Friday Favorites

Hi there!

Happy, happy, blissful Friday! 🙂

We don’t have any big plans (I’ll be doing homework – yay) but I’m so ready for the break. I might also do some cleaning on what once was Thing 2’s room. Boy, did that girl leave a mess! Sounds exciting and fun, doesn’t it? Hey, there will also be wine so …. wine = fun. 🙂

Anyway, it’s time for me to share some of my favorite things from this week.

I love kisses! They are perfect little nuggets of chocolate that satisfy my sweet tooth in small quantities. These happen to have come in a box from my sweet, sweet friend, Lena. They’ve been in my lunch box all week. Pretty much my reason for smiling. 🙂

I’m back to wearing 2 shoes!!!  While the boot was definitely necessary for healing, there’s something quite liberating about wearing shoes that match. 😉

This.

I saw this on Pinterest (who doesn’t love Pinterest?!). It originated in this blog post from Wonderfully Women. You should read it. It (both the image and the blog post) really spoke to me. I’m definitely not a complainer but once upon a time, I was.  Remember, I’m an ISTJ? J = judging. Being judgemental can result in complaining. I’m not sure exactly when my mindset changed (okay, probably in 2008 when I started running long distances and my self-esteem started to grow) but I don’t really let too many things get to me these days. Stress is overrated anyway – it’s so much healthier to find the positive in something than to worry and complain about it.

I have realized, though, that some of my friends complain ALL. THE. TIME.  A couple of them have to be the most miserable people on the planet.  Thanks, Facebook, for pointing this out to me! Their complaining is absolutely exhausting!  I shared this image to my own Facebook page in the hopes that they would see it and take the challenge. I don’t know if anyone did but my fingers are crossed. Imagine how much nicer the world would be with less complaining! Plus, thinking smaller than global effects, think of how much nicer your own LIFE would be without the negativity. Try it! It’s just a day. If it doesn’t make you feel better, then, by all means, complain about it. 😉

*swoon*

#bestChristmasgiftever

My sailor rocks. That is all.

Talk to me: What are some of your favorite things from this week? Do you love purses like I love purses?

– jennifer

Tasty Tuesday – Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Brownie Cookies

Hello!

It’s Tasty Tuesday and I have a fabulous Fall recipe to share with you!  Whoop!!

Make sure you head over to Lena’s page and check out all the other Tasty Tuesday yumminess! 🙂

I decided it was high time I jumped on the pumpkin bandwagon because it really seems like Fall is here to stay.  I figured we would have somewhat of an Indian Summer and have warm weather through October but…..according to the meteorologists, these temps are going up any time soon.

Of course, how much can you really count on a meteorologist but still…….I’m doing it because I want some pumpkin stuff!

I’ve been dreaming of brownie cookies lately – as well as of running. Anxious much? – and I decided I needed to incorporate pumpkin somehow.

I’ve made a couple of pumpkin brownie recipes and I’ve made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies so it seemed that the logical next step was pumpkin brownie cookies!

I’m really stoked these turned out so well on my first shot!

They are soft, chewy, pillowy, chocolatey, pumpkin spice-y, and delicious.

Thing 2 said they were really chocolatey but … really, what’s wrong with that?!

You would think they would be dense but they’re not. It’s gotta be the pumpkin that makes it like little pillows.

Little pillows of chocolatey goodness.

 

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Brownie Cookies
makes approximately 18 cookies

1 cup white whole wheat flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup cocoa powder
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
½ cup mini chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray cookie sheets with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In small bowl, whisk together dry ingredients – flour through nutmeg.

3. In large mixer bowl, mix pumpkin, sugar, and vanilla until blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Slowly mix in dry ingredients until incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips.

4. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets. These will not spread so don’t worry about them running into each other.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet for 2-3 minutes before removing to cooling rack.

6. NOM them down!!

 

Talk to me: Do you dream about cookies? Do you love Fall? What’s your favorite season?

