X-Weighted Challenge

Happy New Year everyone!!!!! I hope everyone had a wonderful time over the Holidays. Santa was very good to all of us here in the Jenkins household and it was good to have some time off and spend it with family and friends.

If you were like me, you probably ate and ate and ate and ate over the Holidays. I stepped on the scale yesterday morning after a good New Year's Eve party of food and drink and had a "That can't be a good thing" moment when I saw the number on the scale. All I could think of is that the X-Weighted Challenge can't come soon enough.

What is the X-Weighted Challenge you ask? If you have ever watched the show X-Weighted on Slice, you will know how they go into people's homes and lives and revamp their eating and exercise lifestyle. I have always loved watching the show when I can, seeing people who have struggled with weight loss and the emotional issues that tend to go along with why they are overweight in the first place. Now the experts at X-Weighted are putting together a National Challenge for people to "Get Fit and Lose Weight". I follow X-Weighted on Twitter and found out about the challenge initially through Twitter, and said I would join the challenge, which has now put me on their blog here , and caused me to think, "I can't believe I am doing this"

When I was asked to be featured on their blog I was at first hesitant, "What if I totally fail and at the end of the Challenge I am still at the same weight and fitness level as I was at the beginning." I decided to go for it, that this will force me to focus and stay on track, make me accountable, because a lot of people across Canada have now seen my face splashed on a National Blog......gulp (I still can't believe I did that)

Some people will look at me and think I don't need to lose any weight, but underneath I know I need to get my act together. My muffin top is getting bigger and I have my family history of diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and osteoporosis to think about .

I have always been a skinny girl growing up, I was teased in grade school for being so skinny some times, I can still hear "Skinny Minny Miller". But in my teens and early 20's being the "skinny girl" was advantageous at times, I could eat whatever I want and still wear my size 6 clothes. I was also very active so I burned off the excess calories. But eating whatever I want has caught up with me. I have also had three children and am not as active as I used to be, combined with being 41 years old with a slowing metabolism the pounds have crept up on me. In 2006 I saw myself in the family pic of my sister in law's wedding and was shocked at I how I looked, that is not me. So two girlfriends and I joined a small private gym, I lost a fair bit of weight and was about 15 lbs away from my goal when the gym closed, tried another larger chain gym, but then the recession hit, Dave's company got hit and we had to trim corners financially, so I gave up my gym membership. We purchased a treadmill with some income tax money and got a Bosu ball thrown in. I told myself I could continue the regime on my own. Nope, among other things human laziness has gotten the better of me ,the pounds are starting to creep back on again, I am not as heavy as I was in 2006, but if I don't smarten up I will be soon.

Am I nervous about doing this challenge? You bet I am, since I have made it very public to do this.....there is no turning back. I am also overwhelmed by the prospect, I have a very full life. My oldest daughter Laura is in an International Baccalaureate Program for High School, which means we carpool with other families to and from the school which is about 1/2 hour away from our home, the other two need to get to their school as well. Almost every single weeknight is taken up with at least one child's activity (horseback, dance, karate, swimming, piano), and there is all the other "Life" stuff.

As some of you know, I have uterine fibroids, one of which is quite large and they literally knock me of my feet for a few days to a week each month. Because of the fibroids my hemoglobin is starting to get low, not too bad yet, but enough to make me feel it, which will also affect my exercise program. I am booked for surgery at the end of April to have the fibroids removed, once that is done and my hemoglobin gets back up to normal, I can ramp up my exercise program.

I will have to tweak the challenge to suit my life for now and whatever is thrown at me in the next six months, but I know I can do it!!!! How about you?

The Challenge starts January 9th, who is in?

A couple of recipes as requested

We are well into December and we have snow actually sticking on the ground here. I had to find my winter driving skills today driving to karate and horseback, some wicked black ice out there.

On Facebook today I mentioned that I was making Guinness Stew and Candy Cane Brownies for dinner tonight and I had a lot of requests for the recipes. Here they are, enjoy!!!!

Guinness Stew (I call it this, but the recipe is actually called Deep Dish Pub Pies, I got it years ago from Homemakers.com)

2 lbs (1 kg) boneless lade, cross-rib or round steak or stewing beef, cubed

1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1 cup onions, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

3 cups beef broth (I use the VE Beef Bouillon)

1 can of Guinness

1 cup plain tomato sauce (I use V8 for added flavour)

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 bay leaf

1/2 tsp thyme

2 carrots, diced

2 potatoes, diced

3/4 cup celery, diced

1 1/2 cups small mushroom, halved

Topping:

1 (about 14 0z/400 g) package frozen puff pastry, thawed

1 egg lightly beaten

Combine flour, salt and pepper in a plastic bag. Add beef and shake to coat with flour. Reserve remaining flour. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large, heavy saucepan set over medium heat. Brown beef cubes in batches, adding more oil as needed. Add onions and garlic and cook until softened. Add broth, beer, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf and thyme. Bring to a boil, stirring well to scrape brown bits from bottom of pan. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 1 hour or until meat is nearly tender. Add carrots, potatoes and celery, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, then add mushrooms and simmer for 15 minutes longer or until meat and vegetables are tender.

