No More Cookies After January 1st

I did it again.

More cookies. After all the different batches I have made, I figured I was done. The chocolate tea cookies, the peanut butter cookies, the butterscotch oaties...nope. I found this recipe for "Peanut Butter Pumpkin Dough Balls" on "Carrot's N' Cake," and had to give it a go. Super easy, moist and remarkably tasty.

Peanut Butter Pumpkin Dough Balls
Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (I just used equal parts ground ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg).
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips (GENEROUS). 

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients, roll into balls, slap on greased baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes.

And deliciousness will ensue.

However, I did make up for my two cookies by roasting some of these babies.

Roasted brussel sprouts, onion and sweet potato left over from my sweet potato pancakes. So yummy!

And to finish the night, a sleeping Athena photo!

I am finishing my glass of wine and hitting the sack soon. Today was a workout rest day, the only one I will take this week. BodyPump tomorrow at noon!

Sweet Potato Pancakes, Dinner at La Buvette and a Lunar Eclipse

Not a bad Monday all in all.

Yesterday I had a great idea for lunch. I had a great meeting in the Mayor's office in the morning, and had an even better 4 mile run before meeting Jason for a hot apple cider at our favorite local coffee shop. Sweet potato pancakes.

These babies were fantastic! And so simple. I grated half a large sweet potato and combined it with spinach, olive oil and pearl onions. I slapped them on a skillet in a haphazard pancake shape and let them sizzle until they were crispy. Paired with steamed brussel sprouts, broccoli and more onions, this was a fantastic vegetarian meal.

This kept me comfortably full until dinner with girlfriend's at a fabulous downtown french restaurant, La Buvette. This place is my best friend Jean and I's favorite spot, they have great wine and a lovely menu. I chose a baguette with black olives, fresh tomato, caramelized leeks and Gruyere cheese, along with a few glasses or red wine. So delicious, so perfect with three fantastic friends. When I got home, I quickly got into bed to catch a few hours sleep before a rare winter solstice lunar eclipse. This has been the first one in nearly 500 years taking place during the winter. Naturally, the nerd in me got me out of my comfy bed in order to snap a few pics. Now, keep in mind I have a little point and shoot. For better pictures, read CNN.com :)

These were photos from the very beginning of the eclipse, before the moon turned a lovely shade of red. However, my hands were shaking and the moon looks more like a bouncing basketball. Nevertheless, the color was true to life, so just focus on one circle. THAT was the moon.

Ha! Just picture me out there at 2 a.m., freezing my butt off, chewing out the moon because my hands were shaking. It was a clear night, and a beautiful night sky. Totally worth being exhausted this morning.

Happy Tuesday! More to come later on today.

French Toast and Tae Bo Sunday

This morning, it was hard to get out of this.

The unmade bed is made to stress how comfortable it is. I mean, seriously comfortable...so you can see my struggle to leave its cozy sheets.

And it's even harder to leave a face like this.

Nevertheless!!! Food and working out prevailed, and I eventually left the warm bedroom and headed to the kitchen.

I had been dreaming about trying a recipe for Kahlua French Toast that I found on one of my favorite blogs, "Itzy's Kitchen." It was amazing, heavenly delicious. Unfortunately, I inhaled three pieces of it so fast I wasn't able to get a picture. The recipe is a must try, and I will stick it in the "Food" Section. Thank you Erica! My kitchen still smells yummy!

Usually, I opt for yoga or Zumba on Sundays. Since my longer run was yesterday, I wanted to do something a little low key, but still fun.

And then I remembered the man with the fantastic colored shorts.

Now, I haven't done TaeBo in YEARS. And I remember being absolutely winded after one of the workouts. I was expecting it to be super easy.

I was out of breath and it was fun! This was a great way to break up my workout routine. Plus I just get a huge kick out of Billy Blank's and his music.

Afterwards, I pulled out a free weights workout from Fitness Magazine called "Right to Bare Arms."

I love this arm workout! Two circuits, and done! I will find this online and stick it in the "Fitness" section. It is short and painfully sweet.

Happy Sunday everyone!

Happy Saturday

Much better.

Please ignore the dirty rug. Today I ran 6.2 miles at the gym and it felt great. MUCH better than yesterday. I think it had a lot to do with my pants. Yesterday I rocked some rather tight sweatpants, which made me feel super tethered. My legs didn't feel free and it was a struggle to run over a 9 minute mile pace. Today though, I wore some leggings and shorts, and it was much easier! I had a banana for a little refuel before I decided to check out this new gem in town:

You should have seen my face. I was beaming the entire time I was in the store. I bought a few things that I have been dying to get ahold of!

Ok, the whey protein powder was not from Trader Joe's, rather Walmart, but I wanted to show my "energy" selection of goods. :) I have read many good things about flaxseed and am anxious to put it in my oatmeal tomorrow.

