Happy Halloween!!

From my family to yours!

I got the recipe from here:

http://undressedskeleton.tumblr.com/post/64862000686

They are little oreo balls: one package double-stuf oreos, 1/4 cup cream cheese, 1 tablespoon water, vanilla almond bark, and candy corn. If you couldn't tell by my last post, I am venturing out into the world of cooking. I thought this would be a fool-proof recipe because it didn't require any cooking. Once again, I would learn that the world we live in is simply just not perfect. 

While these turned out super great and still tasted good, I ran into a snag where my dough was too try. First of all, I only added 1/8 cup of cream cheese without realizing it. I fixed my mistake but the mixture was just not forming into dough. I added a touch more water which helped. However, the dough still cracked and fell apart when trying to roll them into balls and didn't look at all like the pictures from the website. I rolled them anyway and they turned out fine. 

The recipe said this would make 32 1/2 tbsp sized oreo balls. So when I counted up my 55 oreo balls, I was a little taken aback. Did my pampered chef measuring spoon fail me? It's one of those all-in-one measuring spoons where you adjust the plastic guage for the correct tbsp or tsp measurement. Did I not have it on the right setting? It said I was at 1.5 tsp, which is 1/2 tbsp. Am I crazy?? Why can't I make these recipes work for me??

The candy corn topper is a nice touch and for whatever reason seems to go really well with the oreo mixture. I will absolutely make these again and experiment with more cream cheese and/or water for a better dough. Look out holiday family gatherings. There will be oreo balls for everyone!

Cumin Overload

In an effort to learn to cook and season things well, you have to learn from failure. Lots and lots of failure. For example, burned garlic:

I set the heat under my cast iron pan to medium-high heat, just like the recipe called for. I pressed the garlic through the press into the pan, looked away to clean out the press for the next garlic cloves, looked back at the pan, and panicked. All in a matter of, I don't know...5 seconds? I took a deep breath, scraped out the ruined garlic, took the pan off of the heat, and tucked my little lesson into the back of my head for next time. Cast iron gets hot. Fast. Oddly enough, I felt I knew that already though and  my garlic still burned.

Onto the next lesson. By the way, I followed this recipe:

http://fitmencook.com/turkey-meatballs-wilted-spinach/

The recipe called for six ounces of turkey. Since I was cooking for two, I used 16 ounces instead. I  doubled the amount of seasoning used for the six ounces of turkey in the recipe, and worried that it would be under-seasoned because my turkey was more than double what the recipe called for. I would be wrong about the seasoning, but more on that later. Here are the turkey meatballs, browning in the pan: 

After browning, I threw some fresh spinach on top, covered the pan with aluminum foil, and threw it in the oven for six minutes. I toasted my pine nuts in the oven with the turkey. The timer went off, out it came, and I plated the food, adding some pico de gallo and the toasted pine nuts. Let me tell you something. It smelled phenomenal. Like, super good. Like, so good that I silently cheered and fist-pumped in my head because I was pretty sure I nailed the recipe.

I tasted a meatball before taking Ken his plate, just to be sure. My heart dropped. Way too much cumin and cayenne pepper. Usually when I over-season, the food is inedible. I took Ken his food and gave fair warning, apologizing in advance that we were going to have to go hungry. To my surprise, he loved it! He loves cumin and he loves cayenne pepper. He wasn't sure about it at first, but kept praising how good it was. He even asked to eat the half that I was saving to put in my eggs the next morning. I felt like he was being nice but you have to know that Ken would be the first to say if it wasn't good. 

I'd like to try the recipe again, with less cumin and cayenne pepper, and less cook time. I overcooked the meatballs and they were a bit dry. Other than that, this recipe was so easy, so fast, and so healthy. I would totally recommend making this, but seasoning it to your liking with spices that you prefer. I also recommend not burning your garlic.

Kettlebell Workout

I haven't worked out in about a week or so, mostly because I wanted to sit down on the couch with my latest BFF's: m&m's and Internet. BUT - I bit the bullet today and picked a full body workout so I could get max benefits instead of singling out one or two body parts. I pinned this workout a while back on Pinterest. It's a full body kettlebell workout and I used my 15 and 20 pound kettlebells. 

Also of note: I thought this would be easy; it was not.

That's Lorna Kleidman, the creator of this workout. Here's the article where the article, pictures you see here, and exercise descriptions are hanging out: http://greatist.com/fitness/lorna-kleidman-kettlebell-workout/.

It's an interesting read so it's worth checking out! I did all six exercises back-to-back and repeated for 3 sets total. I was surprised at how much this targeted my core and how quickly my heart rate rose (but that could have been that week's worth of m&m's I mentioned earlier). 

1). Double Arm Swing x 20

This was easy enough for me. I've done them a lot and incorporate them into my lower body workouts anyway. I've heard fitness experts say that if they could choose one total body exercise that provides great strength building and cardio in one, it's the kettlebell swing. 

