Green Monster Smoothie

1 Jan

Green Monster Smoothie | Adventures of a Hungry Redhead
I am not a fan of New Year’s resolutions. They just seem fake to me – doomed for failure. If it wasn’t important enough to change when you first noticed the problem, why is it important enough to change starting January 1? Exercise for example. Winter has to be one of the worst times to resolve to exercise more (unless you live in California, Florida, Arizona, etc.). I’d give up by March too if my only concept of “working out” was the elliptical. Same for “eat better.” Hello? How many Christmas cookies are still laying around on the counter, leftovers from parties and football food galore since we’re in the middle of bowl season and on the verge of playoffs.

Ok, so I’ve bashed resolutions enough. I don’t want to stop anyone from trying to make meaningful changes in their life. But, if someone with no experience in making resolutions could offer some advice, it would be this: keep it realistic. Try something small and manageable.

I just finished reading an excellent book called The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. In the book, the author examines what defines, contributes and detracts from happiness. She starts a year-long happiness project, focusing on a different aspect of her life she would like to improve each month. A key message I took away from the book is that small changes, continued over a long period of time, make a big impact. Continue reading →

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Fired Up Friday Dec 28

28 Dec

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Since Monday is New Year’s Eve, I figured I should provide some party music for Fired Up Friday. Confession: I’m not a fan of New Year’s Eve. I’m not huge on parties, especially ones at bars that charge covers because it’s NYE and are packed and it takes forever to get a drink. I went to see Girl With the Dragon Tattoo last year for NYE with a bottle of champagne in my purse. If it was still playing, I’d go see it again. I’m currently lacking a partner in crime in ATL as well, which gives me a lack of motivation to socialize. You know what does make me want to party? This song. You damn well better believe any party I go to is for the bitches and the drinks. Sing it Trey!

PS – don’t forget to work out. There’s no such thing as Diet Champagne.

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Baked Brie

27 Dec

Baked Brie | Adventures of a Hungry Redhead
I must have been bad. I woke up to some coal in my stocking. Or rather, a COLD in my stocking. Cruel joke Father Christmas. I can’t taste jack. This hasn’t stopped me from eating, but other than salty and sweet, I’m really not sure what’s going on. I think the realization that I couldn’t taste anything was where I caved and took some cold medicine. I generally abhor medicine; I rarely get sick and when I do, some OJ, vegetables, sleep and my vitamins are all my immune systems needs to get me through! Seeing as how it’s the holidays and I’ve been getting pretty much none of those things — fine Tylenol, you win.

Spending the holidays in zero degree temperatures in Wisconsin probably does not help my cause. But it does help my cheese intake. Oh yes, the rumors you’ve heard are true. This is the land of cheese. Thinking back on the meals I’ve eaten since I arrived, I can’t recall one that didn’t involve cheese.

Baked Brie | Adventures of a Hungry Redhead
Hence my love for baked brie. Yes, I know brie is French, but it’s still cheese, cheese wrapped in puff pastry with jam. That pretty much ticks my boxes for a perfect party appetizer: salty, sweet, puff pastry, cheese. It looks so fancy, but it’s so easy to make — just don’t forget to thaw the puff pastry. Continue reading →

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Cake Mix Cookies

24 Dec

Cake Mix Cookies | Adventures of a Hungry Redhead
In the words of my favorite caffeine pill addicted Saved by The Bell character, Jessie Spano: “NO TIME! NO TIME! There’s never any time!” Well Jessie, we may not be on the swim team, the cheerleading squad, student council, the yearbook committee, science club and in the school play while pulling down the highest grades at Bayside, but I think most of us can related to your caffeine crash rant this time of the year.

Not only is there no time (seriously, is the sun setting at 5PM?) but everything takes more time. The lines at Target are crazy right now, which is great when you decide to swing by after the gym to get some body wash and then as you’re standing in line you realize the sweat has made your mascara run (don’t judge, I go to the gym right after work) so it looks like you’ve been crying. Probably not so shocking to see someone crying at Target during the holidays I guess.

So here we are on Christmas Eve and you’ve run out of time and have no interest in battling the crowds at the grocery store for evaporated milk, caramels, peppermint extract, pecans or what have you, but you’re on the hook to bring cookies to family Christmas. This sounds like a job for cake mix; the secret weapon of a baker’s pantry. Continue reading →

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Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies for Sandy Hook

21 Dec

Cookies and Crafts for Sandy Hook
There will not be a Fired Up Friday post today. Instead, I’m joining my fellow bloggers in #BloggersForSandyHook. Today, we post in honor of the victims, families and community of Newtown, CT.

I know parents everywhere, upon hearing of the shootings at Sandyhook, immediately thought of their children and wanted them in their arms as soon as possible. I do not have kids. I thought of my mom.

Red and Mom at Pep Band
This is my mom and I. My mom is a teacher. She teaches music. Never did I hear her refer to “my students,” they were always “my kids.”

