Wrong Test

Hello!!!! So glad everyone liked the microwave pizzert recipe!!!! Hope you all had a fabulous weekend!!!!!!!

Mine was a little stressful, actually.....I still have my algebra and chemistry challenge exams left. I was going to try to take the Algebra one over the weekend, and when my mom printed it out, I had 57 pages of a test, half of which I had never seen in my life. I was worried that maybe I had just forgotten a lot, but apparently, this test was based off of last year's Algebra II book, and we just changed books this year. So I spent my weekend taking a test that was written according to the wrong book!! UGH!

Other than that, we had fun! Some friends came over on Saturday, and we went to the acai place. I didn't get any, but I did get some fresh cherry juice! So, so good!!!! It really didn't need any sugar at all, because they used the actual fruit to make the juice right after I ordered it! I'll definitely be getting that again! :D There were a bunch of different juices that I wanted to try: pineapple, watermelon, pineapple/cherry, and even some green juices!!!!!! If you could choose any fruit juice to try, what would it be? I'd have to say that cherry is my favorite so far, but I'd looove to try some watermelon juice out too!!! :D

Aaand, because today is Monday, my sister and I baked!!!! We basically used my Lemon Cream Scone recipe, but took out the zest and added 1/3 C cocoa powder to make chocolate cream scones!!! Then, we topped them with a strawberry glaze!!!! Yum! :D

Well, I had better get studying!!!!! See ya'll later!

How was your weekend?

 

The Lazy-Girl Pizzert

Heey! I know I don't usually post on weekends , but this recipe was practically begging to be shared! :D

Yesterday, I saw Kat's recipe for Brownie Banana Split Pizzert babies, which was based off of Katie's Pizzert recipe. Anyway, I was suddenly struck with an intense craving for a chocolaty, decadent but healthy treat and a pizzert came to mind. However, I was home alone and didn't exactly feel like busting out the baking pan just for me........what was a lazy girl to do? How about microwave it? I thought I'd give it a go, and now I'm glad I did!!! And the best part.....its gluten free!! Whoo! hahaha  Here's my recipe:

Lazy Girl Chocolate Pizzert

Ingredients:

1/4 cup oat flour (I actually ground up my chocolate oats, but plain oat flour will definitely work, you just might need to add some more cocoa powder!)

Cocoa powder (I used about 1 tsp, but once again, I had chocolate oats, so you might need more)

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 c liquid

1 T mashed banana (you can sub applesauce, or for a richer pizzert some sort of oil)

Dash of salt

Sweetener (I used 2-3 t sugar, but I don't like things to be too sweet, I prefer a richer chocolate flavor, so feel free to add more if you want to)

Instructions:

Combine all of your dry ingredients in a medium sized microwaveable bowl. Add your liquid and banana. Stir until everything is combined. Microwave in 15-30 second intervals until your pizzert is cooked. It should be firm in the middle, but still soft and cake-like. Mine took about 1 minute to cook. Top with whatever you want and enjoy!

[caption id="attachment_567" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Pizzert!!!!"][/caption]

And yes, the dent in the middle of the pizzert is due to my taste testing........I got really excited about my snack before I remembered to take a picture of it. :P I ended up topping mine just with some more sliced banana.....I was starting to get hungry! It was delicious!!!! I'm pretty sure that any pizzert would work in the microwave........check out Katie's list of pizzert flavor ideas here! Which flavor would you want to try?

Hope everyone has an awesome weekend!!!!

The Lazy-Girl Pizzert

Heey! I know I don't usually post on weekends , but this recipe was practically begging to be shared! :D

Yesterday, I saw Kat's recipe for Brownie Banana Split Pizzert babies, which was based off of Katie's Pizzert recipe. Anyway, I was suddenly struck with an intense craving for a chocolaty, decadent but healthy treat and a pizzert came to mind. However, I was home alone and didn't exactly feel like busting out the baking pan just for me........what was a lazy girl to do? How about microwave it? I thought I'd give it a go, and now I'm glad I did!!! And the best part.....its gluten free!! Whoo! hahaha  Here's my recipe:

Lazy Girl Chocolate Pizzert

Ingredients:

1/4 cup oat flour (I actually ground up my chocolate oats, but plain oat flour will definitely work, you just might need to add some more cocoa powder!)

