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: