Cookie madness:

This weekend we did some major cookie baking. Just call me the cookie queen. We made our staples like peanut butter kiss cookies, strawberry thumbprint cookies, and iced sugar cookies (my nephew's yearly creation). Every year, I like to try a new recipe too. You never know when you're going to stumble upon your family's new favorite holiday cookie. This year, I tried a new recipe for really chewy snickerdoodle cookies. Because I don't have time for a cookie that isn't soft and chewy. The verdict: most delicious.

In the kitchen:

I've been busy in the kitchen these past few weeks:

Juicing:

I may be behind the times, but lately I've been on a juicing kick. And here's the thing: we didn't even have a juicer until recently. Very recently. Like, last week. I had never juiced anything in my life before last week. But I wanted to. So. Badly.

I've been reading all about juicers, juicing, juice recipes, and juice cleanses. I've done massive amounts of research. I am now an expert on juicing. A wealth of juicing knowledge. And I've officially jumped on the bandwagon.

We're vegetarians. So we have to work really hard to find sources for protein, iron, etc. And that usually requires a lot more food than if we weren't, because there isn't as much of all that stuff in veggies, ounce for ounce, as there is in meat. Sometimes I feel like all we do is eat (which I am totally okay with, don't misunderstand), but my stomach can only hold so much at any given time, you know? I've been looking for a way to be more efficient about our eating; to pack our diet with the most nutritional content possible. It's surprisingly hard to do. Real life: sometimes I don't want to eat a salad loaded down with 5-8 different kinds of vegetables and beans and then go for a run. Sometimes I want to eat half a pizza and watch a movie in bed. So, on those days, I'd feel a lot better about myself if I washed my pizza down with, say, a glass of homemade carrot, orange, and apple juice. Drinking my vegetables is a much more reasonable way to load up on vitamins, minerals, and other good stuff. And it's a great way to sneak in those vegetables that I'm just not crazy about (read: beets), despite their nutritional value.

So, juicing: it's happening. And I'm excited. Probably far too excited. We decided to go with the Omega 78006 Juicer. It's a masticating juicer, which after my research, I feel is the right decision for us. And bonus: it also makes pasta, grinds beans and flour, and has a homogenizer to make nut butters. Homemade peanut butter!

Do you juice? Everyone I know who started it has gotten really into it. And I think we will too. It seems like a really easy, natural transition for us to make.

Cupcakes:

Because of some inclement weather last week, I had an afternoon off. And for some reason, when I'm cooped up I get in a pretty intense baking mood. So, I made cupcakes (Joy's recipe, of course!):

Tillie was my assistant. She made sure the floor stayed free of any and all ingredients the entire time.

Comfort food:

This week has been really cold. So cold that I've dumped my weekday runs in favor of pajamas, blankets, and warm mugs of tea.  I feel a little guilty about being negligent to my training but the upside is I've had more time to cook in the evening. The other night, when deciding what I wanted to make for dinner, I was cruising Joy the Baker's blog (my obsession is reaching dangerous levels, I know) and stumbled upon her recipe for polenta. I had never made polenta before but it looked too delicious to pass up. So, baked polenta with tomato and basil it was.

Read more after the jump!

Pretzel Dogs:

You know how for New Year's everyone is talking about starting the year out eating right and being all healthy and everything? Well, we went in the opposite direction. I figured we eat really healthy all year so why not have a little fun on this night. Enter Joy the Baker's (who I am obsessed with) pretzel dogs (veggie, of course) and pickle fries. You guys. It was amazing. So amazing that I had it again for lunch the next day. And was secretly bummed out when A ate the remaining leftovers when I tried to eat it for a third day in a row. But I didn't tell him because I didn't want to make him feel bad. Except I just did, I guess. Sorry Andrew. 

It takes a little while to make so you're going to have to commit some time. But it isn't too bad. And they're totally worth it. I would totally make them again. All that salty, pretzely, pickly goodness. And dipped in mustard? Divine.

Cookies:

This weekend was cookie madness weekend. I managed to make one or two kinds earlier this month and froze them but this weekend I made at least 5 dozen. And I helped Tyler make his famous sugar cookies (always the favorite at our get togethers). We're almost ready on the cookie front. Our freezer is stuffed full of cookies. I've got a few other things still to make. Because in our family, it isn't Christmas unless we are literally knee deep in cookies.

P.S. Santa Claus comes tonight! Have you been good this year? Better make sure you leave some cookies and milk out, just in case!

Making soup:

As the weather gets colder, my mind (and taste buds) turn to soup. During the winter months, all I ever seem to want to eat is soup. Oh, soup. Let's talk about how much I love you, just for a second:

1. You fill the entire house with your delicious scent as you simmer on the stove for hours
2. You make dinner easy: just throw random vegetables (sometimes ones that are a little questionable) into a pot and bam! Done.
3. You warm me up like no other food can
4. You keep me filled up with tasty and nutritious things like beans, carrots, potatoes, and celery, while keeping things light and low on calories
5. You reheat better than almost any other food and therefore encourage leftovers for a week
6. You are easy to bring along to work for a weekday lunch. Just pour into a jar and go

Needless to say, we eat a lot of soup. We like to make a big pot of soup on Sunday and some homemade rolls and eat on them all week long. So on a busy weekday evening, all we have to do is warm everything up and we've got an insanely delicious and filling meal. The soups we've been rocking lately are: split pea, potato, and black bean. But we're not partial. We are equal opportunity soup eaters.

P.S. It's election day! Go vote! It's your duty as an American citizen. And if you don't exercise your right to vote, you can't exercise your right to complain later (and we all know you will).

