Fitness Friday ~ #5

Another week another mile! 

I still don't have much to share on the issue except that I'm starting some sort of routine on the weekends of going the extra mile (hur, hur.... that's a bad pun...) on the weekends with my exercise.

I found last weekend that doing an earlier in the day workout (I think it was some time around 2pm), I had more energy and stayed on for about 45 minutes. This resulted in doing a whole 5km and I was pretty pleased with myself so I've decided that weekends are going to be an extra push for me!

Wish me luck!!

Wish Wednesday ~ #5

Happy Hump Day!!

If you're like me, you're super excited you've made it over the hump this wee... only 2 more days and it's time for another baking crazy weekend!!!

Before I show off some pretties that I found this week, I have a confession to make.

I baked tonight.

Those lucky coworkers!!

I try to limit myself to only baking on the weekend (between the commute to work, exercising and trying to catch at least 7 hours at night, it's all I can do to keep from wearing myself out!), but I just couldn't resist!! 

This week my mum bought me some pans! Doughnut and mini doughnut pans! I accidentally (or maybe less than accidentally) mentioned to my coworkers that I was excited to try out the pans... I heard nothing but doughnut-related-commentary all day!

Now I don't think they expected me to bake them... but I think they'll be pleasantly surprised tomorrow!!

Tune back in this weekend for the recipes I tried out! For now... #wishwednesday!!!

An airplane for a house? Can you get any cooler??

I LOVE all things pallet!!! Especially since we get at LEAST one every day at work!!

I LOVE camping!! I NEED to make one of these before the summer!!

A reading palace!!! If I had this as a kid I would have died happy!

Although this reading nook (and the others at the link) are pretty good too!!

Can you tell that I am dying to live somewhere other than a tiny bedroom?

See you next time!!
Cheers, xoxox!
-Shelly

links: Airplane House - AviationHumor, Pallet Coffee Table - Esprit Cabane, Camp Kitchen - The Fancy, Book Igloo - freshome, Reading Nook - Penelope's Oasis.

Sunday Baking!!

All good things must come to an end... and the same goes for my weekend of constant baking. 

Today was (I'm going to guess) the warmest day of the week. We're expecting to hit a high of -4!! Super toasty!

Sticking with my theme of all things sugary, I did two more recipes that would make your dentist grin!

But on the sadder side... I'm only sharing one recipe because the other didn't work out! I made Mars Bar Slices (something one of my flatmates in England loved!), which turned out perfectly and the other was espresso macaroons... and they didn't turn out so well. But that's kinda my own fault. The shells taste good, but I missed a couple steps and they weren't perfect... so hopefully you'll see them next weekend!!

So try out these SUPER easy (and obviously healthy) bars!

Mars Bar Slices made with leftover Christmas Rice Crispies!

Mars Bar Slices
Makes: One 9x13 pan

Ingredients:
3 regular sized Mars Bars, chopped small
90g Butter
3cups Rice Crispies (don't cheap out, go for Kellogs!!)
200g your favourite chocolate (I'd recommend semisweet, but if you want dark, white or milk... go for it!!)
30g Butter

• Add the Rice Crispies to a mixing bowl.
• Grease a 9x13 pan.
• In a sauce pan melt the first amount with the Mars Bars. They do have to come to a boil and it will look like you've messed up and the works is a messy separated puddle... don't worry! keep stirring and wait for it to come to a boil. 
• Pour Mars Bars over Rice Crispies and mix well.
• Pour into the 9x13 pan and press firmly down (it will be a very thing bar... and that's a good thing!!).
• In a microwave safe bowl, melt (in the microwave!) the chocolate with the second amount of butter.
• Pour and spread over the packed Rice Crispies in the pan.
• Refrigerate for about an hour or until set.
• Cut and try your hardest to not eat all of them!!

And there you have it! Turns out those were actually pretty easy to make! They're really yummy and not overly sweet!

Hope you have a good week! Say hi to my little baking buddy here:

My little baking buddy got tired!!

 See you next week!
Cheers!
-Shelly

Weekend Baking Saturday Edition

Happy Saturday! I hope you have some great plans for the weekend, I sure do!

You can't make this up... it's COLD!!

So what's the weather like where you are? Because I've got to tell you... it's been a little chilly here! Seems like the only thing you can do when the weather's like this... is BAKE!!!

