Bake a Little

MOVING DAY!

2011-07-12T05:58:00.001-07:00

Hi Guys!

I have moved! Go check me out at http://bakealittle.wordpress.com/

Thanks :)

5K, 10K Training- Love/ Hate Sitchy

2011-07-07T09:42:00.000-07:00

So I realize that I have been neglecting the exercise portion of my blog so I decided it was due time to update you on my (5k) 10K training! Welp lets just say, things are heating up!

I am officially on week 7 of the Couch to 5K plan and we have a love/hate relash. Yes, I absolutely love that feeling as I prance down the streets of New York after my run feeling powerful and strong and wearing "I just worked out and your jel" sweat all over my fun Nike track shorts, but, while said run is happening, I look a little bit like this:

Source

The interval training that happened the first five weeks was pretty right up my alley. Running then walking left me satisfied but not felling sluggish.. Well my dear friends, interval training is over and its time to hit the treadmill at a nice run, consistently. My body hates me. As I have told you all before, running was never really my jam. I always made excuse after excuse for why I just "couldn't run"- I don't have the lung capacity, I am bottom heavy (which is pretty much a lie...), my back hurts. I am sick of it, so about 7 weeks ago I decided to take charge.

A lot of people probably say that training for a 5K should not take 9 weeks and that if I pushed myself hard enough, I could run 3.1 miles today. Well you are right about part of that. I am sure that if I pushed myself hard enough I could run 3.1 miles today, but I would end up being as discouraged as ever and making more excuses for why I "cannot run". I decided to do a program that would teach me to love running and would allow me to learn to trust my body and its capabilities.

Yesterday's run was probably the worst one yet. I have had 6 weeks of great workouts and things have consistently gotten a little harder as I went along. However, yesterdays was like sticking forks into my eyes. Dull forks. I blame the weekend jousting tournament. However, looking back I am deciding to have a combination of positive outlooks about it:

1) It wasn't that bad, you made it out alive, move forward

2) It was terrible, therefore it cant get much worse and you made it out alive, so its only up from here! :)

I enjoy these. Either way, my 2.5 mile run yesterday (which took me 26.37 minutes, I have no shame, I am still learning how to be a runner, speed comes after) is now over and I am looking ahead to my 2.5 run tomorrow and Sunday. (hey, I am supposed to run 3 times a week but I have had such a mess of a week with the long weekend do you think its OK to count Sunday into this week's training as long as I don't count it with next week's as well? )

How are you guys doing with your training? Any of you make excuses that prevent you from pushing yourself?

Red White and Shia with a Side Jousting

2011-07-06T08:25:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! SO sorry I am been MIA the past couple of days. With the 4th of July and traveling up the wazoo to go see BF, I decided to take what little time I had to relax and veg (ie: Women's health and Love Bites- anyone seen that? Surprisingly great!).

Welp moving on! The 4th was amazing. It is always so much fun to be down in DC for holidays, all the excitement of being a nice big city without all the stress of the Big Apple makes for one very happy Jessica.

The weekend consisted of all that you need for a successful trip:

1) Transformers 3D: Dark of the Moon- SCORE- Shia is a hottie.(Ok this pic may be a little more scary man than hottie, but you get the idea)

Source

Shia is totally not my type at all but Selena Gomez has got it right with this one. BTW if you don't know what I am talking bout you are lame- please watch below:

2) A party involving outdoor beer pong, an inflatable jousting ring, a rooftop bar, and a lighting storm. I will leave those images up to the imagination.

3) A little bit of (lot a bit of!!) BF and an extra long visit!

Yesterday after I got home from work I finally had a second to slow down from all the traveling, Shia worshiping and jousting (?) to relax, put up my feet and just hang out. But nope, I most certainly did not do that. I did what I do best- I baked!!

I have been dying to make some of Julie's Peanut Butter Granola and I finally had the time. As most of you know, I always say, the best thing for a baker is when you have all the ingredients already. WOOT! Check! Off I go.

I made one slight tweak because I am a weirdo and I don't really like peanut butter but I would give my Right Arm (not my left, my RIGHT, the one I actually need to do stuff) for a never ending supply of Better N Butter.

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Better N Butter

2 Tablespoons Honey

1/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon

14 Teaspoon Vanilla

1 Cup Oats

Steps:

1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees F

2) Combine BnB and honey in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for about 20 seconds. Remove and stir to fully combine

3) Add in the cinnamon and vanilla and stir to combine

4) Add oats to the wet mixture and fold until the oats are completely covered in BnB mixture.

5) Spread oats onto a pam-ed cookie sheet and bake for 7 – 8 minutes until granola is slightly browned.

6) Let cool until granola is crunchy.

* * using too more peanut butter does not make mixture peanutbuttery-ier-, it makes it not crunchy.

These stuff is the bomb. Julie was not lying. Addictive. Danger. Lock the cabinet... or just dominate the bowl. Hey, I needed to try some in order to accurately starfabulously rate it. DUH.

Star Fabulous Rating: 9/10- Mine got a little soggy. I got PB happy. Oops!

Cinnasugs in the House

2011-06-29T07:05:00.000-07:00

I have an exciting recipe to share with you guys today! Simple as can be and really satisfies that sweet tooth when a giant piece of pie seems a little too heavy (just a little). Per usual I was catching up on my Reader on Monday and Katie had posted about Chickpea Poppers. I love chickpeas and have made poppers (love calling them this!) similar to Katie's with some salt and garlic for a delicious movie watching snack. Well if you guys are as big a fan of Chocolate Covered Katie as I am, you know that that girl can do some crazy things with chickpeas (think... Blondies) so I decided to take a page from her book and try and make a sweet chickpea popper. Well let me tell you-BOMB.com.

