I was a baking fool today! I just love that kid of mine. I cleaned the entire house from top to bottom and spent 1.5 hours in the kitchen and Harper was a doll.  I really don’t cook much, this is all very new to me. I want to learn how to cook and today I actually made 2 things that turned out right!  Seven Layer Bars and Chocolate Chai Snickerdoodles. 

I saw the recipe for the Chai cookies over at GeekBaker’s blog.   Tara and I go way back, we “met” on CalorieKing yearrsss ago when we both had a few lbs to lose.  That’s actually how I know Chelsea and Kath too, gotta love the internet.  Tara always has some great recipes, but this one sounded really interesting to me b/c I love Chai tea. 

Chocolate Chai Snickerdoodles

• 2 1/4 cups sugar
  
• 1 teaspoon each: ground cinnamon, ginger and cardamom

• 1/2 teaspoon each: ground allspice and white pepper (Like GeekBaker I did not have white pepper so I used a slightly lesser amount of black pepper.)

• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

• 1 cup softened unsalted butter

• 2 eggs

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 2 1/4 cups flour

• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1. Stir together the sugar with all the spices in a small bowl; remove 1/2 cup to a pie plate on the side for dredging the cookies. Add cocoa to small bowl with sugar/spice mixture and stir to blend.

2. Beat butter in an electric mixer bowl until fluffy. Add the spiced cocoa mixture and beat until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla, then add flour and baking powder at low speed until combined.

3. Form 1-tablespoonful sized balls. Roll them in the reserved sugar mixture and arrange 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees 12-15 minutes. Cool in the pan for a few minutes before transferring to a rack to cool.

Makes about 3 1/2 dozen.





Yum, these cookies are so good. They really do have a chai taste to them and they are not overly sweet.  Definitely something different and something I will make again. 

Next up I made 7 layer bars.  I just snapped a recipe off of Allrecipes.com.  Seriously could there be something worse for you?  These are gooey, ooey, fatty, yummy bars.  I had never used condensed milk before, sheesh, its like liquid sugar.  These are one of the hubbs favorite. 

Directions

I feel my waistline expanding just looking at these pictures. You better have some milk handy if you are planning to dig into 7 layer bars.  Excuse me while I go sleep of my sugar coma.

I got up bright and early on Sat to head out for a trail run with some friends. I woke up to freezing conditions so I decided to leave my dog Fonzie at home, much to his upset.  He just doesn’t have a very thick coat and I’m just not sure if its okay for him to be out in this weather for hours at a time. I think I will buy him a fleece coat, but wonder if that will just drive him crazy with the harness on too.  Anyone out there run with their dogs?  He does has long fur between his toes, so I think his pads will be okay, unless they get wet, then he’ll be miserable.  Anyway I planned on doing 10-11 miles and just thought it’d be too long out there for him. I wish I had taken him b/c I just ended up doing 5 miles.  Harper is really sick and we got started late, so I decided just to do 1 of the 2 planned loops b/c I figured hubby was at home pulling his hair out with a sick baby.  The problem with training for marathons for years on end is that when you do 5 miles, 5 hellacious hilly miles, you feel like you did nothing!  We are training for the Run for Regis 50K in Jan.  We are just doing the half marathon option. It is 2 loops, one a little over 8, one a little over 5.  It is horribly hilly and runs along the beautiful Buckeye Trail.  They only allow 250 runners, so we were lucky to get in.  They changed the course this year (I’ve run it previously, but not this course) so we have been heading down there to get acclimated.  I am looking forward to the race, but also looking forward to it being over. I have been focused on running races for so long, I’d like to focus more on yoga and swimming the rest of the winter, as opposed to mileage.  Here I am on the 30 min drive down, the photo is blurry, but that’s how I was feeling too as the sun isn’t even up!  Don’t worry I was at a stop sign. 


I had planned on finally trying this GU!  But since I cut the run short I didn’t get to. I did however eat the chomps before the run.  I liked the taste overall. They are smaller than shot blocks, so easier to chew, but the flavor isn’t as good as the Luna Moon chews in my opinion.

Since it was a trail run, I got to bring out my new kicks!  I won these last month at a local running store (Vertical Runner) ladies night and was totally geeked.  I run in stability shoes normally, so trail runs feel okay to me. I had some of these Cascadia’s before and I like them. But if you are not used to a rigid shoe, they could really give you some issues I think. I’m also wearing some Nike ACG socks, which are really warm and I like them a lot. I got them at Dick’s on sale once, they are a lot cheaper than smartwool, but just as warm.

Anyway I was all set and it was a really good run.  Some of the hills are insane. I got home to find out that Harper had slept the whole time I was gone!  So I wish I had just finished my run, but such is life when you are a mom!  I have a month until the race, so I have time to get in some good long runs, but every weekend from here on out needs to be double digits for sure.

I was originally going to make hubby a cake for his bday, but he decided he wanted cookies instead. So, I got out the tollhouse chocolate chip cookie recipe yesterday and went to work!  I was so proud of myself for making cookies from scratch.  Believe it or not this was the first time.  Well I knew something was wrong once they were in the oven. They were taking too long to cook and not turning brown.  When they were done, they tasted dry and cakey, really not good.  Long story short…I bought light Land O Lakes butter. Right there on the box it says – not recommend for baking. Sheesh. I felt pretty bad.  But once I remembered the awesome pork I made on Friday I got over it   Hubby didn’t want a cake b/c he wants to go get our favorite dessert today at Mitchell’s Fish Market – caramel banana bread pudding.  Can’t wait!  I tried to take some cute pics of us Friday night while watching a crappy movie (I love you beth cooper) but this is what he does (all the time!).  Sigh, maybe we’ll get some today.  Sorry its straight up my nose!  Happy Birthday Gary!  I’m sure he’ll love that I posted this.