Bikram and Nachos

Last Saturday, while on my morning run, I started to feel a pain in the inner part of my upper left thigh once I hit mile 5. I tried to push through the pain, but it just got worse the more I ran. I ended up walking the last half mile. Turns out, I officially pulled my groin for the first time ever.

Not cool.

Especially since I have the Houston Chevron Marathon coming up in early January.

An injured groin doesn’t care that you have potential Boston qualifiers on the calender. Nope. Not one bit. SO, in the effort to keep my endurance up, I’ve been spending quite some time on the elliptical (while reading Hunger Games…amazing!), upper body weight lifting, and recently started Bikram yoga at a studio near our home.

I’ve always been a fair weather friend to yoga. I LOVE it, but have always prefered to spend my workout time running or doing other cardio-intenstive activities.

I have fallen in LOVE with Bikram.

It is a 26-posture series that never changes, so you are contantly challenging yourself, trying to improve your own practice. The series is done in a 105 degree temperature room with 40% humidity. I am not a big sweater, but I SWEAT during Bikram.

And the best part?

I feel like I have FINALLY found an good replacement (other than the elliptical) for when my body says no to running.

Ok, now on to our suprisingly delicious dinner last night. Here’s what we had on hand:

Chips

Homemade Pinto Bean Soup

Cheese

Fresh Tomatoes

Salsa

Fresh Jalapenos





In the pan, baked at 350 for 20 minutes, topped with sour cream, guac, and lime juice, and eaten at the coffee table in front of the TV. Keeping it classy 🙂

Now time for some Christmas shopping with the Mr.! Hope you had a great weekend!

Splendid Surprises

Saturday was my mom’s birthday, so naturally, my sister and I planned a fun day for her…with a few little surprises 🙂

We started the day at 9:30 AM, surprising her at her house with her (and when I say her, I mean EVERYONE’S) favorite breakfast….coffee and donuts!

I was on donut/coffee pickup duty and was quickly reminded of two donut facts while at the donut shop:

1. How insanely cheap they are! I got 3 iced, 1 dozen holes, 1 powdered, and 2 kolaches for $5 bucks!

2. How my favorite one is still the chocolate iced with sprinks. I also gulped down a few holes. I rarely eat them, but it is always a delight when I do!

We washed down our breakfast of champions with a vanilla latte (me), chai latte (sister), and a peppermint mocha latte (birthday girl). Classic.

But before donut domination, it was present time!

Like mother, like daughter. We LOVE our coffee :)

We then surprised mom with 10:00 AM mani/pedi appointments at The Spa at The Waterway! Here is my finished product after my poor pedicurist basically took a hack saw to my black little toes. I never lose my toenails when training for marathons, they just turn black. It’s lovely. You can still see a tiny shade of black behind my toenails here, but she did a pretty good job of slathering them in polish to cover it up.

Before we knew it, it was noon and time to take mom to Grotto for her surprise birthday lunch, where our family and her closest friends were awaiting her arrival.

Major thanks to my amazing husband for picking up cupcakes and table decorations and setting up the table before anyone arrived. Great job, love!

I think she was very surprised 🙂

My eats: House salad to start and then split the roasted chicken pizza with the Mr.

So delicious.

Then cupcakes from The Cupcakery and a few bites of mom’s complimentary chocolate birthday cake for dessert!

Love birthdays, love family, love life.



Happy Happy Birthday to the greatest woman the world has ever known! We love you so much Mom!

The New Pumpkin Pie

This was one of my (many) Thanksgiving dessert plates.

I made Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies, Mint Chocolate Brownies, and Layered Pumpkin Cheesecake with a Graham Cracker Crust for Thanksgiving Round 1. 

The cookies were GREAT and the brownies were FAB, but the cheesecake was the winner.

Don’t get me wrong, I love tradition, I love pumpkin, and I love pie, but if you are ever looking to change up your traditional pumpkin pie, make this cheesecake.

It really is the best.



Layered Pumpkin Cheesecake with Graham Cracker Crust

(serves 12-15; cut recipe in half if making an 8″ or 9″ pie)

Ingredients:

• Graham Cracker Crust, baked and cooled (see recipe below)
• 4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 8 oz container Cool Whip, thawed (for topping)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth.
3. Blend in eggs one at a time.
4. Remove 2 cups of batter and spread into bottom of crust; set aside.
5. Add pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg to the remaining batter and stir gently until well blended. Carefully spread over the batter in the crust.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until center is almost set.
7. Allow to cool, then refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight.
8. Pulling the sides of the parchment paper up, lift the cheesecake out of the pan and slice into 12-15 squares.
9. Serve cool or at room temp. Cover with whipped topping before serving.

