Bake Me A Cake!

So, I've become obsessed with baking lately...cake, muffins, bread and cookies! Let's look closely at the cake part...I really just wanted to bake a good vanilla cake with buttercream frosting (in my head, I put it close to being like a good wedding cake). I tried on Wednesday and...failed =(

So, yesterday I knew that was the day to try again! This time I would follow standard procedure, aka: a recipe that sounded perfect-o!

I knew I needed a few more ingredients for the cake, so I thought I would pick them up after dinner with the hubby...only problem was the waiting part. And by that I mean, waiting for the hubby to get back from the golf course so we could go for dinner...so I did what a girl does best...take pictures when bored!

He gets home. We go for dinner. I pick up my ingredients...oh yaaa!

Fast forward through me measuring and mixing and now we have cake in the oven.

Look at that heat! So as they're baking, I'm now creaming butter.

Insert a few more ingredients, and voila, buttercream icing!

I was on a roll, so I kept it going by preparing my overnight oats!

And then...THE CAKE WAS DONE!! Waiting for it to cool was like watching ice melt. When it was finally cool, I put the icing on quicker than I could say, "I wanna eat you!" and then we were eating it!

 Very pleased with the end result!! The hubby approved of it too, and that's all a gal really needs!

Then, it was time for bed...

And I'm awake again, it's morning! 

The hubby goes to work and I just so happened to notice how neat the sky looked.

So pretty for 8am! Then my belly growls and I realize it's time for those overnight oats!

And who can resist some green tea?! (In a large Disney mug...the only mugs I ever use).

I don't know if it was the oatmeal, the tea, the season OR what everyone else is blogging about...but it was time to make a pumpkin loaf. Stay tuned!

October's Goals

So after watching Oprah (taped from yesterday), where she interviewed J.K. Rowling (amazing episode), I decided it was definitely time to write out my goals. J.K. Rowling spoke in 2008 at Harvard's graduation and she talked about failure...everyone experiences it, yet no one talks about it! How true is that statement. The most successful people have all experienced failure before they experienced success...it's whether you give up or keep going that makes all the difference.

So back to setting goals, here are mine for October:

• Have majority of stuff packed before the last week in October, leaving only the essential everyday items out until move day!
• Move boxes to dad's house; a few at Thanksgiving (fill the jeep!) and the week after that
• Keep experimenting in the kitchen, food is fun!
• Change address for bills before end of October
• Workout 3-4x a week (as long as weather permits), run every other day
• Have an amazing first wedding anniversary!!

That's it for now!

What are your goals?

Make sure to record yours down and look at them daily so you know what you're working towards!!

Remember: Failure happens, but keep striving! Look at J.K. Rowling, she hit 'rockbottom' and knew it couldn't get any worse...the only way was up and look at her now. 

Happy October!!

I know I'm a day late with the, 'it's October!' post, but I still can't believe how quickly the months are flying by. October used to be an ok month, but now, it's better than ok! This month I will celebrate my first wedding anniversary and at the end of the month, my husband and I was will leave BC for a while (it's been fun!), go back to Ontario and see our family for a bit!! This is all something I'm reeeeeally looking forward to!

Yesterday did not feel like it was the 1st of October because the temperatures here have suddenly been pleasant, so the high got to about 23 degrees! But, since the colours on the trees are slowly changing (as everyone can appreciate, because they are gorgeous), you still know that fall is here.

I've recently been sick (we're going on day 6 now - come onnnnn immune system!), but did not let that stop me from getting a little exercise...just a little. With the beautiful weather I went for a lovely run on this trail pretty close to my house, that I absolutely love. As a runner, I must say that when your nose is either a) stuffed up; b) running like crazy; or c) a bit of both (sadly enough) it does not make it easy to run!! Mine happened to be a bit of both on Wednesday (hence, only running 5k) and more on the runny side yesterday (hence, only running 6k). Not having a clear nose greatly decreased my focus, energy and endurance!! I was like a 5 year old! I swear for every 6 steps I ran, I sniffled (almost down to a T). On that note, hopefully by tomorrow (when I plan to run next), I'll almost be cleared up and ready to run!

So, my baking adventure from Wednesday seriously bombed...so sadly, I do not want to talk about it, nor post pictures about it *sigh*. But, I was experimenting yesterday and...success!!

I managed to make some delicious muffins that I must share!!

