Category Archives: Food

Christmas, Food, Teaching

Ice day

We had a bit of freezing rain…and no school today!  I am still teaching at home today, though a few students have canceled.  My “inclement weather policy” for my home students is that they can decide whether to come or not, with no penalty.  Most of the roads are pretty good by now, though the sidewalks are still slippery in places.  I really hate ice—give me a foot of snow ANY day.

I was glad they canceled school last night rather than waiting until this morning because I got to sleep in with no worries!  I do miss the students though—I won’t see them until January now.  I’ll also have to mail home some things I was going to hand out, but that’s probably better anyway because then the parents definitely get the memos.

Tonight we are planning to go to a friend’s holiday gathering.  I wasn’t going to go because I thought I would be exhausted after a long day of teaching, but I’m down to four students now (and we’ll see if they all show) so my energy should be high! 

I’ve decided to make a nice Christmas dinner for Chris and I before we go to Long Island.  I love making/planning big holiday meals and I don’t get to do that when I visit the “in-law’s.”  I don’t want to go overboard, but I have planned a menu of Ham  (not Ham Solo), Corn Pudding, Parmesan-Roasted Broccoli, Smoky Cheddar Loaf, and for dessert, Egg Nog Tres Leches Cake.  Sounds good?!?

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Ham Solo

After the meal we’ll exchange our Christmas gifts (and open any that were mailed as well).  Should be fun! 

HBBC:  5 mile run: 5 points

Food

Cookie Monster

I have a problem.

I think I am a cookie monster!

I keep eating cookies.  Every day!  Stupid cookie swap party, stupid friends who make delicious cookies.

I need help! 

*promises to not eat any more cookies tonight, can make no such promises about tomorrow*

 

cookiemonster

HBBC:  .4 mile walk: .4, workout with Mike: 4 points, 7 f/v: 1 point, total: 5.4 points

Food

Cookie Party

Okay, as promised, a few pictures from the cookie party.  Oh wait, I ONLY took pictures of the cookie tables!

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Mine are in the tins far back on the table. 

Andes Peppermint Crunch Cookies (from the bag of chips)

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup old fashioned rolled oats

1 cup sweetened grated coconut

1 1/2 cups Andes Peppermint Crunch baking chips

1 1/4 cups coarsely chopped pecans

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until fluffy (about 3 minutes).

Beat in egg and vanilla extract.

On low speed, add baking soda and salt, and then flour. Mix completely.

Stir in oats, coconut, pecans, and Andes chips.

Measure out 2 tablespoons for large or 1 tablespoons for small cookies. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet two inches apart. Press lightly.

Sprinkle some of the remaining chips on top of each cookie.

Bake for 20 minutes for large cookies or 12-15 minutes for small. Do not overbake.

Jam Filled Butter Cookies (from allrecipes.com, modified)

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

4 egg yolks

3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup fruit preserves, any flavor

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar, and egg yolks. Mix in flour a little bit at a time until a soft dough forms. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. If dough is too soft, refrigerate for 15 to 20 minutes. Place balls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Use your finger or an instrument of similar size to make a well in the center of each cookie. Fill the hole with ½ teaspoon of preserves (I usually use a ziploc bag and cut off the corner to make this easier).

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until golden brown on the bottom. Remove from cookies sheets to cool on wire racks.

Food, Running, Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day

I woke up early on Thanksgiving to do the Chesterfield 11th Annual Turkey Trot (5k race).  The race started at 8:30 am so I wanted to get there in plenty of time.

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It was pretty cold, so I wore my new workout skirt (ha!) and a long sleeve tee I bought myself in honor of the upcoming Phoenix Half-marathon.

I was cold and tired, and I should have wore a hat or something over my ears!  By the time the race started, my ears were freezing.  In any case, I ran pretty well—it was a crowded course and pretty boring (around a mall), but I kept going pretty well.  I actually thought I would break my last time, but I guess due to the cold and drizzle I wasn’t moving as fast as I thought.  My next race won’t be until mid-December so I’ll have a bit more time in between to train.  And then nothing until the half-marathon in Phoenix, yay!

