Heather Bakes

That’s What She Said…

Everybody’s Working For The…? November 17, 2008

Filed under: November 2008 — heatherwlu @ 3:54 am
Tags: , , ,

Haha- that song just makes me think of Zoolander.

“I just thank the lord that she didn’t live to see her son as a mermaid.”

“Mer-man.” *cough* “MER-MAN!”

Gosh, this was such a relaxing weekend. I’m ready to get up early tomorrow morning and start the week running…

Hahaha, that was funny! This weekend was, as Brian says, “bat-nuts crazy.” I don’t know where he gets that potty mouth. I didn’t really take any photos until today, so let’s start with tonight’s dinner and work backwards. I cracked open the old Eat, Drink and Be Vegan cookbook and settled on the Pureed Spicy Sweet Potato and Peanut Stew with Chickpeas alond with Coconut Lime Basmati Rice.

soup

I know a lot of people are turned off by the whole vegan thing, but if you’re looking to eat CHEAP, this is the way to go. The soup probably cost about $1/serving and consisted of pureed onions, garlic, celery, sweet potato, chicken broth, peanut butter, and lots of spices. You stir in a can of chickpeas at the very end and garnish with lime juice and cilantro. I also added some sriracha, fish sauce and extra PB. For the rice we used plain brown rice instead of basmati, but that turned out great too- I kept dipping my spoon into the rice and then the soup and it actually worked really well together. The coconut milk and lime provide a good balance of tart and creamy.

Even Brian loved the meal and commented on how filling it was… plus we have LOTS of leftover soup.

Want to see something crazy? We found the largest sweet potato in the history of mankind. Seriously, this one yielded 6 CUPS of peeled, diced potato- enough for the entire pot of soup. Here’s a frame of reference for you:

sweetpotato1

The thing is as tall as the pug. Clearly Chloe was not impressed.

Here’s the weekend rundown:

*FRIDAY*

Class: The class as a whole made about 8 different salads and sandwiches- panzanella, Waldorf salad, turkey-bacon wrap, chicken avocado sandwich, french potato salad, homemade chips, Pacific Rim salad and probably others that I can’t recall. Our group was assigned the Pacific Rim salad and panzanella (I mainly worked on the panzanella). The salad was topped with steak, which I DID try and WAS yummy… but even after a decade without beef, I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything.

Friday night Brian and I tried a Mexican restaurant that my brother’s always raving about, Avila’s. Can’t find a website, but you can read the Guidelive review here. It’s kind of a little hole-in-the-wall place in a rough area, but the food was great and it’s deceptively cozy inside. Given my love of mole sauce, I had to order the pollo con mole- very good, although the best mole award still goes to Cafe San Miguel. Yum.

*SATURDAY*

I was up at 5 to be at work by 6. It was COLD and I had a very warm and snuggly pug to leave. Work was fine, nothing terribly exciting. My schedule this week has me starting no later than 7am, but I usually get out just after lunchtime- so that’s kind of nice. Anyway, after work I headed home, ate a quick lunch, showered, dressed and headed out to Keller with Brian to have to dinner with his family and hold babies. Well, just one baby. Samantha’s already grown so much and seems really alert. I wish I’d gotten pictures- she’s a blond haired, blue eyed cutie.

After that we headed home. I was in bed by 9:30, asleep by 10. How lame is that? This schedule is kind of kicking my ass right now.

*SUNDAY*

Back up at 5 to be at work by 6. Meh. Got home from work at 12:30 and made a quick lunch of roasted red peppers, goat cheese, spinach, capers and balsamic vinegar on an Ezekiel hamburger bun:

sandwich

And then I napped on the couch with the pug for like 3 hours while Brian watched football. All of a sudden I opened my eyes and it was 5 o’clock. You know what our big, exciting event of the day was? Visiting the brand, spanking new Wal-Mart that just opened near our house. That place was INSANE. There was actually a line to get into the parking lot. Anyway, it was nothing special and I’m afraid that it’s going to get trashed out like most of the other Wal-Marts around here. We grabbed our dinner supplies and booked it out of there ASAP.

