shoppe and GNC have other kinds (soy, hemp, etc.) that are just as good.

Otherwise, for lunch or dinner everyday I tend to eat chicken, turkey, tofu, and occasionally red meat to get my protein in. I have briefly considered going vegetarian a few times, but it's just not something I think I could ever do...but give a lot of credit to those of you that do. But I'm not going to get into that debate here because I feel being vegetarian, vegan, or a meateater is a personal choice and this is a judgement free zone (well, almost...I still reserve the right to judge you if you wear something atrocious).

Now onto less serious things...I have a busy weekend ahead of me to get ready to be in DC for two weeks. I'm going to miss these guys like crazy :(

And my boy of course ;)

Aside from running around like a mad woman trying to get myself ready to be away from home (trips to target, lots of packing, etc.) the boy and I also have a Superbowl party to go to on Sunday. I decided to make a few goodies to bring to the party. Here is just a preview of some of the ingredients...

I'm making peppermint bark as well as carrot cake balls, which was inspired by Bianca's recipe for Nutella Cake Balls. I will post the super easy recipe for you guys next week, they are going to be amazing!

What do you have planned for the weekend? Do you use protein powder in your diet? Any good packing tips for me?

Changs & Cherries

Hey folks! Thanks for sharing all your guilty pleasures with me yesterday!

We have one more day in the work week and then it's onto yet ANOTHER storm on saturday. This one is smaller than we have been getting, but still more snow. I can't even complain about it anymore, you guys must know and feel my despair at the continuing onslaught of snow. On the bright side, the groundhog didn't see his shadow, so it will be an early spring! Doesn't that sound like the most wonderful thing EVER? It certainly does to me.

On to the food! Breakfast was my usual yogurt bowl with a banana, Chobani vanilla yogurt, a drizzle of honey, and some banana granola. This has become my favorite breakfast lately. I can't get enough of it. I'm sure you guys are sick of looking at it at this point.

A mid morning snack of cherries. I always fall into what I call the "cherry trap." I love cherries, so I get excited whenever I see them at the supermarket. They typically go for about $4.99 a pound at my supermarket, but they are tricky and bag them by the 1.5 or 2 pounds, so I end up paying $10 for a bag of cherries, which I usually eat in 2 sittings. You would think I would have learned my lesson, but nope, I still throw the bag in my cart when I see them there.

After reading blogs most of yesterday morning, it got me thinking that I had never made my own hummus. I had all of the ingredients on hand, and I was craving a hummus and veggie sandwich, so I decided to give it a try. Holy easy. Had I known all this time that it would be so easy, I would have done it a long time ago. For my hummus, these are the ingredients I used:

1 15oz can of organic garbanzo beans
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp minced garlic
salt and pepper

This came out so amazing. When I buy hummus, I always buy the garlic lovers kind because I LOVE garlic. The 2 tablespoons of garlic was the perfect amount. After doing some tasting (AKA sticking my fingers right into the food processor), I spread it on a flatout wrap for my sandwich. In the sandwich I threw some cucumber, tomato, red bell pepper, and avocado. I typically use a little mozzarella as well but decided to see how it was without it. I didn't even miss it. I had some unpictured wheat thins as my afternoon snack.

My unpictured afternoon snack was some tofu pudding that I whipped up after lunch. The boy was feeling some Asian food for dinner, so I decided to whip up one of the P.F. Chang's frozen meals for 2 that I had in the freezer. P.F. Chang's is one of our favorite restaurants, so when the boy spied these in the freezer aisle a few months back, we decided to try it. I just realized I never reviewed it on the blog.

The kind we had last night was the Orange Chicken.

The stats on this are not great...450 calories per serving. The chicken comes included in the bag, all you have to do is throw it in a saute pan and cook it up, add some rice, and voila! Dinner.

The two positive things were that this was super easy and quick to make. The other was that the orange sauce was really delicious...sweet with a little spicy kick. The downsides are the nutritionals, the fact that there are WAY too many carrots, and the portions are pretty small. I definitely won't buy this again, but would try a different variety that didn't have breaded chicken.

