Really awesome peanut butter cookies and beads

This morning, I started the day off with a workout. I attempted to run, but only lasted a mile before my knee hurt me. So I just did a good hill workout instead of running. I also worked out my arms!

Yeah...not the biggest muscles ever, but what can you do?

Today was another relaxing day. I think I am attempting to reserve all of my energy for tomorrow night and for the upcoming cruise, which is only 5 days away! I am so excited to be in the middle of the ocean and wear my new bathing suit and fancy dress.

The highlights of my day were making amazing cookies and bead making! But dinner wasn't too shabby either.

Dinner: Chicken alfredo

I just made a quick sauce with milk, greek yogurt, and a bit of sour cream. I added different spices and herbs (garlic salt, parsley, pepper, chives). I baked the alfredo with lots of grated mozzarella on top!

This is what it looked like afterwards. It was pretty yummy.

I am almost out of cookies, so I made more today. These are seriously one of my new favorites! They are peanut butter cookies but with some nice twists.

Basic Recipe:

4 big tbsp of peanut butter (I used dark chocolate dreams)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/3 cup whole wheat flour

That is it! Just preheat the oven to 350. Then mix the ingredients together.

You can also add in stuff. I used:

some chopped peanuts

some dark chocolate chips

Then take big tbsp's of cookie dough and place on a baking sheet. Bake for about 14 minutes.

They will look and smell incredible, but resist the urge to sacrifice your tongue. The wait will be worth it!

I initially only served myself half of a cookie with my ice cream, but I had to go back for the other half (they are that amazing).

On to the other exciting part of my day. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought myself some stuff to play with: polymer clays! I have been wanting to try to make clay beads for the longest time. So I finally bought the supplies and made a few beads. I will definately be making more.

Aren't they cool? I am kind of excited about them, and can't wait to actually learn techniques to make cooler and more extravagant beads.

New hair and eggs with potatoes make me smile!

Have you ever felt like you had such a great day? You just sit down and smile to yourself. But then you think about it, and nothing special actually happened. It was just a genuinely and simply good day.

This is what I did:

• I got my hair cut and highlighted! I had a coupon for a highlight and cut at a place in town, and it turns out it was actually for full highlights! It was a great experience, and my hair came out adorable. She straightened it for me, so tomorrow I will see how it works with my curls, but I am really excited about it! I definately needed a haircut. Now I feel like a very cute version of myself.
• I booked a hotel for New Years Eve! We are going to Dallas so that we can party and drink lots of AMAZING beer at the Flying Saucer. I am so excited about it, but I am not so excited about my very low tolerance. I am going to be extremely tipsy. And by tipsy, I think I mean drunk.
• I also booked a reservation at a cool looking restaurant called Tillman's Roadhouse. They actually have a venison Frito Pie (for Stephen) and tableside S'mores!! I definately need to try this place out.

Hmm, that's it. I think I am just excited about things.
Okay, on to my yummy dinner.

I made a tortilla with potatoes and caramelized onions.

It just consisted of chopping up white potatoes and cooking them up for a while in some olive oil with the caramelized onions. Then I mixed the potatoes with the eggs and allowed it to cook. It was like a giant omelet, but so much better!

A close up of the finished product.

See how yummy it looks? I served it with a slice of my wheat bread and a spinach salad. Very satisfying and delicious. There is something about eggs and potatoes that makes me smile.

Me and my new haircut!

Hope you are enjoying the last few days of the year!

Ginger Beer and Ginger Bears

Today is the last Monday of the year. It's kind of surreal that it is ending. I have definately learned a lot this year and need to do some reflecting.

This is what has happened:

• Became a PR manager for OPAS
• Started running regularly
• Started this blog
• Got a dog, and then gave it to Stephen's mom (for now)
• Wne to Acadia National Park for the first time
• Stephen and I took our first vacation together to the Bahamaas for Spring break
• Went to San Antonio for the first time
• Stopped seeing my therapist and seeing if I can stand on my own two feet (and ten toes)
• Spent a week in Wisconsin doing research
• Went to Florida for a hispanic college students' conference
• Started baking regularly (I never liked baking before this year)

Okay, seeing that list, I feel like a lot of things have gotten started. Lately, I have felt so incredibly bored with myself. I feel like I am not doing enough. Not being productive enough. Not impressing people enough. But what does that even mean? What exactly am I looking for? I just don't feel inspired sometimes. It really takes effort and energy to find some inspiration here.