(I love you Target. I’ll never cheat on you again.)

SURVEY TIME!

What’s the best dish you’re making for Thanksgiving? Or if you’re just mooching off of someone else’s cooking (thanks, mom!), what are you most looking forward to?

I’m trying to figure out what to make. My mom hates anything ORANGE (where the hell did I come from?) so that rules out pumpkin, sweet potato and butternut squash. Hrmm. The Rachael Ray holiday issue does have an intriguing recipe for an apple pie with bacon and cheddar, so I may give that a shot.

PS- THANK YOU SUSAN for the donation to Scottish Rite Hospital!!! You rock! For the rest of you, don’t forget to check out my donation page before the marathon- it’s up through December 14th:

http://www.active.com/donate/tsrh08/heatherbakes

 

Cupcakes in ‘08 November 4, 2008

Filed under: November 2008 — heatherwlu @ 12:51 pm
Tags: , ,

(That’s my write-in candidate.)

This week is going to be a lot more structured than any I’ve had since… well, probably since I quit my job in May. Tomorrow is paperwork/training at WF from 9:30-12:30, then a meeting at 2. Weds and Thurs both involve more training at 2 different WF locations from 9:30-4:30, and then Friday is class as usual. Plus the normal running routine: easy run tomorrow, track workout Weds, tempo Thurs, long run (18) Saturday.

Aren’t you glad I shared all of that with you? I feel so much more organized now. Screw Google calendar- I can just blog it out.

Today I got up at 7:30 and had a nice oat-y breakfast. I wish I were creative like some of my blogger friends (I’m looking at you, Rose) and could come up with fun oatmeal combinations early in the morning. But no. This was the typical banana, vanilla hempmilk, almond butter and trail mix combo.

oats

Tonight we were going out to dinner to celebrate our brother-in-law’s birthday, and a cupcake request was submitted. Apparently Mike really likes Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, so I found a recipe in the Elinor Klivans Cupcakes! cookbook for peanut butter cupcakes with chocolate glaze. The batter basically consisted of butter, dark brown sugar, LOTS and LOTS of smooth peanut butter, flour and eggs. I threw in a cup of milk chocolate chips, too. The glaze was a very basic chocolate ganache of butter, heavy cream and milk chocolate.

cupcake1

cupcake2

So good. I didn’t know whether to do chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing, or peanut butter cupcakes with chocolate icing… but after consuming about 1/4 of the batter straight from the bowl, I’m confident that this was the right choice.

cupcake3

Lunch was a whole wheat Western Bagel Alternative Pita with leftover rotisserie chicken, baby spinach, jalapenos, hummus and yellow bell pepper:

pita

We had dinner at Champps and unfortunately I forgot to get a photo. Just picture some balsamic glazed chicken with mashed potatoes and grilled veggies. And a cupcake.

Off to bed. I don’t know why I’m so tired right now… but I have to get up at 5 for a run. Hope everyone had a great Monday. And don’t forget to vote!! I hear Starbucks is giving free coffee to voters, and you can score a free doughnut at Krispy Kreme, too. WOOHOO free breakfast!

SURVEY TIME!

Did you vote today? And how long did you have to wait at the polls?

I early voted on Thursday and waited about 20 minutes. The line was really long, too- I expected to wait a lot longer. So yea for the super efficient Lake Highlands poll staffers!

 

Five Little Pumpkins October 13, 2008

Filed under: October 2008 — heatherwlu @ 3:08 am
Tags: , , , ,

Hope everybody had a great weekend! Last week felt really chaotic for some reason, so it was nice to have a couple of days to relax.

