Baking Turns Into Dinner

I did a little baking tonight.

Can you guess what I made?

Mmm. Peanut butter.

Tonight I whipped up a batch of flourless peanut butter cookies for Jessica, the wonderful woman who bid on my cookies through Tina’s charity blog bake sale.

Now I’m not one to eat other people’s food, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist nibbling on these cookies, so I made sure to bake half of a batch for me and Ryan to enjoy.

I baked the cookies on a Silpat, the most amazing non-stick baking mat that my friend Merri introduced to me.

I flippin’ love this thing!

The cookies slide off the mat so easily and clean up is a breeze.

Once the cookies were cooled, it was time to enjoy one… or five.

What? They were small…

I had to put a lid on the cookies to stop myself from eating my body weight in these bad boys!

Guess who else likes these cookies?

She’s a huge peanut butter fan just like her mama, though she doesn’t appreciate it when you smear peanut butter on the roof of her mouth and laugh as she tries to get it off.

I ended up eating so many cookies and a significant amount of dough that I basically ruined my appetite for dinner.

I still managed to eat half of a stuffed pepper right out of the Tupperware to get something nutritious in my belly.

After enjoying my cookies and pepper, Ryan and I spent the evening catching up with our friends Dru and Carrie who came over to hang out and answer the bazillion questions we had for them about their recent engagement and upcoming wedding.

They got engaged last week and it was fun to talk to them and hear the excitement in their voices!

Dru and Carrie just left and now we’re unwinding a bit before heading into bed.

Hooray for Friday tomorrow! 😀

Ryan and the Blog

I love it when you can easily change leftovers into a whole different dish.

That’s exactly what I did for lunch today. I took the remaining pulled chicken from Tuesday night’s BBQ pulled chicken dish and turned it into buffalo chicken!

Buffalo Chicken Sandwich

I served the buffaloified chicken on a whole wheat sandwich thin, along with cucumber slices, a small cup of honeydew and Colby jack string cheese.

Do the Dew

Refreshing

The Goods

For dessert I had a warm and gooey chocolate chip cookie.

Ooey, Gooey, Chocolate, Chewy

It tasted slightly underbaked which is just how I like ’em.

Ryan and the Blog

Yesterday afternoon I received an email from Katie with a request for a blog post about how Ryan feels about my blog and how he handles living with someone who snaps photos of food multiple times a day and dedicates hours to creating blog posts.

I must start by saying that I am lucky to have Ryan’s whole-hearted support when it comes to the blog. When I first toyed with the idea of starting my own blog, Ryan encouraged me to go for it and even thought of the name!

Beach Bums

Of course it’s not all rainbows and butterflies. I am a real person and he is someone who lives with a blogging maniac. We have had an argument or two concerning the blog.

Laptop Black Out

Our biggest argument was one I’ll call the “Laptop Black Out.”

Ryan got upset with me because I would type up my dinner post on the couch near him, but with my back against the right arm of the couch and my feet up by his legs. When he looked over at me, all he saw was the front of a big, fat laptop.

That doesn’t exactly scream quality time, now does it?

Solution

I realized he felt neglected when I would spend a lot of time creating a post hunched over my laptop, basically ignoring him. Part of the problem was the time I was spending on my evening posts. My old laptop was unbelievably slow, and I would spend an inordinate amount of time cropping pictures and waiting for things to load. It probably took me 5 – 8 minutes of uploading time per picture. Not fun.

After dealing with this nonsense for a while, I found a great deal online and bought a new laptop. I also discovered Windows Live Writer, a publishing tool that made uploading pictures a breeze. My dinner posts now take about a quarter of the time that they used to and Ryan is a much happier camper. I also try to blog when he is catching up on sports and isn’t looking for one-on-one time.

Ryan always makes me feel like a priority in his life and I needed to do some adjusting to make sure he felt like he was more important than the blog. Lesson learned.

The Pictures

So how does Ryan really feel about me snapping pictures of my food on our dates, or posing with a big ol’ burger on occasion?

I asked him this very question, point blank last night.

His reply? “I don’t really care at all. I’m used to it.”

Whenever I whip out my camera, he calls me his little tourist. 😉

As far as all the pictures are concerned, it also really helps that he’s not easily embarrassed… especially when I’m snapping away in a restaurant or public place.

I think we both feel the most uncomfortable asking other people to take our picture for us, but that made me feel awkward even before I had a blog!

Will You Take Our Picture Please??? Pretty Please??? I'll Give You Candy!

Thank goodness for the self-timer.

The Key

To me, the key to balancing my blog and my relationship with Ryan is recognizing that my blog is my hobby. I do not have the luxury of being a full-time blogger who makes a living solely from my blog. Whenever I feel stress or pressure related to the blog, I remind myself that it is something I do for fun. Of course I want my blog to grow and thrive, but it is mainly my creative release and something that is supposed to bring me joy.

This mentality allows me to not post if I am too busy. It helps me feel okay stepping away from the computer when I’m hanging out with my family and neglect the blog when life gets in the way.

If you struggle with balancing your blog with your personal life, ask yourself this: What’s more important? The world seeing that turkey sandwich you just ate, or cultivating your personal relationships?

Peanut Butter Packets?

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

I thought this was Peanut Butter Fingers?

What’s with the packets?

Peanut Butter & Company

This lil’ packet you mean?

That packet of heaven was tucked into a gorgeous card sent to me by Lisa in honor of my one-year blogging anniversary.

Can you believe I’ve never tried Peanut Butter & Co. peanut butter before?

They make about a bajillion different flavors of peanut butter but I’ve never actually purchased a jar for myself.

I’ve avoided buying Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter or Cinnamon Raisin Swirl for fear that an innocent peanut butter finger would turn into a peanut butter hand… and then peanut butter arm, and I would polish off the whole jar in one day.

This Would Be Me

Seriously, it could happen.

This morning the highlight of my breakfast was not the yummy yogurt bowl I created.

It was the packet of peanut butter I slurped down while making my actual breakfast.

See Any Boogs?

More. Give Me More.

So, so good. Thank goodness the packet provided built-in portion control.

Breakfast

After my pre-breakfast snack, I enjoyed my yogurt bowl which I made my combining a cup of Fage 0% Greek yogurt, 1/2 cup of canned pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, sweetener and a large handful of Gerber Graduates Apple Cinnamon Puffs.

Big Baby

These little puffs are full of flavor! Love ’em.

Yog + Pump + Puffs + Spice

The Token Food-On-Spoon Shot

The apple cinnamon puffs mixed with the pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice tasted like fall in a bowl. Too bad the morning chill Central Floridians experienced yesterday was a big fat tease. The heat was back in full-force this morning!

Workout

My workout today was just what the doctor ordered… If I actually went to a doctor and they were to prescribe me a workout, that is.

I started off my gym session with 30 minutes on the elliptical before taking a yoga class.

Today’s yoga class made me sweat! I loved it.

I was really into everything that the teacher was saying. The woman who teaches the 6 a.m. yoga class at my gym has the most soothing voice, but still manages to make the class challenging at times. She’s fantastic.

Also noted during this morning’s class: I have the tightest hamstrings on the planet.

Alright mah friends, back to work fo’ me!