Fitness Friday

After four days of cakes, brownies and yumminess, if you're like me, you're popping tums by the handful! So I'm not going to tempt you with delicious desserts today, I'm just going to give you a great idea for an at-home workout that you can do without any tools or contraptions.

I was a Health and Human Performance major in college, so I took my fair share of fitness training classes, I also worked at a gym in college and if you know me, you know I'm up for any and all workout adventures, unless it involves dancing.  Sorry Zumba.

I take a class at the local Y on Wednesdays that always kicks my butt, and this workout takes some notes from that class, but also incorporates the simple workouts that give me the best return on my investment.

So the concept is that we build.  You start with exercise A, and then do A and B, and then ABC...  So you end up with a lot of pushups!

Exercise A: (Shoulders) 12 Pushups!
  Either on your toes or on your knees, but keep that butt down!

Exercise B: (Upper Abs) 12 Crunches
  Pull your knees up to a tabletop position and crunch up.  Don't pull your head up with your hands, let your abs do the work

Exercise C: (Cardio) 12 Burpees: Starting at a standing position, squat down and place your hands in front of your feet on the ground.  Hop your feet back into a plank, and hop back to your hands.  Stand up, and do a little hop.  That's one.  I started off stepping my feet back, one at a time, and then hopping back, but I worked up to a full burpee. 

Exercise D: (Triceps) 12 Tricep Dips
  Place your hands on a chair or a coffee table on either side of your body with your body in a seated position just in front of the chair or table facing out.  Lower your rear as low as you can without feeling strain in your shoulders, keeping your elbows facing back. 

Exercise E: (Oblique Abs) 12 Bicycle Crunches
  Bring your right elbow to your left knee, extending your opposite leg out, and then your left elbow to your right knee.  That's one. 

Exercise F: (Cardio) 1 Minute Quick Feet
  Run in place for a minute as fast as you can!

Exercise G: (Shoulders) 12 Shoulder Pushups
  Do your pushups in a downward facing dog position, bringing your forehead toward the ground and pushing back up. 

Exercise H: (Lower Abs) 12 Leg Lowers
  Laying on your back with your lower back flat against the ground, lower your legs down straight until you feel your back lifting slightly, and then lift those legs back up to perpendicular to the ground.  It might help to put your hands on the ground under your butt. 

Exercise I: (Cardio) 12 Squat Jumps
   Squat down and jump back up as high as you can.  Make sure your squats are in good form, not letting your knees go over your toes, but dropping your rear end straight back like you're sitting in a chair.  You should be able to wiggle your toes the whole way through, that means you're back on your heels, where you should be. 

Here is the progression:
A
AB
ABC
ABCD
ABCDE
ABCDEF
ABCDEFG
ABCDEFGH
ABCDEDGHI

Try to not take too many breaks in between each workout.  Just about 10-15 seconds to stretch the muscle you just worked.  Aim for 45 minutes of work.  This isn't a quick-fix workout... it's intended to be your daily workout. If you don't get to Exercise I, don't worry about it! Get it next time.  If you get through I and still have time, just do A-I again until you hit 30 minutes.  Think about doing 28 or 30 of each workout next time. 

Texas Brownies

Yesterday was Arnold's birthday!  He's a big chocolate fan... whenever dessert is an option (not a lot because he doesn't like sweets much) he chooses the chocolate option.  Much to the chagrin of his vanilla/fruit/peanut butter loving lover (me). 

I'm a bit obsessed with this picture

So when I wanted to make him dessert, I of course chose chocolate, but not CHOCOLATE chocolate. 

I don't like dark chocolate, and I don't really love chocolate like most ladies I know.  When I was little I remember getting a cupcake at church topped with a chocolate bar and being disgusted and giving it to my mom before we even sat down.  I was a strange kid.  I didn't like macaroni and cheese or pizza...  Most likely because those were my brother's favorite foods. 

So these brownies are almost subtly chocolate, but definitely chocolate.  They're light and fluffy with a rich frosting that you literally pour on, and it melts in your mouth.  My coworker even said it was the best thing he had ever put in his mouth.  Kind of awkward... but I'll take it! 

I know it's a gem because my brother wrote on Instagram, "Are those the brownies mom used to make??"  Yup. He remembers.  These are one of the few desserts I remember having around on a regular basis.  They are comforting beyond belief, and they taste exactly how I remember my mom making them.  Even though I cut out some of the sugar.  Honestly... 2 cups is too much.  I'm sorry.  Settle down. 

