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Posts Tagged zucchini pasta

Mimic Your Favorites with Healthy Substitutions

Jan 21

Posted by Shari B. in Cooking, Handy Kitchen Tools, Keeping Fit | 4 Comments

Well hello there blog buds!  Did ya think I disappeared today? It’s been a busy one.  (What’s new, right?  I say that every day!)  ;)

Yesterday after jury duty, blogging, and some work I squeezed in 12 minutes of cardio boogie-ing and then did 42 minutes of my Physique 57 dvd, taking care to keep my toes out of the equation (or at least try).  I only did 42 minutes because I wasn’t in the mood to do abs, so I did all the upper and lower work.

And NOW I just got back from a wonderful 4 mile run outdoors all by myself (no crazies on leashes) as the sun was setting.  It was perfect running weather, around 45 degrees with the little sunshine that was left.  So now I’m enjoying one of these:

Coconut water is ‘Nature’s Gatorade’ as Brendan Brazier would say.  I’ve now definitely worked up an appetite for dinner.  Which will most likely be leftovers from last night’s dinner because it was AWESOME! Doesn’t it look tasty?

Every year my mom and grandma make homemade noodles to include with their Christmas care packages.  This year, my sweet mommy made me a package of spinach noodles because she knows I’m a veggie-holic these days.

So I gathered up some of my ingredients:

Spinach noodles, organic Bertolli spaghetti sauce, and two Sunshine veggie burgers.  While the noodles were cooking, I worked on making the extra “pasta” that I’d be adding to my plate.

One zucchini and one spiralizer with the medium ‘noodle’ blade.  Check.  Check.

Once my mom’s noodles were done, they were drained.  I mixed mine with the zucchini ‘noodles’ to keep the veggies high and the flour intake lower.  Topped with the heated spaghetti sauce, crumbled Sunshine burgers and nutritional yeast.  MSP’s (on the right) was noodles, sauce, parmesan and the ‘burger’ crumbles.

This deserves a review of the close-up again!  :)

Such a fast and delicious meal.  And I totally went back for seconds.  Mom, thanks so much for the thoughtful gift!  Your noodles are the BEST!!  Can’t wait to have them again tonight!

Just goes to show that healthy eating does not require much time or even much thought.  Just pull together lots of veggies and try to ‘mimic’ some of your favorites.

1 cup of zucchini = 18 calories, whereas 1 cup of cooked spinach noodles = 185 calories

You don’t have to deny yourself things you enjoy, like my mom’s homemade noodles.  Make the MAJORITY of your meal out of low-cal, high-fiber veggies.  Then SUPPLEMENT with the ‘richer’ items that add up in calories faster.

I’m so excited that “The Office” is back tonight!  Wahoo!

Have a TERRIFIC Thursday night!  See ya next time!

– Shari B. =)

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Chili and Ice

Jan 12

Posted by Shari B. in Recipes | 5 Comments

Hi blog buds!  How’s your Tuesday treating ya?  I hope I’m not throwing off your reading schedule by posting in the afternoon the last couple of days.  I thought I’d play with my schedule a bit to see which I like better.  What I’m coming up with is post when it fits, instead on a SCHEDULE! :)   Hopefully it doesn’t matter if it’s morning or afternoon!

Well Monday turned out to be a fun exercise day.  First I did 25 minutes of intervals on the treadmill in the morning.  I really do get bored on the treadmill and have to vary my speed and/or incline constantly just to stay interested.  After a quick warm-up I did 1 minute intervals of 6.0, 6.5, 7.0, 7.5 mph running then walk one minute, then increase the incline a notch and do it again.  The time goes by so much faster that way.

Then when I pulled in the driveway after work, our street had been plowed again!  Which is good on one hand because at least they were moving all of the big ice chunks onto the sunny side of the street.  Unfortunately that also meant our ‘ice trench’ was covered up AGAIN!!!  So I put on my grubbies and some waterproof boots and went out there to dig yet another trench.  It was 50 degrees yesterday so things were just starting to melt a bit in the shaded part of our street.