Cocoa powder (I used about 1 tsp, but once again, I had chocolate oats, so you might need more)

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 c liquid

1 T mashed banana (you can sub applesauce, or for a richer pizzert some sort of oil)

Dash of salt

Sweetener (I used 2-3 t sugar, but I don't like things to be too sweet, I prefer a richer chocolate flavor, so feel free to add more if you want to)

Instructions:

Combine all of your dry ingredients in a medium sized microwaveable bowl. Add your liquid and banana. Stir until everything is combined. Microwave in 15-30 second intervals until your pizzert is cooked. It should be firm in the middle, but still soft and cake-like. Mine took about 1 minute to cook. Top with whatever you want and enjoy!

Pizzert!!!!

And yes, the dent in the middle of the pizzert is due to my taste testing........I got really excited about my snack before I remembered to take a picture of it. :P I ended up topping mine just with some more sliced banana.....I was starting to get hungry! It was delicious!!!! I'm pretty sure that any pizzert would work in the microwave........check out Katie's list of pizzert flavor ideas here! Which flavor would you want to try?

Hope everyone has an awesome weekend!!!!

Box it Out

Heey folks! How has your week been? I've been super busy with tests and whatnot, but thankfully I'm almost done with all of that!!! Then, its SUMMER and I'll officially be finished with my sophomore year of high school! Yay! :D

Yesterday, I took a brand new class at the gym! Tuesdays and Thursdays they offer a boxing class, so I decided to try it out! Its actually a technique class, not nonstop like a workout video, but I really enjoyed it. I started out with some easier combos than the rest of the class, and the instructor took the time to tell me what I needed to work on and what I was doing correctly. I'll definitely be going back! :D

Anyway, so far this week I've taken 4 100 question final exams.....ugh! Can't wait for the weekend and some relaxation! What are your weekend plans?

Oh guess what? Dad fixed our coffeepot!!!!! No more boiling our own water every morning! hahaha

Sorry about the super-short post.....I'm still in the midst of studying.....I promise I'll have a more complete post up very soon, though!

In the meantime, I just want to share with ya'll one of my favorite quick rainy day snacks! Its sort of like apple pie filling, or as my sister says "its like eating apple cider". Here's what I do:

1. Slice an apple however you prefer. I tend to like my apple sliced really thin, but my mom and sister like thicker apple slices. Place your slices on a plate.

2. Drizzle about a teaspoon (more or less) of honey over the apple slices.

3. Sprinkle cinnamon and brown sugar (optional but really delicious!) on your apple slices.

4. Microwave for 30-45 seconds, depending on how soft you want your apples to be! Enjoy!

See, its quick and easy, and tastes really good! :D

Well, I had better go....hope you all have a wonderful day!

I'm Really Boring.

Hey!!!!! How is everyone? What have you been up to this week? Can you believe that it is Wednesday? The week is halfway over! And I still have TONS of exams......yuck.

Yesterday, I took my first challenge exam. I opted for the Webpage design test, thinking that it would be easy. Well, I was sure wrong! Most of my grade will actually come from building my own website, which took about 3 hours to do. I had initially planned on taking two exams yesterday, but that one took up my entire afternoon! Fun stuff.

It has recently struck me how incredibly boring I am. I take tests, mope around the house, bake occasionally, and go to the gym. That's pretty much it. And then I share it all with you guys, and throw in some random musings and stories for good measure.....:P

Speaking of stories, I happen to have a cute one. I'm a klutz and fall down....a lot. Every day, I go to the bread store to buy bread, cheese, lunchmeat, etc. There is this sweet, poor man in a wheelchair who sits outside the bread store every afternoon and chats with customers. He knows pretty much everyone, and everyone likes him. So anyway, he has noticed that I tend to trip a lot. Now, whenever I'm leaving the store, he says: "See you tomorrow! Be careful and don't fall down on your way home!". He also tells me if there is a lot of traffic on a particular day, so that I know to pay even more attention to my surroundings. Always watchin' out for me! hahahaha

Here's someone (or something) else who is always watchin out:



The only difference is that he's watching out for himself, not me. :D

Hope you all have a wonderful day!!!!

(Hopefully) The Last Week!

