That’s the movie my little bro and I just finished watching 
What ever happened to Sinbad?
We’ve been having a “Sib Night” that included a trip to the grocery store to get some baking supplies – expect the results in a future post! – and a delicious dinner from Bad Donkey. I’ve blogged about this restaurant in the past – it has some of the best pizza and salad I have ever tasted! I usually opt for the salad because it comes with a piece of cheesy pizza bread, so it’s the best of both worlds!
The cheesy bread is on the left. It’s basically a thick pizza crust (!!crust!!) covered in cheese. Absolutely delicious. As for the salad, I got the choose-your-own with romaine and spinach, grilled chicken, roasted red peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms and feta cheese. It all came with low-fat honey mustard dressing.
Since we last “met,” I’ve been doing a lot of Christmas shopping. I’ve gathered all the necessary “ingredients” for my Blogger Secret Santa gift that Sarah over at Our Kitchen Adventures is hosting. I also put the finishing touches on my family gifts. All that’s left is some wrapping and shipping and we’re good to go! I am usually never this early, so it’s a true first!
For yesterday’s lunch, I heated up a Dim Sum platter from Costco.
The platter comes with an assortment of potstickers (veggie) and dumplings (veggie and shrimp). It’s garnished with pea pods and carrots. If you ever come across it at Costco, I HIGHLY recommend that you try it. Everything tastes amazing!
Another view:
I also broke out more of Melissa’s baked amazingness. I started with a piece of peppermint bark – which was great! I love the crunchy candies on top!
I also split the Dark Chocolate Covered Oreo with my little brother. We both agreed that while Oreos are good…they are even BETTER when they are covered in chocolate!
Thanks again, Melissa! We are enjoying everything, if ya can’t tell 😉 Yum!
The rest of the day was spent shopping with my mom. We also stopped at Whole Foods to pick up some goodies – mainly Greek yogurt – and didn’t get back until dinnertime. Luckily, Papa Bender saved the day by cooking up a delicious meal for us while we were gone – Seafood Pasta!
He used whole wheat spaghetti noodles and topped them with shrimp, mussels and clams. The sauce was a delicious white wine butter – I later realized I needed some bread for dipping! On the side, he made up a delicious salad with tomatoes, black olives and cucumbers.
And of course, what better to go with pasta than a glass of red wine?
The answer you’re looking for is nothing 😉 Notice the scissors in the background. We are all about the multi-tasking dinner table.
For dessert, I broke out Melissa’s white chocolate Oreo bark – yummy!
And that brings us back to today. This morning our family made the INSANE decision to play golf at 8:00 am in the 40* weather. It was soooo chilly!! But fun, nonetheless. Before we headed out, I grabbed a fast breakfast of Chobani Greek yogurt topped with pomegranate seeds, raspberries and blueberries.
After freezing our a$$es off the chilly round, we grabbed lunch at the clubhouse. I knew I wanted something warm and I saw on the menu that they had “bottomless” cups of soup. I found out that the soup of the day was cream of mushroom – holy yum, it was SO GOOD! I had two cups.
Then my mom and I split the “Formaggi-dilla Caprese,” a fancy pants way of saying quesadilla with mozzarella and tomatoes. It came in a spinach wrap with fruit on the side.
I came back and took a nap – the cold weather/golf combo made me very tired! – and then read a bit of The Host before working out. And now we’ve come full circle to the “Sib Night.” All caught up!
My ‘rents are home again, so I think some family time is calling my name. I hope that you all have been having relaxing and enjoyable weekends. There’s just one day left in the Vita-Mix Super 5200 Giveaway! I can’t wait to find out who the lucky winner will be!
Goodnight moon! And blog readers, too 😉
Wasn’t there a big hoo ha last year because Wikipedia said Sinbad died but he didn’t? I hope someone agrees with me.
Melissa’s goods are outta control! THEY LOOK AMAZING!
Erin ~ You are SO right! I just looked it up – can you be on my trivia team someday?
Julz ~ I always knew that we were linked 😉 What a coincidence! I love that book, too!
I haven’t thought of Sinbad in forever!
So many lovely eats… That quesadilla is making me hungry.
Love this post… especially the goodies from Melissa! Yum, yum, yum, enjoy!
Nighty night Jenn 🙂
OMG that’s SO crzy that you wrote, “Goodnight Moon” bc today My mommy hosted this GORGEOUS Champagne Holiday Brunch that she does every year for her Medical Spa and it was also a Surprise Baby Shower for one of her Administrative Assistants who is Preggers! And one of her gifts was, “Goodnight Moon” and I adored that little lover! I can’t believe you wrote that! 🙂
what did happen to Sinbad? hmmmm love all the food here, and the cookies mmm.!
Oh wow, delicious eats! Yummy!
OMG Oreo bark?! That sounds almost too good to be true!!
On a slightly healthier note, that fruit/yogurt bowl looks pretty awesome too!
PS Am I weird because I have never seen Jingle All the Way?
Mmmm, everything looks good!
Sib night is a cute idea. I need to do that with my brother sometime! If I could ever get him to agree to something like that… haha. Jingle all the Way is a great movie choice though. One of my Christmas favs.