**FRIDAY**

This week we covered demi glace and hollandaise in class. The demi glace was no sweat- we actually made it into a piquant sauce for pork chops (I had 2 bites… I don’t miss pork, but the sauce was good). The hollandaise, on the other hand, was kind of a huge ordeal. It took our three group members to get it assembled and we were taking turns with the whisk. The scariest part is that we have to make it all on our own next week for our practical exam. Time to bust out the arm weights.

I forgot to take photos of what we cooked, but a few people in our class chipped in to buy a cake. The baking classes turn over whatever baked goods they don’t want to take home to be sold… I can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t want this cake:

I think this may be a lobster…?

My piece was frozen. A cake-sicle, if you will:

I was trying to get bed early on Friday, so we were boring and made dinner at home. I pulled out the new Giada cookbook (are y’all sick and tired of this yet?) and tried the Lemon Risotto. It’s similar to this recipe, but with a lot of lemon juice and more broth.

OMG- it was SOOOO good! We had it with some rotisserie chicken and steamed asparagus:

The risotto is really rich. It involves a good amount of butter, mascarpone and parmesan cheeses- but a small amount is definitely enough. Plus I used my whole, “Well I’m running in the morning…” justification, which is badbadbad. But yeah, go buy the cookbook and try this recipe. There’s also one in there for butternut squash and vanilla risotto that I want to try.

Which brings us to…

**SATURDAY**

Got up at 5:00 for a 6am 14-mile run. It was not too bad, but I really need to figure out the whole “what to eat before running” issue. I just get really worn out and the mid-run gu (NASTY) isn’t cutting it. Any suggestions? I need to get faster, too. We did it in about 2:15.

Oh, also on the running front: anyone who is debating a marathon- or any race for that matter- should rent Spirit of the Marathon. It’s a documentary following 6 runners of varying levels training for the Chicago Marathon (one is Deena Kastor, one is a new runner, one is a 70-year-old 5th time marathoner). I watched it on Friday night and definitely bawled at the end. Brian HATES running and actually enjoyed the movie, too.

The rest of Saturday involved a bridal shower, running some errands, and then driving to the lake. The best part? I slept 10 hours last night. And then napped with Chloe during the Cowboy’s game. Nice.

**SUNDAY**

We drove back from the lake late this afternoon and then took Chloe to a pumpkin patch right by our house.

She liked this one:

And tried to eat this one:

Be we ended up with these:

Brian set up a nice little fall display on the porch, but it’s too dark to take a photo right now. I’ll try to get one up tomorrow.

We’re having an easy dinner tonight- chicken quesadillas with Ezekiel tortillas, refried black beans, avocado, cheese and leftover chicken:

And watching Charlie Bartlett… so far it’s pretty funny.

Survey Time

Do you decorate for holidays, and if so, which ones?

We decorate for Halloween and Christmas, but I feel kind of dumb doing so since we don’t have kids. I think Chloe and Piper appreciate the effort :)

 

Bird Bird Bird October 7, 2008

Filed under: October 2008, Uncategorized — heatherwlu @ 2:44 am
Tags: , ,

Don’t you know? I thought everybody knew… bird bird bird, bird is the word!

Did anyone else watch Family Guy last night? God, I can’t get that stupid song out of my head.

Today we finally got some rain! It was so nice out- I actually got to wear long sleeves to class. Probably not that exciting to you North/East people though, huh?

For breakfast I had one of those glorious Ezekiel English Muffins with almond butter on one half and cherry butter on the other, basically eaten on the way out the door to go babysit (so no photo, sorry).

We have all of these frozen entrees sitting in our freezer that just never seem to sound good. Today I brought one with me for lunch: Kashi Lemongrass Chicken

It wasn’t bad. I liked the chewy pilaf, but good lord there was a LOT of lemongrass in here. The chicken was tasty too- it’s always hit or miss with both frozen dinner chicken and fast food chicken (not you, though, Chick Fil A… you’re just all around delightful). I’d recommend adding both salt and a little sriracha:

I’ve already torn through the new Giada cookbook and marked about 20 recipes to try. They all look amazing. There’s this Hazelnut Crunch Cake with Mascarpone and Chocolate that I’m dying to bake, but (sadly) that’s not an ideal dinner option… so tonight I tried the Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Lemon, Basil and Salmon (recipe here).

