055. Going to the Chapel...where my friends are getting married

My friends Jennie and John are getting married today!!!! I've very excited for them, and who doesn't love weddings? They're so much fun! My goal today is to keep the drinking in check. This should be somewhat easy as I am driving. I also want to make sure I fully document the evening so I can share.

Quick morning recap: breakfast was an open face fried egg sammie with sharp cheddar and some of the potatoes I had left over from yesterday morning.

After I ate I Whittled My Middle, and Chris and I had to make a trip over to his mom's house to try and find his black dress shirt. We didn't have any luck.

I am absolutely in l-o-v-e with my dress/ outfit for today. I picked up the dress at H&M for about $35. I was the first (and only) dress I even tried on.

I loathe dress shopping. I'm very top heavy (large chest, wide back, swimmer shoulder's and tiny little hips on chicken legs) which makes it very difficult to find dresses that fit properly in all the "right" places. Add to that the fact that nothing causes my self esteem to plummet quite like dress shopping. Anyone with me on that one? I find when I'm dress shopping, I always end up having to go at least a size or two larger than my pants/ shirt size. I'm currently in a M top and size 8 bottom so why is my dress a 14? I know size is just a number, and I generally don't put much thought into it, but really, I just don't get how stores size clothing?!

Anyway, I'm sure you can imagine how stoked I was when I not only found a dress I loved that fit perfectly!

I paired the dress with the sweater and shoes I bought Wednesday and a bracelet one of my co-workers bought me for Christmas. Personally, I think I look adorable! Not to toot my own horn or anything. :)

I'll be sure to post all about the wedding tomorrow.

054. Adventures in Baking

I decided I should bring something with me to Kristin's house. I've been wanting to make this Cranberry Apple Bread for a few days now so I went ahead and whipped it up to take with me.

While making this, I ran into a slight issue that required me to employ some of my newly found kitchen experimentation skills. Here's the ingredient list.

Ingredients

1 1/2 c. flour (I substituted whole wheat flour)

1 1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. basking soda

1 t. ground cinnamon

2 c. chopped, peeled apples (I used pink lady apples that I had in my fridge)

3/4 c. sugar

2 T. melted butter

1 large egg

1 c. fresh cranberries

Does anyone else see the problem here? This recipe calls for virtually no liquids! I mixed all of the ingredient together per the instructions (below) and wound up with just slightly moistened flour. There was no way it was going to bake into bread though! I started by adding about 1/4 c. of water and then it was Musselman's to the rescue! I poured in some applesauce and stirred until the batter reach the consistency I was looking for. I think it probably amounted to about 1/2 c. of applesauce that I ended up adding.

Directions

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon; set aside. Mix apples, sugar and butter. Add egg; mix well. Add flour mixture; stir just until moistened. (Batter will be thick.) gently stir in the cranberries

Spread the batter into greased loaf pan

Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let stand in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

The bread turned out really great. It was very moist and had an awesome flavor. I really liked the tart cranberry flavor against the sweetness of the apples. I didn't snap a picture because I was running late so I wrapped it up and headed out the door; however, I plan on making another loaf tomorrow or Sunday (I still have half a bag of cranberries left) so I'll be sure to get a picture then.

053. Happy New Year!!

(Side note: I wrote this post this morning, but my internet went down right before I hit publish. I had to leave before it came back up hence the delay.)

Last night was a pretty fantastic way to start the new year!

To start the evening Chris and I had his mom, grandma, and brother over for dinner. I made a fabulously healthy dinner that everyone really enjoyed! I was so glad to share a healthy meal with people I care about and have them really love it. So what was on the menu you ask? I made spaghetti squash with marinara (and a little Boca "meat" for some protein) and topped it with sauteed garlic and zuchini. We also had some fresh mozzarella to top it all off with.

While I was finishing up dinner, the guys were teaching their mom and grandma how to play Wii bowling!

Grandma getting her Wii bowling on.

I made some Ghirardelli chocolate brownies for dessert. I used some of my seemingly infinite supply of apple sauce instead of oil. Man were the brownies good. They were super moist and cake-like.

Right as we were finishing up dinner Chris' buddy Mike came over and the party began. We played Rock Band and Wii. It was a total blast. This is definitely my favorite way to ring in a new year! We also managed to switch to TV just in time to see the ball drop in Time Square.

I was by far the best Rock Band singer of the night.

Hello? Mario? Are you there?

Mike decided to bust out the robot.

Then Chris joined in.

And Tim couldn't be left out of the fun.

The kiss at midnight. We kind of look like awkward teenagers.

