It's Pretty Easy Being Green

For real, I do not really understand this St. Patrick's Day thing, but it does give me an excuse to theme it up around here! In between working and otherwise being busy, everyone had three square meals that were all decked out for the, um ... holiday ...

The kids' breakfast and my dinner featured green eggs. I was
a tool and forgot the ham for their breakfast (they either didn't
notice or forgot, too). This was my main course for dinner
while everyone else had gross corned beef. GAG.

I love making the St. Pat's lunch. Who doesn't want green
peanut butter?!?!

There's always a green chip! This year, I picked out the faux
spinach chips in the veggie chip bag.

Other lunch sides included green vanilla yogurt and green
ranch dip. Because everything must be green.

Well, not everything. You need a little luck on your side, too,
which comes in the form of a gold coin surrounded by green
M&Ms. Those are bonus points.

The gold Oreo was a work in progress. I saw in my Facebook feed how one could use edible gold color mist to turn an ordinary Oreo into a shiny coin. Yeah, not so much. I suppose it could have worked had I planned on one can of color mist per cookie. After that abysmal failure, I spread a very thin layer of icing on the cookies and covered them with the sparkly, gold sugar. It totally worked and was a hit! Oh, and if you're wondering if you can put that sugar in a coffee grinder to make it more of a fine powder, you can, but it will lose all of its luster. I've already taken it for the team there, so save yourself the effort, and live with the big pieces. As long as it's edible, not a kid in the world will care. I know that for a fact multiplied by two.

I also used a wee part of today mapping tomorrow's run -- it's time to turn in the 11-miler! I'm just saying that I'll be happy when it's behind me! I hope the luck of the Irish or whatever brings it to you was with you today, and I'll be checking in after the morning run!

A New Go-To

This was the kind of day that could drive a girl to drink. Fo'real. And, while it didn't help anything that Aaron and I stayed up way too late after the final rose, I can't blame it on that. There were entirely too many real things going on; I only wish it were some made-up angst about The Bachelor outcome.

I planned to share this newfound tasty drink today anyway, but it happens that it was my go-to when someone else might grab something a little stronger ... or that might make one tipsy. Anyway, mine looks like this:

I realize it's a terrible pic, but I was in the mood to have it right now, so the display of it escaped me. Anyway, it's a drink I adapted from the Trim Healthy Mama website of their Good Girl Moonshine. You can check it out here, but here's what's in mine:

I start by putting about 8 ounces of water in that 32-ounce cup.
From there, I add 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice, 2 Tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and 1 Teaspoon of ground ginger.
After giving that a stir, I fill the cup to the top with crushed ice.
Finally, I top it all off with however much more water fits in the cup.

Believe it or not, the cup above is full to the top. It just doesn't look like it.

Anyway ... Voila!

I know. Very potentially, it sounds disgusting. In fact, Aaron finds it to be just that. Pit Crew #2 and I, however, love it. It's both tangy and soothing, and, believe it or not, it totally curbs hunger if you have those snacking pains. There are plenty of websites touting the nutritional benefits of apple cider vinegar as well as ginger, but, all I know is this tastes delicious. And, after a day like today when I would normally turn to a big, Diet Coke, I craved this.

And, apparently, I won't be fighting Aaron over it.

Let's start over tomorrow, shall we? And, we'll do so with a morning run ...

Sunday Is a Great Day For Rest

It's been a pretty great Rest Day around here -- namely, because I got some rest this morning!! The young Crewers and I stayed up extra late (for some of us) talking during our sleepover, so taking a little extra time to sleep was the right way to start the day for all of us!

All of the pets joined in the sleepover, too. When Pit Crew #3 got up from his mattress, Elly felt entitled to join in the fun all the way:

She enjoyed the moment while she could.

Speaking of yesterday's moments of enjoyment, I must tip my hat to those who have already figured out, and were kind enough to put on the internet, the secret to baking chicken that tastes almost exactly like it's been fried. The secret is baking powder!

Here's ours from last night:

It was as delicious as it looks if you're a fried chicken fan.

For 8 drumsticks, I mixed in a bowl 2 tablespoons of baking powder plus about a quarter teaspoon of both salt and pepper. If the chicken needs to be patted dry, do so before rolling pieces in the mixture. The legs were covered but tapped to get off any extra. Once they were fully cooked in the 425 degree oven, I coated them with a light swath of mixed melted butter and hot sauce (about a teaspoon of melted butter and three tablespoons of hot sauce did the trick to cover them) and baked for another few minutes. Adding this step takes any bit of dryness out of the skin that can result from the baking powder; I found that out on my first successful attempt the other night. It was still very tasty, but brushing it with a little something at the end was exactly what it needed.

This is so easy (and inexpensive!) that the family can expect to see it in front of them on the dinner table often.

So, the weekend is trying to wind down, but there is still a lot to tend to before hunkering down! I'm off to take care of business, but I'll be checking in after the morning run! See you then ...

Catching Up

Today’s Numbers: Nancy's Total Movement Mileage: 128.8 (running: 124.9; walking: 3.9; biking: 0) Elly's miles: 74  Money Found For Food Bank: $40.29

Okay, so, I did run yesterday. Elly and I both ran. And, by the time evening rolled around, I could barely remember having run because the day was that full. And, so it goes ...

I'm glad to have run yesterday instead of today because there was another temperature drop this morning, and it was just cold. I'm down with the cold when it stays there for a while, but can be difficult to ride the daily coaster. The forecast was for a small potential of freezing rain this morning, which was the reason for the switch, and I am never down with running in freezing rain. Well, I'm sure I would be down ... on my butt ... We didn't get the rain, but it all worked out well anyway. Tomorrow is the last 2-miler of the training schedule, and I intend to enjoy the short jaunt.

In the meantime, I have to report I inflicted the latest radish dish on the family at dinner the other night. I didn't tell the kids what it was nor did I wonder if Pit Crew #2 was going to like them (I knew she would). It was PC#3 whom I watched with glee as he cleaned up his serving without blinking an eye. When asked if he liked it, he said in his most respectful duh tone, "Well, it's potatoes. What's not to like?" It was when I divulged they were radishes that the eye blinked commenced. He appeared to not know how to process the information.

I completely understood.

