Fall baking awesomeness!

This weekend I baked a bunch of items for Mr. A's office. I decided to go with a fall theme. I also decided to make all weight watchers items. I was hoping his coworkers would appreciate a healthy and yummy snack and not stab me for tricking them into eating something healthy.

I started off with banana pumpkin bread, from skinnytaste.com. This bread was amazing and I think anyone would like it. Not too pumpkin-y either.

Then I made low fat, low points, pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. These cupcakes were more like pumpkin bread with cream cheese, but they were super yummy! They were also from skinnytaste.com.

I then made a sweet treat hat I am totally going to make for me niece and nephew's birthdayween party coming up. Ghost cookies! They are super cute and super easy to make. I think everyone liked them too! Also from skinnytaste.com.

Please excuse my dirty oven, oh the shame.

Aren't these too cute!?

After a hard night of baking harry was pooped...

 The hubs and I are trying to watch our waste lines because since we have been back from vacation we have been eating like beasts! So here is to healthy and fun fall themed treats!

Hippy Drug Update

As I told you all earlier this week I ordered Vitamines from New Chapter. I ordered a Woman's 1 A Day and then Wholemega Fish Oil Focus.

Today is day two of taking both supplements and let me tell you I can already feel the difference. I feel more awake more...wait for it ... focused and totally ready to go! I have to say the to focus pills do seem to make my heart sputter a bit more than I am totally OK with so I am not sure I will keep up their suggested dosage of three a day. I might switch to two a day instead just to make sure I don't overload my system. But I am really please so far. I am hoping to keep up my new vitamine regiment and start seeing the long term benifits that so many people say vitamines have. (I still don't know if I trust the hippies just yet)

Also I started using wheat germ in my cereal and yogurt. I love it! Its like granola, but without a real flavor, so you don't really know you are eating it. Wheat germ has folic acid and vitamin E so I am hoping my hair, nails and skin will see great improvements from the supplement as well! 

By the time I get to Italy I will be all pumped full of good vitamins and so damned focused on all the wine I can drink Mr. A wont know what to do with me!

A 4th of July Weekend Full of Fun!

This past weekend as so much fun. As my good friend Kelly told me, I kind of had a little staycation in Austin. Mr. A had to work all weekend so I was for the most part on my own. We started the weekend off with gin martinis at Kelly's house with some friends. I love me a stiff gin martini, they are amazing!

Saturday I did Fit Dog Austin at Zilker Parker. Oh my goodness I loved it! Such a fun workout with my dog. Any dog owners out there should totally go! We then had breakfast at taco deli, my favorite. I the took a very cold shower and passed out with the pup for a few hours. That night I headed to Hula Hut and judged all the amazing meat heads as they got off their sausage filled boats. It was pretty fun. Plus the Austin Ritas on the lake were a perfect end to a nice day.

Sunday I headed to Nordies to return some shoes I had bought and no longer could justify. I proceeded to shop with Kelly for more shoes and had a lovely little mimosa at the bistro in Nordies. Not going to lie, I only go to Barton Creek mall because of Nordstrom at this point, I am a total shopping snob.


I totally saved a baby with these shoes too.



After doing some damage and buying these red TOMS (I know I am so hipster) we headed home to have pool time at my apartment. 8 of our friends came over and we had 5 hours of laughs in the pool. It was a perfect night really.

On the 4th, I got caught up in the John Adams marathon on HBO (we totally own it and I have seen it like 3 times) I thought it was a perfect way to remember the start of our country on a very partiotic day! Then I planted some new succulents on my portch and did some other things around the home.

I ended the night by making a very patriotic dessert for Mr. A and I. I hope you all had a great weekend!

Strawberries, Blueberries, Angelfood Cake, and home made Whipped Cream. Awesome.

Month-A-Versary

Yesterday was our one month-a-versary. We are just an old married couple now. God I can't believe how fast time goes by! We spent most of the night doing stuff for my work which kind of sucked. But I did realize that it was not that bad when my new husband poured me a glass of red wine and took a crack at the project with me. It could have been way more crappy. Marriage is awesome. 

