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Cookie Friday: Giant M&M Valentine’s Cookies

Posted on February 3, 2012 | 9 Comments

Giant M&M Cookies (via How Sweet Eats)

makes 18 large or 36 small cookies

2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) of salted butter, melted and cooled

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup mini m&m’s (or something else that you love)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Mix the flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, mix the butter and sugars until they are combined (and look like the first picture above). Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and stir until mixed. Gradually add flour and mix until a dough forms – it will look crumbly at first, but it will come together. I even used my hands to help at one point. Fold in the m&m’s.

Divide the dough how you choose (1/4 cup portions for 18 large cookies or 2 tablespoon portions for 36 smaller cookies). Shape each portion into a ball with your hands then pull each ball into two equal pieces. Turn each half so that the rough side of the half (what used to be the inside of the ball) faces upwards and then squish both halves together. Place the dough rough-side up on a baking sheets. If you’re doing large cookies, I’d leave about 2 inches in between each.

Bake for 12-15 minutes (large cookies) or 8-12 minutes (small cookies) or until the edges are slightly brown. The centers should be
soft and puffy. Do not over bake. Let cool completely then dig in!

Read those directions carefully!! There is special baking tip that totally works to make huge cookies!! And aren’t huge cookies the best kind? I was so nervous, but they turned out great! As big as a small child’s face and very soft & chewy! Hooray!! A great alternative to the regular Valentine’s cutout cookies that I was sooo not in the mood to make! What with the chilling and the rolling pin. Wasn’t going to happen today!! :)

Baking in a snowstorm calls for a scarf underneath your apron while you bake! :)

Rush hour traffic in the Denver Tech Center this morning…

There were less than 10 people on my 12th floor office today. Seriously. Dead. We’re back home already and Kevin is “working from home.” We laughed because if we were back in Winona, basically everyone would still be in the office till 5PM. Even on a crazy snowy Friday!!

I’m planning an extra long snow day workout!! Because that’s the kind of thing I do. :)

Happy Friday!! Still no phone call about the job, by the way. They promised me a phone call by the end of the week, but I’m afraid the snow is going to have a negative impact there since the school is undoubtedly on a snow day. We shall see. :)

 

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Workout Post-It #1: 4M + Kettlebell Medley Workout

Posted on February 2, 2012 | 7 Comments

I wanted to do a killer workout today because I feel like I haven’t been pushing myself very hard lately, and I think my feet and knees are now in full cooperation mode. I decided to bring it with a little kettlebell & running mix workout I handcrafted myself. You might like it if you’re starting to get a little weary of winter treadmill time! :)

I did this workout for time. I set the stopwatch on my iPhone when I started. This ensured that I wouldn’t squander time texting and drinking water. Can you guess how long it took me? :)

I haven’t had a lot of experience with kettlebells, but I bought one on a whim a few months ago. Since then, we’ve moved a few times, and I lost my Jillian Michaels kettlebell dvd!! I look for it every night before bed (seriously, ask Kevin, he hates it!!), but to no avail. However, I did find a full-length Bob Harper kettlebell workout on YouTube (right here) which I did the other day to reassure myself of my form. I would suggest checking it out. It would’ve been hard to perform some of these exercises with only pictures & text as my guide.

I went ahead and pasted in a photo of each exercise with links to directions. I always just familiarize myself with the moves, and then take a little post-it to the gym. Or the back of  an envelope. Whatever works!

Kettlebell High Pulls: Instructions

 

Figure 8′s: Instructions

Kettle Bell Swings: Instructions

Kettlebell Rows: Instructions

Plank Jacks: Instructions

Reverse Lunge Pass-Through: Instructions (alternating legs!)

My time:

Not too shabby, right? I will admit that I DROPPED the kettlebell during the Figure 8′s move twice! And at that point there just happened to be 2 other people in our tiny apartment gym. Oh my.

By the way, you could totally do this workout with dumbbells. The only one that might be a little weird is the Figure 8′s, but you could totally switch that up with some shoulder presses or something. You could also change the cardio, but you might want to change the segments then. 1.25 miles riding bike is a little easier!!

I was apparently pretty pleased with myself. I ran a bit more afterwards just to keep up my mileage. I totally want to try this workout again and try to beat my time. But another modification I might make is hacking off the first and last quarter miles. I would still do them as a warm-up & cooldown, but I wouldn’t count them for time. Make sense? I’m always thinking of better ways to compete with myself.

