Wilton's Course 4

Does it matter that I posted twice on the same day? If it does, I just don't care. I couldn't wait any longer to show you these pictures!

This cake is from the final class of Wilton's Course 4: Advanced Gum Paste Flowers

I am creating a stargazer tutorial- that's coming soon. For now a teaser. Look at these great photos!


                                                                         Side Views

                                                                        
                                                                     



                                                                      Front views

                                       Stargazers, sweet peas, briar roses, ivy leaves and more.

     
It was a group effort. Each person in the class made a different tier. It was leaning but I can fix that next time when I do my own :) We then put our own flowers together and used spikes to set them into the cake.

  

 I'm sad these classes are over - but excited to keep practicing!



I linked up!


http://www.delicateconstruction.com/                                                                   

Have is Your Resolve?

5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 

Remember that? It was 6 months ago. (Okay, actually this photo was from a few years ago...Shhh) And what did we do that first day of this new year? We came up with a list of resolutions that we promised ourselves would be accomplished this year. "No, really, I'm going to stick with it this time." We resolved (the root word of resolution) that we would make changes in our lives for the better. So I am going to test you and try to keep you accountable - how has your resolve been?


I am pleasantly surprised at how well I have done this year. With half a year down, I've accomplished half of my goals. To be honest, I forgot about the other two :/ I guess I am keeping myself accountable here, too. I know being half done doesn't seem like much, but now I can start to concentrate on the other two.

Goal one: Run a 5K.  Accomplished.
In fact, I've run in 3 so far and have a 4th planned for July.

February: 5K and Polar Plunge for Special Olympics in Virginia Beach.
April: 3.2 for 32 Run in Remembrance at Virginia Tech. I was luckily 2 miles away in my apartment  when the shootings happened, but boy was my life changed that awful day 5 years ago.
May: FCMS Half-Day 5K! Our last day of school was May 24th, and it was a half day. They planned on showing a movie in the morning so teachers could get things done, but I wanted an option for students to get outside. I decided to start the first annual Half-Day 5K at FCMS and had 35 8th grade students come out and participate. Most of them walked. I was okay with that because this was the first time we've done this. Next year it will be advertised as a race, there will be prizes and official time keepers. It will also be a fundraiser.
July: I am all set to run in The Color Run in Philadelphia! So excited for this one!


Goal two: Increase my cake skills. Accomplished.

 I say accomplished because my cake skills have definitely improved. However, this is a constant and ongoing process.
First, cakes I did for school: a double 50th birthday cake and a cake for our 8th grade semi-formal dance.
Then cakes for my various Wilton's cake classes, posts of which can be found under the Cake Page tab.

Goal three: Plan first, Grade second. In-progress.
I have definitely been working on this one. The end of the year went a lot smoother than last year. There is still work to be done but I feel confidant in my progress towards this goal. I did a lot more planning first this year; putting lesson plans ahead of most other things. It's all on the journey of becoming a better teacher. Given that it's only my second year, I'd say I'm doing pretty well.

Goal four: finish reading "Is God a Mathematician?" Requires Improvement.
I have not touched this. I've been side-tracked by  Hunger Games, Eat, Pray, Love, and some other books throughout the year. I will give in another go this summer. First, however, I have a lot of reading to do for a summer program in New York the last week of June. It's okay, I might not finish IGAM but I know I will get farther in it than I am now. It's interesting, it's just hard to get through.


How are you doing on your goals??

Another Nutter Butter Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookie - bar?

"Have another nutter butter peanut butter sandwich cookie" - SING IT WITH ME!

I have the hardest time getting a good picture of food.

Found this recipe from Crazy for Crust. I found Crazy for Crust through a link party today LAST Saturday (I hate getting so busy that I don't finish things until more than a week later) and started browsing around until I found this little gem. Combining all sorts of deliciousness - brownies, Nutter Butter cookies and melted chocolate chips. Yum!

I'm not going to lie, we jumped to make these as soon as we saw them. I was supposed to be heading out of town, but this took priority. Literally as soon as L saw me looking at this we decided we would run to the store and get these done. Unfortunately they had to chill before eating them (of course I took one small piece before they were done). He was a good boyfriend and didn't touch them anymore until I got back in town. But once we started - oh they were delicious. Rich, thick, peanut buttery and fudgy (which apparently is not a real word, no matter if you put an 'e' before the y or not).


Nutter Butter Brownie Bars
1 Box of Brownie Mix
Eggs, oil and water (as per brownie mix)
25 Nutter Butter cookies
*1 1/2 cups butter
1 cup of chocolate chips
splash of heavy whipping cream

*The original recipe calls for 5 ounces of cream cheese but L hates cream cheese and won't eat it. So instead we substituted butter to make it more like a crust.

Make brownies as it says on the box. Make them in a square pan such as 9x9, don't make in a 9x13 as we did. That throws off the numbers for everything else.  Let them cool a bit.
Crush Nutter Butter cookies and combine with butter or cream cheese - whichever you are using.
Spread this over the brownies.
Melt (using a double boiler, preferably) chocolate chips. Add heavy whipping cream and mix together. Spread this over the nutter butter mix.
Let these cool in the fridge for a good while.
Slice up and enjoy!

Quick Tasty Meals - Taco Pasta

About a year or two ago, I created a dish I called taco pasta. I took things I had - ground beef, taco seasoning, canned tomatoes, and ditalini (small , cylindrical pasta). I browned the beef with the taco seasoning, added the rest and done. It was pretty great.

Tonight, however, I decided to step up the health some. Here's to my new Taco Pasta.