This ice issue in front of our house has become the neighborhood comedy – neighbors sure like to chuckle at me every day as they drive by, thinking “Suckers!  You got stuck with the worst lot on the street!”  :)   I appreciate that it at least provides a neverending workout, that’s for sure.

But THEN the exercise gets better … because it was so nice out, I couldn’t resist getting the dogs out for a some WOGGING!  It’s been so long I think they forgot what WOGGING is (and you readers may have as well!)  I can’t keep a steady pace with my crazy pups because they like to stop every two seconds to sniff something, then run, then sniff.   So we’re walking AND jogging:  WOGGING.  They had a blast and actually didn’t drive me insane this time.  I think it had something to do with the treats I stashed in my pocket.  ;)   It was perfect weather for a walk.  Now THIS is the Colorado winter weather I love and miss!

***

Every weekend, usually on Sunday, I sit down to come up with food ideas for the week for his dinners (mine are much easier because I always have veggies on hand and as such always have a salad, wrap, sandwich, soup, etc.)  This time MSP said he wanted me to make my mom’s chili during the week, but make it VEGETARIAN.  I’m sorry, say that again? Did you just tell me to make VEGETARIAN chili?  By George, he did!  He said he’d be fine if I used a meat substitute for the beef so that we could both eat it.  (When I made it last time, I just made two pots side by side, mine without beef, his with.) He’s the best, huh?  No wonder I love him to pieces.  :)

So I picked up some Gimme Lean “Ground Beef Style Veggie Protein” and used that in place of the beef.  My mom’s chili is awesome.  We love it.  And it’s very easy and we had it last night for dinner.

I always seem to change the recipe around in some way.  Here’s what I did this time:

Brown 1 package Gimme Lean “ground beef” veggie product in the bottom of  a large soup pot.  If you like onions, you can brown it with that.  I just added a little onion powder, since MSP doesn’t like onions.

After browning, add the following to the pot:

  • 46 oz can of tomato juice
  • 15 oz can organic azuki beans (rinsed & drained)
  • 15 oz can organic kidney beans (rinsed & drained)
  • 1/4 tsp celery salt
  • 1/2 to 1 tsp garlic salt
  • 2 Tbsp chili powder

Simmer for a few hours.

I plated my helping over some spiralized zucchini (just for Cindy, since she wants a spiralizer) and then topped it with some nutritional yeast (in place of cheese).  Mmmm my mom’s home cooking, with a twist!

What are your favorite beans to use in chili?  Are you a WHITE BEAN chili lover or a RED BEAN chili lover? I like ALL chili colors!  :)   I don’t think I could pick a favorite.  I just love BEANS, period!

– Shari B.  =)

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Nifty Ninety

Nov 18

Posted by Shari B. in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Well what do you know??  I didn’t crash my blog while doing the WordPress upgrade!  I saw a tweet from a blogger yesterday that mentioned someone had tried to hack into her site and had failed, luckily!  Which lit a bit of a fire under my you-know-what to get cracking on getting my upgrade completed.  Reading through the 14 step process had kept me a bit intimidated, because I was petrified something would end up ‘breaking’ on the blog.  And my IT department for the blog is … ME!  (OK, and sometimes MSP – but I try not to bother him with blog stuff since this is MY baby.)

And so here I am with the 90th FitFeat blog post!  This feels important to me because a few years back, I started a personal blog and just didn’t follow through.  Truly I think I made it to about the third blog post (if that) and fell off the wagon. 

