Tag Archives: chocolate

Baked Funfetti & Chocolate Nutella Donuts + Super Outdoorsy

Posted on February 18, 2012 | 9 Comments

I bought a heart-shaped donut pan a few weeks ago, and it’s been burning a hole in my kitchen cupboards ever since!

They’re easier than you think! And they’re extremely donut-like! I was afraid they would just be heart-shaped cupcakes. Not even sure why that would be a bad thing, but I was happy nonetheless.

Baked Funfetti Donuts (via cookies&cups)

2 3/4 cups Funfetti Cake Mix
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 Tbsp melted butter
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Spray the donut pan lightly with cooking spray.

In mixing bowl beat all ingredients on medium speed for 30 seconds.  Transfer batter in a ziplock bag.  Cut of the corner of the ziplock and squeeze batter into each donut mold, filling 2/3 full.  Bake for 7-9 minutes until the tops are slightly browned and spring back when touched.

Check out cookies & cups for recipes for a glaze AND a frosting. You need both! Definitely!

You want the Chocolate Nutella version? All I did was switch up the cake mix flavor and mix up a glaze powdered sugar, 2 TBSP of Nutella, and milk.

My beautiful baking buddy! Can you believe we baked donuts instead of ran today? Oops! I did sneak in a quick twice around the block (1.58 miles) before she showed up. Nothing like a 12 minute run to burn off my Saturday morning antsiness.

Later this afternoon, we finally got the chance to meet up with some old college friends of mine. We’ve been trying to find a time to get together basically since we moved to Denver, but we finally made it happen!

We decided it would be cool to meet alongside a big, muddy, snowy hill for a true test of my outdoorsiness.Ryan is an accomplished photographer who likes to photograph adventurous things so we did a little trail running photo shoot. Kevin and I seriously had a blast slipping and sliding all over the place and arguing over who has better running form. Thankfully, the weather cooperated so I wasn’t freezing to death! I know it’s hard to imagine, but some of them may turn out better than some of my iPhone self-portraits!We’ll give you a peek someday. I didn’t even bring my baby iPhone out there in the elements. I’m sure I would’ve dropped it down a hill somewhere. Afterwards, we enjoyed dinner and catching up with the whole family. We even shared some of our donuts because we’re so nice.

We got home nice & early so I tricked Kevin into a quick gym trip. Kevin: “Can I have a donut first?” Seriously? Who asks that?

These are the socks I had to wear since my one good pair was sopping wet.  What about the 12 pairs of socks I got for Christmas? Boyd has been chomping them down one by one.

And these are the pants my husband chose to wear:

Green machine!!!! I ran another easy 2 while he hung out on the elliptical. Right about now we are totally lazing it up on the futon. We have another big day tomorrow!!

Favorite kind of donut? Not a huge fan. I go for the sprinkles and the long johns. I guess I need to learn how to bake long johns.

Do you wear pjs in public? I did so regularly in high school. Very regularly. But after living in the DR, I don’t think that’s ever going to happen again. ;)

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Posted in Food, Running

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Chocolate, PB, & Fear Vegetables

Posted on February 15, 2012 | 10 Comments

I woke up with a little Valentine’s Day hangover this morning and wasn’t in the mood for anything but my cafe.

(Mischief  Champion)

So I just sat around looking sullen while Kevin ate breakfast and drank a few sips of my coffee. It’s always too hot for me until I get to work!

Around 10AM, my stomach had righted itself, and I dug out my PB Puffins. Yay!! I actually stayed at work for a lunch meeting today! I’m such a young professional! Haha. We ordered Jimmy John’s which I was a little skeptical about, but it turned out okay. Trust me when I say that I Googled the nutrition facts to find something that wasn’t a complete carb trap. The Veggie Club has 773 calories and 38 grams of fat – FYI!

And some chocolate for my afternoon snack!! I love these little guys. They’re on sale this week at King Sooper’s! I remember always wanted to buy the mini chocolate soymilks when I lived in the DR, but I actually did the peso-dollar calcuation (for once in my life) and they were about $3 a piece!!

Today’s workout: 5.10 miles running + a kettlebell workout!

