Camp Cupcake: The rest of the story

So, I did go running that night. In fact, what I did in order to make sure that I went running was to call Anne.

By calling Anne, two things happened:

I actually went running that night because I had someone to go running with.

I got talked into running a half-marathon.

For me, it was an opportunity to do what I have been talking about doing for a long time--staying consistent and continuing on with something after completing a big goal. It involved getting up early to go for runs down Provo Canyon before work, or going running around the Orem High track at night.

The race was yesterday. It was a half marathon down Provo Canyon, starting at Aspen Grove (near Sundance, home of Robert Redford) and finishing up at a shopping center at the mouth of Provo Canyon. The notable thing about this race, besides it being the last big race of the season in Utah county, is that, because it falls over Halloween weekend, people dress up.

I was not among those people dressed up because I could not find a costume I was willing to wear for 13.1 miles of sweaty running. However, here are some of the costumes I saw:

-M&Ms (there was a whole group of them)

-Goofy (there was a running club that were all dressed alike in green shirts, black running tights, orange suspenders, and those giant tall hats with the Goofy ears).

-Captain America

-Superman

-Super Grover (his costume was furry. I have trouble believing he was able to run the entire distance without taking it off).

-catsup and mustard

Additionally, there were tons of women wearing funky tights/socks and/or tutus.

The only other notable thing about this race was that I got separated from the people I was running with when I had to make a stop at the Honey Bucket. Ten minutes later, I was back out on the trail. The line was that long. When I got back out, I found myself surrounded by several of the Goofys. One of the things that has always bothered me about running with other people is when you pass a person or a group of people who decide that they do not want to be passed by you, and who speed up just long enough to pass you, but then slow back down. It is particularly annoying when it is a whole group of people, and they are dressed like Goofy, and it happens three or four times.

Happily, I finished the race a few minutes behind my friends. Like I said, this was the last big race of the season. I do not plan to run another race until next year. However, in the meantime, I plan to continue to run a few times a week, both to stay consistent and to be ready for next running season. What I mostly gained from yesterday's race is that, whether I ever get good at it or not, there is something about running that I am beginning to enjoy, and I think I'll keep doing it.

Grill Pans, Birthday Cake, and Indian Food

Don't let my lack of posting fool you; the baby birds are not starving. I really do enjoy trying new recipes and have even found a few that we now use in our regular rotation. The thing that I really don't do very well is blog about them. So here you go, another multi-recipe post of a few things I've tried that might be worth mentioning. I'll start with the ones I remembered to photograph:

First up: Grilled Chicken and Pineapple Quesadillas. I saw these on the Pioneer Woman's site quite a while ago but never made them because I didn't have a grill pan and we've had some issues with our outdoor grill. But finally my curiosity about the prospect of indoor grilling got the best of me and I purchased this grill pan. The quesadillas were the first thing I made with it.

The grill pan verdict: I'm actually pretty surprised at what good results this turned out. I guess I had always just assumed that grilling on my electric range could never come close to outdoor grilling. But the pineapple I grilled in this pan was so irresistible that by the time I was able to stop sampling it, I almost didn't have any left to make the quesadillas. I've also grilled chicken and hamburgers in the pan and the only negative I can see is the amount of smoke that ends up in your kitchen instead of outside. (Anyone know what to do about that besides open the windows?) The convenience of this pan is definitely worth the price.

The recipe verdict: This was a great way to dress up ordinary chicken quesadillas. There are a couple of optional ingredients--extra barbecue sauce and jalapeños--and after trying all of the possible combinations we decided that we preferred them with both. I decided to omit the butter on the outside of the quesadillas. I'm sure it would have tasted extra great and fattening.


A couple of months ago my husband The Emasculated Baker (who stopped making cakes because he felt like he was forcing them on his coworkers) turned thirty. I decided to steer clear of his cake recipes as I doubted my ability to duplicate his meticulous attention to detail. Instead I made this souped-up cake mix recipe for chocolate-peppermint poke cake. It was nothing fancy, but it tasted pretty good and if you're the kind of person who likes chopped up candy bars throughout your cake, it's great! When I made it I couldn't find any white chocolate pudding mix, so I used regular chocolate. I also baked it in two 9-inch round pans and made a layer cake with a layer of frosting and extra peppermint patties in between the cake layers. And instead of using the frosting straight from the can, I whipped a cup of heavy cream and folded it into the canned frosting mixed with peppermint extract.


As you may have noticed by now, many of the recipes I try come from The Pioneer Woman Cooks or from PW's community recipe site Tasty Kitchen. I've seen this recipe for Butter Chicken come into the TK spotlight several times and have always been amazed by how consistently high its ratings have been. It's pretty rare for 73 people (at the time of this post) to have rated any one recipe, but over those 73 ratings, it still maintains a score of 4.73 mitts (on a scale of one to five). I've been wanting to try it for a long time, but every time I go to buy carda0mom at my local Wal-Mart and see that it costs over $10 just for a small bottle, I change my mind. Luckily, my cupcake-baking sister just moved into town with a jar of cardamom that she bought for a cupcake recipe. Only in a Martha Stewart cupcake would you find something like cardamom. So excitedly, I made the chicken, adjusting the amount of cayenne pepper in individual portions so that George and I could have it as spicy as we like it while not making it too spicy for the kids. And it was good. I would even say that it was really good. Definitely a recipe that I'll be making again. But I have to say, after the months of hearing all of the raves about this recipe, it was not as amazing as I was imagining it to be and the only reason I can think of to explain my disappointment is that I had such high expectations. So here is my new mantra for life: set your expectations low and you'll never be disappointed. Amen.