When I first started the FitFeat blog, I did so on the free platform of WordPress.com.  I wanted to see how dedicated I’d be before moving to the self-hosted platform.  One, because self-hosting costs MONEY and two, because self-hosting requires a lot more administrative work.  You are in charge of your own backups, spam blocking, upgrades, etc.  The effort I put into blogging during my RV trip with mom and g-ma was what allowed me to realize that I would be blogging long-term.  Not only was I thoroughly enjoying it, but I was actually a bit obsessed.  (Who?  ME?  Obsessed?  … never!)  ;)

Thank you to everyone who has been following along, and a special thanks to those who have been here from the beginning!  I appreciate you all so much!  It would be very discouraging to put “pen to paper” (so to speak) if it seemed like no one was reading.  

Today’s question:  Since this blog is FOR YOU, are there any topics you would you like to see covered in a future blog post?  I’d love your input!  Drop me a comment!

***

On to the Tuesday recap… Tuesday was a ‘feat-less’ day (meaning no exercise) unless you count the effort expended in keeping my eyelids open.  I’m not sure what’s going on with our dogs lately, but they have been really active at night which has been interrupting MSP’s and my sleep.   We were out cold Monday night by 9:30 and at 9:50 Rascal was standing in the upstairs hallway barking his head off like he was facing off with the BoogeyMan.  We went from dead sleep to being doused in adrenaline in about 5 milliseconds.

After finally getting back to sleep again, Riley was up around 2:00 trotting laps on the hardwood floor downstairs, clickety-click-click-clickety.  She’s put on a bit of weight recently, and as a result is now eating ’lean’ food.  So she scavenges in the middle of the night around and around and around the kitchen island hoping we forgot to put away our dinner, I guess.  (You’d think she’d figure out in one lap that there is NO food to be found.  Why she keeps going around is beyond me.  Unless maybe she’s trying to work off some of that flab so that she can get back to eating real food again!)

I think she covets my gigantic salads.

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If you look closely you will see my homegrown sprouts in the salad!  They were interesting because they were all different seeds and some still had the seed attached, so they had a great crunch!  SO FUN! 

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The other items in my salad were:

  • HB egg
  • spinach
  • nutritional yeast
  • sundried tomatoes
  • spiralized zucchini
  • sunflower seeds
  • 1/4 avocado
  • 1/2 tbsp Annie’s Goddess dressing
  • dulse

And I ate it at 10:30 am.  That was lunch.  I was hungry!!  :)  

We had a wonderful time at our friends’ house last night!  (Thank you Lynn and Jim!  Sorry we caused you to miss DWTS!)  I ate steamed veggies with garlic sauce and some perfect edamame.  With a little white wine tasting.  It was a GREAT time! 

Well friends, off get busy with the Wednesday list.  AND get in some exercise.  Have a WONDERFUL Wednesday!  And don’t forget to leave a comment about topics you’d like to see on FitFeat! 

– Shari B.  =)

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Happy Sprouts Dancing, Dirty Chai Trying and Veggie Spiralizing

Nov 17

Posted by Shari B. in Handy Kitchen Tools | 8 Comments

Hi friends! 

So I’m back for a second time today to give you the recap of yesterday’s Feats & Eats.  Twice in one day, wow!  But before that I want to let all you awesome readers know that I am going to attempt the WordPress update very soon.  If things look a little wonky here and there, that’s why.  I’m crossing my fingers all goes well!  :)

And speaking of crossed fingers… thanks for all your good vibes yesterday for my dentist visit!  It helped!  Because I didn’t have a cavity! Wahoooo!  See, all this good eating does a body (and teeth) good!

First thing out of bed yesterday, MSP and I were feeling the need for a DVD to motivate us to workout.  My brain wasn’t wanting to wake up, so at that point listening to some other trainer boss me around sounded just fine with me.  We chose Cathe’s “Legs & Glutes”.  She killed us.  We were sweat machines and today our bums are S-O-R-E… which I L-O-V-E.  It was about a bazillion reps of squats, lunges, and step-ups with about every variation you can imagine for an hour with no breaks. 

Thank you Cathe for clearing out my Monday cobwebs.

