Doing it Dukan - update #1

So I'm in the middle of my 7th week of the Dukan Diet, and I still feel great. My weight loss has passed the plateau I hit a couple of weeks ago, and I'm almost at my goal weight (yeah!!). Once I get there, I will have returned to the weight I was before I was pregnant with my daughter. Over SIX years ago. Woohoo! I'm excited!

I know a lot of people I talk to about this think I might be crazy for trying such a "limited/strict" diet (in their eyes, not mine, not anymore), so I wanted to show everyone what I eat in a typical work day. I pack a lunch everyday to avoid 1) spending money on overpriced food and 2) to have control of what goes in my food. During the work week my lunches consist of basically the same thing, but tweaked each day to not become to repetitive.

Here is what I brought in today.


For breakfast I have my Green smoothie (i can't say enough how much i love these. Over 3 cups of leafy greens per serving!!), and 20 minutes after that I have a coffee. I can't give up coffee, so i try and not have more than that one cup at work. I never put milk in my coffee anymore (unless it's a latte) and i only sweeten it with a packet of Krisda.

About an hour after that, I'll have my mid-morning snack of Greek yogurt. sometimes I sweeten it with with another pack of Krisda, but some days I don't. It depends on how I'm feeling. Today I'm having my required 2 tbsp of oat bran in my yogurt (I mix it in and it gives a good texture to the yogurt). this holds me over until lunch without fail. The combination of the oat bran with the protein in the yogurt keeps me full.

Today for lunch I'm having fish. Yeah! The Dukan diet has really enabled me to get back into my love of seafood, so fish is a staple for me. My freezer is full of fish. Mmmm... Today I'm having haddock - doesn't smell fishy (which is a plus since i eat/read at my desk during lunch) and it's high in protein, so again, i am satisfied. One of my staple condiments is dijon mustard, so i usually wait until the fish is almost cooked, and then I spread some of it on the fish itself and let it finish cooking in the pan.

Then as an afternoon snack I make myself eggs. Sometimes scrambled, sometimes an omelet. I usually use 2 eggs and then additional egg whites, but sometimes I use one egg and a lot of egg whites. Depends on what else I plan on eating. I always add something to the eggs, this morning it was green onions. When I make an omelet, I use a light mini babybel and shred it and put that, along with whatever herbs inside.

Some days I have the eggs for breakfast and the yogurt for a snack, sometimes I have both for breakfast if I'm hungry. Those days I usually don't put the oat bran in my yogurt, because I bring in a piece of "Dukan Bread" that I've made and have that as my afternoon snack with one of the light laughing cow cheeses.

Supper is up in the air, I'll decide that when I get home. But I am thinking of mini burgers with a mix of extra-lean beef and extra-lean pork... Mmm... Can't wait!

Dukan Tip

If I could give one word of advice to anyone doing this diet, keep all the condiments or seasoning you're allowed to use out and within reach at all times.It makes it easier than having to search for them, and if you only leave out what you're able to use, you wont have to wondering if it's allowed or not.

This is my counter where the magic happens:

  Note the adorable painted window things my daughter made for me. Sweet.

Rrrrrrroll up the Rrrrrrrim!!!

So us here in Canada have a favourite time of year. And it just started...

Roll up the Rim!!!


Oh my goodness I could not be any happier about this time of year. I wait, and wait, and then I wait some more. So on the way to work this morning I decided to stop at Tim Hortons. Of course, being that this is my "New Year, New You (aka me!!)", I thought I would turn myself from a previous RUTR loser into a winner! I could barely contain myself when I got to work...

I relax, I had my green smoothie (see yesterday's post for more information and recipe) and I checked my emails. But my coffee was looking at me, crying out for my attention. So I made a decision. Since all of my previous experiences with Roll Up the Rim has been, lack-lustre. No wins, not even a freakin' muffin. So my usual routine needed to be tossed in the poubelle.

My old routine: Drink coffee, roll up rim using "moose" technique.
My new routine: Drink HALF of the coffee, roll up the rim using the "beaver" technique.

So, halfway through my coffee I did just that. I stopped. Took off the lid - trying to hide my excitement (this one feels like a winner!!!) - and went for it beaver style.

And then...

Drum-roll please...

NOTHING!!!!


SERIOUSLY TIM HORTONS?? I am so upset right now because I have been such a loyal customer to these people and never have I ever won anything. All I'm asking for is a free coffee or something... But alas, I must "Please Try Again".

Bah.

So to make myself feel better when I got home (this is all while my daughter is having her supper, I'm not THAT bad of a parent...) I decided to go check out one of my favourite Tumblr sites - DisneyBound.  Oh my goodness this girl is awesome. She posts all these amazing outfits she's made at Polyvore, all  of them inspired by any and everything Disney.

Anyways, I was there today and I nearly died. She had posted on of my favourite outfits to date. Check this out:

It's a Katniss outfit!!! I am so excited about this one - maybe I'll buy myself some of these pieces ASAP.

And lastly for today, while I was on my Pinterest, just browsing the people stuff, I came across this lovely photo:

I have decided it is going to be my new inspiration for my whole "New Year, New You (aka me!)" project.

So I'll leave you all with that. MY daughter is done her dinner and we're going to watch the rest of The Fellowship of the Rings... 100% her choice, not even joking. She is sooo her father's daughter...

Until next hoot!!

Monday Morning "Happy"

In the words of Garfield... "I hate Mondays."

Who does really? You've just finished up a weekend of fun and relaxation (or being busy, but still, ti was the weekend) and you're waking up to go back to work. No matter how much you may "love" your job, more often then not, Mondays are going to suck.

So, for those of you who are obsessed like I am, there are only THREE DAYS left until the Hunger Games movie pre-sale tickets come out. And then in a month it'll be the premier. Oh my goodness just thinking about that makes this Monday all that much more bearable. I have already read the series twice, I'm 100% sure I'll read it again before the movie. Team Peeta!!

Now that I got my teeny bopper moment out of my system...

This morning, like most mornings, I made myself a little "happy". Otherwise known as my green smoothie. I previously spoke about it in a previous post, so i wanted to give you guys a bit more information on it.

I have been on Twitter for a while now, and I've followed my fair share of celebrities an their craziness, but several months ago a tweet by Hilary Duff (no judgement, I love that girl) about a "Glowing Green Smoothie" peaked my interest. At the time I had no intention on being THAT healthy, so after looking into it, I bailed and forgot about it. Since project "New Year, New You (aka me!)" has gone into effect, I thought about this smoothie and how I could very well incorporate it into my Dukan ways.

After much thought, I figured - even though it's not following the Dukan to a tee - it was an amazing way to get servings of veggies and fruits into my days. So I went to Kimberly Snyder's website (click here to visit it) - the creator of this smoothie - and read the recipe, got the ingredients and went nuts. I will admit one thing however... I don't buy anything organic. I know, I know, it probably defeats the purpose a bit, but organic food is kind of on the expensive side over here, and maybe I am just a bit lazy.

Anyways, here is a quick breakdown on the ingredients I use, and the steps I take (for the original recipe, see Kimberly's site):





1 500ml bottle of water (filtered)
1 bag of spinach (not baby), roughly 600g
1 head of romaine lettuce, chopped
2-3 stalks of celery, depending on their size
1 apple, chopped
1 pear, chopped
1 banana
1 lemon





Doesn't it look so pretty? I made a double batch this morning so I would have a week's worth pre-made.

I quickly cut off the rind of the lemon and toss that in my Vitamix (this is the most amazing blender ever. I will DEFINITELY blog about that this week) along with the entire bag of spinach and the bottle of water. At this point my blender is full, so I turn it on a crank it up to med-high speed and get the spinach all blended.

Then I chop up the romaine, toss it in and blend that.





I then turn the blender on high and leave the lid on but open uncover the hole at the top. I slowly add in the celery stalks one at a time, then the apple and pear. I then blend everything on high until its smooth and then, and only then, do I add in the banana. I find it you add the banana in too early and blend it the smoothie gets too frothy. But that could only be a personal taste.





After that I usually divide the smoothie up into freezer bags, and set aside one portion for me. This morning I made a double batch, so I actually had enough for today's serving, plus another week of smoothies. The great thing about freezing them is you keep the freshness, and you don't have to worry about having to toss any due to spoiling. You simply take a serving out of the freezer at night and the next morning it's ready!





Seriously... You guys should try this...

Doing it Dukan

At the beginning of the year I embarked on a journey to get myself back into a healthier lifestyle. Not being one who enjoys working out in the least, I decided to give the Dukan Diet a try.

My mother-in-law, sister-in-law and brother-in-law had all done this diet and were successful in losing weight - and keeping it off. They all look fantastic and I figured I would give it a try.

Turns out I really enjoy this program. If you'd like more information and details on this regime, check out Dr. Pierre Dukan's website. I'll skip over all the nitty gritty of things and let you do that on your own.

For me, it takes a lot to break my bad habits. It took me over 20 years to stop biting my nails if you're looking for an example. So I needed something that was strict, but lenient (is that even possible? It is!) if I ever slipped up. The Dukan Diet is perfect for me. The first few days were hard because I had no idea what I was doing and had no game plan. Now, six weeks in, I can think on the fly and am surprised with the results.

I have tweeked the diet a bit to my likings (I have veggies every day in an awesome smoothie in the morning, when I'm still in the phase where I should rotate such days) but nothing that would halt my progress. It's slowed down, yes, but I'm not struggling.

That was my main concern and worry. That if I struggled at any point, I would give up. Not saying there hasn't been days where I've wanted to just call it quits - oh boy have there ever - I just really want to see this through, because I feel good. About myself and about my results.

Here is a recipe for some muffins that I've made that I adore. And hey, they're good for you...

Dukan Lemon Muffins

11 g baking powder
3 eggs
Lemon juice of half a lemon
Lemon rind from one lemon
6 tbsp oat bran
200 ml skim milk
3 tbsp skim milk powder
3 tbsp sweetener of choice (I use stevia, and only 1 tbsp)

Pre-heat oven to 200'C. Mix all ingredients except for egg whites (separate from yolks) together until combined. Beat egg whites and when they form stiff peaks, fold into mixture (don't over mix). Spoon into muffin tins. Bake in oven for 30 minutes. Tada! That simple, and actually really tasty.

There are also recipes for Dukan pancakes out there, so you can always be sneaky and make those healthy things for your family and they'll be none the wiser. Like my daughter this morning...

My daughter is a big ham and loves to play it up for the camera...

Just another Saturday at our place... After we did our usual routine - coffee, groceries, Walmart - we came home and she decided that she wanted to dress herself since we planned on spending the rest of the day at home. Herein lies the results of her... Individuality...

And after all this craziness the other, other, OTHER love of my life, Milton, cuddled up next to me and kept me warm.

 

Perfect Saturday with the family...

 

 

I Give a Hoot Thursday #1!

So I figured a good way to get myself back into the blogging world would be to make up some sort of "daily" blog posts. For example, one of my favourite make-up girls - xSparkage - Confessions of a Makeup Junkie - has done things such as "Wearable Wednesday"and "Fierce Friday"(check out her site RIGHT NOW because she's in the process of doing a look for every district in the Hunger Games... LOVE that series...).

I've decided to follow suit and introduce you to my first "daily" blog post here-on-out otherwise known as...

I Give a Hoot Thursday!!

Every thursday I'm going to blog about something I "give a hoot" about, whether it be something as mellow as a new recipe I tried, or some sort of vengeful rant I've been dying to say aloud.

Today is going to be mellow to start things off with - I don't want to get all crazy so soon into my blogging re-birth.

I've got two things I love right now and will be "hooting'" about. One: my current favourite essie nail polish. And two: the Hunger Games.

This past year or so I've fallen in love with nail polish. I hate to admit it, but I'm a late bloomer to this club. I used to bite my nails ALL THE TIME, and had discussing little things that I didn't like ANYONE seeing. But I grew up and decided that I needed to stop chewing the living daylights out of my nails, and start letting them grow. That took a long time because my nails were so brittle and they broke and chipped and it was horrible. But after a while of tender care, they've turned out to be an accessory that I enjoy quite much.

Seemings as I arrived late to the makeup party, I only discovered essie polish several months back. At first I avoided it like the plague because I was unable to understand how people could spend so much money on nail polish. But one day while at my local Walmart I noticed they were under 10.00... So I jumped on the bandwagon and bought myself a couple of shades.

Right now I'm wearing my favourite of the bunch: merino cool. The essie website tells me this is a great autumn color, but I like it anytime of year. This is what the color looks like on me...

Do note, the little "scratches" you see on my nails (how unprofessional of me...) are from me going to bed without letting my nails dry 100%. I know this is a big faux pas, but sometimes sleep takes over and your nails have to suffer for it. Don't judge me and my nail polish ways.

Now, for the more important of the two things...

The Hunger Games!!!

Oh my goodness I become one of those screaming boy band loving teeny boppers inside when I think of this series. It was, for a lack of a mature answer, wicked. I heard about the series from - who would believe it - my boyfriend. He had heard about them through a friend and he asked me to get them so he could read them on my iPad.

I obliged, but when he tried to explain it to me it didn't appeal to me (he didn't sell it the way it should have been). He read through the first book and half of the second and I decided I was going to steal the iPad form him and read them.

And that was the day I become a hermit.

I read the series in four days - give or take - and I couldn't put the iPad down for anything. I feel in love with the writing skills, the characters, the storyline, everything. I finished the series and yearned for more, only to find out they're making a movie and then weeks later I see the trailer and I'm practically crying at the computer.

This movie series will be my new Twilight (and luckily fill the void until Breaking Dawn Part 2 comes out). I convinced my best friend and sister to read the series, then several other people. It's so good. I can't even begin to tell you how awesome it is. I finished re-reading the series a couple of weeks ago because I needed my HG fix. I'll probably do it again before the movie comes out.

Speaking of which pre-sale happens in SEVEN DAYS. Just saying...

Wow...

Re-reading this post you would never think I was a 30 year old with a 5 year old... I suddenly reverted back to my teenage years. All that's missing is my Backstreet Boys poster wall...

Let the new and improved (hopefully) blogging begin!!

Its been a while since I last blogged.

Busy? Not really.

Un-inspired? Partly.

Lazy? Most definitely.

I've been trying to figure out why I haven't been blogging more, and I think it's because I pigeon-holed my blog. Made it only about things I've made... It makes it hard to update when you lack inspiration or, like mentioned above, am riddled with a case of the lazies.

I made a conscious decision recently to just blog. Say things that are on my mind, post pictures that interest me, link to websites I frequent, talk about how ridiculously cool my daughter is. I want to think of my blog as a way to let loose the things that on a normal day, I would keep bottled up.

Look at this place as some sort of outlet for my inner musings and awesomeness (yes, I tooted my own horn. I am just THAT awesome) all rolled into one happy place. I'm in the process of linking my twitters, tumblr and pinterest accounts here. Give me some time since I haven't been in the HTML/CSS zone in a while. I'm looking to make a comeback soon though.

Not much else to say other than I hope I can keep blogging on a more regular basis here on out, and I hope I can entertain you all in the process.

Don't you know? Don't you know? Beautiful don't you know??

So I was inspired by all the glass painting I did for the order I owed (I will post pictures once those are all done), and from looking at my friend Jen's wedding pictures (and more so the song above by Chris Brown. One of those memories from the wedding...). These are glasses I am going to put up on Etsy in hopes that someone will be interested in them.

I call them (so fittingly) "The Bridesmaids":

How does one get back to where they once were?

My creative juices have hit a bit of a lull right now. I was so motivated to get cracking not even two weeks ago, and now it seems I have hit that same wall I did back in June. I really want to get cracking on the things I love, letting my creative juices flow and create things... But there is this nagging feeling right now inside me that is making it so hard.

All around me I see people taking the time to create, and do the things they love, and start businesses. And I have to say it makes me a tiny bit green with envy. I fear disappointing, I fear rejection, I fear making a fool of myself. So that little voice inside me constantly says "don't do it!!!"