We completed a version of this Summer Bikini Blast workout from MyoMytv. I always study the videos and take notes before I go to the gym. I swear I was even dreaming about kettlebell form last night! I kid you not!

I actually talked Kevin James into trying it! That’s a miracle. He’s usually very skeptical of the tabata-ish workouts I do. It’s probably because I make so many painful noises. I got to practice my personal training skills on him! His squats and lunges made me very nervous!! We really need to work on his form! :)

I will say he took my pointers very well. And he should. They were mostly direct quotes from the like of Jillian Michaels! He did get a little sassy with me a few times, but I know it’s tough being beat by a girl. I got my karma for being a pain because I cranked my neck weird while doing show-off jumping jacks. It takes a special to feel the need to show off during jumping jacks… It still feels weird to turn my head!

Today I conquered one of my fear vegetables. Kale!

Whole Grain Spaghetti with Garlicky Kale & Tomatoes.

It was NOT love at first bite. But after a few tries, it tasted kind of like a crunchy spinach/broccoli type thing. I like spinach and broccoli!! I’ll keep working on it!

My other fear food is edamame. Yeah, I thought it was a vegetable there for a second. Give me a break. It looks like peas! Yuck!

I tricked Kevin into doing dishes while I constructed the ultimate chocolate dessert for him. Really, it was just leftovers of the 2-ingredient fudge and last night’s cake crumbled up in a mini trifle bowl! I licked the frosting knife for my dessert. My life is so rough. Haha.

Kevin also scored these questionable chocolates that I found on my desk this morning….  What a brave soul.

What about you? Any chocolate and/or pb today? Both. Kind of.

Any fear foods/vegetables? Not to be confused with vegetables you dislike. Ones that you are actually afraid to try.

Would you eat a questionable sweet? Just something to think about.

P.S. Thanks for all your sweet requests for the second installment of our How We Met series. These things take time. I have to wordsmith them, unlike my daily onslaught of words posts!

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Posted in Fitness, Food

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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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Cookie Friday: Chocolate Chip Caramel Cookies

Posted on October 28, 2011 | 4 Comments

This morning at the office, before I even wrote my first Post-it note my wonderful boss said,”Thanks for coming in this morning.” Man! I can be suckered into do almost anything with a little positive reinforcement. I worked 32 hours this week. Sigh. That delayed my cookie baking got delayed a little bit.

My lame husband would choose chocolate chip every single week if I let him! That’s just too boring for me! I think he would eat cereal for breakfast, pizza for lunch, and spaghetti for dinner for the rest of his life if it wasn’t for me. I tried to get him to branch out with several very unique cookie recipe ideas, but he chose the closest to the familiar with the tiniest of twists.

But. They turned out beautifully! This apartment is even trickier than the last one to cook in because the cookie sheet fits about four cookies at a time. Try doing a Jillian Michaels dvd while you have cookies in the oven. And then your weights get buttery and slippery. Yuck!

Chocolate Chip Caramel Cookies (via Leslie Sarna)

Makes 4 dozen (if you can keep yourself from eating all the dough)

What you’ll need:

2 1/4 cup flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1 cup butter, room temp. 

1/2 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

 2 eggs

1 12oz. package of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

about 8 soft caramel chews

1 tbsp. milk

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.

In a small pot, place the milk and the unwrapped caramels over low heat.  Stir until it’s nice and smooth and remove from heat.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars.  Next add in the vanilla and eggs.  Slowly add the flour mixture in batches.  When it’s all incorporated, using a rubber scraper, mix in the chocolate chips and then drizzle in the caramel.  You just want to fold the caramel in so there are nice ribbons of it running through the dough.

Scoop 1 inch balls onto a cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes. Remove and cool on a cooling rack. Enjoy!

They were hit. I was especially pleased with the texture. Just hard enough around the edges on the bottom, but still soft & chewy! Yay!

The whole time I was making them I was listening to the She & Him Christmas album. The Christmas lights really got me into the holiday mood! You can download The Christmas Waltz (which was actually my fave) for freezies here.

Hope your Friday night is cozy! :)

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How To Save Face If You’re A Trophy Wife Who Accidentally Slept Till 10AM

Posted on October 12, 2011 | 7 Comments

Wooops! I can’t believe I did that. Usually I’m super productive in the mornings so I had to quickly do something to show that I’m a productive member of this household.

