I wanted to first say thank you again for your continued support of the Stuffed With Emptiness series. It’s a tough one to write (especially today’s), but it always feels so worth it once it’s out there and I hear your response. Thank you.

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Today started out like any other Thursday. I woke up early and wrote my morning blog post. I ate a banana. I went to the gym and ran four miles on the treadmill. I came home and ate more (surprise surprise) pumpkin oats for breakfast.

Things continued in typical fashion through lunch time. You know what Thursday means – family lunch day with Peter at the park!

Today Peter’s work served up the typical sandwich and chips fare.

I picked a sandwich that had a sort of peppered turkey, ham, and pepperoni with pepperjack cheese, then added some tomato, lettuce, and dijon mustard.

Peter also grabbed two bags of my favorite chip flavors for us to share. Cheddar Sun Chips and traditional Salt ‘N Vinegar.

May not have been as good a meal as last week, but the food isn’t the most important part. I will happily eat a sub-par meal in exchange for some family time and our little tradition.

Although, you do all know how if a meal doesn’t satisfy me fully I get a little hankering going on a bit later into the day. This means my Thursday afternoon snack called for something a little different. Something a little more exciting.

I brought home a cookie that came with lunch and felt like having a cozy little treat. Out of nowhere I got struck with an idea that I knew I needed to satisfy.

Pumpkin hot chocolate. Pumpkin hot chocolate. Pumpkin hot chocolate.

And at that moment, today earned the title of “Not Your Typical Thursday”.

To make the pumpkin hot chocolate I simply whisked together the following ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat.

• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1/3 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (to taste)

Then I sweetened it up with a bit of Nunaturals stevia drops. I wish I had some whipped cream! It would have taken this already good mix to a whole new level.

If you like pumpkin and chocolate, you must make this!

I think I’m feeling another cup for dessert tonight. But first – dinner! Time to eat! I will see you in the morning with a fun post.

• Do you like chips? What’s your favorite? If not, what’s your favorite salty snack?
• What’s part of your typical Thursday?

After all the craziness of last week, I feel good that this week has gone relatively smoothly so far. Nothing too insane. Well, besides this morning’s workout. Ha! I still don’t know how I survived it. <--- There’s that exaggeration we talked about.

Good thing I did survive, though. I had a stellar day today! Once I caught my breath this morning, I dropped Makenzie off at school and came home HANGRY and ready for some breakfast. I made myself shower first, then dug into another bowl of pumpkin oats. This time topped with Justin’s Maple Almond Butter that the lovely Janetha got me hooked on  last year.

For the record, I just bought three more cans of pumpkin. I will have pumpkin oats for breakfast for many days into the foreseeable future. Can’t stop. Won’t stop.

Count your lucky stars I’m not a food blogger. Things would get very old around here fast. Besides having another repeat breakfast of pumpkin oats, I also had a repeat lunch.

More English muffin pizzas!!! Best way to use up leftover crushed tomatoes. And you know Makenzie loves them. She told you so herself in her guest WIAW post!

Makenzie opted for apple slices again, but I was feeling a little spice. I went with half a cucumber sliced up and a couple large handfuls of baby carrots to dip in salsa. I adore salsa.

Both of those meals fueled me right through my prime work times and I knocked out a good bit of things I needed to get done. I hope this productive streak lasts!

After work time came play time. An afternoon play date with my friend Ann and her two kids – a friend for Makenzie and a friend for Braedon.

I love play dates and think it’s so important to connect with other moms. Not only does it give the kids social interaction, but it gives you the chance to “talk shop” with someone who understands. Who else would I turn to to discuss overnight potty training woes? Ann helped me feel better about giving up on trying to overnight train Makenzie. We gave it a shot, but it wasn’t worth the stress.

Don’t worry. We also have lives of our own too. We spent a lot of time chatting away about adult things…including her recent trip to Chicago to support her husband in the Chicago Marathon! It makes me want to run it. Mostly because I really, really want to go to Chicago. Maybe I should just book a trip and scratch that whole running 26.2 miles part? Either way, I loved hearing about her trip!

Thanks for the fun afternoon, Ann!

By this point dinner time quickly approached. We had planned on honoring another meat craving of Peter’s with meatloaf, but I forgot to get the ground beef out of the freezer. Oops! So I went with a baked sweet potato, more roasted green beans, and a Morningstar Farms garden veggie burger.

I stole an idea from Courtney and rubbed the sweet potato with a little bit of butter and some Garlic Gold from my Healthy Living Summit sample.

Ohhhh…what a good idea.

If I wasn’t such a cheapskate I would order some for myself in a heartbeat. But I am a cheapskate, so I just savored tonight’s dinner. Just like I plan to savor an early bed time. T minus 2 hours and counting. Later gators!

• Where do you turn to “talk shop” about things like work, motherhood, etc? I would say Peter and good friends, including you all!
• Do you ever forget key things for dinner prep like taking something out of the freezer or picking up something at the store?