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By kilax, December 12, 2009 6:50 am

Ready to go into the oven!

This was Steven’s second time making these Vegan Cinnamon Rolls from VeganYumYum. The first time we made them was in November. We had had the recipe printed out for a long time, but check it out – it’s daunting! They’re a lot of work, but TOTALLY worth it!

I wanted to find a Vegan Cinnamon Roll recipe, because as long as I can remember, that is what we’ve eaten in my family* on Christmas morning. And I won’t be with them this year… but I still want my damn Cinnamon Rolls!

Do you have a traditional holiday breakfast meal?

I was not around** to document the first step – mixing the dough, kneading it, then letting it rise. Oops. I did smell the fresh dough though – don’t you just love that smell?

I did get to watch Steven do all the fun parts though: Rolling the dough out and loading it up with butter***…

Spreading the cinnamon/sugar mix on top…

Observing your lazy cat…

Rolling the dough out…

…into a log.

Using some thread to cut the log…

… into the rolls!

Using a well buttered*** dish (ha ha)…

… to put them in.

Whipping up some vegan cream cheese frosting (using Tofutti)…

… and baking them!

Nomming away! (I forgot to take a picture WITH frosting. Duh, Kim.)

Steven made these on Saturday and we let them rise in the fridge overnight. We baked them at our friend’s house Sunday morning. You can also put them in freezer, if you want to make them in advance!

These are SO UNBELIEVABLY GOOD. I love the description of them on VeganYumYum:

If you’re looking for a healthy, low-fat, calorie conscious treat, I can’t help you today. If you’re looking for a recipe that is guaranteed to win over any vegan doubter, guaranteed to please any Cinnabon lover, guaranteed to send any child into a permanent sugar high; these buns are for you.

It’s so true. These are the real deal – melt-in-your-mouth awesome, decadent cinnamon rolls. I’m so happy we found this awesome recipe! Let me know if you try them!

*Mind you, Pillsbury made those.
**Was cleaning the house.
***We used vegan margarine. Thanks for pointing that out, Mica!

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By kilax, October 26, 2009 7:43 am

I distinctly remember spending the night at my grandma’s house as a kid, and having her ask me if I wanted butter on my food – my toast, my (plain) pasta, my pancakes in the morning, etc.

Because of this, I grew up thinking butter was healthy for you. I figured, with my kid logic, that you added it to your food because it contained vitamins that you needed. I mean, why else would Grandma be asking me if I wanted some?

I also thought that fresh broccoli could only be served with melted cheese. Because every time I had broccoli at her house, it had cheese on it! Who ever knew these two items could be served apart!

Of course, now I realize those meals were just treats! And my grandma loved to treat us! And just so I don’t tarnish her name, I will let you know that she always made us eat a salad before dinner (loaded with ranch dressing – my choice, ha!), and that the food she cooks now is actually much healthier… uh, sometimes too healthy.

I think of this story every time I hear someone say something like “I don’t know what foods are healthy and should be in my diet” or “I can’t eat carbs!” Because my immediate reaction is surprise that people don’t have a general idea of what is healthy to eat, and that they fall for food myths like “carbs are evil” and “you can never have treats.”

But then I remember – I once believed butter was a health food! So, we only really know what we are told or witness first hand as we grow up. Some people probably end up with really distorted views about food, depending on how they are raised.

And even as we do become adults and try to do our own research and live a healthy life, who really knows what source we can trust? It seems like different “findings” come out each week, contradicting one another. Get 2-3 servings of fruit a day versus Limit your fruit intake! Too much sugar is bad for you!

Even when you eat a somewhat healthy diet, there are people telling you to eat raw, eat organic, eat less of this, eat more of that!

I think we all just need to do the best we can, with the tools/resources we have. Sure, you want to nourish your body now, so you get the most longevity and comfort out of it throughout your lifespan, but food shouldn’t be stressful. Too much stress can be just as unhealthy as a bad diet!

Hmm, this post took a strange turn! I actually wasn’t planning on those last few paragraphs. That is what happens when you forget your filter. I just meant to ask – did you have any silly food beliefs growing up? Or even as an adult?

