Author Archives: Jessica

Two Apple Recipes For You Cooked Apple Lovers

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Jessica| Leave a comment

Soooo….I like apples.

But only when they are raw.

The husband (along with most of the world) also enjoys them cooked.

And so, for him, when November hits each year, I make homemade apple butter.

He gets super excited about it.

This year, however, apple butter alone was not good enough for him.

He said I needed to make up for the one weekend in the past two months that I haven’t baked him some delicious goods.

So, I thought, why not more apple?

Apple Crumble Cupcakes, it is.

Or it was.

Not sure what the grammar should be there.

Also, I just spelled grammar wrong and had to correct it.

Ha.

I was, and still am, very intimidated by crumble.

I can never get a perfect consistency.

But I’m working on it.

Maybe in a few years, I’ll be the crumble master.

The husband still seemed to enjoy them.

Immensely, actually.

It is Tuesday night and they are all gone.

If I liked baked apple, I would probably agree.

But I don’t.

I wanted to spit the bite out that I had.

Don’t let that stop you from making these babies.

Word on the street is that they’re yumtastic.

And so is the apple butter.

Homemade Apple Butter

5 to 7 pounds Red Delicious apples

2 1/2 cups apple cider

4 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

Cut unpeeled apples into quarters and remove cores. Place in a large heavy stockpot. Add apple cider. Place over high heat. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the apples are tender and puffy, about 2 hours. (Don’t be worried if it takes less or more time – mine only took an hour.)

Process the apple mixture in a food processor or blender until smooth to yield 6 to 7 cups of pulp.

Combine apple pump, granulated sugar, cinnamon, lemon zest, cloves and salt in a large heavy saucepan and mix well.

Place over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 1 hour.

Spoon into 7 hot sterilized 1/2-pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Seal with 2-piece lids. Store in pantry or refrigerator. (I did not have these and just used whatever containers I had.)

Aaaand recipe #2:

Apple Crumble Pie Cupcakes

For the cupcakes

3 tablespoons butter, softened

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup + 2 tablespoons flour, all-purpose

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

3/4 cup applesauce

1 cup apples, diced (whichever kind you like)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cupcake liners in muffin tin.

Beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy.

Add the egg, and then the vanilla.

Beat until well combined.

In a measuring cup or small bowl, whisk together dry ingredients, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices.

Measure applesauce.

Add half of the dry ingredients, alternating with the applesauce.

Peel, core and chop apples into small pieces.

Fold apples into mixture.

For the crumble topping

1/2 cup flour

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

3 tablespoons butter, softened

In a small bowl combine all ingredients, then add softened butter. Mix with fork until combined.

Add about 1/4 cup batter to cupcake liners.

Sprinkle on crumble topping.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

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Posted in Recipes

A Race and Another Race

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Jessica| Leave a comment

Goooooood evening friends!

I’m just going to stop apologizing for my lack of consistent blogging.

And now I’m going to move on like I never disappointed you.

Since we last spoke (or I spoke, and you listened (or I wrote, and you read (can you follow all these parentheses? (I feel like I’m writing a math equation..let’s close her out, shall we?))))….I’ve knocked out two more races from the 30 Before 30.

Woo!

On Sunday, October 23, I ran the 5K Run/Walk at Tanger Outlets.

I am happy to announce that I cut my time down a little again, and came in at 35:06 – 20 seconds faster than my last time!

The race was nice and flat (it was two loops around the Tanger parking lot).

The little goal I had in my head was to be under 35 minutes. I could have done this, too. I just didn’t look up in time!

I was focusing on the road in front of me and on my music, and by the time I allowed myself to look ahead of me, the finish line was only 20 feet away.

If I would have looked up just a little while before, I could have pushed it at the end to get under 35.

My next race was on Saturday, November 4th – the Veterans Day 4K.

This was a little bit of a shorter race, but my pace ended up being slower than my last race because of many dreaded hillsssssssssssssssss.

Doh doh doh! (that was supposed to sound evil)

Evil…get it? ha.

This race was on a golf course, and went up and down, up and down.

I actually felt at one point that my legs were going to fall off.

Another reason I need to make sure I’m doing my strength training. (I’ve been slacking!)

It was also fuh-fuh-fuh-freeeeeezing out.

I have two more races to go in November.

I’m going to need to wear gloves and a headband next time.

Welp, I’m starving.

Time to make some dinner. Yum yum yum.

G’nite!