***

Look what’s still coming along in my kitchen…

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My sprouts are doing great!  They got to sit in the window sill to collect a little chlorophyll!   I’ve grown something!  I’m doing the Happy Sprout Dance!!

In other random news, I had an interesting visit to Starbucks yesterday…

Me:  I’ll have a grande soy 2-pump chai latte please.

SBUX guy tries to sell me on a bunch of stuff to which I kindly decline.  I wanted to say, “Hey, put your mugs on clearance and maybe I’ll buy something besides this ridiculously expensive soy milk”  but I digress…

SBUX guy:  do you like coffee?

Me:  Yes, but generally only first thing in the morning.

SBUX guy:  So you normally get chai then?

(Soon SBUX Guy will be renamed to Captain Obvious if this keeps up… is he going somewhere with this or just weirdly chatty)

Me:  Um yes, but usually in the fall because it feels holidayish to me.

SBUX guy:  Ever heard of a Dirty Chai? 

Me:  Um no.

It took him forever to get to the point, but ultimately I’m glad I was polite and stuck it out.  Because a dirty chai is a chai latte with a shot of espresso in it.  So they offered to let me try one with a decaf shot and if I didn’t like it they’d make my drink over. 

And you know what??  It was really good!

Next time  you’re at Starbucks and want something new, give Dirty Chai a try!

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Which segues perfectly into ANOTHER new thing I tried yesterday:  a spiralzer!!!   My friend Pat loaned me her spiralizer to play with since I am asking Santa for one for Christmas this year.  (Thanks Pat!  I’m having too much fun!)

Look at what it does!!

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I made a little Zucchini Pasta Salad to eat while I was waiting for my dinner to cook.  I added 3 pieces of artichoke hearts, some kalamata olive and sundried tomatoes.  Oh so good!  This makes eating zucchini entirely too fun!

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I even had to put some of the bigger zucchini ribbons on my pita pizza!  (Mine are the ones with tomato and spinach on them.  MSP’s are pesto and light mozzarella.)

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Doesn’t it look DEE-LISH-USH?  It was another great dinner chock full of veggies! 

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I am getting ready to clean up and head out for dinner at a friend’s house – which means more fabulous veggies are in my immediate future!  (and I bet some vino as well!)

I hope that you all had a fabulous day!  Thanks to those who chimed in for today’s discussion on egg yolks in my previous post. 

I’ll see you tomorrow — maybe a bit later than usual just depending on how upgrading goes!  :)

– Shari B. =)

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Snowblowing is My Football Practice

Oct 30

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 4 Comments

Oh boy it’s Friday!  Happy Day! 

The snow FINALLY stopped late last night and the SUN is actually shining today.  (Oh yeah!!) I just got in from another round of snowblowing and shoveling.  This is the fourth time, I think.  They are all starting to run together.  All told we seem to have received somewhere between 20″ and 28″.  It’s hard to say as I do not own a yardstick.  It’d be easy to think we got like 5 feet since every time I snowblow, I seem to be going through an 18″ wall of snow.

Do you miss my normal weight training logs that I typically list on here?  I’ve been so out of my normal routine.  I’m still getting plenty of exercise.  Just in different ways.  My chest/shoulder muscles are toast from pushing the crazy snowblower.  Imagine those sleds you see linemen pushing in football practice, where the coach stands on it and the linebacker runs at it and tries to push it.  This has been my exercise for the past 48 hours.  Some parts of our sidewalk have snow so high (thanks a bunch city snowplows) that the snowblower didn’t want to go through.  So I’d back up and try to get a running start.  Hit a wall.  Push it down to climb OVER it and shave a bit off the top.  Then take another run at it.  I never thought snowblowing would be hard work.  (Thank you MSP for having done it all these years… maybe if you’d complain a little I’d know how much it sucks!!  You made it look so fun and easy.) ;)   MSP is too level-headed to rant about stuff the way I do…  

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Today I actually gave up on about a 20-foot section along the side of our house —  nothing I did would make the snowblower go through it.  And I started yelling cuss words out loud instead of in my head.  That’s when I knew it was time to come inside. 