I couldn't really imagine eating Indian food without some fresh naan, so I thought I would look for a good recipe to try. And now, months later, I honestly can't remember which recipe I happened to try this time. I know it was one that I got from Tasty Kitchen, but it's been so long and I looked at all of them thoroughly enough that they all look familiar to me now. But quite honestly, whichever one it was it wasn't good enough that I bothered to add it to my recipe box. And this is not the first time I've said that about a naan recipe. This was my third or fourth time making it and I've yet to find a recipe that's worth keeping. Most of them come out a little too...dry? Too reminiscent of those spongy, squeeze-y stress-reliever things? I'm beginning to think that the problem is not in the recipes, but in my technique. So if any of you have a great naan recipe that you like to make, please send it my way and if it turns out bad on me, I will have isolated the problem. Thanks. Through my failures I have made one valuable naan-related discovery: cooking it on a preheated pizza stone in the oven is a lot easier and less smoky than cooking it on a grill.

That's all for this time. I still have a bunch of recipes that I've tried to blog about, but at this point I'd say it's high time I just ended this and posted something.

Pie Are Squared: Miss Oleda Halliburton's Easy Pear Pie on a Baking Sheet

This has been the biggest disappointment along my pie making journey.
I have been excited about this pie for a long time, partly because pear pie sounds delicious, but mostly because the crust wouldn't require cutting and transferring and shaping. You just roll it out, plop on the filling, fold it up, and you're good to go.
Or so I thought.
It goes without saying that the picture in the book looked nothing like my final product here. I think my filling was somehow a lot more watery. And then all the leakage. Look at all the leakage! It just looks terrible.
But I still didn't despair. Even if it looks awful, it will still taste great, right?
Not really. It didn't taste bad; cinnamon, sugar, and pears can't taste bad really. But it wasn't that great. It was pretty much a mediocre apple pie with a slight peariness.
Bleh.

Ratings:

Flavor: 6

Execution: 4. Man, it was ugly.

Difficulty: Easy. But it turns out that pies are made in cup-shaped pans for a reason.

Overall rating: ** 2 out of 5 stars.

Pie Are Squared: Chicken Pot Pie

Here's to my first savory pie: chicken pot pie!
Now that the weather's cooling off and feeling all autumnal, I thought pie would nice for dinner.
I must say, it was delicious. I paired it with cranberry sauce, and they complemented each other well. (Usually "pairing" something reminds me of wines that are supposed to complement some fancy dinner, so I am amusing myself by using that wording with something as pedestrian as canned cranberry sauce).

I actually did a double pie crust, but it was so much extra work, and you don't even notice the bottom crust, so I am recommending just putting crust on top.

Further, if you're just feeling lazy but want chicken pot pie-ness, you can make the filling and then serve it over toast. That is good, too.
Here's a shot of me making the pie:

Ratings:

Flavor: 8

Execution: 7. I wasn't very thorough about the egg wash=ugly top

Difficulty: Pretty simple. You'll want to work fast once you get the crust on top because the heat of the filling starts soggifying the crust pretty quickly.

Overall rating: **** 4 out of 5 stars.

The filling is my dad's recipe, so I'm happy to share it with the universe:

Chicken Pot Pie:

1 pie crust, prepared
3 c chicken broth
1 chicken breast, cubed
1/4 c frozen peas
1/4 c chopped carrots
1/4 c frozen corn
1/4 c chopped onion
1 stick butter
3/4 c flour
salt and pepper to taste
1. Boil chicken, peas, carrots, and corn in broth until cooked.
2. In large pot, sauté onion in butter until translucent. Add flour; stir until combined.
3. Add broth mixture to onions and heat until thick; season with salt and pepper. Pour thickened mixture into deep dish pie plate. Cover with pie crust; fold edges under and crimp. Brush with egg wash, if desired.
4. Bake at 425º for 30 minutes or until crust is golden.

Pie crust:
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup shortening, chilled
3–4 Tbsp. cold milk

1. In a medium bowl stir together flour and salt. Using a pastry blender, large fork, or the tips of your fingers, cut in or pinch or squeeze the shortening until mixture resembles crumbs the size of peas. Tossing the mixture quickly and lightly with a fork, sprinkle in the milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until dough holds together when lightly pressed. Gather dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for about 30 minutes.
2. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to a 12-inch circle, rolling from the center to the edges and giving dough quarter-turns frequently. Place the 9-inch pie plate upside down on top of the rolled-out dough. Using a small knife, cut a circle around the plate, leaving a 1-inch border of dough around the plate.