Chris's bowl of snacks - a giant brownie and some chips.

I ended up over-indulging just a bit on the alcohol side. I definitely ended up the drunkest in the room. Oops! My drinks were just so tasty though! I started with a couple glasses of pinot grigio. Later in the evening I made myself some pomegranate martinis from Effen Raspberry vodka and some pomegranate juice I had in the fridge. Thankfully, I had the good sense to take a few Advil and drink two glasses of water before bed so I'm not suffering today.

Since Chris had to work at 10:00 this morning, we did call it a night pretty early. We were in bed by 1:30. All in all it was a fantastic night!

How was your New Years Eve? What did you do to ring in the New Year.

I had to take Chris to work this morning since I need my car today. After I got back I made myself some breakfast - scrambled eggs with mozzarella cheese mixed in and some red potato hash browns with garlic and red onions.

This afternoon I'm heading over to my friend Kristin's house to watch the Winter Classic. Right now I'm making a loaf of Cranberry Apple bread to take with me. I need to go Whittle My Middle and then get in the shower.

Have a fantastic first day of 2010!

052. Breakfast Mash-Up

First things first my dear friends, HAPPY NEW YEAR’S EVE!

Is everyone ready to put 2009 behind them and start fresh?

While 2009 was by no means a bad year for me (I made a lot of really positive changes in myself and my life,) I am so ready for a new year to begin. I’m really looking forward to making even more progress in my life and my happiness this year. I’m looking forward to checking of most (if not all!) of the items on my 10 in 2010 list!

This morning was one of those mornings where there wasn’t anything particular I wanted to eat. I wasn’t in the mood for oatmeal which has been my go-to breakfast recently. I ended up throwing together a totally random breakfast. I had an open-face egg sammie with a bit of sharp cheddar cheese and a bowl of vanilla Okios with a sliced up banana and a ¼ c. of Kashi Honey Almond Flax cereal. (Holy protein Batman!) Despite my not being in the mood for anything, my breakfast really hit the spot.

This evening Chris’ mom, grandma, and brother (and possibly his friend Mike) are coming over for dinner. His mom and grandma haven’t seen our place yet, and they wanted to come see our tree and Christmas decorations before they get taken down. I figured tonight would be a perfect night for that since I’ll be getting out of work early which will give me lots of time to cook.

I’m planning to make spaghetti squash with marinara topped with sautéed garlic and zucchini and some fresh mozzarella. I’ll probably add some Boca crumbles to the sauce as well.

What are your plans for this evening? Do you do it up big on NYE or keep it low key?

I think NYE as a whole is pretty over-rated. I much prefer a low key evening with friends to heading out to a big party downtown somewhere. In high school, my friends Scott and Sarah always had a big party for all of us at their house. This kind of celebration is definitely my favorite way to ring in a New Year.

Chris and I decided last night to stay in tonight and have a few people over to have some drinks and play some Wii or Rock Band on the xBox. His brother Tim is coming and his friend Mike. I invited my friend Nicky over as well. My friend Jennie is having people to her house as well for I may go over there for an hour or two. Like I said before, I much prefer low-key celebrations with friends.

051. Errand Girl

Tonight I ran a bunch of errands. I had three missions tonight.

1. Buy some YakTrax so I can try and start getting some outdoor runs in again.
2. Check out books on container gardening from the library
3. Get a cute black crop sweater/ shrug to wear over my dress on Saturday.

I was successful in 2 out of the 3.

Mission One: Buy YakTrax Verdict: Mission Failed

My friend Courtney has mentioned getting a pair Yaktrax on a couple occasions. I finally got curious and Googled them. For those of you unfamiliar Yaktrax is a traction device for running (or walking) on snow and ice. The snow and ice has really put a damper on my running recently. I loathe the dreadmill, and while I do have access (free!) to a nice indoor track, I really prefer running outdoors. I'm sure this is true for most runners.

I've read a couple reviews of Yaktrax and the majority of reviews on Amazon are positive, and I really want to give them a try. I decided to hit Sport's Authority as it fit neatly in the path of the rest of my errands. Unfortunately, they only had 4 pairs of the Taktrax walkers left - no Yaktrax Pro. The sales girl said their truck comes on Tuesday so to try back then. I'll probably call first.

Mission Two: Get books on container gardening from the library Verdict: Mission Accomplished

One of the things I want to do in the coming year, and I forgot to consider in my 10 in 2010, is to grow some of my own produce. Since I don't have a yard, I'm limited to container gardening. Unfortunately I know next to nothing about gardening and even less about container gardening. I'm not much of a green thumb either. I'm the girl who has killed three basil plants in two years. I really want to have my own garden though. It's cost effective, healthy, and green. What more can a girl ask for.