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Posted in 30 Before 30

Costumes and Cupcakes

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Jessica| Leave a comment

Happy Halloween everyone!!

Hope everyone had a great time celebrating this weekend.

The husband and I went to a bar with some friends.

I dressed as a mail order bride, and he was Billy Mays.

No, those do not go together in some weird way.

lol

I took an older white skirt and shirt that I had and covered it in fragile stickers and foreign stamps that I printed on sticker paper from Staples. I also wore my veil (from my wedding), and some flats and pearls.

The husband dressed in a blue shirt, did his hair like Billy Mays (he already has a beard just like him!), and carried around a container of Oxi Clean and a little baggie filled with ~~cocaine~~ confectioners sugar. He also wore a name tag, just in case people didn’t get it.

We almost didn’t go because of the lovely weather (crazy snow and rain), but I’m glad we did – we had a blast!

Then yesterday, I came home and finished these awesome cupcakes!

“Broken Glass” cupcakes w/ blood.

Got this out of a Martha Stewart Living Magazine.

That oddly comes to the husband.

That has to be a joke someone is playing on him.

He despises Martha Stewart.

I’m glad we get these magazines though – so many great ideas!

We just got the Thanksgiving issue and I can’t wait to dive in.

For the broken glass (caramel), make sure you cook it long enough.

I didn’t the first time and it never set.

I let it cook for a good 10-15 minutes the second time until it started to turn a little gold on the edges (like it says in the directions), and it worked out great.

For the blood, I used strawberry topping (that you find by the sprikles, etc. for ice cream), and it was delicious.

Lastly, I didn’t realize that the recipe called for some unsalted butter in parts, and just used salted instead. They tasted great to me, so I don’t know how much of a difference that made.

The recipe says that they make 3 1/2 dozen (42), but they ended up only making around 36. Maybe I filled the cups too much.

All in all these were adorable Halloween treats (the icing is DELISH – i kept squeezing it directly from the pastry bag into my mouth), and people seemed to enjoy them.

I think next year, I’m going to make them with chocolate cupcakes. I feel like it will make the icing/glass/blood stand out more.

“Broken Glass” Cupcakes

For the cupcakes

4 1/2 cups cake flour

2 tablespoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

salt

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

2 1/4 cups granulated sugar

7 large egg whites, room temperature

For the caramel

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup water

For the frosting

1 pound cream cheese, room temperature

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

6 cups confectioner’s sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Garnish: 1 cup cherry preserves, strained

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Make the cupcakes: Line cupcake tins with baking cups. Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and 3/4 teaspoon sale into a medium bowl. Combine milk and vanilla in a measuring cup.

2. Beat butter with mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to medium, and gradually add granulated sugar in a slow, steady stream. Beat until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, and add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour.

3. In a clean bowl, whisk egg whites with a mixer on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold one-third of the whites into the cupcake batter. Fold in remaining egg whites in 2 batches.

4. Divide batter among baking cups, filling each halfway full. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of each comes out clean and the tops spring back when lightly touched, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool completely in tins set on wire racks.

5. Meanwhile, make the caramel: Bring granulated sugar and water to a boil in a small high-sided saucepan, stirring, until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to medium-high, and cook until mixture just starts to turn pale gold around edges. Remove from heat, and immediately pour caramel onto a rimmed baking sheet. Working quickly, tilt pan to spread caramel to edges to make a very thin layer. Let cool to harden.

6. Make the frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Gradually add confectioner’s sugar and vanilla. Beat until creamy and spreadable.

7. Frost each cupcake using an offset spatula. Twise pan to release and break caramel in order for it to resemble broken glass. Place a shard or 2 of caramel “glass” in the center of each cupcake. Drizzle or pipe cherry preserves where caramel has entered the cupcake.

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Posted in Fun Things To Do, Recipes

Love That Lose It App

Posted on October 22, 2011 by Jessica| Leave a comment

About two years ago, when I was first running seriously and trying to lose weight for my wedding, I stumbled upon the Lose It App.

At that time, it was only available on the iPhone. And while I did not have one of these, luckily I had an iPod touch that I could use.

It’s basically a calorie counter, that is very user-friendly and easy to use.

I was thinking about it last week, and decided to see if it had come out for the Andriod yet.

And guess what?

It did!

I downloaded it immediately and also signed up for the additional free online system.