Hey!!!!! So I completely fell off the face of the planet this weekend.......I was relaxing with my family before another test-packed school week. If everything goes as planned, I should be done with everything by Friday! Yay!!! So, anyway, this weekend, we hung out and watched a few movies. Wall Street (the newer one), The Young Victoria (really, good), and another one whose name I cannot remember! hahaha How was your weekend?

I was originally going to take a chemistry test on saturday, but my mom decided to let me off the hook for the weekend! :D So now, I'm studying 18 weeks worth of chem work. Fun stuff. If anyone out there is a chem whiz and would like to take my test for me, you are welcome to do so....just kidding...maybe. :P

My sister and I have made a habit of baking a little somethin' somethin' on Monday mornings! Last week we made some yummy lemon cream scones, and this week, we tried our hands at homemade pop-tarts!! We made wild berry and strawberry flavored pastries!!!!! So good and it was fun to bake something together!!!! Here's our recipe:

Pop-Tarts

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 T sugar

1/2 c butter

2 T milk

1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Mix dry ingredients in  a medium sized bowl. Cut in butter. Add milk and vanilla, and knead dough until it all sticks together. At first it'll look really crumbly, but it will work and if you add any more liquid, the dough will be too sticky (personal experience speaking here...hehehe). Roll out dough and cut into 14-16 rectangles. Spread half of your rectangles with your filling of choice and use the other half to cover them. Then, place on a baking sheet and bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Top with a simple sugar glaze and sprinkles!!!!!

These were so fun and easy to make!!!! Everyone loved them!! I'm definitely going to try "healthifying" this one so that we can make them ALL the time!!! hahahaha

Well, I really should study some.....see ya'll tomorrow!!

GF Day

Hey!!!!!!

Hope you all are having a nice weekend so far!! I sure am! My mom, sister and I hung out last night, and this morning we're just chillin' some more! :D

Nutrition

Glad ya'll liked the homemade body scrub/hair rinse!!!!! Do you make any of your own beauty products????

So, as you all know, yesterday was my meeting with a nutritionist at my gym to talk about what I can do to reach my goals.

I ended up having a really awesome chat! Basically, the nutritionist knew that I want to gain weight, and also that I have major trouble doing so. So, he looked at a typical day of eats for me, and gave me some really good ideas. I don't know if ya'll remember, but a while ago I had mentioned going vegetarian. Well, here we don't always have access to good veg products (or gf either, which is why I still don't eat completely gluten free), and as it turns out, I'm anemic, so for now, the nutritionist recommended that I eat meat at least twice a week. I pretty much already do that......I mean, meat is not something I usually crave, but if its there, I'll eat a little. Oh, he also said that I definitely get enough veggies, because my hands are tinged orange! hahahaha I think it actually caught him a little bit off guard. Also, I need to increase the amount of fat I have in my diet, which should be easy considering the fact that my momma just opened a jar of pb....:P hahaha

All in all, I had a good meeting, and left with a little checklist of things that I'm supposed to do throughout the day to improve my nutrition and to help me gain weight!!!!!!

Yesterday, I also took my second spinning class!!!! I loooove it!!!!!!! Its hard, but definitely in a good way, and I've loved having the opportunity to switch it up with my cardio!!! What are some of your favorite classes at the gym?

Well, that's about it for today......see ya'll tomorrow!!!

Homemade Stuff

Hey! Today's post is gonna be sort of short because I've got a lot to cram in to the morning before I head over to the gym for my meeting with the nutritionist!

A quick recap of yesterday:

I took another final (4 to go!), and did pretty well on it!!!!!! Then, I went to the gym, had a strength training workout, came home, and did some more studying. Oh and I had a yogurt bowl that I absolutely loved for a snack! It had about 1/2 cup of plain yogurt, cinnamon, about half a caramalized banana and honey!!!!! Refreshing and tasty after a sweaty workout! :D

I also made some homemade body scrub and did a hair rinse last night!!!!! They are both pretty basic and not very fancy, but they do the trick and I have soft hair and skin now! :P Plus, its all natural for those who are looking for more natural beauty products!

