Chocolate Cherry Almond Meal Cookies Filed under ( Dessert, Family, group fitness, Restaurant Review )

Please excuse my absence! Josh’s parents have been in town since Saturday and we have been busy spending good quality time with them. How has your week been treating you? Mine has been very nice- a little bit of work, a lotta bit of play and the usual teaching. I also was able to bake up a new to me treat this week. I saw Pam post about these Chocolate Cherry Cookies and knew I must try making them (since Josh’s Mom had just brought me my first bag of Almond Meal from Trader Joe’s):

 

I assembled my ingredients and got to work:

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup almond meal
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup dried cherries
• 2/3 cup flour
• 2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
• 1 large egg white
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Desired quantity chocolate chips

Directions:

• Pre-Heat oven to 350 degrees.
• Place everything in a bowl and mix well (it will look like there is not enough moisture at first).
• Using a cookie scoop, scoop mix out onto a cookie sheet. Bake for ~16 minutes (if larger cookies) until bottom is slightly brown.
• Enjoy!

 

I have a tendency to go overboard with chocolate chips….

 

Last night, we enjoyed our last meal out with Josh’s parents. We went to one of our favorite Italian spots in Charleston, Mercato.  Josh’s parents:

Me & the Man:

 

And we hit up Fresh Berry afterwards :). I got Vanilla with double cherries and kiwi, fantastic:

And since I missed Workout Wednesday:

• Monday: Taught Body Pump & Step
• Tuesday:  Taught Body Attack
• Wednesday:  Off
• Thursday:  Run outside
• Friday:  Teach Body Pump
• Saturday:  10K road race
• Sunday:  Off

Have you baked up anything new lately? Please share links :) Have a good rest of the work week.

Vegan Creamy Butternut Squash Soup Filed under ( Healthy, Restaurant Review, Soup, Vegan, Vegetables, vegetarian )

TGIF for sure! Work was a little crazy this week and I am READY for the weekend. How about you? One thing that did make my week a little better? I met my friend Mandi for a working breakfast at my favorite place (Charleston’s Cafe!!) on Thursday. We both enjoyed their fantastic parfaits. I got the blueberry & banana (I know, I’m such a creature of habit):

And Mandi got the apple & craisin parfait:

If you’re ever in the Charleston area and need a brunch friend…I’m always available ;)

The second thing that made my week better? A vegan creamy butternut squash soup! I saw Krista make this soup this week and knew I must have it! Luckily, I had a small butternut squash in the fridge just screaming to be used up. I made a few minor, minor adjustments to her recipe, so feel free to prepare it as below or use Krista’s original version:

Vegan (or not) Creamy Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• ¼ cup onion, chopped finely
• 1 clove garlic, chopped finely
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• 1/8 tsp ground red pepper (optional, I like a little heat with my sweets)
• 14 oz cooked butternut squash ( cut in half, remove seeds, bake at 400 until VERY soft~1.5 hours) or you can use a 15-oz can of butternut squash puree

Before:

After:

 

Just the “meat”:

• 1.5 cups vegetable broth
• ½ cup milk, cream or half and half (I used original almond breeze)

  Directions:

• Heat olive oil in a medium size pot. Add onion & garlic and cook until onion is translucent.
• Add spices, butternut squash and broth. Bring to a boil.
• Lower heat to medium low, add milk and let simmer 10-15 minutes.
• Puree with immersion or regular blender.
• Serves 2

 

Fantastic! Thank you Krista! If you don’t read Krista’s blog, you should totally check it out. She is the ultimate super mama!

Weekend plans?? I’m teaching (Step Friday AM, Step & Pump launch Saturday) and Josh’s parents are coming to visit! I cannot wait!!

If you haven’t done so yet, enter my cookie giveaway!!!

Peanut Butter (Flour) Chocolate Chip Cookies Filed under ( Dessert, peanut butter, Restaurant Review, Vegan )

First things first- Happy Birthday Cookie(Josh’s Mom)!!!! Hope you are having a spectacular day.

How was your weekend? Hopefully the weather was just as beautiful where you are as it was here.  My weekend involved tasty eats, time with friends, Josh & Frank, great workouts and lots of house/yard work. A few pictures from the weekend. Veggie Quesadilla from Poe’s:

This morning, Lindsay and I walked the bridge and then had brunch at my favorite place:

 

Lindsay came with treats!! She knows how much Josh loves key lime pie, so she snagged him a pack of this key lime pie gum:  

She also shared some of her Artisana samples with me (thank you thank you!):

 

When I got home, I got to work on a new recipe, peanut butter flour chocolate chip cookies. I used the trader joe’s flour to create these beauties. This was my second attempt and they turned out really well (unlike my first batch ;)).

 

Vegan (or not) Peanut Butter Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Ingredients:

Dry Ingredients:

• 1 cup peanut flour
• ½ cup all purpose flour
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp baking soda

Wet Ingredients:

• ¼ cup sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil or earth balance (1 stick) (or regular butter)
• 2 tablespoons flax mixed with 6 tablespoons water (or 2 eggs)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Chocolate chips (vegan, carob or milk)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Mix wet ingredients in one bowl and dry in another.
• Combine wet & dry ingredients and add chocolate chips
• 
• Drop by rounded tablespoon onto a cookie sheet
• Bake for 10-12 minutes
• Let cookies cool for 1 minute on baking sheet then remove to cooling rack. Makes ~ 2 dozen cookies

 

The rest of my afternoon will be spent doing some work, changing up my group fitness choreography & watching football with Josh & this sleepy guy:

Favorite part of the weekend? I really enjoyed my walk this morning with Lindsay :) Who needs a therapist when you have fabulous friends?