So, I've had a craving for them again and went to the store to get more. The first time I bought them, they were already crinkle-cut into chips and in a bag. When Aaron went to get some, he could only find them smoothly pre-cut in a plastic container. And, when I went today, I had to get a bag of them whole because nothing was already done for me. I know it's more economical to do myself, I just didn't want to have to (and, there was no way I was going to the work of cutting them if they were going to taste like crap, so the first round had to be as easy as possible!).

I guess I know something else on my to-do list tomorrow:

Prior to last week, that would have been one of the ugliest sights I've ever seen. I'm still not too stoked to wash and cut them. I know, I know: Boo hoo ...
Well, the wash-n-cut will come after the quick run in the morning! I'll be checking in; see you then ...

And, That's How Sunday Rolled ...

I was soooooooooo going to take a walk today. And, then, I didn't. I took a wee, little nap instead.

The temperature dropped by 20 degrees today, so at the time I thought I'd mosey around outside, it was still chilly. I didn't feel like changing clothes to dress for it, so I put on a DVRed episode of Steve Harvey and napped on the couch which required no wardrobe change ...

It was fabulous.

Also fabulous is my newfound method (it take me a while to catch up or catch on) of making ice cream ahead of time and freezing individual servings in the containers I had to buy to do such a thing. You might recall that I started my little experiment this past Thursday to see if adding vegetable glycerine made a difference in the smoothness of the ice cream, both right out of the maker and once thawed from being frozen hard.

My verdict: In the batch from the experiment, there was a definite difference for the better in how smooth it turned out. In the batch I made last night, there seemed to be as many icy crystals as not using it (which doesn't bother me, it's just not as creamy smooth) but -- and, this is probably more important than anything to me -- it thawed way better after having frozen solid overnight. So, it was ready to eat quicker today, and it was no more icy than it was fresh out of the machine. I most definitely attribute that difference to the vegetable glycerine, so we will definitely continue using it:

Yeah, I know it says it's for skin care. If you
spring for the bigger bottle, it lets you know
it's totally edible. I guess those words don't
fit on the smaller label ...

Oh, it only takes a tablespoon to add to a recipe with a serving size of 5-6.

In other edible news, someone really liked their pulled chicken with home made BBQ sauce last night ...

It was house member Number 5. Yeah ... Elly got to the bowl that wasn't yet taken from the table we were at during movie night. Boy, did she look guilty when I walked in on her!

We normally wash those bowls instead of putting them in the dishwasher because we use them so much. That bowl is in the dishwasher where it will stay until it is run ...

Speaking of running, it's not on the schedule to do so, but I'm heading out for a run tomorrow! Because I can. Have a great start to your week, and I'll check in after!! May you have a moment as happy as the pup finding the bowl ...

Thwarted For a Greater Good

Today’s Numbers: Nancy's Total Movement Mileage: 109.2 (running: 106.8; walking: 2.4; biking: 0) Elly's miles: 64.5  Money Found For Food Bank: $38.92

Elly's having a difficult time deciding
what she wants to do, too ...

It's one of those moments where I have more thoughts scrambling around in my brain than I seem to be able to handle. And, every one of the things I feel like I need to do right now feels like it is the top priority, so every decision about what to do feels like I'm making the wrong one. So, what did I turn to but to go right here where I decompress and regroup a little bit almost every day ...

I had an errand to run this afternoon, so I designed it so I could get a decent walk in while doing so. I'd already had a long and tiring morning, but why not throw a walk in there, too?! I haven't had much of an opportunity to do so, so I capitalized on the moment and did that two-birds-one-stone thing.

Speaking of capitalizing on moments: Yesterday, before I got some (great) news (that required my attention the rest of the afternoon and thwarted my vision of actually pondering what to do ...!), I did jump on freer time in the morning and whipped up some Trim Healthy Mama goods. I had plans to do more in the afternoon; but, I'm not complaining!

Anyway, first, it was time to make some ice cream! Mmmm ... There was a functional reason for this, though, as the blogger I like to follow most recently suggested putting a tablespoon of vegetable glycerin into the recipe to (a) help keep it from freezing too hard to the sides of the maker, and (b) to up the creaminess while helping to keep it from being too icy when thawing out leftovers. We tried it recently, and while the ice cream still stuck to the sides of the maker as much as it ever did, I did think I could taste a difference in creaminess both in the original batch and in the leftover. But, I wasn't certain.

"I'll help you out by tasting it, mommy ..."

So, what's a girl to do but make a half batch with and a half batch without, then freeze and see how it turns out!

Two with; two without!

The couldn't have been more predictable thing was that I was on the phone when putting together Round 2. So, when I got off the phone and poured the mix into the machine, I had no idea whether or not I'd added the glycerin (which I wasn't supposed to). With no way to tell, you know what that meant:

Extras at the bottom of the freezer!
Quick: Name someone who wasn't
bothered by extra! Starts with an A ...

We've tried the 'with' batch, and I do think it made a positive difference. We'll try the 'without' and let you know!

When Aaron came home and got dinner ready, I had time to make another batch of THM chocolate sauce ...

Slam. Dunk. Fabulous.!!

Now, it's hard to go wrong with the ice cream recipes we've used, so those really aren't news except for our intrigue about the vegetable glycerin. And, then, there was this ...

Remember when I said the THM people had me at okra in terms of my desire to buy their new cookbook? When I got it and started reading, I not only saw props for okra, but they also brought to the forefront of my brain radishes.

Believe me, they would not have had me at radishes ...

So, why radishes? The bottom line is they are of the vegetables that fall positively in the lowest calorie to highest nutrient ratio. Okay, so you can't beat that. But, can you beat the taste out of them? Because I happen to think they suck. The answer is ...

YES. Yes, you can beat cook the taste right out of them! I bought a bag of radish chips (having failed at finding the suggested matchstick variety). I put them on a pan in about a half teaspoon of butter, sprinkled salt over the top and let them cook for about 20 minutes turning them every so often.

I will completely admit that I had to remind myself that it was okay to try the first bite because, as my fork was approaching my mouth, I could feel my tongue retract and my mouth start to clench shut. Then I reminded myself that I voluntarily embarked on this venture, and that I could just dump it if it sucks, and I tried them.

Bite 1: Fine. Not offensive, just kind of there.
Bite 2: Much better than fine. In fact, I think I need another bite.
Bite 3: Could not get enough of them and was sad when they were gone!