Ahem, so here's the recipe!  Let me know if you like these, they are truly a family recipe. 

Texas Brownies

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup butter or margarine

1/4 cup shortening

1 cup strong brewed coffee

1/4 cup dark, unsweetened cocoa

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and sugar. In a microwave safe dish, combine butter, shortening, coffee or water, and cocoa. Microwave on High power for 2 minutes or just until boiling. Pour boiling mixture over flour mixture. Stir to blend. Add buttermilk, eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Mix well. Pour into a greased 17- x 11-inch jelly roll pan.

Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until brownies test done in the center.

Chocolate Frosting

1/2 cup butter or margarine

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

1/4 cup milk

3 1/2 cups unsifted powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

In a microwave safe bowl, combine the butter, cocoa, and milk. Microwave on high power for 2 minutes, stirring once. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Stir to blend. Pour over cooled brownies.

Baking a Cake: Tips and tricks

I used to think that baking was just second nature for everyone.  Something that everyone could just do.  I mean, how hard is it to follow directions?  If you can build Ikea furniture... you should be able to bake.  That is until I tried to make brownies with my boyfriend and he almost threw a heaping cup of flour into the batter.  I explained that you had to level it off so it was exactly a cup, or else you would never know exactly how much to put in...  Even measuring dry ingredients in a cup is risky, sifted flour, packed flour and scooped flour all have different weights and can make vastly different baked goods. 

Even though I understand cookbook lingo for the most part, I still come across tips and tricks that make my baking even better.  So here are a few tips that I have picked up while baking that might help you, even if you've been baking forever!

1. Everything should be room temperature when you're baking, unless it says otherwise. 

That includes eggs. When eggs are room temp they whisk up easier and it keeps the batter room temp, which keeps cooking time accurate. I very rarely have room temp eggs sitting around waiting to be baked into a cake, so I put the eggs in a container and cover them with hot water and let them sit while I assemble the other ingredients.  Eggs are usually some of the last ingredients, so this works well for me.  

2. If it says 1 cup sifted flour, that means 1 cup after it has been sifted. 

Don't level off a cup and then sift it into the batter, you will have a lot more than a cup of sifted flour. 


3. When making a cake, put a little batter in a cupcake tin so you can taste the cake before serving.

Every single time I make a cake I worry that I left out an ingredient, or the consistency makes me think it might be dry...  I always fill my little silicone cupcake cups with some batter to make sure the cake tastes just the way I want it to taste.  It also gives me a little snack to tide me over until it's time to cut into the finished product!

4. Try a scratch cake.  At least once. 

The boxed mixes are easy, and do the trick... But once in your life, try a cake from scratch.  It's just like making a boxed cake where you add ingredients, one being the dry mix, you measure out the oil and water and eggs, but there are a few more ingredients.  Be patient, read the directions fully before you start, and take your time.  The end result will be ten times better than any boxed mix.  Except that Ghirardelli brownie mix... that's seriously really good. 

So there ya go.  Just a few things that make my cakes fail-proof great. 



Cake Balls

So sometimes things don't turn out the way you want them to... Sometimes you bake a cake and set it out to cool, and you don't take it out of the pan before you go out to play catch with your buddy and sometimes that cake gets suck in the pan.  And sometimes you shimmy and shake it and think it's coming out, but it comes out in crumbs.  So sometimes you have to start again and you throw the crumbs in a Tupperware in disgust. 

BUT SOMETIMES you get a great idea to use that failure to make cake balls! And sometimes those cake balls really impress your boyfriend's friends.  Sweet. 

I love cake balls.  But somewhere along the way, someone decided that cake balls were just mini balls of fluffy cake baked in a waffle iron-type contraption that you get at Bed Bath and Beyond for $9.99 and dipped in chocolate. 

THAT IS NOT A CAKE BALL.  That's a mini spherical cupcake dipped in chocolate.  Stop it. 

A cake ball is a moist, dense, sweet, ball of gooey cake frosting mixture dipped in chocolate.  And they are so easy to make. 

So you take your crumbs of failure

Offset, your crumbs of failure are all of a sudden artsy

add frosting (I always have leftover when I'm frosting a cake, and it sits in my fridge for a week and I end up throwing it away) and form them into golf-ball sized balls.  Put them in the fridge to solidify.  The butter in the frosting is soft right now, but after an hour in the fridge, it will be rock hard again. 

Dip those babies in chocolate, or chocolate almond bark, and impress your boyfriend's friends! 