2). Lateral Lunge, Open Arm x 10 Per Side

Lunges aren't my fave, especially side lunges. I'm blaming my shoes. I need to get a new pair and re-evaluate whether or not I like lunges when I have better spring action under my feet. 

3). Zip and Change x 10 Per Side 

This one was fun once I got the hang of it! It's a little tricky because you have to time your arms right and release the kettlebell at the top of the movement. However, when you figure it out and use a heavier weight, it's a great upright row movement that works your core and your heart. 

4). Backward Step and Pass x 10 Per Side

Again with the lunges...this was my least favorite of the exercises. 

5). Plank Row, Pass x 10 Per Side

I didn't think this one would be so tough! Maintaining a straight line from your ankles, to your hips, to your head was hard work. This exercise worked my core the most and probably broke up with any remaining m&m's. No one likes clingy friends. 

6). Kneeling Hinge x 10 Per Side

I don't know. This was confusing and I questioned my accuracy during all 60 reps. I even read the description before and after each set just to make sure. I think I did it right but it would have been helpful to know which muscles should be working. 

Now, for the most important question: is Lorna wearing super tight jeans while she works out or is she wearing workout leggings that look like jeans? 

Lunch Date! By Myself...

In the car. Anyway, found a sushi bar at Dillons. Woot-woot! They had so many options! I went for one of the healthier ones without all the sauces and white rice. It was pretty good, considering it came from a grocery store.

And then, dun, dun, dunnnn....I read the ingredients while I chowed down. Imitation crab, wheat starch, modified tapioca starch, sorbitol, sugar, salt, palm oil, crab extract, crab flavor, natural color, paprika oleoresin (so absolutely nothing real so far), and THEN the veggies...avocado, cucumber, tapioca paper (which is just fish eggs. Thanks, Dad.), leaf, lettuce, carrots, and something about mayonnaise.

Oh well. At least it wasn't a pastry and sugar-bomb drink from my usual choice of Starbs!!

So That's a First...

When I got home from work yesterday, I did everything in my power to talk myself out of working out. I was tired. I didn't feel like it. I needed to do a chest a workout because I couldn't remember the last time I did one as they are BORING. Do you know how I talked myself into it? By drinking that RC Ten in the picture above instead of water. Not one of my best decisions (I could feel the carbonation in my stomach as I moved around). Not one of my best workouts either, but I moved my body and got my heart rate up for a little bit. Or maybe that was the soda's doing, but that's neither here nor there...

I did this workout:

And it was far from perfect. I have actually lost quite a bit of strength since letting my chest workouts take the back seat. It was a great reminder that you truly have to work all of your body parts, not just the ones that you see the most noticeable definition in (**ahem**I'm talking to you, biceps**). 

Two lessons here: work the body parts you let slide and please don't drink soda while you do them.

It's Definitely Monday

So yesterday, Sunday mind you, I spent a lot of time putting together these folders as a better way to organize my office info. These little suckers were slippery and tough to get into the binder rings. Imagine my surprise when I go to put my first sheet of paper in this morning and realize I put all of the plastic sleeves in upside down...it's Monday!!!

Too Close for Comfort

Little Guests

There are two Hampton Inn's that I have to choose from when staying in a town for work: the new, clean, updated one or the old, dirty, outdated one that allows smoking. When the nice one is booked (i.e., I wait until the last minute) I have to stay at the nasty one (when every time I stay there, something is wrong...used soap and a questionable little hair in the shower...an AC that goes out at 3 in the morning...hair...smoke filtrating in from the cigarette being enjoyed next door...and this last time, get this: all of the front row parking is now reserved for Diamond members. What?! I have been driving around all day and working and now I have to park at the back of the hotel parking lot at the hotel I don't want to even stay at? Come on...). However, frustrations aside, I walked into my room and found this:

It's like they knew how unhappy I was to have to stay there and wanted to make it up to me. I said to myself, "I'll take it!" I had to give it to them. They were trying. 

This nice letter and mediocre snack basket had me on cloud 8 for about 5 minutes. And then I noticed the letter next to my basket. The one that said, "Perhaps you have noticed the proliferation of our little guests when you checked in today." ......beg pardon?

Beetle mania? Hmm....I wonder if I wasn't the only Guest of the Day. I wonder if we all got Guest of the Day baskets because they wanted us all  to feel so special and singled out that we wouldn't notice the beetles. Heck, even I didn't notice the letter with three of them dancing on it and it was right NEXT to the snack basket. To think I had actually forgiven them about the parking spots. 

Turns out, all Hamptons have created the diamond member reserved spots (the ONLY good parking after a long day). I discovered this three days later when I did another overnight, even farther away. You know what I did? Parked in the diamond level spot. I'm a gold member. But geez, I give these guys business 2-3 times a month and feel like I have a stinkin' right to park where I want!

And you know what happened??

Nothing. Not a bat of an eye. I do believe I will park there until the I can rightfully call the spot my own.