I'm often like that with the 3-bite thing. Often, there are things I seem to have to get over on that first one or two.

Anyway, yes, the bitter of the normally disgusting vegetable went to the wayside, and I was left with something that was as close to a little side of potato as I could hope for! Who knew?!?

So, those were my kitchen accomplishments yesterday. What bumped the rest of my plans was totally worth it, so I have no complaints! And, now that I'm really quite decompressed and somewhat focused, it's time to map tomorrow's long run and take care of some other business! I hope your slide into Friday is just what you want, and I'll be checking in after the morning run!

This Time, They Had Me At Dor-i-to ...

Happy Super Bowl Sunday!!

I'd care a whole lot more if the Seahawks were in it, but it's still fun to pick a team and cheer! We have a house divided -- Aaron and Pit Crew #2 rooting for the Broncos while PC#3 and I are for the Panthers, so it'll be a fun rivalry in house!

First of all, the Panthers are the ones who knocked out the Seahawks. If they were going to be beat, I'd much prefer it be by the team that goes all the way. Second, how cool is it that Michael Oher (of The Blind Side story) is on the Panthers? That's pretty cool if you ask me ...

Of course, we make a bit of a thing about the Super Bowl no matter what which, of course, includes Super Bowl food. Translation: Of all days, this is the one where the kids can count on me to buy them a bag of Doritos. I don't like to have Doritos in the house because they'll be all gone, all the time. Not one of us would be immune to their deliciousness. This year, they're all for the kids because I stumbled across the most delicious snack recipe from Trim Healthy Mama that totally sets Doritos aside as far as I'm concerned! Not bagging on the Doritos as a whole. They're just not good for this mama anymore!

Anyway, the recipe came through my Facebook feed about a week ago, and the only thing I really remember about it was that the person reporting on it said it tasted like Doritos. I'm listening ... The recipe is in their new cookbook, so I had to look it up and give it a try.

They're called Crispy Addictions (p. 459), and they absolutely live right up to that name! You make them with large flake coconut (we found ours at Natural Grocers -- I'm getting pretty good at navigating asking the associates to find things in that store!). There's only a teaspoon of oil spread over the coconut, and, from there, the book has a sweet recipe as well as a savory one. We went for the savory which includes hot wing sauce, onion powder, nutritional yeast and garlic ...

They bake at the oven's lowest temperature for hours. The
directions are to leave them in there overnight. We did ours
during the day for seven hours, tasting a piece every few hours.
Toward the end, it was difficult to keep our hands out of the pan!

The finished, delicious-beyond-words product!

As soon as I got up this morning, I started making another batch. That way, I will be more inclined to share during the Super Bowl rather than ration and act like I didn't stash some out of everyone's sight. PC#3 reminded me he has Doritos and will be zeroing in on those, but, once they're gone ... For real, he really seemed to like this! I think he had a wee concern that if he looked like he really liked them, that there would be no Doritos for Super Bowl 51 ...

Two funny things about this recipe -- First: I am no fan of coconut. But, after baking for this long, it's not in-your-face coconutty. It's just a crispy base with a hint of coconut taste wrapped in all of the other mouth watering spicing! Second: Had I not seen this recipe on my Facebook feed, I'm not sure how it would have caught my attention in the cookbook. I think I saw it the many times I've gone through the book, but it never grabbed me. I'm definitely thankful for the THM recipe testimonials and how someone likened these to Doritos.

I wish you could smell my kitchen right now. Savory goodness just waiting to be devoured ... Mmmm ...

I wish your team luck this evening or, at least, that you enjoy whatever you make of the Super Bowl! I'll be checking in after what is forecast to be a very cold morning run!

Fuel Restocked

Yowza!! It's COLD out there!! It's a good thing I planned ahead and watched the weather so I would know what to do this morning. It was sunny and beautiful out, but looks can be deceiving as it was also 2 degrees not including any wind chill!! I didn't find any of this out until I got up after sleeping in late ... which was fabulous! Anyway, I'd already prepared to take today off from running along with yesterday, so it all worked out great!

I used a lot of this weekend to get the kitchen reasonably ready for the week! More accurately, last week, I used little holes in the day I could find to scope recipes in the new Trim Healthy Mama cookbook to see if there was even one more that caught my eye. Believe me, there are plenty waiting to be caught; it's a matter of sitting down to find them! I figure if I look for one every other week, I won't get frustrated with too much new at once, if you know what I mean!

To that end, I found a BBQ chicken recipe we have on the dinner menu for later this week, and I also found a recipe for ketchup that turned out to be awesome! I had some with my black bean burger wrap for lunch today, and it was perfect!

I know it looks like a mess. But, focus on the ketchup ...

This recipe for no-sugar ketchup is really close to the THM one I made. Ditch the molasses, allspice and cayenne pepper, and it's almost the same. I adjusted the water content of mine up, but that's a personal thing. Anyway, if you're on the hunt to get rid of sugar in one more place in your corner of the world, I recommend trying this! I love THM, but I did miss ketchup. Ba-da-BING, it's BACK!

It's the little things that can make for a fantastic lunch ...

With the wrap in the back and a side of quinoa that I reheat on a frying pan until it got crispy (my favorite way to eat it), I topped of this frigid day's lunch with a vanilla smoothie finally amended to the way I like 'em!

The smoothie quest has been a slow and quiet one for me. Aaron's the real smoothie king around here while I have other things I enjoy for lunch or in-betweens. My smoothie issue has been its density, but I got that figured out today by throwing in a half cup of light cottage cheese. After blending that up, the consistency of an ice cream milkshake held up all the way through the last sip! The above drink contains 1/2 C each of unsweetened vanilla almond milk and light cottage cheese, about a tablespoon of sweetener (I could have used another teaspoon or so), a tablespoon of vanilla extract, a teaspoon of sugar free French vanilla creamer and a cup of crushed ice, all thrown in the blender and blasted together. Had it been my meal, I would have put in a scoop of protein powder. But, I really just wanted something to accompany my burger and quinoa.

Another kitchen success were these last night:

Last Fall, I shared an Everything Bagel Breadstick recipe. This is the exact recipe, but I made them into balls instead of sticks. Frankly, I thought they were much better! With more surface to cook, they were a little more bagel-bite than a soft breadstick very closely resembling the taste of an everything bagel. They're really good either way, but I'll be sticking to making them into balls! They're easier to create (seeing as you don't have to roll them long) and manage (much easier to place one little dough ball on a pan than to move a breadstick without breaking it). Oh -- the original recipe for these calls for egg washing the outside before putting on the seeds. I did no such thing for these, and the seeds stuck great.

