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.

Food coma

The holidays always make my heart and stomach full. Spending time with both Andrew and my family is always full of laughs along with delicious food.

This past week I told Andrew I wanted nothing more than a salad for dinner. We gorged ourselves on Thanksgiving, the day after Thanksgiving, and the day after that. There is always a ton of leftovers and everyone just ends up eating those the remainder of the weekend.

When we came home Sunday, it was rainy and gross outside. My all time favorite food in the winter is soup. Since the gloomy weather was supposed to continue I decided to prep two soups to take for lunch throughout the week.

This Black Bean and Lentil Chili has already made an appearance once on my blog. Last year I was given this recipe to try and absolutely feel in love. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been looking forward to winter just to have an excuse to eat this!


While in Beaver Creek, CO for a conference a couple weeks ago we had Pumpkin Soup and I became obsessed as fast as I ate the soup. While we were eating, someone recommended Panera's Autumn Squash soup and I am forever grateful. Unfortunately, it will not be in my budget or stomach's best interest if I ate this soup everyday. So I found a replica to try on my own and I'm looking forward to eating it this week for lunch! Behold- Butternut Squash Soup!

**I completely blanked and forgot to get the coconut milk while we were at the store so I substituted greek yogurt

A few of my favorite things

Lately I've been in a "mood" according to Andrew. His exact words tonight were "What has gotten into you? Crafting, cooking, and cleaning?!"

In all reality, when we're at home I don't want to just sit around and watch football. I want to do something. With the holidays in full swing we've started to decorate our apartment. My husband is a real life Grinch. He doesn't see the fun in doing all these things but that makes it more fun for me! :)

Two weekends ago, I started cleaning and came across a DIY Burlap Wreath I started making shortly after Andrew and I got married. It was looking a little drab so I decided to finally take the Nebraska football down outside our apartment and switch it up with something more festive. 

The wreath itself was super easy to make. I unwrapped a wire hanger and thread different types of burlap through. I then fastened the Santa and pinecones on with ornament hangers. The whole project probably took about 60 minutes total, which is exactly what I need since I get bored easily with projects. 

Next we decided to put our Christmas tree up. This was supposed to be done "after Thanksgiving" but since we planned on going home for Thanksgiving we had to have it up so we can return home to it! Andrew put a total of three ornaments on before he got bored. 

This is him telling our dog Alba to sit for a photo in front of the tree

Since I was already in the crafting mood and we were at Michaels, I decided to update our tray we use to hold remotes in our living room. I painted the tray and used scrapbook paper to cover the inside. Again, super easy and done within one night. 

1. Painted the tray

2. Cooked dinner

3. Painted a second coat

4. Ate dinner

5. Glued the scrapbook paper in the middle

Phew... and I'd be lying if I said I don't still have the crafting bug. When I get into these "moods" as Andrew calls it, I end up spending hours on Pinterest. My t-shirt quilt is a project I've slowly been gathering supplies for and tonight I officially "started." Stay tuned!

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