Do you kettlebell? I’ve heard it really carves a rocking core, and my core needs some work so I’m trying to embrace it. I hope I don’t break anything. Or hit anyone. I’m pretty clumsy. I want to try out the heavier ones at the gym, but my 10-lber is fun to play with at home.

SUPER AWESOME DATE NIGHT COMING UP!!!!!!!!

I hope it doesn’t snow.

 

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Denver Date Night: Las Caras + Boyd Hates Me (He Really Does!)

Posted on January 26, 2012 | 15 Comments

Tonight, I let Kevin convince me to go to a restaurant with no website. I was very skeptical about this, but he was persuaded by online reviewers. I was persuaded by the fact that I was so starving that I didn’t want to waste any time Googling more restaurants.

So I said,”Do you have a good feeling about this?” Kevin said,”yes.” So off we went!

Me: “They don’t even have a real sign.”

I’m really not that snobby, but isn’t that a clue that the restaurant changes hands often? Haha.

Luckily, my husband knows about three things that can get me to shut up very quickly. Chips, salsa, & guac! Don’t you always choose Mexican when you are the HUNGRIEST? I love that you get the chips & salsa right away so you don’t starve to death. And because of his great love for me, Kevin James always orders me the guac or avocado even though we are always warned it’s going to be an extra charge. :)   It’s a healthy fat! I needed it before I began consuming fatty fatty fats.

Speaking of fatty fatty fats… come to mami!

Ok. So I loved it. But I’m just going to say that the cheese factor was out of control. I’m very stingy with myself about cheese at home. I sprinkle. I don’t douse. This was doused.

Boy, I was feeling pretty good that I had just finished running 10.03 miles at that point. Probably canceled out at least half that plate.

Look at the cute old people! I had to make haste to take a picture before they left, but you’re in luck – took them a while to get their coats on. :) Also you can see the las caras (faces) on the wall. They’re so clever.

I loved the cozy environment. Totally won my heart. Of course, I had to ask Kevi,”Which would you choose… Las Caras or Hacienda Colorado?” Hacienda Colorado was way fancier and had massive Diet Coke cups, but I think I’d choose Las Caras. I like the small neighborhoody vibe!

Back at home, I was making nice with Boyd. We were getting along sooo well – I think it freaked Kevin out! I really do love that little freak.

And then… all of a sudden he started gagging right in my face! I was about 4 inches away. Kevin raced him outside, and turns out he puked up a sock. Gross. Probably one of my sweaty running socks. He’s completely clueless and doesn’t see a doggy treat if it hits him on the nose… but sweaty socks are a different story.

I think he was trying to get back at me for yesterday….

I was planning to take him the 2 miles out & back route we usually take through the dog park. The 2 miles turned into a 5k which turned into a 5 mile which when we got lost turned into over 7 miles. That might be a personal distance record for the Boykin! He wasn’t really that pleased about it. In fact, I think he dislocated my right shoulder from all the pulling and yanking around I had to do. When we run into the wind, I literally have to drag him behind me at times. I’m sure it’s comical to watch.

We’ve noticed that Boyd will not come to me to go outside any more. Do you think he is hinting about something? If I stand at the door with leash, he ignores me. The second Kevin walks over, he is ready to go. He hates me, guys. I’ll admit I probably overdid it with the 7 miles, but he likes our normal Thursday & Friday half-day-at-work jogs! He loves seeing the other dogs and the bunnies. And I give him food while I’m cooking all the time. Why have I not won his heart yet? I’m used to being the favorite so this really stings. I know he doesn’t like it th at I make him sit & stay, but I think he’s overreacting!

By the way, I had another job opportunity come up today. I randomly applied and they contacted me back within 15 minutes. I then had to return their call, but it went to voicemail. So I spent the whole afternoon agonizing about them calling me back – which they haven’t yet. That’s how I ended up doing a totally uncalled for 10 miler. I was just hanging out at the gym waiting on their phone call. I was literally trying not to run too hard so I wouldn’t be out of breath when I answered the phone!! And guess what Miss Genius did? I ran in my new shoes again! I hadn’t run in them since the race, but I thought I was only going to do a few miles. But I did a stressy 10, and earned myself a nice little blister. No high heels again for the office tomorrow. Boo.

What are you doing this weekend? Guys – my in-laws are visiting for the first time!! I don’t even have meals planned for them. What’s my problem? Maybe if I’d stop with the extra long runs, I’d have time!

Also, the school asked me to come in tomorrow or Monday so we’ll see if they get back to me soon!! They’re looking for a long-term sub starting in February! It could be so cool. I need to chill out about it though.