I have so much baking planned for this weekend that I get to do multiple posts with multiple recipes, and I'm really excited so let's get started with what I've done today...

First I whipped up a pretty easy (and let's be honest... ugly!) batch of brownies.

I will share a recipe with you... but I didn't really use one! What I really wanted to do was make something s'more-like... I had the graham crackers, the marshmallows and brownie mix. Let's just say, it was a no-brainier. 

They might not look pretty but they taste SO GOOD!!

S'more Brownies
Makes: One 9x13 pan

Ingredients:
2 bags Ghirardelli brownie mix (or your favourite brownie mix)
2 Eggs
2/3cup Oil (I used canola)
2/3cup Water
12 Graham Crackers, roughly crushed
12 large Marshmallows,each  cut in half

Directions:

• Prepare your brownie mix according to the package (or your recipe) directions. Mine calls for the eggs, oil and water, but go ahead and follow your instructions!
• Gently mix in the graham crackers and marshmallows so everything is covered.
• Pour into a greased 9x13 pan.
• Bake at according to your brownie mix directions (mine called for 325F for ~50 minutes, but I had to add a bit before it was done).

Eating this warm is probably the best thing in the world!!

For my next recipe, I FINALLY made crème brûlée!! I've been meaning to do this for a long time. When I was at  school (for Baking and Pastry) we made crème caramel which is basically the exact same thing only crème caramel has a layer of caramel on the bottom that when you invert the desert onto a plate it streams over the custard. Crème brûlée, the custard is served in the ramekin it's baked in and sprinkled with sugar that is caramelized (and burnt!) on top.

But why stop at crème brûlée? I made mine VERY vanilla by incorporating a whole vanilla pod as well as an entire white chocolate bar!

Sorry for the bad phone picture... I was so excited to eat it!!

White Chocolate Crème Brûlée
Makes: 6 ramekins

Ingresients:
5 Egg Yolks
1/3cup Sugar (plus 6tsp)
pinch Salt
2cup Whipping Cream 
100g White Chocolate, finely chopped
1 Vanilla Pod 

Directions:

• In a mixing bowl combine yolks, 1/3cup sugar and salt.
• Pour whipping cream into a sauce pan.
• Slice the vanilla pod down the middle and put add to whipping cream and heat until it just reaches a simmer.
• Remove the pod and scrape the seeds into the cream. 
• Add chocolate and stir until incorporated. 
• Strain into ramekins and place the ramekins into a baking pan.
• Fill pan to the middle of the ramekins with hot water.
• Bake at 150C (302F) for about 30 minutes (or until set).
• Remove from oven and carefully remove the ramekins onto a towel. Cool and refrigerate until ready to be served (at this point I'd like to point out that we prefer a warm dessert so as long as you don't mind a runny custard, you can skip the chilling step!)
•  Sprinkle tops with a teaspoon of sugar each and by using either a torch or broiler, caramelize the sugar.

Enjoy!!

So go ahead and make these yummys to keep you warm, let me know how they worked out and come back tomorrow to see what else I'm up to while using the oven to warm up the house!

Cheers!!!xoxo,
-Shelly

Fit Friday ~ #4

Happy Friday!!!

Are you as excited as I am for it to be Friday? Fun fact: For some crazy reason, I thought it was Friday... on TUESDAY this week! So needless to say this has been a very long week for me and I have REALLY been looking forward to the weekend!

I guess the only thing I can report on this Friday is that I'm still doing the elliptical thing regularly and keeping an eye on what kinds of food I eat, as well as the portion sized.

myfitnesspal's logo!

I told you about myfitnesspal, the app I've been using to track my food and exercise. It sounds a little obsessive, checking in with everything you eat and when you work out... but I'm finding it REALLY beneficial! I would totally recommend it to anyone! It's a real eye opener to let you know if you're over eating, or even under eating! The app will actually give you a little talking to if you don't eat the recommended amount of calories for your specific height, weight, sex, age and activity level.

So please, wander on over to the app store (or the website!) and check out the program... and feel free to add me as a friend! There are a lot of supportive people on there that you can lean on and learn from!

On that note... stay tuned for some "healthy" baking this weekend!

Cheers!!! xoxo!
-Shelly