Before I ran out for errands this afternoon, I made myself a little snackie of 1/2 cup grapes and a cinnamon and pb-stuffed date:

It was so yummy, I felt like I was eating a pint of ice cream all by myself … but better :-D. Dates are the ultimate wonder food.

I was on a mission to use coupons that have been taking up space in my wallet for MONTHS, so I set off in hopes that Target would come through for me on these items. I just missed the bus about four times, so I ended up walking the whole mile and a half to get there. And, of course, Target was overflowing with rude people, the check-out line was wrapped around the store three times, and I couldn’t find what I needed anyway. I went down to the Pathmark and had a litte more success (though it was not what I’d call an efficient trip, either!). Here’s what I got:

Yogurts and milk for yogurt-making, fat free ricotta for fun, 2 red bell peppers (only $1.99/lb!), grapes (only $.98/lb!), sea salt riceworks (free with coupon — I finally found them!), LiveActive chocolate raspberry granola bars ($1 off coupon). Total: $16, bringing the week’s tally up to $36, still $4 under budget, whaaaaaat!

Side note on yogurt-making: Every 3-4 batches, I use a completely fresh starter (aka pre-made yogurts) to make sure all the good bacteria is thriving. I usually like to mix two types of yogurt so I get maximum culture variety. Therefore, the batch that is incubating tonight includes: l. acidophilius, bifidus, l. casei, l. rhamnosus, s. thermophilus, and bifidobacterium lactis.

This is my first time using Rachel’s brand yogurt, so we’ll see how it turns out. It’d better be good because I had to wait 10 minutes for them to price-check it at the store, only to have the clerk refuse to sell it to me since it wasn’t in the system yet and had no assigned price. I begged and pleaded until he let me scan the cup of Stonyfield again instead.

Three hours after I left, I was back home.

For dinner, I had another slice of pumpkin kibbi (I’m telling you, this is SO good!) with steamed asparagus spears:

I love asparagus plain, but I sprinkled it with a bit of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper for visual variety.

Dessert was a treat. I’m generally a plain yogurt kind of girl, but when I buy the little cups to make yogurt like I did today, I often get them in fancy flavors for fun since I only need half (or less) of each cup to use as the starter.  For my dessert, I mixed together the remaining chocolate underground yogurt with the remaining mango pineapple passion fruit yogurt, added about 1/4 cup fat free ricotta, and sprinkled the top with shredded coconut and leftover chocolate-covered pretzel from my blogger secret cupid package.

And I surrounded the whole thing with grapes and chopped strawberries for dunking:

I don’t have to work tomorrow, so I’m going to do something completely wild and leave the apartment after 9pm (to walk three blocks and watch TV with Ting and her friend, haha). Have a good night, and good luck tomorrow if you’re going back to your regular routine!