Brian was playing with the camera while I was cooking. Here’s my un-showered, no-makeup self making dinner. Yes- this is how I go to class. No wonder I get my own seat on the train:

This recipe was awesome. You basically plate 1/2 cup of raw baby spinach, cook some ww pasta and toss in olive oil, lemon zest and juice, fresh basil, capers, garlic, salt and pepper, dump the pasta on the raw spinach (which wilts), and then top the whole thing with a seared salmon filet. Pretty healthy and VERY tasty- Brian commented on how refreshing it was with the lemon & basil:

The whole thing took maybe 30 minutes to make.

Poor Chloe. We have baby gates set up to keep her out of the dining room (she does BAD THINGS in there), so while we eat she just sits and stares pitifully from the other side of the gate. The cat, however, can scale the gate… so here she is taunting the sad puglet:

Survey Time!

What’s your favorite source (cookbook, website, magazine, TV show, etc.) for new recipes?

I always buy Cooking Light, but I almost never make the recipes. I’d definitely say that most of mine come from the internet- either allrecipes.com or the Food Network site are my faves.

 

IT’S SO NICE TO MEET YOU October 6, 2008

Filed under: October 2008 — heatherwlu @ 1:45 am
Tags: , ,

This was a total FOODIE weekend! Lots of pictures. I’m starting with Friday, but make sure you read all the way to the bottom because the cooooolest part (in my opinion) was from today.

FRIDAY

I actually remembered to bring my camera to class! Here’s our Cream of Mushroom Soup- good but salty. We made it from a base of chicken veloute:

And Marinara Sauce:

Which became Eggplant Parmigiana:

And finally Brown Sauce. I’m not sure what we’re doing with this yet! It doesn’t look that great here, but we strained it afterwards:

We also made an extremely delicious (but HIGH calorie) baked Macaroni and Cheese with panko topping. The base was a bechamel sauce. Good thing I’m doing all of this running- I thought the baking class was bad! But 6 hours of cooking is surprisingly exhausting so we’re usually starving by the time the food is ready.

SATURDAY

I babysat in the morning and then got to meet one of my first non-friend-or-family blog readers: the lovely Angeline (Ange)! So exciting- I wish I had gotten a photo :( We did a little book trade- 2 of my Twilight series books for her Skinny Bitch in the Kitch. She’s also letting me borrow this Junior League of New Orleans cookbook. I promised to return it, but after looking through some of the recipes I’m beginning to reconsider (KIDDING!!):

Saturday night we went to dinner with Brian’s sister, Maggie, and her husband, Mike, at Tillman’s Roadhouse. They were nice enough to pretend that they were not creeped out by me taking photos of their food.

I had Garlic Roasted Chicken with shaved brussels sprouts, fingerling potatoes and some type of dried cherry sauce. The dried cherries sold me on it:

Brian had Venison Frito Pie:

Maggie ordered the Chili Relleno with asparagus and baked sweet potato:

And finally, Mike had the Foie Gras-Sirloin Burger with carmelized shallots and melted brie:

But the best part? Dessert! Tableside S’mores with homemade marshallows (orange, mocha and maple), graham crackers and dark chocolate bark. The little “campfire”:

And my s’more (with the orange ‘mallow):

SUNDAY

I did my long run this morning at White Rock. This was a scaled-back week with “only” 10 miles on the schedule, and I did it in exactly 90 minutes. The achilles is still sore but manageable. I’ve been stretching a lot and slathering it with Tiger Balm which seems to be helping.

But that’s boring.

