Two Word Tuesday? Maybe?

Every blog seems to have a theme day. The most popular floating around is the what I ate wednesday. I eat too fast to think about taking a picture of my meals, so that's out of the question. But... I've decided to try some out. Today we're doing Two Word Tuesday. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this, but I'll try! (PS - give me feedback.)

1. Turtle Popcorn

I went to a lame chocolate fest, but this was the winner of it all! Think of the best caramel corn, mixed with walnuts and topped with the best chocolate ever!

2. Dang! Delicious!

Butterscotch root beer? Taste like those little orange butterscotch hard candies. Glad I tried it though.

3. Visiting Mars

Mars Cheese Castle in Kenosha, WI. It's the place to get all things Wisconsin (cheese, sausage, beer, wine, cow knick-knacks). I go there once a year with the family. (picture source)

4. Hot Dog

Monday night we did a hot dog bar at my house, lots of different dogs (beef, chicken, vegetarian; also some German sausages and different flavored chicken sausages), lots of different toppings. This went along amazingly. I'm totally doing the dog bar again for my going away party in August!

Toppings like raw tomatoes, sauerkraut, carmalized onions with mustard and beer (top picture) and braised fennel with lots of dark beer and apple cider (bottom picture).

5. Trader Joe's

If TJ was an actual person, I would be married by now! These were the two ingredients in my vinaigrette for my fresh green beans to go with the hot dog bar.

6. Floatable Dessert

Good root beer + (vanilla rum for the adults) + vanilla ice cream (regular and non-dairy) = Such a great dessert after hot dogs!

I failed at the two word part, but if it's in the photo comment, it doesn't count, right? I'm glad we all agree on this!

What was the highlight of your long weekend?

Mars Cheese Castle! It made up for the crappy chocolate fest and rain. So much deliciousness and a great place to people watch. Even though I don't like cheese and can't really have it, there is just so much to pick from, mostly Wisconsin stuff, but some from all over the world.

What's your favorite summer food? 

Bratwursts! There is no way to beet that. Most grilled sausages will get me though. Maybe it's because I can make a whole lot of dirty jokes about them, or maybe it's because they taste delicious.

Today we bake!

I missed my speed workout yesterday and today I was supposed to be a tempo run, but I felt guilty about skipping the speed. I love those intervals, mostly because sprints like that crank up your metabolism and I need my metabolism as high as I can get it. So I designed my own workout of sorts. Of course there was a warm up and cool down, but between that is where the magic happened. I ran at a tempo run pace for a short bit, then did a few short sprints. I repeated this so I did a totally of four times. I loved this, because at the end I felt like I got a good balance of both and knew that my body was happy!

After that I did a weight lifting circuit training type dealy. I used to love weight lifting, but now I'm not a fan. So I'm trying to find a good routine to get into. I've been scouring the interwebs for something. Any help? Tips? Favorite workouts?

I'm a stress baker. When I have too much on my plate, I bake. Luckily, the baking process relaxes me so much, I don't stress eat afterwards. It's when I'm denied access to my whisk and oven that bad things happen. So, because I've carrying a lot on my shoulders with the big move happening in a few short months, work stress, and general craziness in my life, I've had a lot of baking coming my way. So today I'm baking up a storm. I'm going to try to limit how much I make, so that I have things to make later on, as needed. Plus I tried to healthy these kids up:

Almond Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup almond butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Bbaking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup flour
3/4 whole wheat flour
2 cups rolled oats
mix ins: chocolate chips, dried cranberries, chopped nuts; no more than 1 1/2 cups total

Directions:

•  Preheat oven to 375 degrees
•  Beat together butter and peanut butter until well combined

• Add sugars, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Beat until combined

•  Beat in eggs and vanilla. Beat in flour. Stir in oats and any mix-ins

•  Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased baking sheet (or parchment paper). Bake 10-12 minutes or until light brown around edges

•  Remove to wire racks to cool

My camera died before I got to pictures of the final product, but trust me, they won't last long in this house. I just want to cut out a little more sugar and butter and they will be perfect!

The most important holiday happened Wednesday. Some-puppy celebrated her anniversary of moving in with me! It's also her unofficial birthday, she was a shelter pup and because she was so young, and just had puppies (yeah, my dog was a skank before I came in her life), they could guess her birthday almost to the week. So she's officially five now! I can't believe how old she is. not okay.

The Birthday Girl totally gets to lick the bowl.

Any exciting Memorial Day weekend plans?

I'm going to a chocolate fest! 

(And if you're in the midwest, you should too!)

Have you baked anything "healthy" lately?

I'm excited to get started on my kiwi tart soon, I'm totally going to make it into something decadent AND healthy!

I swear, I'm bringing Sexy Back!

I haven't been avoiding you blog, I've just got more important things to do.

Yeah, that song came on in the last ten minutes of my long run today and gave me the push I need. Thanks Justin!

And I also have to drink smoothies in my awesome collection of pint glasses. If I don't, who will?

Art in fermented form. Let's pretend my smoothie is that delicious.

Don't be jealous. And if any of you decide you want to be my friends (comment or subscribe to show the love, I swear I don't bite), you can come visit and see my massive collection of pint glasses and coffee mugs. Those are your only drinking options. Sorry.

Also, I'm struggling to come up a great name for my new favorite brunch bev.

• Sparkling wine + peach nectar = Bellini
• Sparkling wine + OJ = Mimosa
• Sparkling wine + Mighty Mango = Mang-osa? Mang-ini?

Help me decide!

That's four pound of kiwis behind my yummies. There may be a kiwi pastry in the works, watch out!

Do you guys ever get in the habit of using the same glass over and over again for a month and then switch? No? Just me?

There are no pictures to prove it, but I'm working on perfecting polenta fries. They are delicious, but I'm trying to make them as easy and healthy as possible (i.e. no flour dipped, deep fried fries).

And finally, I'm working on my moving stuff. A lot happens in the month of August and I have about five thousand weddings before then, so the more I can do now, the better. But one of the most important ones that I need help on is finding some races to do once I move. I know there are some people in the Rhode Island/Boston area, so if you know of races I just have to do, let me know. I found a few already.

• The Run Around the Block 15k, on Block Island
• The Ocean Run 1/2 Marathon (or 5k, depending on how the first 1/2 in August goes)
• The Tour de Patrick in March (three races, being Irish, and finally, four shirts...yesssss)

And this is why I'm too busy to write a blog. So now that this is done, I have to get back to my letter writing to the Hanson boys and let them know that I'm still single and I'm not picky. I mean, laundry. Yeah, laundry.

 

PS - I swear I don't bite guys, I see a lot activity on here, but very few comment or subscribe. I'll even send baked goods if that will help.