Results: 32:17, 1269 of 2347, 76 of 172 in my age group (30-34)

Okay, race done, off to eat!

The night before I made my pies and upside down cake.

 

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Pumpkin Pie, Sour Cream Apple Pie, and Cranberry Upside-down Cake.

It was raining pretty hard when it was time to load up the car, so that was annoying.  We headed over to our friends’ house (Laura and Jon) around 11 am.  Chris was making the turkey.

The menu:

Turkey and Gravy

Classic Cranberry Sauce

Grand Marnier Cranberry Relish

Potato Fennel Gratin

Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes

Spicy Cornbread Stuffing

Parmesan Broccoli

Mustard Cauliflower with Lemon Butter

Maple Roasted Squash

Martha’s Mac and Cheese

 

Yes.  It was ridiculous!  Also, of course, appetizers, dessert, and wine.  The rest of the people came over around 3:00, and we probably ate dinner at 5:30 or so.  The food was fantastic!  (My friend Laura is a tremendous cook).

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A sampling of the day’s activities, and my dinner plate.  We cooked, played wii, ate, and talked.  Some people watched football (I did not.)

It also snowed a bit in the afternoon!  Our first snow of the season.  Very pretty!

Okay, one last picture of the pies…and a topping for the pies…

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I hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well!  It was great to spend the day with good friends.  I am thankful to have so many wonderful people in my life!

Food, Thanksgiving

So full!

I am so ridiculously full!  I am never eating again 😉  I am thankful for a wonderful, bountiful Thanksgiving dinner with dear friends….it was a wonderful day!

Today was the first snow.  No real accumulation, but snow nonetheless.

Off to bed.  The pies/cake were a huge success!

HBBC:  Turkey Trot 5k (3.1 miles): 3.1 points, 1 mile walk: 1 point, 8 to 9 servings of veggies: 1 point, Total points: 5.1

Food, Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Eve

Wow, what a day!  I’m finally sitting down for about the first time.  I’m THANKFUL today for my good health!  Without my health, well, I wouldn’t have anything 😉  But seriously, I’m thankful I am healthy and able-bodied and that I am able to do whatever I need to do. I’m talking both minor ailments such as colds and more major illnesses or handicaps…I’m basically thankful I’m not suffering from anything at all at this time!

I just finished making three desserts and a topping for Thanksgiving tomorrow.  Two are my grandmother’s recipes and two are from the internet.  Here and here.  I’ll post pictures later, don’t want to spoil the surprise!  Suffice it to say that although I did make my own crusts from scratch, and I’m sure they will be tasty…wow my crusts look atrocious.  I struggled with them and finally just did my best.  I really need to work on my pie crust skills.

Today I almost turned off my alarm and skipped Bikram Yoga, but I would have felt too guilty.  I went to my second class today.  It was tough but not as tough as the first one.  The class was taught by the same teacher as yesterday’s but was much larger (probably twice as many people).  It was at 9:30 versus yesterday’s 11:00, and I didn’t get to eat enough beforehand–they say not to eat for three hours beforehand, but I was VERY hungry during class, so I’m pretty sure that was a bad idea.  I’m still not sure how I feel about the classes, but I’ll continue to go during the two week period no matter. Probably will be there sometime on Friday.

When I got out of class, it was POURING rain!  I almost just drove home, but after a few minutes (and a bit of powerade zero 😉  ) I continued with my errands.  Packet pickup for tomorrow’s race and groceries, followed by a quick lunch then a really intense workout with Mike.  Then home to bake!  Now I must get ready to head out to a friend’s potluck dinner.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers (particularly my family 🙂 ) !

HBBC:  90 minutes of Yoga:  4.5 points,  Treadmill running 1 mile: 1 points, 60 minutes weight training/core work with Mike: 3 points, Total points for day 8.5.  Total points for week (so far) 30.