– jennifer

Sunday food prep – what went down in my kitchen

Hello!

Happy Monday!

(wait, is there such a thing?)

source

So, did you have a good weekend?  What did you do?

After Saturday’s long run, I went and got myself a new do!

Sometimes, a girl just needs to be sassy. 😉

Then, I pretty much watched the CrossFit games all weekend.

Those athletes are amaze-balls. Every. Single. One. of. Them.

I actually (briefly) considered, after this 50k, just training and seeing how I could do in 2016.

I’d be in a whole new age group category!

Yes, that means I’m old. Old enough to be in the Masters grouping, that is.

I don’t know. We’ll see. I picked 2016 because there are still so many things I have to work on.

It might be fun! 😉

Anyway, on Sunday, while watching the Games, I food prepped all day.

With me at the 6pm CrossFit classes these days, I’m not usually home until 7:45 – 8:00pm and that’s just too late to cook dinner.

I was setting things up for my sailor to cook but his work life has gotten busier and last week, sometimes I beat him home! Plus, he doesn’t always remember to pack a lunch so he’s eating fast food or not eating at all. That will not do!

I figured if we discussed it all and food prepped together, then he would know what we have and be more prepared to take a lunch AND we’d have things we could toss together for dinner in a hurry.

So, here are some things that went down in our kitchen yesterday:

one whole cut-up chicken, roasted.

This was SUPER easy. I would have purchased a whole chicken but I didn’t get to the Farmer’s Market on Saturday and the Harris Teeter only had organic chickens cut-up. So, I bought it.

Here’s what you do:

 Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Put the chicken pieces in a pan (I used 9×13), rub all over with olive oil and season liberally with salt and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes. Turn the heat down to 350 degrees and roast 10-40 minutes more, depending on the size of the chicken pieces.  I took the wings, thighs and drumsticks out after 50 total minutes but the breasts had longer to go.

Once cooled, shred and use on sandwiches, salads, in pasta sauces, whatever. 🙂

(you can shred it when it’s hot, if you want to. just don’t be mad at me when you burn your fingers.)

Then, we got some chili going in the crockpot!

I used this recipe from PaleoGrubs but I left out the adobo sauce and added some Chipotle chili pepper for some smoky heat.

Chili is perfect on top of a sweet tater with some avocado (that may or may not have been my lunch today), or just heated up and served with cheese and Fritos or whatever you choose.

Of course, I had to make some of my triple chocolate avocado brownies. 🙂

Left the chia seeds out this time.

Okay, honestly, I needed to save them for my overnight oats in a jar. 🙂

And, for quick  breakfasts (I’m the only one who doesn’t forget to eat breakfast. How a person can FORGET to eat breakfast is beyond me!! Umm..doesn’t your stomach tell you it’s hungry?!?!) and/or snacks, I decided to make some of Lindsay’s Peanut Butter Banana Oat Muffins.

Holy YUM!

As you can see, I had one to sustain me while I was cooking. 😉

I have one today for my pm snack. Also have some fresh cherries. Om nom nom!

Not pictured are the overnight oats and the chopped veggies for lunches (mostly mine).

And last night, after all that, I made some “deconstructed enchiladas” with this green chili enchilada sauce.

I used a can of black beans, added some of the chicken we had roasted, and poured in the sauce. Heat over low heat about 10-15 minutes. Serve over rice.

So. Stinkin’. Delicious!

Too good for pictures, obviously. What can I say – we were hungry!!

And, the bonus is, there’s at least one serving left for a lunch or dinner later in the week! #winning

I’ve done food prep before but then, I’ve gotten lazy and fallen off the wagon.

It was definitely better with help!

And, the benefit is, everyone is invested and knows what’s in the fridge so there will be less uneaten food.

Pretty sure we’re going to make this a habit. 🙂

Talk to me: Do you food prep? What are your go-to recipe choices? Do you prep more for lunches or dinners?

– jennifer