Here's what I did:

Body scrub:

I mixed 5 T rock salt with 1 T oil. After I had coated all of the salt in oil, I squeezed about half a lemon into the mix. You need to add the oil first otherwise the lemon will dissolve the salt. I then used this like a typical body scrub and it worked wonders! :D

Hair rinse:

Not really a recipe here; I just heated up about 1 1/2 cups of water in the microwave until it was pretty hot but not boiling, and then added about 1 - 1 1/2 T of vinegar to the water. Then, after I shampooed, I poured the warm vinegar/water solution into my hair and let it sit for about 5 minutes, while I used the scrub. Then, I rinsed it out, and because I don't usually enjoy smelling like vinegar, I used a little bit of conditioner in my hair! This really works well!!! :D

Hope ya'll don't mind the random sharing of my body scrub/hair rinse. hahahaha

I'll tell ya'll how the meeting with the nutritionist went tomorrow!!!!!

See ya then!r

Nutella is Good.

Heeey!!!  What's up??

I have one final down and 5 to go! I basically took the easiest one yesterday because I figured that I should get it out of the way so that I wouldn't worry about it while studying for my other, more difficult tests. It was nice to be able to check something off of the list so early in the week, though!!!! Now, all I have to do is take the other 5 finals, and then order 6 challenge exams and take them! Then, I'll officially be done with my sophomore year of high school!!!!!!!

Now, you all know by now that I love me a good circuit style workout, so when I found this one a couple of weeks ago on Jessica's site, I couldn't wait to try it out. Wow!!!! It was pretty stinkin' tough!!!!!! Which means I get to bake some of her recipes and its ok if I eat an entire batch!!! :D Seriously though, if you're looking for a good strength/cardio combo workout, check this one out!!!

So, by now you're probably wondering about the title of this post, especially since I haven't even mentioned Nutella yet. While we were in the States, a couple of our friends lived in our apartment, and apparently  one of them bought some Nutella. I have absolutely no idea why it took me so long to try it out, given my love of both chocolate and nut butters, but last night I finally did and LOVED it!!! Now I know there are probably a TON of chemicals and sugar in this stuff, but it was AMAZING!!!! Don't worry Dark Chocolate Dreams  or even just plain ol' peanut butter, I haven't forgotten you and your place in my heart has not been taken. I'm sure there is room enough for everyone!!! hahaha

new love. :D

What is your favorite "flavored" nut butter????? Don't make me choose between nutella or dark chocolate dreams, because I can't!!!! I'd also love to try Mighty Maple someday soon!!!!! :D

Well, I had better get to studyin'......

See ya'll later!

So Many Tests!

Heey!!!! So, I disappeared over the weekend.....mostly because I slept in and was too lazy to turn on the computer....:P We didn't do too much though, I think I only left the apartment twice...hahahaha! My sister and I hung out at home on Saturday and yesterday, the whole family was here. Not a lot of activity, but definitely relaxing. Which is a good thing, considering the fact that the next 2-3 weeks will be packed with tests for me. This week, I have finals, and then after that, I'll take "challenge exams" which will basically prove that I actually took the course, and will give me the credit on my high school diploma. The thing about challenge exams is that they are pass/fail, so no do-overs!!!!! Sorta stressful...hahaha! How was your weekend????

As you all know, I recently joined a gym. One part of their program is to provide a personal trainer for each member. Over a period of 45 days, this trainer will design an initial workout program and a nutrition program for the new member. After that period, you still work with your trainer, its just not quite as intense. The past two weeks have been devoted to designing my workout program, and this week I have my first meeting devoted to nutrition. I've been asked to keep a food diary, and on Wednesday, my trainer, a nutritionist and I will talk about what I need to change in order to gain some weight. I'm sort of nervous but also pretty excited about this! I've been doing a lot better emotionally, but its just been really hard to put on any weight.

On a lighter note, we still haven't fixed our coffee pot, but this has not stopped us from making coffee every day!!! hahahahaha Dad has been looking for a tube or something that he says will fix it, but hasn't had any luck so far.....oh well! :D

This morning, I made Emily's microwave baked oats for one!!!! So, so good!!! You should definitely try this out!! In my microwave, the whole cooking process took about a minute, and then I had a bowl of yummy baked oats for me brekkie!!! Quick, filling, and nutritious! Gotta love it!!!! :D

That's about it for today.....I'll see ya'll later!!!

