Wedding Pictures!

I love whoring out our gorgeous wedding pictures... so here you go!

http://stephjeremymarried.weebly.com

Sneak peak:

Cake Balls!

So I decided to try out a new recipe after a bunch of the ladies on The Knot were talking about cake balls. The directions seemed pretty simple, but I figured I should try looking up a few recipes just in case. I got some inspiration from Bakerella and some from All Recipes. Eventually I just said screw it and picked up stuff from the grocery store. I got lucky and scored a few boxes of cake and tubes of frosting... all on sale for $1/piece! So here's my recipe:

Ingredients

*1 box, Holiday Funfetti cake mix

*3 eggs

*1/3 C vegetable oil

*1 1/4 C water

*tube of Funfetti frosting

*1 lb chocolate almond bark

Directions

1. Bake cake according to directions on box in any size pan referenced.

2. Cool cake almost completely,

3. Crumble in large mixing bowl. The smaller the pieces, the better.

4. Stir in jar of frosting until well blended.

5. Form into even-sized balls. (Melon ballers or small scoop recommended!)

6. Cool cake balls in refridgerator 2-3 hours or until firm.

7. Melt almond bark slowing in microwave or double-boiler.

8. Dip cake ball into almond bark and coat evenly. (I used a fork to scoop it out, and atoothpick to slide off of fork onto wax paper to dry.)

9. Let harden completely, then store in fridge.

This made about 50 or so cake balls for me. You can obviously adjust the size as needed to adjust the yield.

Here's a few pictures of the process:

........

Baked, crumbled cake......cake balls waiting for coating

Finished product:

...

nom nom nom

Overall, they were delicious.... much tastier after we let them cool overnight, though. Cooling them also helped harden the chocolate coating, which improved the texture in my opinion. I loved the soft crunch combined with the gooey cake inside.

A few changes I would make next time:

*Decrease the oil/water in the cake mix to help dry out the cake a little. I've never tasted cake balls before, but these seemed a little too moist inside.

*Maybe fridge/freeze them longer too before coating?

*Mix a little oil into the chocolate to keep it runny enough. It hardened pretty quickly, which made it much more difficult to coat them evenly.

*Smaller balls so I can get more of them. They're very rich.

Being Domestic

Sundays tend to be my crazy cleaning days.  Although Jeremy and I try to keep the apartment at least somewhat tidy every day, I still feel the need to really clean at least once a week.  If I didn't hate emptying the container, I'd probably vacuum every single day.  Today was even more fun, as I tackled the bath tub/shower.  See, our little puppy decided to jump and wrestle in a mud puddle last weekend at the dog park.  Because we live in an apartment, I had no choice but to clean him off in the bathtub.  Said bathtub was then stained with mud for the last week, because I was too lazy.

Anyway, one of my new best friends are these little guys, the Scrubbing Bubbles foaming spray.  I just doused the bathtub walls and 'floor' with the foam, cleaned everything else in the bathroom, and went back to the shower.  It really only took one good elbow-greased scrub of the sponge and all the mud/grime/puppy filth wiped right off.


Now onto some baking... and menu planning for the week :)

Pumpkin Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I saw a recipe awhile ago on All Recipes that I really wanted to try baking.  It was for Pumpkin-Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.  I started with this recipe, but made quite a few changes/substitutions.  My recipe is at the end of this post.  They turned out deliciously well, and were pretty quick and easy to make.  I did have to wait awhile for the whole batch to bake, as my smaller cookies yielded a little over 60.  Not a normal cookie texture; more cake-like (well other than the first dozen which I burned. oops.)  Next time, I'll probably up the oatmeal and pumpkin, or add some pre-blended pumpkin spice.  I was surprised how slight the pumpkin taste was in the finished cookies.

Regardless, our apartment smells like autumn now, and I love it.  If only Mother Nature would cooperate with the weather....

Pumpkin Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Ingredients

2 cups wheat flour

1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup pumpkin (NOT pie filling)

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla (or an oz. rum)

1 cup baking raisins

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In medium bowl, loosely mix together flour, oats, baking soda, and spices.   In separate bowl (with hand mixer), beat together butter, vanilla and sugars until whipped and fluffy.  To sugar mix, add egg and pumpkin, beat well.  Add dry ingredients and raisins; mix until blended.