White Chocolate & Mixed Berry Muffins

Adapted from Zoom Yummy

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutues

Makes 12 large muffins, 16-17 medium muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 3/4 - 1 cup of almond milk
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 4 tbsp agave syrup
• 1 egg
• 2 cups wholewheat flour
• 2-3 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 6 tbsp sugar
• 1 cup white chocolate chunks or chips
• 2 cups fresh or frozen mixed berries (I used frozen)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325
2. In a bowl, add all wet ingredients - lemon juice, milk, applesauce, agave and egg
3. In a second larger bowl, combine all dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, white chocolate
4. Pour the wet mixture into the dry one and mix just until it combines (do not over mix)
5. Finally, add the berries
6. Pour into greased muffin tray or line with muffin tins 
7. Fill each cup, almost to the top and for additional yummyness add a few chocolate chunks to the tops
8. Bake for 30 minutes

I was very impressed!! I love berries and white chocolate, so how would I not be impressed!

There are a few things I would change for next time though:
Add more baking soda (a tsp), and;
Grease the muffin tray vs. lining it (the muffin liners stuck to the muffins too much!)

And then, onto dinner. Complete with garlic broccoli.

Which I simmered in a pot, until tasty! Then, made some homemade cream corn (hubby loves cream corn!)

I tell ya...homemade cream cream corn beats canned cream corn's butt any day!! I would never eat the stuff from a can, but this, I would eat! Then topped dinner off with some delicious balsamic bbq sauced chicken drumsticks. After careful placement on the plate (well, on mine at least), this was our finished product:

Delicious!!!

I definitely need to post my goal's for the month (which I will do later tonight), along with the adventures I make for myself today!!

What's your favourite month?
Any delicious muffin recipes that you enjoy??

Balancing Act

Everything in life is a balancing act; and sometimes it feels like we need to chose one over the other!

Work vs play

Family vs friends

Save vs splurge

etc, etc.

[Image source]

I know we all struggle with it sometimes...so, how do we conquer?

I've come down with a cold that's lasted the past 4 days and this is where I'm finding it hard to balance. I literally had no energy the past week days and naps were essential. With my husband working, who was going to cook and clean? I knew the answer wasn't me, so it seems that sickness [vs. health] had won. With the kitchen neglected (minus making tea and getting ginger ale - it sucks when you don't have an appetite!) and chores untouched (sorry hubby!), I felt useless. I'm slowly starting to feel like myself again...I even plan to bake today...and bake a lot, so I hope to get back in routine asap!

As for exercise, I went on a run yesterday (I thought it was time to do something), but it was a mistake. I ran, thought I would feel better, but it made me worse! Exhausted, light-headed and needing sleep! So I think I'll take a break today...stick to the baking, cleaning and cold medicine!

Hope to be back in full force tomorrow, with lots of scrumptious photos of my baking binge; complete with cookies and banana breads (hopefully).

Until then...I hope everyone else steers clear of the cold train!

What do you do to keep balance in your life?

Recovery

So I went to bed last night feeling like I would wake up feeling worse this morning...lucky for me that didn't happen! My stomach was in bad shape last night, but it cheered up today :)


In the October issue of Women's Health they talk about power food couples. I learnt that sweet potatoes and chicken, together, are a power couple for a stronger immune system; this is very interesting for someone feeling under the weather! Also, interesting is that I ate both last night. Is this what helped improve my sickness overnight?! Let's hope so!

I still have a liiiittle case of the sniffles...good thing there's kleenex! Even though my throat no longer hurts, I'm on the liquid kick. So I made a homemade chai tea latte using this amazing almond milk:

1/2 cup of steamed almond milk with 1/2 cup of steeped chai tea = perfection. Just add a sprinkle of cinnamon on top and you're all set!

(PS - Eeyore cup makes it that much better!)

My stomach is still a little touchy, so I've been pretty careful about what I'm eating and how much I'm eating. I decided to keep it light for lunch and have a salad with beets and goat cheese. Mmm!

Now, I think I'll brave it and go for a run!!! Since I'm kinda sniffly, I'll bring plenty of kleenex!!

I still have to put together my goals for this week, and maybe even carry some over from last wee (oops!). When the hubby is back from golfing, we'll work on our goals together!!

Hmmm...now just to come up with an idea for dinner!!

Sunday Funday?

So...my Sunday didn't start off too 'fun.' I'm still fighting some sort of sickness. I drove the hubby to work at 8am, came home, then decided to sleep for another few hours. I thought it would help a bit, and luckily it did...a bit.

I roughed it out and went to the grocery store for some dinner items. My face may have not looked pretty in public, but I at least my hair did (I curled it last night to go out and it remained intact while I slept!).