Here’s the cool part of the post. I met Giada De Laurentiis! She had a signing at Sur La Table today, so Brian and I waited in line from 10:30-12:30 to get her new cookbook, Giada’s Kitchen, signed. The SLT people told us that a line would probably start forming at 5 AM, but when we got there at 10:30 there were maybe 60 people in front of us. Not too bad. She was absolutely gorgeous in person and seemed really sweet! I totally froze up when I got to the signing table, and unfortunately my social lubricator (Brian- he’s actually wayyyy more chatty than I am) was taking the photo… so I just said something stupid like, “HIGIADAITSSONICETOMEETYOU.” And then stood there and gawked. Dammit. It was like the scene from A Christmas Story where Ralphie finally gets to sit in Santa’s lap and then immediately forgets what he wants for Christmas (An Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle).

The SLT employees were really anal about taking photos, so here’s the only one Brian was able to get:

That’s me in the green sweater, being socially awkward. And here’s my book:

So yea!!!

INSPIRED SURVEY TIME:

Have you met any celebrities? Any good stories (i.e., did you talk to them or just stand there like an idiot)?

 

We Live in a Zoo September 22, 2008

Filed under: September 2008 — heatherwlu @ 3:10 pm
Tags: ,

Busy busy weekend… Saturday morning the race started at 7:30, so we were up at 5:30 to get there on time. Good thing, too, because it was CROWDED. We had to park at a church across the street and then wait for a shuttle to the Arboretum. I ended up getting to the start line less than 5 minutes before the race started, which was a little stressful. But the race went well! I finished the 20K in 1 hour, 50 minutes- so just under a 9 min pace. The beginning and end were fine, but miles 6-11 went through some HILLY neighborhoods. All I could think of near the end was, “Dear God, I have to do this TWICE in a few months??” Yikes.

I did score some cool stuff afterwards. Brian said it felt like trick-or-treating:

  • Sweet Leaf Tea: Pomegranate and Honey-Mint Flavors
  • Vitamin Water
  • Clif Bars (Crunchy PB and a high-protein Vanilla Almond flavor)
  • Mini Larabars!!
  • Kiehl’s hair product and Lancome sunscreen
  • Aquaphor

And other random stuff, like a tiny first aid kit and some coupons (free Orange Cup yogurt!!). I also tried a bottle of Stampede Light, a local beer that’s “geared towards the health-conscious”. Not bad- for beer, I mean.

It’s a long story, but my parents are on vacation for 10 days, and one of their dogs got sick and had to go to the emergency vet… so we’ve been keeping their other dog, Annie. It’s been a little crazy; Piper hisses at the puppy whenever it moves and then Chloe in turn barks her head off at the cat. Needless to say, Annie’s been a bit freaked out… so she found herself a little hideout: The fireplace.

Isn’t that sad? Don’t worry, I don’t think the fireplace actually works.

Haha- here’s Brian trying to watch TV yesterday:

He’s obviously very amused by all of this.

Last night we headed over to Lauren and Robert’s for a BBQ, along with the May’s and their kiddos. Chloe behaved herself and didn’t try to hump any babies (thank God). It’s funny to watch the dogs interact with the kids. Chloe kept trying to sniff the babies’ ears and armpits, and Charlie (Lauren’s golden retriever) just snagged their chips and watermelon slices.

Can you believe that this:

Is now this?

Gabriel has gotten big! And Miss Molly- managing to keep her watermelon away from the dogs (for the moment):

Although Chloe’s really hoping that she drops some…

On the food front: I did bake some pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting (from the More From Magnolia cookbook), but forgot to take a photo :( They were really more like cake than bars- similar to a spice cake. Not bad, but not that exciting either.

Okay, off for a short run and then studying sanitation for a quiz tonight. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

 

Crocs Are Cool September 18, 2008

Filed under: September 2008 — heatherwlu @ 5:36 pm
Tags: , ,

Hey guys- I’m posting late today… sorry!!! Last night got a little crazy. We went out for some friends’ birthdays and apparently three glasses of wine = sleepy Heather. W&L would be so disappointed.