Questions:

What's your favorite way to study for a lot of tests????

What did you do over the weekend??

Have you ever met with a nutritionist? What was it like????

What I Learned Yesterday

Hey!!!! Hope ya'll are all having a good week!!!!!!

Guess what? Our coffee pot reservoir sprung a leak, so we can't exactly make coffee the traditional way. Well, coffee pots are expensive here, so this is what we're doing:

Step 1. Boil water



Step 2. Pour boiling water into filter w/coffee:



And there ya have it! What to do when your coffee machine is broken but you still want some coffee!! :D

Yesterday, I went to my first ever spin class and LOVED it!!!! Made me think of this blogger and this one, too! I will say this though, it was TOUGH! hahaha I'll definitely be taking more spin classes in the future.

Yesterday was also a day of lessons (some goofy, some not-so-goofy), so I thought that I'd share some of them with you(mostly goofy hahaha, you know me!! :D).

Lesson #1

Ignore the creepy old man at the gym who tells you to lift more weight. You're already lifting twice the amount that he is, and plus, he's like 70 years old.

Lesson #2

Don't be afraid to try out new recipes. Sometimes, you'll have flops, but others will turn out really well (homemade pasta and cashew butter!)!!!!

Lesson #3

Push yourself, but don't overdo it. Most likely you will have the opportunity to redo whatever it is, and you don't want to burn out completely.

Lesson #4

Eat chocolate. It helps with virtually anything. I promise. :D

So, there ya go! I hope I haven't scared anyone away.....hahahaha! I am who I am, I suppose, and apparently I like to make random lists!

I really can't believe that its already Thursday!!! After Friday, I'll only have one more week of school until I'm DONE! This entire year is just flying by!!!

I guess I had better get goin'......I do actually have school to do! :P

See ya later!

More ADD Workouts

Hey! So glad ya'll liked the monkey cake recipe!!!!!!! We did too apparently, because yesterday there were 12 slices and today there are 2! hahaha You just can't go wrong with brown sugar+cinnamon!!!! :D

So, if you remember, last week I shared my all-over-the-place cardio workout. Well, it seems that I like to mix it up with my strength workouts as well! Ya'll know that I love a good circuit workout, and I've recently found a new one that's AWESOME! Its a good total body workout that keeps my ADD brain happy!

Total Body Circuit

Set 1

• 25 squats


• 15 pushups


• 50 jumping jacks

Repeat 3 times

Set 2

• 12 burpees


• 12 alt. lunges each side


• 20 lying led lifts

Repeat 3 times

Set 3

• 2 minute run


• 1 minute plank

Repeat 3 times

And there ya have it! This takes me anywhere from 20 to 25 minutes. Usually I warm up for about 5 minutes on the elliptical or treadmill, so in the end, I have a 30 minute strength workout that keeps me from getting bored!!! Do you have any go-to workouts? 

The funniest thing happened to me the other day as I was coming home from the gym. See, our apartment building has two sets of gates that can only be opened by key or if someone in the building buzzes you in. I got the outside gate to open with the key, but for some reason, the inside gate would not open. And the doorman was out for lunch, so he couldn't let me in. Which means that I couldn't actually get to the apartment. I was looking at this:

See that little thing that looks like two light switches? The top ones open this gate, and the bottom opens the outside gate. Just beyond that, are the stairs and the elevator. Wanna know how I got in? I used a broom and hit the top switch with the handle. Oh yeah. I broke in to my own building. I actually tried to get an action pic of me opening the door, but I didn't set the camera in the right position, so all I got was a pic of the wall. Niiiice. Anyway, by the time I actually got in the apartment, I was laughing that this sort of thing only ever happens to me! :D

Well, I had better get started on my actual school work.........hope you have an awesome day!

Almost There!!!!

Hey!!!! Hope you all had a great weekend! I did! Yesterday, my sister and I made mom a single serving cupcake for Mother's Day!!!! Since we made it at breakfast time, we went with a plain cupcake, with brown sugar and cinnamon sprinkled both in the middle and on top! Like monkey bread, but in cake-y form. Mom liked it so much, and it smelled so good, that I had to make a normal-sized cake with the same flavors! Here's the recipe I used:

Monkey Cake (original recipe found here)

Ingredients:

• Topping:


• 1/2 cup brown sugar


• 1/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour (sift before measuring)


• 1/4 cup butter, room temperature


• 1 tablespoon cinnamon


• .