Let’s start with chocolate. That’s definitely a good distraction! Actually I started with four cups of coffee. I get a little hungover when I sleep more than 6 hours. Haha. Seriously.

I didn’t really have much around since we’re trying to eat off the food in our apartment before we go to Minnesota on Friday. These cookies can easily be made with things you should really always have in your pantry.

Brownie Cookies (via AllRecipes)

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 cups white sugar
  • 2/3 cup cocoa powder
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
  • 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
 Directions
  1. In a small mixing bowl combine flour and baking powder.
  2. Beat oil, sugar, and cocoa together in a large mixing bowl. Add eggs to oil and cocoa mixture one egg at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Mix in flour mixture. Fold in nuts if desired. Chill the dough overnight.
  3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheet.
  4. Roll dough into walnut-size balls and roll each ball in confectioners’ sugar.
  5. Bake cookies for 12 to 15 minutes.

As an added bonus, you can pretend you’ve been cooking all morning in heels. (I have super fun memories in this dress because I wore it the time we went clogging in Lanesboro! But I wore it with my Toms instead.)

Kevin insisted I make this collage. Lol. Isn’t he so cute!?! Always thinking of the blog. Our running shoes + our office shoes.

I did further penance by running 7.57 miles in the gym this afternoon. I felt grrrreat! It was probably that extra sleep. I hear you need an extra hour of sleep when you’re marathon training. I’m not officially training, but my weekly mileage is pretty stinking high! I ran them in 1 hour, 2 minutes – that’s an 8:11 pace. No tv watching. No slacking. I would’ve liked to have gotten it under 8, but I did my first two miles too slow to catch up.

Kevin got home, and now he’s forcing me to go run errands with him. So make your own questions! Check ya later!

 

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Posted in Food, Running

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DIY Greek Fro Yo

Posted on August 11, 2011 | Leave a comment

I’ve always thought of myself as “Not Really A Flower Person”, but this year I’ve been loving some of the outdoor blooms. Specifically peonies, snowballs, and I believe these are some type of hydrangeas. Thank you, Lisa. I felt so happy inside when I saw her walking up to my front door with them last night. I thought for sure I wasn’t going to get them since my family came to my house straight from Whitewater Park, but I was thrilled she had them in tow!

Mom and I spotted this Hamilton Half-Pint Ice Cream Maker on clearance for $15 when we were photo scavenging for Hannah’s birthday, and I quickly snatched it up. I was disappointed because I wanted THE PINK ONE, but when I got to the register that color was more expensive. Crazy, right?

Look how cute the little freezer bowl is chilling in the freezer next to the Eggos! The ice cream maker is super simple to use! Any machine that I can assemble and use is easy. Trust me. No comments please, Kevin. He (practically) never comments on the blog, but I know he may find that comment tempting to reaffirm.

I made two flava flaves. Each time I just used a measuring cup and kept filling till I hit 12oz.

Blueberry: Nonfat Greek yogurt + skim milk + tsp honey + 2 Truvia packets + fresh blueberries

Chocolate Mocha: Nonfat Greek yogurt + brewed coffee from this morning + 1 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder + 3 Truvias

I packed both flavors up for the freezer to test when Kevin James gets home from work today, but you can eat them straight out of the pretty green bowls. I love that I could totally have this for BREAKFAST and not feel guilty.

Of course this little project made me miss Yogenfruz something fierce!

My favorite thing to do would be to order two GRANDES to-go. I would try to pretend like one was for a friend, but really I would put it in the freezer for later. At least 20 minutes later. :) I know there are places like this in the States so I’m hoping there’s something like it in my corner of Denver.

What’s your favorite summer flower? Any suggestions for flavors for the fro yo maker?

P.S. This is what Boyd did today while I ran 6 miles, did piles of dishes, washed mounds of laundry, made Kevin’s lunch, wrote this morning’s blog post, looked at apartments in Denver, signed papers, and thought about what cookies I should bake for this week’s Cookie Friday.

 

Flojo!

 

 

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Posted in Boyd, Food, Healthy recipes

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