Lately it's all I hear and all I listen to.

Weddings, weddings and still more weddings...

In a bit of an update to a previous post, I've hung up on my wall six of the frames from the weddings we attended last year. I have to make 4 more for this year; this is a project constantly in the works. I still have to place the pictures inside the frames for most of these, but I wanted to show you all what they now look like. I think it's a nice tribute to all my friends - who I love dearly.

Here is what the mounted pictures look like...

My dearest Nana...

Ever since I came back "online" I have been wondering what to do as one of my first projects. It's hard to decide what to do when there is so much I want to accomplish before the end of the year. To get myself in the right frame of mind, I decided this weekend to clean up my "workspace" in the basement. This in turn lead to me moving furniture around, sweeping, cleaning, filing tons of bills, and finally (after all that procrastinating) organizing my area. I have to say, seeing how nice and clean it is really makes me want to get cracking. I owe a lot of people glasses, so those are one of the first things on my list.

However...

During my cleaning I stumbled upon a ton of old pictures. I'm talking old, as in my grandmother and grandfather back in the day. Black and white and timeless... One from their wedding, others of my dad and aunts and uncles as children, my grandfather in his Black Watch uniform... I forgot I had these pictures. But going through these pictures, I had a small breakdown.

It's been a while... Time for something new...

Happy October everyone!

I apologize for the long delay I updating my blog. It's a long story, well somewhat long and mostly just me filled with resentment... But I digress. I'm back! And that's what matters. The past few months consisted of me having pent up anger for something I had no control over. I thought I had control over thing, I was paying for a service that had come highly recommended by said persons reviews, but alas, I was screwed over. So no new blog template.

I let those feelings of Ill will harbor inside me for months, trying to get my money back for a service paid for. In the end, I've decided to just let it go. I'm not going to get my money back, and the layout i fell I love with will never be mine. I was even going to post the layout creator's websites and emails here for everyone to "avenge my anger", but I won't do it. I just, don't want to.

Adventures in things to come...

I apologize everyone for the delay in a new blog post! These past few days have been busy - non-creatively - so I haven't had a chance to sit down and talk about some of my up-coming projects. But seeming as I have a few minutes, I am really excited to discuss them!

As of right now, there are 3 major events that I have projects for; two of my friends' weddings, and a Light the Night fundraiser.

First, for next Friday, I will be baking some cake pops for a Light the Night fundraiser - a bowl-o-thon! The idea came to me for the cake pops when I first mentioned to my friend Tracy that I would like to help out any way I could. Hopefully no one from the fundraiser checks out this page, because I want them to be surprised, but... I'm going to let you all in on my plans...

Banana Chocolate Chip recipe....

Today my very best friend and her husband signed some papers, and got their very first house. Yes, they had already purchased a condo, but this is a house. Its a big deal. So, my little family and I (and my "little" Jen) went over there to celebrate. On top of some celebratory drinks, I wanted to bring something over that we could eat. I didn't have much time, so i knew exactly what it was that I was going to make.

Banana bread!

Glasswear random idea #1

I enjoy taking a break from baking every once and a while - my stomach thanks me for that - so tonight I decided to quickly try an idea I had in my head. I had seen a sketch of this somewhere one time and I've been wanting to try it out.

It's a very simple project. I've used water glasses from Ikea and I used Pébéo Vitrail paint in white (frosted) and the Vitrae felt-tip pen in purple. I drew a basic leaf form, one facing up, one facing down, and continued this all around the glass.

Once that dried I did a second coat so that the white was more on the opaque side. Once that was dry, I took the pen and drew on top of the leaves, basically outlining them and then drawing in the veins. I am not that satisfied about these because I like to consider myself a perfectionist, but I do believe that ones imperfections should be shown as well as their talent.

I will try this again. Maybe a different pattern, maybe the same and just do it how I really want it. It was just fun to put a new idea into play. I think each and everyone one of you should do that at least once a week. Do something that you've been thinking of. Just do it, and if it works out or not - doesn't matter. What matters is that you tried...