Another variety I make every now and again (and I like much better) is the Green Giant Create-A-Meals with an extra bag of veggies to stretch out the meal for leftovers. I like the teriyaki and sechuan varieties, the only downside is that they are hard to find.

How do you feel about frozen meals? Do you fall into the "cherry trap" as well?

Ten Guilty Pleasures

Happy snow day #567 this year folks! To celebrate yet another day on the couch because it's too crappy outside to do anything but indulge myself in my favorite guilty pleasures which include...

1. Teenager shows. A lot of my friends make fun of me for this, but I LOVE me some teenage drama TV. My favorites include Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl, Hellcats, Secret Life of the American Teenager, Skins, Teen Mom, and Make It or Break It. I am owning this one big time. I cannot get enough of these shows.

2. Yoga pants. Normally these would not be a guilty pleasure, but I don't wear yoga pants to just yoga. I wear them everywhere. To the gym, to the supermarket, even to dinner sometimes.

3. All things shiny. I love glitter, sequins, and all things shiny. This is why the majority of my shoes are patent.

4. Strawberry Creme Peeps. I know it's all sugar and chemicals, but they taste so damn GOOD. I can eat several packages of these in one sitting sadly.

5. 80s love songs. Peter Cetera, Huey Lewis, Chicago, REO Speedwagon...I actually have a full playlist on my ipod dedicated to 80s love songs.

6. Twilight (and other paranormal young adult novels). I read all four twilight books in a week. No I didn't sleep, I didn't work, I just sat and read Twilight. These kind of books are like crack to me. I actually just finished a 3 book series about a teenage troll (who looks like a normal teenager) called Switched by Amanda Hocking. For those of you who liked Twilight, you will enjoy these too.

7. Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks. I have made no secret about my obsession with Starbucks, but the caramel macchiato is my kryptonite. This is the drink I get 90% of the time and relish every. single. sip.

8. Humor websites like icanhazcheezburger.com, damnyouautocorrect.com and peopleofwalmart.com. I literally could waste an entire 8 hour day on these websites. They are by far the most hilarious websites I have ever seen.

9. General Hospital. I know Melissa is with me on this. I have been watching GH since I was 7 years old. It had gotten harder to keep up with it when I was in college (before DVR, the horror) but I now tape it everyday and watch it.

10. People watching and judging what other people are wearing. I know this one is awful, but I can't help it and it makes me happy. I love sitting somewhere and watching people walk by and thinking to myself, "nice shoes" or "Ew, I can spot that fake handbag a mile away, what WAS she thinking?" Yes I am that shallow. Sorry I'm not sorry.

There are so many of these, I literally could have gone on forever...but what I really want to know is, what are YOUR guilty pleasures? I'm dying to know!

Very Delicious (But Not So Healthy) Banana Bread

Good morning friends. It's already snowing here in Boston and I have HAD ENOUGH. Give us a break already. In anticipation of being buried in tonight and tomorrow, I thought I would bring you a nice comfort food recipe.

I have posted a recipe on the blog already for banana bread, however, my previous recipe was healthier, calling for wheat flour. This recipe is for when you just want the real thing with a whole stick of butter and nothing else will do.

Ingredients:
1 cup of sugar
1 stick of unsalted butter
2 eggs
3 mashed bananas
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups of flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

First, cream the butter and sugar together.

Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well.

Mash 3 ripe bananas, stir into wet mixture.

Add flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder to wet mixture.

Mix well with the hand mixer and then stir in 1 cup of walnuts.

Place in a greased 3x9 loaf pan.

Bake for one hour to one hour and fifteen minutes, until an inserted toothpick or knife comes out clean.

Let cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan.

Extra business:

I am arriving in Washington DC on Monday and will be there for two weeks so I am still looking for a couple of guest posters. Let me know if you're interested! And if you haven't already, like The Cookie Battle on Facebook!

Also, I'm looking for some feedback on the blog. What do you like? What do you not like? What would you like to see more of or less of? Leave a comment on the blog, email me, tweet at me, whatever! Don't be shy!