Dirty Dancing, a KalorieBox explosion, the Zoo, and New Foods

98. Watch 10 classic movies

I was flipping through the channels the other night when I found Dirty Dancing was playing. It was about halfway through but I decided to keep it on anyway. While I was watching it E mentioned that he had never actually seen the movie. ~GASP~ Obviously that was not okay with me. Dirty Dancing is at the top of the best classic movies list! As luck would have it, Best Buy had it on sale for a very reasonable price so E picked it up and we sat down to watch it.

I absolutely adore this movie for many, many reasons:

1. I am a sucker for chick flicks, and this is the ultimate chick flick.
2. It is every girl's dream to be swept off her feet by a handsome man and totally put in the spotlight.
3. Patrick Swayze.
4. Sexy dancer and bad boy? Epic, and somehow incredibly masculine.
5. The movie is full of great music.
6. If you are a female, try watching the last dance of the movie without breaking into a big smile and getting butterflies in your stomach.
7. Cutest love story EVER
8. Related to the movie: there is a scene in Crazy, Stupid Love (if you haven't seen it, go rent or buy it right now) where Ryan Gosling does the lift with Emma Stone. Super. Hot.

49. Try out KalorieBox (2/3)

Much to my disappointment, my February KalorieBox arrived sticky, wrapped in a USPS plastic bag marked as damaged, and oozing syrup from all sides.

Yikes! I immediately sent an email to their support staff explaining the situation and soon after received a response back with an apology and the assurance that a new box would be sent in the mail on Monday. You never really know how a company's customer service is going to react to bad news about their products, but I was very pleased with their response and quick action. My new KalorieBox arrived with extra-super bubble wrap and mega-packaging plus two Click Espresso Protein shake mixes that were not a part of the February Kaloriebox.

Here is what my February KalorieBox contained:

Pirates Booty Aged White Cheddar:

These are like a healthier version of Cheetos. They are light, fluffy rice and corn puffs with a subtle white cheddar flavor. The entire single serving package is only 65 calories making it a nice little snack. As you can see from the ingredients, these are made up of only a few ingredients which is always better in my mind.

Sensible Foods Crunch Dried Snacks

My box contained two flavors of crunch dried snacks. The first was Cherry Berry Crunch Dried Fruit.

 

This packet contained crunch dried apples, cherries, blueberries, and strawberries. As you can see from the ingredients, that is it. No added anything. These dried fruits are different than the Peeled Snacks that came in January's KalorieBox because the Crunch Dried Fruit is how you would typically think of dried fruit. They are as crunchy as potato chips, while the Peeled Snacks are more of a dehydrated fruit so they retain some of their moisture. I actually prefer the Peeled Snacks fruit over these dried fruit by a small margin. These would be a great addition to your morning cereal but are also delicious on their own. The entire package is 85 calories.

The second flavor of crunch dried snacks was Organic Sweet Corn Crunch Dried Snack.

 

This packet contains organic sweet corn kernels and sea salt. Again, that is all. This did not have a ton of flavor (not that corn usually does), but would make a nice, low cal snack option to hold you over until your next meal. The entire package comes in at 70 calories.

Pacific Natural Foods Organic Almond Non-Dairy Beverage

As I have mentioned numerous times before, most of our foods are made milk/butter/casein/whey/etc. free because my husband has a milk protein allergy. Therefore, almond milk is actually a staple in our household. Whenever a recipe calls for milk I use almond milk as a substitute and you really can't tell the difference. However, I had never tried drinking almond milk. Since my KalorieBox contained an individual serving of almond milk I thought I would finally give it a try because I have been told that it's actually pretty good.

So I tried it.... The verdict? Almond milk is NOT my drink of choice. I'm sure a lot of people think it tastes great. I, however, will leave it as an ingredient and stick with water as my drink of choice.

I pulled up this recipe I found for Banana Oatmeal Cups with Chocolate Chips that conveniently called for ripe bananas (which I needed to use ASAP) and vanilla almond milk and whipped them up for breakfast for the week. This was a much better use of the almond milk, in my opinion!

Nature's Hollow Sugar Free Maple Syrup

The Maple Syrup was the culprit responsible for my first sticky, oozing February KalorieBox. The second time it was super bubble wrapped, the cap was extra secured down with tape, and exploding syrup was not an option.

I don't typically have the patience for making pancakes. However, one of our favorite breakfast recipes is for these Banana Pancake Bites from EmilyBites.com. They are super easy to make and even C will try one every once in a while because they are the perfect size for his little hands to hold. Plus, the syrup is actually baked in the bites so they aren't messy like your standard pancakes. These bites are made of pancake mix, syrup, bananas, and almond milk (or whatever milk you want). They are baked in a mini muffin tin and make a total of 24 banana pancake bites at 23.4 calories each when made with this low calorie syrup.

Chocolite Protein Bar - Cookies N Cream

The last item in my February box was this Chocolite protein bar in Cookies N Cream flavor. I don't typically eat these products for many reasons, the top being they don't really taste very good. This Chocolite bar actually tastes really good and for 95 calories is a great low cal option if you often eat protein bars. I would  prefer to get my protein through less processed means so even though I like the taste of this protein bar, I don't see myself buying them regularly in the future.