Until next time!

A solution for wedding memorabilia!

Today is the first day in a while that it's been nice here in town. We've been hit with a lot of rain lately and it has put a serious damper on the 'happy summer vibes' I've been desperately in need of. Today without a doubt is going to be gorgeous. Couldn't ask for a better Monday to start off a long week at work.

With the wonderful weather, weddings begin. In just a fwe weeks my first wedding of the year will be here - and I'm very excited. If the bachelorette party we just had this past weekend for the bride means anything, that wedding is going to be one heck of a party. And with weddings come memorabilia.

I know, you're probably thinking "what the heck does she mean?", but trust me, I like to keep things from the weddings I attend to have a bit of a keepsake from the day. At one point last year, after we went to our very last wedding, I opened this box where I kept all these things and didn't know what to do with everything.

And shortly thereafter, I was in the dollar store (seriously, what CAN'T you find there?) and I fell upon these frames and an idea hit me! I was going to make a type of 'shadow' box to hang on my walls which displayed a photo of the married couple, along with some of the mementos from their big day. My friends are very dear to me, all of them family, so showing off their happy day seemed like a no-brainer for me.

Most of them don't have the picture of the couple in them just yet, I stil have to go and buy hooks to place on the back of the frames so I can hang them from the walls. Because I wanted these to last a long time on my wall, I opted to use a glue gun rather than normal glue just so they would stay put. Overall I think these are a great way for me to look back and remember what a great time was had. Once I get all of these mounted on my wall I'll post a picture of that.

Here are the couples - displayed in order of when we attended them...

Bianca and Matt

Bianca and Matt had this gorgeous wedding that had a Mary Antoinette feel to it. Pearls, masks, ostrich feathers - it was a sight to see. And it was a great wedding to kick start my 2010 wedding season.

The bonbonieres were little Faberge eggs. How friggen cute is that? And the pewter flower was place card holder. Bianca did all the place cards and decorating herself. She's awesome.

Caroline and Matt

Some weddings didn't have as much stuff to sneak into my purse (or into my boyfriend's jacket pockets), and at my best friend's wedding (the photo frame above) I was too busy being a Maid of Honor to take anything. In this case I used these adorable stickers from the dollar store to compensate.

 

Junior and Vanessa

Another wedding where I was having too much fun running around. If you've ever wondered if someone wearing a dress to a wedding was capable of doing the worm on the dance floor, this would have been the wedding to answer that. Junior and Vanessa had the cutest place card holders ever:

Fortune cookies!!!! And their bonboniers were keyboard cleaners - so practical, keyboards are seriously full of dust all the time - that were either a little bride or a little groom.

Christine and Paul

Not only was this the wedding where two of my oldest friends took each others hands in marriage, but this was the wedding where I was able to create a headpiece for the bride. It was a really special day. And to top it all off there was a ton of stuff on the table to take!! I actually have and extra pumpkin and table number picture frame. I went a little wild, what can I say...

Tracy and Richard

Tracy and Richard are a very modern styled couple. Their wedding was at a venue which is basically set up as you see fit. Their space was filled with extra large balloons floating above the tables, test tubes holding orchids hung above the head table, and long rectangular tables took place of the traditional round ones. It was an awesome night - and again, I was busy not only being a bridesmaid, but chasing my very photobooth happy duaghter around (Tracy and Richard had a photobooth at their wedding and my daughter was the official button presser).

Now that I'm in the groove of things, I just need to go out and buy 4 more frames for this upcomming wedding season! Hurray for weddings!

Here's to the future...

May 25th, 2011 was the day I had my biggest "Aha-Moment" up to date. It was the day I decided to make a change in my life. I sat at home on my couch and watched as Oprah took to her stage for one last show. Her words moved me to tears - my eyes weren't dry once during the hour-long finale.

"[A calling] lights you up and lets you know you're exactly where you're supposed to be, doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing. Live from the heart of yourself. You have to know what sparks the light in you so you in your own way can illuminate the world."