Rounding out the kitchen this weekend was another batch of my aforementioned Cry No More brownies ...

These just don't last. I cut them into small squares and put half
in the freezer with the other half available in the fridge. That way,
if we forget about them, the whole batch isn't lost as well as it
helps ration them a bit because they're known to be easy to grab
and throw in the ol' mouth for some people around here!

... and Aaron's sprouted bread that I lovelovelove to use for egg white French Toast:

A work in progress. So yummy!

That recipe is here (yeah, it's not actually Aaron's sprouted bread as it is that he's the one who makes it for us.). Aaron's a super-whiz at whipping this up. The recipe makes two loaves, but we landed on cutting it in half to make one at a time because, if you don't eat it fast enough because you went on some other oh-I-found-and-now-love-this-recipe tangent and forget about your beautiful bread, it has nothing in it to preserve it for a forgetful amount of time! Just a heads up.

So, the kitchen has served me well on these really cold days!! I'm genuinely thankful for the THM guidance -- I've said it before, but I'll reiterate I feel so much better all the time because of it! And, now that I'm restocked in the fueling department, we'll see how much the weather lends itself to running this week. Tomorrow sounds like a definite at this point, so I'll be checking in after I thaw!

Yummy Flashback Brought To the Present

Here we are on the third day of the New Year, and I still haven't run (insert big smile *here*.). It's not that I don't want to (because I kinda do), but the time has been well used. So, who can complain? On today's morning agenda: sleeping in after a really late night! I enjoyed both endeavors completely! This morning was followed by a good balance of real life (paying bills and grocery lists ... both ewww ...) as well as more craft time with Pit Crew #2 plus a round of "Extreme Life" with the whole fam. (Extreme Life = the game of Life we had as kids but pumped up. I'm not a huge fan of fixing what ain't broke, but this new version is very fun. And not just because I won big time.)

As a snippet of the day did include meal planning (seriously ... eww ... it does bore me so), I wanted to share a dish I made from one of the many Trim Healthy Mama bloggers out there because it was easy and fantastic! It looks like this:

I know. Easy, right? You can tell by looking. But, it's a dish I didn't think possible given such things as regular noodles are off the table (literally). But, Dreamfields pasta to the rescue (higher protein and fiber, thank you very much), and this is a flashback to one of my favorite memories with Aaron ...

Cue the flashback twinkly sounds: When Aaron and I were first married and predictably pretty broke, we had access to credit to a convenience store because of my job. One day, we picked up a box of cheeseburger Hamburger Helper. I have no idea what possessed us to do this except for the fact that it was, effectively, free. Aaron had never had it, and I certainly had not as boxed foods like that around my house growing up were shunned. You can guess it was a huge disappointment to my parents for them to discover I loved box cake mix after their years of baking them from scratch. But, I digress ...

I still remember making that cheeseburger Hamburger Helper, and I still remember Aaron's and my astonishment that it tasted fantastic!! Gourmet, it was not, but it was TASTY. We never bought it again, though. Look, there are some things I simply can't explain.

So, fast forward almost 20 years, and I've definitely nixed boxed dinner helpers as well as white breads and noodles and the such from the house. And, then, one day, I stumble across this recipe and crave it just reading it. It's as simple as a pound of ground turkey, fully cooked and drained, mixed with the cooked noodles (about 6 ounces for the pound of meat). Add to that 2 cups of cheddar cheese, garlic powder to taste (I used almost a tablespoon), 2 tablespoons of taco seasoning and just enough almond milk (in my case, a little less than a quarter cup) to make a bit of a sauce.

The verdict: DELISH. Aaron agreed that it tasted just as good as that little box we devoured back in the day. I'm going to make a batch then have it in the fridge to spoon out for a quick lunch. That'll easily take me through a week if I don't get any help eating it. Which means I will likely need to hide it (hahahaha).

Part of this week of The Return To Normal will be to figure out a handful of make-aheads to keep stashed in the fridge. It'll just make my life a little easier. And, yes, I know I'm way behind the curve in terms of how many people already do this. Better late than never!

And, tomorrow? We run for real!! I'll be checking in after ...

Bringing It Forward

Just today, the excitement of Christmas hit me!! I've not not been looking forward to it, but I haven't really yet felt it. In part, that has to do with the fact that it's 60 degrees (yuck!!). And, it tends to take me a few of the first days of Christmas Break to unwind enough to realize it really is break! The feeling hit just in time, too, as it was the day I proclaimed we work together on the cookies!

There's one cookie recipe in particular we made every, single Christmas growing up, and it's the singular recipe I maintained and continued almost every year since being on my own. They're called Birds Nests. It was a recipe passed through my Dad's family and seemed to be the family Belle of the Cookie Ball.

Check out that boss wallpaper and my sweet nightgown threads.

That's me and my brother, 1978, decorating the Birds Nests. Every year, my brother asks me if I sent him any for Christmas. Too bad for him that I mailed his goods before we even thought about baking this year (more for us!).

Here's a batch of ours from last year as decorated by the young Crewers:

I have a confession to make: I do like these, but I don't love them. I'm more emotionally attached to them -- both from childhood and because our kids like them so much -- than I actually want to devour them. And, in truth, I'm not a huge sweets fan in general (Savory is where it's at. And, popcorn. Popcorn is the world's most perfect food. That and artichokes. YUM.). ANYWAY, given my mission to rid my environment of most white sugar, this presented an interesting situation this year ...

I did commit to two things for Christmas baking: (1) I will make Birds Nest proper as well as a round of them made with substituted ingredients; (2) Unless there's something in particular anyone wants in the sweet zone and was willing to help make, the buck would stop at Birds Nests. That not only sounded reasonable to me, but it was also accepted by the entire family. Whuuuuuuut?!

I did, in fact, make a hugely successful batch of Birds Nests swapping out the flour with Trim Healthy Mama's Baking Blend (1:1), and, instead of sugar, I swapped it with THM's Gentle Sweet Blend (using a conversion chart on their website). For the icing center, I ground some Gentle Sweet in a coffee grinder to make it more like powdered sugar, and I made a sugar-water icing like normal. It doesn't look quite as pretty, but it totally worked.