The wine is only $2.99 a bottle!! I am stocking up for sure next time I go. The bagels are so yummy! I had a half with one slice of the garlic cheese, along with a tangerine and some of my leftover thai veggies from last night.

Today has been fantastic! Jason made breakfast this morning when he came home from work. Eggs, bacon and toast with coffee and juice. Senator Ben Nelson was supposed to speak at UNO, but he had an emergency and was still in Washington. So we decided to go to a great coffee shop, Blue Line, for caramel lattes. The run was great, Trader Joe's exciting, and now I am finishing up dishes and laundry before a quick shower and then work at Dario's for a few hours.

Happy Saturday!

Sugar is Not Protein!

Oh boy.

Two days of sugar does not a good run make. I had great intentions to go to the gym and knock out four or five miles. No problem right?

Except for this guy.

Meet my running nemesis, Butterscotch Oatie. He is delicious, roll your eyes in your head good, but awful for endurance. I managed to eek out 3.0 miles, and I called it good.

Lesson learned!

Today was also the holiday party at the Mayor's office. It wasn't just cookies and pie. It was a 30 pound turkey, ham, stuffing, green bean casserole...another Thanksgiving basically.

Oh well. Maybe tomorrow my run will be better. Cross your fingers for 6 strong miles.

Just this good guy for breakfast!

http://cynicalrantings.blogspot.com/2007/07/i-hate-miniature-focusizer.html

Cookie Wednesday

Dear God.

I have committed the ultimate gym rat sin. I have taken today as my one rest day this week (MISSING BodyPump!) and made cookies. All. Evening. Long.

These were sooo yummy. And of course, I had to have FOUR to make sure they turned out alright. Quality control you know. :)

The two batches I made were Chocolate Tea Biscuits from "It Ain't Meat Babe" and Sweet Potato Oatmeal Raisin from a blog that I can't remember offhand! Sweet potato sounded interesting and I'm all about getting an extra veggie or two in my meal, so I tried it out.

So simple.

1 cup oats, 1/4 cup flour, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup shredded coconut, 1/2 cup raisins, 1 cup mashed sweet potato, and 1/4 cup oil.

Preheat oven to 350 and mix all the ingredients together. Spray baking sheet with oil and portion cookies out (leave them in balls). Bake 20 minutes.

They are savory, wholesome, and perfect for cold winter evenings such as this one.

The chocolate biscuits were really just a last minute impulse. I was browsing through some British films on my computer and noticed "Love Actually." Jennifer from "It Ain't Meat" made some homemade vegan biscuits inspired by Hugh Grant and his tactless "who do you have to screw" comment. :) Mine weren't vegan but they were very good!

1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup quick cook oats
5 tbsp butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup milk


Mix flour, baking powder and salt together and add oats last. Using fingers, knead the mixture into a course texture. Add milk and sugar. Knead until well mixed and shape into an oval. Wrap in wax paper and leave in fridge for 30 minutes. 
Preheat oven to 375. Using a rolling pin, roll out mixture and use a medium size drinking glass to make several circle shapes in dough. Put on baking sheet with wax paper on top. Bake for 15 minutes. 

For the topping I melted chocolate chips and one spoonful of butter and spread it on top of the biscuits. But I have to say, the plan ones were fantastic as well! It was fun to make some new cookies during a crappy winter night. 


Now for tea and "Love Actually!" :) 

Black Bean and Pineapple Enchiladas

Hello everyone! This morning is a bit overcast and dreary. Blurg. But at least it isn't direly cold out! Today I am at the Center again for the day, breaking up routine a bit with a meeting with the Chamber regarding some new developments in South Omaha. I am really enjoying my Americorps work so far. I have lined up some presentations and speaking opportunities, as well as started interviewing interns for a spring project. It feels great to have a purpose! And of course, my favorite part of the day, BodyPump at 5:30! :)

Last night I had a Listening Project training in the evening that would have made it difficult to get from kickboxing to downtown in time. So I went to a spinning class at 24 Hour Fitness over lunch instead. I LOVE getting my workouts done over the noon hour! Early mornings just aren't my thing, as much as I want them to be, I can't get over my hatred of getting up early. And it was nice to not battle traffic during rush hour. It was a nice change of fitness pace. Since I finished my HyVee Chinese food for lunch before the class, I refuled with a refreshing orange and banana to "offset" my lunch :)

Since I now had a few hours to relax at home before my training, I searched through the blog "Trading Up Downtown" to find some good dinner ideas. And I found it: Black Bean and Pineapple Enchiladas. I normally don't like heavy foods like this, but it sounded sooo good. And it turned out wonderful! I used whole wheat tortillas and was generous with the sauce! I will put the recipe under the "Food" section of my blog. You must try it out!

Back to work!