Time. is. flying. When did mid-September happen? I feel like it was just the other day I wrote my last post, and it's been over a week. Jeez.
My life hasn't been that exciting. I'm growing lazier by the day. I neeeed to get back to hiking. I bought that fancy new day pack and haven't used it yet! Maybe next week? It's tough now because my dad is starting Chemo and radiation on Monday, and we'll be at Cancer Care for a couple of hours everyday. Maybe I'll get my sister to take over one day so I can commune with nature.
I haven't really baked/cooked much, so I don't have any pictures or stories. I did make a pretty rad banana cake the other day, but didn't take pics. It wasn't that exciting, and it came out a little flat. I didn't sift my flour. Probably a mistake. Oh, well. It's still delicious.
My unemployment was approved, so I'm not slowly running out of money anymore! That kind of leads to the trip portion of this "Trip?" post. Since I have some cash flow now, I'm thinking about going somewhere. I'm actually thinking Chicago. I've never been to that city OR state. It's not too far to drive, and seems exciting. I found a couple of hostels that look decent, got great reviews, and are only about $30 a night.
I would probably plan on 3 nights at the hostel, with a day on each end for driving to and from. That would give me two full days in the city. I figure I can plan some things to check out, maybe take in a show, find some bars. I can explore for a couple of days, and maybe even take some resumes along and harass some theatres! Getting there would also take me through Indiana. Is there anything to see in Indiana? Then I could check off two more states for my 30 Things Before 30 list!
This is still just an idea I'm tossing around, but I'm itching to go somewhere new. Besides parking, I feel like I could make the whole trip cost less than $200, including the hostel, food, sights, etc. For gas, I might cash in some of my Mypoints points for gas gift cards. For parking, I would probably cough up the money for a garage, as street parking in any city scares me.
We'll see how long I remain unemployed, how my finances are in a few weeks, and how ambitious I am. If Chicago doesn't work out, maybe a few days in NYC are in order. That may be in order anyway. I can stay with my college roomie (yes, I'm inviting myself, you don't have a choice), so expenses would be minimal. I have a book that I bought when I lived in NYC for a summer of 1,001 things to do. I've done probably 200, but I could cross a few more of those off my list.... We'll see what happens!
I'll decide in a couple of weeks what I want to do. In the meanwhile, I'm GOING to get back to hiking. I shall also get back in the kitchen. If for no other reason than to have something to blog about!
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Falling for Autumn!
Fall is by far my favorite season. I know it's technically still summer, but with all the rain the past few days cooling it off outside, and the start of school... it feels like fall to me.
The other night I put on some sweatpants, made some hot tea, grabbed a Pumpkin Spice Scone, and curled up on my bed with a book. Totally fall behavior. I love the colors, the smells, the weather (sans flooding...), the fairs and festivals.... Fall is just my season. Most of all, I love fall baking, and knowing that it leads to holiday baking.
While not terribly fall-y, I just made some Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins. I want to get a workout in tonight yet and not throw up mid-run, so I haven't tried them yet, but they look and smell amazing.
On a related note, I'm thinking about selling baked goods this fall/winter. If I decide to, I'll probably send an order sheet to school with my mom, and try to spread it through word-of-mouth. Since I'm unemployed and jonesing to bake more, this seems like a good way to get in the kitchen, as well as make some "dough". Pun definitely intended. :-P
Here's what I'm thinking about so far:
Banana Nut Bread
Pumpkin Bread
Cranberry Bread
Pumpkin-Banana Bread
Maple Pecan Muffins
Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
Cinnamon Sugar Muffins
Pecan Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Shoo-fly Pie
Candy Bar Pie
Sweet Potato Pie
Chocolate Chip Cookies
White Chocolate-Cherry Shortbread Cookies
Gingersnaps
Sugar Cookies
Pumpkin Rolls
Jelly Rolls
Since a lot of people go out and buy goodies to take to parties, give as gifts, or just share with their family, I figure I'll be cheaper than most bakeries, and I can deliver right to the school since that's probably where most of my business would be. I haven't worked out prices yet, since I'm still just throwing the idea around. I can pull out some start-up money for supplies and containers, and hopefully I'll make back at least that much. If I'm lucky and turn a profit, well woo-hoo! Leave a comment and let me know if this is a good idea or not!