I tried to be optimistic and think up ”silver linings” to fight my black cloud thinking…

Black Cloud:  why on earth did we buy a house with a 3-car garage?  Which translates into a 3-car DRIVEWAY to shovel?
Silver Lining:  Just think of all the extra exercise you get with that.

Black Cloud:  why on earth did we buy a house sitting on an outer curve so that our front sidewalk is extra long and takes forever to snowblow & shovel?
Silver Lining: Just think of all the extra calories you burn with that.

Black Cloud:  what were we thinking buying a house on a corner lot which means we have to clear the sidewalk all along the SIDE of the lot too? 
Silver Lining: Just think of all the extra cardio you get with that.

Black Cloud:  why didn’t we realize that as soon as we’d get done clearing that sidewalk along the side of the lot, the snow plows would come through and cover it all right back up again?  (boo hoooo)
Silver Lining:  Just think of all that extra muscle building you get with that.

Yep that’s all I could come up with.  Extra exercise, calories, cardio, muscle work.  I am definitely ready to start looking for jobs in Arizona.  If I’m thinking about how much I hate winter in October, then it’s going to be a L-O-N-G winter. 

After all that work outside in the cold, I was a total “hollow leg” yesterday when it came to food.  :)

I had half a Larabar before going out for the morning session:

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Then an apple with almond butter afterward:

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Lunch at home between vet visits (mmm veggie wrap):

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Once home for good it was time to ACT like it was a snow day – grab a cup of tea, a couple of cookies and a book.  Notice that I am trying to attract warmer weather by using my Hawaii mug and reading a book where people are walking on a BEACH!

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And then even more “acting like it’s a snow day”  with a glass of wine, raw goat cheese with Mary’s Gone Crackers and some TV action:

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At dinner I figured I should have at least a few more veggies for the day, since I neglected to make a green smoothie:

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A little spaghetti squash, zucchini ribbons, raw marinara sauce, and spinach.  Lightly warmed in the microwave to take off the cold edge.

After a few game of Wii “Big Brain Academy” I even had to have some Count Chocula cereal, in honor of Halloween!

Outside of the snowblowing and the $200 vet visit followed by a $45 pet pharmacy visit (which should have just been a quick eye stain and a ‘looks good, she’s all set’) we did have a very fine snow day.  I was so glad MSP got to work from home!  There’s just something about getting to stay  home because of snow that brings back that wild excitement we had as kids when school was canceled.  LOVE IT!  When he got the email Wednesday night, we literally danced around with our arms in the air.  You immediately think “wahoo I can stay up late and sleep in!”   (And of course I didn’t make it past 8:45 pm… lame!)

So now tomorrow we have Halloween!  I feel bad for the kids in Colorado who will have to trudge around in all this melting snow.  I’m curious to know what you all do for Halloween?  If you have kids do you take them around the neighborhood?  Or to a local ‘safe’ place like the zoo, mall, etc.?  If you don’t have kids, do you stay home and pass out candy?  Go see a scary movie?  Hide in your basement like we do?  ;)    Drop a comment!

Have a FABULOUS FRIDAY and I’ll see you all next time!

– Shari B. =)

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Even Energizer Bunnies Need Their Rest

Sep 8

Posted by in FitFeature | 8 Comments

Hi Fit Peeps,

I’m back to finish my Lazy Labor Day recap since I had to scoot out in a hurry mid-post about 90 minutes ago!  I confess that I can’t call anything I did yesterday “labor”.   :)   A good portion of this holiday weekend was spent relaxing!

Which leads me to today’s FitFeature:  recharging our internal batteries and energy balance.