These treats are the perfect way to satisfy your sweet-tooth without going over the top. I had about 2 tablespoons of chickpeas hanging next to the pickles in the fridge and decided I would experiment with a smaller quantity in case the adventure went extremely downhill. Welp it didn't. Recipe below!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons cup chickpeas

3 packets of splenda sugar (that I stole from my office!)

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Pam

Steps: (easy peasy)

1) In a bowl combine drained and washed chickpeas, splenda, cinnamon and a nice spray of pam.

2) Mix it all up so that the sugar and cinnamon evenly cover the all the chickpeas

3) On a pam-ed pan spread chickpeas evenly and and bake at 350 degrees F for 20 to 25 mins

4) Put in bowl- EAT ALL!

(please excuse this nasty picture, it is hard to show how delicious these are through a photo!)

These really are scrumptious. For what they are, I starfabulously rate them an 8/10. Yes people, 8 star out of 10 stars for a treat that involves a bean. TRUTH.

Star Fabulous Rating: 8/10

Ok on to bigger and better things. Yesterday for dinner I had my first EVER veggie burger. I dominated one of these suckers:

(source)

with a little mozzarella cheese between two pieces of toasted whole wheat bread and now, my friends, all I can think of is how I want more.

How do you guys each your veggie burgers? I am a newbie and would love recipe ideas!

Roofs, Prosciutto and Good Company

2011-06-28T14:25:00.000-07:00

So guys, if you know me at all, which you all do, you know that I am currently having one intense obsession. No I am not talking feta or pickles, those are constants in my life and would be like saying I am obsessed with breathing. Currently I need, I want, I gotta have me some of this:

(Source)

All. The. Time. I love me some Pineapple Prosciutto Pizza, a nice fig prosciutto sandy, maybe some more Prosciutto Asparagus Pizza. You name it. I want it.

I promise this is going somewhere.

Because of my NEED for prosciutto, it should have been obvious to me when MS. JVO told me that she was making me a surprise dinner as a little late bday treat, that prosciutto would be involved. Welp. Not only was it involved, it was the most heavenly dish I have ever had.

Check that baby out. That my friends is prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, melon and homemade pesto sauce (a light pesto sauce with just basil and shallots, no cheese).

Two forks and a bottle of wine later we were up on JVOs roof taking in the night and devouring that plate.

I am still on cloud nine thinking about how scrumptious this was. Nom Nom Nom

That is all :) Just thought I would share!

What is one food you currently need, want, and gotta have?

I Like to Put Things That Are Orange In my Baked Goods

2011-06-27T06:58:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had an amazing weekend and wherever you are, the weather is as nice at is here in NYC! The sun in bright, the air isn't too hot... and its almost the 4th of July long weekend.

Last week I was "browsing the web" (surfing the internet?- geeze there is no non-nerdy way to say that) and found a recipe of carrot cake cookies on Eating Bird Food (Love her!) !! My boss has been raving about how he loves carrot cake and I have been dying to make something new and exciting (ie: not involving chocolate). I made a few slight tweaks and luckily had all the ingredients needed before I even decided to bake them (which, if you are a baker, you know is the best thing ever), so all I had to do was grate some mini baby carrots and I was good to go. I am sure this would have been so much easier if I had the big carrots but I thought, why go buy the big carrot when I've got a big pack a little carrots hanging next to the pickles in my fridge?

These cookies are a great treat because they are very flavorful and therefore, one really satisfies for a long time. Apparently, I like to add orange colored things to my baked goods because this one had two.

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup vanilla yogurt (I substituted this in to replace the vegetable oil)
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar (to replace dark brown sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg

Orange zest from an entire large orange (more than was orgiianlly recommended- gave great orange flavor)

1/2 cup oats, old fashioned

2/3 cup shredded or grated carrots
1/2 cup raisins (you can do less but I love me some raisins!)

Steps:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2) Combine flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl

3) In a separate, larger bowl mix together the yogurt, granulated sugar, light brown sugar and vanilla.

4) Add the egg and orange zest to the yogurt bowl and combine well.

5) Add the dry mix to the wet mix and stir until incorporated.

6) Add the oats, carrots, raisins (and some nuts if you like!

7) Put 12 mounds on a pam-ed tinfoiled baking sheet (maybe 2- they spread but not too much

8) Bake for 12 to 17 minutes.

9) Enjoy!

I definitely enjoyed these- as I said before they are very nice and powerful- the orange zest really gives them an extra kick. However, due to that, I have had 2 over the past 2 days and I am kind of all cookied-out (which is quite an accomplishment- I never get cookied out- not sure I like it!)

I would starfabulously rate them as 5/10 (this is with all my tweaks, I bet they would have been very different with the oil and the dark sugar and maybe some nuts!). They are good- but not good enough for me to need to lock my cabinet. They stayed on a plate on my kitchen counter all day and it was NBD. Still- I did enjoy them ALOT and the idea of putting veggies into my cookie and having it still taste good really had me going!

Star Fabulous Rating: 5/10

What is your favorite seasonal fruit or veggie to try and sneak into a nom-nom.com baked good?

For Your Birthday- I Grew You a Cat

2011-06-24T05:53:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys!! So for those of you who noticed I was MIA yesterday its because it was my birthday! Woot! Birthday Birthday!

BIRTHDAY!!!

I had one of those days where the little things truly made everything perfect. My co-workers brought me to a fabulous lunch and gave me cupcakes from Crumbs- NOM. I got a hilarious card that looks like this

(source)

and Mama Nay Nay and Faj bought me a beautiful bamboo. If you knew my boss at all you would understand the hilariousness of him picking this card for my birthday... but then again you don't.. soooo moving on!

For those of you who live in this area, you know that it was kind of a dreary day but no worries. With the help of Ms. Amy and the lovely Degie and D, the evening deffinitly started off on the right foot- Pizza slices at the famous Gotham Pizza on the Upper East Side. If you haven't been there, you need to go. The slices are amazing and pretty much any fast food restaurant that also serves fountain soda works for me!