I attempted to use our new crock pot last night. Here is the beautiful beast: 

I made a new turkey chili recipe from Gina's, SkinnyTaste.com. It was super easy. I prepped it the night before and then just turned the crock pot on low for the day. I love the cock pot! Here is the recipe: 

Crock Pot 3 Bean Turkey Chili
 Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 12 • Serving Size: 10.8 oz • Prep Time: 20 minutes • Points: 3.125 ww points

• 1.3 lb (20 oz) fat free ground turkey breast
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (16 oz) can tomato sauce
• 1 (4.5 oz) can chopped chilies, drained
• 1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, undrained
• 1 (15.5 oz) can black beans, undrained
• 1 (15.5 oz) can small red beans, undrained
• 2 tbsp chili powder

Topping:

• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro for topping
• shredded cheddar to top (extra pts)

Brown turkey and onion in a medium skillet over medium high heat until cooked through.
Drain any fat remaining and transfer to crock pot. Add the beans, chilies, chickpeas tomatoes, tomato sauce and chili powder mixing well.
Cook on high 6-8 hours.
Garnish with onions, cilantro and cheese and enjoy!

It was really good, I topped it off with a smidgen of sour cream and some toast. Perfect for a somewhat chilly night in Texas. I do have one issue though the hubs does not like beans and this was a very bean heavy recipe. He actually sat there and picked them all out of the chili while eating. I don't know what is wrong with him. I need to find a chili sans beans, any thoughts? Would it just be turkey soup then? 

Whole Foods Cooking

Thursday night I surprised WF with a Whole Foods cooking class. It was a Valentine's couples "Surf and Turff" class. We cooked a lobster aoli salad, another salad with hearts of palm and then crap stuffed fillets, finished off with a coffee cheesecake. It was so much fun and seriously delish.

I highly suggest you try one of these cooking classes out. We had a lot of fun spending time with each other and relaxing. I would say I probably would have gotten more out of it if we were not both sick but still well worth it.

We are not doing much for V-day this year because we had a wedding this weekend and just a lot going on in general. All in all we just felt lucky to have some time to be together. I am looking forward to many more Valentine's together. One off year will not make any difference in my mind.

One Heck of a Thanksgiving

I know you all have been waiting anxiously for my Thanksgiving update. So without further ado I give you my Thanksgiving...

The day started off with cooking some corn bread and a sour cream coffee cake for breakfast. We then moved on to the pies, crusts made from scratch. Then creamed onions, mashed sweet potatoes and carrots. We bought the turkey pre-cooked, and it was super yummy. Took about an hour to reheat and it was so much less stress on me to cook the turkey. We then set the table and laid out my handmade place cards made from cloves and oranges. It was a lot of fun to see everything come together. My mother in law was so helpful and really took great care to make sure everything came out really well. WF's poppy snacked and talked with me while I cooked. All in all it was just the best way to cook my first holiday dinner.

Here is the day in photos as I am not going to be able to full go into detail of everything.

The table before dinner...

Place setting before dinner...

 The centerpiece with leaves from Crate and Barrel

Wonderful Fiance and our first turkey!

Cutting the turkey...

Dinner waiting for us...

My yummy honey cornbread muffins...

I cant wait to cook my next Thanksgiving dinner! I already have other ideas and want to try new things. I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday with your family. Next up Christmas decorating!

Thanksgiving Menu!!

OK ladies (cus let's face it no boy's read this) I am proud to present my first attempt at a Thanksgiving menu. I researched many of my cookbooks and websites. I love "Real Simple" and I got several great ideas for side dishes there as well. Above is a picture of my end table with all of the different books and recipe cards I went though last night. (notice that none of the following is from the WW book, hey I tried) So here you go:

Breakfast (for watching the parade and after the Turkey Trot)
Sour Cream Coffee Cake - My family recipe, best in the world. VERY Yankee traditional cake.

Dinner/Lunch
Hearts of Romain with walnuts and Parmesan - Real Simple
Cornbread muffins with homemade spiced pumpkin butter - combination of a few recipes
Mashed sweet potatoes (covered in marshmallows) YUM - Joy of Cooking
Creamed Onions - My future mother in law's recipe and Joy of Cooking
Glazed Carrots - My mom's family recipe  and in Joy of Cooking
Turkey or Ham - I am buying it pre-made. I don't think my oven would cook it right, I know I cheat.

Desert
Cinnamon Coffee in French Press
Bourbon Pecan Pie - Real Simple
Pumpkin Pie - Homemade by my future mother in law.

So what are your thoughts? I am super excited. I know it is a lot of food for a smaller group. I am going to half both the creamed onions and the mashed sweet potatoes. I just cant have Thanksgiving without either of them. Now I am going to work on finding ways to make them just a little bit healthier. Ugh...

And just in case you read my blog about grocery shopping and you questioned weather I actually am THAT anal. Here is the front of my fridge:

Notice both the shopping list and my menu. I also have coupons cut and the Target add up there for my next trip. (I will not spend crap loads of money next time!) Psychotic Impressive I know.

