I’m so excited and I just can’t hide it.

Today was my fiirst day ever using fondant icing! And oh how fun it was.

I channeled my inner Bakerella and Pioneer Woman, and dove right in:

I used Wilton’s Fondant as well as a wonderful Wilton’s 12 pack gel icing colours:

Gloves are necessary if you are a prissy princess like me. (That’s what hubby says anyways) :D

Mixing some pink gel:

Is it worth it, let me work it, I flip my thing down…ok, I really don’t know the words to that song!

It simply wasn’t pink enough. I like pink. I need more pink. Deeper pink please!

So soft and pretty. I love fondant.

Just your average UFO crop:

Once you have cut the circle (the same diameter as the cupcake) you place it into your hand and twist. I wet the sides a bit so it would stick. You really need to do a couple to figure it out and see what works for you best!

Voila! Mon petite cupcake!

Not perfect, but not bad for a first try!

It is just begging to be decorated, no?

My second attempt on the left. I liked this one better.

Now it was time to make my 1st rose. I was panicking on the inside.

Try not to laugh too much.

What an awful looking rose.

I admit I cracked up when I saw this sad looking rose on the cupcake.

Folks, this is what we call a ‘Back to the GLO drawing board!’

So I went back to the PW/Bakerella post. And I re-examined her roses. They looked so perfect I wanted to vomit.

Back to the kitchen I went! Determined to create a better rose.

You see, the key, is creating a flat, convex, D-shaped squiggly thing. Not a round ‘worm’ shape, which was what I initially created.

And here we go!

I’m in love.

Utter, pink, rose-y love.

I did a happy dance. Followed by The Hammer. Ohhh ohh, oh, oh, ohhhh, oh, ohhh, oh, ohohohohoh STOP HAMMER TIME.

Oh no, I’m not finished. There is more!

After this rose, I felt like the sky was the limit. I felt weightless. Much like when I put my knee sleeves on yesterday.

Are you ready?

Pastry cutters work amazing with fondant:

Yes that rose is a mammoth. Next time I would make it smaller. But hey, go big or go home!

Channeling my inner Glo Bakery colours:

Ta-Da!

Pretty darn adorable, eh?

I think these would make the cutest wedding favours!

I also want to try regular cupcakes too.

And this is just the beginning. Oh yes, only the beginning. My next attempt will be Marzipan. Fondant’s healthy and expensive alternative.

Good afternoon!

I hope everyone is enjoying their St Patty’s Day so far! :)

I had another hit and a miss in the test kitchen today!

The miss:

Chocolate Chickpea Cupcakes

I adapted the recipe found here. Apparently it came from ‘Veggie Life’ Magazine. One would assume that it would taste great, but I was not a fan. It could have been my modifications which included Orange extract and cane sugar, but I am not so sure.

These tasted fairly good, but I just couldn’t get over the texture of the cake! It was so dense, but it wasn’t just that…it was a weird and foreign texture that I am just not sure any cake or cupcake should have.

Sure, they looked pretty normal…

Way. Too. Dense.

And if I had a problem with it, I can assure you that other non-health fanatics might. So I thought this was grounds for a MISS.

So I clicked my fingers and a little BAD BAKING FAIRY arrived and cleaned up the whole mess for me! *Poof*

I wish! :D

NEXT!

After doing some of Wiggs fabulous ab moves (I did about 4 mins worth of the first 3 variations- OUCH!), I decided it was time to use up my GREEN zucchini and make muffins.

Perfect for St Patty’s Day!

Sweet + Spicy Zucchini Breakfast Muffins

I call them breakfast muffins because that’s exactly what I thought of when I had my first (of many!) bites. They were sweet yet wholesome and savoury. I imagined myself eating one outside on a warm morning reading the paper with a huge mug of green tea.

I adapted the recipe found here over at Fat Free Vegan (GREAT website- I highly recommend it!).

My modifications included: more and different spices, egg, cane sugar, almond breeze, turbinado sugar, etc.

The finished product blew my mind!

Talk about the PERFECT breakfast muffin:

She is a genius, that Susan!

The Zucchini bits blended right in and adapted the taste of the muffin. Fabulous!

Suggestion: Do not even think about making these muffins without the topping! They made the muffin. I actually doubled my topping and still thought it could use more. :)

These muffins only have about 150 cals each. They also have 4 grams of protein and 3 grams of fibre. Oh yes.

I felt so festive as I ate two of these for lunch today!

Well guys, it is time to exercise. It is SO warm and sunny out—weeeee! :)

I am hitting up a different Conservation Park today for some hiking. The intensity will be much higher today as it is mostly hills at this park. I am having so much fun mixing up my workouts lately. I can’t believe that I used to run day in and day out- there are so many other activities that I enjoy! It is fun to explore them. :)

Cheers!

Today’s question: What is your favourite GREEN Vegetable?

