Afternoon Baking

My sister is traveling to Philadelphia this weekend for a Memorial Day party with her in-laws and volunteered to bring a dessert to add to the party spread. However, somewhere between her volunteering and Wednesday night, I guess she decided that she really wasn’t in the mood for baking because I received this text message from her:

Lucky for her, she knows that I am always up for baking and gladly agreed to help her out.

The only problem came this morning when I realized I didn’t have any idea of what I wanted to make and I wasn’t sure what ingredients I had in the kitchen to even use. After some surveying of the situation, she will now be stocked with three separate desserts when she gets to PA tonight!

First up was some no-bake Reese’s Dessert Bars that I had the mix for in the pantry, just waiting to be put together.

They were a piece of cake to make since everything needed except butter and water was in the box and ready to go.

Next up I grabbed the lone box of cake mix in the pantry and made some pretty awesome cookies which are the main attraction in this afternoon’s post.

And last but not least, some of Chocolate Covered Katie’s peanut butter sandwich bread. I made this bread in Korea and Brian and I both instantly fell in love with it – Especially served warm with vanilla ice cream or frozen with vanilla ice cream sandwiched between two half pieces. A-ma-zing!

The only differences that I made this go-round is that I added chocolate chips to the bread and a sprinkle of halved peanuts on top for a decorative touch.

Someone isn’t going to her party empty-handed!

Strawberry Oatmeal White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 box strawberry cake mix
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 cup raw original oats

Directions:

Combine cake mix with oil and eggs and mix well. Fold in chocolate chips and oats. Bake at 350°F for 12-14 minutes – until slightly browned on top. Cool and serve!

I may have gotten a little carried away in the kitchen this afternoon but hopefully everyone at the party enjoys the outcome of it! 🙂

Question:

Are you going to a Memorial Day party this weekend? What are you taking to share with the crowd?

Guacamole Coma

After part II of my workout this afternoon (Body Revolution, Phase 3, Workout 9), I made sure to get in my 20 minutes of stretching for the “Stretch for Seven” Challenge. Today, I incorporated more yoga positions and flow sequences into my routine than yesterday. I forgot just how much I love the stretch I feel in so many different yoga poses.

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Triangle pose was pulling me in all the right directions today!

The 20 minutes flew by since I was also watching the end of the Orioles game against the Whitesox on MLB.com’s Gameday during them. An Adam Jones HR to tie the game and then a Matt Wieters grandslam to seal the deal. That’s Orioles Magic, baby!

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Snack

As soon as I was done with my stretching, I was hungry but not quite lunch hungry yet so I pulled the leftover guacamole out of the fridge and snacked on some with pretzels (gotta put a dent in the six-pound bag somehow!) and two tortilla chips.

I used the tortilla chips to really gauge how the guac was after sitting for the night and my taste buds were pleased. The extra hours in the fridge allowed all of the flavors to really mix together. Yum!

After my snack, I ended up not leaving the kitchen for quite a while longer because I caught the baking bug again.

By the time my cookies were pulled from the oven, I was ready to then start on lunch.

Oh…who cares about lunch? You just want to know more about the cookies you see above? Patience is a virtue, my friends. Plus, I haven’t gotten to adequately taste them and you know I have to do that before sharing where I found the recipe and the adaptations I made! 🙂

Lunch

When I put together lunch, my first step was to pull the perfectly set guacamole back out from the fridge. I covered half a toasted whole wheat bagel (from the bakery at Emart) with some guac and then set half of a chicken breast topped with pepperjack cheese on top.

A little lettuce rounded out the bagelwich.

On the side, I enjoyed a peach yogurt with peanut butter cinnamon spice granola on top.

And now that I am in a guacamole coma, I’m hoping to motivate myself to break out the text book and get to studying for the rest of the afternoon.

The weather is absolutely amazing outside and I would LOVE to know of a close place to sit outside and study, read, relax…whatever…while enjoying the sunshine! Do any Korean readers have a suggestion of a place close to Hanbat Stadium where I can do just that? I know there is a park by Say Department Store but I was hoping for someplace a little closer to walk to!

Question:

What is your favorite way to stretch?

Giving It Up

Since today has been one focused on Ash Wednesday and Lent for me, why not round it out with a little post about what I’m giving up for the next 40 days and 40 nights. Last year I gave up cookies, candy, ice cream and the scale. Overall, I did fine for the complete period of Lent and then as soon as it was over, I busted out the cookies, candy AND ice cream all in one night. Hey, can you blame me? Luckily I didn’t pull the scale back out too!

Giving up the scale and weighing myself actually helped me break a really negative habit of mine and after Lent was over last year, I didn’t think about weighing myself every morning like I did for so long and to this day I still haven’t picked the broken habit back up. And hope to never do so.

So when it came to deciding what I wanted to give up this year, I thought long and hard about it. Giving up sweets is something that is incredibly hard for me so I knew immediately that I wanted to do it again. However, this year I am challenging myself even further.

No Candy.

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No Cookies.

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No Cake/Cupcakes.

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No Ice Cream.

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The whole category of “sweet treats” is off-limits. Ekkk!

However, in addition to giving up something that I like to indulge in, I decided to give up another thing to help me be a better person as well. Something that will make me break a habit (like giving up the scale), be more productive or even just feel better.

With that in mind, I gave up the snooze button.

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No more sleeping in or ignoring my alarm. For the next 40 mornings, I will be getting out of bed as soon as my first alarm goes off. This is definitely going to be a challenge, especially int he two weeks between not having work and leaving for Korea, when I actually could sleep in. Not to mention, once I get to Korea and am fighting jet lag.

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This will force me to get in bed on time every night in order to be up and ready for whatever the day presents to me in the morning. Whether it be my workout, a day at the office or just a day of exploring Korea…I will be out of bed and ready for a productive day!

With no sweets allowed to give me an energy spark, coffee is DEFINITELY going to be my new bff…

Question:

What are you giving up for Lent?

Random Tidbits

The whole day at work today was spent in meetings. From 9:30 a.m. until after 5:00 p.m., hence the lack of mid-day post. Only good thing about a day full of meetings is that when there is no down time, the day doesn’t have a shot at going by slowly.

When I eventually made it home for the evening, I had a few packages waiting for me…

1. My first batch of cookies from the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap!

2. Brian and my wedding cake topper!

3. What will be the main part of our wedding day centerpieces!

Obviously, the cookies made me happy and were instantly tasted…Nutella cookies…yum! However, the wedding day accessories may have put a bigger smile on my face. I can’t wait to share them with you all but I want to keep as much a surprise as possible until the wedding day…so that just means you have to wait until NEXT November to learn the nitty-gritty of it all! 🙂

Dinner

After the excitement of opening the packages that were waiting for me, I put together a quick dinner. Spinach and Carrot Noodle Soup.

Chicken broth, sliced baby carrots and spinach all heated on the stove until boiling with star pasta added for an additional five minutes.

After dinner, Brian helped me bake my cookies to send out for the Blogger Cookie Swap!

I may have consumed a ton of these. Some warm from the oven, some cooled and crisp and some before they even made it to the tray to be put into the oven. I can’t wait to share the recipe with you!! Look for it on December 12th!! 🙂

Apparently all that cookie making was boring for the third member of our little family.

What a life!

Question:

What is the best package you have gotten in the mail recently?