I wish this was a picture of my pizza but again, bad blogger so I sniped it from here but it is a quite accurate image of what I consumed.

We later went to Dorrians (eh-not fab) and then D and I had and amazing stumbleupon moment. While walking to the subway to go to the Gramercy Theater for what turned out to be an amazing night of fabulous concerting we were chatting about In & Out Burger because I have never been and D, in her West-coastiness was appalled that I didn't go with Faj last summer when we drove the coast. Either way, she started chatting about how much she would give her left arm for Shake Shack. After yelping, hopstopping and giggling on the street corner we eventually gave up our search seeing as all of our technological devices were telling us to throw in the towel. Set on Duane Reading for some Sour Patch Kids, we walked 2 steps (nope not 2 blocks, legit 2 steps) and what did we see but this!

Well not actually that because again, I stink at remembering to take pics but this person stumbled upon that and its pretty similar to what we saw :)

Yes, the birthday Gods were looking down on me.

This pretty much made my birthday.Yes there was amazing concerting afterward into the wee hours of the morning (and yes I am up and at work at 8:35 in spite of it), but that is another post for another time.

Funny how the simple things in life seem to make everything so much better. Well, saving up my energy for this weekend's celebration festivities. Sissy K is helping to throw me a party of which I know NO details. I am a planner so as you might assume- I am stressed. Sure its going to be fab!

What did you guys do on your bday this year?

Bananaoatchoco Cookies for All

2011-06-22T10:37:00.000-07:00

G'morning lovies (I guess its afternoon now, I have beent trying to post this since 9am - ooph!) The treats that I made last night are still top of mind so I had to share them ASAP. These babies are unreal. A combo of a recipe from Tina and Gina's (O hey rhyming), they really hit the spot!

D came over last night for Pretty Little Liars and left over Proscuitto Pineapple Pizza. Is anyone else traumatized by PLL? I had to watch an episode of Sex and the City after because I was to scared and it was too close to bed time. Apparently I am 4. No shame. ABC Family decided to really fighten the crap out of its 11-14 year old girls audience with this one. I do not hate it.

Either way, another amazing dinner out on the balcony (one of these days its going to rain and I am going to be devastated) and two dozen cookies later, here is the amazing Bananaoatchoco Cookie recipe!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup of quick oats
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 ripe banana
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter (These would be equally good and healthier with 1/2 cup of apple sauce instead but I didn't have any in the apartment)
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1 egg

Steps:
1) With an electric mixer mix sugar and butter until light and fluffy
2) Add all remaining ingredients and mix, on low, with electric mixer. If you go to high its going to look like you had a flour fight... all over your kitchen
3) Scoop onto a pam-ed tin-foiled pan in tablespoon sized portions.
4) Bake for 7 to 9 minutes on 350 Degrees F
5) Enjoy!

These cookies are pretty bomb.com. Only suggestion that I would have is to make sure to add a pinch of cinnamon as well. I forgot them and they were still delicious but 1/2 tsp of cinnamon would have really brought them over the edge.

How ooey gooey do these look?

Assuming cinnamon is included, I would starfabulusly rate them an 8/10. Gooey, sweet- but not too sweet- and anything involving chocolate and oatmeal in cookie form is a given.

Star Fabulous Rating: 8/10

Balcony Eats with Ms. Amy

2011-06-21T13:02:00.000-07:00

I have been fully utilizing our amazing new outdoor seating area! It is truly heaven. Remember the view? To die for!

Well, needless to say, last night was another Balcony Eating Dinner Extravaganza! Amy came over for homemade pizza! Now, homemade pizza is my jam. As you will remember from the delicious asparagus and prosciutto pizza that I made with JVo making pizza is easy and filling! Amy and I decided to go with the usual prosciutto (my jamalamadingdong- yes, repetitive, but true none the less!) and add the left over pineapples from my Raspberry Pineapple Greek Yogurt Popsicles from Sunday. This was super easy!

Ingredients:

1 pre-made whole wheat Trader Joe's Pizza dough

1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil

2 tablespoons minced garlic

3/4 cup basil and marinara pizza sauce

1 cup pineapple

1 package Trader Joe's prosciutto (5 strips)

Steps:

1) Spread olive oil all over spread out dough on a pam-ed pan

2) Sprinkle with garlic

3) Spread tomato sauce over pizza

4) Top with pineapple and proscuitto

5) Top with reduced fat mozzarella cheese (we used about 2 cups, but it was a little excessive)

6) Throw that sucker in the oven at 400 degrees F until the cheese starts to slightly brown and the crust hardens- about 20 mins.

Don't mind the awkward floating head situation in this picture, weird angle Amy- good one! :)

While I sprinkled on those pineapples, Ames enjoyed a fountain soda- is there anything better tan a nice cold fountain soda?

Pizza went in the oven (as well as some easy to make sprouts- olive oil, vinegar, garlic salt and parm) and it came out this master piece!

HOLY CHEESE

Dinner on the patio was amazing- per usual. Amy is a better blogger than me (bad Jessica) and took the pictures. Thanks Ames! One slice of Pizza on this plate, four consumed total. Happy Jessica. Another fab night with Ms. Fruitsaladlife!

Raspberry Pineapple Greek Yogurt Popsicles

2011-06-21T06:04:00.000-07:00

Morning bloggies. I have been so excited to share this easy peasy recipe with you and I was waiting for just the right time. This beautiful morning calls for an early AM homemade popsicle recipe! Who doesn't want popsicles at 8:37am?

I first got the idea of making popsicles from Amy over at Fruit Salad Life who created delicious looking Mango Popsicle Treats. I am not a huge Mango girl so I decided to make popsicles using two of my favorite summery fruits, Pineapples and Raspberries! Here we go:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Pineapples

1/4 cup Raspberries

1 cup Fat Free Vanilla Greek Yogurt (I went Trader Joe's brand- OBVI)

1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons Agave Nectar

Steps:

1) Throw it all in a blender

2) Pour into popsicle molds

3) Freeze... until frozen

4) EAT

(grapes anyone?)