Graham Cracker Crust

(use for a 13×9 size baking pan; cut recipe in half if using for a 8″ or 9″ pie pan)

Ingredients:

• 3 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Line a 9×13 baking pan with parchment paper, leaving about an inch slack on each end of the pan (for when you remove the cheesecake from the pan).
2. In a medium bowl, mix together graham cracker crumbs, sugar, melted butter and cinnamon until well blended .
3. Press mixture into bottom of the parchment-lined baking sheet.
4. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 12 minutes. Cool.

ENJOY!

Butterscotch Banana Bread & Biscoff Love

The hubs and I have a problem finishing off bananas. No matter how many are in the bunch, we never finish them off.

We have lots of banana pudding, banana bread, banana cupcakes, and frozen banana smoothies in our life 🙂

So, NEWS FLASH, the other day…there were black bananas…laying on our counter…begging to be baked into something bread-y…so I changed it up and made BUTTERSCOTCH Banana Bread.

It was pretty insane. 

That butterscotch was the kicker.

Scroll to the bottom of this post for the recipe…only if you like to eat ridiculously delicious things 🙂

Speaking of ridiculously delicious, I introduce to you my most recent obsession…BISCOFF.

Biscoff tastes like a blend of:

Peanut Butter

Complete Bliss

Cinnamon Toast Crunch

Utter Heaven

Honey-flavored Teddy Grahams (you know you love these)

and

Christmas Morning

Yes. You want this.

I’ve been plopping a hefty spoonful of this stuff on top of my piping hot, plain oatmeal and I haven’t looked back.

This is knock-your-socks-off good.

My latest creation:

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup milk

dash cinnamon

Cooked and topped with Biscoff, more cinnamon, and peanuts. Bananas.

Oh yeah, back to the bananas. Here ya go…

Butterscotch Banana Bread

makes 8 large slices

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butterscotch chips
• 4 bananas, mashed
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 7 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 2 Tbsp whole wheat flour
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, cool

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Grease and flour a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan (not non-stick!).
3. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and butterscotch chips.
4. In a medium bowl, mix together mashed bananas, 3/4 cup sugar, melted butter, egg, and vanilla extract.
5. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture until well combined.
6. Pour batter into loaf pan.
7. In a small bowl, mix together 1/3 cup sugar, 2 Tbsp flour, and cinnamon.
8. Using your fingers or a fork, mix 1 Tbsp butter into flour/sugar mixture until coarse crumbs form.
9. Sprinkle over the top of batter.
10. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes, or until top is light golden brown and an inserted toothpick comes out fairly clean.
11. Allow bread to cool completely before removing from pan.

Enjoy!

Sad To Leave San Diego

It was my last day in San Diego, so Hannah and I made the most of it!

She had to go to her conference that morning, so I slept in, stopped by Coffee & Art, consumed the best Vanilla Chai Latte I’ve ever had, and continued to walk around aimlessly until she was finished.

Then it was time to seek out something delicious for lunch, like The Neighborhood!

A cucumber water to start. Gulp.

Sweet potato fries with a limey vinaigrette for

 dipping! Interesting and delicious!

Shrimp Wrap for my entree! Fresh, crispy goodness!

An after-lunch sweet was found at Fiji Yogurt. They have the most interesting flavors! SO good!

Then we perused Trader Joe’s, where I loaded up on Pumpkin Butter, Honey Apple Butter, and 3 different salsas, that I later realized I could not carry on the plane with me.

My sister checked her bag…so they rode with her 🙂

My sister and I are SUPER close, so I totally teared up when she texted me this picture with the words “eat dinner with me?” while waiting to board my plane. I was a soppy mess 😦 She had to stay in San Diego for a few more days for her conference.

Parting is such sweet sorrow.

In conclusion, San Diego is awesome. Go. And don’t cry like a big fat baby when you have to leave your sister, only to be apart for a whopping 3 days.

Dinner In San Diego

While visiting San Diego, I had the priviledge of eating dinner at two very amazing restaurants.

First…Bencotto.

This was an INCREDIBLE little Italian restaurant where we ate our first night in San Diego. Everything about our experience here was top notch. GREAT service and even better food. Another plus was the fact that my sister, who was my lovely date for the night, has a wheat intolerance…so the warm, fresh bread was mine.all.mine 🙂

We split the Fried Zucchini Blossoms as an appetizer…amaze.