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

I thought I would start today off with posting the most amazing cupcakes that I have ever made!!! You will seriously want to make this recipe when you see these bad boys.

I actually wasn’t anticipating that these would turn out as delicious as they did. All I can say is I am lucky I only ate one of them last night!

I wasn’t planning on having any sweets last night, but how could I pass this up? I rest my case.

Angie’s Famous Strawberry Cupcakes

This recipe was adapted from Good Things Catered

2 1/2 c. cake flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c. unsalted butter
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1/3 c. buttermilk
1/4 c. oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 c. chopped strawberries (I only had 1 cup defrosted + drained strawberries, not ideal but worked out!)

Strawberry Icing

1/4 c. strawberries
1 Tbsp. strawberry liquor
1/2 tsp lemon juice
8 oz. cream cheese, room temp
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
1 3/4 c. powdered sugar
1/2 Tbsp vanilla

I actually decided to make my own icing as I didn’t have cream cheese. I used a classic buttercream recipe:

Pink Buttercream Icing

3 cup icing sugar
1/2 stick butter
2 Tbsp milk
1/2 tsp almond extract

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare 2 cupcake pans.

2) Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time until fluffy. Add buttermilk, oil, and vanilla. In a different bowl mix together or sift the dry ingredients.

3) Add dry ingredients to wet and stir until just combined (I used level 1 on the mixer to achieve a ’stir’)

4) Fold in berries

5) Evenly distribute batter into cupcake pans. Bake for 20 mins.

6) Icing: Mix softened butter and gradually add icing sugar. Add 2 tbsp. milk and almond extract. Mix until light, smooth, and fluffy.

7) Have fun decorating and enjoy!

One of these things is not like the other:

I made 18 cupcakes and then a mini cake :)

This was the boys tasting plate:

Lucky devils!

These were so darn good! A perfect V-Day treat. :)

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My nighttime snacks included:

An orange:

And one cupcake (sans icing)

It’s all about moderation, right?

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Well, I have lots to prepare for V-Day so I better get cracking! Eric and I might go on a very light hike at a nearby conservation. We are so lucky because we have about 5 conservation parks within 1-5 km from our house! The sun continues to shine so we better enjoy it. :)

I would like to take this moment to show my appreciation for my wonderful readers!!! It is really hard to believe that Oh She Glows was started only a short 3 1/2 months ago. The support and encouragement that you have given me has been nothing short of amazing.

So, THANK YOU so very much for taking the time out of your day to see what I am up to! :D I hope you will continue to visit Oh She Glows and find that it is a place where you can re energize, relax, and leave feeling a bit better about yourself than when you came.

One of my goals on this website is to show others that it is possible to overcome struggles with body image and self esteem and to achieve a balance and satisfaction with oneself.

Enjoy your day- I hope it is with loved one(s)!

See you later for more V-Day fun and some ‘AFTER’ family room pictures after painting the primer coats! You won’t believe the difference. :)

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“Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being “in love” which any of us can convince ourselves we are.

Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two.
- Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. “Love is the beauty of the soul.” –St. Augustine

GAHhhhhhhhhh….so romantic isn’t it? Gosh I am a sap for this stuff…;)

Good evening!

Well it is Superbowl Sunday and I can’t say I watched! I saw a bit of the half time show but that was it! I have never been a big Superbowl person.

[polldaddy poll=1333497]

And now I present to you my healthy Pumpkin cake recipe!

I slashed the fat and sugar by 50% from a traditional pumpkin cake recipe. YES!

Because this cake is low-fat and uses applesauce to replace 50% of the oil, the cake is very dense. The texture is not like a traditional cake, but the taste is still fabulous.

Ingredients

• 2 cups pumpkin puree
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup Almond Breeze or milk
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt (if preferred, I omitted)
• 1 pkg. cream cheese
• 5 tbsp. butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 cups icing sugar
• 1 cup chopped nuts

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 and grease cake pan. In a large bowl, beat pumpkin, sugar, and oil. Add eggs and mix well.

2) In another bowl, mix dry ingredients. Add dry to wet and beat until just mixed.

3) Pour batter into a cake pan. and bake for approx. 25-30 mins.

4) While cake is cooking, make cream cheese icing. Beat cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and icing sugar for 3-5 mins or until smooth.

5) Ice the cake and top with walnuts!

Enjoy a cake that is low in sugar and fat, yet loaded with antioxidants and vitamins!

Tips:

I don’t know why but I have a hard time getting a good consistency for cream cheese icing. Mine always ends up too soft not matter how much icing sugar I add. Any tips??

Also, I made this cake into a double layer and I wouldn’t recommend this. The cake, being that is is low fat, is quite dense and not cake like. So when you put your fork through the 2 layers they tended to slide off one another and fall apart. One layer would have been better! Also the amount of batter in this recipe was not enough for 2 layers….they were two very skinny layers. Not what I was hoping for!

