Five Things Friday: Too stuffed to sleep.

It's almost midnight and I'm stuffed and digesting my food. I refuse to sleep with a full belly.

My day started with hunger pangs. I was hungry the night before, but ignored it and just went to bed. I woke up, made another pumpkin mug cake, and watched all 3 hours of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

Swoon... Taylor Kinney.

I finally got in a workout. So many people posted workouts on Instagram. I used their ideas for a warm-up then did a weight/barre workout and stretched it out. Next year, I'm doing the Dana Point Turkey Trot, which apparently is one of the biggest! Who knew?!

All the Thanksgiving pictures warmed my heart and reminded me that it's the holidays! Well, I ended up caving in to my craving for cornbread...

  Five loaf breads (I made or will make)

1. I finally found a recipe I could work with: Whole Grain Honey Cornbread. I made 2 load pans worth and definitely nibbled on some with honey butter while I kept baking.

2. My second loaf was Oatmeal Pumpkin Bread, which was much denser. Not sure how much I like it.

3. My last quick bread is a favorite, Orangette's Banana Bread with Cinnamon & Sugar. I post all my favorites under Food on the tabs.

I actually ended up using Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Pancake & Waffle Mix for the flour after looking at the ingredients. I just didn't add any more baking soda/powder.

4. Ginger tea bread from the former owners of Bake It Pretty, an online shop that became brick & mortar in Asheville. It was such a coincidence - I loved this shop. This bread is more like gingerbread.

5. Eggnog pound cake

I didn't get a chance to eat any of it though (except aforementioned cornbread). What turned out to be a quiet Thanksgiving ended up with a dinner complete with turkey, green beans, stuffing, mashed potatoes, Brussels sprouts, mac & cheese, cold cuts, creme brûlée, Sprinkles cupcakes, wine, beer & whiskey. Oh and bacon in everything!

Five things I ate for Thanksgiving dinner

1. Turkey

2. Green beans (not casserole)

3. Brussel sprouts with bacon

4. Creme brulee mini

5. Fat Tire beer

My cousin worked for the ABC. That's a kegerator and cabinet full of wine and liquor...

I'm not one to do cheat days but if there ever was one, this is it! 

Five things I didn't eat on Thanksgiving

1. Sprinkles cupcakes, though I was given the whole box because we didn't eat them. I'm handing them out. :)

2. Mac & cheese... I love mac & cheese, but white pasta wasn't going to do.

3. Mashed potatoes with bacon

4. Green bean casserole, which is cool since it's my least favorite of the side dishes.

5. Sweet potatoes! How did this happen?! There were no sweet potatoes on the table!

(source)

Five things to get in the holiday spirit

1. Go ice skating.

2. Walk in a neighborhood with lots of Christmas lights and sip hot chocolate (or tea).

3. Make a gingerbread house.

4. Listen to Christmas music on the radio and live!

5. Drink Highlight Brewing's Cold Mountain Ale. Wait, I can't do that. They don't sell that here, but if you're lucky enough, you should try it.

What did you eat yesterday? What did you avoid?
Are you going Black Friday shopping? I'm not!

What's For [Thanksgiving] Dinner?

Be proud! I bought real food this week because I wanted to make myself a Thanksgiving meal. That meant buying [ground] turkey, quinoa, chicken sausage, etcetera. No worries - I did also find molasses to make some gingerbread goodies too.