Charleston Restaurant Week: Coast Filed under ( Restaurant Review )

How has your weekend been so far? Ours has been pretty good. Friday afternoon, I went for a run (while Mandi watched the peanut- thank you Mandi!!). Friday night, we had a date night in. I made vegetarian cream of cauliflower soup and we caught up on our DVR.

Saturday, I went for a nice morning run (while my wonderful Aunt watched the peanut- thank you Lori!!). The rest of the day was spent baking (more on this in another post), cleaning up around the house, and watching college football. We headed to Mellow mushroom to watch the Penn State/Alabama game. The peanut came and wore the awesome bib that Mandi got her:

Josh and our friends ordered some drinks and food and I had one of their awesome pretzels:

Then we returned home to watch more football with this guy:

Saturday night, we headed to Coast for Restaurant Week with Mandi & Bryan.

Coast is hidden away and is absolutely adorable inside.

Josh went for the restaurant week menu and got calamari:

and the surf & turf:

I got a chicken salad:

and ordered hush puppies with jalapeno honey butter for the table to share:

Josh’s meal also came with lime pie (with fantastic graham cracker crust):

We all chipped in on the pie:

 

Overall, the food was good but not SPECTACULAR. Mandi & Bryan:

Josh, Me & Kaylin:

Today, I am running some errands and then we’re having friends over for FOOTBALLLLLL! What are you up to?

Baseball and Cuban Style Pineapple, Rice & Beans Filed under ( Beans, Healthy, Mexican, Restaurant Review, Turkey, Vegan, vegetarian )

You have to love the shortened work week that follows a three day weekend! My week has been off to a great start (and I hope yours has as well!). Monday started with a six miler outside:

Followed by lots of errands and housework. The day ended with dinner at Taco Boy and a Charleston River Dogs baseball game with Lindsay & Patrick. Taco boy is a funky restaurant with two locations, one in Charleston and one in Folly. We hit up the Charleston location. Check out the cool decor inside:

We shared some chips and salsa (their chips were great- not greasy at all!) and I got the taco salad for dinner. My taco salad was missing a few of the ingredients mentioned on the menu and came with one tiny sliver of avocado. I was a little disappointed. On the flip side, the roasted corn in the salad was delicious:

 

After dinner, we headed out to the baseball game. The weather was perfect and the stadium is beautiful:

  Josh & I:

Me, Lindsay & Patrick (hahaha)

The game was ….slow? I have no idea who even won! We left in the 9th and the score was still 0,0.

 

Today was back to the grind! After the usual work, I did a bit of cleaning and taught Body Attack.

For dinner, I made up Cuban Style Pineapple Rice & Beans (with Turkey for Josh):

Ingredients:

• 1/2 or 1 full 15 oz can Cuban style black beans (or you can use regular black beans and add in some additional spices (cumin & chili powder), onion & garlic)

 

• 8 oz can pineapple (either tidbits or chunks), drained or fresh cut pineapple
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 1 jalapeno, chopped
• 1/2 lb turkey (if using)
• 2 cups cooked brown rice (I used Success)
• 1 tablespoon oil (utilize 1/2 tablespoon if cooking beans only)

Directions:

• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add turkey and cook through (until no longer pink)
• Lower heat to medium and add black beans, pineapple, salsa and jalapenos. Heat through (~5 minutes)
• Place cooked mixture on top of brown rice
• Enjoy!

Easy dinner! And can be made for vegetarians and meat eaters alike! You can also play around and add some more veggies (peppers and onions would be fantastic!). Serves 2 or 3.

  

Also, on a side note, look at this adorable apron Lindsay gave me for my birthday (love it- thank you girl!):

 

What is your week looking like? Anything exciting to look forward to?

Practice Run, Froyo, Mellow Mushroom Filed under ( Dessert, Restaurant Review, running )

How is your long weekend going so far? Mine has been lovely! Josh and I went into Charleston yesterday and walked around. We made a stop at Fresh Berry for my "birthday cake"- delicious froyo and fruit:


Amazing! When we got home, we took the Frankster for a walk (lots of walking yesterday!!) and then headed out to dinner with a friend. We went to Mellow Mushroom and Josh was thrilled to see that they had added prosciutto to their menu!!


Josh and our friend ordered the garlic Parmesan pretzels to start. I nabbed a piece- they are as good as they look:

I got a salad (I was still pretty full from our froyo ;)) of romaine, green peppers, onions, cucumber, tomato, avocado and a side of herb vinaigrette.

Josh got a pizza with artichokes and prosciutto:

We came home and I hit the hay early. I woke up at 6:45 ready to do my practice run for a bridge race I am hoping to run in October. Here is the view as I drove to the starting line:

I was nervous to run the bridge as I've been training mostly on flat ground. However, I completed the 10k run and was happy with my stats:

And was a nice sweaty mess after:

Today I am hoping to go to the beach and maybe pick up some new running sneakers! What is your favorite sneaker brand/model?

Goal Check-in for the Weekend:

Spend at least 8 hours outside - 5 hours down already!!

Smile more - :)

Complete a test run for an upcoming race I am hoping to complete- Done!

Eat Fresh Berry - Done!

Spend lots of time with Josh and Frank - Have been doing lots of this and am hoping for even more!

How are you doing with your weekend goals??