Things I love about the Lose It App:

You can copy previous meals, instead of having to add each thing every time. (This is good for me because as you know, I’m a creature of habit when it comes to eating.)
The website and phone app sync automatically, so you can add to either one whenever you want.
The goals portion lets you record your daily weight, and gives you a graph of your weight loss.
Most restaurants/supermarket foods are listed that you can choose from.
If something is not listed, you can create any food you like and enter all nutritional info for that food.

And the #1 thing I love about the Lose It App is….it works!

I’ve been using it to track my food intake and workouts since last Thursday (1 week and 2 days), and I’ve lost 5 lbs so far!

This is very exciting for me, because for the past month I’ve been struggling losing any weight.

It really does help to keep track of everything you are putting into your body.

On another note, I ran the Couch to 5K week 7 yesterday for the third time this week. (Running 25 minutes)

I decided to try it on 5.5 (11 min mile).

I made it all the way up to 20 minutes of running before I really felt light headed and nauseous.

I refused to walk, so I went down to 5.2 (11.5 min mile) for the last 5 minutes.

The final 30 seconds, I put the speed back up to 5.5.

I was proud of myself for finishing, but this one was definitely a struggle.

On Wednesday, I ran at 5.2 and felt really good and really strong.

This time, my focus the whole time was on how hard it was and how tired I was getting.

I’ve decided to set a mini-goal.

Four weeks from now, I am making it a goal of mine to be as comfortable running at 5.5 as I am right now at 5.2.

I think that is a realistic and attainable goal.

I figure one of my runs every week I will push myself at 5.5.

Hopefully soon enough it will get easier, and I will be pushing myself at a 5.7.

No workout for me today…resting my legs for tomorrow – the 4th race of the 30 Before 30.

Speaking of, it’s time to go sign up for a few November runs!

Have a great Saturday

______________________________________________________

Does anyone remember this?! hahahahahaha

My favorite one:

Ding Ding! Here comes the shit-mobile. I've never seen a fire truck that needed to be shaved. I would rather be burned to death than be saved by this hairy piece of shit.

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Posted in 30 Before 30, Couch to 5K, Running, Weight Loss

Playing Catch Up 2

Posted on October 20, 2011 by Jessica| Leave a comment

Meowsers.

Someone needs to slap me on the wrist for not blogging in a week!

Unfortunately (or fortunately, if you like this kinda thing), that means you get another overview post of my week.

I made this recipe that my mom gave me.

Lucky for you it’s simple and extremely delicious!

Un-lucky for you, I totally forgot to take photos.

Whoops!

Spaghetti with Garlic and Basil

1 (16 ounce) package uncooked

spaghetti

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup fresh basil, coarsely chopped

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Place spaghetti in the pot, cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until al dente, and drain.

In a large bowl, toss the spaghetti with the olive oil, butter, garlic, basil, salt, and pepper until evenly coated. Serve with Parmesan cheese.

I made this with some garlic bread, which didn’t come out as good as my mom’s.

It will be better next time! I swear it!

I baked some Banana Nut Chocolate Chip Muffins.

I would love to give you the recipe, however it was a “Recipe in a Jar” that I got when we went pumpkin picking the other weekend.

I thought that the recipe was attached to the side, but unfortunately it was not!

I tried measuring everything in the jar, but it all started sifting together.

Alas.

I ran race #3 of the 30 Before 30.

This one was the 3rd Annual Michael Michelini 5K to Benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

The website for their foundation is CancerSucks5K.com.

Love it.

I decided for this race that I was not going to wear my Garmin.

When I wear it, I am constantly checking my pace and time, and I feel that I am either beating myself up for not going fast enough, or going too fast.

This race I just wanted to run.

And it helped. A lot.

A few weeks ago, I was arguing with the husband about the way I run races.

I like to be in the moment, enjoy the scenery, be happy that I am running a race and am able to do so.

He thinks I should just run.

And I hate to say this…but he was right.

Eeeeeeeek!

This past race, I didn’t look around (except for once in a while) to enjoy the scenery.

I just listened to my music, focused on the road down in front of me, and ran.

Double Yellow Line Road

The first time I looked up, I was at the Mile 1 marker – and very surprised to have already gone that far!

I felt extremely strong until around mile 2.5, when my legs started to get a little tired. (Thank you, strength training.)

And I am proud to say that I only took two walking breaks! One at mile 1.5 where the water station was, where I walked for about 2 minutes. And one at around mile 2.5 for about 60 seconds.

The last half mile was a little rough, and I kept fighting the internal battle of “I ran most of the way, I can walk a little more” vs. “C’mon, you only have a half mile to go. Just finish it and then you can walk all you want.”