I cannot wait until January 3rd when I get to spend a good week surrounded by the ocean! I swear the ocean is likemy battery charger. I always feel at peace when I watch the waves and smell the salt in the air. That is going to feel way too good.


My breakfast!
I had some ezekiel cereal that I heated up with almond milk. I mixed in a bit of greek yogurt and a banana. It was actually very delicious! The cereal is a little crazy. It reminds o=me of Grape Nuts. But very huge Grape Nuts. Why do they call it Grape Nuts anyways?


I went for a mid morning walk through the park across the street. It was a little chilly, but it was a lovely walk. I took a picture of some of the plants that I saw.

I love this picture. The leaf looks like a heart and looks amazing against the branches and sky.

I wish these were edible. They look delicious just hanging there.

Lunch

I made some hummus out of chickpeas, lemon juice, oilve oil, and almond butter. Really simple, but super yummy. I made a nice veggie sandwich, and had an apple to go with it!

Looks good, doesn't it? I made Stephen some meat and cheese in a tortilla. He is not one to love a veggie sandwich. But thankfully I love to cook and throw things together on a whim, so I don't mind making him a nice lunch that he will actually enjoy.

He does like gummy centipedes, though! We went to World Market today! I bought Stephen gummy centipedes.

Yummy centipedes!

I got myself some ginger and fruit gummy bears and some chai mix. The chai is awesome, but what is also awesome is the ginger beer that Stephen bought me! Ginger beer and ginger bears. Pretty amazing, right?

Stephen's dinner of the week: Nachos! I had a lot of fun with this! I actually served the nachos on a pizza pan! Above is the nachos (oven baked tortillas) with lots and lots of toppings. This is what you are looking at:

• Wheat tortilla chips
• Refired beans
• Ground beef
• Chopped tomato
• Chopped onion
• Avocado
• Lettuce
• Queso (cheese, cornstarch, and milk heated in a saucepan)
• Salso
• Sour cream

This is a delightful mess! We dug right in. I ate most of the veggies and avocado, and Stephen ate most of the meat. I was actually skeptical about making this, because I try to eat healthy. But I am realizing that eating well for me means eating everything and not labelling any food as out of bounds. So nachos = awesome.

Here is the ultimate damage inflicted on the nacho mountain! This meal was a blast to make and eat.

Today I did plenty of drawing.

Beautiful flowers on some cool branches.

I felt like drawing the world Peace and ended up putting a food on each letter. If you can't tell, the P has pizzas, the E has eggs, the A has apples, the C has cookies (chocolate chip cookies- yay for 3 C's!), and the E had egg rolls. Di you know that they arent many drawable foods that start with the letter E? Me neither!

My first loaf of bread!

Things I learned today:
When I am bored, I bake. This time, I baked bread!
When you create a Pandora station using "Glee cast", you will get the most amazing radio station EVER!
It's fun to go grocery shopping with Christmas money
If you order a Freebirds burrito without rice, the cheese gets all melty and delicious against the chicken (it was heaven)

Now I will share my beautiful loaf of bread. It is pretty spectacular. I am pretty impressed and proud of myself for this one.


Wheat bread with a hint of molasses
First, take 1 tbsp of yeast and stir it with 1 cup warm water in a large bowl.
Let this sit for about 5 minutes.

Add:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup wheat flour (I used whole wheat graham flour)
1 tbsp molasses
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter melted

Mix together until a dough ball forms that comes off the sides of the bowl. You will need to add more flour. I just added more wheat flour until the dough started becoming less sticky.

Move the dough ball to a floured surface and knead for about 2 minutes.

Set in a bowl coated in olive oil an cover in plastic wrap. Let it double in size. About 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Before the dough ball rises.

After the dough ball rises!

Now, gently pound the air out of the dough and mold into a loaf shape, as sown below. Set it on a baking sheet. Lay a clean towel over it for about an hour. The dough will double in size again.

While it is rising, go ahead and preheat the oven to 400 F.

When you are ready, make some slashes on the top of the loaf.

This is the loaf before baking. Bake the loaf for 25 minutes. The loaf will sound hollow if you gently hit the bottom of it. Let the loaf cool before you slice it.

Close up of the baked dough!

The loaf of wheat bread! Just so you know, this is my very first loaf of bread! I have made pizza dough plenty of times, but I have never attempted a loaf of bread! So to celebrate, I made grilled cheese sandwiches with the bread and I also made some tomato soup!

For the tomato soup, this is what I did.