These are amazing and after a nice little work out to cool down and feel refreshed.

Or, as Jessica did, share them with your sister after a fabulous dinner on your new balcony (Chicken, Sweet Potato Fries, Vinegar Parmesan Brussels Sprouts)

Look at Sissy K enjoy these suckers (yes, pun intended)

These deserve a Star Fabulous Rating of about 7/10 I'd say. The flavor is amazing and really delicious but I personally like my popsicles a little mroe icey and a little less creamy. If you are a creamy popsicle kinda person- these are more like a 9/10 for you. Perhaps next time I'll try it with extra seltzer water for a little fizz!

Star Fabulous Rating: 7/10

Welcome to My Crib

2011-06-20T08:03:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much for being patient with my guys, it has been a whirlwind of events recently and things have been crazy over here. But, that being said, I am finally moved in, and things are started to calm down. Phew! I feel like I have so many things to tell you. I guess we will start at the beginning.

After a delicious dinner with my roommate, our mom's, a friend, and my roommate's sister at Cafeteria in Chelsea, much packing was done. Actually, not much packing was done, which resulted in a crack of dawn wake up call to make sure everything was all set before the movers arrived at 9am. The movers were a little late, but it wasn't there fault. Can someone please explain to me what NYC's reasoning is for not allowing anyone to take a right turn between 9th Ave and Madison on 34th street? Ooph. No big deal, they didn't charge us until they got there- Thank you Ace Movers :) (if anyone is looking to move, these guys are great and pretty appropriately priced)

A day filled with packing, moving, unpacking, decorating, drinks with Mama Nay Nay and D and finally, hitting the pillow for a nice snooze in my new room! The apartment came together so nicely! Want a little peak?

Fun cute sign in the Kitchen- Words to live by :)

Yay! New kitchen! So much bigger than my last one (yes I know its still small, its NYC people, this is like a mansion's Kitchen to a 20something in the big city)

Woot Spice rack!- When roommate and I first got this spice rack, it was the biggest deal ever, you would have thought someone gave us a horse. I still feel the same way. This spice rack is the best $7.99 I ever spent

Fun pretty apron!

Bathroom- isn't our new shower curtain adorable?

We are apparently big into the blue, green and pink idea. I do not hate it.

Well, after much moving in was done. Much food was eaten. Mama Nay Nay, Faj-city and I went over to Josies in my hood and I dominated these flax seed organic, gluten free, dairy free pancakes. They tastes like heaven and I am not usually a fan of these semi-sorta-kinda-the real thing- typa dishes. These held their own. I was quite impressed.

Dont they look amazing? They were :)

Welp children, that is all for now. Ill catch up with you later about my Fruit Salad Life inspired Pineapple Raspberry Popsicles.

Great Tips to Stay Motivated While Training

2011-06-19T11:30:00.001-07:00

As everyone knows, I have been MIA because of my big move (dont worry, pics to come!) but lucky for me I have managed to still stay on my 5K training schedule! Unfortunately, the move has kind of cramped my blog posts so Jenny over at Feet of Fancy was nice enough to help me out. Check out her great guest post below for some amazing tips to get yourself motivated for that first, second, third and bazillionth race!

How to Keep on Keepin' on

I'll be honest, training for your first race is hard. If you're just starting out with running and training for a shorter distance, like a 5k (go Jessica!), it's hard. If you've been running for awhile and are training for a longer distance, like a half-marathon or a marathon it's hard.

Between choosing a race, a training plan, finding the time to train, and tracking your training it can feel a bit overwhelming. Everyone will face individual obstacles on the path to becoming a racing rock star but they one thing almost everyone will have to face during training, is a lack of motivation. Sometimes, you just don't want to run. No amount of cajoling, bribing or baked goods can make you run. But you've paid all that money and gotten this far, so what do you do when you can't seem to lace your running shoes up? Here are five things that might help:

1) Think about why you run

Sometimes you can get so wrapped up in training that you forget why you started running in the first place. I initially started running to get back into shape after too many late college nights, but running soon became much more than that. It was "me" time. Running helps me de-stress, clear my head and organize my day.

Now, I run to raise money for Team-in-Training while preparing for my first marathon. Whenever, I don't feel like going out for my runs, I think about what I'm running for- to help fund cancer research and prevent others from losing family and friends.

2) Remember that you will feel a zillion times better after you run

Seriously, I'm not lying to you. Your muscles might be tired, but you feel energized and ready to take on the world! You may even get lucky and find that elusive "runner's high." You won't forget it when you do.

3) Run with a friend

Honestly, there is very little that motivates me more to get moving than knowing someone is waiting for me to join them on a run. When I'm really struggling to get out the door calling a runner friend and making a running date will quickly solve that problem.

It can be hard to find people to run with at first, but there are plenty of places you can try. Local running stores often have running clubs with people that run at all paces. If you have a blog or Twitter put a call out to readers or followers in your area. Dailymile.com is another great resource (plus the people are amazingly friendly!)

4) Bribe yourself

I try to avoid bribing myself into running too often (otherwise I'd never need another reason to run), but sometimes it's all you can do. I usually bribe myself with the promise of new work-out clothes, but I have runner friends who bribe themselves with spa treatments, or race registrations. Wine is another popular option. Or margaritas. Or baked goods.

Find something that works for, so when those desperate times hit you can take the mature path and bribe yourself into getting out the door.

5) Remember that you paid cold hard cash for this race

Nothing motivates me more than reminding myself that I dropped money on a race. I hate feeling like I wasted money and once I've spent the cash I want to make sure I get the most out of the event. The only way to ensure that is to train.

None of these methods are full-proof and certainly won't work for everyone, everyday. If these suggestions don't work for you, no worries, there are plenty of other tricks out there for getting out the door. Just find a way to get out there and run!