I have spent countless hours of my life wondering if there was any reason to strive for greatness. I never really thought I could make a difference or that anything I could do would mean anything. Oprah touched a part of my soul in her last show that I have been trying to find for years. Her words resonated through my television and she made me believe in myself.

It almost seems ridiculous to think that someone I've never met - someone who does not know me or my personal battles - could move me in such a way that faith in myself has been reinstated. I not only believe, but I now KNOW that I am destined for so much more than I give myself credit for. Thinking about how her show made me feel still makes me misty-eyed...

“There’s a difference between thinking you deserve to be happy and knowing that you are worthy of being happy. Your being alive makes worthiness your birthright. You alone are enough.”

I have hesitated for so long to put myself out there because I've felt like I don't merit being able to do the things I love. There are so many talented people out there that I've felt like I would not compare, like I would never make it. I could not have been more wrong.

My heart is filled with hope and faith in myself - something I have not had for a long time - and I foresee a great future ahead of me.

Here’s to a future filled with excitement, wonder, hope and faith. Thank you Oprah for opening my eyes and making me realize that I am worth it.

If at first you don't succeed...

Try try again!!!

I am speechless. I did it. I made macarons that were not horrible. That were cooked through and didn't stick to my parchment paper (note to self: must invest in a few Silpats...). I will admit, I made an attempt last night, and although they looked perfect, they were far from it. 

Chunky and the feet are too uneven for my liking.

The golden color is not added, it's due to me slightly overcooking the macarons. Hey, it was my sixth attempt - or wait, was it my fifth? - well let's just say I've tried this a time or two already and failed each time almost more miserably than the last. But something we running through me today that gave me the will to make them again.


And I did and I could not be happier with the results. I did try my own spin on it... I made the basic recipe (I follow Tartelette's recipe - hers is the only one I've attempted that's worked for me. Just go to her site and search for "macaron". She is a complete genius when it comes to flavour combinations.) with a twist. I took out part of the almonds and added in walnuts instead. It gives it a bit of a different flavour to it. Inside I made a Banana Buttercream Frosting.

Look at the feet! Just the way they should look!

I did take the advice of the my above mentioned macaron inspiration, and this time around I ground up the almonds, walnuts and icing sugar together in my food processor at the same time. This is the first time I didn't have to re-process a huge amount of leftovers. I let the processor have its way with the ingredients for a minutes, scraped the edges, and then did it for another minute. You can 100% see a difference in yesterday's macarons texture compared to today's. Yesterday I ground up the almonds on their own, and they were fairly chunky. Today, much smoother.

Fresh from the oven...

I couldn't be more excited with the end product. My boyfriend wasn't complaining either - and he's pretty honest when it comes to my baking - he had three of them. After a fairly uneventful day at work, these darling creations saved me.

I can't wait to figure out what kind to do next...

Take a bite...

My first time trying these and it will not be the last...

A wonderful friend of mine, Bianca (link website) turned me on to this amazing website which I have fallen head over heals for. Bakerella is her name and sweet baking is her game. I have been looking over her site for weeks and decided to give one of her recipes a try.

 

You can't make a Red Velvet cake without A LOT of red food coloring...

My daughter is a huge lover of all things sweet, so when I asked her if she would rather me make a pop cake, or a cupcake bite, she went with the cupcakes. I decided on the red velvet recipe of hers for the base, and rather than using a cream cheese icing I have decided to go with a simple vanilla buttercream. Here is the recipe of hers, but you can see her full entry on this cake (here):

Red Velvet Cake

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 oz. red food coloring
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease and flour two 8 inch cake pans.
Lightly stir eggs in a medium bowl with a wire whisk. Add remaining liquid ingredients and stir together with whisk until blended. Set aside.

 

I seriously thought that I had put way too much red coloring, the liquid mixtures turned out bright fuchsia.

Place all the dry ingredients in your mixing bowl and stir together really good with another wire whisk.
Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix on medium-high for about a minute or until completely combined.
Pour into cake pans and then drop the pans on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
After about ten minutes, remove from pans and cool completely on a wire rack. I also cover in plastic wrap while the cakes cool.
Then make the frosting.Fm there I made a simple buttercream and once that was done the fun began. I broke the cake up into a crumble, and then I added the buttercream and mixed. At first I was being all dainty and was using a spoon, but I decided to be at one with the cupcake bites and I started using my hands.

