Me want FOOD

I just finished up a weight loss contest at work. Which means for a little while there I wasn't quite as excited about food because I was trying so hard to eat less of it.

But now our contest is over, and I was victorious (lost 5 pounds from the beginning of the year until now), and food is back in my life. So I thought I would share with you all some food that has been important to me lately.

1. Roasted Pine Nut Hummus . . .

eaten with 2. Food Should Taste Good multigrain chips from Costco. I typically prefer pita chips exclusively over other sorts of dipping carbs, but these multigrain chips are GOOD. I think they're the best pairing for the pine nut variety, but I still prefer pita chips with plain and/or garlic hummus. I also like baby carrots and sugar snap peas. Or those mini peppers. YES.

3. Dark Cadbury eggs. Did you know they came in dark form? THEY DO. I bought a bag of dark and a bag of milk. And I obviously enjoy them both, and I think I like the milk ones better--you got to, they're classic--but I want to inform my blog friends that such a thing as Dark Cadbury eggs exists, if you did not already know.

Oh, and the craziest thing about them is the colors! They're not pastel and Eastery like the other ones. They're much richer, to reflect their insides. But it was surprising to me when I opened the bag and was greeted with Primary colors.

 And for some reason they remind me of Dinosaur Eggs Oatmeal. Remember that stuff? I'll let Google images help you out if not:

Ok, so they don't really look like Dinosaur Eggs Oatmeal, like at all, but they remind me of them.

4. Southwest Stuffed peppers from Our Best Bites. So good. We also had a salad with crumbled bacon, avocado, tomatoes, and this dressing. It was SO delicious. The best new recipe I've tried in a long time.

5. Chicken marsala. We made it for dinner last night, and I must say, it was very good.

And I also must say it was way better than the chicken marsala I had at Magleby's last month. I hate to be disloyal to a beloved local restaurant, but uh . . . . none of our food was very good. We ordered spinach artichoke dip, which turned out to be ALFREDO SAUCE with a tiny piece of artichoke and a few shreds of spinach on top as a garnish. And my chicken marsala didn't even have mushrooms with it, and it had been breaded and seemed a tiny bit on the soggy side. But oh well. They have good cake and syrup and breadsticks, so for those things I tip my hat to them. But I won't be back for dinner, I tell you what.

Oh, also my chicken marsala was about as un-fancy as you can get, because do you know where I got the recipe?

Yep. McCormick recipe inspirations. It seriously was very delicious. And we had mashed potatoes and asparagus, which if you ask me, are the ultimate side dishes of anything with chicken and mushrooms.

Also, the leftover assessment: really good. I had it for lunch today and everything was still delicious. Except the asparagus. My gosh. I actually ate a couple of them, and then I was like, "What the heck am I doing? I'm an adult! I don't have to eat this if I don't want to." So I didn't.

6. Monkey Bread in muffin cups. But before we talk about the actual thing I ate (pictured below), I have to tell you about Monkey Bread. Once about a year ago, Chris and I walked into Macey's, and we were near the bread when he suddenly gasped and said, "Can we get monkey bread?" I had never heard that term before, so I started laughing so hard, like choking and crying kind of laughter. (I realize you had to be there, so don't tell me that.) Turns out he meant that delicious apple cinnamon bread. But I could not let it go, I kept being like, "Monkey bread? MONKEY bread? Where did you even get that?" And he insisted that it was a real thing, but I didn't believe him for the longest time. But it is real, and OH MY GOSH.

So, um yeah. If I had never even eaten this, and only seen the picture, it would be my favorite treat.

As it is, though, I HAVE eaten this, and it's true--I loved it.

We made it on Sunday over at my mother in law's house using this recipe. It was so easy and a fun activity to do together. So so good. Adding some pecans in there would be good too, I think I might try that.

And here's the thing. I admit, I was a tiny bit dubious about Pillsbury refrigerated biscuits turning into something magically delicious, but they did. They didn't taste like Pillsbury refrigerated biscuits at all. I think the trick to food items like this is eating them as soon as possible. This doesn't strike me as the kind of thing that would be amazing the next day. Because the butter and the brown sugar kind of separate sometimes, and you know. It's just better to eat them right away.

Speaking of which, when we had them on Sunday, we all started out with 2. Chris gave me some of his second one because he couldn't finish it, and Linda (my mother in law) was so full she could barely eat 2. And after I ate my 2 and part of Chris's, I had a third. And they were talking about how they couldn't have possibly eaten another, and I was like, guys, I am showing restraint by eating 3. I could probably eat that whole thing. But I didn't. Because I don't want to be fat, you know?

This happens to me sometimes. People around me are saying, "Oh, I feel sick to my stomach," after too many treats, but I'm just fine. Which is great, to have such intestinal fortitude, but on the other hand, not being in control of that can lead to extreme chubbery. So I gots to have some self control.

The point is--food is good. I like to eat it. Any suggestions?