Mix reserved flour mixture with a little cold water until smooth. Stir into beef mixture and bring to a boil, stirring. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove bay leaf. Taste and adjust seasoning. Divide beef mixture between 8 individual casseroles (each about 10 oz/300 mil or 4 inches in diameter) Cover with foil.

Make -Ahead: Beef mixture may be refrigerated before or after filling casseroles, for up to 2 days)

Topping:

Preheat oven to 400 F. Roll out pastry to 1/8 inch (3 cm) thickness and cut into 8 round that are the same diameter as the casserole dishes (pastries will puff up during baking and shrink slightly in diameter) Place on large baking sheet.

Chill until pastry is cold, about 15 minutes. Brush with lightly beaten egg. Bake in preheated oven for about 12 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. Reserve

Make Ahead: Pastries may be made up to a day ahead. Cover with a tea towel and store at room temperature)

Bake foil-topped casseroles in 400F oven for 15 min or until bubbling hot. Remove foil, top each with reserved puff pastry rounds and return to oven for 5 minutes. Serve hot.

If you like beer, have a can of Guinness while eating the stew/pies.

I normally don't make this into pies, I don't always have the time. I skip the pastry part and just eat the stew part. You can also add dumplings to the stew the last 15 minutes or so of cooking.

I have also made this stew in the slow cooker. Brown the beef and add to the slow cooker. Use the beer and some of the broth in the pan that you browned the beef in, scraping up the bits and add this to the slow cooker with the rest of the ingredients, mix well and cook on low for about 8-10 hours.

Now for dessert:

Candy Cane Brownies

This recipe is from Canadian Living Holiday Best 2002

2/3 cup butter

8 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped

4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

Topping:

1/2 cup crushed candy canes

2/3 cups mini chocolate chips

Line a 13 x 9 inch metal cake pan with parchment paper, set aside.

In saucepan over medium-low heat, melt together butter and semisweet and unsweetened chocolates. Let cool for 10 minutes. Whisk in sugar, then eggs, 1 at a time, whisking well after each addition. Whisk in vanilla. Using wooden spoon, stir in flour and salt. Scrape into prepared pan.

Bake in 350 F oven until cake tester inserted in centre comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging, 25 to 30 minutes.

TOPPING: Sprinkle with candy canes, then chocolate chips; return to oven for 30 seconds (do not let topping melt). Let cool in pan on rack. Refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour. Cut into bars. Makes about 40 bars

I use a whole package of candy canes (i think there are about 12 or so candy canes per pkg). I can't be bothered measuring crushed candy canes. I put the unwrapped candy canes in a large Ziploc baggie, seal the baggie and beat the crap out of them with a rolling pin. It is a great stress reliever. I also just eyeball the chocolate chips on top as well, in my world you can never have too much chocolate.

We also say screw it to refrigerating the bars for 1 hour. After a couple of hours I remove the brownies from the pan, and cut into squares while the chocolate chips are still ooey and gooey and oh so good and you end up with chocolate all over your hands and face. Yummy.

Scrapping Turtle is Having a Spooktacular On-Line Crop

At the Scrapping Turtle Forum, one of the forums I like to hang out at, is having a "Spooktacular On-Line Crop" beginning Nov. 13. There will be challenges and ballots given to win some awesome prizes, don't know what the prizes are, but knowing the Turtle they will be awesome. If you are new to the forum, go and register, tell them I sent you, complete at least 2 of the challenges from the on-line crop (it will be fun, trust me) and you and I will each win some ballots.

Gotta Love Halloween

I love Halloween. I love decorating, getting the costumes figured out, picking out pumpkins and raiding the kids treat bag (my hips and stomach don't appreciate that part though)

It is a yearly tradition in our house that I take a picture of all three kids with their pumpkins after we carved them and are waiting for the pumpkin seeds to finish cooking. Of all the pictures I took that night, I like this one the best, it shows all three of them laughing, shows them as I see them and why I love my three babies (yes Laura, you maybe 14 but you will ALWAYS be my baby). Why are they laughing? That splash of white in the left hand side of the picture is a clue. That would be Dalwhinnie who decided that with me sitting on the floor with a camera sticking out of my face, it would be a good time to jump on me and lick my ear, ewwwwww!! Nothing like dog licks in the ear.

This year for Halloween it was just Daniel and Amanda who went Trick or Treating with their friends, Laura opted to stay home and hand out candy, I think she realized it was more work than she expected. Of course I have to take some pictures before they head out. Daniel was walking death, again, and Amanda was an enchantress with a purple and black wig that lasted about 3-5 houses.

When I look at this picture it makes me giggle. Daniel had his toy sword with "blood" (ya gotta love boys) and was swinging it at our Pirate, Mr. Doomsday, who is trying to get out of his grave, except it looks like he is ready to take Amanda down who is smiling sweetly, without a care in the world. She doesn't see her brother who appears ready to slash his sister down into oblivion, but she is an enchantress, she will use her magical powers to deflect him. Daniel has been foiled again. Bwahahaha!!!!