Apartment Pics

2011-06-16T08:25:00.000-07:00

Hello Blog Family!

Just wanted to pop in on this hectic day and say "hi". Mom gets in tonight, dinner will be eaten, and trying to throw my life into boxes will be attempted. Thought you might want a little sneak peak of the new apartment! Cannot. Wait. For. Tomorrow. In I Move!

OOO Kitchens are fun (much baking to be done in this bad boy!):

(you know you love my sunglasses- don't lie)

Bathrooms are fun too- look how clean and pretty!

View from the balcony off of my room! (Yup- BALCONY)

Cant wait to move in! Stay tuned for another great guest post tomorrow from Jenny over at Feet of Fancy!

Guest Post from Amy at Fruit Salad Life- Zuke Cuppy Cakes

2011-06-15T07:11:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys! I am so sorry I have been MIA recently but I am just swamped with work and my move! Luckily my girl Amy has my back. Check out her guest post below!- Thanks Ames!

Hiiii to all you lovely bakers out there! I’m Amy from over at Fruit Salad Life! Since my girl Jess is beyond swamped with work and moving (yay!) this week, I figured I’d help a sister out and do a guest post for her. Now, first of all…Jess and I go way back in the day. After coming back from abroad my junior year of college, I was shoved into a 4-person single dorm room and Jess and I hit it off right away. Now that we’re finally reunited in the same city, I adore our weekly dates!

Generally, I’m the cook and she’s the baker, but every so often we like to mix it up and try something different. I was channeling her the other day and just needed to bake! I had a couple zucchinis lounging around my fruit bowl and checked in with mah gurl, Martha Stewart, for a good cupcake recipe involving these fine veggies. The result? Pure, unadulterated, baked-good bliss.

Oh and ummmm, let the record show that I yanked mine out of the oven after baking for 3 minutes and had to remix the batter, because I had a total blonde moment. I completely forgot to add baking powder to the mix! MAY-JAH duhhhhh, Amy. But they turned out perfectly nonetheless!

Zuke Cuppy Cakes (makes 12)

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 zucchinis, coarsely grated (1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease muffin tin and set aside.
In a bowl, mix together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
In another bowl, combine zucchini, oil, eggs, and vanilla; add to flour mixture, and mix just until combined (do not overmix).
Divide batter evenly among cups. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 20-25 minutes.
Cool in tin on a wire rack for 10 minutes; turn cupcakes out, right side up, and cool completely (I actually stuck my muffin tin straight into the freezer to cool, so I could frost immediately!

Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients

4 tablespoons room-temperature unsalted butter
4 ounces room-temperature bar cream cheese
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions
In a medium bowl, beat butter and cream cheese together by hand until smooth. Add confectioners’ sugar and vanilla extract; beat until light and fluffy. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Star Fabulous Rating: 9/10

I Am a Tinted Window- and I Bake Always

2011-06-13T13:06:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to tell you all about my amazing weekend in Rehoboth. Before I dive into that however, I wanted to tell you guys to go check out my guest post on The Spiffy Cookie! Woot Woot! First guest post. Let me know what you guys think!

Well now, on to the good stuff. This weekend in Delaware was amazing. Great to see the BF. Great to meet his friends. Great to go go to the beach. Great to hang in the water.

I am proud to say I am slightly less of a window! I am probably a tinted window now. No not one of the badass tinted windows you see on trucks with rims. More of the slightly tinted window that you see on your Grampa's old Buick. I am not upset. Steps in the right direction either way.

I am going to play a fun game I am calling the Top 5 Fabulous (or not so fabulous) Things That Happened in Rehoboth:

1) One pair of amazing sunglasses was lost- never to be found again.

RIP Sunglasses- you will be missed

2) Two boys swam out to a Drifting away boat- yup we anchored the boat, but obviously poorly because it drifted away. Far, far away.

3) Three days were spent with the BF- not long enough but I loved every second.

4) Four amazing in a bag-blondies were eaten. I accidentally opened this bag:

thinking that they were already made cookies and then had to make cause I didn't want flour bugs, or for them to go to waste. Yes, I HAD to make them :) I told you, if I could I would bake my way through any day- baking occurred.

5) Five hot dogs were eaten in two days.Yup, two days, five hot dogs. No shame. You do not need a picture of that. That is not a pretty situation.

All in all the weekend was wonderful. I cannot wait for another weekend out at the beach and to soak up some rays!

I am also super sad to say that I do not believe any baking with occur this week. I am moving apartments (FINALLY) so everything is getting boxed up. That is alright though, my new apartment is even closer to a grocery store- uh oh!

How were your weekends?

I Am a Window.....But At Least I'm Eating Butterscotch Brownies

2011-06-10T08:22:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to post today. I had one of those mornings where I woke up and was feeling very "WOOT"! I think its probably the adrenalin rush I am having because I am seeing bf for the first time in a month today and it involves the beach and I am so pale I am see through. Like a window. See-right-through-me kinda pale. Yes, long distance is lame. I am aware. Well either way, after work today I am off to Delaware to bask in the sun and enjoy some time with bf and his friends from DC! I cannot wait. I am going to sit under this all day:

(source)

Hopefully I will get some color so I wont be as pale as I was during reunion.

Ok, well moving on. I wanted to share a new recipe I created with you guys. I made these Chocolate Butterscotch Muffins which I will from this point on call Chocolate Butterscotch Brownies. I am a dummy and put them in muffin tins but they should not be punished for that. So, brownies it is.

Super easy to make. I am a fan.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 1/2 cup milk

2 Eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup fat free vanilla yogurt

2 teapsoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup butterscotch chips

Steps: (easiest ever)

1) Preheat over to 375 degrees F

2) Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir well.

3) Put in a pam-ed brownie pan

4) Bake for 20 to 30 min (until you can poke with a toothpick and it comes out clean)

5) Enjoy.

