a99kitten's Musings

Today was a fun day! I did sleep in till about 7am like a lazy slack! Huskies said HOT outside already Mom! I took them down to a forest walk so it was mostly shady so they could stay cooler. They had the same reaction today that they had last fall on this same walk – something wicked this way is! They smell a bear? Or a dead body? Ghost? Angelus is afraid of nothing (ok, well…bees…) and he was acting strange and not wanting to continue on down the path.  And Storm had less than zero interest in continuing. So I of course made them continue on…but then was imagining a scary movie…where the dumb girl makes her dogs keep going down the scary path even though every person watching the movie is screaming at the screen to listen to your dogs!!! So we turned around :)

After doggie walk and coffee and email..I went on my hike. About 6 miles with 3 of it straight uphill. Beautiful though. A great hike. The goal was making it up to Hawks Peak. And I did :)

Hawks Peak view 2

There was still snow in some of the higher elevation areas.  And the best part – I saw 1 biker in the distance but other than that – came across no one. Very peaceful.  It was windy up on the tippy-top rock at Hawks Peak so I had to be careful not be blown off the rock!

Hawk's Peak View 1

I was using my iPhone app TrailGuru and it said about 6 miles and almost 2 hours but then my battery died – doh!! Good thing I didn’t run across any bears and need the phone camera!

Then it was lunch (turkey burger!!) and sun/tanning time! I just started reading James Patterson’s “8th Confession”. I realized today as I was going through my stack of books that I brought that I *always* read a James Patterson book on my vacation. So I moved it up in the priority pile :) These are always fun summer reads. This is the Women’s Murder Club series he does. I really like this series. ABC made a short-lived TV series based on it last season which I also liked. But not as much as the books obviously. Although Angie Harmon (who played the main character – Lindsay Boxer) was quite likable. I find his books, and this series in particular, to be very fun reads. And when you are baking in the sun, “thinking” books are not always the best (Milton Friedman’s “Capitalism and Freedom” is next in my pile…might get pushed down for “Gossip Girl” till after vacation..)

After sun time, it was chore time – laundry, cleaning guest bedrooms used this weekend, vacuuming house (I am ALL FOR 1 story houses btw…truly….stairs suck), hosing off deck pollen & spider webs (Angelus was VERY happy with this), and taking the garbage and recycling out to the bear box for pick-up day tomorrow. Now…I considered “accidentally” dropping garbage in the driveway and entryway to “accidentally” attract a bear or 2 (they LOVE and know when garbage day is – very smart bears!)…but I didn’t (dang it!)

Then we did another short buddy walk. I wore flip flops when I did this…unwise…I stabbed my foot on a big stick. OUCH! Bleeding!!! Crazy that the buddies can walk on all the sticks and rocks like they do. What pansy feet I have :)

I set myself a time limit on chores so it was time to make dinner and pick a movie! I made my tofu spaghetti – yum! And watched “Doubt”. Good movie. Not as dark as made out to be…but perhaps that is because A) I like the actors (Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams) and B) I’m not Catholic. Good watch though.

But now just about time for sleepy so I can do it all again tomorrow :)

I recently started following @hungrygirl on twitter. Which then led me to sign up for daily emails. She sends really good recipes and information in her emails. The one that caught my eye…the one that got me to sign up for her emails was the Fettuccine Alfredo with 80(ish) calories and 9g of carbs – WHAT?!?!?

I love pasta. When I say I love pasta, I mean I LOVE PASTA. I would live on carbs solely if it didn’t mean I went up 2 sizes.  I want to visit Italy so badly but I know that, while I will go see all there is to see there, I will want to EAT!

Hungry Girl’s recipe uses tofu noodles. I am normally not a big fan of tofu…like..AT ALL…but I figured I should give the tofu noodles a chance.  It’s a super easy recipe that takes like 5 minutes of prep/”cooking”.  You can find the recipe here: http://www.hungry-girl.com/week/weeklydetails.php?isid=468

The only challenge might in finding the tofu noodles. I found them at the Piazza’s grocery store by my office (score!) The website offers shipping as well: http://www.house-foods.com/Tofu/tofu_shirataki.aspx

I got home from work tonight and was starving! But I was also exhausted so didn’t want to spend any time cooking. So this recipe was perfect!! It took 5 minutes. And the only “cooking” involved was the microwave.

I have to admit, I was very skeptical on taste as I read the recipe and made it.  But I was willing to try since, if I could find any form of low-carb pasta that tasted good, I would be elated.

This pasta was delicious!!! No kidding! Now, the recipe calls for 1/2 of a Laughing Cow wedge of cheese but I used a whole one. But besides that, I followed the recipe and it turned out great! The calories following the recipe is 80, fat 3g and carbs 9g.  Now I altered this slightly with the whole wedge but don’t believe it to be by that much.  So this is a GREAT healthy and quick lunch or dinner option!!

I am now sold on this tofu noodles option! I need to go buy more :) Now…not to say I am so full that I couldn’t eat more food but I feel more full than if I had eaten a Lean Cuisine or some other diet dinner thingie.  And WAY less sodium, calories and chemicals.

So if you are looking for a low-carb option for pasta, check these tofu noodles out.  And if you want a low fat or low-cal recipe for yummy pasta, check out hungry girl (she also has several books/cookbooks that I now want to check out!) http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=hungry+girl&x=0&y=0

I should have taken pictures but was too starving…next time as there WILL be a next time. Like…this weekend!! And I can’t wait to try another of Hungry Girl’s recipes! :)

Update this morning: I just ordered the 2 Hungry Girl cookbooks from Amazon. Definitely willing to give more of her recipes a try :)