And finally, here is our house with the decorations. My favourite would be the giant spiderweb and spider. And we can't forget Mr. Doomsday. Poor Mr. Doomsday who will be stuck half in and half out of his grave forever......well right now he is in storage in my basement.

A couple of cards

I have been busy making a couple of cards. This first one is to welcome my new niece. We haven't had a chance to actually meet her yet because we have had the flu in the house, she is about a month old already, hopefully we will be able to see her very soon. Kathy, if you see this, you didn't see this, right?

The stamp is Geordie The Giraffe, it was in my loot bag from Crop for the Cure (thanks Tracey) and I colored him in with Copic markers, the words "little one" is a Close to my Heart stamp. Patterned paper is Basic Grey (sprinkles), ribbon I am not sure, got it in a grab bowl at Scrapfest, cardstock is Stampin Up, the Threading Water Stamp from Fiskars was used to give the scalloped edge at the bottom of the pattern paper.

This card I made just because. I will probably give it to one of my girls at some point. Patterned paper is from Stemma, stamped image and wording is Close To My Heart, flower rub ons and bling is from Bazzill and again I used the Threading Water punch from Fiskars.

That is my three posts for today, to make up what I missed posting yesterday and Sunday. We shall see if I can blog everyday this month for National Blog Writing Month. I think if I do I need to treat myself to something scrappy, maybe a Quickutz die, or new Cricut cartridge, or more paper because lord knows I don't have enough paper!!!

Jessica Sprague has a new free class

Just got an e-mail yesterday from Jessica Sprague that she has a free online class and that registration is now open. It is called Holidays In Hand. I have taken one of her classes before and she is a fabulous teacher for adobe and digital scrap booking. And as with all of her classes you get free downloads. Check it out here and register if you can. And the best part is you don't have to "keep up" with the classes. You can work at your own pace, so if you have a crazy busy week and can't get to the lesson right away, you do it 1, 2 or 3 weeks later or even 1 year later.

Double Ginger Crackle Top Cookies

We have had the stomach flu come through this house for about the past week. Daniel started last Wednesday, Dave and Laura kicked in Saturday night. Today, everyone is back to school and work. Woohoo!!!!!!!

We have had a month of at least once a week someone gets sick in this house except for me, I have just kept going, didn't have time to get sick I suppose, having to take care of my bubonics. Also, yesterday my mom fell and broke her wrist so I will have to be zipping out to Woodstock to get her a few groceries and such.

The other day, with Dave and Laura comatose on the couches, Amanda still having her lingering cough and Daniel still complaining of a stomach ache, I decided I had enough. I tried to raise some money for my "Ria is sick and tired of taking care of sick children and Dave and needs a vacation preferably to the Caribbean and/or Hawaii" fund. I didn't get too far. Denise and Marissa and Lisa offered to come with me, they are such good friends that they would be willing to make such a big sacrifice for me. We decided on Hawaii. But the only cash I got was some Canadian Tire money from Lisa, she said I could buy some bungee cords with them. Maybe I could stowaway on a plane and bungee myself out when we are over Hawaii?

I read on one of the blogs that I follow that November is suppose to be National Blog Writing Month and that you are suppose to try and blog everyday. Huh? I am lucky to blog once a month sometimes. It is now November 3, I think I am about two days behind already, what if I post three posts today, would that count?

Now for the recipe. With people's stomach acting up, I decided to make some Double Ginger Crackle Top Cookies. Boy did my house smell amazing last night. It is a recipe I use from Epicure and it calls for their Crystallized Ginger. I love their Crystallized Ginger. Usually the grocery store kind of crystallized ginger tends to be pale in colour and small, and when you read the ingredients they add some other stuff besides ginger and sugar, to prolong the shelf life. Last year I got my first can of VE Crystallized Ginger, opened it up and the smell was AMAZING!!!! The ginger was a nice dark color, moist and chewy and I was able to eat it right out of the container with no funny aftertaste. I read the ingredients which are as follows: ginger, sugar. THAT IS IT!!! Pure ginger with sugar, and the container I opened last year is still good, almost gone, but still good. This crystallized ginger is fabulous dipped in melted dark chocolate.

DOUBLE GINGER CRACKLE TOP COOKIES

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp VE Ginger

1/2 tsp VE Cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup finely chopped VE Crystallized Ginger

3/4 cup shortening (I use butter to eliminate the trans fats which are a lot worse than saturated fats for your heart)

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

3/4 cup white sugar, reserve 1/2 cup for rolling

1 egg

2 tbsp Molasses

1 tsp finely grated lemon zest

1. Preheat oven to 350 F

2. Whisk together first 6 ingredients and set aside

3. Cream shortening (butter), brown sugar and 1/2 cup white sugar until light and fluffy.

4. Beat in egg, molasses, and lemon zest.

5. Gradually add dry ingredients, beating well after each addition.

6. Place 1/4 cup white sugar in a shallow bowl. Form dough into 1" balls, roll in white sugar and place on a parchment line baking sheet 2" apart (I just used my pampered chef stone ware, greased)

7. Bake for 10 minutes or until "crackled" on top. Cool before storing.

Enjoy!!!!!!!!!