3. Drop tablespoon-sized dough onto lightly greased cookie sheets.  Bake 13-15 minutes or until cookies are firm and cake-like.  Allow to cool on baking sheets a few minutes, then cool completely on wire racks.

Makes approximately 60 2-inch cookies.

For nutritional information, generated by Spark Recipes, visit: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1280300

mmm chili

So Mother Nature decided to taunt me for a few weeks with some gorgeous fall weather.  My response? Breaking out the Crock Pot, of course. One of my new favorite go-to recipes is chili.  Probably because it's one of those meals that is constantly changing, dependent on whatever is in my cupboards at the time.  The original inspiration for this recipe was found on All Recipes (my favorite website. ever.)  It started as a chili made with pork tenderloin: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Jerres-Black-Bean-and-Pork-Tenderloin-Slow-Cooker-Chili/Detail.aspx.


Jeremy and I agreed that yesterday's batch was the best attempt yet.  Although I didn't really measure everything, here's how the recipe currently stands:


Crock Pot Chili
*1lb of ground turkey, browned and seasoned with hamburger spices
*1-16oz jar medium salsa (the stuff with the big chunks of tomatoes and peppers)
*2 cans of black beans

*1 can chili beans
*1 cup beef stock (one can)
*1/2 cup frozen corn
*1/3 cup ketchup (to sweeten it up)
*1 tablespoon chili powder
*1 tsp oregeno powder
*1 tsp cumin
*1/2 tsp cardamom
*1/2 tsp fresh black pepper


I usually throw whatever other spices sound good at the time. This time it was a few dashes of hamburger seasoning and nutmeg and parsley, I think.  You can substitute the beef stock for beer, too.  That's what I usually do, but we only had really good beer in the house, which I didn't want to waste. ;)  

mmm chili and cheese.

I usually cook up the hamburger/turkey the night before.  Then just throw this all together in the Crock Pot, set it on low, give it a good stir, and leave for the day.  Come home, give it another good stir; add some water/beer if it gets too dry.  We typically serve it over some brown rice and top with shredded cheddar.  This recipe will make enough for us to get at least 8 (hearty) servings, and it's rather inexpensive too!

Let's try this again...

... k?  Maybe if I throw out my goals on the internet for strangers to read, I'll actually stick with them.  I've decided to use this blog as more of an outlet for myself.  I'm not sure what I will be writing about, to be honest.  A little bit of everything.  One thing I've noticed lately is that I've been sick. A lot.  I never used to miss work and I've missed quite a few days the last few months due to migraines, etc.

Through a little online searching and talking with friends I've decided to try doing a gluten-free diet.  No, I'm not actually allergic to wheat and I don't have Celiac's. I am, however, hopelessly addicted to carbs. ;)  I also realize this is a semi-fad diet right now.  However, there really are no negative side affects.  I hope to use this new 'diet' as a way to be more informed about the foods I am eating.

I'd like to make this blog a little online cookbook storage as I find recipes to try, and new foods to sample.  First up for resources:  this book, The Gluten-Free Good Health Cookbook by Annalise G. Roberts and Claudia Pillow, PhD.

I've browsed through the introduction and explanation of 'why go gluten-free' which helped convince me this might be worth attempting. The basic info I absorbed is that you need to neutralize your body.  If you eat a lot of acidic foods, also eat alkaline foods as well.  We'll see how this goes!  Up next? Finding some good recipes.

Headache, Round 3? 4?

So I've had this headache off and on for the past month and a half or so.  Sometimes it's nice enough to morph into a pounding migraine even.  I've tried advil, sleeping more, cutting out caffeine, drinking more caffeine, tea, etc.  I'm pretty sure it's just from being forced to spend every waking moment inside, inhaling the heat.  I can't wait for spring.  In the mean time though.... feel free to share any tips on getting rid of headaches!