Mixing drinks:

For our last journey into drink-making before our trip (we leave this weekend!), we decided to try our hand at my favorite drink of all time: the margarita. In the past, we've made these from mixes but in an effort to cut down on artificial flavors and added sugar, we've decided to make them from scratch. Thus, we bring you the Real Margarita:

Our verdict: Not so good. I know you're probably thinking "how in the world can you screw up margaritas?" but trust me, I did. I should get some kind of award or something. It was really bitter and did not resemble my favorite drink in the slightest. So Andrew added a little simple syrup to sweeten things up. But then it just tasted too sweet with not enough of that citrus twist. And then the ice started to melt so it tasted watered down. So I didn't like it. How in the world can I be 0 for 4? They all seemed like such good ideas. 

So, what has this process taught me? To definitely try out new drinks before talking them up or serving them to others. It's been fun, but for our trip, I'll probably just stick to rum and coke.

Mixing drinks:

Our last two adventures in mixology did not have the desired result. I'm supposed to be coming up with delicious drinks for our beach trip, not striking out with every new recipe. So, with Friday's drink, we thought we'd play it safe with the Girlish Figure:

The verdict: Not bad. I really did like it. It did have a little bit of a bitter aftertaste because of the cranberry juice. And even though I'm not a fan of cranberries, I think I could drink this again although I'm not sure it'll make the beach trip cut.

We tried just mixing the diet lemon lime soda with the coconut rum and I liked that much better. It was light and refreshing. I'm sure a squeeze of fresh lime would only improve things.

Mixing drinks:

This past weekend, we tried another drink from our "mixed drinks test drive". Today's mixed drink: the Lava Flow:

Our verdict: Andrew liked it. I almost threw up. I hate bananas. Like, seriously hate. I can't even stand the smell of them. I don't know why I thought I'd like this drink. It has 3 bananas in it! I guess I thought all the other flavors would disguise the banana flavor. Wrong. If you hate bananas, I'd skip this drink. And definitely do not mix it up. Because then it just tastes like a banana smoothie. If you like bananas, however, this is probably right up your alley. Just maybe blend a few ice cubes into it to make it more of a slushy drink. Because it gets warm very quickly.

Mixing drinks:

For our upcoming beach trip, I've been collecting mixed drink recipes. And then A pointed out the other day that maybe we should test these recipes first, you know, just in case they're terrible and we make them for our friends. So as a way to make the waiting bearable and bring a little excitement to our lives, we will be trying a new drink every Friday leading up to our trip. This past weekend was our first: the watermelon swash:

I'm so glad Andrew suggested the test-drive. Because this one was really terrible. It sounds really delicious, right? Do not be fooled. It's gross. I think you can make a few tweaks to improve it though: only 2 basil leaves, more watermelon, more ice, and don't drink it immediately. Let it sit in the freezer for a while until it's more of a slushy consistency. And really cold. Temperature is vital, I think.

Green Grilled Cheese:

So, I am on a pretty restricted diet. And when you're counting calories, why is it that you always come across the most delicious food on the planet? Food that you, most definitely, are not allowed to have.

Today I came across this recipe for a grilled cheese sandwich called the "The Green Goddess Grilled Cheese Sandwich." And it looks absolutely amazing. Like I seriously want to stuff it in my mouth right now.

It does have some pretty healthy things on it, sure. But all that cheese can't be good for you. Maybe if I run a few extra days this week, I can treat myself this weekend.

We made cookies:

Oh man, last week I found this cookie recipe and literally couldn't stop thinking about it or talking about it all week (just ask Andrew). So this weekend, I decided to try them. The recipe is called "the only chocolate chip cookie I will ever need to know how to make for the rest of my life". And they weren't kidding. They are seriously amazing. I had to freeze half of the dough to keep from eating all of them in one weekend. So if you are on a diet or watching your calorie intake for upcoming races and beach trips (like me) then stop reading right now. I'm serious. Get out of here. Because you won't thank me for what you're about to see.

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Mouth watering yet? I thought so. But don't get too excited. These cookies require patience. Like 36 hours worth of patience. So even if you marched out right now and got all the stuff to make them, you wouldn't be able to eat them until mid-week. But trust me, so worth it. 

Thursday report:

My back was killing me today. But in a weird way. Like, my bones felt like someone was drilling into them. It felt awesome.

So I came home, took some Advil, and made quinoa tabbouleh (added fried egg for more flavor and protein). Most amazing dinner ever. I already want to eat it again.

My hair was super gross today (because I've been neglecting to wash it for a few days now) so I put it up in three little buns at the tape of my neck. And it looked cute!

And having my hair in those buns all day made the most beautiful waves when I took it all down:

Apparently, I need to not wash my hair more often

It's coming...

I've got some great stuff to share with you including the story of Andrew's marathon experience, adventures in baking, and a Saturday night spent with a foreign candy bar. But I left my phone (with all the photos) at home so it will have to wait. Until then, here's this:

• this is the saddest story about a whale I've ever heard. Seriously, it made me want to cry.
• have a hard time figuring out how long to boil an egg? This site makes it so easy. Plus, it's cute.

And here's a list of things that make me happy today:

• getting my own supply of felt tip pens at work
• straws
• amazing people in the breakroom with my baking skills
• eating string cheese really slowly
• waking up under a mountain of blankets
• an "I can do anything" feeling that has surprisingly lingered longer than usual
• getting all my work "to dos" done before lunch
• swimming laps tonight! I've given up caring what the temperature is outside. I will brave the cold with wet hair. and I will be happy about it.