Gender Reveal Cake

I am so excited about this post! I had the amazing honor of baking a cake filled with the color corresponding to not one, but TWO babies in my friend's belly.  That's right, she is having TWINNERS!!!  I can hardly handle it because the one baby she already has is SO DANG CUTE.  He is incredibly smart, has big brown eyes and yesterday he snuggled me for at least 10 seconds. 

So when I showed up at her house to get the ultrasound and she said to me, "I get some sick pleasure out of this... but Josh says I should tell you..." I knew.  I just knew there were two! Two little pieces of paper, and two amazing miracles on the way in just a few short months.  Safe to say, I'm excited. 

Five of my college friends are pregnant right now,  I feel like that's a staggering amount.  I feel like my friends are all like, going to garage sales to pick out baby clothes, and deciding what to name their newborns, and I'm all like, going to garage sales to pick out sharp objects to decorate my apartment and deciding what to name my newest rum drink...  I'm not complaining.  I like babies, but I also like giving them back when they smell or start crying. 

Back to the cake...  It was a vanilla cake with yellow vanilla frosting... and either pink, blue, or pink and blue on the inside!  I'll let you guess. 

The icing technique I used was one I've used before.  It's a sideways teardrop layered look, and it takes a long time to do, but it's really easy! 

I start with four dots slightly smaller than a quarter, stacked.  I used alternating tints of yellow in a diagonal pattern. 

Then I flattened the right side of the dots out with a spoon, and stacked another round of dots to the right.

Continuing around the cake. 

It created a beautiful looking finished product! 

And the parents were pretty excited to cut in to reveal..... 

Boys! 

Congrats Elizabeth and Josh!  I can't wait to meet them.

**If you know Elizabeth and Josh and want to tell them congrats, make sure to do it through a private message, not on their facebook walls.  Or better yet, just send them a friendly text!**

If you want to order a custom cake or delicious dessert from me, check out my website!

I'm going NUTS

Life is getting a little nuts... (pun intended). We just got back from Puerto Rico, and I have a lot of work to do, I'm getting some big summer orders in for the Buttery Bun Bakery, and my mailbox is filled with wedding, shower, party invitations! I chipped a little hole in my igloo last month so people could send snacks through, and Summer is officially peaking through it. 

I've been storing nuts this winter like a little squirrel.  I got a big box of nuts from Fisher when I was a finalist in their Fresh Twist contest (Check out my recipe!). And for some reason I still pick up a bag of almonds or pistachios every time I'm at the store.  Anyway, I'm not complaining.  I love me some nuts, and they're so easy to add to salads or desserts...  This stash will be gone before the corn is knee high by the 4th of July! 

I pinned a few ideas, but here are just a few more that I'll be whipping up this month:

Wholesome Granola Bars
Granola bars always get me.  They are just the perfect snack to toss in my purse.

fishernuts.com

Rosemary and Sweet Potato Casserole
Rosemary... mmmmm, Sweet potatoes... mmmmm. 

 Spinach Walnut Pesto from Rachel Ray
 You usually think of a pesto made with pine nuts and basil... but if you know anything about me, you know that I'll try to make blueberry muffins without the blueberries.  I just make it work! I'm the Tim Gunn of cooking.  Well, I always have spinach and I always have walnuts, so this recipe works for me and my pantry! 

Fisher has a new product out that I need to get my hands on...  Fisher Nut Exactly.  I love a good cluster.  Anyone want to take me to Costco to get some?  mkaythanks. 

fishernuts.com

All of this said, and I'm sitting here just chomping on a bag of plain almonds.  I'm a pretty simple girl... no, actually I'm not simple at all.  Give me those clusters!


*Note* Fisher reached out and asked if I had any fun ideas to share on social media about nuts, but all the opinions are 100% my own

Trip to Old San Juan

Can I just live my life as a travel blogger?  How exactly do you get that job? Because, I'm totally in... 

We went this weekend to visit my parents in Old San Juan where they've decided to be "snow birds".  We had an absolute blast and I came back relaxed and rejuvenated and a little sunburnt...  Oops. 

I have a few amazing picture to share with you all, but looking at photos is nothing like experiencing it. 

A few highlights... 

Went to Carli's and listened to the piano player for the Beach Boys play jazz.

Walked through el Castillo San Felipe del Morro, a 16th century fort that the Spaniards used to keep out those pesky Dutch and English troops.

Shopped. Duh.

Went on a sailing adventure into the Atlantic.

Got knocked over by the waves at the beach!

It was a great trip with some of my favorite people, and I'm currently planning my next adventure.  Travel blogging, here I come!