Choc Bock Time

Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock…ale with cocoa and natural flavors.  How could you go wrong when a beer label says cocoa?   

This rich brown thick beer tastes like a dessert.  Especially when paired with Christmas cookies.  It has a light chocolate scent and flavor.  It’s a little bitter initially, but then finishes smooth and leaves a sweet taste in your mouth.  Because it was so think and rich I couldn’t finish even one whole bottle.  But half was just enough.

Overall very enjoyable. 

Regrouping

It’s so easy to get off track.  It happens any time of year, but especially around the holidays.  I’ve been busy visiting with family and friends, baking, and shopping.  And it’s not even Christmas yet!  This hasn’t left much time to run or blog.  It’s been frustrating.  I was really beginning to fear that I would “fall off the band wagon” and not be able to get started again.  Wrong.  You can do anything you are committed to doing.  Don’t doubt yourself.  And especially don’t let anyone else instill doubt in you.  Nike says it best...Just Do It.

As far as eating goes I’ve been enjoying my holiday snacks, but really listening to what my body wants.  Do I really want that extra cookie or am I truly satisfied with just one?  Do I need to stop and get an Egg McMuffin or would oatmeal be just as satisfying?  When I listen, my body usually tells me what’s best.  And thanks to the listening I’m down 3 more pounds.  Hello 160’s!  I don’t remember seeing you since high school!  Now that I’m 168 pounds…it’s time to go treat myself to a new water bottle with a flippy straw.  Oh the little things that thrill me!

I think I’ll go with something like this.  Maybe in green.

Have a wonderful, inspired, productive, and maybe snowy day!

Finally

Last night I was finally able to push myself on my run and go a little bit further in the same amount of time.  What a great feeling to be racing youself and achieving a personal best.  And now I'm more motivated to keep pushing myself.  I'm really loving the positive domino effect. 

The Great Cookie Experiment

Inspiration thanks to Alton Brown's Puffy Cookie and Chewy Cookie episode.  I love Alton.  I love food science.  I'm always up for an experiment in the kitchen.  So when Steve suggested we make our work cookie exchange baking session into an experiment I was all for it.  Here are the results.

The Puffy

Notable ingredients include solid shortening, baking powder, and *cake flour.

The sticky dough.

Puffy dough all balled up.

Balls of goodness.  Very easy to scoop.

Puffy perfection.

The Chewy

Notable ingredients milk, melted butter, baking soda, and *bread flour.

Liquid dough.  I was worried at this point that we would end up with a cookie cake.

It eventually came together into a sticky pile of dough. 

Chewy perfection.

The official comparisons...

PUFFY                                               CHEWY

golden brown                                     darkly browned

light and airy                                       dense

raised                                                  flat

crumbly                                               sticky

cake-like                                             still a cookie

shortening                                           butter

baking powder                                   baking soda

For taste, the chewy cookie wins.  It was buttery and doughy and satisfying to eat.  This is what I think of when I want a cookie!

For appearance, the puffy cookies take the gold...golden brown that is.  The chewy cookies were verging on burnt, even though they didn't taste this way.  The puffy cookies browned better and looked like a text book cookie.

All cookies will be taken to Steve and my places of employment.  Perhaps we will expand the voting!

*We did not use cake or bread flour.  All purpose, all the way.  So I can't comment on how much a difference that would make.

Breathe Deep

Yesterday I did my 5K training run outside for first time.  What a nice change.  New scenery.  Fresh crisp air to breathe.  And good practice on the hills.  Probably ran, or more accurately, jogged a little slower because of it all, but still a very good workout.  Twenty minutes of the run/walk routine and 15 minutes combined warm-up and cool-down.  

It was also the first time I ran with company beside me...or in this case behind and in front of me.  My sister, Karen, her husband, Lyle and Steve and I motivated ourselves  and each other to get out of bed on a Saturday morning and start the run around 8AM.  Workout buddies really do help.  We all ran at our own pace.  I blared music from my iPhone.  The music changed according to when we were supposed to be running or walking and we had no need for a stop watch, which was nice. 

What a feeling of accomplishment when we were done.  Felt good all day because of it.  Now the task is to remember that feeling for future weekend mornings when I don't have three other people to hold me accountable...

Worth while thought to start the week (from a fortune cookie):

Many possibilities are open to you -- work a little harder.

Tis the season...

For baking!

I recently made some of the best granola yet.  I loosely followed a recipe (aka a "suggestion"), but added a lot more goodies.

Here are the approximates...

3 cups whole oats                                                                 

1 cup quick oats

1/4 cup sesame seeds

1/3 cup wheat germ

1 cup walnut halves

1/2 cup peanut bits

3/4 cup coconut

1 cup dates...plus some more sprinkled on for good luck

1 cup maple syrup

Splashes of vanilla

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup vegetable oil

palmful cinnamon...plus a lot sprinkled on just before baking

Mix dry and wet and combine.  Bake at ~300 degrees for 45 minutes.  Toss.  Continue baking and checking until crunch chewy goodness results.  If you don't like dates, raisins or other dried fruit are great as well.  But this was the first time I used dates and they caramelized around the crunchies. 

The result was the best granola yet!

Run walk

Week 1 Workout 2 complete. A few days later than planned, because of a cold, but better late than never! Stats were completely IDENTICAL! See previous post for the numbers. It was slightly easier than the first time around. Progress feels good.

And stay tuned for the best granola recipe I have made yet!