Well, as it's almost midnight, I guess I should get to working out. (Incidentally, I ran a whole MILE yesterday! I usually do anywhere from 2.5-4 miles on the treadmill, and run intervals. Up until yesterday, I'd been doing 1/2-mile intervals, but yesterday I did a mile at a time and didn't die! Yay, me! :-P)
Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
Ingredients
1/2 C. butter
1/2 C. sugar
1 egg
1 C. mashed ripe bananas
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. hot water
1 1/2 C. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 bag chocolate chips
Method
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cream butter and sugar together. Add egg and bananas and mix well. In a small bowl, dissolve the baking soda in the hot water; add to banana mixture. Stir in the remaining ingredients, adding chocolate chips last. Spoon into a paper-lined 12-count muffin tin, dividing batter evenly between the twelve cups. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 20 minutes - until domed, golden, and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Enjoy!
The other night I put on some sweatpants, made some hot tea, grabbed a Pumpkin Spice Scone, and curled up on my bed with a book. Totally fall behavior. I love the colors, the smells, the weather (sans flooding...), the fairs and festivals.... Fall is just my season. Most of all, I love fall baking, and knowing that it leads to holiday baking.
While not terribly fall-y, I just made some Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins. I want to get a workout in tonight yet and not throw up mid-run, so I haven't tried them yet, but they look and smell amazing.
On a related note, I'm thinking about selling baked goods this fall/winter. If I decide to, I'll probably send an order sheet to school with my mom, and try to spread it through word-of-mouth. Since I'm unemployed and jonesing to bake more, this seems like a good way to get in the kitchen, as well as make some "dough". Pun definitely intended. :-P
Here's what I'm thinking about so far:
Banana Nut Bread
Pumpkin Bread
Cranberry Bread
Pumpkin-Banana Bread
Maple Pecan Muffins
Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
Cinnamon Sugar Muffins
Pecan Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Shoo-fly Pie
Candy Bar Pie
Sweet Potato Pie
Chocolate Chip Cookies
White Chocolate-Cherry Shortbread Cookies
Gingersnaps
Sugar Cookies
Pumpkin Rolls
Jelly Rolls
Since a lot of people go out and buy goodies to take to parties, give as gifts, or just share with their family, I figure I'll be cheaper than most bakeries, and I can deliver right to the school since that's probably where most of my business would be. I haven't worked out prices yet, since I'm still just throwing the idea around. I can pull out some start-up money for supplies and containers, and hopefully I'll make back at least that much. If I'm lucky and turn a profit, well woo-hoo! Leave a comment and let me know if this is a good idea or not!
Well, as it's almost midnight, I guess I should get to working out. (Incidentally, I ran a whole MILE yesterday! I usually do anywhere from 2.5-4 miles on the treadmill, and run intervals. Up until yesterday, I'd been doing 1/2-mile intervals, but yesterday I did a mile at a time and didn't die! Yay, me! :-P)
Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
Ingredients
1/2 C. butter
1/2 C. sugar
1 egg
1 C. mashed ripe bananas
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. hot water
1 1/2 C. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 bag chocolate chips
Method
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cream butter and sugar together. Add egg and bananas and mix well. In a small bowl, dissolve the baking soda in the hot water; add to banana mixture. Stir in the remaining ingredients, adding chocolate chips last. Spoon into a paper-lined 12-count muffin tin, dividing batter evenly between the twelve cups. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 20 minutes - until domed, golden, and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Enjoy!
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Cookies and Fitness
So I know I've been neglecting my blog a bit. There's not a whole lot to blog about in my life at the moment. I've been officially unemployed for a five weeks now. (I finally swallowed my pride and filed for unemployment. I don't know yet if I've been approved, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.) I rarely go out, and when I do it's nothing really blog-worthy. I should really start hiking again. I got that PA Waterfalls book, and a new pack, so I think I have to start adventuring.
As much as I'm ready to move on with my life, in a way it's lucky that I'm home for awhile. I've been taking Dad to his appointments so Mom doesn't have to use all of her personal days and family sick days right away. He had his first major surgery - he got a feeding tube and medi-port put in. He's had consults with the chemo and radiation docs, so he should be starting treatments in the next week or two. The doctors seem optimistic for the most part, so we'll see what happens. We're taking it one step at a time.
I've also been keeping busy playing housewife. I sat down with my mom's sewing machine tonight (since mine is in storage), and fixed two shirts with broken seams, and took in seven shirts that were too big. I have to replace a zipper in a sweatshirt yet, but I didn't have one handy. I also made no-bake cookies tonight! We saw some at the store, and I had a request to make some.
