Oh.My. Goodness.

Is there any more perfect combination than chocolate + peanut butter? I submit no.



I heated up a chocolate chocolate chip muffin and whipped up some easy White Chocolate Wonderful PB frosting to glaze the top (1 T PB, 2 T coconut milk, got a little sassy this morning and added a pinch of powdered sugar). Served with pineapple and cherries on the side.

My to-do list today includes:

*a 4-mile walk & yoga class
*ironing clothes
*call my sweet mama
*read unbroken--lay by the pool perhaps?
*family dinner with hubs
*Bible study tonight
*Relax and enjoy the day!!

Sometimes it's difficult for me to accept that it is okay to take a break and not be working all day! I'm just used to 12-14 hour work days, and now that it's summer, I have a hard time taking a chill-pill. Today I will be okay with chillaxing!! Bye for now!

The hubs is home!

I'll drink to that :)

He's exhausted and sunburned, and I am babbling non-stop from lack of human interaction this weekend, but it's great to be together again! I really missed him. It sounds like the guys' weekend was full of fishing, beer, and some "incredible" banana rum--and hubs came home with 5 lbs of trout to show for it!



Can't wait to cook this up! For now, into the freezer it goes.

Lunch today was some good "southern" eats: gardein chicken tenders with ketchup for dippin', sweet potato fries, and baby corn. YUM!



For din-din tonight, we will be feasting on the Pioneer Woman's chicken spaghetti.



How do I know my sweet mama loves me? Because she cooks these babies up for me to store in my freezer for use on nights such as these, when the hubs is too exhausted to cook and our budget is too tight for take-out. Thanks, mom! ;)

Off to chow down and watch August Rush with my baby! LOVE this movie.

"The music is all around us, all you have to do is listen."

Emergency Chocolate

I got back from a good sweaty t-shirt producing run with a dire need for chocolate. And chocolatey oats simply would not do this morning. I had saved this recipe for chocolate muffins from cooking light, and decided that despite our lack of groceries, I could probably improvise and whip up something delicious!

Dry ingredients:



7.9 oz flour (I did a mish-mash of white, ww pasty, and ww)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Wet ingredients:



1 cup warm water
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 Tbs red wine vinegar (I was skeptical about this...but you can't taste it at all!)
1 Tbs vanilla extract
1 large egg (we're out of eggs so I used Ener-G egg replacer)
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided into 2 1/4 cup servings

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine flour and next five ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the bowl. Combine 1 cup water and next 4 ingredients (through egg) in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Stir in 1/4 cup chocolate chips. Add oil mixture to flour mixture, stirring until just moist.



The best thing about eggless baking?? Eating the batter, salmonella-fear free.

Coat 12 muffin tin with cooking spray and divide evenly. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips evenly on batter. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

Before going into the oven!


These were delicious!! I would absolutely make them again. I enjoyed mine alongside some pineapple and cherries.



Have a blessed Sunday morning!

A day of so-so eats....

Middle of the month budget panic + lack of grocery shopping = lackluster eats today. I started the day with high expectations for some overnight oats. In the mix: 1/3 cup oats, 2/3 cup soymilk, 1/3 cup of homemade granola added in the AM in an almost-empty PB jar.



This was just okay. The oats were really soggy and did not really absorb the milk. Maybe I added too much? I usually make OO with a milk/yogurt combo, but we were out of yogurt. Lesson learned!

After walking 4 miles on the treadmill (and watching an ep of Rocco's Dinner Party--why did I not know about this show sooner??) and going to Body Pump, I was famished again! Enter so-so meal #2 of the day.



I heated up some leftover eggplant from last night and polished off the veggies we had remaining in our fridge (cuke & tomato) and drizzled them in italian dressing. Both were kind of meh. Soggy eggplant, and veggies that were past their prime. BUT my meal was redeemed by Gardein chicken tenders. These were delicious!! I bought them on a whim during my last whole foods trip, and I have a feeling they will become a staple. I dipped them in the last of the Mmmm sauce.

As a side note, I think the eight year old in me will always have a heart for fried chicken fingers. Back in the day, I ordered chicken fingers everytime I went out to dinner with my family (which was a lot--my mom worked a lot and didn't have a lot of time to whip up a meal). Chili's chicken crispers, anyone??



A winner today was a delicious juice! I am loving my new juicer. I juiced some celery, a beet, an apple, the remainder of our bag of baby carrots, some kale and pineapple.



They look much more appealing in liquid form, no?



I had dinner plans with some extended family members. I wore a dress from one of my favorite Dallas botiques, the Impeccable Pig.



We went to La Madeline, where the salad I ordered was, again, just so-so. Think drencked in dressing. Meh.

Thankfully, my nighttime snack looks promising.



Off to read through my curriculum for my new job!! Teacher training in t-minus 8 days...

Lobster Ice Cream

Sounds delicious, no? Newsweek has an interesting article on the world's wildest ice cream flavors. The top 5 wildest, from my perspective, are:

1. Salt and Pepper (San Franscisco, CA)
2. Lobster (Bar Harbor, Maine)
3. Feta Cheese and Basil (Atlanta, GA)
4. Garlic (Puerto Rico)
5. Rice and Beans (Puerto Rico)

Honestly, I can't imagine stomaching any of these flavors. The strangest ice cream flavor I had ever heard of was pistachio, which is surprisingly good (it's all sweet, not salty like the real deal). Who knows? Maybe Lobster ice cream is a hidden treasure!

I had a fabulous day today. I felt like I started to get my "glow" back after getting some pretty devastating news on Monday afternoon. I woke up from my 24-hour "back on track" juice fast with a hankering for some carb-loaded sugary sweetness. And I hankered for it quickly. Enter: frozen buckwheat waffles! I whipped them up in no time, topped with some microwaved frozen blueberries and some PB frosting (1 T white chocolate wonderful + 2 T coconut milk = PB frosting. For real, amazeballs).



I lunched with the hubs at his office, where I munched on some delicious seafood cakes atop a salad. His office has awesome food choices, for a great price. On school days, I often feel a pang of jealous when I realize he is feasting on fresh broiled salmon and I am downing a sandwich-baggie PB&J!

On the way home, I couldn't help myself. I stopped for a $1 diet coke from Mickie D's. Can't beat it!



Afternoon acitivities included making some delicious raw chocolate chip cookie dough balls. I'm thinking there might be some cookie dough blizzard action in my future...



The hubs headed out of town for a guy's weekend fishing trip so I was on my own for dinner. I cooked up a grilled egg plant sandwich on ezekiel sesame seed bread, complete with mozzarella, mmmm sauce, and corn with vegan butter on the side. And I have have had a glass of wine (or two...)



Spending my evening with Friends. Nite!