I was a bit stunned that they turned out so well! They totally scratch that "I wanna Birds Nest for absolutely no reason!" itch I get around Christmas! And, even better, I took some to my Dad (my original Birds Nest connoisseur), and he loved them. He ate every, single one I took him. I was thrilled. It's the little things.

In the meantime, I stumbled across a recipe for Buckeyes on this website, and I really wanted to try them, too. I do like Buckeyes, but I wasn't willing to make them this year given the sugar status. Pit Crew #2 and I took on the swapped-ingredient recipe the other day, and we finished them just a bit ago with the chocolate coating:

The peanut butter insides have been in the freezer for a few
days (because I didn't have a chance to get back to them, not
because they needed that long). The chocolate hardened almost
immediately after dipping. It was kind of like Magic Shell!

After dipping all of them, we went back and dipped again
because we had plenty of chocolate, and the first layer was a bit
thin. Don't they look fab?!

The result: I love them! They're the perfect little hit of peanut butter and chocolate, and I totally love 'em! Pit Crew #2 and Aaron like them but would prefer a more prominent peanut butter taste. I think that flavor gets muted a bit as the inside is oat fiber (which tends to mute a lot of recipes I've tried) and -- wait for it -- Great Northern Beans. It's true. And, it totally works! I actually forgot they were in there until I just reread the recipe. Oh, and don't get me wrong, I completely hear what they're saying about the peanut butter flavor. But, I am, personally, willing to make the swap of a little less peanut butter flavor for a zero on the sugar scale. I'm not sure if adding a bit more peanut butter would affect how well they stay together, but I am willing to give it a whirl.

More healthy buckeyes? OH DARN!! So, these are totally on my Christmas radar from now on!

Of course, some of the traditional goods are happening around here, too. While PC#2 and I were putting together more Birds Nests, the boys were making some almond bark pretzels in between dancing to Christmas songs on the radio:

A quick break from the dance to get
something done ...!

I'm seriously stoked for these options -- they just made some of our Christmas traditions both doable and very enjoyable!!

And, tomorrow? I'll explain this ...!:

They Had Me At Okra

Today’s Numbers: Nancy's Total Movement Mileage: 982.8 (running: 796.8; walking: 41.2; biking: 144.8) Money Found For Food Bank: $5.28

 

2,015 in 2015 Change Hounds progress: Nancy: 982.8 Aaron: 721.2 (b: 639.6; w: 79.6)  Elly: 285 Total: 1989

-- 26 miles remain in our 2,015 in 2015 Challenge --

I am pleased to report I fulfilled my day's desire by actually sleeping past 7 a.m. this morning. Ta-Da!! I remember when 7 a.m. was beyond a dreaded time; how'd it become so common?! I savor those mornings I actually sleep past it ... even if it's like this morning when I saw the clock at 7:10 a.m. Every minute counts! And, those extra 10 minutes were fantastic!

I had a lot of thoughts of what I wanted to accomplish today. Here at the end of the day, I can't even remember what most of them were, and those I can remember, well, they didn't happen! It was fun and productive nonetheless. So, here I sit: Satisfied.

One of the things I hoped to do was try out a new recipe in the kitchen in the baking realm. It was a gray, rainy day, and it seemed to call for that. Um ... it didn't call loudly enough because I never got around to it BUT I seized an opportunity at dinner to try out a speedy side dish:

Oh, yes, that's fried okra ... but, of the Trim Healthy Mama kind!

You know they already lured me in to their new cookbook with their new brownie recipe featuring okra. Well, with my beloved okra on hand (and making a fast comeback into my family), I wanted to give frying it a whirl using the THM Baking Blend! If you're interested, the baking blend is, what I would call, their answer to white flour -- but not in a 1:1 way. It's made from ingredients including oat flour, almond flour and flax; there are a handful of recipes for it on the Web, or it can be gotten off the THM site ... which is precisely where I have bought it and will continue to do so until I have enough time to focus and even consider making it myself. Even then ... The big deal about it is that it doesn't mess with nor otherwise spike sugar levels the way white flour does. Therefore, whenever possible: I'm in.

So, I did what you would expect to make this pile of awesome: I dipped my thawed okra (oh, yes, I used the frozen variety vs. cutting up my own ... if it's even sold fresh now? Sheesh, I seriously have no idea.) in some lightly beaten egg whites, and I rolled them around in a bowl of the Baking Blend. From there, my little okra friends went into a pot of hot coconut oil where they sat for 5 minutes before I flipped them for another 5. My oil only went half way up the pieces, so the flipping was required.

As soon as they were out of the oil, I put them in a pan lined with paper napkins, lightly salted it (very required) and stuck them in a 250 degree oven to keep them warm while I made all of the batches.

And, they were delicious. And, GONE.

I was pleasantly surprised by two particular things. First, I was totally happy with how well everything coated and stuck; whatever didn't stick is what I pulled off by accident in the transfer or cooking process. Second, and this was a big one for me, it didn't pop all over the place while cooking. Therefore, it wasn't a mess to clean up, and I didn't have to avoid kitchen artillery from the oil popping at me. Both of these issues make for a recipe that I will make again. Either existing usually means tossing that recipe out never to be seen again.

This is definitely going in our rotation. It was excellent!

Okra is pretty fiber-riffic, so it's probably best tomorrow has turned out to be a Rest Day, Just sayin'. It's going to be quite a week as everything is up in the air because I have jury duty! I already know I don't have to go tomorrow, but that also means moving something later in the week to tomorrow just in case, not to mention I ended up working today in case another day is monopolized. So, I'll be playing it by ear (my favorite ... not!!) and will check in with the week's progress as I can! Start your week off just right, and I'll see you as I can ...!

A Surprise Inside

WooHoo!!! I managed to get enough accomplished yesterday to fit in an experiment with a new recipe!! And, this one was so good, it needed an immediate share!

Okay, you already know I'm a fan of the Trim Healthy Mama way especially as it cuts sugar out of the eating rotation. So, if I'm ingesting sugar, it's by my own, conscious doing, and it's very calculated. And, as I realized my body dislikes a sugar enough to make me feel sluggish when eaten with any kind of consistency, which also translates into sluggish, boring runs, the THM guidelines have been exactly what I needed to put a little spring back into my steps!

