Category Archives: Cooking & Baking

2013 Resolutions and Tips

Posted on by

2

new-years-jan-todo-comic-295x300

I believe that there are two types of people in this world: those who make New Year’s resolutions, and those who know better.  The idea of making a year-long goal is both challenging and nerve-wracking to me because there’s such potential for failure; my glass isn’t half empty, it’s just A LOT of liquid  filling a 365 day size cup!

1175869

I like to think that my life is pretty good, but there’s always room for improvement, right?

calvin-and-hobbes-new-years-300x227

If one takes the time to think out their resolutions, they can be quite effective.

Three Pieces of New Year’s Resolution Making Advice

1.  Make sure that your resolutions are important to you.  If you decide to make a change to your life in the new year, make sure it’s based on your own goals, and not what’s popular or trendy.  It’s a year-long commitment, so make sure if you make a resolution to pick up running, it’s because you want to and not because it’s what the rest of the crowd is doing.

32619857

My Resolution: Plan out my meals the week before to make life easier for Dan and I, both at the dinner table and the grocery store.

2.  Be as specific as possible, and if possible, make it something that is measurable.

32096775

My Resolution:  Increase my running mileage by at least one mile per week in 2013.

3.  Don’t go overboard.  There’s no reason in making your resolutions so large that you’ll never be able to complete them.  I would never make a resolution that I would cook 6/7 nights per week; talk about setting yourself up for disappointment!  It’s good to stretch to make yourself a better person, but no need to pull a hammy!

My-new-years-resolution

My Resolution: Replace 30 minutes of TV Time with Book Time per night.

 

Easy Apple Cake

Posted on by

5

Look what I conquered on Sunday!Apples

 

No, it’s not a new beach-side,trail that we found to rock climb on.  It’s the mixture to the most amazing sweet treat that’s not over the top!

 

It’s amazing to me what you can do with a crock pot.  I swear that had I known how easy it was to throw a few ingredients together and hit a button, I would have been able to feed my husband a lot more home cooked meals and not lived in the Subway line for so long.  Anyways, yesterday while Dan was golfing and before I got to spend a lovely phone conversation with my sister, Jamie, I decided to look up a recipe in my trusty Crock Pot Cookbook to use up some Granny Smith Apples.

Fix it and Forget It

 

This recipe was super duper easy, even more so than last week when I made Country Apples.

Ingredients:

  • 1 C. flour
  • 3/4 C. sugar
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 3 large apples, chopped – I used 4 medium Granny Smiths
  • 2 eggs, beaten – 1/3 C. eggbeaters
  • 2 tsp. vanilla

Steps:

  1. Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
  2. After cutting up the apples, add them into the dry ingredients mixture ensuring that the apples are evenly coated.
  3. Apple MixtureCombine the eggs and vanilla together and then drizzle over the apple mixture.  Mix well.
  1. Apple Cake BatterFlop it all in a crockpot and cook for 2:30-3:00 hours on high.

Apple Cake

 

Castaway Island Preserve and Last Day Off

Posted on by

0

The glorious list of reasons to love living in Florida just continues to provide for us.  In the county that we work and live in, the Thanksgiving break has been six days long.

Wednesday through Monday = NO WORK & ALL PLAY MAKES FANCY OATMEAL A COZY GIRL!

I love you, Jacksonville!

 

While giving away praise, I might as well dish out a little more to the Jaxxy side of the Sunshine State because I’ve just discovered on their official site a list of all the hiking trails and nature preserves in the county.  As much as I’d love to continue hiking at the UNF Nature Trails, it’s still on a college campus and we all know how much they like to wring out as much money in the form of pay-to-park lots.  $3.00 a day is not quite in the budget for a 3 mile nature walk.  On the weekends it’s free, but if I wanna walk after work and take advantage of being in 60+ degree temps in November, UNF ain’t gonna cut it!

 

COJ.net to the rescue!  Dan found us a great little nature preserve to test drive this morning.

 

 

Map of Castaway Island Preserve

 

 

 

Absolutely gorgeous!  The trail is about a mile long, so Dan and I walked it about three times.

 

 

The cutest part was that just as we were getting ready to leave, we came upon a family who were getting their professional photos taken for their holiday cards.  Well I’ve got that covered minus the expense of a photographer!

 

 

On a side note, the Country Apples that I made yesterday turned out amazing!

It was like eating an apple pie crumble!  If you’ve got the time and the apples, get in your kitchen NOW and make it!