Mmmmm. Molten chocolate goo. :-)
They're in the fridge now, setting up. I may have to have one after my yoga session. Which brings us to the fitness portion of "Cookies and Fitness". I've been doing really well with sticking to my work-out schedule. I've basically been going week-to-week and writing down what exercise(s) I'm going to do each day. It's been a month now, and I haven't missed one yet! Well... I've missed one here and there, but I always double up the next day and make it up.
I've mostly been running/jogging/walking about 4 times a week. It's amazing how much endurance I've built up in just a month. I also do a yoga session twice a week. I use the podcasts from YogaDownload. Some of them I love, and some I hate. Like the Detox Yoga #1 is totally my favorite. It's a lot of twisting the spine and organs to wring out the toxins, and they use some of my favorite poses. Core Yoga #1, on the other hand, is horrible and I can't do half of it. :-P
So I'm feeling pretty great, physically. I don't really see many changes yet, but I feel healthier, and I've lost a few pounds. I'm hopefully going to stick with it. It's pretty much part of my routine now, so it's gotten easier to make myself actually work out. By the time I find employment, I'll be smokin'.
I'll leave you with the recipe for No-Bake Cookies... probably the easiest cookie to make ever.
No-Bake Cookies
Ingredients
2 Tbsp. baking cocoa
1 C. sugar
1/4 C. butter or margarine
1/4 C. milk
1/4 C. peanut butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 C. quick oats
Method
In a saucepan, boil cocoa, sugar, butter, and milk for a couple of minutes. Add vanilla and peanut butter, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and quickly stir in the oats.
Drop by spoonfuls onto a wax paper-covered cookie sheet. Refrigerate until firm.
**For a little crunch, use chunky p.b.**
Seriously, it takes about 5 minutes from the time you start till they hit the fridge. Give 'em half an hour to harden, and you're golden. Everyone loves No-Bake Cookies!
As much as I'm ready to move on with my life, in a way it's lucky that I'm home for awhile. I've been taking Dad to his appointments so Mom doesn't have to use all of her personal days and family sick days right away. He had his first major surgery - he got a feeding tube and medi-port put in. He's had consults with the chemo and radiation docs, so he should be starting treatments in the next week or two. The doctors seem optimistic for the most part, so we'll see what happens. We're taking it one step at a time.
I've also been keeping busy playing housewife. I sat down with my mom's sewing machine tonight (since mine is in storage), and fixed two shirts with broken seams, and took in seven shirts that were too big. I have to replace a zipper in a sweatshirt yet, but I didn't have one handy. I also made no-bake cookies tonight! We saw some at the store, and I had a request to make some.
Mmmmm. Molten chocolate goo. :-)
They're in the fridge now, setting up. I may have to have one after my yoga session. Which brings us to the fitness portion of "Cookies and Fitness". I've been doing really well with sticking to my work-out schedule. I've basically been going week-to-week and writing down what exercise(s) I'm going to do each day. It's been a month now, and I haven't missed one yet! Well... I've missed one here and there, but I always double up the next day and make it up.
I've mostly been running/jogging/walking about 4 times a week. It's amazing how much endurance I've built up in just a month. I also do a yoga session twice a week. I use the podcasts from YogaDownload. Some of them I love, and some I hate. Like the Detox Yoga #1 is totally my favorite. It's a lot of twisting the spine and organs to wring out the toxins, and they use some of my favorite poses. Core Yoga #1, on the other hand, is horrible and I can't do half of it. :-P
So I'm feeling pretty great, physically. I don't really see many changes yet, but I feel healthier, and I've lost a few pounds. I'm hopefully going to stick with it. It's pretty much part of my routine now, so it's gotten easier to make myself actually work out. By the time I find employment, I'll be smokin'.
I'll leave you with the recipe for No-Bake Cookies... probably the easiest cookie to make ever.
No-Bake Cookies
Ingredients
2 Tbsp. baking cocoa
1 C. sugar
1/4 C. butter or margarine
1/4 C. milk
1/4 C. peanut butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 C. quick oats
Method
In a saucepan, boil cocoa, sugar, butter, and milk for a couple of minutes. Add vanilla and peanut butter, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and quickly stir in the oats.
Drop by spoonfuls onto a wax paper-covered cookie sheet. Refrigerate until firm.
**For a little crunch, use chunky p.b.**
Seriously, it takes about 5 minutes from the time you start till they hit the fridge. Give 'em half an hour to harden, and you're golden. Everyone loves No-Bake Cookies!
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