French Toast Breakfast Tree on Christmas Eve

It’s Christmas Eve! Hooray!
French Toast Breakfast Tree:

Peanut Butter Trunk, Pumpkin Egg White French Toast Tree… (pumpkin, egg whites, splash of milk, splash vanilla extract, dash of cinnamon)
decorated with blueberry bells, cherry balls, flaxseeds and pineapple topper.

Body:
Short Run with Jack (20 minutes around the neighborhood hills). It was such a warm christmas eve! I think the high was 68*. It is so weird to have grown up in freezing weather and snow, literally snow from October-April ….and to now have winter temps of 68* and higher!. I had lunch plans that didn’t work out, so when that happened, I realized I could get the “real” cardio I had been hoping for at the Gym. I was hoping to get in that red face, dripping sweat cardio because I know I will be resting christmas day, driving and above all, would rather enjoy opening presents and family time than be out on an hour long run! So, my cardio turned into an amazing 4.5 mile run/sprint… I ran for two minutes straight at 9.0 (a 6:40 min. mile) and the rest at 8.0 ( about a 7 minute mile). Phew.. so my total running mileage today was 6.5 miles!

Mind:
Tired, need to wrap gifts! 4 hours of sleep last night is just not going to cut it!

Soul:
Its Christmas eve!! dinner at Momma Mo’s tonight is Tur-Duck-en. Family time tonight, tomorrow and all weekend. oh and presents are certainly wonderful ( both to give and to get )

Santa is on his way kiddos… I am going to be checking in but probably not posting much until at least tomorrow or friday!
Merry Christmas to All if I don’t see you , hear from you, or comment with you!

Chocolate Bourbon Truffles

I found the recipe from Recipe Zaar (online search). Figured I would try it out since both Jeff and I enjoy chocolate and bourbon of course.

Ingredients

· 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened fat free condensed milk

· 2 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips ( i used a mix of milk chocolate and mostly semisweet)

· 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

· 2 tablespoons bourbon +

· 1/2 to 3/4 cup finely chopped pecans ( I used sliced almonds b/c that is what I have)

· For rolling after : granulated sugar, unsweetened cocoa, or very finely chopped pecans ( as you can see above, I rolled some in cocoa, some in powdered sugar, and some plain).

Directions

1. Combine chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in a saucepan over low heat. Heat, stirring, until melted and smooth; remove from heat.

2. Stir in the vanilla, bourbon, and 1/2 cup almonds ( or pecans and more if you prefer). Transfer to a small bowl. Cover and chill for 3 to 4 hours, or until mixture is firm.
   
   

3. Working with fingertips, shape ( I used my palm to roll them) into 1-inch balls; roll in finely any of the following chopped pecans, sugar, or unsweetened cocoa. Place on a tray or baking sheet, cover loosely, and chill for at least 1 hour. If desired, put each truffle in a decorative fluted paper or foil cup and keep in tightly covered container in the refrigerator until giving or serving. Keep these refrigerated, tightly covered
   

   Tips:

1. After you refrigerate for the 4 hours, Prep all the toppings you want to roll in.
2. Prep what you will be putting them in as well
3. Make sure you have nothing you need to do with your hands… move things, answer phones etc.
4. Use a knife to scrape down the sides of the bowl to loosen up the “ganache dough”
5. I say all these tips because once you touch this stuff, its mess -city on your hands… I couldn’t take a photo because my hands were covered in chocolate- It was easy to keep shaping and rolling but I didn’t want to keep washing my hands to do something then come back to it.

Monday Lunch and Dinner Update!

Lunch:

Leftover Pasta and Tomato Sauce with Chicken

and Salad.

Accomplishments: ( in an attempt to make me feel more positive about getting a rude response to a job.. )

• I finally heard back from the organization I was interested in Volunteering with, turns out they would like me to help with marketing and potentially here on my blog and elsewhere in the community in addition to teaching nutrition classes!! WOOHOO-I have to read through some materials they sent but I am excited!
• Started My Pre-Packing List (I found this Day of The Week notepad at a craft store recently. I have used it for foods/meals we have that week- but it works well for this too!)

• Gym- Run 5 miles… toes are now hurting… I am icing as I type
• Took out the materials I needed and started to make one of “jeff’s” gifts- I have made him something each year and I knew exactly what I wanted to put together… I will take a pic for after xmas!
• Wrapped a few presents
• Made Chocolate Bourbon Truffles ( post to follow)
• Made Toffee Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies ( post to follow)
• Cleaned out the Fridge ( blech!!! but phew! and YAHH! at the same time.. it was gross and now its not nearly as gross.)
• Laundry
• Talk with Mom about lots of stuff
• Bank Errands
• Dancing with The Stars Latin Cardio Dance DVD! (Veggie Girl is this the same one you have? … I didn’t realize until now there is more than one!)

Review of DWS, Latin Cardio:
I liked it! It wasn’t a great cardio workout for me- I need to run a good 5-10 miles for that. So for beginners that are looking for a good cardio dance, I would suggest it. I really enjoyed it! I did the warm up and then all 4 of the dances and then most of the toning workout. I broke a light sweat and was actually confused a couple of times . The mutitasker in me was also baking cookies at the same time, so I had to pause, run in the kitchen, then run back and unpause and start again! I am looking forward to doing it again so that I can get some of my “dance moves” back! Get my “mojo” flowing again if you will. I haven’t danced since college and I could tell I was way more rigid and fumbly than I used to be!

Dinner:

Leftover Chicken Salad Sandwich ( 2 Halves) and Organic Spicy Bean Sprouts with leftover Tomato Sauce…