Christmas Pear Oatmeal

Just hear those sleigh bells ringing and jing ting tingling too Yes, I did it. I mentioned Christmas already. I know, I know, it's only early November. But I couldn't think of a better name for my new oatmeal creation! Every Christmas we're sent a box of pears from some family friends of ours. My dad and I covet these pears like you wouldn't believe. We'll pick at each other if we think the other has take to many, we freak out (ok I freak out) when I see the box is missing. But my dad has simply moved the rest to the refrigerator. We love these pears. Could we just go buy some at the grocery store? Yes. But that's besides the point. These are special pears; Christmas pears. So when I was making my oatmeal this morning I noticed that I had one, perfectly ripe pear sitting in my fruit bowl. I thought to myself, I wonder if a pear would taste good in oatmeal? This thought, my friends, was a stroke of genius. I give you:

Christmas Pear Oatmeal Ingredients 1/3 cup oatmeal 1/3 cup almond milk 1/3 cup + 1 T water 1 ripe pear cubed cinnamon to taste stevia to taste vanilla to taste Toppings of your choice: walnuts, raisins, peanut butter, whatever your heart desires! Also, feel free to add some flax for omega 3's! Directions: Cook the oats with the water and milk on the stove. Once the oatmeal is near cooked, add the cinnamon, vanilla and pear. Be sure the pears are cooked all they way, if they are cooking too slowly for the oats, add a little water to the oats and turn down the heat so the pears can simmer. Serve with toppings! The pears with the cinnamon were so delicious! The oatmeal tasted almost like an apple crumble! 100 Push Up Challenge - Are You In? So last week, Caitlin on Healthy Tipping Point talked about doing the 100 Push-Ups challenge. I was rather intrigued and thought it would be fun to do. I've always been ashamed of my wimpy push up abilities. Yes I can do about 15 - 20, but they are sad push-ups because I don't feel like I actually go down far enough.

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The next morning, one of my best friends texted me asking if I'd heard of it. I said yes and we should do it together! We both bought the iPhone app ($1.99) and she started a couple days before I did mostly because I kept forgetting. But now you all can hold me accountable! I'll give you weekly updates (it takes 6 weeks) and feel free to join in! It starts by asking you to do as many as you can. I decided to man up and do them where I went all the way down and back up and ended up with 12. Mostly because my friend started at 12 and I refused to quit before then. Clearly I have a pride issue. Speaking of working out, I realized I've been forgetting to post my weekly workouts at the beginning of each week! Probably because I've been moving things around so much, it was hard to set a schedule, but we're back on! This Week's Workouts: What are some foods you associate with the holidays? Do you have any fitness goals?