I thought about my mom and my heart sank, because I knew that if that was her school, she would have done everything she could to protect her kids. Continue reading →

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Old Fashioned Iced Oatmeal Cookies

18 Dec

Iced Oatmeal Cookies | Adventures of a Hungry Redhead
Call me old fashioned, but this cookie and me were destiny. I wasn’t looking for the perfect iced oatmeal cookie, but it found me.  It stared up at me from Pinterest with a look that said “I may look like just an average oatmeal cookie, but I’m special.” It was the holiday season, so I figured oatmeal cookies would ship well and be enjoyed by anyone with a soul (conveniently, I only ship cookie gifts to those with souls).  From the elegant simplicity of the recipe to the first test bite, to the icing droplets, this cookie saw right through me and it won me over.

I already have a go-to oatmeal raisin cookie recipe, but that’s like comparing apples and oranges. Those cookies are thick and chewy and the raisins are pops of sweetness. These iced oatmeal cookies are thin — soft in the middle with crisp edges — and the icing melts in your mouth adding just the right amount of sweetness to the cookie – like a perfectly glazed donut. See, donut,  it knew my weakness. Continue reading →

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Fluffernutter Oreo Moon Pies

17 Dec

Fluffernutter Oreo Moon Pies | Adventures of a Hungry Redhead
Bam. That just happened.

Oreo. Peanut butter. Marshmallow. Covered in chocolate.

I barely know what a moon pie is. I think they’re  a southern thing because I first saw them in gas stations on road trips below the Mason-Dixon line. It’s basically marshmallow sandwiched between two cookies and dipped in chocolate. I think this is called a moon pie because it’s so flippin good you fly right past cloud nine to the moon when you eat them.

Oh, and because moon pie sounds better than moon cookie. Continue reading →

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Fired Up Friday Dec 14

14 Dec

Workouts are like brushing teeth
So training was a little bit of everything this week. What am I training for? Christmas cookie season. If I’m not baking them, I’m eating them and exchanging them and going to holiday parties and washing them down with wine. Christmas cookie season needs to be earned though, so I ran six miles on Monday, CrossFit and pilates on Tuesday, spinning and kickboxing on Wednesday, boot camp (12 days of torture Christmas) on Thursday, going to hit the elliptical today for a “rest” day, then 10 miles on Saturday, three miles, strength training and yoga on Sunday (at least that’s the plan).

Thankfully my boy Deadmau5 has new music out to keep me on point. I love Deadmau5. I want to make Deadmau5 cookies. But you know what they say, if you give a mouse a cookie…

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Cheesy Mushroom Pull Apart Bread (Crack Bread)

13 Dec

Crack Bread | Adventures of a Hungry Redhead
College bowl season always brings a mix of emotions for me (yes, even the Beef O’Brady’s Bowl or the GoDaddy.com Bowl or the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl). On the one hand there’s the excitement of the games; you’re taking every school’s traditions, cranking them to 11 and adding more cowbell. And since it’s a bowl game it calls for a party, which calls for drinking, which calls for extra jumping around, yelling and throwing things at the screen. On the other hand, college bowl season marks the end of college football season, which effectively marks the end of the holidays. This means you have January and February to solider through until spring, St. Patrick’s Day and March Madness arrive.

If you plan on celebrating bowl season, you need to make the most of it with some kick ass football watching food. I give you Cheesy Mushroom Pull Apart Bread a.k.a. Crack Bread. As is the case with the Slutty Brownie, I did not name Crack Bread, that was Pinterest, but I can see why it was given this name. It is addictive, it is bad for you, you can’t stop thinking about it and you have a hard time sharing it.

Crack Bread is also like Slutty Brownies in that you can adapt it to your own taste. I’ve seen versions that are more of a pizza flavor or a taco flavor. This one is the original I found on Pinterest   with an insane photo of a chunk of bread connected to the loaf  via a long, thick strand of cheese with mushrooms and green onions dangling. I figured since I’d never made it before I’d stick with the original. I did a mix of provolone and monterey jack and I did not use the poppy seeds. Who needs opiates when you have cheese, I always say. Continue reading →

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Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

12 Dec

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies | Adventures of a Hungry Redhead
I enjoy being one of those people you go to for baking advice. Baking advice is pretty much the only advice I have to offer. Yes, I work in racing, but no, I have no idea why your car is making that noise. Yes, I run, but no, I’ve never used a training program.  Yes, I am a woman, but no, I can’t tell you why your girlfriend is crazy.  Your cookies didn’t turn out? You must tell me everything you did step-by-step and we will get through this together.

With Adventures of a Hungry Redhead in full swing, I’ve received even more inquiries, which makes me blush. Now it’s the holidays and it seems like every conversation struck is an excuse to quiz me about Christmas cookies, which is fine by me, I was going to change the topic and start talking about food anyway. It’s not you, it’s me. I’m hungry.

So let’s talk Christmas cookies. Every Christmas, these peanut butter cup blossoms are my go-to cookie. In fact, at this very moment, there is a supply of them in the mail en route to one lucky office in the continental U.S.

Why is a peanut butter cup cookie my Christmas staple? They’re cute as a button, they’re easy to make, they have a peanut butter cup in them (Hello! Can’t lose!) and the recipe makes a crap ton of cookies. Continue reading →

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