Whoa, that was a lot of "C”s in the title today!
Happy Tuesday everyone! This week is a slow week on my running schedule, I guess so I don’t burn out! I have 4 miles today, 3 miles Thursday, and then 4 miles on Sunday.
Since I was up a little late last night after meeting my brother, sister-in-law and their friend, Paul, at a bar to watch the Bears game (and let’s be honest… to finish the book Mocking Jay from the Hunger Games series), I started out a little late on my run. And boy did that hour really let the weather heat up! It was pretty warm out there, not that I’m complaining!
This is my: geez I didn’t realize it would be so warm, clearly I should have worn a quick-dry tank top face…
But I survived and had a good run! I had some trouble breathing – it felt like there was a lot of pressure on my chest. But I still managed to pull out 4 miles in 34:40 for a 8:40 min/mile pace! It was also great because my knees didn’t hurt me, even after the run! That’s what strength training certain muscles and rolling out will do for you! Now I’ve just got to keep it up this time…
So remember when I got my crack-pot from my friend Maddie for my birthday (in 3 weeks…)? Well I finally got to use it! I saw a new gastroenternologist last week and now I have a few food restrictions for the next week or so. We are trying to see if certain foods are upsetting my stomach, so I basically have to cut out everything for 5 days… (NOT a happy camper) and then add foods in one by one to see if they bother my stomach.
One thing that I can make is chicken! I came across Julie’s Pulled Chicken recipe on Peanut Butter Fingers and got excited that I found a crock pot recipe that I could actually make!
It was also super easy – all I had to do was cut the fat off of the chicken breast and put it in the crock pot, then add enough chicken broth to cover the chicken. I cooked it on low for about 6 hours and ta-da! It came right apart!
I’ll be using the chicken in my meals this week as a protein, since I can’t have any beans! Ugh, a life without beans!?!?! Beans, potatoes, bananas and apples are probably the most upsetting food items that I can’t eat…
On Sunday, my brother and sister-in-law’s friend, Paul, ran the Chicago Marathon! Congrats Paul!!!
To celebrate his completing the marathon, and just for fun, I decided to try making some Cake-batter cookies! I got the recipe idea from Julie at Peanut Butter Fingers. She suggests making cookies from boxed cake-mix, but changing the amounts of water, butter and eggs added, so that they come out like cookies rather than a cake!
I went to the store and literally stood there for about 10 minutes trying to pick a cake mix to use. I had thought about using funfetti, but I thought I should try and get a little more creative. I thought about choosing a more interesting flavor, like Carrot Cake, Banana or Ginger, but I was afraid Paul would be more of a classic fan. The debate was then between chocolate or some kind of white cake…
Finally, I grabbed Butter Golden in hopes that it would be similar to chocolate chip cookies and ran out of that store before I could change my mind again!
I also got some chocolate chips at Trader Joe’s to mix in! I considered M&M’s as well, but these were more budget-friendly. And M&M’s are dangerous in my apartment…
Making the cookies was super simple! I used Julie’s ratios from her recipe (although mine called for butter instead of oil) and mixed them in with the cake mix, then added 3/4 cup chocolate chips.
Cake Batter Cookies
Ingredients
1 box cake mix
1 egg
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup butter (I used Earth Balance)
3/4 cup chocolate chips
Directions
Mix ingredients together in a bowl. Spoon batter into cookie shapes onto a greased/sprayed with Pam pan. Bake for 12 minutes in 350 degree oven. Makes approximately 18 large cookies.
They turned out great! Everyone loved them! Haha I think Paul ate about 4 just while I was at their apartment hanging out! They were really easy to make and I highly recommend trying them out. Especially since there are so many flavor options! Haha I might have to try a new one, I actually was thinking about Strawberry.
What cake mix flavor would you use, and what mix in would you choose?