COOKIES!!!!!!!

And today I made the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.  Now the recipe calls for raisins, not chocolate chips, but my dad is the only one in the house that likes raisins in cookies so we substituted.  I also used whole wheat flour instead of regular all purpose flour.  They turned out AMAZING!  I love these cookies so much!

Since it's not my personal recipe.  

I didn't get a before picture of the first batch of cookies.  The recipe makes 4 dozen cookies and I stretched it to 5.  Because I am that awesome.  Although usually in my house cookie recipes yield fewer cookies because we spend more time eating the dough than putting the cookies on the tray to bake.  lol

You will note that two of the cookies are missing. lol.  HAD TO TRY THEM!  

So yeah, make these cookies and make them your own.  They're really good.  Like, really good.  

CAKE!!!!!

So yesterday, November 22nd, I made a cake.  It's a basic cake recipe using agave nectar instead of sugar as a sweetener.  This cake was so freaking moist, when I stuck the knife in it to test if it was done, I thought for sure that it was going to come out covered in batter.  And it turned out tasting SOOOO good.  Here's the recipe.  Now, I don't have Madhava organic amber agave nectar.  I have the stuff I picked up at Costco, but it works just as well.  And I used oat flour instead of wheat flour, regular all purpose flour instead of the unbleached organic white flour.  I also added 1/2 teaspoon of orange extract to the cake and it made it AMAZING!  Just saying.  

Look at this batter, isn't it pretty? 

Ready to go in the oven.

This is the final product.  

This cake is amazing and I recommend you make it.  It's very moist and very good.  I plan on making it again for sure.  Tomorrow, however, are organic oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.  Can't wait!  

The Jar of Hotness has spoken

Okay, so I feel bad because once again I have missed the hot guy post.  So I'm doing it a little early and I'm doing it for two guys yet again, just in case I miss the post this Saturday.  Now, this is going to be a picture free post because I don't feel like going through the trouble to look up, save, and upload pictures.  Though I do highly recommend you google both of these men.


Firstly we have Mr James Roday.  He's best known for playing Shawn Spencer on USA Network's Psych.  He's another one that is not hot in the traditional sense, but he just has an attitude about him that screams "I am a sex god."  Of course when he's trying to be all sexy and gorgeous he looks ridiculous.  When he's just being himself, he's very hot.  Also, thanks to a vampire themed episode of Psych, I have found that he makes a pretty damn good Lestat.  Which is sexy in and of itself.

The other hot guy is Errol Flynn.  How could anyone not think he's hot.  He's gorgeous.  He really is.  And he rocks those tights in Robin Hood.  Not many men can do that.  But, Errol was a man that knew he was hot and ran with it.  He was a lady's man and from some rumors also a man's man.  But those are rumors.  He was just all kinds of pretty.  That's all there is to it, really.

So there's your hot guys for last week and this week.  Google them.  I swear you won't regret it.


And now I say good night and have a Happy Thanksgiving.  And I hope you survive Black Friday.

Goals

I have a goal for April.  My daughter and I are going to participate in the Vampire 5K in Dallas.  It's run at night and there's fog and blood splatter areas and other mystery areas that are awesome.  There are two starting points.  One for the vampires and one for the citizens.  At one point, the two trails converge and if you're a vampire you have to try to convert the citizens by taking their flags, a la flag football.  It sounds like a whole bunch of fun and we'll get in a lot of good exercise in training for it.  Woot!

I was going to do the Big D Climb in January.  52 flights of stairs.  1040 steps.  But then, as I was walking up to a 3rd floor apartment to deliver a pizza last night, I realized I really fucking hate stairs.  They are the absolute bane of my existence.  So why in the world would I do 1040 of them VOLUNTARILY?  And, not only that, but PAY someone to do it!  So that suddenly became out of the question.

We were going to do the zombie 5K in Forney in March but it could conflict with a TKD tournament which would be bad and it was $82 per person to enter.  This one is right here in Dallas and after December 1st the entry fee goes up but is still only $50 per person.  MUCH more reasonable.

So that's my goal.  Come this April, I'm going to be a running vampire.  Woot!  

Taekwondo

Back in June I started taking Taekwondo with my daughter.  She's been doing this since 2010 and is a 4th brown.  She's 4 belt tests away from getting her black belt.  So I finally got to a point where I said "You know what, I'm going to do this." and I got out there on the floor.