• Cake:


• 1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour (sift before measuring)


• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 1 egg, beaten


• 3/4 cup sugar


• 1/3 cup melted butter


• 1/2 cup milk


• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation:

Topping. In small mixing bowl, combine topping ingredients. Blend with fork until crumbly. Set aside.

Sift 1 1/2 cups sifted flour with baking powder and salt into a bowl. In a medium bowl, beat together beaten egg and 3/4 cup sugar and 1/3 cup melted butter. Add milk and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture and mix well.

Pour batter into a greased and floured 8-inch square or 9-inch layer-cake pan. I poured in half of the batter, sprinkled it with some brown sugar and cinnamon (maybe 2-3 T each?), poured in the other half and sprinkled the topping crumb mixture evenly over the cake. Bake at 375° for 25 to 30 minutes, or until cake tests done. Partially cool in pan on wire rack. Cut coffee cake into squares while still warm.

This was so, so yummy!!!!!!!! I can't wait to "healthify" it, so that we can enjoy it more often!!!

I absolutely loved having the opportunity to go to the gym last week and therefore I just had to take some sweaty post-workout pics in the bathroom! hahaha



If you didn't already think that I was weird, I bet you do now. :D

So, I cannot believe that I've only got this week and one more left of school!!!! I'll officially be done with my sophomore year!!! whoo!

However, in order to finish my class, I actually have to study some, so I had better get goin'!

How did you celebrate Mother's Day?

Ouch!

Hey!!!!!!How has your week been? Mine has been super busy....what with school and actually getting out and going to the gym and all, I feel like I've definitely been more productive and out of the house lately!!! :D

Yesterday was my second day going to the gym. Each new member is assigned a personal trainer, who designs a workout plan based on their goals and ability. So, my trainer decided that I should do strength training (major muscle groups) three days a week, and cardio (with some minor muscle group strength training) twice. Let me just say that I am SORE! Extremely. And hungry, too.

Because I'm ADD and can't for the life of me stay on one exercise machine for  longer than 20 minutes, I found this really fun 40-minute cardio workout to do yesterday that had me jumping from the stationary bike to the elliptical and finishing up on the treadmill! I lightened the intensity a little so that I wouldn't burn too many calories, but I still got a good workout in without boring myself to death!!! Of course, I just had to toss together a playlist to keep me goin' during my workout. Apparently I'm ADD in my musical tastes as well, because I had everything from the Little Mermaid to some Christian rock songs to Hey Soul Sister! hahaha Here's what my playlist looked like:



Eclectic, huh? hahaha

For Cinco de Mayo, we had some burritos and cheesy tortilla soup!!!! So, so good! :D Here's my soup recipe, which I got off the internet, but can't find again:

Cheesy Tortilla Soup
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 medium onion, minced
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 (14.5-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (28-ounce) can low-sodium chicken broth
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water, divided
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles
4 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese (about 1 cup)

Bring about 1 inch of water to a boil in a skillet large enough to hold the chicken in a single layer. Add chicken, reduce heat to a simmer and cook until chicken is done, about 15 minutes. Drain chicken; cut into 1/2-inch cubes.

In a medium stockpot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; saute until soft.

Stir in chili powder, oregano, tomatoes and their liquid, chicken broth and 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons water.

Stir together cornstarch and remaining 1/4 cup water; stir into stockpot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, until broth is slightly thickened.

Stir in chiles, cheese, cilantro and cooked chicken. Stir until cheese melts, then let simmer for 10 minutes.
This was sooo yummy!!! We didn't have any cooked chicken, and since my mom was already browning beef, I omitted the chicken breast. It was really tasty!!! I also fried up some tortilla strips to top the soup with, and they were a hit!!!!! What did ya'll do for Cinco de Mayo?

Well, I have to go study now....hope you all have a wonderful day!

Joining a Gym

Heey everyone!!! How has your week been?? Mine has been pretty busy, and the weather has been yucky! Rainy season has officially begun, and I can't wait until August when its sunny again!