When their new cookbook came out, I held back on getting it because I wasn't in a time place where I could really read and think and plan. But, so many good options from the book coming through my Facebook feed that I kept getting enticed. And, then, there was the day their Cry No More brownie recipe hit my feed, and I was sold. With a few clicks on Amazon.com, and the book was on my doorstep.

I'm not even a huge brownie fan. I've always been a fan of the batter but not necessarily the brownie itself. I know, I know, most people love both. But, whatever. So, what sold me? It was the 'secret' ingredient. Wait ... for ... it ...

Okra.

For. Real.

First of all, I admit I'm a huge okra fan. I've always loved it even as a kid. And, yes, I realize it's slimy. That's what made it even more fun as a kid. My family, on the other hand, is not full of fans especially when it's in slime mode. We never make it, but I had faith this recipe would hold up under the taste test. So, it was off to the kitchen!

Actually, first, it was off to the store because I pulled out of the pantry what I thought was a full, 4-ounce box of unsweetened bakers chocolate only to discover one measly little square in there. Drat! Rookie mistake!

Okay, when I finally got myself organized, this recipe was a breeze. It's on page 314 of the book if you have it, and I can't find the recipe online anywhere, so I'm not going to be the first to go rogue. There wasn't much to it, though, beyond melting some chocolate and butter (which they suggest doing over the stove, but, the microwave worked great in 30-second stir-repeat increments; I will not reveal the travesty that was trying to melt it over the stove, by the way) and thoroughly blending egg and okra together. That was the extent of the effort.

Then, everything gets dumped together ...

If you ever wondered what egg and okra look like all blended
together, now you know.

... gently stirred ...

Seriously, the batter was the bomb. I totally licked that
bad boy bowl.

... and baked for about 35 minutes.

Voilà:


This received the thumbs up from every house member. All of us. One of us wasn't even being nice for the sake of being nice, we all really liked it!

I liked it even better today after what was left had been in the fridge for a few hours. It became a little more dense than last night's out-of-the-oven cake-like density. It was very much like having a delicious piece of fudge! For. Real.

On a personal note, the THM recipes call for bakers chocolate and cocoa powders, both of which taste much closer to dark chocolate than this milk chocolate lovin' girl is used to. In fact, I don't tend to be a dark chocolate fan. But, usually, letting recipes sit to cool completely vs. trying to taste them warm takes the edge off of that for me. If it's still more rich than I prefer, I simply have a small piece rather than a serving. That small piece tends to be more than satisfying given how rich it is to me, and I genuinely enjoy it. Just a heads up for you milk chocolate fans!

So, this recipe itself was more than worth the price of the ol' book! Chocolate that's not just guilt free, it's good for you thanks to the okra? Yes, please!!

And, tomorrow? Another recipe? Well, that'll be a long shot to fit in! But, even if I don't accomplish that, I will get in the morning run! See you after ...

Eventual Victory

I woke up to a lot of rain this morning. Like I said yesterday, I felt like it was perfect timing to have another day away from the run.

That didn't stop me from considering a quick run when I heard the rain stop. I was very seriously thinking about getting ready super fast and heading out before any more started. By a stroke of luck, though, I happened to catch the weather radar before making it too far into the getting ready process, and I saw we were due for more rain in 9 minutes.

Eight minutes later, this happened:

I know it's difficult to tell, but it's pouring. I know exactly where I would have been on my route, too. Needless to say, I would have been royally screwed.

So, I made the best of my day which included indulging in a bit of this:

That's a pie I made last night. But, it was not awesome last night. That's because I ignored the fact that it is a custard pie even though it says so right in the name: Pecan Custard Pie. You really can't get any more clear than that. I guess I saw Pecan and saw Pie and got all kinds of excited that I found a sugar-free pecan pie recipe right before Thanksgiving because, as you know, not only am I on a reasonably consistent quest to find and experiment with many of the fabulous Trim Healthy Mama recipes that are out there, but I also love to find sugar-free options that my Dad, who cannot have sugar, would enjoy.

So, last week, when I came upon the pie recipe (here!), I was pretty stoked. I finally got around to making it last night. I was even smart enough to get it in the oven to bake while we were eating our dinner so it would be ready soon thereafter. Planning!

We waited for it to somewhat cool, but it was actually still steaming when the slices went on the plates. Everyone took a bite, and no one spit it out or otherwise grimaced. That's usually a good sign. But, something was wrong. I didn't quite know what, but there was something about it that wasn't what I wanted. Then, Aaron piped in with an unenthusiastic, "It's pretty good. But, it tastes more like a custard."

That was the problem. Oh, and DUH.

Like I said, it was right there in the name. And, I don't know about you, but I think custard is pretty gross. The consensus around the table was a similar-to-Aaron's lack of enthusiasm except for with regard to the crust. THAT was a HIT.

I recalled from the recipe that its author said she preferred to put the pie in the fridge overnight and enjoy it cold. With that lingering in the back of my head, I put the rest of ours in the fridge, and I retested it this morning (so, instead of running, I ate some pie. You read that correctly!).

It was AWESOME. Chilling it totally took that custardy edge out. The filling, which I found kind of gelatinous last night, settled in and was no longer spongy-weird, and the flavors were enhanced from sitting and stewing on themselves. I sent Aaron an email announcing my victory and promised I'd leave plenty for everyone to try.

Once everyone was home, we all resampled -- even Pit Crew #3, who politely gave me his "Ew, no thanks" look without actually saying the words, trusted me enough to try it again anyway. Including my own, the fridge version received 3.5 thumbs up! The recipe went from last night's "You don't need to make this again" to "Totally make this again!" And, to be honest, even if I never made the pie filling again (which I know I will next week), the recipe is a total keeper for the crust itself. YUM.

So, there was the latest venture in the kitchen. I'm not wildly successful in there (because, let's face it, I don't care enough), but I like to share when I am! I do better on the road which is where I intend to start my day tomorrow! I'll see you after!

Throwback

Once upon a time, I used to remember every detail about every, little thing, remember every, single name I ever learned after the first introduction, and I would keep track of a complicated schedule often without the use of a calendar.

That was before having kids.

