Tag Archives: chocolate cake

Cookie Friday Fail + My Chocolate Cake Redemption

Posted on January 27, 2012 | 14 Comments

Today’s workout: 4.25 mile run + 2.10 on the elliptical. I know, it’s weird. I ellipticized. But I have this blister and after a mile of running, I didn’t think I was going to be able to hack it. So I got on the elliptical. Two miles on that thing seemed to numb the pain (and my brain), and I was able to run again!! The elliptical is not my friend, but I guess it helped me out today!

Let me be clear. I did not fail to MAKE cookies — it’s just that, the cookies were a failure.

You see, I really am firm in my belief that “too much of a good thing is a good thing”, and I put way too much marshmallow fluff. I’m sure this is a perfectly good recipe for Hot Cocoa Cookies – if you follow it correctly.

As you can see, that didn’t stop Kevin from scraping them off and eating a few! I decided to give myself a little grace since I was out of flour last night, and I was not in the mood for another flop!

And since I have to do everything I can to prove that I’m good enough for the baby of the family ;) , I decided to think up a super chocolatey recipe for my father-in-law.

And then I remembered Deidre’s famous chocolate cake. She even made it for our wedding! We were emailing it up (like always!), and she sent me the link.

I was really nervous about the bundt cake flipping, but I decided to go for it!

Too Much Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

  • 1 (18.25 ounce) package devil’s food cake mix
  • 1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well-greased 12 cup bundt pan.
  3. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake thoroughly in pan at least an hour and a half before inverting onto a plate If desired, dust the cake with powdered sugar + I added SPRINKLES!

YUMMY!! Kevin looks so dreamy! :)

Like father like son! ;)

For some reason we felt the need to eat dinner before dessert – lasagna magherit! I made it ahead of time this afternoon (while I was unfortunately not at an interview), and just popped it in the oven when it was time for dinner.  Just the pasta, the ricotta, basil, sauce, and cheese! So simple & delish.

After dinner was game time!

Aren’t they cute in their matching vests?

My husband has quite the game face. Man, I just love him so much!

And now, before bedtime, I have some very important questions for you.

Chocolate or vanilla? I’d probably choose vanilla. Vanilla fro-yo is definitely better than chocolate fro-yo. And everything goes back to fro-yo, right?

Cake or cookies? Cake. It’s more likely to have frosting!

Board games or movie night? Board games!! Unless I want to blog. Than movie night because I can rarely just watch a movie or tv. I have to multi-task!

P.S. That chocolate cake is the BEST! And it was super easy to whip up. You should definitely try it. Word on the street is that there’s also a lower cal version that uses fat free sour cream + sugar-free pudding. I should’ve read the reviews first…

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Posted in Family, Fitness, Food

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Skinny Baked Potato Soup + The Best Chocolate Cake for a Crowd

Posted on January 15, 2012 | 28 Comments

If you loved Stuffed Red Pepper Soup, you are going to be bananas for this recipe!

I <3 Skinny Taste.

Our toppings were kind of feo because we didn’t have any shredded cheese. Kevin was skeptical when he heard “cauliflower”, but trust me, the potatoes covered a multitude of kinda gross vegetables!

Baked Potato Soup
Gina’s Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 5 • Size: 1 cup • Old Points: 4 pts • Points+: 5 pts
Calories: 207.6 • Fat: 7.8 g • Carb: 22.5 g • Fiber: 2.4 g  • Protein: 11.9 g

  • 2 russet potatoes, washed and dried
  • 1 small head of cauliflower, stem removed cut into florets
  • 1 1/2 cups fat free chicken broth
  • 1 1/2 cups 1% reduced-fat milk
  • salt and freshly cracked black pepper
  • 1/2 cup light sour cream
  • 10 tbsp reduced-fat shredded sharp cheddar cheese
  • 6 tbsp chopped chives, divided
  • 3 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (you can use turkey bacon if you prefer)

Pierce potatoes with a fork; microwave on high for 5 minutes turn over and microwave another 3 – 5 minutes, until tender. Or if you prefer to use your oven, bake at 400° for 1 hour or until tender. Cool. Peel potatoes.

Meanwhile, steam cauliflower with water in a large covered pot until tender. Drain and return to pot. On medium heat, add chicken broth, milk, potatoes and bring to a boil. Use an immersion blender to puree until smooth. Add sour cream, half the chives, salt and pepper and cook on low another 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat. Ladle 1 cup soup into each bowl. Top each serving with 2 tbsp cheese, remaining chives, and bacon.

This recipe worked like a charm because with the leftover toppings we made Baked Potato Dip to share Marriage + class!

Baked Potato Dip! Easy + delicious recipe from Baked Bree. Now I’m totally thinking up other occasions where I can use this dip. I loved it.

I was thinking of making another chips + dip type thing because that’s my fave, but I didn’t want to disappoint the people with crazy sweet teeth (like Kevin James).