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By kilax, April 26, 2009 7:29 am

I used my last pack of Berry Blue Sports Beans during my 12 mile run on Friday. I later drove to Sports Authority to buy a few more packs for next Saturday’s race, and… they were out. I actually said “shit!” when the sales clerk told me.

Since we’ve decided we like them so much, we looked into buying a case of them online (we’ll be using a lot once we start training for a full marathon!) yesterday morning. Then, we actually compared the nutritional label for Sports Beans versus regular Jelly Belly Jelly Beans and found out the differences are some added vitamins, potassium and sodium (electrolytes)  in the Sports Beans, and less calories in the Jelly Belly Jelly Beans. That’s it.

We basically just need them for the sugar/energy during endurance runs (I mean really, do you actually expect to get vitamins from candy?), so we decided to just buy regular Jelly Belly Jelly Beans for awhile and see how those work out. We’ll get to eat more. Ha!

Our Target has a HUGE Jelly Belly selection. So it was fun to pick and chose!

There are actually more jelly beans not shown in the photo!

I decided to try one of the Cold Stone Birthday Cake Remix Jelly Beans, because they made me think of my sister. They were okay, but I know I wouldn’t like that taste in my mouth during a run!

I chose (starting on the right): berry blue, kiwi, and watermelon*. Steven made two mixes: lemon drop with lemon lime, and orange juice with tangerine and orange crush. I put the Sports Beans in the picture below for comparison.

I am not sure what those last things are on the left? They don’t look like Jelly Beans.

When we went through the checkout, I started chatting with the cashier about Sports Beans, and how we were buying these instead, and blah blah blah. She said  (something like), “It looks like you got a lot of healthy food, so it’s no big deal you are getting these!” Then I explained to her that we actually eat this while running. She was nice to me, but I think she thought I was crazy. And Steven probably did too. But you know what? I try to talk to the cashier, to be polite. Even if I don’t make sense (that’s often). What’s the point of acting like they aren’t there?

If we end up liking using these, it will be a huge cost savings. Sports Beans cost $1.00+ for a 1 oz. pack. Jelly Belly Jelly Beans cost $7.49 a lb. That is a saving of .53¢ an ounce!

So… we’ll see how it goes! Has anyone else tried doing this? Probably. It’s not that novel of an idea.

Kenosha Half Marathon Weather Watch Day 4:

Steven asked if looking at the weather every day was making me feel worried. Actually, it’s not. I am just looking at it for humorous purposes. It is what it is on race day!

*What’s funny is, these can sit in our pantry forever, and I won’t touch them unless I am running. I’m not that into jelly beans! But that peanut butter… oh, no.

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By kilax, April 12, 2009 7:03 am

What’s with the SUPER long posts lately? And having more than one post in a day? I think what I really need to work on is my blogging addiction!

Well, it’s Easter, so it must be time for the big recap post on Lent.

Basically, you can read this list here and just imagine that all it says is “give up sugar treats,” because that is ALL that I was successful at for Lent (since 2/25 – I didn’t cheat on Sundays). I did have a few granola bars with bits of chocolate, and sports beans, but other than that, I completely gave up cookies, chocolate, soda, muffins, candy, and so on… and I feel GREAT!

I am about to spend the day making cookies, but I don’t think I’ll eat any. I am probably going to wait and have a sweet treat after my office’s Biggest Loser Challenge ends on Wednesday (there are 3 boxes of Girl Scouts cookies waiting to be eaten in my house). I plan on staying off the soda, and only having it on special occasions.

As for the rest of the list? A lot of it had to do with attitude and communication. I didn’t progress very far, but I DID figure out a lot of what is bothering me and why, and I tried different ways to handle it. I think I am getting there! Already I have tried to tackle my frustration this weekend by communicating better.*

And the “frivolous items”? Well, I DIDN’T buy a single magazine or book, which is what I had in mind when I wrote that. But uh, yeah, I did buy new clothes (twice), running outfits, a new computer, and… a new car. Good thing I wasn’t buying any magazines, right? Jeez.

We cut back on eating out, not that we did it much before, but I think that can be attributed to the fact that we are so conscious of what we put in our bodies now.

What did I learn? I learned that I CAN reach a goal, but that it can be too overwhelming to try to tackle a lot at once (perhaps I should follow Nilsa’s “challenge a month” lead?). Upcoming goals for me include really committing to cutting out swearing, and trying veganism, and apparently, working on my blogging addiction (any tips with that?).

