We're Going Streaking!

How clever right? Here you think I'm talking about going naked, but I tricked you! Oh boy am I witty & clever...right? Right??????

Okay, I know, it's a cheap ploy to get your attention, but hopefully it worked (it's all for a good reason, I promise!)

Last week, my dear running buddy/guru posted on her Facebook page about something that Runner's World is promoting called "Summer Run Streak" where every day between Memorial Day (May 27) and Independence Day (July 4) you run ONE MILE (1.6 km) every day! I got really excited when I saw this because a) I've been in a bit of a running slump and b) my cute little poochie needs to run more (walks just don't cut it) so I'll have a running buddy every time I go out. Isn't she cute???

Now, I'm not only posting this to tell you all that I'm going to be running EVERY DAY for the next little bit (what have I gotten myself into?), I'm posting because I want to encourage YOU to try this challenge!!!!!!

Now, the folks at Running World suggest you don't run every day unless you have been training for 6 months + (see FAQ's here) BUT never fear, I have a plan! Instead of running 1.6KM every day try run/jog/shuffle one day and walk the next! Either way, it will only take you 10-15 mins, and is the perfect after dinner activity or early morning wake-up!

Take your kids! Take your pooch! Take your hubs/wifey! Whoever and whatever, take the 10-15mins every day until July 4 and give it a shot! If you've missed a couple of days, no big deal, just continue until July 6 instead!

Let me know how it goes, I'd love to hear your story!!

Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark

A couple of weekends ago we had people over to watch UFC *shudder* We were out buying snacks for the get together when Jon picked out a bag of pretzels to put out. I was all "Who on EARTH likes Pretzels? They're the part of the snack mix I eat first so that all I'm left with after are the yummy bits"

Turns out, EVERYONE at the party liked pretzels except for me. The cheese stands alone, I guess!

While I still don't get the big deal about them, I had some left over & saw this recipe so I thought, let's give it a go!

SO SO good! There are so many amazing flavours and textures going on when you bite into these...they are just great! PLUS, you can break them up into lots of tiny pieces, so they last you quite a long time (which for us means almost a whole week)!

Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark

From Mamma Say What?!

Ingredients:

1/2 bag of mini pretzel twists 

1 cup butter (or 2 sticks)

1 cup brown sugar

1 bag of chocolate chips (I used Milk Chocolate)

Sea Salt

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line a cookie sheet aluminum foil and cover with your pretzels. I wanted to make sure there was complete pretzel coverage, so I broke a few up and filled in the holes. Then I got impatient and stopped doing that. 

In a medium saucepan, on low heat, melt the butter and sugar together until completely combined and sugar is dissolved. Bring to a gentle boil and continue stirring. It will start to form a smooth & thick caramel (anywhere from 5-10 minutes, be patient with this one)

Once it is nice & thick, pour the caramel over your pretzels. Not every pretzel will be covered & that is okay. Put in the oven for 5 mins.

Take out of the oven (the pretzels will look a little like mush, and that is okay!) and sprinkle the chocolate chips over top (go crazy, you can never have too much chocolate, right?) and stick back in the oven for 1 minute more.

Use a spatula to spread the chocolate over the pretzels so it is one, uniform layer. Sprinkle the sea salt over top. I decided not to go TOO wild with the salt since the pretzels are quite salty already.

Let it cool for a few minutes on your counter and then pop it into the freezer for two to three hours. Again, we lasted a whole 45 minutes before we broke off our first piece, but it was still a little gooey (not a bad thing mind you).

When we brought it to work for lunches the next day, it was still soft & chewy and not crunchy & hard, which was great!

On a side note: one thing that I really love about treats like this is, once they are made, you can break them into little bite-sized pieces and store them in the freezer for when you need a sweet treat. Pop one of these bad boys into your mouth, and your sweet craving is totally satisfied (and your salty craving, thanks to the pretzels!) Plus, because of the small size, you can have a couple of pieces which makes it feel a little like cheating, but really, it isn't...unless you eat 10 pieces *cough*

Enjoy!

- Lisa
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Sour Cream Pancakes

So, for the past few months I've been really watching the blog of The Pioneer Woman. That woman's blog is pure food porn. I could just gaze for hours at her amazing food pictures (and pictures of her life on a ranch). Turns out she's a HUGE deal and everyone except for me has known about her for sometime, but better late than never, right? Anyway, I spend a lot of time on her blog.

So, on one of my many reading/drooling/gazing sessions, I came across a recipe for Pancakes. This made me excited for many reasons, one being my hubby has a weird obession with pancakes (we're talking Pancakes for dinner, people) and also, I hate buying the boxed stuff (tastes like powder, yech). I was pretty pumped to try them.

Since we're on a very tight budget, it took about 2-3 weeks before I was willing to spend $4 or whatever redonk price sour cream is. Once I did though, these were the first thing I made.

I will NEVER go back to the boxed kind. EVER. These are so light & fluffy, smell amazing and are just YUM!

Edna Mae's Sour Cream Pancakes

from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients:

2 Eggs

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla

7 tbsp of flour (yes, that's it!)

2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup Sour Cream

Butter for your frying pan & serving

WARM syrup (how cute is that!)

Method

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and the vanilla and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the flour (only 7tbsp, amazing!) sugar, baking soda and salt. Next, add the sour cream and mix (just barely combine, it won't feel mixed enough, but trust me, it is!)

Whisk in the egg & vanilla mixture until JUST combined.

Heat a griddle (such a great word, just sounds yummy) to medium low and melt some butter. Using a 1/4 cup, pour batter onto the griddle. Now here is the magic - wait until the top is all bubbly and the edges are brown and then flip.

Cook them on the second side for about 1 minute. They are quite soft, so make sure you don't overcook them!

My griddle (ok, electric frying pan) is quite small so I can only make 4 at a time, so while the second batch is being made, I put the first batch into the oven at the VERY lowest temp possible. This keeps them warm, but doesn't try them out (a trick I learned from my Grandma!) 

Next, serve them with butter and warm syrup (seriously, this makes a difference) and enjoy!!!!!!!

Also, do yourself a favour and go check out The Pioneer Woman's blog. Her pictures are amazing!