So the big top secret baking project: BANANA BUTTERSCOTCH CUPCAKES.

It was a secret because I was making them for said friends’ b-day. The recipe is the first one I’ve tried from this cookbook:

And I would type it out here but I don’t want to get sued for copyright infringement or anything (though I do know a good lawyer…). I looked around online and it is very similar to this one. I’m all about the standard buttercream, but this butterscotch frosting was SO GOOOOOD. You basically boil brown sugar with half-and-half, stick it in the fridge to cool, cream some powdered sugar and butter, and then add in the cooled brown sugar mixture and some vanilla. I added a lot more powdered sugar than was called for because the icing initially came out really thin.

And here they are, drizzled with caramel (from the jar- gasp!):

Also, I’m a huge fan of the Martha Stewart Crafts line at Michael’s. Some of the stuff is a little pricey, but this week they had ribbons and stickers on sale. I found some cute dot stickers and brown twill ribbon to decorate a boring white bakery box:

So here’s the birthday couple, Kelly and Julie (you may recognize them from Crazy May Days):

Isn’t it cute that they’re married and share a birthday week? That’s nice. It’s a good thing that Brian and I have several months between our b-days, because I’d probably demand my own party anyway (Brian is reading this and nodding).

And here’s Lauren and Robert:

And Robert’s sweet Crocs:

The boys…

And the girls (I’m wearing TALL shoes)…

Hope everyone’s having a good day! I just got back from running (5 mi tempo) and now I’m waiting for the pest control guy to come spray. I have a really exciting day planned of bathing Chloe and cleaning the house. Don’t be jealous.

 

Blonde and Blonder September 11, 2008

Filed under: September 2008 — heatherwlu @ 4:12 am
Tags: , ,

So it’s been like 48 hours since I’ve posted a Chloe pic, so I’d say we’re way overdue- no?

This morning I got up, made some breakfast, read my favorite blogs and then realized that I’d never gotten Chloe out of bed (it’s too tall for her to jump down). I went in the bedroom and didn’t see her, but then the duvet moved… and here’s what was burrowed underneath:

She looks like she wants to bite me.

Finally managed to crack open The Art of Simple Food today. We talked about braising meat in class last week, so I was excited to find a recipe for Chicken Legs Braised with Tomatoes, Onions and Garlic. Instead of legs I used bone-in breasts. You basically just braise the chicken in olive oil, remove the chicken and sautee some onions, deglaze the pan and add some tomatoes and herbs, and then return the chicken to the pan to simmer with broth.

Here are the onions post-deglazing:

And the final dish, served over polenta:

This was kind of bland :( Maybe I did something wrong… but it was just too simple. A little grated parmesan did help, though.

I got my hair cut and colored today. I planned on just doing my standard highlights and getting an inch trimmed off the ends, but I ended up with waaaaaay blonder, SHORT hair.

A la What Not To Wear…Before:

After (Makeup helps, too… and not having a fish dangled in front of your face):

Different, but I like it… let’s just hope that I can actually fix it on my own tomorrow! That’s the hard part.

Training Update: Monday and Tuesday I just did 3.5-4 mile easy runs, but today we did a 4 mi hill workout at Flag Pole Hill, a 250 yard gradual incline close to my house (there’s a Runner’s World article featuring this hill here). I felt like I was going to DIE; it was pathetic. But hopefully mixing it up with this hill/speed stuff will ultimately help… right?

OH- did anyone watch Project Runway tonight??? Um, could Kinley be any whinier? And sassing the judges = not cool. My money’s on her going home next week.

Witness Chloe’s confusion towards Suede constantly talking in third person. She’s on Team Leanne.