Believe when I say I'd trade remembering and quick, creative thinking all over again and again and again to have my sweet ones and to pour all of my brain cells into their development. In fact, completely relocating my brain capacity probably did me a favor as I now often amaze myself by doing the most DUH of things. The smallest of problems solved or what I believe to be creative solutions brings about an uproar of cheer in my own head.

Thank you wee ones ...

The latest victory came in the form of these:

Remember the Cauliflower Tots recipe I shared here? It's been a total hit around here; even Pit Crew #3 is coming around to genuinely liking them as he's gotten used to their smoother texture (vs. the regular, fried tater tot). I make a double batch of the mixture to keep in the fridge, and we pull on it during the week as a side for dinner.

Or, for breakfast ...

The taste of these is truly, remarkably like potato. Couple that with the texture, and it has reminded me of when my mom occasionally made potato pancakes for breakfast following a dinner where we had mashed potatoes. I loved potato pancakes at breakfast. Mmmm ... Anyway, the other morning, I decided to give this mixture a whirl at turning them into potato pancakes. I added some (a helpful measurement) almond flour to make sure it was stiff enough to cook and flip, then I plopped two heaping spoonfuls on to a pan sprayed with coconut oil. After the first side was cooked enough to endure a flip, over they went for about half the time it took side one to cook.

These suckers took me way back to the days of mom's potato pancakes. Same taste, same consistency, same-but-healthier happy tummy.

So, yeah, the day's victory was figuring out I could cook the same mixture in two different forms. That's brilliance like I don't often experience anymore. And, I'll take it!

Tomorrow, I take my brilliance on a morning run! I'll see you after ...!

Loving EVERYTHING About These!

Happy Weekend!! Yeah, I know it's almost over ...

Okay ... here's my most recent must-share recipe! It's sooooo delish, and it fits right in to the Trim Healthy Mama ways of the world (no white flour, sugar, the normal stuff that is always on the no-no lists ...). The only problem I have with my recipe-seeking surges is that, sometimes, I get lost as to where I actually found the recipe! This is one of those, and I can't backtrack to find it for anything. When I come across the source, I'll add it.

In the meantime, feast your eyes on these:

Those are Everything Bagel Bread Sticks ... recipe by Someone Awesome!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella
• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 1 tsp. xantham gum
• 2 T. cream cheese
• 1 or 2 eggs

Everything seasonings; Mix together the following:

• 2 T. sesame seeds
• 2 T. poppy seeds
• 1 T dried minced onion
• 1 t. dried minced garlic -- or, 1 t. garlic powder because you forgot to buy the minced kind
• 1 t. coarse salt

What you do:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a pan with parchment paper. For real, use the parchment paper. I love parchment paper; it's a sanity saver.
• Melt mozzarella and cream cheese in a microwave safe bowl. This takes about a minute and a half. Stir to combine. Make sure all of the cheese is melted.
• In a separate bowl, mix almond meal, 1 egg and xantham gum. Mix until combined.
• Add hot cheese to almond mixture and work them into each other. I used my hands getting them wet as needed to make the sticking less problematic. Mix it together well.
• Divide dough into four pieces. Gently roll (or work however works best for you) until you have sticks about 12 inches long.
• In a small bowl, beat another egg to make wash for the sticks. (I used egg white from a container.) Brush each stick, and cover each stick with the seasoning mixture. I brushed and coated one side of the sticks then turned them over to do the bottom, too.
• Bake on parchment lined pan for about 20 minutes. Dough will turn golden brown.

Holy. Moly. If you're an Everything Bagel fan, these are for you.

That's the latest that came out of this kitchen! Enjoy this low carb slice of heaven, and I'll be checking in tomorrow ...!

I'm a Believer

Today’s Numbers: Nancy's Total Movement Mileage: 776.6 (running: 599.2; walking: 33.4; biking: 144.8) Money Found For Food Bank: $66.07

2,015 in 2015 Change Hounds progress: Nancy: 776.6 Aaron: 501.1 (b: 440.1; w: 61)  Elly: 182.1 Total: 1460.6

I have very little to report about my run from this morning. Getting hit with an actual life issue before 6:30 a.m. totally set the tone for the morning to suck, and it led straight into having to cut my run short by a mile just for the sake of time. So, suffice it to say that the run happened, but it's not the star of today's show.

Instead, let's talk food. Namely, this:

While not beautiful (because none of my cooking is), those are tots. Cauliflower tots. No joke. And, SO yummy!

Before I even tell you how to create these little drops from Heaven, let me again say I tend to hate cauliflower. I used to be able to tolerate it in the raw form disguised dipped in ranch dressing. But, cooked in any way? Ohhhh, noooo. Puke. And, then, whenever the new craze of "let's use cauliflower to fool everyone into thinking it's actually mashed potatoes" came into the mainstream, well, that was just disgusting. And, a lie. I'd say it was the recipe used by the person who suckered me into trying it, but I think, at its onset, the cauliflower pushers hadn't done enough recipe development to get anyone on board in any real way except for those who already liked cauliflower. We who have always hated it just wanted to gag.

So, with the knowledge that I usually hate it, I have to testifyyyyyyy that these are THE BOMB. I completely understand if you don't believe me because I have been in your shoes. It took me some time to cross over. I'll wait patiently for you with my tots.

The Fiesta Cauliflower recipe I have been making helped a great deal in convincing me the cauliflower swap has potential to be a good thing. These tots have made me a total believer. Give 'em a try!!

I used this recipe but tweaked it to fit the Trim Healthy Mama teachings. I'm actually surprised they turned out so well because I am hardly ever successful going rogue. Chalk one up for Nancy! So, here's what I did:

Ingredients:

• 3 cups finely chopped cooked cauliflower (I just used a whole head. I would have measured had I used frozen.)
• 1 cup almond flour
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 eggs
• A bunch of shaking from my Italian and Onion Powder seasonings. If I had to guess, there's a heaping Tablespoon of each in there. But, it's a guess. Season to taste here ...

 

Directions: 

• Cook the cauliflower 'til soft. I pressure cook it for 4 minutes. Break it up until it looks like tater tot mush meaning there can be small pieces in there, but, for the most part, you do want it broken down.
• Add the cauliflower, almond flour, cheese and eggs into a large mixing bowl. Mix with a large spoon until everything is combined.
• Preheat oven to 400F. Shape the tots as best you can to look like the real deal but don't kill yourself over it. Mine ended up much like balls. I didn't care. Bake on pan lined with parchment paper. I highly recommend the parchment paper because they do stick a wee bit.
• Bake for about 15 minutes. Bottom of tots should be brown. Flip and bake for another 10 minutes or until desired crispiness. 