I'm not gonna lie, but going to the grocery store was draining. When you're already lacking in energy and you decide to go out...not a good combo. While I was out, had I the energy, I would have side-tracked from the store and went on a run (the weather permitting for once), but I stopped, thought about it, and realized if I could barely walk around a grocery store, how was I going to run 1, 2, 3...8 km? Scratched that thought and made it home safely to the couch again.

Cooking brightens me up (hence, going out to the grocery store to get ingredients), so I made sure to make something delish!! More than obvious that the staple of a sick person's diet is soup, so of course that was on the menu this fine evening!

What are some of your remedies when you're feeling sick?

I decided on (and am slightly obsessed with) thai curry. I made a thai curry soup as adapted by 'A Good Appetite' that turned out delicious.

First, I mixed together ginger, garlic, red curry paste, coconut milk, chicken broth and chicken, then let it simmer until the chicken was cooked:

After the simmering (and mouth watering), in goes fish sauce, a little lime juice, and a weee bit of brown sugar. Then, last...save the best for last...the veggies!

I also made an amazing spicy roasted sweet potato salad (good thing I found this one, because it was just sooo good...the flavour was awesome). I roasted the cut up sweet potatoes in the special seasoning mix and roasted them:

This dish also had you roast whole garlic coves with the potatoes. I was a liiiittle skeptical of this, but wow!! I would definitely do that again and again!

The finished products resulted in 2 amazing dishes that both me and the hubby loved! They had a perfect balance of spice and delicious-ness. And yes, there's leftovers!!

What's your favourite Thai dish to make?

All in all, although I was pretty sick today, the day actually turned out pretty good. Amazing food and amazing company to share it will. Now it's off to snuggle my hubby and watch a movie!!

Vinegar

Vinegar...it's what I thought I had been smelling ALL morning; only problem was I couldn't localize where the smell was coming from! It was driving me craaaazyyyyy! So crazy, that I thought the smell was coming from my fridge...so I cleaned it out! Pro: got rid of stuff that probably was sitting in there longer than it should have been; con: the smell was still there.

So, I escaped out of the house and went on a nice, long walk only to return to the smell. By now (hours later) it was literally driving me nuts; and I have a strong sense of smell to begin with. Back over to the fridge I went...then I thought it was something that got spilled ON the fridge itself, so I wiped it down. Which lead to me finding something dripping from the cupboard above (where we keep wine and liqours). Oh no! was my first thought...what has sat in there so long that now smells like vinegar?! Nope...not the liquor cupboard...it's even above that! Source of the problem:

A mini-keg my husband had won months ago, which was sitting on top of the top cupboard. He had tapped it months ago when a friend was over...and I guess thought it would sit and age? Nope...it turned into vinegar smelling grossness. Thanks hunny!

I'm sooo happy to have the mystery smell GONE! I might clean the area a few more times just to make sure the smell is officially gone.

Ok...onto happy smell-less notes! Yesterday was my blah day; I had a sore throat and was just content with rest and relaxation, but I did manage to make a tasty banana bread (recipe from another blogger; click here). I changed it a bit (minus the walnuts and switched sugars a bit), but still turned out perfect!

I also made some pumpkin muffins...no picture to follow as I need to alter the recipe for them until it's juuuuust right!

So I was hoping I would sleep off this sore throat, but low and behold, I woke up with it again today =( ...time for some gingerale...for healing properties only, of course! And some exercise to make me feel good in general.

I read something interesting in this month's Women's Health about working out and more importantly how you see yourself working out. It says, "if you identify yourself as a runner, you'll be more inclined to lace up your sneakers than someone who sees herself as a couch potato."

I've been struggling lately with getting up and walking around my area (I would much rather go to the running trail or to the gym, not around a subdivision), so I did picture myself walking around the neighbourhood and actually got out and did it (plus, got me away from the 'vinegar' smell)! The great thing about it, was I walked to this pretty cool part of my area where you can see all of downtown (bare with my phone camera...next time need actually camera!)

It's just such a lovely view and makes for an amazing place to build a house! After my lovely walk, I came home and had the essentials:

I love coconut water and saw today (on another blog) that you can buy actual juice-like containers of coconut water...thank goodness for that find!

After the walk and coconut water it was time to blog!!! It's been a great Saturday so far!

Tonight, my husband and I are going to a wine and beer taster, which I'm excited about...just to get out and do something with friends!

What are your plans for the rest of the weekend?