 

Simple Food September 5, 2008

Filed under: September 2008 — heatherwlu @ 2:33 am
Tags: , ,

I spent most of this afternoon at home today. I was supposed to be reading and doing homework for class, but instead I just took pictures of the dog.

Here’s how Chloe spent her day from 10am-2pm… gradually sliding looooower down the couch until she was basically in a faceplant. And I wonder why my cushions are all saggy and shapeless.

I tried to perk her up by sharing some pretzels. For some reason she took a really long time to eat this one. She just kept staring at me with it hanging out of her mouth.

Her eyes look like she’s trying to tell me something. Maybe she wanted some PB.

This afternoon I went to the mall to spend a gift certificate to Williams & Sonoma that I got for my birthday from my in-laws (thanks Scott & Kathy!). The clerk almost convinced me to buy an Ina Garten cookbook, but I ended up with The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters. I feel like it’s definitely a classic and something I can actually read instead of just pulling a few recipes. Anybody have it? What should I try first? Someday I want to visit Chez Panisse. Someday…

My purchases:

W&S had all of their fall foods out (!!!) and I couldn’t leave without a jar of their Pecan Pumpkin Butter. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but if you ever want to sucker me into buying something, just tell me that it’s going to sell out fast. I will then buy 4 jars of it, whatever it is. I also sampled their Maple Pecan Butter, and OH MY GOD- it tastes like a praline in a jar. So good (but also has the calorie count of a praline, sadly).

For dinner I just stopped at Central Market and bought 2 “personal” pizzas and a salad to share. I tried the Amy’s Roasted Vegetable No Cheese Pizza.

I was pretty disappointed in the size when I first took it out of the box. It just looked like a big piece of focaccia. I ended up baking it for about 9 minutes, crumbling some goat cheese on top (take THAT, Amy) and then baking another 2 minutes.

Dude, this pizza was gooooooood. The sauce tasted like carmelized onions, and though there weren’t as many veggies as displayed on the box, I didn’t feel like I was missing out. The goat cheese was a nice touch but it would have been just fine on it’s own. I will definitely be buying this one again!

And my side salad with lots of Aimee’s Woodstock Dressing:

Off to finish homework, make my lunch for school tomorrow, and maybe read a little…? Speaking of, all you Twilight fans should check out this link Lauren sent me today.

Just let me know if you need my address :)

 

‘Nanner Muffins August 27, 2008

Filed under: August 2008 — heatherwlu @ 2:12 am
Tags: , ,

So this afternoon I was bored… and when I’m bored, I bake. I guess that’s better than dressing the dog in costumes (which happens when we run out of flour… see? And here, too) or watching the same Family Guy episode for the 358th time (Lois gambles away the family station wagon at the Indian Casino). Tonight I cracked open Veganomicon and settled on the “Lower Fat Banana Bread” recipe- only I made banana muffins, and made it less “lower fat” by adding chocolate chips. Mmmm.

Brian was really excited when I told him I was baking banana bread. He even made the Krystal Face, which is this really creepy excited expression he gets whenever someone mentions Krystal hamburgers (GROSS). If you’re not familiar with Krystal (and I wasn’t until I met Brian), they make tiny burgers that smell like B.O.

See what you’re missing out on by not living in the South?

Mexican food sounded really good tonight, so we headed to Blue Mesa for dinner. The great thing about Blue Mesa is that they have a few “healthier” items on the menu, and they actually present you with all of the nutrition info for these. I had the Spa Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas, which are topped with tomatillo sauce and served with grilled sweet potatoes and asparagus.

The whole meal was only 363 cal, 9g fat, 9g fiber and 16g protein. Not bad. Although I did have half a basket of their sweet potato chips first…

Thanks for all of the well wishes on the toe! Today it looks a lot worse (if you can believe it), but feels much better. I actually did some sprints this morning- 400’s- and weirdly enough it was the cool down walking/jogging that was uncomfortable. The sprinting part didn’t hurt at all.