I have to admit, the first year I worked at the law firm I worked at now, and they said we dressed up for Halloween, in the back of my head I envisioned myself being the only one dressed in costume and everyone having a laugh on me!  (Did anyone see Modern Family Wednesday night – that’s what I was thinking!) But we do dress up, and I have been a costume contest winner the last three years, so the bar is set high!

Three years ago I dressed as this cartoon – I started handing out flyers to my co-workers asking if they had seen my lost dog.

Two years ago, a co-worker and I were lesbians – and Hannah was our lesbian daughter.  We even went so far as to have pictures taken of us at JC Penney using fall foliage in the background and holding pine cones.  It killed!  At the respect of my co-worker, I will not show the pictures, but it was really funny.  We put place cards on the lunch table telling people we were going to get married and where we were registered 😀

Last year I was Julia Child – in keeping with Julie & Julia coming out.  I had planned a cooking demonstration, but everyone started eating – didn’t matter – I was still a winner! 😀

And this year . . . . I am going as:

Yep!  I am dressing as Paula Deen!  I have butter wrappers stapled to a blue oxford.  I plan on wearing lots of make up and I have cookies in goody bags that I am handing out and as I hand everyone their goody bag I am going to say in my best Southern accent:  “Love and Best Dishes From My Kitchen To Yours.”  Aren’t these bags perfect??  I bought them last year at Good will for .10 cents a bag!

I think Tony and I are in a bit of “before our diet starts” mode!  I am trying to think of all the carbs I can eat before our South Beach diet starts on Monday!

Breakfast was a taco wrap with spinach, bacon, eggs and cheddar with 1/2 a Fuji apple.  Breakfast comes in at 409 calories, 31 carbs, 22 fat, 22 protein and 11.3 fiber.

Lunch was a different version of my butternut squash and apple soup.  I saw that a food network chef Michael Chiarello made a butternut squash soup using a toasted spice rub.  Since I made the soup yesterday morning, I had to cheat a bit and modify with what I had on hand.  You know how you have rib rub, or dry rubs in your pantry?  I am going to call this a soup rub!

  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
  • 1/4 cup chili powder
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

For the soup:  Cut a butternut squash in half, scoop out the seeds and lay, face down, in a microwave safe dish with 1/2 cup water and cook for 15 minutes.  Let cool.  Meanwhile peel and slice two apples and saute until they are soft.

Put 6 cups of chicken broth in pot.  Add apples and scoop squash into the pot.  Add 1/2 cup heavy cream and 2 teaspoons of the soup rub above.  Using a stick blender, puree.  Serve with 1/2 ounce crumbled blue cheese on top.

soup rub mix

With a Pam grilled turkey sandwich on the side.  I really love this soup – it has the perfect combination of sweet and heat!  Lunch comes in at 505 calories, 48 carbs, 29 protein, 22 fat and 19.9 fiber (thanks to the low carb wraps!)

I had to bake a cake last night and make cookies, so dinner was simple.  I love having this on hand – it lasts in the fridge forever.

The one thing I don’t like about our cast iron grill pan is that it smokes up the whole house.  At least you know I am cooking!

I sliced the polenta and using a bit of olive oil, made them crispy.  I served mine with a couple tablespoons of my butcher’s ragu leftover from the other night.

can you tell we like our meat rare?
This was so good - I loved the extra flavor of the fresh basil

Dinner comes in at 424 calories, 25 carbs, 48 protein, 12.8 fat and 1 fiber.  I ate all the polenta and 5 ounces of the steak.

Stats for Thursday:

  • 1338 calories (plus 1/2 of one of the cookies I made – toffee chocolate chip!), 104 carbs, 98 protein, 57 fat and 32 fiber.
  • Guess what I did for exercise yesterday??  I walked on the treadmill for 40 minutes, at 3.5 mph, 5% incline all while . . . tossing a 6 pound medicine ball back and forth the whole time! Wow, can I feel it today, but it feels good!

Alright, I need to finish getting ready for work – I am not used to putting so much make up on!

Does your office dress up?  Come back tomorrow for pics! 😀