I went with the Squid Ink Fettucine with Shrimp for my entree. Seriously delicious. Not as good as Babbo, but definitely worth trying. You just can’t beat homemade pasta.

Then for dessert, we split the flourless chocolate cake, which was also very good.

The next evening, we decided to dine at Royal India for dinner. We split the garlic naan and hummus as our appetizer. Amazing.

Then came the show stopper…the Lamb Malia. I could eat this every day.

Of course, I still had room for ice cream, so I made Hannah run into the grocery with me (while walking back to our hotel) so I could grab a pint. It was thoroughly enjoyed once I pulled on my jammers and crawled into bed 🙂

Bliss.



Breakfast & The Zoo

San Diego, Day 2, started off with the most important meal of the day…breakfast!

I get really, REALLY excited about breakfast.

(apologies for all of the blurry iPhone pics)

We decided that Cafe 222 would be the perfect breakfast place for 2 reasons:

Reason #1: It was walking distance from our hotel and right across the street from the conference center, so it was the perfect place for my sister and I to enjoy a meal together before she had to go to her conference.

Reason #2: It was on The Food Network’s “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” (LOVE) for their Peanut Butter and Banana Stuffed French Toast (one of Bobby Flay’s favorite breakfasts!)

I mean, if Bobby Flay likes this place, it must be good.

I ordered the Belgian Waffle topped with plain yogurt, powdered sugar, honey, and bananas. This was VERY delicious, but in hindsight, needed a nice drizzle of peanut butter to top it off. I still licked my plate clean 🙂

Happy sisters after an incredible breakfast as Cafe 222!

After breakfast, my sister went to her conference for a few hours while I wandered around the Gaslamp District. She gave me firm orders to NOT go to Lulu without her, so I circled it a few times, but waited like a good sister until she was done.

I LOVED this Lulu and how it was 30% retail store and 70% yoga studio. I would plant myself at this studio if I lived here 🙂

After shopping, it was time to head back to the hotel, change clothes, and start our walking journey to the San Diego Zoo!

The weather in San Diego really is THE BEST, so walking everywhere was a treat. It was also much needed since we ate dessert every 2 hours 🙂

It cost $40 per person for access to the zoo, which is not bad considering that is takes about 4 hours to cover this place.

Can you spot the elephant??

2.4 acres is set aside specifically for the San Diego Zoo’s “Elephant Odyssey”, which contains 6 Asian elephants and 1 African elephant. Another really cool part of this exhibit were the “utilitrees”. Since elephants can easily mow down live trees, the specially designed “utilitrees” provide food, treats, and shade for the elephants.

Being the elephant nerd that I am, I was in heaven!

Hannah the Panda.

I have a strange love for everything elephant-related and Hannah loves pandas, so as long as we were able to see our animals, we were happy 🙂 

We just snacked on popcorn while walking around since we had plans to fill up on cupcakes and red velvet brownies at Babycakes after the zoo! Lunch of champions.

We spent about 3 hours total here and still didn’t see everything. This zoo really is the best in the world. Great layout, super clean, yummy food stops, amazing animals, and perfect weather! Can’t beat it!

Babycakes

 I have this list.

It is a list of all of the bakeries in the world that I would like to visit.

Babycakes is a cute little bakery in San Diego that I’ve wanted to visit for quite some time now, so I was able to check it off of my list while visiting San Diego last week!

6 down, 49 to go 🙂

The aroma of sugar and butter fills the air upon entering this sweet little haven. The guy helping us at the counter was equally as sweet! Great service.

It took me a while to decide on just one cupcake, but decided on the Chocolate Cupcake with Strawberry Jam filling and Peanut Butter Frosting. It was all of my favorite foods stuffed into one delicious dessert, so I knew I would not be disappointed.

…with a vanilla latte on the side. Bliss. 

My sister ordered the red velvet brownie, which was basically:

Whipped Cream

Red Velvet Cake Crumbs

Cream Cheese Frosting

Red Velvet cake

Cream Cheese Frosting

Fudge Brownie

..and then they warmed it….then drizzled it with chocolate sauce.

My cupcake was divine, but she won.

I would highly recommend this place for a nice, mid-day dessert! Cute name too 🙂

Thankful

Thanksgiving started at 6:30 AM, with a big bowl of oatmeal topped with Biscoff, peanuts, and cinnamon. SO yum.

Then my sweet sister dragged my lazy hiney to the gym. I had ZERO desire to workout, but of course, was thankful for my workout afterward. I completed an hour on the elliptical while reading Twenties Girl (LOVE!).