Since it's the dead of winter here in Chicago (hence the need for the YakTrax and probably also the reason I didn't think to include "start a container garden" in my 10 in 2010), I'm going to spend some time doing my homework and researching container gardening. Hopefully this will up my chances of successfully growing some edible fruits and veggies (and herbs). Tonight I picked Container Gardening for Dummies and Reader's Digest Crops in Pots. I'll be sure to post reviews as I get through them. I'll probably also do a post (or series or posts) on container gardening as I learn more about it.

If anyone has any additional suggestions on books about container gardening, or gardening in general, I should read, please share!

Mission Three: Get cute crop sweater Verdict: Mission Accomplished.

Initially my plan was to go to Kohl's, but I decided I might have been luck at one of the "trendy" stores. They just opened a Forever 21 in the mall near my house so I decided to check it out. I ended up finding a black 3/4 sleeve sweater similar to this one. (I could go take a picture of the actual sweater, but I'm feeling lazy. Maybe tomorrow)

I must voice a couple complaints though. What is up with the sizing?! First of all in all the sweater browsing I did, I don't think I saw a single item bigger than a size medium. What, is it store policy to not carry anything larger than a medium? Second of all, who the hell do they size this stuff for, children? The sweater I ended up buying is a medium, but it only kind of fits. I'm not even close to being able to button it. I can't even get it to close over my boobs. It serves the purpose I need it to serve - covering my shoulders at a January 2nd wedding in cold, snowy Chicago, but seriously, what the hell people?! I've never understood why stores size their clothes for infants.

I did accept an extra mission of buying a pair of shoes for the wedding as well. I was wandering the shoes section at Kohl's and came across these. They are totally not my style, but I was instantly attracted to them. I carried them around the store with me for at least 15 minutes debating, and I sent a photo text to my best friend for her opinion. Ultimately I ended up buying them (they were $30) with the thought that if they don't look good with the dress I can always return them.

Anyway, it's already 10:30, and I still need to take a quick shower so it's time to call it a night.

050. Flexing the Kitchen Creativity Muscle (& my 50th post milestone!)

This morning I faithfully got up to Whittle My Middle.

I also discovered I forgot to put my soy milk back in the fridge after making my oatmeal yesterday. :( It was almost a full carton too - what a bummer.

Since I usually use soy milk to make my oatmeal, I decided to flex my kitchen creativity muscles. As you probably remember, I currently have an abundance of applesauce after winning Shannon's Musselman's Gift Basket Give-Away. I decided to put some of that applesauce to work this morning, and so I present to you...

Apple-Pomegranate Oats

• 1/2c. oats
• 1/2c. Musselman's natural, unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 c. pomegranate juice.

Cooked on the stove-top for about 5 minutes, stirring occassionally.

I topped the oats off with a pinch of shredded coconut and some goji berries.

So what's the verdict on my Apple-Pomegranate Oats?

Well, the smell was a little funky (not sure if it was the cooking applesauce or pomegranate juice) and the texture left something to be desired (It was again sticky, but that could be the oats I bought as I discussed in my post yesterday). The flavor, however, was to die for! It was the balance of apple and pomegranate. There was a bit of tartness that was offset really well by the sweetened coconut.

Overall, this was an awesome breakfast. I'll definitely be making these oats again sometime soon!

049. Running Log

Tuesday 12/29

3 mile, indoor track, 30 minutes, 10 min/ mile average pace.

Wednesday 1/6

35 minute "The Countdown" interval workout on the treadmill.

048. A Family Adventure to the Gym

Tonight became an impromptu, family trip to the Oak Lawn Pavilion. My plan for the evening was to come home, make dinner, and head over for a run. I've been seriously neglecting my running lately, and I need to get back on track - especially since a half marathon and a sprint distance triathlon are part of my 10 in 2010.

When I got home from work, Chris told me his mom wanted us to come over for dinner. I knew if I went over there first and came back in to change after, I would not make it back out to go running so I threw on my running clothes and packed my bag so I could drop him off after his mom's and go right to the track - no excuses.

Chris' mom has a membership to the Pavilion, and his brother Tim got a membership for Christmas. Tim was planning to go over there tonight as was their mom. Of course, because no one wants to leave the house when it's below freezing outside, their mom had decided she wasn't going to go. Tim and I not only convinced her to come, but we got Chris to come with as well! All four of us headed over to the Pavilion for a little indoor track action! I ran three miles and the three of them walked about 2.

