Baking Season

After my long hiatus there is lots to update on! Back in August I signed up for a fitness challenge for a local gym called Arete Community fitness. Through this gym they offer video workouts, meal plans, and a support group via Facebook. I knew it was going to become a busy time at work and I needed to be held accountable to continue working out and eating somewhat healthy. This challenge was just what I needed to get on track and find a routine that worked for me!

Since joining my first challenge, I've completed two total, I have begun to find a love for being in the kitchen. I always somewhat enjoyed cooking but often viewed it as a chore when I got home from work. Don't get me wrong, there are still evenings that it feels just like that... a chore, but I have grown to find pleasure in being in the kitchen. I've taken this time to learn new things since I never truly felt like I was a cook. However, I have slowly become better and have found myself feeling more comfortable in the kitchen.

Through these challenges I have been forced to plan our meals out weekly. So our routine is this- I sit down Sunday morning when we wake up and decide what we will have for dinner and create a grocery list. This way when I get off work I don't have to question what we are having for dinner. I can come home and get straight to work. Which doesn't seem like it should have been too hard to figure out but I needed someone to get me started!

Anyways, after we grocery shop I'll come home and prepare things for the week. Today, I was feeling festive, which means I wanted to bake and decided to bake cupcakes I found in a cookbook a couple weeks ago!

I have always wanted to learn how to make those delicious cupcakes you can find in bakeries and although I don't believe I have perfected that yet, these were a great start! Forgive me for the lack of photos! I was sharing them via snapchat with my family but forgot to save them. Regardless there is a nice finished product at the end!

Peanut Butter Chip Cupcakes

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

¾ cup buttermilk, shaken

1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, slightly softened

¾ cup lightly packed dark brown sugar

⅔ cup unsalted natural creamy peanut butter

2 large eggs

¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips

• Preheat oven 350 degrees. Line 12-cup cupcake pan with paper liners
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, stir together the buttermilk and vanilla.
• In the bow of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar, and peanut butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium-low, add the eggs one at a time, and beat until creamy. 1 to 2 minutes. Slowly add half the flour mixture, then the buttermilk  mixture, then the remaining flour mixture beating until just blended after each addition. Stir in the chocolate chips.
• Divide the batter evenly among the liners (the batter will come to the very tops of the liners) and bake until the tops are just dry to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer the plan to a wire rack and cool completely before frosting with peanut butter frosting

Peanut butter frosting(makes 2 cups)

¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

¾ cup unsalted natural creamy peanut butter

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

1 ½ confectioners sugar, sifted

1 tablespoon whole milk

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, peanut butter, and salt on medium-high speed until creamy, 1 to 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to low, gradually add the confectioners sugar and beat until just incorporated. Add the milk, increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the frosting is light and spreadable, 1 to 2 minutes.

marathon of a weekend

Back in October I posted that I registered for a full marathon. I have run two different half marathons and have always wanted to take the jump and do a full. Over lunch one day at work I got a race email talking about the Garmin Marathon and I decided I was going to do it for my 25th birthday.

Immediately after registering I downloaded the Hal Higdon's marathon training app and started training. I was following it religiously up until Andrew got his kidney stones. After spending a couple evenings in the hospital, running around trying to get ahold of doctors, and with the holidays happening all at the same time I didn't have much time to go and run 12-15 miles.

When the New Year started I didn't do much better. We started looking at houses and putting a lot of our spare time into that process. By the time I finally had a weekend to go run the training plan had me running 20 miles!

Leading up to the race I ran smaller runs but never anything substantial. I began to really think there was no way I could physically finish the race and I continued to tell myself that even up until the night before the race. I thought if I felt horrible at 13.1 miles I'll just split off and do the half marathon.

However, after sharing my concerns with my husband- which was mostly "I'm not even going to finish the race so you don't have to bother coming to watch"- he adjusted my attitude and told me I've already set myself up for failure. If I'm convinced that I'm not going to finish why even bother. For those that know me, they know I am extremely competitive. I had told myself I was going to do this back in October so why had that change? If we're being honest- I was really scared. I had read articles about running marathons and the pain the runners endure, the chafing, the nausea, etc., etc. I was scared to death that I really over estimated my ability with this one.

After chatting with Andrew I decided I was going to really try to finish. That's all I needed to do- cross the finish line. I didn't even care if I was the last one to do it.

At mile 13 there wasn't a thought in my mind to just stop there. At mile 19- I was dying! Telling myself that I was down to single digits didn't help either. My back was killing me, my fingers were swollen, and I was losing steam. I felt that I was at rock bottom here but I knew I couldn't quit. By the time I had enough energy to even consider stopping I was at mile 20 and what idiot quits a marathon at mile 20? The course was hilly and it was windy as hell but what did I expect running the "Wizard of Oz" Garmin Marathon?

At mile 25 there was a steep hill and I knew from there on it was nothing but downhill. I knew Andrew would be waiting for me at the finish line so I picked up the pace. And I accomplished my goal of finishing and I finished with an official race time of 5 hours and 35 minutes.

The race was by far the most painful experience I have ever had. The whole thing was a huge challenge mentally and physically. As soon as I crossed the finish line I told myself I would never do it again and who knows, maybe I'll change my mind but all that matters now is I've done a marathon. I successfully completed something I've wanted to do for a long time. As cheesy as it sounds it made me realize how amazing my mind and body truly are and all the things I am capable of and all I have to do is continue to put one foot in front of another.