New Life= Old Life?

Casey has oft bemoaned the fact that once someone has a baby, their blog becomes all about the baby. So, to avoid the falling into that category, even though it's the norm for me, here's a blog about what I made Tuesday. :-)

Millionaire Shortbread Bars

Instead of making the sweetened condensed milk into caramel, I used canned dulce de leche and stirred in a little vanilla. The delicate and sometimes dangerous task of boiling sugar is not a good idea when the cooking process is punctuated with tending to a newborn who likes to spit out his paci. I made a double batch and took half to lifegroup. They were a hit, except with Karis, who I caught eating the shortbread then licking the ducle de leche off the chocolate layer which she hid in her napkin. I'm guessing it was too dark for her taste. I do exclusively use 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate chips, and do so unapologetically. Milk chocolate is for wienies.

I also made myself a quinoa and lentil salad with citrus vinaigrette, sauteed mushrooms, broccoli, tomatoes and feta. It's a hybrid of the quinoa salad from my brother-in-law's restaurant, Nick & Sam's Grill and one from Whole Foods. I love quinoa. So nutty and tasty. And I made Mocha Chocolate Chip muffins. They're REALLY good, especially if you're a mocha fan. I've made this recipe many times, and I recommend adding a 1/4 cup more sugar and doubling the cocoa powder. They come out of the oven with a great crust and soft, mocha-y, melted chocolate interior. Mmm! I did take a lot longer to do all that cooking then it would have pre-baby, but it was still really fun. Casey did dishes. :-)

Of course, I also decided this week that I need to try to start eating healthier, as the baby weight is starting to get old. Really old. The muffins went into the freezer. Last week, I started back running (30 minutes around the neighborhood) and went to a cardio & weight lifting class on Tuesday, then I ran a 5K on the treadmill the next day. Bad idea. I was so sore I could barely get out of bed this morning. My ego was definitely writing checks my body couldn't cash. So, marathon cooking sessions, yes, running marathons, heck no. I'll have to content myself with being slow and steady.

Casey will not be upstaged!

Indiana says: Fight the power!