Camp Cupcake: On and off the exercise wagon

After boldly declaring to the world (or the 9 followers of this blog) that I was going to be consistent in my efforts to eat well and exercise, I have exercised a grand total of twice.

Which I still maintain is better than zero.

Thursday morning (one week ago) I got up and did my Cardio Hula with Kili video. Unlike Charlie, I do not have any islander blood in me, and it was a bit of a workout. I felt good all day.

Then, my friend Kim came into town. We had an awesome time, as evidenced by this post. However, I did not exercise that whole time. Unless, of course, you count all the walking we did around campus, to and from our parking spot at the football game, around Olympic Park, and inside IKEA. And I probably shouldn't count that, since the rest of the trip was spent eating at places like Cafe Rio, Brick Oven, Kneaders, Panda Express, and Mini's Retro Cafe.

So, Wednesday night, I decided I needed to go for a run. I called up my friend Anne, who, coincidentally, was about to go running by herself. Shortly thereafter, we ended up at Orem High, where we ran just under four miles around the track. Again, it felt good. And I was reminded that it is infinitely easier to run when you have someone to run with--particularly if that person lets you use those four miles to complain about your life. Thanks for that, Anne.

Now, I am sitting in my office, about to go home. I know that, when I get home, I should go for a run. At the same time, there is that part of me that is trying to talk myself out of it because it has already been a long week and I want to go home, put on my pj's, and go to bed. The beauty of this blog is that if I write here that I should go home and go for a run, I am much more likely to actually do that than if I kept my thoughts to myself. We'll see if it works.

Camp Cupcake: Starting over

First of all, I just have to say how grateful I am for Ami (Pie Are Squared). Without her contributions, I probably would have abandoned this blog before now. I love this blog, so I would have hated that.

Forgive me if I wax philosophical, and dare I say it, ramble for a moment:

Over the last few weeks, I've been thinking about goals, and what you do when you have accomplished your goals.

In my lifetime, I have set many, many goals. Some of them have been big goals that have taken years like, "Get a Ph.D." Some of them are small goals like, "Go to bed before 1 a.m. tonight" And some are goals that you could argue have no lasting benefits to me or to society, like "Bake all of the cupcakes in Martha Stewart's cupcake cookbook over the course of a year." For me, goals get accomplished because I can see an end in sight.

But, as I think about my life, and who I am, and who I still want to be, I am beginning to recognize how important and overlooked the principle of consistency is. Let's say, for example, that I completed a marathon. The euphoria of finishing it, and the shiny medal they give you at the end last beyond that day, but the health effects of daily training only last if you continue to train. If you are constantly looking toward the end goal, rather than the process, it is hard to maintain consistency. Further, it is hard to get any better at what you are doing if you are only focused on the end.

My job, I am quickly discovering, is highly sedentary. I have a lovely desk, and a nice desk chair, and, if I didn't get up to go to the bathroom or microwave my Hot Pockets in the break room, I could, conceivably, stay in this chair for a whole day. In fact, sometimes I try to see if I can get all the way around my office without having to get up out of my chair. My coworkers are all significantly older than I am (somewhere between 10 and 35 years older), and I can see the effects such a lifestyle can have on a person who is not regularly exercising and dieting over a period of years.

To be fair, they are all busy people. They all have spouses, children, classes, research, students to advise, and clients to see. Not to mention, they are all active in their respective church congregations, which can also be rather time-intensive. And, I am sure, there are other things in their lives that are keeping them busy that I don't know about. My point is, exercise, in my profession, is not something that just happens. In order to stay healthy and fit, it requires a great deal of action, and, unfortunately, consistency.

So, this time around, I do not have some big end goal that I can check off. I mean, my end goals are to maintain a healthy weight, good cholesterol levels, not to have a heart attack, diabetes, or bone and joint problems, and to avoid getting sick as much as possible for as much of my life as possible.

So, how am I going to accomplish this? I'm not sure. But, for now, I think it will go something like this:

• Give up sugary cereal for breakfast in favor of oatmeal (which, as far as I can tell, is replacing cupcakes, smoothies, or frozen yogurt as the new trendy food)
• Cook two healthy dinners a week. As far as I can tell, this one will probably require the use of my Crock-Pot, so I appreciate all of Sarah's recipes.
• Exercise four times a week. I predict this one will be the hardest for me. I prefer exercise to be something that just happens in my life. Like, some mornings, I just wake up and feel like running. That's pretty rare, though. I think the biggest barrier to this will be time management. If I manage my time better at night, I get to bed at a decent hour, and I can wake up early enough to exercise. If I don't, it all goes downhill.

I realize that these goals are pretty boring compared to cupcakes, and, to be honest, I haven't figured out a way to blog about them that has a chance of being interesting. Also, because I don't have a time table for this that is more finite than, "the rest of my life," I could be blogging for a long time. However, it seems to me like another way in which goals can work is if they are reported, which was why I started this blog in the first place. So, hopefully, I can make that work.

Also, I plan to keep the handle Camp Cupcake, until I can come up with a different one. Or, possibly forever. Martha might have been able to shake it, but I'm not sure I want to.