Quickie Weekend

Posted on February 24, 2014 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Ew, it’s Monday again. Gross.

Per usual, the weekend FLEW by. No bueno.

Friday night was low-key: ran a few errands after work, ate pizza that Tyler made, and caught up on recorded episodes of The Following.

Saturday, I got up early to get ready/paint my nails prior to hitting up the afternoon session of WINEFEST! More deets to follow…

Sunday consisted of a hangover, a trip to Costco, napping, watching the entire Ke$ha reality series on Mtv, and walking the dogs.

I had doubled up on workouts all last week, so I gave myself the weekend to recover. Plus, I tweaked my right shoulder, so I let it rest. ‘Doubled up’ meaning, I would do cardio or circuits during my lunch break, then hot yoga at night.

Since that’s a pretty basic weekend, the only mondo thing to share is the recipe for the single serving microwave chocolate chip cookie I’ve been making lately to satisfy my sweet tooth!

What you’ll need:

1 T butter, melted
1 T sugar
1 T brown sugar
1 egg yolk (I sometimes used 1 T applesauce instead)
splash vanilla
pinch salt
3 T flour
2 T choc chips

Here’s what you do:

Melt the butter in a small bowl. Add both sugars, egg, vanilla, and salt. Stir until combined. Add flour, stir. Add choc chips, stir and ‘flatten’ dough in bowl so that it can heat evenly.
Microwave for 40 seconds. Then microwave for additional 10 second increments (I usually only do this once, but I guess it depends on the super powers of your microwave). I generally remove from the microwave when it looks just a touch undercooked, as it continues to cook in the bowl after you remove it from the microwave. Allow a couple minutes to cool, EAT.

Oh crap, I just realized I already posted the recipe here.

Apricot Date Chai Muffins

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

YOU GUYS. THESE MUFFINS.

So, yeahhhhh I decided to wing it in the kitchen last night and whip up a batch of muffins that were somewhat healthy so I could bring them to work for a snack. With it being close to the end of the week, there was practically nothing left in the pantry, so I made do with what I could find. The result? Something actually good!

Heck yes.

Lemme introduce my little batch of Apricot Date Chai Muffins.

Thank you, thank you very much.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 c unbleached flour
1 c whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 c sugar
1 c almond milk + 1 tbsp white vinegar (or you can use buttermilk)
1 egg white
3 Tbsp coconut oil (melted)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 c. dried apricots
1 c. medjool dates
1 tsp chai spice

Here’s what you do:

Preheat oven to 350. Spray or line muffin tin.
Combine flours, baking powder, salt, sugar and chai spice in a large bowl, set aside.
Combine the milk/vinegar, egg, coconut oil, and vanilla. Pour into the dry mixture.
Throw the fruit into a processor (or dice) to desired size. [See photo above- just a few pulses in the processor!] Fold in dried fruit.
Divide batter into muffin cups, bake for 20 min +/- (hard to give a definite time, as I am baking at a higher altitude!)
EAT ALL THE MUFFINS.
MAKE MORE MUFFINS.

Nom nom, little muffin, nom nom.

(Would still totally work without the chai spice, but DANG it gives it that extra little flavor kick that makes a party in your mouth!)

The Great Debate

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

I’m sitting here wrestling with which to share first:

The WORKOUT or the RECIPE????

Honestly, this is a huge problem because I don’t want whichever I choose to write about first to feel more important or better than the other. They’re both pretty good and left me weak in the knees..

So to play a fair game of eenie-meenie-miney-mo, I will go for the muffin recipe first (please, please don’t scroll down and skip the recipe, it’s pretty fantastic).

Pumpkin Muffins with Nutella Yum Yum (made that name up on the spot!)

2 c unbleached white flour
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 c pumpkin puree
3/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c honey
1 egg
2 T unsweetened applesauce
2 T unsweetened almond milk
2 t vanilla
NUTELLA

Preheat over to 350. Spray muffin pan (as you can see, I got a little spray happy)
Mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl.
Mix all the wet ingredient (minus Nutella) in another bowl
Add the dry mix to the wet mix.
Fill cups 3/4 full and top each with about 1 teaspoon of nutella. Use a tootpick or knife to ‘swirl’ the nutella over the top of the batter.
Bake for 13-14 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Ah, I can’t handle how good these are. I made them last night and managed to not even sneak the tiniest taste until I had one for a snack at work. I might’ve moaned at my desk. I blamed it on the computer?? No, I took the credit for all ‘mmms’ and ‘ahhhs’.