Personally, I really enjoyed these brownies! Especially when hot from the oven (or microwave as I obviously keep heating them up and taking them to the face). However, there is something about butterscotch that is really tricky to bake with. It is a really strong flavor. I think that these deserve a Star Fabulous Rating of 6/10. They are good but I am not bringing the left over to Delaware this weekend... and I bring left overs everywhere.

Star Fabulous Rating: 6/10

Everyone enjoy their weekend!

5K Training- Week 3, Done and Done

2011-06-09T11:05:00.000-07:00

Wanted to give you guys the quick 411 on my progress with my 5K Training! I just finished up week three and I have to say, this program is amazing. Granted I have never really done a running program before but I really recommend Couch to 5K! The workouts are easy enough that I am not getting discouraged but hard enough that I am prepared for the next week. I mix things up a smidge sometimes and do a little bit extra walking or running at the end (you know the standard finish up the mile at a run, walk up hill to round up the calories burned kinda thing).

Either way, I was able to get my patootie (yes that is my butt I am talking about) out of bed three mornings in a row this week! Monday I was still struggling from reunion weekend but Tuesday morning I woke up and was raring to go! Dominated that workout. Wednesday, a little hard but got myself going. Today I almost convinced myself that it would be better to do it tomorrow but no, I wanted those endorphins and I wanted them bad. Man, I got em! Feeling good today!

Here is the workout I did. Simple, nice.

Maybe Ill even go for a nice walk today after work with Amy during our Old Navy and H&M shopping extravaganza. Amalamadingdong and I were supposed to do said shopping on Tuesday after work but we both vegged and got our lives situated. Today, shopping with occur. Wish me luck!

Dear Pinkberry, Salted Caramel is Nasty

2011-06-09T07:31:00.000-07:00

Morning Bloggies! I cant wait to share with you the great night I had last night. Little note before I do so however, I am a bad bad blogger and forgot to take pictures the entire night. Don't scold me :(

Do you ever have those nights that if you take a step back and reflect you think to yourself, "DAMN, this is bomb!"? Well that is the kind of night I had. Not because I did anything particularly fantastic, no skydiving was involved, no roller-coasters were ridden (I have never been on a roller-coaster- be tea dubs), but the night was fantastic because I was in great company!

After work I went went to the tailor (gotta be my swim suit tailored for the big weekend coming up!) and then trekked my way down to Chelsea to meet up with Lane and Dana for an amazing dinner. After perusing Anthropologie for a hot second (if I could I would buy everything in that store- but I resisted this time!), we went into Chelsea Market and had a deliciously intimate little triple dinner date! We went to Green Table which is an adorable restaurant that specializes in local, organic and seasonal dishes. We all enjoyed some adult beverages and then dominated the menu! Lane got Oysters (sea food is not jam but more power to her) and an amazing pasta dish that involved parsley, peas and ham. I devoured a dish very similar to my asparagus, egg and feta creation that also included a little bit of bacon, and Dana enjoyed a house salad that had strawberries in it! No matter how full we were, we knew one more thing had to be done before the end of the night-this..

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If I could, I would eat Pinkberry 24 hours a day. I would have an IV injecting Pinkberry into my veins if that was an option.

Now for the big guns! When walking to Pinkberry we ran into... ready for it.. drum roll please... my 7th grade boyfriend! Yup 7th grade. I haven't seen him in 10 years. It was so nice to catch up and he actually came with us to Pinkberry. He tried their new Salted Caramel flavor. Usually, if I HAD to starfabulously rate Pinkberry, I would give at a Rating that looks like this:

Yup, that is 50. Five O. That is how strongly I feel about Pinkberry. However, John's Pinkberry, that Salted Caramel with Oreos combo, deserved a Star Fabulous Rating of this:

at very, very best. It was too sweet to eat even a mini of and the "salted" idea, burned my mouth :(.

That's ok, I will stick with my one true love, Original with Raspberries and Blueberries.

If it ain't broke don't try and fix it!

Hope everyone has a great day!

My Mom Wears Pink Converse

2011-06-08T14:18:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys! So sorry it has taken me forever to post today I have been running around like a chicken with its head cut off all morning trying to get things situated for the move, handling some personal stuff, and get ready for my fabulous weekend with the boyfriend in Delaware on the beach. This girls needs some color like WOW. Legit, see through. Not kidding, look:

That's me in the white shorts and yellow top (super unflattering picture!). See. Through. O well, moving on. Hopefully this weekend I can come back and show you guys a tan pic! Fingers crossed!

Well, beside that, a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders because Mama Nay Nay has decide to come to NYC to help me move. She always keeps me nice and calm and it definitely means a nice dinner and some girl time so, woot woot! Look at her adorableness:

Hot shoes Nay Nay- you so cute!

So last night I decided to make some treats for the lovely woman of AWNY for our 8:15 morning meeting. I joined AWNY (The Advertising Women of New York) about 2 months ago and love it. I am on the Young Executives Committee so I the second Wednesday of every month we have a committee meeting to discuss events, networking, etc. The girls are great and the community is wonderful. I thought they deserved a little pick-me-up so Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins were made. One of the girls is Gluten Free and couldnt eat any of the cupcakes (I felt so bad!) Maybe next month I'll try and whip up a gluten free batch for her. I believe I am up to the challenge :)

These muffins are so good. Sorry for all of you who hate this word but they were moist (my bad but I think you're ok), light, and chocolatey to the extreme! I took some tips from both Gina and Amy and mixed and matched their recipes to make this lovely creation.

Ingredients:

6 ripe medium bananas, mashed

1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce

1/4 cup fat free vanilla yogurt

1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

1-1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

4 tbsp butter, softened

1 cup sugar

4 large egg whites

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup chocolate chips

Steps:

1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees F

2) In a medium bowl combine both flours, baking soda and salt and set aside

3) In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy

4) Add egg whites, bananas, applesauce, vanilla yogurt and vanilla to the sugar mixture and combine with the electric mixer.
5) Add flour mixture and chocolate chips to the wet mixture and blend with the electric mixer at low speed until combined (if you go to fast the flour will go everyone and make a mess!)

