Variety may not be the spice of life....

Mike and I ate really bad during the holidays. Or really good. It depends on your definitions of "eating bad" and "eating good." For instance, if you are into lean meats, veggies, low carb- then Mike and I ate VERY BAD over the holidays. However, if you appreciate all that is prime rib, lobster, hollandaise sauce (from scratch!) white chocolate cherry shortbread cookies, wine (lots of wine- didn't know about Sprout then. Whoopsie) and homemade fudge, then we ate very good. There was an abundance of viddles at our disposal during the holidays, and we indulged with the agreement that we would, at the beginning of the year, buckle down and change the way we eat. And we were even more adamant about this decision once the news of Sprout's impending arrival sunk in. So suffice it to say, I spent the better part of my time (and the better part of our bills account balance) stocking up this weekend on healthy foodstuffs for Casa Herchel.


Now, this was a superior challenge for me in that I just don't know how to cook healthy stuff. I do okay with salmon; I make a killer salsalito turkey chopped salad, with lots of fresh Southwestern flavors. I also picked up a lot of deli selections like roast beef, smoked chicken, and cheeses, so we can do soup-or-salad-and-sammie nights, which certainly sounds healthy, even if it isn't.


In that spirit, I packed up my lunch yesterday with Campbell's Soup at Hand (these little buggers are so convenient!) and a sammie consisting of roast beef, raspberry chipotle spread, and pepper jack cheese. I loaded up my grocery bag with these items, and trekked off to work positively cheerful, full of pride in my healthy, inexpensive decision-making.


And I stayed positively cheerful all morning. And into the afternoon. I was even positively cheerful at 1pm, when my first bout of nausea hit. I kinda felt like Michael Cera in Superbad- you know the scene where he's hooking up with that girl Becca, and he goes, "They said that would happen in Health class?" Well that's how I felt! I am a shining example of science and biology! The books said nausea would come- and here it is!! Whoohoo! (okay, maybe that's taking it a little far.)


Anyway, I did what any perfectly sane person would do at this point, and I traipsed off to the fridge to get my lunch. Eating helps nausea, right? So off I go to get my lunch- the same one containing pepper jack cheese and chipotle sauce. Let me take this moment to share with you- I am not smart. AND I'm procreating. This is a winning combination.


So, suffice it to say that my poor tummy and poor acid reflux were in a right state the remainder of yesterday. I came home, complained to Mike Baby, who scoffed and said, "what did you expect?" To which I threatened to not make maple-glazed salmon for dinner, until I realized that I myself wanted maple glazed salmon for dinner. He sure is lucky I was hungry.

In case my intelligence level was still under question, however, I will clinch it for you here:


This morning, I again packed my lunch with soup (still yummy) and sammie. And since yesterday's combo of raspberry chipotle spread, roast beef, and pepper jack wasn't such a winning combo, I was quick to revise my sammie contents to include roasted chicken... pepper jack (because it's all we've got, thanks to Mike Baby scarfing all the white american) and.... Here's the ipitome of dumbness... honey mixed with curry powder.


I have officially gone insane. And suffice it to say, I will be living on crackers for the rest of the week.


In the meantime, I do want to share with you two of my recent and most beloved finds at the grocery store. Healthy, tasty, and convenient! Go pick these up today kids. They're delish.






These smoothies come in 2-serving packets- with fresh berries and frozen vanilla yogurt chunks, you just blend with milk and you're good to go! A 30-second breakfast smoothie. Very refreshing. Which is just what we need in 18-degree weather.





And these little morsels:







These are organic bits of goodness. I swear they taste like sugar cookie dough. And they don't contain all the corn syrupy crap you find in most granola bars. These have become my new fave grab-and-go item ever. Ever. EVER. Go immediately to http://www.cascadianfarm.com/ and sign up for a $1 off coupon. and then go get these puppies BOGO at Publix fo' cheap.

You'll be glad you did. Oh, and I swear that neither Yoplait nor Cascadian is endorsing me in any way. Yet.