My run started out a little rough. I did the first mile at a pace of just under 11:00. I usually run just under 10:00. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper. I ended up picking it up and finished averaging a 10:00 pace, but I was hurting.

I so prefer the indoor track to the dreadmill. If I could never set foot on a treadmill for the rest of my life I would die a happy woman. Running outside is always my favorite, but it's cold, snowy and icy out. I'm a mega-klutz so I'm waiting for the snow and ice to melt before I hit the road again. The indoor track is a great alternative. I can zone out and run my circles, but still feel like I'm going somewhere.

Now I'm home, I'm going to shower, clean up my kitchen - it's a total disaster zone - and then get to bed. My plan is to get up at 5:45 again tomorrow to Whittle My Middle before work.

047. Chicago French Market.

Today for lunch we headed over to the Chicago French Market in the Northwestern Train Station. This was a really interesting experience. I was definitely caught off guard as I thought we were going to a restaurant, but I was very impressed. I will definitely be going back, and I foresee many trips once it warms up.

About the Chicago French Market

The Chicago French Market brings together a unique collection of local vendors that were hand selected for their individual passions and high-quality products. Bringing together the best-of-the-best from Chicago neighborhoods and outlying areas, Chicago French Market is largely comprised of entrepreneurs, family-owned businesses and accomplished purveyors.

The Bensidoun family, the largest market operator in and around Paris since 1953, co-developed the market with Chicago-based U.S. Equities Realty, and operates and manages Chicago French Market. The family operates nearly 100 open-air and indoor markets throughout the U.S. and Europe, including 11 Chicagoland outdoor, summer weekend markets.

As with all local markets, our goal is to bring a sense of community found in the markets of Europe, and provide a place to gather, socialize and purchase quality goods.

The set-up was a bit overwhelming at first. It’s similar to a farmer’s market with the various vendor booths. We walked in at the City Market which is basically the produce, meat and seafood sections of a grocery store. I didn’t look around too much, but everything looked very fresh. Most of the restaurant vendors use local and organic ingredients, and everything looked so fresh. One could easily spend an hour wandering around.

For lunch I had a rotisserie chicken sandwich from Chicago Organic. I was actually some pretty disappointed with it. It was good, but there was definitely a lack of flavor. There were so many other options, I’m sure I could have found something better.

The five of us shared some fries from Frietkoten. They were very tasty. I love fries and these were amazing. They came topped with ketchup, mayonnaise, and chopped red onions. They were perfectly golden and crispy. They were definitely the best fries I’ve had in a while.

We also shared some dessert from Delightful Pastries. We had dark chocolate covered strawberries, tiramisu, an éclair, a lemon bar, and a pecan bar. I had half the éclair, a strawberry, and one bite of the lemon bar. They were all delish!

I definitely plan to go back and visit Raw which is an all-organic and vegan. I had a sample of the garden burger, and I definitely want more! I also want to try FLiP Crepes at some point.

If you’re ever in downtown Chicago, I recommend you check this place out. It’s well worth the trip. It’s just a hop, skip, and jump from the Sear’s Tower (I will never call it Willis Tower.) and Union Station.

046. Lessons Learned.

This morning I discovered two things.

First, I waste a lot of time in the morning. I'm not really sure how why. I get way too easily distracted by reading blogs and checking email or Facebook or SparkPeople first thing in the morning. I woke up at 5:45 this morning to get my Whittle My Middle done for the day. This is 15 minutes earier than usual. I spent about 10 minutes doing core work and yet I was still running late. I really need to work on being more efficient with my time in the morning. Any suggestions on morning time management?

Second, I learned that generic oats are not just as good. At least not in the case of the oats I bought from Jewel on Sunday night. There was a giant can of oats in the Jewel brand. I figured with as fast as I've been going through oats recently, the bigger the better. I was sorely disappointed when I made my breakfast this morning. My oatmeal, which I made the same way as I always have - 3/4 c. vanilla soy milk, 1/2 c. oats cooked on the stove, stirring occassionally - were not nearly as good. The texture was much stickier. I'm not a fan of sticky oatmeal.

Now that I'm thinking about this though, it could be the difference is that the oats I bought from Jewel are not organic. Previously I've purchased organic oats from the bulk bins at Whole Foods and a can of organic oats from Trader Joe's.

I added 1 T. of peanut butter and 2 T. of Cranberry Apple Butter.

I am absolutely in love with this Trader Joe's Cranberry Apple Butter. It's got a great strong cranberry flavor that isn't too tart or too sweet. It tastes just like the canned cranberry sauce - but better. You really only need a tablespoon or two to add really great flavor.