A Baking Kinda Weekend

I really, strongly believe that the weekend should be 5 days and the week should be 2 days. Why hasn’t someone made this happen yet? Oh well.. here’s to another Marvelous Monday!

Marvelous is testing recipes! It might not have been my most successful weekend but it was fun nonetheless. I ended up with 1 success, 2 works-in-progress, and 1 total flop. The success? Mini chocolate cupcakes from Chocolate Covered Katie.

Look how cute they are with the white chocolate chips!

I did, however, make a few adjustments to the recipe so I was very pleased when they turned out! I subbed pastry flour for all-purpose, xylitol for sugar, and pumpkin for applesauce. I also left out the peppermint extract since I was just looking for a good chocolate cupcake. The only thing left is to top it with frosting!

French bread in one hour is one of my works-in-progress. I wish I had a picture of the way mine came out.. it’s so dense Nathan described it as a bagel loaf. I think he was being nice about it too! I just bought some brand spankin’ new yeast and plan on another attempt soon in hopes that old yeast was the issue. [That doesn’t sound so nice.. ha!]

Marvelous is some tasty new treats from Lindsay. I was SO psyched when my Healthy Bites came in on Friday that I almost ate all of them as soon as I opened the box! I refrained and am trying to pace myself but holy moly they’re amazing!

Healthy Bites! Muddy Buddy Mocha, Chocolate Whey Good, & Reese’s!

My favorite flavor is the Reese’s because I just can’t say no to anything chocolate and peanut butter but I would highly recommend all of them! She even gave me a vegan version of the Reese’s and a paleo version of the Chocolate Whey Good. And I will be ordering more 🙂

Marvelous is going back to our favorite Thai restaurant for the first time in months. I’m absolutely in love with the Hot Pot!

Hot pot with pork, broccoli, onion, baby corn, carrots, bean thread noodles, and light bean sauce

And almost as marvelous is having leftovers with a little coconut curry hefeweizen to boot. Side note: the beer was interesting but not awesome.. I wouldn’t get it again but I couldn’t pass it up when I saw it!

Leftover hot pot with broccoli, cauliflower, cashews, and a coconut curry hefeweizen.

Marvelous is starting my morning with another awesome Best Body Bootcamp workout and refueling with these bad boys!

Peanut Butter ‘Cake’ Coconut Flour Pancakes – Dashing Dish

These pancakes may very well jump start another pancake kick! And when my parents asked how many people I made these pancakes for, I politely responded with this:

I ATE EM ALL!

Happy Monday, friends!

Food for Thought

Did you do anything fun over the weekend?

How are you kicking off your week?

What I Ate Wednesday #39: A Weekend of Good

I’ve been loving having the past few weekends free of wedding planning. It has definitely been nice to take my good old time with everything and not have to make it to 100 appointments; plus I actually get to spend time with Nathan! We’ve been taking this time to take advantage of some of our favorite restaurants around town too which is one of my favorite things to do with him. Highlights to follow..

[Friday Night]
Thai Arroy. If you like Thai food, this is the place to be. Their food is authentic and always delicious. It’s also not too expensive [$11 for a chicken hot pot with leftovers!] and to top it off, it’s BYOB. You can’t go wrong with good food and wine.

[Saturday]

Lunch
I’m still not sure how I did it, but I convinced Nathan to stay home for lunch on a weekend. And I made myself an epic kale salad. Seriously, there were so many awesome veggies, a sweet potato quinao bean burger, homemade dijon vinaigrette, and avocado. Everything is better with avocado!

Wedding Research
We’ve been in the market of tasting cupcakes to choose the perfect flavors. I have to say, we might have found our chocolate! The salted caramel cupcake was incredible too, but so close to the vanilla that we’re going to have to find another. Such a tough life..

Dinner
…and a movie! The most important part of the night was the pitcher of white sangria we shared during the movie. Wonderful.

[Sunday]

Breakfast
A lineup of a chocolate Shakeology protein shake, water, and Lamplighter Triple Espresso Blend from my Relay Foods order were the highlight of my post-workout nourishment. I can’t speak highly enough about this coffee; it’s so tasty!

Brunch
Lebanese Taverna. While I love this restaurant to pieces, I should have stuck with what I knew. My poached eggs were not quite what I was expecting. Nor was the fruit parfait. Still, I devoured some of their amazing bread and baba ghanoush so I was a happy camper!

We spent the rest of Sunday grocery shopping and cooking up food for the week, including Spaghetti Squash Kugel and Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bark. I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend with my fiance!

Food for Thought

What is your favorite weekend activity?