hebrokemyheart brownies

Trapped in the house for the last two days has led me to a lot of cooking and baking. Although I’ve been trying so hard to watch what I eat and workout regularly, once the ice warnings and power threats kicked in I decided I need to prepare for a catastrophe. I cooked lasagna, vegetable soup, blueberry muffins, and of course, my mother’s famous brownies. This brownie recipe is packed with numerous memories from my childhood to adult years. When my mom makes brownies she has always makes these, never from a box. My cousin Cindy from Florida always requests my mom to bake them for her when she comes to visit. She even asks for her to send them to her by mail on occasion. These brownies make everything go away; homesickness, loneliness, and they can even mend a broken heart.

Recipe

Ingredients:

• 4 squares unsweetened Baker’s chocolate
• 1/2 c. butter
• 1/2 c. cisco
• 2 t. instant coffee
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 t. salt
• 2 c. sugar
• 1 T. vanilla
• 1 c. flour
• 3/4 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 13X9 baking dish. Melt butter, shortening, and Baker’s chocolate together over low heat. Mix together and let cool. Stir in coffee powder.

Beat eggs with salt. Add sugar slowly and beat until very light. Stir in chocolate mixture and add vanilla.

Add flour all at once and mix just until smooth by hand. Stir in chocolate chips. Bake for 35 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar when completely cooled.

Your Neighbor’s Garden

Over the weekend I decided since I’ve been so good at being active lately (running, rollar blading, and lifting) I just needed to change my diet to start seeing the results I am looking for. When I heard about Your Neighbor’s Garden I knew this was the kind of motivation I needed to pack more fruits and vegetables into my diet.

I grabbed my straw fedora and hopped into my car for a little road trip to the Broad Ripple area of Indianapolis. Your Neighbor’s Garden is a family run business out of a home. They grow all of their produce literally in the gardens beside their home. As I pulled into the driveway I felt like I was just visiting old friends. You’d never know the difference besides the little sign outside indicating their fresh pickings for the day; strawberries, green onion, snap peas, and lettuce. When I pulled in there was a man mowing a lawn, a woman water flowers, and a few high school aged kids were picking out of the garden. I walked up to the little shed where strawberries, assorted lettuces, snap peas, cilantro and dill were packaged and weighed. There was just a safe and a clipboard by the door for you to put your money into and sign-up for their email list on future ‘pickings of the day’. Your Neighbor’s Garden is based solely on the honor system. You just add up what you want and deposit it into the safe. There aren’t any workers besides the ones tending the garden, which are there in case you if you have any question. I absolutely loved this idea and I can’t wait to go back!

I love me

http://www.latimesblogs.com

Lately I’ve been taking some time off from my “To Do” list (ie. blog writing) to chill out and get my mind set back to balance. I’ve been reading, reflecting and serving, but I had forgotten to take care of myself. Like I stated in my last post, I was not eating very healthy and I felt out of control. I had to get to the root of the problem.

Through my reading of A New Earth by Eckert Toll one thing really hit me. In the book he tries to get the reader to identify with their inner being. We are more than the thoughts in our mind. To get you to feel this inner being he suggests to close your eyes and feel the aliveness within your hands. When you start to feel the aliveness in your hands they may even begin to tingle. Sometimes I am so disconnected from my own body that I only think with my mind. I was also listening to Gabrielle Bernstein’s lecture Love Wins and she talked about the way she loves herself. When you love yourself you don’t allow yourself to do harmful things to yourself (drugs, eating, addiction, etc). This allowed me to start making small postive changes to a healthier lifestyle. I have replaced my morning coffee with green tea, eating a cup of raw veggies before I eat my lunch and dinner, and TRYING to cut out soda. I have definitely consumed a lot less. I’ve also been trying to eat frozen vanilla yogurt with strawberries instead of sugary candy.

These little changes in my eating habits and staying connected with my body through exercise and yoga will help keep my mind aligned with the needs of my body. Sometimes all it takes is just a little tender loving care.

I really appreciate the comments on my last post. I totally forgot about the crock pot and planning really does leave a lot less room for failure! Thank you for contributing!

Detox

Lately, I’ve been really happy. I’ve been waking up, meditating, running, listening to lectures in my car, loving, and in return receiving love ten fold. It has been comforting feeling like I know everything is going to work out just fine. However, one thing I still feel guilty about are my eating habits. Even though I feel happy inside, I still have that urge to eat horrible food; fast-food, sugar, and bread.

A week or so ago I hadn’t eaten any fast-food in two weeks and I felt great. I cooked my dinners at home and brought my lunch to work everyday. My dinner is what makes or breaks me. Sometimes I don’t get home until 9pm and I am bound to hit the drive-thru on the way. This week I am going to focus on diet and exercise. I feel like planning is the key to success. As long as I have my lunches, snacks, and dinners planned, it gives me less room for slippage. It usually just takes a week or two to get back into the swing of eating healthy and then I won’t crave all of the sugar and fat. What are some of your favorite healthy snacks? What do you do to detox and get back in the zone?

I went to the grocery and bought all kinds of fruits and vegetables. I’m going to use the frozen chicken that’s been in my freezer since probably November for dinner this week. This is a week of DETOX.

Breakfast:

Homemade Oatmeal with honey and blueberries

Green Tea

Lunch:

Mediterranean Hummus Wrap

Yogurt or Fruit

Tea or Water

Dinner:

Grilled Chicken with Lemon Pepper

Broccoli or Corn

Fruit

Tea or Water

Snacks:

Fruit

Yogurt

Air-popped Popcorn

Broccoli and Carrots

Good Morning Sunshine!

Start the day off right

Although there’s no sunshine, I did run bright and early at 5:30 a.m. to try and knock yesterday’s mood out of me. It worked! yay! I came to the realization that I just need to be positive and happy. I need to quit worrying about the future…again…and try to make someone else happy today. After my run I made a healthy breakfast of homemade oatmeal with honey and blueberries. I’m going to run to the store and pick up a few cards for people that need them and meet with a long lost friend from high school after work! Happy hump day everybody!