Ok, ok, so the workout. Last night I did that upper body pyramid, so tonight I decided to focus on lower body. I actually incorporated some new and haven’t-used-in-a-while exercises!

Each move (except the farmer’s walk) consisted of completing 20 reps, 5 pulsing reps, 10 reps, and 5 pulsing reps. For the moves that are ‘L’ and “R’ sides, complete the 20-5-10-5 on one side, then do the same on the other side.

To further explanation/demonstration of the moves, here are some helpful links:

It’s all about balance.

IN THE COMMENTS:

Got any new-to-you moves you want to share?

Go-to baking recipes?

Raspberry Chocolate Chip Muffins (grain free!)

Posted on September 25, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Hello, earthlings.

Just wanted to pop in right quick and leave you with a SWEET recipe I tested out last night…and LOVED.

Almond Flour Raspberry Chocolate Chip Muffins (grain free!)

Here’s what you need:

2 c almond flour
2 eggs
1/4 c unsweetened apple sauce
1/4 c agave
1 T vanilla
1 t vinegar
1/2 t baking soda
pinch salt
1 c raspberries
2/3 c chocolate chips

Here’s what you do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pan with liners (don’t just use non-stick spray on the pan…these suckers WILL stick.
Mix all the ingredients except the raspberries and chocolate chips together in a bowl until well combined. Then gently fold in the raspberries and chocolate chips.
Throw in the oven for 20 minutes, turning the pan halfway through.

*Note: These muffins will appear to be undone…let them sit in the pan for 20 minutes after you take them out of the oven and allow them time on the counter to ‘set.’ I left mine out overnight and they were PERFECT the next morning. Also keep in mind that because these have different ingredients than your average run-of-the-mill muffin, the consistency will be different…but in a good way!

OMG yum.

Whole Wheat Zucchini Blueberry Muffins

Posted on August 27, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Hi friends. Tonight’s post is going to be a quick one. Unless inspiration suddenly hits and I get chatty. But I don’t think I have time to be chatty. What with this whole new schedule and all, I feel like a chicken with its head cut off just trying to accomplish all my daily tasks on top of being at work most of the day. How do people live like this?!!!

I mean…Sure, I’ve done the whole work thing before, but I had that piled on with grad school, teaching group ex classes, and traveling to and from NY every weekend. Not sure how I managed all that, but I certainly thought it would be easier just having ‘work’ on my list.

But, life changes (thank God, or else I’d still have braces and glasses and let girls kick me) and now I’ve gotta think about meals and two dogs and a husband and a whole friggin house to clean.

So where was I? Yeah, the short post.

Yesterday, I mentioned in my day of eats that my late afternoon snack consisted of whole wheat zucchini blueberry muffins. Just wanted to drop in and share the recipe with you because they are so good I get giddy when I eat them.

I only have the one picture of them while they were cooling in the pan, because when I each them at work:

I can’t use my phone
I eat them too fast to even care about taking a picture

After the muffins fully cooled, I put them in ziploc bags in groups of two. Most were for me, some were for Tyler, and none were for the dogs, although we found that Reggie somehow got onto the counter (they were sitting on the counter pushed ALL THE WAY back) and ate one of the bags. His poop was green. You’re welcome for the extra information.

Whole Wheat Zucchini Blueberry Muffins

2 1/4 c whole wheat flour
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c sugar
3/4 t baking powder
3/4 t baking soda
3/4 t salt
1 1/2 t cinnamon
2 eggs + 1 egg white
1/2 c applesauce
1/2 c vegetable oil
1 zucchini, shredded
1 cup blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a muffin pan.

2. Combine all ingredients in a bowl except zucchini. Stir until fully incorporated.

3. Fold in the shredded zucchini.

4. Fill muffin tin and bake for about 25 minutes (or until springy to touch, allowing them to sit in pan for a few minutes after removed from the oven will let them cook slightly more)

5. EAT