Baking

So I have had the urge to start baking again. Any of you that knows me well knows I stress bake. When ever I used to get really emotional or whatever I would bake. I would make things almost nightly at one point and then bring them into my office and have them test everything out. I have perfected my Chocolate Chip Cookies, by making them over and over again, so I wanted to challenge myself. I looked around and found a blog by "The Waspy Redhead" - a friend of mine who always has amazing food! She made these Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies - http://thewaspyredhead.com/?p=1122, and they looked wonderful so I tried them out!










I think they came out pretty wonderful. Mine of course don't look anywhere near as beautiful as my friend's do but oh well it was a first attempt! The grating of the zucchini was a little taxing so I will have to find a better way to do this. I think the cookies came out a bit like zucchini bread but they are so moist and yummy that does not matter. I baked them alone in my house with some streaming jazz piano from Pandora on and had a wonderful night to myself. It was really fun to get my feet wet and I hope to continue this trend through the holidays. If you have any treats you want me to try out let me know! I love to bake and am always up for a fun new thing to try.

On a side note, I brought these cookies into my office and did not tell anyone that they were any different. A lot of people looked at them and were like why do they have green in them. One lady even refused to eat my cookies because she thought I was feeding them rancid food, COME ON! I am not weird and I would never do that, and I am just a little hurt that she did not like my cookies.

Dinner Debacle

So I tried a new WW meal last night... FAIL It was supposed to be salmon with a tomato and lemon topping. Sounded promising...

It was so gross I literally threw it out and started over on a totally different dish. I have been trying to be a little more creative with my cooking and branch out. Whenever I do though I seem to screw it up. Whats up with that?

Anyway I am going to try and make something healthy again tonight, but maybe a little more edible. Any ideas? I am thinking something with chicken and whole wheat pasta.

Meanwhile, I am in full cleaning mode. T-minus 2 days till Mommy, MIL, Sister, Brother in law and niece are here! God I am so excited to see them!

Dinner with great friends

So tonight I cooked dinner for my great girlfriends Kelly Wylie, Whitney (Wheeler) Black and Kelly Daniel. I think it was quite a success. The food was great and I got a chance to catch up with some great friends. It was the first time I had a chance to catch up with the new Mrs. Black and hear all about her wonderful honeymoon in Italy. While getting the lowdown on that and many other juicy details from both Kelly's.

On the menu for tonight, first an Apple and Carrot salad that turned out to be wonderful and delish. It was one weight watchers point per serving AWESOME! I of course was super liberal with my servings! The recipe goes as follows:

	2 large apple(s), 1 red and 1 green, cored, thinly sliced, cut into matchsticks
	1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice, or less to taste
	3 cup(s) carrot(s), cut into matchsticks (many stores sell these precut)
	1/4 cup(s) chives, chopped
	1 tbsp olive oil
	1 tsp sugar
	1/2 tsp table salt
	1/4 tsp black pepper, or more to taste
	2 oz feta cheese, French-variety suggested, crumbled

Instructions

• Place apples in a large bowl and toss with lemon juice. Add carrots, chives, oil, sugar, salt, pepper and cheese; toss to mix thoroughly. Yields about 3/4 cup per serving.

For a second dish I tried a meal I found on Gina's Weight Watchers recipes blog. It was made with Spaghetti and Zucchini. Yummy summer pasta I loved. Here is the recipe:

Angel Hair with Zucchini and Tomatoes
Tonight I was in the mood for pasta so I decided to make something quick and light. This turned out delicious! Zucchini is a great summer vegetable and happens to be one of my favorite veggies.
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 4 servings • Time: 10 minutes • Points: 5 ww points

• 2 zucchini, julienne or cut into ribbons
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
  
• 2 shallots, diced
• 3 tomatoes, diced
• 4 tsp olive oil
• salt and pepper
• crushed red pepper flakes to taste
• 8 oz (1/2 lb) Barilla plus angel hair pasta
• 1/4 cup fat free chicken or vegetable broth
  

In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook pasta according to instructions.
While pasta is cooking, in a large saute pan, heat pan on medium-high flame, add oil when pan is hot. Add garlic and shallots to the pan and saute about 1 minute. Add zucchini and season with salt and pepper. Cook about 2 minutes, add tomatoes, crushed red pepper flakes, parsley, chicken broth and adjust salt and pepper. Stir for another minute. Remove from flame.
Drain pasta when done and mix well with zucchini. Serve with Parmesan.


Thanks to my wonderful assistant Kelly Daniel, who consistently said, "Why god don't you have a food processor!?" as I gave her another thing to cut. Love you!