First, let me say that I am all for regular bouts of intense exercise.  I am all for pushing beyond our perceived personal limits.  But I also strongly believe we start each day with a certain amount of ‘gas in our tank’ and need to use that fuel wisely for a fit, healthy and BALANCED life. As a ‘recovering perfectionist’ :) , I used to go, go, go and go some more and never felt that I could afford a break.  Both in fitness and life in general.   It took me a long time to wise  up and acknowledge the belief that I now subscribe to fully:  that our physical exercise should enhance the rest of our daily living, not take from it.

Think about if you kept your foot on your car’s gas pedal and didn’t shift gears – you know that high revving sound?  Don’t do that to your body!  Don’t run your body with  your RPMs all the way into the red.  Do it for too long, and things might start to breakdown.  If I know I have a crazy day ahead of me that may take a lot out of me physically or mentally, I have no problem planning my exercise around that, by switching with a planned rest day or maybe using lighter weights and higher reps if it’s a strength day.  Or rather than intense cardio intervals, maybe I’ll do a slower paced run and just enjoy the scenery.  Try to be tuned in to what your body is telling  you.

Additionally, I try to take one full rest day each week (or at the very least a MILD activity day, like walking or yoga) and I regularly aim to spend some quality “ME” time just to top off that gas tank a bit and get the batteries charged back up.  My “ME” time can be a full-on lazy day or it can be as quick and simple as taking in a minute of sunshine or a cup of tea.

Push hard to make gains, but do it wisely by including appropriate rest and recovery.  REST is when your body is busy rebuilding and getting stronger, so making sure to build that time in is JUST as important as the exercise itself.

And when you listen to your body, by all means if it is telling you it’s a strong day, GO FOR IT!  It’s a two-way street!

Do you take the time to recharge your batteries?  How do you unwind and renew? Drop me a line in the comments section!

OK, on to yesterday’s eats:

I was so focused on getting my coffee yesterday morning that I didn’t even snap a photo!  Luckily it was in a boring white mug so you didn’t miss much ;)

After our weight training and doggie rollerblading, I was in the mood for some eggs rather than my green smoothie.  I sauteed some finely chopped mushroom and added a few slices of avocado and manchego sheep’s cheese on the side.  I had a few sips of some OJ left in the fridge so I had that too.  I don’t drink straight juice very often but it did sound good with breakfast.

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While we were out getting a few groceries, I had a tall plain soy steamer to get me through till lunch.  I LOVE their new cup “We don’t just want to make your drink, we want to make your day.”  Oh Starbucks, how I love thee.  You always make my day!

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Lunch was the second half of the Hookipa Salad I had leftover from Tokyo Joe’s yesterday.  Mmmm, salmon, greens, dried cranberries, edamame, pecans.  It was almost as good the second day.

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And a little piece of chocolate for dessert!

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Mid-afternoon I was in full-on LAZY mode.  We watched Julia Roberts and Clive Owens in “Duplicity”.  With all the flashbacks and flash forwards, I needed a snack to fuel my brain just to follow along!  So I made some brown bag microwave popcorn (because we don’t want all the extra stuff that they put in store-bought microwave popcorn!) and sprinkled it with nutritional yeast flakes for a cheesy flavor and some sea salt.

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When dinnertime came around MSP was craving a calzone, so while he went to pick up his carry-out, I started putting together my healthy little dinner.  I was feeling like something really light because somehow little chocolate chips just kept jumping into my mouth straight from the bag during the day!  Boy do they have springy legs and good aim, those little chocolate chips!  ;)   I used my potato peeler and made raw zucchini ribbons, then I mixed up some “improv sauce” with half of a leftover tomato, some sundried tomatoes,  drizzle of olive oil, spinach leaves and some red pepper flakes.  After plating it, I sprinkled a bit of parmesan on top.  Look how pretty!  And I was not disappointed when I ate it either – quite tasty!

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OK friends, it’s time for me to peel myself away from the computer!  Have a great Tuesday and I’ll look forward to showing you how dark it was during today’s run when I’m back with today’s recap!

– Shari B. =)

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