First, I took 1 can of whole peeled tomatoes. I drained the tomatoes and saved the liquid. I placed the tomatoes on a baking sheet and roasted the tomatoes for 15 minutes at 450 F.

While the tomatoes are roasting, I cooked in olive oil:

1 diced onion

2 diced garlic cloves

1 diced carrot

Once the tomatoes are ready, add them to the veggies. Also add:

The reserved tomato liquid

1 cup chicken broth

any spices you want to add (I used celery seeds, parsley, and oregano)

Allow this to simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Then pour into a food processor with about 1/2 cup of greek yogurt and puree. Allow to cool and then serve!

Here are the onions, carrots, and garlic getting cooked up! Yum!

Here is one of the grilled cheese sandwiches. I made these basic with just cheddar and mozzarella and buttered slices of my bread!

Here is the soup! As you can see, it is pretty creamy. I prefer a very thick and creamy tomato soup. So if you prefer it that way, too, this is the soup for you!

Have a bite?

Almost vegan cookies and Hot dog Mac and Cheese!

I just had a fun fashion show trying on dresses and outfits for our cruise. It is only 8 days away! I am so excited. It was so much fun trying on dresses and outfits with my new AMAZING Via Spiga boots. They seriously make me feel very sexy and dangerous. Very dangerous.
When I was in high school I would buy new clothes constantly and whenever I had a bad day, I would just try on outfit after outfit and feel so much better about myself. I actually had a pretty awesome body image in high school. Unfortunately, that fell by the wayside once college started. I am now trying to find that joy again. I am trying to feel the surge of confidence that comes with a cute outfit. I definately felt it yesterday after opening my Christmas presents. Granny got me a really cute sweater from Express and new tanktops. So I changed into a tank top and the sweater and put the Via Spiga boots over my jeans and I seriously felt transformed. It just makes me smile to know that I am treating myself and allowing myself to look and feel good. If only this were easy to do all the time...
Today, I had a very ripe banana that was not going to live until tomorrow. I wanted to make cookies with it, but I didn't have eggs. So I took a deep breath, and created some awesome almost vegan cookies. I am saying almost vegan, because I used chocolate chips. Oh well! Even Stephen liked them.


Eggless chocolate, banana, oat cookies with chocolate chips!

Preheat the oven to 350 F

Dry ingredients:
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup hersheys special dark cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
Mix these together

Wet ingredients:
1/4 cup canola oil (or any veggie oil)
1/4 cup white sugar
1 very ripe banana mashed
1 tbsp peanut butter (I used dark chocolate dreams peanut butter)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
Whish these together until well mixed

Slowly mix the wet and dry ingredients.
Stir in:
2 large tbsp of oats (I used quick cooking oats)
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Take tbsp of the dough and place on ungreased baking sheets.
Bake for about 10 minutes, until the center is set.
Allow to cool on the baking sheets, and then eat!

I am eating one with Pure Decadence ice cream! It is a frozen dessert made with coconut milk. I got the vanilla bean flavor and it is absolutely delicious! I love it, and it really works with this cookie!

Okay, I know I started with dessert, but here is some dinner, too.

Mac and some cheese with hot dogs!

I didn't have much cheese left, so the sauce is some shredded cheddar with greek yogurt, parsley, garlic, and chives. I used wheat shells and baked the dish in the oven for a few minutes. It was pretty good, actually. I love hot dogs!

I served it with some "garlic bread" and a little salad made with a granny smith apple, cucumber, and tomato, with some lemon and parsley. It made for a nice balanced meal!

I hope you had an awesome Saturday and that your Sunday treats you just as well, if not much better.

Christmas Peace Cookies

Merry Christmas!
I always find myself doing way too much thinking during the Christmas season. Especially during the nice peaceful time that is Christmas Eve mass. I actually enjoy going to church on the 2 occasions per year and Stephen and I join his family (Easter and Christmas Eve). Last night, the pastor gave an interesting sermon about routines and traditions. She spoke about how most people go to the same church every week and sit in the same pew every week on the same time and the same day. The eucharist is taken in the same manner each week, and we see the same people every week. It made me think about all of the things I do as a routine:
I sit in the same seat in class each time we meet.
I sit in the same seat on the bus if it is open
I wake up at the same time every morning (without an alarm)
I go to bed at the same time each night if I can
I eat my meals at the same time if I can
Why in the world do I need to be so rigid in my daily routine? It is definately comforting in a way. It is safe and predictable. I control it, no one else. But at the same time, this type of routine gets me drained and tired, and bored with my life. Simply put: I get in a rut. This happens to me pretty often, and I want it to stop!
But how do you stop having a routine or schedule if that is what makes you comfortable during your every day life?
I don't expect you to answer this, because I can't either!
So now I will share my cookies with you. (Sorry to say, but I did not photograph my oatmeal dark chocolate chip cookies, and there are none left.)