I can’t believe I’ve missed out on your posts for what seems like forever. Stupid school. I’m just catching up now, but geez did I ever feel deprived! I’m never letting myself fall this behind again! Haha. And thank you muchly for informing me of your awesome contest 😀
CRUSTTT!! and Costco!! seriously on my top 5 list….I did not know they had such gourmet asian cuisine..what fun- golf and a fancy quesadilla! enjoy your fam time.
yay for more yummy eats! glad you’re enjoying the barks and oreos! 😀
and your dads sauce for that meal sounds amazing…i drool.
of course, i drool over all your food.
glad your soup helped thaw you out!
Oh Jenn you are so on top of all the Christmas shopping! That’s my to do list for tomorrow, I’ve GOT to get on it!
Glad you are enjoying time at home with the fam, that Papa Bender NEVER disappoints! 😉
Oh mah goodness – that soup and quesadilla sound delish! I’m so excited for blogger secret santa!! I still have shopping to do but it has to wait until tomorrow 🙁
Have a blast at home!
I prefer The Santa Clause to Jingle All the Way, but I guess we can still be friends. All your family time is getting me even more excited to go home and see mine! 🙂
I just watched Jingle All the Way a few days ago! Very cute. I just love Christmas movies. 😉
mmmmmmmmm look at all of the amazing eats! Those treats from Melissa seriously look so good! I haven’t had any bark yet this year, I may need to either make or go get myeslf some! Glad you got some shopping done and are enjoying your time at home. I def plan to email you tonight. I’d like to hear about your experiences!
Oh my goodness I totally forgot about Sinbad, haha!! He was funny!! 😀
Melissa’s treats = decadence at its finest.
Happy Monday!!
I can’t wait to dive into my Melissa goodies as well! 🙂
sounds like you’re having a great break so far!
costco really is the best!
and re:oreo—honestly, what DOESN’T taste better covered in chocolate!?
Several things:
1. Papa Bender is a great cook. Like many other dads, mine only knows 2 things: grilling and breakfast. So, kudos to Papa Bender for a yummy looking dinner!
2. Re. the Oreo, I agree…chocolate makes eveyrthing betta 🙂
3. We love Costco up in here. I must find that Dim Sum platter. Is it in the frozen section?
Seafood pasta looks amazing… great job, papa bender!
Very cool! Enjoy your day! 🙂
All you eats look very good! I’ll have to keep an eye out for those potstickers!
That dim sum plate looks awesome- yet another reason I wish we had a Costco nearby!!
Congrats on getting all of your Christmas shopping done. I’m jealous 🙂
I think everything is better covered in chocolate. 🙂
And I’m pretty sure that I have that exact same wine glass!!! Good taste we both have, huh? hehe.
umm, could I please have one of everything you ate? it all looks delicious!!
What a great idea to have a Sib! Every bit of food in this post looks so yummy!
Seriously your food in this post is to die for. Everything looks really good, especially the soup!
the red, white and blue of breakfast looks so good!
Wow!! All of your eats from this post look DELICIOUS!! That cheesy bread and salad, the peppermint treats, everything!!!
You eat so healthy and really choose great looking foods!!!
What do you usually do when eating out, like what tips do you have to really choose great stuff, without the guilt and the grease!? haha!
AND, just curious, what do you typically do with working out?? Or whatever are your most common weekly workouts or favorite ones that go by the fastest?! I am just like you, I constantly have to change my cardio routine or else I get BORED!
thanks! 🙂
I really should join Costco!
http://www.seejessrun.wordpress.com
So great to spend time with your lil’ bro! Spending time with siblings is so great, and it’s great to see you are taking the opportunity to spend time with him while you are at home! Enjoy the time with your family.
Crust! Crust is my favorite part too! Every type of crust!
Those mussels look amazing!! I hope you come up with a carroty concotion to submit this week for the BSI!! 🙂
I totally missed the blogger secret santa thing. I am so sad. 🙁
Anyway, the fact that the salad comes with a little bit of pizza is fabulous!
aw Bender! I am seriously drooling over almost everything in this post!!
I love cheesey pizza bread!! That definitely brings back HS memories of the pizza shop 2 blocks away that EVERYONE used to go to.
That dim sum platter looks MARVELOUS as well!
And DANG, Papa B has done it again!!!! How picture perfect and GORGEOUS is that pasta? Give him props from me.
and LOVE that quesadilla.
Girl, you know how to eat, and eat right!! I love the balance you have with your foods. It’s always inspiring!
HAVE FUN WITH THE FAMILY! So jealous, but also so happy for you!!!
Take care Jenn!
Thanks for the lovely comments everyone, as always!
Jessica ~ I will answer your question in my next post!
Jingle all the way is the best holiday movie by far!
second place is die hard.
You HAVE to have a mug giveaway! but only if you promise Ill win 😉
Kelly Turner
http://www.everygymsnightmare.com
[…] golf, we had lunch at the same clubhouse we ate at last week. I had the same soup and quesadilla combo – why change a good thing, right? I accidentally left my camera at home, so luckily there’s […]