I FUDGE-ING Love You, Mr. Grumpy

Many people love to travel, adventure, climb mountains, jump off rocks, etc. What do I love? (Other than my Grumpy fam, duh) – I LOVE to eat at new places and try new things. So as such, when Mr. Grumpy told me he had made DINNER RESERVATIONS (literally… he made these like two weeks in advance which is romantic in and of itself) at Lago in the Flats for our Valentine’s date, I was pumped. I immediately started thinking about what I was going to order and how much wine I was going to drink. Tomorrow I start a 21-day clean eating and fitness challenge as part of my Beach Body challenge groups. I am so excited to see the results 21 days from now – my goal is to be at 121 pounds by the end, which is the weight I was on our wedding day. BUT, as my last meal with cream and cheese, you better believe I went all out!

Fun Fact: did you know Mr. Grumpy and I met the eve of Valentine’s Day? Cupid decided to send us both to the same bar – and at about 1:30 in the morning, Mr. Grumpy and his friends had the liquid courage to approach me and my friends. Needless to say, I did not remember his name but DID remember that they were all very nice and told me they were TRAIN ENGINEERS. And yes, I believed them – in fact, I told my mom I had met the nicest boys who were train engineers, and she pointed out they were likely lying. Which, they were. Lucky for them, I stayed around and about a year and a half later, I tricked Mr. Grumpy into our first date. The rest is history. So, lucky girl that I am – Mr. Grumpy always sends me flowers on Feb. 13:

I love getting flowers the day before – and thought I was pretty set for Vday gifts, until I woke up on Saturday to get ready for our 5K and found a box of Shari’s Berries sitting on the counter with a giant Hershey kiss and my favorite – Reese cups shaped like HEARTS.

Then, after eating everything… I felt like this:

 

 

So, I went to the 5K ready to run my little heart out. And guess what – I ran my fastest 5K yet!! At 32:30!!!! I was so proud of myself and excited at how much I’d improved since my last race.

Look! I got a medal! (It’s a participatory medal… I DON’T CARE I AM A WINNER IN MY OWN HEAD!). Ok, yes – I told the nice man at the market that I got first place in the race… but I’ll never see him again. So do I feel guilty? NO!

Here’s a peek at our yummy dinner – Mr. G’s lasagna, my tortelloni, and our dessert martinis!

Anyway – for Mr. Grumpy’s gift, I wanted to bake him something sweet. He’s been so nice about all our healthy eating – and has lost a ton of weight (nearly 10 lbs!!) and he deserved a night off too. In all actuality, these cookies are really not that bad for you – why? Because I replaced the oil with almond oil and there’s no butter needed! You are going to love how easy it is to make these – and how MOIST (I hate that word) that turn out!

I Double Fudge Love You, Mr. Grumpy Cookies!  

I adapted this recipe from this one on Sally’s Baking Addiction

What You’ll Need:

• 1 box of Duncan Hines Double Fudge Cake Mix
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup almond oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine the cake mix and baking powder in a large bowl. Set aside. Then, in another bowl, mix the eggs, oil and vanilla extract. Mix in slowly to the cake mix/baking powder (do not use your electric mixer as you want to fold it in my hand). Stop once the concoction forms a soft dough.

Using an ice cream scoop, plop the dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 15-18 minutes at 350 degrees. You want them to be slightly dough-y when you take them out of the oven. Leave them on the pan to set. They should be soft and fudgy-licious after about 5-10 minutes out of the oven.

Yum yum! What did you all do over Valentine’s Day weekend? Share your romantic moments!! And remember, Ryan loves you no matter how bad at crafting you are:

And then … Oscar Depants @MrGrumpyHWY

I know that people who post all the time about their kids and pups on Facebook are like THE MOST ANNOYING PEOPLE EVER. I actually unfriended someone once because they were posting from the delivery room at the hospital. But CAN I JUST TELL YOU THIS ONE STORY? Oscar hilariously tried to depants Mr. Grumpy today. In fact, even though we are trying to teach him not to eat things that aren’t his chew toys (not going well), I was basically cheering him on because I wanted Mr. G to get full out Coppertoned. Unfortunately, he wasn’t successful, but I managed to get this super cute video: 

Now, let’s talk about the Groundhog and why I think he’s full of crap. I cannot remember a time when we didn’t get six more weeks of winter, compliments of the rodent. So my question is: WHY DO WE BOTHER? I don’t get the day off work, I just get a shit ton of more snow and cold. Thanks for nothing, Phil. Usually, I’d use the cold weather as … you guessed it … an excuse to not work out. Instead, this year I equipped myself with some Yak Trax and some super serious cold weather running clothes that I bought using Mr. Grumpy’s Amazon Prime account (thanks, hubby!). Here is a pic of me post-run looking just seriously super cool:

 

Yes I am at the grocery store. So the answer is YES I WENT INTO PUBLIC LOOKING LIKE THIS.

It’s so easy to use the weather in Cleveland as an excuse to not work out or run – but when you do have everything you need to take away the excuses, you start getting the running itch. So here I am … training for another half marathon – the Dicks Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon! This past week was my first training week… we have a long run ahead of us! Here was my best day:

So – what’s going to keep me going on this training? Scheduling in advance when my workouts are going to be. This is helping me stay on top of my training and still keep up with Shaun T with what is my last 30 days on the program! When you schedule your week in advance it’s a #nosurprises #noexcuses take to your week – and I bet you’ll be surprised how much you get done!

Like making this yummy taco fiesta chili – and homemade Doritos!

Here’s the recipe: 

What You’ll Need:

• 2 c of dry black beans
• 1 c of dry pinto beans
• 2 cans of Great Northern Beans
• 1 red pepper, cut into chunky pieces
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 1 package of taco seasoning
• 1 jar of salsa verda
• 1 cup of salsa (check to make sure sugar is NOT within the first five ingredients mentioned)
• 1/2 lb of chicken – trimmed and cut into small pieces
• 1 can of diced tomatoes – don’t drain
• 2 boxes of no-sodium added chicken stock

Add all the ingredients in a crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours, until the beans have cooked through and are softened. If you’re in a rush and don’t want to wait, then just use cans of beans for everything and cook it on the stovetop. I just happened to have dry beans from our farmer’s market buys this summer.

The handmade Doritos were gross. I’m not going to lie to you. Sometimes you just make something and are like … WTF WHY DID I THINK THAT WOULD BE GOOD?!?!

What workouts do you have coming up this week? Let’s tackle this one together!