Today was a good day

"shake em up, shake em up, shake em up, shake em!" yep, Ice Cube.

After work I surprised myself with a good 4 mile run. Maybe the secret to running is hitting the pavement when the desire hits. But then again some of our best work outs and runs come when we least want to be running. Anyways, this week I have thoroughly enjoyed other forms of exercise: yoga, body pump, walking...but today my body was yearning to stretch the legs and I loved every step of the four mile run. Absence makes the heart grow fonder in every other aspect of life, why not running?


Upon returning to my door step out of breath and parched something out of the ordinary caught my eye. Two brown boxes. Mail? Birthday packages? Nooo, I am seeing my momma next week. OH! Could it be? Lia Sophia jewels?! (All of our guests jewelry, plus mine and Amanda's, was delivered in less than a week!) I immediately texted Amanda who was out on a kayaking adventure,"jewels jewels jewels!" Before I even had a chance to guzzle h20: "omgaad I'm coming home. kayaking done."




15 minutes later it was play time! Excited doesn't even begin to explain our emotions.





You look like a pirate, arrrgghhh!


What to wear tomorrow!?



Then came the creation of the perfect summer cookie! Chocolate, graham cracker, marshmallow, oh my! S'mores cookies found on Baked Perfection and adapted to suit my personal preferences.


Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups miniature chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
*1 tablespoon flour*


Steps to cookie glory:

-Preheat the oven to 375 degrees


-In a medium bowl combine the 1 and 1/2 cup flour, graham cracker crumbs (about 5 smashed graham crackers), baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. In a second larger bowl beat together the butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract until creamy.





-Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in the flour mixture until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips.




-Take a minute to asses the dough. Is it super sticky? Wet? This is where you can add the *one tablespoon* flour if your dough is too sticky. If you do add the tbsp make sure to mix it in well! Then, drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 minutes (set your timer!) and remove from the oven. Push 3 to 4 marshmallows into each cookie.




-Return to the oven and bake an additional 3-4 minutes until fully cooked. Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool.




*Notice how the cookies on the left are flat and the ones on the right are plumper? If your first batch comes out too thin you can still add a tablespoon of flour before putting the second batch in the oven*

Sweet land of liberty these are a treat. I will eat you (sorry started talking to the cookie for a moment) when celebrating my independence this weekend.

All I need now is a fire pit and a glass of milk.






Question: while baking does anyone still lick the finished bowl of batter or spoons? Or has salmonella scared us away from this childhood favorite?

The finer things club

Hello lovelies!

One more bedtime before it is Frideeee! Big weekend plans?

I kinda, sorta took a work out break this week. I say sorta because a 4 mile run on Tuesday did happen, and I might run tomorrow morning, but gosh, since the 10k, these legs have been tired and sore. I'm thinking the four miles on Tuesday killed it for the rest of the week. Oh well, I am putting the foam roller, yogadownload and my domestic skills to good use. Also, my finer things club membership was about to run out, so I had to remedy the situation! What you don't collectively call activities like reading, sipping vino, baking, cooking, making cd's, and yoga, etc., your finer things club? Welllll, these non-running and anti-strength and conditioning hobbies and domesticissities are some of the fiiiiner things in life.

Last night I made a veggielicious pizza and a classy frass cd featuring janelle monae, k'naan, katy perry (who doesn't want to be a california girl?) b.o.b, rogue wave, frightened rabbit, neon trees, the hood internet....ok. Check these out or stay tuned because they will be featured again on tuesday's tunes if they have not already appeared. And yes, I still make cds over listening to my ipod in the car. Call it old fashioned, but I like grouping 20 or so songs together rather than hundreds and naming the cd is the best part and my ipod stinks. ha.

Wednesday's pizza (and tonight's, love me some leftovers) was a jubilee of roasted broccoli, summer squash, red and orange peppers, fresh tomatoes and mozzarella, a thin layer of classico sauce and a loving sprinkle of basil. So good. I heart pizza! Thank you boboli for making it that much easier to make.

Tonight, I sat in my kitchen smelling sweet banana air. In other words, made Emeril's banana bread with dashes of extra tlc in the form of 3/4 cup oats, 1 tablespoon chia seeds, 1tsp cinnamon and 1/2 cup blueberries. Oh, and last minute the "bread" turned into muffins.

Oh boy, I was nervous to see how these would turn out! I definitely just added the tlc without scientifically (pff) thinking how it would all react in the oven. Would the oatmeal and chia seeds soak up every last bit of liquid, creating a dry, gross muffin? Is the batter too thick?? It sure didn't pour nicely into the cute pink baking cups.

My oh my, these are good! Hearty and yummy! Yay. Success!

One tip: If you make the bread to muffin switch as I did, you must reduce the baking time. Emeril's recipe calls for baking the bread for an hour and 10 minutes. My first batch was done at 45 and I checked and removed the second batch around 40!

Now, it is time to watch big baby and the Ceeeeeeeeeeeeee's conquer Game 7! Beat LA!