Then it was time to head home and get ready for Thanksgiving 2011!

The Spread:

Cornbread Stuffing

Green Bean Almondine

Cranberry Walnut Spinach Salad with Homemade Poppyseed Dressing

Turkey

and Sweet Potato Casserole!

Buttermilk biscuits went undocumented, but they were insanely delicious.

I contributed the salad and dessert 🙂

Oh, and a rather full glass of rose to wash it all down 🙂

My plate.

The sister and bro-in-law delighted us with their presence…and their wine 🙂

The hubs and me.

My mom was also in attendance, but is in the medical profession and unfortunately got called out in the middle of Thanksgiving. I didn’t get to snap a picture of her lovely face before she had to go 😦

Never leave the kids alone at the Thanksgiving table with a camera and a half-full bottle of rose….

After the photo shoot, it was time for dessert!

I contributed Mint Chocolate Chip Brownies, Chocolate Chip Butterscotch Cookies, and Pumpkin Cheesecake with a Graham Cracker Crust.

D to the LISH

Later on, the hubs and I headed to his family’s house to celebrate all over again!

Overall, it was a wonderful Thanksgiving with lots of food, fun, and laughter. The best kind 🙂

How was your Thanksgiving??Any favorite foods??

I used to HATE sweet potato casserole, but am finding myself enjoying it more and more each year. Go figure.

Hope you had a fabulous holiday! Excited to start decorating for Christmas!!

I Love San Diego

Last week, I was given the opportunity to join my sister on her trip to San Diego! My sister is a ROCK.STAR. and goes to all of these fun conferences all over the US for her work, so I basically got to tag along and run around Cali while she did work-things. Not a bad gig.

Our plane was scheduled to depart at 6:00 AM, but was delayed an hour. This delay was a blessing in disguise because, despite the fact that we arrived at the aiport at 5:00 AM, my driver’s license VANISHED at security. I spent around 20 minutes searching for it with no luck. I think it fell as I was putting my shoes back on and slid under one of the machines or something. Lame.

Pre-flight nutrition was a Pumpkin Pretzel Chip Hungry Bar and a coffee.

I think this is my favorite flavor HB so far. Pumpkin gets me every time.

So after our flight from Houston to Phoenix, then from Phoenix to San Diego, we checked in to the Andaz San Diego around 11:30 AM! LOVED this hotel. The service was incredible, everyone was super friendly, the room was amazing, the overall design of the hotel was visually fantastic, and it also had a pretty stellar club scene, which I didn’t take advantage of because of my ID situation.

I also only brought things from JCrew to wear and let’s face it…you don’t buy party pants at the Crew.

My food consumption up to this point was a coffee, Hungry Bar, and a Larabar, so I was more than ready to get my hands on some real food after getting settled into our room.

There is this super cute cafe near the Andaz called Zanzibar Cafe that looked delicious…and it was. I ordered the Grilled Chicken Panini with fig preserves, arugula, melted brie. Insane. I seriously considered ordering a second one after polishing off the first. Hands down, the best sandwich I’ve EVER had.

We also split an order of heavenly sweet potato fries. Nom.

Loved the decor of this place. If I could somehow have exposed brick in every room of my house, I certainly would.

Two very enthusiastic thumbs up for Zanzibar Cafe.

After filling our bellies with Zbar amazingness, we just HAPPENED to stumble upon the Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop, and dessert everyday on vacay is a must.

I went with the cookie dough ice cream with sprinks…because clearly I am 4.

Sister went with the rocky road ice cream with no toppings…because she is an adult and goes to conferences and watches the news and thinks toppings are for ninnies.

After enjoyed our UHHMAAAZING desserts, we proceeded to locate the nearest JCrew and walk the 5 miles to get there. Worth it.

I picked up a pair of grayish-lavender skinny cords (love) and a white and navy striped shirt. I REALIZE that I could have purchased these items in my hometown, but you feel so.much.less.guilty. purchasing it on vacay, right?? 🙂

After our intense journey to Fashion Valley, we shopped until we dropped, I drooled over a pair of Tory Burch boots, and then cabbed it back to the Andaz.

Stay tuned! I may take a small break from my trip coverage of San Diego to talk about things that I am thankful for, but will continue the recap after our lovely holiday tomorrow! I hope everyone has a SPECTACULAR Thanksgiving with lots of food, family, fun (maybe a workout??…you can hate me for saying that, it’s ok), and thankfulness!

Now stop reading this blog and go love on somebody!