I Googled up a recipe for Texas Sheet Cake from Our Best Bites. I love OBB because I trust the recipes to work out, and they are generally super down to earth. Unfortunately, I had some slight high altitude issues, but nothing that couldn’t be covered up with a little frosting. Note: a 11 x 17 jelly roll pan is crucial for this recipe. And THAT’S why it’s the perfect cake for the crowd.

Are you starting to feel like all I did this weekend was bake? I also got roped into making some Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies for Kevin’s co-workers. He’s been bragging about me a little too much at work so I have to live up to my name. :

Today’s lunch was a little clean-up-the-fridge panini action. Avocado + turkey bacon (I really got my use out of that stuff!!) + some sharp cheddar.

Afterwards I got to do a nice little 4 miler with my best running buddy ever! The weather was pretty wonderful so we really enjoyed ourselves. The rest of the day was spent mostly in Sunday School & Marriage + class. Sundays are getting pretty packed.

Kevin FINALLY finished his weekend homework at 9:30PM, and we decided to go for a walk. I can’t believe how insanely quiet our neighborhood is at that time of night! It’s practically like Wabasha, Minnesota. I also can’t believe that Kevin chose to go for a 2 mile walk in green plaid pants and slippers. Seriously.

So what are your favorite food blogs? I love Skinny Taste, Brown Eyed Baker, How Sweet Eats, and Peas & Thank You. A nice mix of healthy and sugar-coated. :)

What’s up for this week?  I have an interview on Thursday!! And a 10 mile race on Saturday — the weather is looking good! Hooray!

 

 

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Posted in Food, Healthy recipes, Running

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Tortellin with Pesto & Sun-Dried Tomatoes + One Sweet Saturday

Posted on November 20, 2011 | 6 Comments

Oh man! it’s totally been one of those weekends where I’ve been having way too much fun and way too little time to blog about it! :)

My Saturday started out with a little of THIS:

We are so hard core! We went to a Group Power class at our new gym. Similar to Body Pump. I called i the generic version of Body Pump. I’m only assuming that Body Pump is the original because that’s what all my favorite bloggers love. It was super fun! We really enjoyed it. All the equipment was definitely intimidating for me. I’m sooo not a weights person. In fact, I did end up changing my weights during the entire workout. You were supposed to add/take away for different songs working different body parts, but I just stuck with my 10′s! We’re excited because it’s a class that we can both enjoy and really grow into. I can’t wait to be the tough girl over by the left mirror!!!!! :)

Immediately after our class, the Zumba people started invading. It was like this colorful flock descending upon us! We couldn’t get our weights out of the way fast enough for them to start their cha-cha-chas! I couldn’t resist joining in for a song or two. It was super easy for me to pick up on beause it’s honestly so similar to the Dominican aerobicos! It’s just white people who can’t shake it quite as well! :)

Simplest recipe ever! My runny buddy, Brooke came over and we hit the streets covering 4.0 miles together. It was so fun because we talked our little heads of. Brooke has this theory that if you talk a lot during training, you’ll do really well during a race because you won’t be talking and using up your lung power that way. It’s GENIUS. I love it. Plus we didn’t even notice the first 2.5 miles!! Amazing!

After we cleaned up, we headed to the kitchen to make dinner for our men who were both hitting the books all day (Kevin for his MBA, while her husband is in med school).

Tortellini with Pesto & Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Ingredients

2 packages (9 ounces each) BUITONI Refrigerated Three Cheese Tortellini
1/2 cup BUITONI Refrigerated All Natural Pesto with Basil
1/2 cup (1.5 ounces) BUITONI Refrigerated Freshly Shredded Parmesan Cheese
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped
1/2 bunch basil, chopped

Directions

PREPARE pasta according to package directions. Drain pasta. Toss with pesto, cheese, tomatoes and basil. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Told you it was easy! Almost ridiculously so! I usually never buy tortellini because it seems so expensive, but when Brooke mentioned it, I was all for it! Now I’m curious if I could make it homemade! Of course I am! :)

Our cute little table. We served broccoli & super buttery/garlicky/delicious bread on the side!

For dessert, I was dying to try this recipe for mini chocolate cakes baked in ramekins & stacked in towers. ours didn’t turn out as gorgeous as they were on Pinterest, but they sure tasted good.

We had such a sweet time with our friends. We both told our “how we met” stories, and I grilled her husband about his marathons. I can’t resist. He recently ran a 3:16. Of course, I’m impressed! Brooke & I have plans to run a half together in the spring, and then maybeeeeee…. just maybeeee….. we’ll seeeee! :)

I had such a long week with Kevin gone & a sick Boyd that I (totally accidentally) did this allllll afternoon:

Totally missed my gym time, but I squeezed in 3.60 miles in 32 minutes after our Marriage + class. My body was so sore from all the upper body work in Group Power that it hurt to like pump my arms. Such a weird feeling!

Ready to dive into the big 2-day work week??? Wooohoo!!! I’m off to go Google more Thanksgiving recipes for both sides. I’m sooo excited! For the food AND the family! :)

 

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Posted in Food, Running

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