I actually made my first batch in a toaster oven, so the time took longer. The next batch went into the oven, and they were done inside of 30 minutes. So, there you have it.

And, they are DELISH. The only negative feedback from anyone in the fam was that the texture wasn't 'tater tot-like'. And, that's accurate because they're baked, not fried. I actually did make a serving on them fried in coconut oil when I was testing the recipe ...

... and, they were good, but not really worth the effort for me. I liked the baked variety, but I am willing to make a serving for the voice of dissent. Oh, but in my next frying attempt, I will fry a serving of them after taking them out of the oven. The mixture is kind of wet, so some of them fell apart going into the oil. Baking them will put 'em together, and frying for just a little bit should bring about that crunch that was missing.

And, because I was feeling snazzy, I baked some in fry form:

Again, freakin' delicious, but the tot balls were easier to put together. So, I suspect I'll just stick with that.

Who knew cauliflower could be something this family ended up craving?!?! Mmmm ... already can't wait to get some more ... I'm beggin' you to try this recipe. It's that good!

And, tomorrow? I might run especially when I'm itching to make up that mile, or ... I'm still not sure. I might just need the day to regroup! I think I'll let the morning happen and see what I decide to do with it. Having already run two days and due for a break, I have some wiggle room. I'll check in tomorrow with the verdict ... in the meantime, do yourself a happy favor, and get yourself a head of cauliflower ...!

The Sweeter Side

I know I don't have to say what day it is ... but, I'm gonna!!

Yahoo!! I hope yours has been as good as mine!! Speaking of good ...

It was a Rest Day around here which is the perfect time to share some of my favorite, new indulgences! It's like this: The whole new-way-of-eating thing Aaron and I embarked upon stripped as much sugar out of our intakes as possible. And, while that's a good thing for health, let's be real: We still wanted some treats! Aaron in particular has a desire for sweet (that's why he married me, right? hahahaha), so once I got a strong handle on the whole THM thing, I did further exploring and experimenting to find things that were both sweet and good. That combo can be tricky because messing around with sugar substitutes/sweeteners can be a disaster in taste. Fortunately, we've found sweeteners we really like that work great with the following, delicious treats!

Let's start with the recent National Ice Cream Day indulgence situation! That day was just this past Wednesday (If you missed it, go ahead and indulge now; I heard from someone that it's actual National Ice Cream Month, and, I've not tried to verify that, so just go with it.), and it was the very day our new ice cream maker arrived on our doorstep. Remember this?

Well, that night, it produced this!

We started tame with some vanilla ...

And, I turned my portion of that into this:

... then I added a tablespoon of natural peanut butter and a few
pieces of dark chocolate (85%) for a moose tracks nod. SO good!

And, tonight, we made this:

"Brownie Batter" ice cream ... ohhh, yeahhh ...

The ice cream maker is sensational! It's a Cuisinart 1.5-quart capacity that whips up your ice cream in about 20 minutes! Extra bonus: No ice and salt required. It rocks. It's small and easy to use, so we've put it to good use already with ice cream recipes I found here. If you check them out, know that the staples of the recipes include your sweetener of choice (you convert your choice from the author's), unsweetened almond milk, whipping cream and -- this was my shocker -- cottage cheese! A good whirl in a blender puts all of your ingredients together before going into the ice cream machine! In 20 minutes, you're tummy is going to be smiling!

Aaron came home from work the day after having made the ice cream letting me know he thought about the ice cream all day long. That whole way-to-a-man's-heart and all ...!

Now, if you're craving something from the oven, I have a good one for you:

Ingredients include almond flour, sweetener, shredded coconut and dark chocolate (85%), and it definitely satisfies the warm-out-of-the-oven itch!! It's written to be baked in a skillet in the oven, but I opted for a stoneware pan in the toaster oven. Is your mouth watering yet? Hop on over to this site, and get the recipe for the Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie!

Finally. This one might be my favorite because it's the most unexpected. Ready?

BAM.

Your eyes do not deceive you. It's a single-serve chocolate cake. (For perspective, the cake is 4" across and about an inch and a half tall.) Have I ever mentioned how much I love chocolate cake? (I think that's one of the few things on here I've never discussed ...) Anyway, when I stumbled upon a recipe for chocolate cake that comes in at 80 calories* and no fat per serving, I was, like, sign me up!

This particular recipe calls for both oat fiber (which I ordered from the THM website, but it does exist elsewhere) and coconut flour, but, you might remember we all find coconut flour to be disgusting. So, I just used oat fiber in its place, and it's wonderful.

* The swap of oat fiber for the coconut flour is what brought my calorie count down from the original recipe. Using coconut flour, by my calculation, the single-serve cake would be 180 calories. That's still a huge bargain for delicious chocolate cake, I just couldn't choke it down if it were in there. Of course, that would take the calorie count down to zero, then, wouldn't it ...!

The recipe is written for these to be microwaved or baked, so I baked it in the toaster oven. Perfection. Interested? You should be if you're a chocolate cake fan! Check out the recipe here! The recipe is called Chocolate Cake Master Mix; you mix a couple of batches of the dry at the same time, then you get the wet measurements for the single serving. NICE!

I wanted to share some of the sweeter side of life here because we all crave it sometimes, don't we?! How fantastic to find these sites that have so many great options all of which, in the long run, support my running endeavors. I TOTALLY WIN!

Ahhh ... just reviewing all of this kind of makes me full. Keep in mind we had the chocolate ice cream after dinner tonight, so these are all triggering my full tummy. If my tank were empty, well, I'd be in the kitchen right about now whipping something up!

I love how very (VERY) surprised both Aaron and I have been at how many great foods we've found, all the while returning to physically feeling so much better! I guess if I feel that good, I should be ready to bounce right out of bed tomorrow morning to run, right? Don't count on that; it's likely to already be in the 80s and humid when Pit Crew #2 and I head out! We'll be taking it slow, but we will go! I'm looking forward to the time with her!

Start your Saturday off just the way you want (and make yourself a little something sweet to wrap it up, just sayin' ...), and I'll see you after the morning run!