alright friends, here it is, the substantial post i promised! buckle up for a couple recipes and a secret hint into burning a lot of calories in a small amount of time....

recipes!

i have effortlessly mastered another crockpot recipe (please hold the applaus til the end). ok, not the greatest pic, i'll admit it was taken by a co-worker at lunch while we were sharing the leftovers, but seriously this stuff is good and healthy!

.:ro-tel shredded chicken:.
>chicken breasts--i have a small crock-pot, so i only used 3
>1 can corn--drained
>1 can black beans--drained and rinsed!
>1 can ro-tel tomatoes--drained--i used 2 cans and the flavored kind with cilantro and lime juice (i know there is one that has chiles, not my style)
>8 oz of cream cheese--can used reduced fat if looking to be even healthier!


place chicken breasts into bottom of crock pot (go ahead, leave them frozen). after draining the other ingredients, drop them on top of the chicken breast along with the cream cheese. leave in crockpot for 6-8 hours on low, stirring every couple hours if you can (shout out to my roommate for helping me out on this!). at the end, chicken should easily shread making it perfect for tacos, on top of rice or in a fiesta salad! if it looks a little 'soupy', turn off the crockpot for 30-45 mins, this should help take care of that.

now onto bigger and better things...dessert!

i decided to try this dessert because i was having dinner with one of my closest friends and oldest/bestest roommate and through the years, we have manifested a love for smores! although bonfire season is over, this recipe gets you close to an authentic s'more and curbs your craving.

.:s'more cookie bars:.
>1/2 cup butter, room temperature
>1/4 cup brown sugar
>1/2 cup sugar
>1 large egg
>1 tsp vanilla extract
>1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
>3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (approximately 7 full graham crackers)
>1 tsp baking powder
>1/4 tsp salt
>2 super-sized (5 oz.) dark chocolate bars (e.g. hershey’s)
>1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff (not melted marshmallows)


preheat oven to 350°F. grease an 8-inch square baking pan.


in a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. beat in egg and vanilla. in a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined. divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. place chocolate bars over dough. i found that the 2 hershey bars fit perfectly, but feel free to break them to make them fit. spread marshmallow fluff evenly over the chocolate layer.
place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff. if you clump the dough together in your hands, flatten it and place it in pieces on top, it's efficient and creates more of the 'crumbled' effect. bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. cool completely before cutting into bars.

yum, yum, yum! i promise it's super easy (if i can whip it together in 20 mins, i promise you can) and a total indulge!

i held back from indulging too much because i had a mission to work out before the gym closed. every other time, i could easily talk myself out of something else that i 'needed' to do. well, i need to do better with a lot of things beginning with working out. after spending an hour cleaning up my room, letting my food settle, i headed to the gym with 40 mins to workout before it closed and with no game plan in mind.

by habit, i started out on the treadmill and that did not go well which was expected after those s'more bars. i lasted 20 mins on the treadmill, decided to skip the weights, and see how many calories i could burn in the short amount using a jumprope and 1 plate weight. insert hint to burning LOTS of calories, JUMP ROPE! how simple and inexpensive. does anyone else feel that the jump rope is a highly underrated piece of equipment?

 i quickly threw together a circuit of exercises:. 30 seconds jump roping, 10 push-ups, 1 minute of abs (plank) and walking lunge with twist (using plate weight). after two rounds i was hoping the gym closing was going to my excuse to 'have' to go home. well, it had been 4 minutes. 4 minutes! i'm either out of shape or have just discovered a workout to kick my own butt...it's still up for debate. i decided to suck it up and went through 2 more rounds before going home, but i am excited to continue to use my jump rope regularly and see what happens!

with sore knees and a feeling of content, i am off to enjoy the rest of my evening!

always striving for more,
dee b.