Unrelated topic: My sister, Christina, was inspired to make a rainbow cake after seeing this set on flickr. Check it out, it’s pretty cool! Here are her photos below. I totally thought of Tori’s rainbow cake when she told me about this!

It looks like you just use yellow cake mix, then separate it and add food coloring to make the fun colors! Or maybe not food coloring? I am not sure what’s in those little white tubes.

Doesn’t it look so fun?! Christina’s so fun.

Yummy! I hope everyone enjoys it!

Christina made this cake to share with my family for Easter. They are all together, with my mom’s side of the family. I decided not to join them this year, so Steven and I are going to take it easy at home (If you can call him running 12 miles taking it easy! HA HA! I only have to run 6 today.).

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

*”What’s bothering me?” you ask. Well, how nice of you to ask. Thank you. 1. My face is STILL numb and it’s bothersome to eat. 2. The kids in our neighborhood were damaging the trees in our yard yesterday, playing in the street, and harassing a goose. I went outside to talk to them, calmly and nicely, about all three things. I wondered why their parents were no where in sight, letting them play in the street! 3. We saw Fast and Furious last night, and once again, there were a bunch of very young children in the theater. One woman sat down and let her toddler climb up and down the stairs on his own. Well, of course he fell and started crying. There were 5 or 6 kids that probably got up at least 10 times (no, seriously) and literally ran up and down the stairs, very loudly. And the kids behind us would not shut up the entire time. I finally asked them, again, as nicely as I could, to please be quiet so the rest of us could enjoy the remainder of the movie. It was a fluff movie, but that experience really put me in an upset mood last night. 4. My frickin’ cat keeps waking me up at 6:00 am, and I can’t go back to sleep, and I am lonely, up by myself. (Data just goes back to bed!)

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By kilax, March 8, 2009 8:32 am

Since I’ve been dwelling so much on how much sugar is in all the granola and protein bars I eat, Steven and I decided to make some of our own.

The base has whole wheat flour, wheat germ, oatmeal, eggs, honey, apple butter and vanilla.  We split the base so I could add fruit to one half and Steven could add almonds and fruit to his. After you mix it all up, you put it into a pan and bake it in the oven.

I started by adding dried prunes and apricots to mine…

…then decided it need some red, so I threw in some cranberries.

Steven’s bars are the thick ones on the left, mine are on the right.

The “Fruity” bars have about 115 calories per bar.

The “Nutty” bars have about 180 calories** per bar.

The bars have a “healthy” taste to them. They are soft, but a bit chewy. I like that they aren’t very complicated, and were super easy to make. I think I am going to wrap them up in plastic wrap to eat throughout the week.

I keep feeling like I should apologize for dwelling so much on exercise, health, nutrition/food, and body image. But, writing about those things is kind of like therapy for me. It gets redundant, I know. Thanks for sticking around.

*I was going to call them “granola bars,” but they don’t actually have any granola in them. Oatmeal bar sounds like a dessert!

**These bars were higher in calories because we made them thicker and cut them larger.

Side Note: Did anyone else see Watchmen this weekend? Did anyone else wonder how, during the fight scene in the jail, Silk Spectre II could possibly keep her hair out of her face while fighting?

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By kilax, March 7, 2009 8:03 am

On Thursday afternoon (okay, AND Friday, but this story relates to Thursday), I started feeling a bit snacky. I felt an eating binge coming on. I’m sure it was a result of lack of sleep and avoidance of the work task at hand. I exhausted the remainder of my snack stash at work – a serving of pretzels and a few various granola bars/fruit bars.

Then I decided I wasn’t done, so I grabbed my little coin purse and trekked my way back to the vending machine. I got there and stared at it. The top two rows of the vending machine have salty snacks – mostly chips. And the remaining, I don’t know, five or six rows, are ALL sweets.

I gave up sweets, making it very difficult to find anything I wanted. This is where a normal person would stop the quest and go back to there desk, but I stood there for quite some time and noticed someone else in there, kind of looking at me.

“I can’t decide what I want,” I told him. He didn’t want to use the machine, but seemed curious that I was standing there so long.

