Adventures in baking/cooking

Fresh Rolls

So easy to make and makes a delicious snack or even meal!

I purchased rice paper (which is easy to come by, you can even find it at No frills) and vermicelli for the rolls.

I filled them with (imitation) crab, thinly sliced red pepper, and romaine lettuce.

The rice paper comes dry, so you have to moisten it with a wet tea towel for one minute before you place the filler ingredients in. Then they are very easy to roll up.

To go with these rolls, I made my own peanut sauce with: peanut butter, fish oil, sesame oil, honey, chili sauce (the spicy one),and soy sauce.

Homemade cinnamon pancakes

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp flour

2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1 tbsp peanut oil

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

pour and flip and enjoy... Mmmm

Apple Cinnamon Oat Muffins 

(these are mini muffins!)
1 cup WW flour
1/4 cup AP flour

1 Cup Quick Oatmeal (I used large flakes and ground them in the blender)

1/4 Cup White sugar

1/4 Cup Brown Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1 Tablespoon Baking powder

1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

2  Apples, diced small

1 Cup Milk

1/4 Cup Peanut Oil 

2 Eggs

Preheat oven to 400F/200C.

Combine all of the dry ingredients, whisking well.  Whisk in apples. 

Combine wet ingredients, add to dry.  Stir until combined, do not overstir.

Grease or line mini or normal sized muffin tin & Bake 15 to 20 minutes.

This weekend will bring more cooking/baking goodness!

Katherine's October 2012 Fitness Successes

Over the last couple months, Aleksy and I have been hitting the gym and participating in physical activity very regularly. We have made it a regular part of our routine to workout and eat healthy during the week (and sometimes on weekends, but those are our cheater days for the most part where we can have drinks and junk food!). To assist with motivation, I have recorded my fitness for the month of October:

October 1 zumba 40 minutes
                3 km run
                gym: 30 min run treadmill, 10 min elliptical, weights 15 min
October 2 45 min run treadmill
October 4 gym: 12 min elliptical, 35 min run treadmill
                 1 hr yoga
October 6 gym: 15 min elliptical, 30 min run treadmill, 10 min bike, squats, weights: 15 min
October 7 gym: 20 min elliptical, 35 min treadmill
October 9 1 hr run (around neighbourhood)
October 10 gym: 45 min run treadmill, 15 min elliptical, 20 min abs &weights
                   1 hr yoga
October 11 gym: 30 min run treadmill, 15 min elliptical
October 12 gym: 30 min run treadmill, 15 min elliptical, 20 min legs & arms
October 14 gym: 30 min elliptical, 20 min treadmill
                  1 hr volleyball
October 15 gym: 45 min run treadmill, 15 min bike
                  1 hr vball
October 16 gym: 15 min elliptical, 10 min bike, 30 min treadmill, 10 min abs
October 17 gym: 10 min elliptical, 35 min treadmill
October 18 1 hr yoga
October 19 gym: 15 min elliptical, 15 min run treadmill, 30 min step class
October 21 gym: 15 min elliptical, 30 min run treadmill, 10 min leg work
                   1 hr volleyball
October 22 gym: 50 min run treadmill, 10 min bike, 15 min abs
                   1 hr volleyball
October 23 1 hr volleyball skills clinic
October 24 gym: 30 min treadmill
October 25 gym: 15 min elliptical,  30 min run treadmill
                   1 hr yoga
October 28 1 hr volleyball
October 29 zumba 40 min
                  gym: 1 hr treadmill, 20 min abs/legs
                  1 hr volleyball
October 30 1 hr volleyball skills clinic
                   1 hr 20/20/20 class (step/legs/abs/arms)
October 31 Body sculpt class 45 min

My hopes are to keep this up for the month of November because this lifestyles gives me more energy, and leaves me feeling great (and I've reached my weight goal of 125 lbs).

Out with the old & in with the new! With all of the working out, I thought I'd reward myself with a new pair of Asics! They are way comfier than my old Nike's that I bought while vacationing in Florida in 2008... it was time for a new pair! The old Nike's began to wear down at the toes and I have been left with a black nail on my toe... my Asics are very comfortable and easy to run in! 

Another Memorable Happy Birthday-Halloween

We celebrated Aleksy's 26th birthday plus Halloween on Saturday night the 27th. This is our annual halloween/birthday tradition! We had about 15 people over, all our closest friends to celebrate... everyone in costume of course! Aleksy and I had our costumes planned about 3 weeks before the party... because it really is cheaper to make costumes then buy the bagged ones so we make our own with individually purchased items from the thrift store. I took off work the Friday before so I could prepare for the party by grocery shopping, lots of sewing, and some food prep (i.e. sandwich wraps, jello shooters).

 Our costumes: curious george and the man with the yellow hat! I decided this year that with our "couples costume" that I get to be the "main character" this year since previous years, Aleksy was Batman (with Batman and Robin), and Scooby Doo (with Scooby doo and Daphne). These costumes took many hours of sewing the tail (which Aleksy did most of), ears, the tummy on my shirt, and Aleksys tie. We bought a black hat for Aleksy's costume and a bottle of yellow spray paint which still didn't fully make the hat yellow!

 For Aleksys birthday cake, we had a friend make the cake. In September, we were at an engagement party for our friends and we saw her amazing work on that day that she did for the engagement party. She did an amazing job on Aleksy's cake: this is our new house all haunted up... There are graves on the left where the middle one is my grave and my little hand is popping out. On the right, that is Aleksy hiding under the leaves. The trees are made of grapevines, but otherwise everything was edible! In real life our subdivision will not have trees or fallen leaves :( One of the sacrifices of new subdivisions...

The cake was chocolate and cream cheese on the top and chocolate and peanut butter on the bottom... super tasty!

Here's a group shot with some of our friends around the beginning of the evenings endeavors. We have the basketball team and their cheerleader (with jello shooters!), a pirate, curious Gearge and the bakers.... our friends who announced their pregnancy at the party! Steph is having a baby in April!! Also present at the party were a policeman, some zombies, salt & pepper, a devil, and some bunnies (aka some people who decided not to show up in costume but we made them find one!)

By request, I made chili for Aleksys birthday. To go with the chili, I figured i'd stick with the tex-mex theme and we had chili, 7 layer dip (with refried beans, taco seasoning, cream cheese, sour cream, salsa, lettuce, tomato and cheese), pinwheels (with cream cheese, ranch dressing package, celery, black olives, red peppers), a veggie tray, spicy hummus and corn chips. And for dessert, we had an awesome cake, and our bakers brought cinnamon buns... Mmmm food