Today was another one of those mornings where I could barely open my eyes, so I decided to suck it up and call in sick for the day.  Which leaves me at home. Alone.  I told myself I'll try to be productive at least and do some laundry or clean.  That's not happening.  Instead I've spent the last 3 hours playing around with wedding stuff.  That being said, though, I was a little productive!  I ordered all the paper for invites (see right) that we had mocked up at a local paper warehouse.  I know we won't actually start cutting and assembling them for awhile still... it's nice to have another "check" in the wedding planning though!  The color is a little crappy on that photo, because I took it with my phone, but it's a chocolate brown with dark orange and ivory/cream color.

Back to the real stuff though.  I did get up and work out Monday morning, bright and early at 5 am.  I'll be honest, I had to convince myself to get out of bed.  My ankle has been swollen for a few weeks, so Jeremy convinced me to just bike for cardio instead of the treadmill like I prefer.  It was so boring.  I'm going back to the treadmill from now on.  Maybe I'll just try and do a fast jog instead of a walk/run combo.  I think it's the running that's really harming my ankle?  I did not get up to work out this morning, so I might try and make it this afternoon.  Otherwise I'll just suck it up and go Friday morning and once this weekend to make up for it. I am planning on doing my pilates this afternoon too!

Back to Reality

Oh... hello, snow and work and reality.

So tomorrow will start my second week back from vacation.  I'll be honest; I'm really missing the Dominican.  Don't get me wrong. I love the weather we've had this week in Minnesota.  It's been about 40 and sunny all week so just perfect late-winter/early-spring weather.  It's so nice to watch all the snow melt (I can finally see lines in my parking lot again!)  You can tell I'm a born-and-raised Midwesterner when I say I love the 40 degree weather, huh?  :)

Anyway.  Just a few updates.  I joined WW last week with a few of my (older) coworkers, so I'm really excited to get started on all of this.  I think I'm finally over my crazy case of jet lag, too, and my sleep schedule seems more regular again.  I had such a hard time adjusting to the time zone change when I got back, and it was only a 2 hour difference.  Weird.  I think it's just because we woke up so early all of vacation to catch the sunrises and soak up as much sun as possible.  Wish me luck!   I'm also going to really start my "diet" this week too.  Go all in at once, right?

More updates to come as a attempt to stick with this healthy eating/work out schedule!

A Little Slice of Paradise

So what I failed to mention in the last (debut) post is that I'm not at home this week.  I'm actually in the Dominican Republic with my family for a week-long vacation.  My dad, step mom, siblings and I are down here with my grandparents though Saturday and it's amazing.  Right now I'm sitting out on our balcony enjoying some "me" time before everyone else wakes up.  I've caught the end of a sunrise both mornings so far and they've been beautiful.  I love having this time to regenerate myself before the day....

The weather is stunning; my Minnesota winter-parched skin is loving the humidity down here. :)  The waves on the beach are absolutely gorgeous (both in sight and sound.)  The one draw back is diet wise.... all inclusive = difficult to restrain myself.  It's hard to limit how much you eat when everything available is laid out in front of you, for "free."  The good side to being down here is it's all pretty healthy I think.  Sure, there are fries and ice cream and cake.  But those are pretty obvious things to avoid.  There is also quite a bit of fresh-picked delicious fruit and the rest of the options do seem pretty healthy.  Lots of fish and grilled chicken. YUM.

Anyway, I think my family is finally starting to wake up so I'll go see if I can find someone to walk over to breakfast with me.  Happy Monday!

~Steph

Let's Get Started!

So I don't really know if anyone will actually follow this, but that's ok.  I really just want a place to store my thoughts and keep track of my attempt to get in better shape before my fall, 2010 wedding.  Maybe if I make this journey "public" information, I'll hold myself more accountable!  Wish me luck along the way and please let me know if you're following this. :)

So my goal is to lose about 40 pounds by November.  That puts me at about 1-1.5 pounds/week.  I think I can do that, but I know I need to hold myself accountable somehow, so here we are.  It's not just to lose weight so I look better in a pretty white dress though.  I really want to teach myself a new lifestyle.  I want to eat healthier so I feel healthier.  I think I'll use this outlet as a reason to explore some new recipes as well.  I love cooking and I love trying to new things (the fiance should be credited for that; I used to be such a picky eater until I met him!) 

Anyway, stay tuned for more!