Christmas Peace Cookies (double dark chocolate cookies with mint)

Dry ingredients
1 1/4 cup flour
1/3 cup harshey's special dark cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1.4 tsp salt
Sift these together

Wet ingredients
11 tbsp unsalted butter softened
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp peppermint extract
Beat butter until creamy. Then add the rest of the wet ingredients.

Beat both mixtures together until it is well combined and looks like crumbs. Add:
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
Stir together until well mixed.

Turn out the dough in two sections on a floured surface and roll each section into a log that is about 1 1/2 inches in diamter.

Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and then refridgerate for at least 3 hours, or up to 3 days.
When you are ready, preheat the oven to 325 F and cut the logs into 1/2 inch thick slices.

Bake on ungreased cookie sheets for 12 minutes and then take out of the oven. They will look undone, but they are ready. Allow to cool on the sheet for about 5-10 minutes and then either store them or eat them!

Beware: These cookies are addicting! You may have noticed from the ingredients that they are kind of like a shortbread or sable cookie. So they have a nice soft crunch to them and a very deep chocolate and mint flavor. They are absolutely delicious with milk! Especially warmed up milk!

Okay, now that we have our cookies, time for Christmas!

These are some of the many presents under the tree. Lots of presents. My boyfriend's family does not skimp on presents. We are all very spoiled!

My boyfriend got new boxers!

Malcom!

Frankie!

My new Via Spiga black leather boots. Have you read the book, In Her Shoes? There is an awesome scene in the beginning of the book where the main character's sister wears her leather boots and nothing else while seducing the main character's boyfriend. The boots just sounding so luxurious and awesome, that I had to show them to my boyfriend and maybe, just maybe, hint that I wanted them as a present! And here they are!

It was a great Christmas, and we all ended up with far too many presents and nice full tummies after Christmas lunch.

But I still cooked a nice dinner!

I think this is a very random form of eggs benedict. We have baked tortilla chips with potato patties (leftover mashed potatoes cooked up into patties), and poached eggs! Served with some raspberry chipotle salsa and greek yogurt for me, and regular salsa and sour cream for Stephen, and it made a yummy meal! I also had some brussel sprouts, because I am slightly in love with brussel sprouts.

Eggplant Parmesan!

Only 2 days left until Christmas, which means it is Christmas Eve eve. I opened one of my presents today! Stephen got me a brand new bathing suit for the cruise. Which is amazing, because I would not have gotten myself a new one. I love it! I can't wait to open more presents. We just got back from Santa's Wonderland, which is this awesome place in College Station where you can drive through this awesome set up of Christmas lights. It was definately a nice experience with the Christmas music and all of the lights. One thing is missing, though--snow! But I love in Texas now, so that will not happen!


I love cooking vegetarian dishes at least once or twice a week. Today, I tackled a lovely eggplant and made a yummy Italian dish! I learned how to properly prep the eggplant, which does make a HUGE difference in the outcome. Eggplants tend to feel a little oily when you eat them. Not gross or anything, just slightly strange. Prepping the eggplant gets the excess moisture out, so you do not end up eating a greasy eggplant!


After slicing up the eggplant, I lay the slices on a cutting board and then sprinkled plenty of salt on them. I allowed them to sit in the salt for about an hour. Then I rinsed them with cold water and squeezed the water out using my hand. Then i pressed the slices between paper towels to get the last bits of moisture out. That is all there is to it. Just an extra hour of your time before you start cooking. But really, only 5 minutes of that time is active. So it is not bad. It's definately is worth it!

To make the eggplant parm, I took the dried slices and dipped them in beaten egg and then in bread crumbs. Then I baked them in the oven at 400F for about 15 minutes.
Once the slices are nice and toasted, I layered them with tomato sauce and cheese, and then placed back in the oven for about 25 minutes.


I served mine with mashed potatoes and some brussel sprouts! I hadn't had brussel sprouts in a long time. They made me happy!


This is my lates drawing. I am experimenting with shading and the human body. I kind of like this one.

And here are some of my christmas cookies! I will post more pictures and the recipes tomorrow, but I wanted to leave you with this picture. They are delicious!