“Well, you gotta narrow it down,” he said. “Do you want salty or sweet? Once you decide that, there are other decisions to make. For example, if you choose sweet, then you need to decide if you want something chocolatey. And if you do, will it be nuggety, nutty or fruit-flavored?”

I thought that guy was pretty funny. I realized what I WANTED was M&M’s, but I couldn’t have them, so I went down to the snack shop in our building.

I found the same situation there. More sweets than anything else. My craving for something sweet intensified while I was down there. But I resisted, and grabbed a bag of Gardetto’s.

Yuck. What a disappointment. First of all, they weren’t what I wanted. Secondly, I felt super self-conscious eating them at my desk because they are so crunchy (you know what I am talking about diane!). And thirdly, they leave a super nasty after taste in your mouth. And they don’t really have a good “before taste anyway. I hate that I just had to eat something, and picked something that didn’t even hit the spot.

So, I confirmed something about myself – I have a sweet tooth. When I get snacky, I crave sweet treats. You know what I was thinking that day? “M&M’s sound good. Warm, chewy cinnamon rolls sound good. A Deerfield’s Bakery donut sounds good.” I wanted something sweet and soft or sweet and crunchy.

Since I gave up sweets I’ve been having half an orange in the afternoon (along with carrots and celery). I thought now might as well be a good time to eat “closer to the earth” as well. I get so sick of eating processed crackers and bars. And even though I look for processed food without high amounts of sugar in it, it’s hard to find. There’s still a lot of sugar in there.

Most days I am totally fine eating my healthy snacks, but every once in awhile I get these awful urges that I just have to eat, eat, eat! They don’t come that often. But I hate it when they do. I wish I was better at controlling them. I feel awful putting bad things into my body that I don’t really want. Especially because I run so much. Usually that is enough to make me not do it, but not all the time. Ugh, I am blabbing.

I don’t know if I learned anything from all of this, or if I just feel better sharing my guilt here.

Side note: Should I feel guilty that I felt good yesterday when I overheard my cute and skinny coworker confess that she ate one roll of thin mints the day before, and the other roll the next day? Of course, it was immediately followed with “Now I have to work out, like, twice today!”

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By kilax, December 22, 2008 9:26 pm

Today is Steven’s birthday. Can you guess how old he is?

When I asked Steven what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday, he said he wanted a “huge bavarian creme donut.” “Not twice the size of a normal doughnut, but like, four times bigger.”

Hmm.

I sent an email to our favorite bakery, to see if they could accommodate the request:

Dear Deerfield’s, My husband loves your bavarian cream donuts. I was planning on ordering a cake from your store for him for his birthday, but he asked if I could order him a big bavarian cream donut with chocolate frosting. Is it possible to order something like that? I think he just means bigger than a normal donut, about four times the size. I would order it for pick up on Dec. 21st. Thanks for letting me know (and for humoring me!) Kimberly

They responded right away:

Hello, We don’t make a “jumbo” donut however we can either do a layered birthday cake with a custard filling or a Bavarian Cream Pie which has 2 layers of yellow cake filled with Bavarian Cream and topped with fudge icing. Please call Customer Service @ 847-520-0068 ext. 4 to place your order, Thank you. Cindy

At least they humored me. I laughed when I saw “jumbo” in quotation marks.

So, Steven didn’t get his “jumbo” donut – he got the leaning tower of donuts (thanks for the suggestion, Denise!) as well as a birthday cake, and some black and white cookies (which were very, very disappointing).

I gave him the donut tower, cake and cookies yesterday, since I wouldn’t have the opportunity to pick them up today. I also made sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies, and snickerdoodles yesterday (for Steven to take to work). So breakfast was donuts and cookies. Lunch was cookies and cookie dough. Afternoon snack was string cheese, then cake and ice cream with our neighbors. Pre-dinner snack was cookies. Dinner was penne pasta with alfredo sauce and green beans.

No wonder I had a headache when I woke up this morning!

When I was walking from the train to work this morning, I thought maybe yesterday’s sugar overload had finally cured me – I had made me feel awful enough that I would never binge on cookies again!

Yeah, right.

Sweet treats will always be around at celebrations! Birthdays just aren’t the same without a special sweet treat. I hope Steven enjoyed his! Happy Birthday, babe!

Steven and the furbaby.