Livin' the Dream in Lima

Last week was a busy week at school. Thursday marked the end of the 1st quarter, and we administered OGT's (the Ohio Graduation Test) all week to the juniors and seniors who hadn't passed them yet. Busy busy. So, since tomorrow is Halloween, I thought I'd bake my kidd-o's a little something special. And perhaps I wanted an excuse to spend the afternoon in the kitchen, as well. (While I let my Business Man take care of all the yard work outside. Thanks hon!) I wanted to make something Halloween-themed, but not too complicated since I was going to be making a lot . I remembered some Homemade Oreos that I made back when I was in high school, and thought they'd be perfect, especially if I colored the filling orange for Halloween.  Aren't these little cupcake toppers so cute? Definitely not going to school though... These aren't exactly like Oreos - the cookies are more soft than crunchy. But I don't think you can go wrong with a sweet vanilla ...

With Halloween just a few days away, I thought I would talk a bit about my favorite candies. I am really not much of a candy person - give me a choice between a baked good and a piece of candy, I'll choose the baked good almost every time. However, there are a few candy bars that I absolutely enjoy. Pretty much anything to do with chocolate and peanut butter, together. Reese's cups. Reese's Sticks. And the best ever... Take 5 bars . Oh yes. Five of the best ingredients - peanut butter, peanuts, caramel, pretzel, and chocolate - all in one crispy, crunchy, chewy chocolatey bite. Delicious. Today's a pretty lazy Saturday, so I decided that I'd try my hand at making homemade Take 5 bars. It didn't seem that difficult. And it wasn't. I started off with some little waffle pretzels .  I spread a little crunchy peanut butter on each one. (Taking care of the peanut butter and peanuts portion.) I then melted some unwrapped Kraft caramels with a ...

Here in the Bean Town, trick-or-treating does not take place on Halloween. This is so strange to me. Trick-or-treating is tonight, from 6 to 8pm. How is Thursday night any better than Monday night? I could see maybe moving it to a weekend, but this just makes no sense. Anyways, when I was growing up, every Halloween my mom made chili. She still does. It was the Halloween tradition. A warm bowl of chili was the perfect dinner to warm you up before heading out into the chilly night. So, even though I'm not trick-or-treating tonight, I still made chili. It's the tradition! Although I switched it up a little, and instead of a traditional chili, I made a Pumpkin & Black Bean Chili . (It is  Pumpkin Thursday, after all.) Topped with a blanket of cheese. The pumpkin is not too overpowering in this chili; it mainly acts as a thickening agent, with just a slight pumpkin taste. The chili is filled with black beans, yellow pepper, and shredded chicken, and is a bit spicy....

I'm not much of a strength training person. Okay, I'm not a strength training person at all. The last time I've lifted any sort of weights was back in college when we had a 2-day-a-week 'program' that I never really did. (Sorry, coach.) I've tried to get myself into ab routines, but they always fall by the wayside. Why would I spend 10 minutes doing abs when I could be out running an extra mile? However, several weeks ago, my right knee started to bother me. Quite a bit. Not so bad that I couldn't run on it, but bad enough to make me want to do something about it. My first solution was to get new shoes. (I'd been in my previous pair for well over 500 miles. When will I ever learn?) Well, that has helped some, but I've decided to try to fix the problem that's causing my knee to hurt. Apparently, a lot of knee pain stems from weak hips. Women are especially prone to weak hips, and it causes your running form to break down, which in turn caus...

Yesterday was definitely a Monday. After a fun weekend with friends, I started my week off on a high note.  School went well. (My students enjoyed tolerated an activity I thought they would hate.) I had a rockin' treadmill run while watching Friends. (7 miles at 8:00 pace, boo ya. First run since the half where I felt like I had my legs back.) And then the senselessness began. First of all, let me tell you a little tidbit about my car. The gas gauge does not really work. It will work effectively until I have less than half a tank of gas left, and then it sweeps from empty to full with no rhyme or reason. So I never really know how much gas I have in my tank. (I bet you can see where this is going.) My solution? Set my trip-o-meter every time I fill up. Typically I can get anywhere from 330 to 350 miles on a tank of gas. Yesterday I was at 308 miles, so I thought I was doing just fine. I was driving home from the gym about 5:00. I needed to be showere...

So this weekend was a busy one! Super-fun, too. My Business Man is really tight with his friends from college, and every few months they have a friends' reunion, at someone's house or a more exotic location. (In May, we went to South Carolina .) It was our turn to host, so we had to whole crew out to the Bean Town ! The weekend was full of fun activities - board games, corn mazes, cake-pop making, running, bonfires, s'mores eating, and just plain old hanging out. A few friends had expressed an interest in learning how to make cake pops , so Saturday morning we had an official Cake Pops 101 class. Crumbling up the cake. Party rainbow chip was the flavor of the day. Fun was had by all. (I think.) Wrapping up the goods. The decorating skills were definitely top notch work. Whitny and her blondie cake pop. After coming down off our sugar highs, we headed out to partake in a classic Midwest fall pastime, the corn maze. Suter's Corn...

Time for this week's rockin' pumpkin recipe! Have you ever tried a recipe for a cookie, but it turns out like a little baby cake? It seems like every pumpkin cookie recipe out there turns into a miniature pumpkin cake once it's baked. Or a whoopie pie. If I wanted to eat cake, I would make cake! However, Jessica over at How Sweet It Is has perfected the chewy pumpkin cookie with crispy edges. The secret? Pumpkin butter, not pumpkin puree.  You still get that sweet pumpkin-y flavor, but none of the puffiness. (Real scientific, I know.) I had some leftover cheesecake from making Red Velvet Cheesecake cupcakes earlier this week, and I wondered how it would taste inside the cookies. You know, instead of chocolate chips or white chocolate chips? I diced up the leftover cheesecake into super small chunks. And froze them for about 20 minutes before folding them into the dough so they wouldn't get smooshed too much. The verdict?  De...