What do you usually order at a Mexican restaurant? Once I get past chip, salsa, & guac – I’m pretty clueless. I used to always order grilled chimichangas back in the day, but there wasn’t one in sight on this menu. I ended up going with that combo plate – not really sure what all I had on there!  I just picked a number.

How do you think I can win Boyd’s heart? I have to make him like me better than Kevin. Without sacrificing my iron rule. Haha.

 

 

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Jump In + Greek Yogurt with Warm Black and Blueberry Sauce

Posted on January 18, 2012 | 14 Comments

I wanted to mix up my cardio a little bit today(don’t worry – I did my 5k+ run), and ventured into the gym to jump rope.

I broke out my Crossfit timer app for this one. I was foolish enough to leave it on the setting I used in a previous workout. 12 rounds of 50 seconds of work + 10 seconds of rest. That was a brutal jump rope workout. Let me advise you that 50 seconds is a really long time to go maximum effort with a jump rope. I’m a pretty good jumper, but the time was just crawling. I’d suggest 30 or 45 seconds of work with 10 seconds of rest. The beeper on the app was nice and loud so I could hear it in the gym. I’m sure everyone in the near vicinity appreciated that! :)

Next time I want to jump rope, I’m going to plan to wear pigtails!!!

By the way, I totally have a goal to learn to do double unders. Predictably, I just finished watching several You Tube video tutorials - here’s the best one!

I had a student try to teach how to do them last year when I taught high school P.E., but I never quite got it!! They did teach me to do the criss-crossy jump thing. You can’t say I’m not teachable!!! By the way, I could school them all in an endurance jumping competition… and the mile run. ;)

I had kind of a small lunch today so I made a smoothie for dessert/afternoon snack. Do you like my funky office refrigerator smell blocker? Haha. Unfortunately, this TOTALLY upset my stomach while I was working out today. Should have just drunk it right away when I made it. I was rewarding myself for surviving the office till 3PM, and I got punished for it!! Haha.

You were just waiting for the zucchini to show up, right? I had planned to make it into noodle-less lasagna, but I had to downsize to a ramekin since my zucchinis were so mini. I used the same recipe as the Turkey Spinach Mini Lasagnas with exception of swapping noodles for thinly sliced zucchini.

I really didn’t slice it thinly enough. I’m not too handy with a knife. I think it would’ve been a lot better if I had done it correctly because the result was some pretty crunchy zucchini. I really enjoyed this dish even with the zucchini substitute, but I’m not going to lie – I missed the noodles. I love you, carbalicious pasta!! Kevin got the normal one. I pick and choose when to torture him with nutrition.

Greek Yogurt with Warm Black and Blueberry Sauce (adapted from Cooking Light)

  • 2/3 cup frozen blueberries
  • 2/3 cup frozen blackberries (we had fresh – yay!)
  • 1/2 cup water
  • Truvia or sweetener of your choice to taste
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 2 cups plain 2% reduced-fat Greek yogurt

Preparation

1. Combine first 5 ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; gently boil 10 minutes or until sauce thickens.

2. Spoon 1/2 cup yogurt into each of 4 bowls; top each serving with about 1/4 cup sauce. Serve immediately.

Can you do double unders? I’m so jealous. I learned a lot of tips from that video so I’m eager to try again.

What’s your favorite kind of berry? Blackberries are my fave.

Thanks for all the well wishing on the interview tomorrow. I’ve put myself in the mindset that it’s a warm-up, but maybe I’ll surprise myself and really want the job after seeing the little school. :)

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Skinny Chocolate Chippers + Fire 55

Posted on January 12, 2012 | 21 Comments

I don’t really know what Kevin did to deserve cookies on a WEDNESDAY. Two whole days away from Cookie Friday. Maybe it’s because I make him put up with trying new foods like Thai Fried Quinoa and Channa Masala when he’d rather be eating spaghetti or tacos. Do you think he just prefers food titles without capitalizations?! Anyways, I just love him to pieces and decided to make him cookies on an unordained night. I was even going to leave out the fact that they were “skinny” but I slipped and told him. Oops!

These were the fastest cookies ever to make. So few ingredients and so easy! I literally had them in the oven by the time Kevin got out of the shower after the gym!

