a little good mixed in with the bad

okay, so before the awesome junk food extravaganza of yesterday, i did manage to crank out a semi-healthy dinner while the hub was still home. we love the gnocchi carbonara recipe that i've made a few times, and this is a bit of a twist on that one.

i'm a pretty faithful subscriber to the rachael ray magazine - as much as i really don't care for her all that much, there are always some great-looking meal ideas in there. plus it's all colorful and fun to read and stuff, so it appeals to the 6-year-old in me that needs visual aids to comprehend fully. and it was in the current issue that i found her asparagus carbonara - but of course, the recipe is nowhere to be found on the website. crap.

it was super easy to make, though - the most time-consuming part of it was cooking the bacon. as i twittered (tweeted? whatever, you know what i'm talking about) that night, i think my subconscious makes it a point to seek out recipes that feature my favorite pork product. sweet.

the bean, already a big pasta fan, dug into the noodles so fast and furious that she ended up with some on her head.

as always, if you want the recipe, drop me an e-mail and i'll get it to you, stat.

the magazine was also the inspiration for one of the items i picked up at the grocery store yesterday. when i was younger, i used to love those hostess cream pies that came in that stiff, crackly paper wrapper. now you know i didn't pick out the gross cherry and apple ones, right? oh, no. i went for the good stuff - the lemon and chocolate cream versions. and as i perused the current issue, the recipe for fried chocolate pudding hand pies jumped out at me. i hopped online to bookmark it for future use, but the seed was planted - i had to have one right away. i didn't want to make the recipe, because i sure didn't want to have SIX of these sitting around when i'm the only one home to eat 'em.

just like when i was little, the chocolate ones aren't as easy to find as its fruity counterparts, so i was really surprised to find them in the first store i checked. yay for me!

lest you believe i stuffed the bean full of nothing but bad stuff yesterday, i present evidence to the contrary:

and these i haven't even busted open yet.

this is my current addiction. i can't seem to go a day without at least a handful of this stuff in my mouf:

and although i haven't bought cookies since we moved into the thimble and i turned into betty freaking crocker, i couldn't resist these, for old times' sake - especially since they were on sale.

man, this is so bad. i seriously need to bust out that bitch jillian michaels and do the 30-day shred. ASAP.