6) Pour batter into muffin pans (with paper cupcake liners- whatever those are called!) and bake for 30 to 45 minutes.

7) Let the cool and enjoy!

* Makes 24 cupcakes

I enjoyed one last night with a little bit of butter. Amazing. Had one this AM for breakfast as well... AND I couldn't resist devouring one at around 3 for a snack. SO yup, made 24, 3 were eaten by me, in less than 24 hours. Well worth it.

These deserve a solid Star Fabulous Rating of 9/10! The only thing that would make em better is if they were a little better! Make sure to allow the batch to make 24 cupcakes and not be thrown off by size. Less cupcakes=larger portion. Larger portions changes the nutritional information. (But then again, if I was going to eat three is just one day, maybe I should have just make giant cupcakes)

Star Fabulous Rating: 9/10

Choco Peanut Butta Cookies For Guardian Angel George

2011-06-07T13:03:00.000-07:00

Peanut Butter is the best. Hands down. Best. Chocolate is equally the best. Hands down. Best. TIE! Therefore when I was making celebratory cookies to give to my broker at my lease signing today, Peanut Butter and Chocolate were involved. Yes-I made cookies for my broker, George, to thank him. If any of you have ever lived in Manhattan, you know that searching for an apartment is like sticking a fork in your eye repeatedly while running barefoot on fire. That actually may be an understatement. Therefore, when George came along, he was my guardian angel and really bent over backwards to make sure we were comfortable and that we got what we were looking for. George obviously deserved a treat! Choco Peanut Butta Cookies, here we come.

I am not even going to make you wait until the end to learn how these were starfabulously rated. These deserve a Star Fabulous Rating of 10/10. No questions asked. Do you have your spoon out? Got the bowl ready? Here we go!

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup unsalted peanut butter (I went with Trader Joes- bargain hunters’ best friend)

14 cup unsalted butter

2 Eggs

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon salt (if you use salted peanut butter cut this a smidge)

½ teaspoon of baking soda

1 cup whole wheat flour (or ¾ cup whole wheat flour and ¼ cup all purpose flour)

½ cup chocolate chips

Steps:

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

2) Place sugar, butter and peanut butter in a large bowl and with an electric mixer, beat until light and fluffy.

3) Add eggs and vanilla to sugar mixture and blend well with mixer until combined.

4) Add salt, baking soda and flour to sugar mixture and beat until completely combined with the electric mixer

5) Add chocolate chips and mix with the electric mixer until evenly distributed through the batter.

6) Put tablespoon size blobs of the batter on a pam-ed cookie sheet. Note: Make sure to leave about 2

inches between each cookie, they expand!

7) Bake cookies for about 7 to 8 minutes. When removing they will look slightly undercooked. Cookies continue to cookie once removed from the oven so it is essential that you remove this early enough to allow them to be ooey gooey.

8) Makes about 30 cookies!

Now you have two choices...

a) You can be the smart responsible person who individually packages them up for friends before they devour the whole batch

b) You can be the girl like me, who ate four before she remembered that she was supposed to give them to her guardian angel broker friend. The choices is yours :)

Star Fabulous Rating: 10/10

Waking Up on the Right Side of the Bed is my JAM

2011-06-07T08:43:00.000-07:00

Morning everyone (or a suppose afternoon- sorry for the late post!) Today was one of those morning where I woke up and everything was great (sorry to all of you who woke up on the wrong side of then bed, I am sure reading this is painful- o well!). Yesterday I got my head fixed. Looks fab- brown is definitely more my color than blonde. The night was followed by a lease signing- WOOT!

(source)

That is how I feel about finally having an apartment. Geeze I cannot wait to move in and have it all done with! AND the best part, the kitchen is HUGE (well, huge for NYC)! Good thing since I spend 90% of my time at home in the kitchen!

This am I woke up and started week three of my 5K training! It is going really well and I am loving the feeling of working out in the morning and feeling so accomplished before I even get to the office. Double WOOT!

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Definitely in need of a new pair of kicks however. Anyone have a fabulous pair of running sneakers that they want to share?

I am also so happy to say that we have had great response to the Walk to Cure Diabetes! We raised 145 dollars in the first 12 hours. Any support is much appreciated- thank you for those who have given. If you would like to give or join my team you can do so here!

Today after work, Amy and I are going to paint the town red (go to Old Navy) and then sprouts will be made and many a muffin will be created! Stay tuned for the fabulous recipe tomorrow!

Beating Diabetes

2011-06-06T12:56:00.000-07:00

I am not one for the mushy gushy posts. Personally, I am so inspired by others posts that usually I turn to them for the deep stuff. I like to keep it nice and simple.

However, that being said, brace yourself. I just created a team for the Walk to Cure Diabetes on October 2nd in NYC! There are many important people in my life who suffer from diabetes, my best friend from childhood, the boyfriend and one of my closest friends from college, just to name a few. Finding a cure for Diabetes is top of mind for me everyday. Aligning with "healthy living" I believe that a Walk to Find a Cure is a perfect combination of doing something for an amazingly important cause, and reminding yourself everyday to feel blessed for your life and all you are able to do. Do you have anyone in your life who suffers from Diabetes?

Sam and I are going to kick Diabetes butt!

(Sam and I were Olympic weight lifters for Squash Ball in college- yup, SQUASH ball! But we really actually took the picture so one day I could post on this blog about how we are going to dominate Diabetes!)

For those of you in NYC lets walk! For everyone who wants to walk or participate, please do so at here!

Thank you guys so much if you are able to help.

(Not too mushy gushy huh?)