 This was probably my favorite part... Getting my hands dirty.

Flashbacks of being a child playing with play dough came to my head :). Once it was mixed as well as I assumed it would need to be, I started to make tiny quarter sized balls of the cake-icing mixture and set them aside on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

 

Getting these just the right size was tough, I kept making them too big and had to eat some of the bad ones. Oh darn...

I let them settle in the freezer for a few minutes and followed the rest of the recipe. Make the chocolate cups by ,doting some chocolate into little chocolate cups molds, put a cake ball in cup, freeze a bit more, pop out and decorate. Im breaking it down incredibly fast, but if you head on over to the Bakerella website, you can find recipe after recipe of different ways to make these. And a much more in-depth way of making these.

 

Decorating the cupcake bites was my favorite part. I melted down some purple wafers, dipped my cupcake bites in and sprinkled them with little cupcake toppings. SO. MUCH. FUN.

And I have to say, they taste pretty darn good. Bakerella knows how to make one mean red velvet cake.
Take a look at how they turned out...

I heart baking.

Never judge a book by it's cover...

After an impromptu family get-together last night at our place, I decided to give it a go at making macarons. I had been hearing more and more about them through a Facebook friend and I wanted to see if they were as temperamental as I had read up on.

I had all the ingredients necessary, and everything seemed to be going so well. My almonds grinded without a hitch, my egg whites formed the perfect peaks, my batter looked and felt like the right consistency. I was even able to make every macaron almost identical in size - well, as good as a first timer could make them of course.

I continuously went back to the oven to make sure that my macarons were forming their perfect feet - they were! - and that the tops were smooth and glossy - a success! - and even after I took them out of the over I could barely believe my eyes.

I was a natural! All the blogs I had read about them lied to me! These were not hard to make, either that or I must have a natural ability for them. My mind starts reeling about all the different recipes I searched and how I can start baking these all the time - they were so simple! - and how people will come running by the truck loads to buy them from me.

And half an hour later, after I've let them cool down, my dreams came crashing to a halt.

I went to take one off the baking sheet and all I held in my hand was the little perfectly smooth and glossy dome. The bottom half remain on my baking sheet, stuck to the bottom and under cooked.

Little did I know that these pesky little buggers would become the bane of my baking existance. I have tried three times since and have yet to perfect them. I will, however, not give up so quickly. So for now I leave my adventures in macarons on the back burner, I think I'll stick to banana muffins for now...

made for me... the beginning

This blog has been a work in progress for months now. One of my oldest friends, Tracy, and I have been wanting to start up blogs, but for one reason or another we never got around to it. We gave ourselves due dates and deadlines, and without fail we ignored them time and time again.

Today is the day we decided to stop talking and start doing.

So here I am, taking the first step - of many - in blogging all things me, my family, but mostly things that I'm passionate about. I work in the AR department of a reputable sporting goods company, so creativity in my line of work is minimal. I go in each day, do what's required of me, and I go home at night feeling like there's something missing...

I've always been a creative soul. I used to write, I was in Fine Arts, I feel in love with Art History... But I never went anywhere with any of those, and i slowly let my artistic side fall into the background. However, lately I've been feeling this part of me edge forward and cry out for attention. I suddenly felt the need to be artistic again and I have been slowly getting back into that state of mind.

I'm far from where I used to be. I find writing tedious and more of a chore than in the past. I don't feel the urge to pick up a pencil and sketch out what I see in front of me, and all my art history books are just collecting dust. But i still have that inner feeling wanting to come out, so I have been finding other ways to feed it; baking, painting wine glasses, making wedding accessories for my friends...

And this will be the place that I "show off" what I've been up to. I have always wanted a way to express myself for people to see, but have never really known how to go about it. So a blog is a great way for you all to stay connected with me, and keep up with the workings of my creativeness...

...amanda leigh