It's a hard wood floor that was designed specifically for Taekwondo.  It's better than a basketball court.  I love it.  When I started this, and one of the stretches was spreading our legs as far as we could, I had a total of 22 boards between my feet.  Now, 5 months later, I am at 25 boards.  When I started, I could barely kick above my belt and now I can kick up to my head level.   As of last night I am officially a green belt.

I have competed in a total of 3 tournaments.  The first tournament I only competed in forms because I was still a gold belt at that point and I got 1st place.  Since then, I have gotten only second place, but I still have medals, so that's okay.  I'm excited that I finally have awards for something athletic and not just something academic.  It's a lot of fun, too.  Though there is a lot of hard work involved.  And I am really hard on myself.  When I mess stuff up, I hate it and I get mad at myself.  It's just the way I am.

I do plan to continue on to get my black belt.  I have a very shallow reason for that, though.  It's not for the ability to protect myself.  It's not for the exercise.  It's because when you're a black belt you can wear whatever color uniform you want to wear and I have my heart set on purple.  I know it's strange but that's my motivation   lol.

Kaitlynne and I were having some fun during the tournament back in November.  

This is Tye Travis and Caitlin Gemina.  I've been watching both of them grow up, it feels like.  I met Tye when he was a red belt and I've watched Caitlin from the very beginning.  She's very good.  

I am going to close out this blog with some pictures from the belt test last night.  My daughter was taking the pictures.  She kept messing around with the settings on my phone and I honestly yelled at her for it, especially since she had my digital camera with which to take pictures as well.  But these turned out okay.  

This is Scott Varner and me.  He'll be 50 on Monday.  He started a little bit before I did but his job hasn't allowed him to come to as many classes as I can, so we tested together last night.  And he said that he refuses to let me get ahead of him. lol. 

Epic Awesomeness

Tonight the most amazing thing happened.  I FIT INTO A SIZE 15!

That's right.  When I started this whole diet thing back in May, I was a women's size 20.  Tonight I needed some new jeans so I went to Sears.  All of the women's jeans were size 18 or bigger and I knew that was too big for me.  So I went to the juniors and I grabbed a pair of 17's.  When I tried them on, they were a little loose so I decided to give something a try.  I went and got a size 15 and they fit!  They're not even a little snug!  I am SOOOO amazed right now it's not even funny.  WOOT!

Hot guys and protein smoothies.

My job doesn't really afford me the opportunity to eat lunch.  I don't have a time that I get to sit down and have an entire meal in one sitting.  I have to take a couple of bites, then go on a delivery.  Suffice it to say, I was either not eating and drinking soda instead, or I was eating A LOT because by the time I got my second bite, the first one would be digested.  So, I solved my problem by coming up with these protein smoothies.  I can drink them in the car and they last me for at least 3 hours.  I have 1 around 1pm and 1 around 4pm and that gets me through the day.  It's great.  This is, of course, after eating breakfast.  But, it's a simple recipe. 

You'll notice some brand names in there.  I did that so you can know exactly what I use for these because it's not just any acai juice and it's not just any protein mix.  I chose these because of the extra vitamins and minerals that are in them.  I used to use Bolthouse Green Goodness, but there was stuff in there that wasn't agreeing with my system at all.  It's good if your guts can handle it, though.    

1 cup frozen sliced peaches.
1 cup frozen mango chunks
1 cup frozen pineapple chunks
1/2 cup Bolthouse 100% Carrot juice
1/2 cup Genesis Today Acai Berry Classic
2 cups apple juice
4 scoops Nature's Bounty Complete Vitamin Shake Mix.
 Throw in a blender until desired consistency.  
Approximately 315 calories per smoothie.  Makes 2  20oz smoothies.



Now, onto the hot guys.  I realized as I was getting ready to go to bed that I had promised a 2 guy hot guy post this weekend and it hadn't happened yet.  So, I reached into the jar of hotness yet again.  The names that came out were Matthew Broderick and Sean Connery.

I know why I think Connery is hot.  It's all about the accent.  And he's got a sexy swagger about him.  Even to this day, though he's 80 something years old and wears a toupee most of the time, I'd still do him.  He's just that sexy.  And I don't care what anybody says, Sean Connery was the BEST 007, hands down.