Reunion Weekend and a Much Needed Healthy Detox

2011-06-06T09:31:00.000-07:00

Hi lovers! So this weekend was a blast! It was great to go back to school for a little with the girls and spend some time on campus. Check out this gorgeous view!

Yup. I got to go to school there! You jealous?

All in all the weekend was filled with tanning, playing games, and reminiscing. Pictures are soon to come do not worry.

Now that I am home I am doing a much needed detox-esq week and some fabulous girly maintenance. Tonight I am making my way down to Chelsea to fix my head. A couple of weeks back I got highlights. Love 'em for a little bit but I am missing my lovely brunette, natural locks, so I am going back. Followed my some TJ's grocery shopping I will be all ready for a week of healthy eating, lots of stretching and some amazing baking.

Tomorrow night, not one, but TWO muffin recipes will be made!

Hang tight. Off to read all your great blog posts for this weekend. Catching up on my reader is my jam :)

Adventures with Amy and its Everyone's Birthday

2011-06-03T06:46:00.000-07:00

Last night I had a fabulous evening with Amy over at Fruit Salad Life that was filled with shopping (both loehmans AND TJMaxx) grocery shopping (my favorite kind), making dinner, baking, and just general girl time hangs. Ever since Amy moved to NYC I have been overjoyed! She has the best outlook on life and the most upbeat and contagiously happy personality. Last night's adventure was nothing short of wonderful.

We spent most of the day online gchatting about our evening plans. As Amy said, we are both planners which allows us to organize very fun activities on our busy busy schedules. We decided that we could do a little shopping. Amy was in desperate need for new swim suit bottoms- yay summer! We hit up Loehmans, which obviously meant Jessica bought a new shirt. Amy grabbed a shirt and a fun pair of swim suit bottoms that were a very exciting pattern (very Amy!). On our walk over to Trader Joes (obsession!), Amy spotted TJMaxx which, of course, meant we were going in. A full swim suit, swim suit bottoms and a cool reusable coffee mug later, we were off to Trader Joe's to get our dinner. We had decided earlier in the day that we were going to cook dinner because we both want to avoid the going-out-to-dinner-ever-night disease that many people in the city catch. I had chicken so we decided to grab some sweet potatoes for sweet potato fries and last minute purchased some brussel sprouts! nom nom nom.

Amy whipped us up a delicious meal:

Sweet Potato Fries:

Baked Brussel Sprouts.

These of course accompanied some protein. Grilled chicken with melted cheese on a cinnamon raisin bagel thing. It was phenomenal.

If you are looking for recipes for the sprouts, head over to Amy's blog and check it out!

After dinner, baking was done, Birthday Cupcakes were made! Today is a big birthday day for a lot of this girls friends. Therefore, BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT TIME:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LISA!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEVON!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADDIE!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURA!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHAR!

In honor of everyone's birthday I decided to make birthday fun cupcakes for Lisa who lives in NYC too! I am going to surprise her at work and drop them off... shhh dont tell her :)

This recipe was adapted from about a bajillion things (one of which is this go to Weight Watchers recipe) so I will just lay out the recipe for you.

Easy Peasy Recipe for Birthday Funfetti Cupcakes.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 egg whites

3/4 cup fat free vanilla greek yogurt

1/4 cup fat free vanilla yogurt

1/4 cup fat free skim milk

1/3 cup sprinkles

Steps:

1) Preheat oven to 350°F.

2) In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt

3) In a separate bowl, combine butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy with an electric mixer

4) Add eggs and yogurt to the wet mixture and mix until well-combined with an electric mixer

5) Alternating between the flour mixture and milk, add to the wet mixture while the electric mixer continues to run until batter is fully blended

6) Blend in sprinkles

7) Spoon batter into muffin tins that have been pam-ed and lined. Each muffin should be about 3/4s full.

8) Bake until tops are slightly golden about 18 to 23 minutes.

9) Let cupcakes cool

10) Spread on frosting. (This time I used some store bought frosting as I am going out of town this weekend and didn't want to make a huge batch of frosting)

These turned out very well. I may or may not have had 1, or 2. Perfect dessert from Amy and my amazing meal!

And now they are all packaged up to take to Lisa at work :) Hope she is surprised!

Not going to Starfabulously Rate these as they are very similar to the birthday cupcakes made for roommate in early May

Happy Birthday Everyone!

BDOYBCD Photos and I Heart Old Navy

2011-06-02T06:24:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys! Hope everyone is doing well and all the Mass people are safe and alright. I can't believe a tornado went through Massachusetts. My parents always used to say people moved to Mass to because nothing ever happened there and that's the best thing someone can ask for from a hometown. Well, my thoughts go out to anyone who was affected by the tornado!

Today I woke up nice and leisurely. I had decided last night that I wouldn't work out this AM as I am new to the morning workouts and I think that it would be a bad idea to burn out this early. I've got a 5K and 10K to be training for (eek what I am doing!?)

O well, as promised more pics from The Best Day of the Year Beats Christmas Day Sunday extravaganza. First of all, I believe it is quite necessary to note that this day is a celebration of my Faj (fajcity for those of you who really know me!) and his fabulous twin brother! Birthday's are amazing. TWIN birthday's- redic.

The men of the hour:

The men with their fabulous children/nieces and nephews:

The coolest lady in town with her grandkids:

Cuzcity, oldest to youngest:

And of course, just to top things off, you know you want just a little taste of the food that was consumed (these ones were all me :)):

After work today swimsuits will be purchased with my girl over at Fruit Salad Life, cupcakes will be made for SOMEBODY'S birthday and packing will be done. College reunion this weekend! Here I come!

What is everyone up to this weekend?

O p.s. just got a deal for 10 dollars for 20 dollar worth of clothes at Old Navy- BOMBCITY- you know you want it: http://www.groupon.com/deals/old-navy-national?utm_campaign=UserReferral&utm_medium=email&utm_source=uu30183432