Groceries - $39.22

• Eggs - $1.89
• Trader Joe's organic red quinoa - $3.99
• Bananas - $0.57
• Trader Joe's chicken jalapeno sausage - $3.99
• Oat flour - $3.49
• Luna bar (w/ coupon) - $0.49
• Shirataki noodles - $0.99
• Dried cranberries - $1.08
• Pure almond extract - $2.99
• Ground turkey - $5.49
• 3 lbs organic sweet potatoes - $2.50
• Chicken broth - $0.59
• Molasses - $2.27
• thinkThin bar - $0.50
• bulk 'n buy - $4.74
• Frozen yogurt + tip - $3.65

 Other - $18.56

• Send package - $11.35
• 6-pack soda - $3.46
• Starbucks - $3.75

Gas - $40.00

Total - $97.78

Breakfasts
Almond joy pancakes

Gingerbread pancakes
Apple pie protein waffles

Entrees
Fitnessista's Cranberry Quinoa "Stuffing"

Browned butter sweet potato casserole
PBFingers' Thai turkey meatballs with savory blueberry jam

Snacks
My Favorite Ginger Tea Bread from the former Bake It Pretty owner

Spunky monkey pumpkin pie
Trader Joe's peanut butter Fiberful bars

Bonus recipe I'll make this week! *I can't buy every single cookbook and magazine so I'll take pictures of the recipe and file them away. Make sure to note the publication for later, just in case.

 

I few treats I spied at the stores:

• Theo gingerbread chocolate

(source)
• Apple cider caramels

What's on your Thanksgiving menu? How many are you feeding? I'm just cooking for myself. I'll be eating turkey, sweet potatoes, and maybe cornbread for the week!

Wake & Bake Day 2: Browned Butter Cinnamon Chip Cookies & Banana Bread

Dear Little Cousin, Your puppy eyes got you these.

For the record, I had one.

Dear Belly, I made a lazy sushi bowl for lunch today. You loved it with 1/2 a can of tuna.

I sauteed the onions and carrots first.

Dear 4th period faves, I'm on a baking binge. I woke up too early on my rest day and decided to bake again. I wanted to make cookies for my favorite kids. :)

Dear Joy the Baker, I rolled with your browned butter chocolate chip cookies. Love the flecks of sugar.

I used cinnamon chips instead of chocolate chips. They were delicious and were devoured within 5 minutes!

While I waited for the cookie dough to chill, I saw my frozen bananas were adding up and made a quick, one bowl banana bread from Orangette. This is my favorite recipe though I should have baked it a tad less. Still great with cinnamon chips.

Dear Conscience, I baked all of that... and ate an Asian pear. #liveleaneatgreen Hope you're happy

Okay, and one cookie. :)

Dear Eyes, I promise to give you more rest tonight. I know its been a rough few days! Now you've got 2 days off!

What are you up to this weekend?

Slept late, woke up even later

I slept late last night, thinking of 24 books to read this year. I've read two this year and we are well into March already. :/

1. The Hunger Games
2. Catching Fire
3. Mockingjay
4. American on Purpose
5. The Paris Wife
6. The Year of Living Biblically
7. A Bill Bryson book
8. Another Bill Bryson book
9. The Sex Lives of Cannibals
10. Collapse
    
11. Their Eyes Were Watching God
    
12. Devil in the White City
    

I gave up on Belong to Me. I renewed that book 3 times, and it wasn't happening... Strange since I finished her first book much quicker (Love Walked In). Aren't you glad you won't have to hear about that one any longer?

So tomorrow afternoon will include a trip to the library!

Today was weird. After yesterday's nap, I couldn't sleep and thus, woke up late. With the time change, I ended up sleeping in till 10:15. I got a text from my co-worker asking me to come into work at 11. I got up and decided to go in at 11:30, 30 minutes earlier than my shift.

I needed a Red Bull. I haven't had one in years, but the Red Bull girls came by and gave them to us:

I kicked butt. I did most (50%+) of the store's business. It would have been more, but my least favorite supervisor totally took a $200-$300 sale when I had to go on break. Whatever. I was done.

After work, I headed directly to my co-worker/friend Sara's house to ride bikes. We had fun for a couple of hours including an hour of biking before I went home. She fed me some strawberries.

I got home, starving, and ate boiled shrimp with lettuce and leftover brown rice from my lunch (leftover arroz con pollo).

I just had 1/2 cup of Fage 0% and 2 scoops of protein powder because I only recently realized it got late.

