Follow the Ruels: July 2012

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

A Healthy Brownie?

Surely that isn't possible, right? Well, I am here to tell you...

...sort of. It's sort of possible.

So let me set the scene for you. B went out with the guys on Friday and I stayed home to watch the Olympic opening ceremonies. Of course, I always get the hankering to bake something when I'm home alone on a weekend, but I really don't NEED any baked goods around the house. Then I remembered my coworker telling me about a chocolate cake recipe that replaced the oil with pureed pumpkin. So I looked up a couple recipes for "healthy brownies". One that stuck out to me was one by Jessica Seinfeld from MedicineNet.com which used pureed carrot and spinach. Yes. Carrots and spinach. These brownies are very moist and almost fudge-like. If you like cake-like brownies, these probably aren't for you.

I altered the recipe just a bit to replace the sugar and margarine (and added chocolate chips), but they still turned out just fine.

Healthy Double Chocolate Brownies
Ingredients
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup + 1 tbsp Stevia
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup carrot puree
1/2 cup spinach puree
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp molasses
1/2 tbsp coconut oil (replace with extra greek yogurt if you don't have on hand)
2 tbsp greek yogurt
1 egg (or 2 egg whites)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. To puree vegetables, steam in the microwave (carrots for 7 minutes, spinach for 1 minute) until soft. Place in a food processor and puree until smooth.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the first 5 ingredients.
4. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler until just melted (the bigger pieces will keep melting after being removed from the heat)
5. In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the melted chocolate, pureed carrot, pureed spinach, vanilla, molasses, coconut oil, and greek yogurt. Beat until completely incorporated.
6. Whisk in eggs.
7. Pour in all dry ingredients and mix on slow until fully incorporated.
8. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, stir in chocolate chips.
9. Pour batter into a lightly greased 8"x8" pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Will make 16 brownies.

Ok...now...let me honest here. Do these brownies taste like they have carrots in them? No, not all all. But do they taste like gourmet, full sugar, full fat brownies. Of course not! They have carrots and spinach in them! They will certainly satisfy your sweet tooth or chocolate craving. And if you happen to eat a few too many, you don't have to feel guilty because you probably just had an extra serving of vegetables.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Bear. Batman. Beach Volleyball.

That is how my weekend can be summarized.

My title inspiration

Let me explain.

Friday night, B was out, so I was left to my own accord. Fine by me. I could watch the Olympic opening ceremonies without scrutiny. I love the Olympics. B likes the sports, but he doesn't think the opening ceremony (henseforth knows as 'OC') qualifies as entertainment. I will admit, this OC does not even light a candle to Beijing's, but it was amusing. I did liked reading everyone's twitter posts:

Some of my favorites.

(The only Olympics-related thing that started with a 'B' I could think of was Beach Volleyball)

On Saturday, B and I finally saw the Dark Knight Rises (Batman) and on our way stopped by Costco to pick up a new friend (Bear).

We named him Ted.

You wouldn't believe how much attention I got from children under the age of 10.

So, Sunday was the big day. We attended a birthday party for my friend's 3 year old son, Maverick. That's what the bear was for. Let me tell you...if you have not attended a 3 year old's birthday party...you are missing out. It will inspire you. Inspire you not to have children. I did want to take one little girl home though. She thought I was a teenager. Bless her heart.

This bear will last a week. At most.

The bear was a big success. We waited until most of the kids left before bringing the bear out for Mav. Since B was the one that physically gave Mav the bear, B has now edged me out as the favorite. Dang it! I will win him back next year.

Don't you wish you had a stuffed teddy bear twice your size?

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Sunday Social

Yay! It's Sunday. You know what that means...time to link up with Neely and Ashley for Social Sunday.

1. What is your dream job?

My dream job, meaning only in my dreams will I have this job, is to be Martha Stewart. I am not nearly as talented as she is, but I would love to spend my days just baking, crafting, and gardening. My dream job, one that is a little more realistic, is to be a fraud investigator. I recently went back to grad school and completely changed my career path. I used to be in marketing, but have changed over to accounting/finance. I am definitely a numbers person and love solving problems, but it wasn't until B started making me watch MSNBC's American Greed did I get the itch to be a fraud investigator. (I hope someone else sees the irony in my two answers...Martha Stewart + Fraud?)

2. If you had just won the lottery and didn't need to work for money, what would you do with your time?

And I would build a dream craft room.

I am not the type of person that would just sit at home and do nothing. So I would probably spend my time baking, crafting, and gardening. I would also love to volunteer my time doing something that is important to me.

3. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Sorry, no pics of little Lindsey playing basketball.

When I was a kid I wanted to be a professional athlete. I loved sports, especially basketball, and wanted nothing more than to play in the WNBA (which didn't exist until I was in middle school). The only thing that stood in my way...athletic ability.

4. What piece career advice would you give to someone just starting out in your field?
I wish someone had told me in college that I should stick to Accounting instead of persuing Marketing. I was really good at Accounting and it came pretty easy to me, but for some reason it didn't interest me. Marketing just seemed so much cooler. My advice: find out what you are good at, and that is probably what you will enjoy the most.

