I promised to post these orange cranberry oat muffins today, but (a) I forgot the hand scribbled recipe on my desk at home and (b) I forgot to plug in my laptop. I just pulled it out of my back pack and I have 1% battery.

Promise to post it tomorrow because if you have leftover cranberries from the holidays, it’s the perfect way to use them up.

You all know I love a picky plate meal – 2 ounces fat free ham (1) eggs, the muffin (3) and probably the sweetest strawberries I’ve ever eaten.

I get a lot of DMs on Instagram and a recurring one is “do you keep nice plates at work?” This is one drawer of my personal stash around the corner from my desk.

I use the measuring cups almost daily and definitely use my knife and cutting board every day. And it’s always nice to have a random can of green beans just in case. 😂

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scheduled to be night secretary and hoped I’d be able to make it to The Chopping Block for their open house. The website said there would be tasting samples, so I went with a 1 point lunch.


I only had to work until 6 so it was perfect timing. I love going back to The Chopping Block because it’s my happy place. Maybe when I retire I can go back to work there. Christy was one of my besties there, she was doing a demo of amaranth fritters. Huh. Apparently amaranth is a super food and one I’ve not worked with. The grain is super tiny like corn meal. I am definitely going to recreate these over the weekend.


Christy was making amaranth fritters, and amaranth is a grain I’ve never used and I couldn’t remember if I even had it before.  It was delicious!  It was crispy on the outside yet tender on the inside. These were gluten free and vegetarian.


I love Chicago at night. Since we had temps in the 50s the ice is starting to melt. Don’t worry, it’s Mother Nature’s way of giving us a taste of spring while our high on Saturday will be 10 degrees. That’s January in Chicago for you.


I worked Apple Fest and One if A Kind for The Chopping Block and since I am not on the payroll anymore (I invoice my blog posts for them) they paid me in a generous gift card. I got mineral oil for my Boos cutting board, some cute phot props, a coffee mug for my desk at work and this Lodge cast iron skillet.

Chicago peeps – all bakeware is 20% off the month of January! So this individual skillet was just under $10. Think of the pizza I can make in that. And frittatas!


I only had a taste of vegan mousse and the fritter above so I got snacks for the train ride home. No gummies, chocolate covered pretzels, potato chips, wine or beer were purchased thank you very much. Um, not that I’ve ever purchased any (or all!) of those things for the train ride home before.


I didn’t start making my dinner until 9:15, but this dinner was ready in 10 minutes thanks to cooked baked potatoes in the fridge, leftover Certified Angus Beef roast and green beans.

The pan sauce was 1/2 teaspoon butter, 1 teaspoon flour, 1/3 cup bone broth (you could use beef broth) 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard and 1 teaspoon dried rosemary.

The only thing missing was mushrooms! But they had gotten moldy because someone (ahem Hannah) left them on the counter.

Beef with Mushroom Gravy
Dinner was 10 points – 6 points for the beef, 1 for the sauce and 3 for the potatoes.

Which brings me to my blog post question – what is your biggest meal of the day? Mine is obviously dinner, and since I eat so late I wonder if it’s a good idea to eat a meal like that above and go to bed an hour later. Does it matter when you eat as long as I am within my point range??

Curious minds want to know. 🙌🏻

Happy Thursday – make it a great day!

Ha, I didn’t realize I never mentioned this, but I saw this on Instagram and can’t wait to recreate this healthy dessert, doesn’t it look delicious?!!