Skinny Low-fat Chocolate Chip Cookies 
Gina’s Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 12 • Size: 2 cookies • Old Points: 4 pts • Points+: 5 pts
Calories: 170.7 • Fat: 5.0 g • Protein: 1.4 g • Carb: 34.5 g • Fiber: 1.4 g • Sugar: 25.4 g Sodium: 113.1 mg

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp butter, melted
  • 1 egg white
  • 2 tbsp apple sauce
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°.  Line two cookie sheets with non-stick silicone baking liners such as Silpats (I highly recommend for best results) or lightly spray cookie sheets with cooking spray. (Corrie Anne obviously doesn’t own Silpats. She doesn’t even have a Kitchen-Aid – wah!)

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt and stir to blend. In another bowl, whisk the sugars, butter, egg white, applesauce and vanilla together until light and fluffy.

This morning I tried a decadent lazy girl’s oatmeal! I almost didn’t buy it because I once saw Better Oats 10 for $10 and now I never want to spend more than that! But I gave in, because really $1.60 isn’t bad for 2.5 breakfasts.

I’m definitely a double pouch girl.

This afternoon I brought back some TurboFire (soooo happy not to be sitting in my desk chair!). I’m sorry, but I’ve done it all and TurboFire is a LOT more fun and equally effective compared to Insanity and P90x. Plus, I honestly think it’s geared more towards women’s bodies, especially women who have a tendency to bulk up (hate that!).

The music is so great, and the Chalene chick is just crazy. I could see her and Joanie (my fellow winter hater) being friends. Today I did Fire 55 which includes some serious H.I.T.T. training, and I’m not gonna lie, I had to take some water breaks! I’ve never stuck consistently to the program because I’m more dedicated to running and, unfortunately, I don’t have 2 hours to workout every day! My other fave is definitely Jill!

Afterwards, I ran a SUPER EZ 4.5ish. I was exhausted!

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Denver Date Night: Phonecian Kabob + Tim Tams!

Posted on January 6, 2012 | 7 Comments

Thursday is date night in the Kreisel house!!! When I lived in the DR, my roommate and I would have Sleep-In Thursdays. It was the highlight of our week. We would sleep an extra 15 minutes and pay for the luxury of riding to school in a taxi rather than on the bus. I miss that! Now we generally get up earlier on Thursdays so we can workout before we hit the office.

Kev-kev gave a rousing version of “Rock-A-Bye Baby.”

Boyd isn’t QUITE at that level with his evil stepmother. We’re working up to it.

Up tonight: Phonecian Kabob!

Last night, I decided to Google “Lebanese” restaurants. And this one had excellent Google reviews. The Google reviews always really crack up. This might be the one that sold us:

….went to Phoenician Kabob with a friend of mine from Lebanon. Although he was “biased” and gave the food a D-ranking in “true Lebanese taste,” he rated it as a B+ for Lebanese food in America.

I borrowed some photos from the nice people on Yelp because, let’s face it, they went there before dark and ate the exact same food!

For an appetizer, we ordered the garlic dip. This dip was intense. Now, I’ve talked to you about garlic before, but this was even CRAZIER. My mouth was actually burning from how strong the garlic was. The pitas came fresh & hot out of the oven. Yum! I also ordered a lentil soup which I was NOT a fan of. I was not expecting it to be pureed. I felt bad about not really eating it, but I’m always proud of myself for trying new foods!

I ordered the vegetarian combo with falafel, hummus, baba ghannouj, tabbouleh & grape leaves. I even tried the grape leaves. Don’t they look nasty? They are. I liked everything else though. I’m going to be honest and say I mainly ate the pitas, hummus, and garlic dip. Can’t help it! They were my faves!! Kevin ordered a chicken kabob plate which I also sampled.

Aren’t the tables cute? The interior was cozy and sweet, and the employees were very friendly. Kevin made fun of me because I felt skeptical at first because the location is more downtown, and it was surrounded by tattoo parlors and liquor stores. I’ve just gotten so used to our super quiet, super business-y area of the city!

And then we went to Super Target! I went a little crazy being in another grocery store. I love strolling around grocery stores now that I grocery shop and cook all the time. Kevin was the one who struck gold, however.

Tim Tams! Apparently they are THE COOKIE in Australia. Maybe Jen can confirm or deny this. After all, Kevin was just a tourist. My husband had the time of his life studying abroad for a semester in Australia. I don’t think I will break his heart and remind him how long ago that was! But he loves to talk Australia. It drives me crazy when a friend or stranger gets him started on it! I know he won’t stop. Lol. I guess I could be guilty of that talking about the DR, but I did live there for three years. Not exactly comparable.

I was also informed about the art of the Tim Tam Slam. That’s really special.

What’s the last restaurant you went visited?

Have you ever had a Tim Tam? I did taste a little corner of it. Not too bad although I’m not really a caramel fan.

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