snow days are the best

so there isn't really any snow accumulation, but i still got out of school, work, and teaching. sometimes false snow days are the best- if only to catch up on assignments and have a great excuse to bake!

who says you can't make box cake mix healthier?

at what point is a muffin a cupcake or a cupcake a muffin? in my mind it's just a line between "healthy" and not so healthy. then again, I've made muffins with chocolate chips so am I only calling it a muffin because I used oats? and there was also that time i made a cake with a can of soda just to see how it would turn out...but let's not go back to those days.

Carrot cake

(makes 24 "muffins" muffcakes)

1 box spice cake mix

3 eggs

1.5 c finely shredded carrots

3/4 c raisins, golden or regular

1/2 c chopped walnuts

1 c water

Oil spray (for muffin tin)

Line or spray two muffin tins. Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix all ingredients until combined. Scoop 1/4 c into each muffin tin and bake 15-20 minutes or until it presses back lightly when touched (or use the toothpick method).

*This would probably also taste great with toasted coconut added in. If you want it to be more cupcakey, I would suggest adding the oil recommended on the back of the cake mix box, but I like my cakes nice and fluffy and wanted to get my good fats from the walnuts instead of oil. if you want it to be more on the cupcake side, a cream cheese based frosting sprinkled with chopped walnuts would be absolutely delish! i also think putting in a small can of crushed pineapple in place of the water would make this really moist and tasty.

it's decided, they're now known as muffcakes. 

in case you needed some motivation or ideas for dinner- nothing like taking the random veggies from your fridge and making a stir fry. and the smell of onions sauteing is probably one of the best smells in cooking. don't you agree?

vegerific

somehow reading more about nutrition for my class makes me feel like i'm still not getting enough vegetables in my life (although as a vegetarian it is very easy to just sustain yourself on carbs). so here's some food ideas of the week (minus the carbs b/c i'm going through a bit of a detox after birthday celebrations). these are really small servings b/c i'm basically eating every two hours. which is really fun and good for people like me who like to graze:)

red pepper stuffed with tuna, diced onion, black beans and of course spiced with oregano (i love this stuff). it would be great with some quinoa or wild rice and an egg probably would have held it together better. you can blanch the pepper for a couple minutes first, then stuff and then bake for about 10-15 min (or longer for beef or chicken ingredients).

stir-fried peppers and onions, scrambled eggs spice w/ oregano! i had some other veggies but they weren't quite as pretty.

oh, and i finally watched some videos on youtube for swimming technique. tried them out this morning and man am i sore. hopefully, once i can swim more than the 8 or 10 laps with the correct technique i can improve my mile time.

running and food

this week has been good, i'm going to give some kudos to my twin, i think not having pb for a while really helped me feel not so sluggish. and the more i run the less i want to fill my body w/ sweets.

last night's dinner- stir fry spiced with cumin (which is all sorts of good for you!)this is breakfast today, got in another 4 miles so breakfast of champions- half a toasted bagel, egg and some baby carrots. i'll throw in an apple or something in a bit:)