Grab a box of whole wheat pasta - I happened to have some rotini lying around. I apparently like to use little or "ini" pastas. Clearly I speak Italian. We also had tacos earlier this week so I already had some seasoned taco meat. After all, there are only two of us and even though L eats a lot, we still don't polish off two pounds of meat in one setting.   Then I had a can of "diced" tomatoes. I put diced in quotes because, if you look at the picture, those are clearly cubed; they're way to large to be diced. To up the health, I added some frozen spinach that I had left over from my Green Monster. Lastly, I threw in a can of chick peas for good measure. (I hope the skimmers appreciate that I put the important stuff in bold. I also hope fellow teachers appreciate it - it is very similar to the highlighting step used for test questions.)

This meal was delish! The seasoning from the taco meat really stood out and didn't fight with the pasta because it was whole wheat. Last time I had wheat pasta I wasn't a fan, but the flavors in this were so strong the pasta was merely the vehicle for everything else. Isn't that the way it should be, anyway? I served it (to myself only, L had a big bowl of mac-n-chese. Boy does he fight my fit efforts.) with a slice of plain rye bread. I say plain because it had no butter - otherwise it is glorious, flavorful, simply awesome slice of Jewish heaven. What a dinner.

I would love to cook with more fresh things but L is rarely an adventurous eater. On the other hand, nights like this I absolutely love to have my cabinets stocked with some canned goods. I can't find the post I thought I wrote, so I will have to tell you another time why crushed/diced/whole canned tomatoes are my favorite to keep around. Clearly it has to do with how many different ways I can use them. AND I DON'T EVEN LIKE TOMATOES! Well, I do, but not raw. Hence the cans.

My Greenie Meanie

This is a post of some firsts

Now, don't worry about the water glass in the back, the Game Informer mags (which belong to L, I promise) or the Thin Mint cookies (can I blame them on him, too?). That's not the focus of the picture. But that yummy Green Monster Margarita is!  I originally found this from Clair on her blog Finding Clairity, a recipe she shared from Angela's Green Monster Movement. I will admit that I, too, was very scared of this roaring green beverage. I wanted to try it. Well, more like I wanted to want to try it. Eventually I said "you know what? Just do it! This might help you be healthy!" I have to use a lot of exclamations when I talk to myself because I use a lot of emphasis. If I don't, I won't listen to myself.

So I did it. The one posted on her website is for a post-workout (check-yes!) banana (every smoothie should have a banana base) and pumpkin (I LOVE this, even outside of Christmas time) concoction. Plus some green, of course. I didn't have everything, so the recipe below is my adaptation of Clair's adaptation.

My FIRST Greenie Meanie Green Monster

1 cup frozen spinach
1 quite ripe banana
*1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
14 drops liquid Stevia (because the yogurt has more flavor to sweeten than other milk products)
1 liberal dash of salt
1 good bit of pumpkin pie spice (because I never seem to have all of the necessary pumpkin flavors. I'm not sure what happens to them - sometimes I can find nutmeg in my cupboard, sometimes ground cloves, but never both that the same time)

I really love pumpkin so I added more after tasting it. It's all to taste, really.

Directions: blend!

Isn't that easy?? Just make sure you blend it well because you don't want to be chomping on the spinach. It's just there for health and base.

 The other reason I was excited to try this is because I recently won a giveaway (also from Finding Clairity) and just yesterday got it in the mail! I got 3 bottles of liquid Stevia from Nu Naturals - vanilla, lemon and orange. Clair posts so many delicious looking recipes made healthier by using liquid Stevia instead of sugar and I have been dying to try them! I'm serious, you should go check out her recipes - they are amazing! Or so they sound/look. And she says so and I trust her completely. The Stevia was awesome - it did sweeten my smoothie. I'm not saying this was delish right off the bat - it definitely took a few bites to get use to. Around bite (yes, I keep saying bite because I ate it with a spoon. Again, thick Greek yogurt vs. another milk product will do this) 3 or 4 I started to come around. For my first attempt at a Green Monster I was very satisfied.

This is great for a post-workout beverage. The banana gives you the sugar and potassium, plus protein and calcium from the Greek yogurt - just straight health all around.

I know you don't really *want* to try it, but when I tell you that it tastes good, how could you not be curious enough to give it a whirl?

"My entry into Once Upon a Weekend sponsored by Appliances Online and their FridgeFreezers."

Crazy Busy

 Crazy busy and I wouldn't have it any other way. Friday I took off work to bake some cakes and then L and I went horseback riding! I love having new adventures with him. Saturday I was up at 5:30 with more baking, worked during the day and then chaperoned our 8th grade semi-formal that night. It was such an awesome experience when I was an 8th grader that I really wanted to do the same for my 8th graders. They looked so good! Corsages, some guys had tuxes (one wore a white tux WITH TAILS!), their first time in dresses and/or heels - such a great experience for these young people. It was a long few days but so worth it!

Spring Walk

Back in February, I posted the pictures from my Winter Walk on the Huckleberry Trail. I also promised some spring time comparison pictures, and here they are! I love the history of this trail, of this whole area, with it's coal mining heritage. So much stop and read if you want, beautiful sites to see, or just a wonderful place to run and be at peace. I love this trail because every time I'm on it, I fall in love again! (Too cheesy?)

Walking towards my favorite bridge

Wood covered bridge

If you can't tell - there is still coal all over this trail

This is the same bridge from the winter walk picture. It's the halfway point on the Coal Miner's Loop

You can probably see how this trail has helped me fall in love with running. And walking. And southwest Virginia. I hope wherever I move next I can find another trail to explore.