So, as you can probably tell from the title of this post, I joined a gym! I actually joined last night, and am going in today for a physical-type thing. Here's a link to the gym's site (which is in portuguese, but you can still sort of get an idea of what its like): http://www.hiacademia.com.br/tamarineira.htm.

They have this really cool program where every member of the gym works with a personal trainer to meet specific goals. The trainer will design some of my workouts, as well as give me some nutritional advice. This was one of the main reasons that I joined this particular gym, because I am trying to gain weight, and I believe that having a professional accompany me will keep me from going down the wrong path. Anyway, I can walk there from our apartment, and I absolutely love all of the classes that they offer!!!!! :D

As for the weight gain, I have finally hit 100lb again!! So excited! I attribute most of this gain to the fact that I consumed almost an entire jar of peanut butter( the normal sized one) in a week!!! hahahaha What can I say? I needed some healthy fats, apparently! I still have 15 lb to go, but just hitting 1oo has given me a bit of a confidence boost!!!! My family is an amazing support system, and you guys are, too!!!! :D

So, tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, and we're planning on a Mexican fiesta....Brazilian style! hahaha Mom and I were talking about it this morning, and we're thinking maybe burritos (since they're pretty customizable), and chicken tortilla soup! Remember, a couple of months ago, when I raved about McAlister's Cheesy Chicken Tortilla soup?? Well, I found a copycat recipe online a while ago, and have wanted to try it out ever since!!!! If its any good, I'll definitely be posting the recipe!!!!

Also, about my gluten free/reduced gluten experiments, I have to say that I'm feeling so much better!!! I still haven't been able to find any reasonable gf flours here, so I do eat some bread, but less, and I can tell that there's a difference!!! Is there any way that I could make my own gf flours?? Like rice flour or something? That sort of thing is soooo expensive and hard to find here.....I feel that if I could make my own it would be a very good thing!!!

Well, I had better get going....

See ya later!!!

Monday Baking Time

Heeey everyone!!! Hope you all had an amazing, relaxing weekend!!!! We didn't do too much....yesterday we went to a new church close by and then stopped by the acai place because it was within walking distance! :D

So, I don't know if ya'll have noticed, but I tend to do most of my baking on Mondays. I guess its because Monday is the one day when we don't have fresh bread (the bakery is closed on Sunday, and typically, my family will eat some bread w/ butter and jelly for breakfast), and also because my mom cooks a lot over the weekend, and tries to make special breakfasts for us. So, I bake on Monday mornings!!! Another thing you might have noticed: I'm slightly obsessed with scones. My recipe page really only has the one banana scone recipe, but I've made it several times. Today, I thought I'd switch it up and try out some new scones, and boy am I glad I did! Here's the recipe for ya:

Lemon Cream Scones

 Ingredients:

• 
  

  2 cups flour

  
  


• 
  

  ¼ cup sugar

  
  


• 
  

  2 teaspoons baking powder

  
  


• 
  

  2 teaspoons lemon zest

  
  


• 
  

  1/3 teaspoon salt

  
  


• 
  

  ½ cup butter

  
  


• 
  

  2/3 cup heavy cream

  
  


• 
  

  2/3 teaspoon vanilla extract

  
  

Directions:

1. 
   

   Preheat oven to 375^oF.

   
   


2. 
   

   Combine all dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.

   
   


3. 
   

   Cut butter into mixture.

   
   


4. 
   

   Stir in cream and vanilla. Mix just until dough comes together.

   
   


5. 
   

   Roll dough to 1 inch thick, fold in half, repeat. Roll out a third time to ¾ – 1 inch thick, cut into 8 pieces.

   
   


6. 
   

   Place on pan and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

   
   

Not really even remotely healthy, but so, so tasty!!! I topped them with a simple sugar glaze!

I realize that I tend to share a lot of breakfast-y baked recipes, so I'll definitely try to post some typical brazilian-style recipes, and just some actual meals that we eat! :D What is your favorite kind of recipe to share?

As for my workouts, I've really not tried a new one in the longest time.....I'm loving bootcamp-style workouts and kickboxing! Today, I'll be calling a couple of nearby gyms to see if I can join one!!!!

Well, I guess that's about it for today....hope you all have an amazing Monday!