Matthew Broderick might not be hot in that traditional sense, but he is hot nonetheless.  In that adorably sexy way.  I had the biggest crush on Ferris Bueller when I was a kid.  I've seen that movie so many times I can quote most of it.  My favorite is "I quote John Lennon.  I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me.  He had a good point there.  But then, he was the Walrus.  I could be the Walrus, I'd still have to bum rides off of people."  But that's beside the point.  I have seen Matthew Broderick in many things.  I think he's the sexiest in Lady Hawk.  That movie is so amazing and he is very hot.  He's also very young.  And it adds to his hotness that he can sing and dance, which I have seen thanks to Nathan Lane saying "Hey, let's work together."  Because, you know, the whole doing voices together on The Lion King worked out for them so why not, right? 

So there you have it.  There are two things I've talked about in this post.  One of them is yummy, and the other is a smoothie you can exchange for lunch on the go. ;-) 

I apologize for the lack of pictures but I am exhausted and want to get to bed.  I'll definitely have pictures for the next Hot Guy post.  I promise.  Everybody needs a little eye candy every now and then. 

Random Chicken Dish With No Name

I like to experiment in the kitchen and usually my experiments turn out pretty good.  The same can't be said about my mom, but that's beside the point.  I am also a major wimp that can't handle even regular black pepper.  Yes, I am a native Texan and I can't eat spicy food.  Go figure.  Anyway, I did an experiment in the kitchen and it turned into this chicken dish that is pretty awesome, according to some of my coworkers.  Here's what you need.

 You can customize however you like, adding peppers to desired spice level.

4 half pound chicken breast pieces.
4 cups mozzarella cheese shredded. ( divide out 1.5 cups)
2 14.5oz cans Kirkland Signature organic diced tomatoes.
3 small yellow onions chopped (or equivalent)
Juice of 2.5 limes (divide out juice of 1/2 lime)
Garlic to taste (I like a LOT of garlic)
Lawry's seasoned salt to taste.
2 avocados. 
3 tbsp flour (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Ridiculously Mild Salsa

Mix tomatoes, onions, juice of two limes, flour, garlic, and seasoned salt in frying pan.  Cook until onion is well done and juice is mostly absorbed.   The flour is optional to thicken it if you want. 

Guacamole

If you want to layer the guacamole in the dish, then go ahead and make it as the second step.  My father can't eat avocados and my daughter doesn't like them so I made the guacamole on the side.  If you are making it for on the side, do not start it until the chicken is in the oven. 

2 avocados
Juice of 1/2 lime
Garlic and seasoned salt to taste

Mix thoroughly in small bowl and set aside.

Chicken Dish

Layer 1/2 of salsa on bottom of 8x8 baking dish.

Layer 1.5 cups cheese.

Layer chicken

Layer remaining salsa.

Top with remaining cheese.

Add guacamole between chicken and top layer of salsa if desired.

Bake for 1 hour or until chicken cuts with fork.

If you put the top layer of cheese on before putting the chicken in the oven, the cheese will brown and might even look burnt.  It's not, it's very good that way, but if you prefer you can wait and put the cheese on 10 minutes before it's done.

Serve as is or over rice or bread if desired.

Feeds about 4 grown ass people.

Approximately  550 calories per serving.

For low fat or low calorie reduce cheese and avocados. 


Something else you can do with the salsa and guacamole if you have some left over.

  

Spread it over some bread.  It's yummy.  

 

Due to circumstances beyond my control the hot guy post was not put up on Saturday.  To make up for this, this Saturday will be dedicated to 2 hot guys. 

Cravings

My eating habits are kind of weird. I have certain combination cravings. Instead of just craving one food, I crave something along with whatever I'm eating. 

As long as I can remember, every time I eat Velveeta shells and cheese, I crave sweet pickles.  I never crave it with other types of mac and cheese. Only with Velveeta.  I don't know how this came about but I'm sure my mom is responsible.

Every time I have rotisserie chicken, I have to have salad with it.  The Market Fresh premixed salad from Walmart to be specific. Along with raspberry vinaigrette dressing, though it used to be Hidden Valley Ranch. My tastes have changed a little bit. 

Lately my craving has included Einstein Brothers fresh squeezed orange juice along side my honey whole wheat bagel with peanut butter.    It's only when I have it with peanut butter that I crave the orange juice.  I really don't get it.

Those are the only combination cravings I can recall at this time. I think it's funny that it happens that way.