What was I doing? I was in the kitchen baking!

I made Joy the Baker's Mommom's Chocolate Bourbon-Spiked Banana Bread again after telling my co-worker about it. This is all for her.

And per the request of my cousin, and since I was in the kitchen already, I made Joy's Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies. Perfect since I got a 99 cent deal on pretzels yesterday.

That's the least I could do since my cousin made me shrimp for lunch, which I'll reveal tomorrow.

It's late again so time for me to put in a movie and hit the hay.

Any book suggestions?
Do you have any good pretzel recipes?
What's your favorite way to eat pretzels?

Grammy's or bake!

Grammy fashion was a disappointment. Nicki Minaj and Lady Gaga's dresses were ridiculous, Katy Perry had unsightly blue hair, Adele was herself and in black as always, Fergie was revealing but not good, and Rihanna needed a dye job.

There was lots of glittery. Kelly Osborne's dress was my favorite.

(source)

Bruno Mars' performance was a fun kickoff to the Grammy's. It was retro and his dance moves were unexpected.

(source)

• So glad Alicia Keys performed and that she is still relevant
• Wished more big names showed up
• How is it okay for Chris Brown to perform at the Grammy's? I guess it's better than Drake.

I guess you could say I got bored after awhile, and instead, started baking.

Egg white loaf, adapted from Fitting It All In: 8 egg whites, ripped up spinach, broccoli, goat cheese, and some leftover rotisserie chicken. I baked it at 350 for... 15 minutes? Makes 6 slices.

They were delicious! I couldn't help but eat one already. Hah, another salty snack with part of an apple.

I found my mini muffin tin so I made my cousin something: banana muffins. I used my favorite banana bread recipe.

She already ate 2 of them! I think they came out kind of tough on the outside though. :/

What was your favorite aspect of the Grammy's?
Do you multitask while watching a show/movie? I'm always on the computer and today, I baked.

WIAW #3: How to beat sugar cravings

I have a sugar craving pretty much everyday around 3 or 4. It's a lull in the day, I'm changing jobs sometimes or just getting home. I want to sleep. I drink green tea, but it does nothing for me.

Yesterday, I bought chocolate chip mint almonds for that reason. I've had my eye on these for a long time and they were finally on sale for $5 (originally $8 or 9?). They're super good... then I left them in my car and the warm warm day melted them. Big glob. I put them in the freezer and then big frozen glob. :/

After work, mom and I headed to Costco as we waited for my car (brakes changed). We bought dates and cashews for raw recipes. Then I went to Mother's Market for oat flour (with a $1 off coupon), cheaper protein powder, and free samples of xylitol - they seriously read my mind!

I was in luck. I had all the fixins' for another sweet treat: Jamie Eason's pumpkin protein bars.

My little cousin helped me out. :)

I bought a can of pumpkin the other day after seeing lots of pumpkin recipes even though it's not fall anymore.

One bowl recipes win.

Looks good?


A little under baked actually so I zapped it in the microwave for another 3 minutes (on and off). Then I had one. Yum!

I also had everything to make some protein bars a la Protein Pow(d)er: dark chocolate peanut butter protein bars. I made half the recipe and made them half the size of the originals. Cut the kcals with less chocolate too, but they're still pretty substantial.

For tomorrow!

Needless to say I didn't head to TurboKick or Pilates for a second session. That's okay - I need rest for tomorrow's Spartacus Workout!

What have you baked lately?
Do you bake with protein powder? Or you don't hide your desserts, you just eat it? :)

Math of fall recipes

Fall = pumpkins + sweet potatoes + apples + other carbs

Mini pumpkin pie croissants


5-minute coffee cake


Pumpkin crunch roll


Apple butter cupcake


Sweet potato cakelets


Peach & cinnamon breakfast rolls


Apple cobbler cookies


Sweet potato coconut quick bread


Sugar-free coconut granola