5. What are your biggest pet peeves either in life or in blogging or at work?

Don't test while driving. Save it for a red light!

I have a lot of pet peeves, but they are mostly around driving. Maybe I am just an irritable driver, but some people are just dumb! One of my biggest is people who drive well under the speed limit on the freeway. Seriously, that is just as unsafe as driving too fast. And maybe I'm just getting old, but I hate it when people text and drive. They tend to drive a lot slower and they don't stay in their lanes. Oh yeah, and they get into accidents.

6. What are your biggest fears?

Please don't invite me to 6 Flags.

I have a fairly major fear of falling. Oddly enough, I am not afraid of heights. I can go up to the top of the Empire State Building and look down, but if there is a really good possibility of falling, I can't handle it. That's probably why I hate roller coasters and turbulence.

I hope everyone has had a great weekend and enjoyed the first weekend of the Olympics! I sure did.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Craft Day Saturday

I have said many times since getting engaged that I would like to personally make many of the decorations instead of buying or renting them. Here is the list that I have started of the crafts that I would like to make for our wedding.

Ok, so these may look a little abstract for a wedding, but since I am getting married right by the ocean...and sand is in abundance in San Diego... it would be easy to work it into the decor. Instead of molding it around bowl, I could mold it around vases or votives.

I really love these letters spelling out 'Love' and would be perfect for a wedding. I could also make them for our monogram letters or just the letter R. I was also thinking that I could make the table numbers using this technique.

Another yarn project. This is one that I think I will definitely do for the wedding. I have already started saving jars and asked my mom to do the same. I will test out a few different options, including using colored yarn, rope, or twine.

I plan on doing all the paper items for the wedding (save the dates, invites, programs, etc) myself. That would also include these little guys: wine glass identifiers. My main motivation for making these? Hopefully they will save us some money because people will waste less wine if they know where there glass is. I might make them say something a little more fun like "Hands off! This is ___'s drink."

Our ceremony venue won't need a whole lot of decorating (one perk of getting married outside), but I think these little hearts that line the aisle are adorable. I wonder if my venue will let me stick them in the grass?

I really, really want to have lawn games at our wedding. I want people to enjoy the outdoor area and the beautiful scenery. I am really hoping it will work out with our venue. If it does, I would love to make some personalize corn hole boards. I don't know that I would put our profiles on there, but some sort of personalization.

Happy Saturday!! Hope someone is doing a craft for me today.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Repurposing Wedding Decor

A website that is one of my regular reads, Casa Sugar, posted an article the other day about how to decorate your home with wedding memorabilia. It had quite a few great ideas, but I thought of a couple more.

Instead of just framing some of your favorite wedding pictures, mount them on canvas or wood. Or do this for engagement pictures and use at the wedding.

Ruffled Blog

I love these unique centerpieces using cloches. I have also seen similar arangements with flowers inside. Although cloches can be a tad expensive, especially you need one for every table, they can easily be worked into home decor.

The same can be said for candy jars or other glassware used to decorate the church or reception hall.

Weddingbee

These moss letters, which can adorn anything from the church doors to the bride and groom's chairs, can be easily saved and kept to adorn your own door or mantle.

I really love the idea of setting up your own faux photo booth with a pretty backdrop. Why get rid of the backdrop, when you can hang it in your house behind a bed or on a bare wall.

Lauren Elise Crafted

I Love W Mag

I'm sure I will rent most of my linens for the reception, but I do really like the look of burlap table runners which would be really easy to make myself. The burlap, or any other fabric, can be reused as table runners (boring!!). Or you can use it to make other things like pillows, wreaths, or other decor.

House of Hydrangeas

Greige Design

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Another hump day. Another WILW with Jamie.

I'm loving that it is Wednesday and that means its halfway to the weekend. It has been a long week already, so the closer I am to the weekend, the better.

I'm loving these Baylor-related Someecards that are circulating amongst my Facebook friends. Baylor has been like that short, skinny, nerdy kid you knew in middle school, that turned into a cute, tall, athlete once they got into high school. For once we are getting noticed!

I'm loving any way to incorporate maps into home decor. I would really like to add a big world map somewhere so that B and I can mark off all the places we have been and want to go.

Pinterest via Everything Fabulous

Pinterest via Christy Wrights

Pinterest via A Cup of Jo

Pinterest via South Shore Decorating Blog

I'm loving the Spike TV show Repo Games. Yes, you heard right...Spike TV. Obviously B turned me on to this show, and it is definitely a guilty pleasure, but it is SO entertaining. AND you might actually learn something. Here is the premise: A repo man shows up at the home of the individual who is having their car repossessed. That individual has the opportunity to "win" their car and have the loan completely paid off by answer 3 of 5 questions correctly. Most of the questions are pretty easy, but lets face it, most of these people aren't the sharpest tool in the shed.

Here is one of my favorite contestants. The woman really knows her stuff and has a great attitude about it, but her husband is ready to give up after every question.