61. Have a dinner date with friends once a month

Feb 23rd - March 8th of 2013 is Denver Restaurant Week (yes, restaurant week is two weeks long...). Every year a bunch of restaurants participate in Restaurant Week by offering a multi-course dinner for $52.80 per couple or $26.40 for one. It's a great way to try out some of the fancier/more expensive restaurants for a fraction of the cost. E made a reservation for 4 to Oceanaire Seafood Room in downtown Denver and we were joined by my cousin and her husband for dinner. Each of our meals included a single serving appetizer, the main course, and a dessert. I felt compelled to step out of my safety zone of known foods and instead of ordering the Fried Calamari appetizer, went with the clam chowder. I am so glad I did! It was phenomenal!

My picture was too dark so I went to theoceanaire.com for a picture and look what popped up! Apparently my phenomenal clam chowder is award winning, and rightly so!

My poor husband doesn't typically have the option to order dessert when dining out because everything contains milk/cream/etc. and he tries to avoid eating any of that as he values the ease of breathing over delicious dessert. This dining experience was no exception. However, we were not going to let his last course go to waste! Cheesecake is my go-to dessert. I love cheesecake in all shapes, sizes, flavors and so on, so that is what I ordered. E ordered the Key Lime Pie (for the rest of us). Surprisingly  the Key Lime Pie was actually the favorite dessert.

65. Go to the zoo once a month

E, C, and I headed to the zoo the last Saturday in February in order to squeeze in our February zoo trip before the Sunday blizzard that caused us to reschedule our Sunday zoo date. After C's gym class, we hopped in the car and headed down to the zoo. We were expecting it to be really chilly, but it was actually pretty pleasant when the sun was out (pretty much the whole time we were there). Our first stop was, ~shocker~ the baby lions!

So stinking cute! Everyone seems to have caught wind of their little hidden lair though so it was a tad busier this time around. The favorite attraction this trip was definitely the brown bears. The female brown bear was playing with a new toy. She was rolling around on her back looking all cute and the male brown bear decided that he wanted to play with the toy. They ended up *playfully* fighting with each other and rolling around on the ground wrestling over the toy.

C really like watching them and while we were there he even said "a bear!" two times! My little chatterbox keeps picking up new words like a little sponge. We hung out and watched the brown bears for probably about 10 minutes because C would start complaining every time we tried to walk away.

And this wouldn't be a zoo trip without a visit to the Ape House! When we got there, the zookeepers were cleaning the gorilla side so C went to the outside part of the gorilla exhibit to try and find them. However, they were not outside either. C went back inside and kept looking for the gorillas. Isn't it the worst when your child is so excited for something and they just can't get what they want? He was stuck with just Robin the orangutan.

It looked like they were just about done cleaning the gorilla house so we decided to wait it out since the gorillas really are C's favorite. After a little while, the gorillas were finally let back in and C ran over happily to watch them.

While everyone was enjoying the gorillas a man and woman entered from behind the employee only door. The woman knelt down in front of the orangutan glass and put her hand on the glass. As soon as Robin saw her, he walked over and put his hand up to hers. It was a very cool thing to see. You don't often get to see the animals interact with such emotion to the zookeepers.

It was another great day at the zoo and C was sufficiently tired out by the time we got back to the car. Even his sugar-full yogurt covered pretzels couldn't keep him awake.

46. Try 10 new interesting foods

I went out to dinner with a group of my coworkers on Monday because we had visitors from our London office in town. We went to Willow Creek restaurant where one of their menu options is Braised Rabbit which is served over their homemade pappardelle pasta with various vegetables in a red wine reduction. It was the first menu item that caught my eye because it was new and interesting. I debated between the Braised Rabbit and the Duck Duet for a good amount of time but ultimately decided to try the rabbit because it is actually an award winning dish, plus, what better opportunity to try a new and interesting dish?

I am so glad I chose to go with the Braised Rabbit. It was really a fantastic meal and I can certainly see how it is award winning.

83. Try a new recipe every month

This month's new recipe was Fab Ginger-Beef Skewers from Pretty Delicious. I got a break from cooking this meal and E was the one who actually did all the work. Lucky for him, it was a really easy recipe.

Yet another fabulous recipe from Candice Kumai that will absolutely be making a repeat appearance on our household menu. Try it in your house! You will love it! You can find the recipe HERE.

100. Watch all the Star Wars movies

I was just about to publish this post when I realized I am so far behind that I never even wrote about the last two movies in the Star Wars series (last two meaning Episodes II and III). So Episode II was good but had entirely too much battle going on. That was way too "boy" for me and I got bored and distracted when it went on too long. I was also totally appalled by Ani's total disregard for his Jedi rule of not forming attachments. Although, had he not done so, I suppose Episodes IV-VI would not have happened. I like Episode III more than II. The whole conclusion was so tragic though! Ani was trying so hard to do things right so he could change the fate of his love, when really he was just playing right into the trap that was his fate. Heartbreaking. I honestly did enjoy the whole series though.