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Somewhere along the line of development we discover what we really are, and then we make our real decision for which we are responsible. Make that decision primarily for yourself because you can never really live anyone else’s life, not even your own child’s.
~Eleanor Roosevelt

Night!

PS- Check out my Ebay sale for a Pink Lululemon Remix Hoodie! Starting bid set at just 99 cents!

See you tomorrow AM for an update on my weekly expenses and budgeting strategies in the grocery store. See what I had to GIVE UP for now….

Afternoon!

My day is going well. We are getting tons of prep work done for tonight! I think it is going to be a big hit. I did some Power Yoga inbetween prepping. It feels so good to be moving my body again (even though very slightly). I am slowly healing and feeling better. The only time my left leg hurts is when i lift my knee up and bend downwards (like putting on a sock). Slowly but surely I think it is getting better. It will still be a while before I feel safe enough to run though.

I did about 15-20 mins. of the Power Yoga. It was relaxing! :) I really enjoy Bryan’s approach. But man oh man, are the people in the video funny. Everyone is in tighty whiteys!!!!!!! But more on that later…LOL.

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A warning before this post: This recipe is not for the faint of heart!!!

Oh She Glow’s Brownie Caramel Pecan Cake

Recipe adapted from “Brownie Caramel Pecan Bars” from: Best-Loved Hershey’s Recipes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 c. butter
• 1/2 c. water
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/3 c. all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt (if preferred)
• 50 caramel pieces, unwrapped
• 1 Tbsp. milk
• 4 Tbsp. butter
• 3/4 cup pecan pieces
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350F. Grease cake pan and dust with flour. Set aside.

2. Combine sugar, butter, and water in a large sauce pan (do not use a frying pan like I did!). Cook over low heat stirring often until mixture boils. Remove from heat and immediately mix in 2 cup of chocolate chips. Stir like crazy until your arms feel like rubber. Beat in 4 eggs and vanilla. Stir, stir, stir! It will get easier. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix together well. Add flour mixture into chocolate mixture and stir. Spread batter into cake pan. Bake approx. 20 mins. Cake will start to crack and pull away at the sides.

3. While cake is baking, prepare caramel topping. Unwrap 40 (I used 50, but 40 would be enough) caramels. This is boring as heck, and I am open to other ideas if anyone knows any! ;) Microwave caramels, butter, and milk on high for 1 minute. Remove and stir. Return to microwave for 30 sec. intervals until smooth. Do not overcook.

4. Once cake is out of the oven, cool for a few mins. and place on wax paper for easy clean up. Spread on caramel topping all over. Immediately sprinkle 3/4 cup pecan pieces and 1/2 cup chocolate chips on top. Set for 1 hour.

I will be reviewing my thoughts (and my guests) on this brownie cake later! It sure looks delicious :D I think it will be a huge hit!!!

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See you later for a recap of the dinner party!

People of mediocre ability sometimes achieve outstanding success because they don’t know when to quit. Most men succeed because they are determined to.
~George Allen

Hi everyone!

We had a great dinner party tonight! Boy am I full and tired. :)

I will post a quick picture recap tonight and then tomorrow afternoon I will post the rest of the recipes that I used.

The decor:

No Canadian winter is complete without a log fire burning! Sketchie is captivated by it.

Candlelight:

A pop of colour:

Where the magic happens:

The Food:

Spinach Dip and Pumpkernickle Bread:

This was a HIT, almost as big of a hit as the carrot cake! It was polished off within 15 mins!

Cheesy Spinach Pasta:

Sooo good. I made my half with no cheese. It tasted awesome!

Top to Bottom:

• Homemade Biscuits
• Steamed Organic Baby Carrots with seasonings
• Burgundy Pork Tenderloin in a Shiraz wine sauce
• Cheesy Spinach Pasta

And last but certainly not least:

This Carrot Cake from Smitten Kitchen did not disappoint! Moist it was :)

It was such a fun night and I am ready for bed!! :D

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Stay tuned tomorrow morning for my sister Kristi’s next installment in the Get My Body Back 2009 Challenge!

Also on deck tomorrow- another FAQ installment, the recipes to my dinner party, my workout, and much more. :)

Have a great night everyone!

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True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing. The great blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not.
~Seneca

Good morning!

I have been busy as a bee this morning. I woke up early with lots of my mind of what I have to do for the dinner party prep today. Up and at ‘em!

Chugging along on my Weekend of Fun to-do list:

I started my morning off with a bowl of Nature’s Path Pumpkin Raisin Crunch cereal, Almond Breeze, and a Ginger Tea (the ginger tea is growing on me!).

Then I got cracking on my Carrot Cake:

Did I mention Sketchie is obsessed with icing?

Several months ago, I was baking a cake and a small dallop of icing hit the floor. Let’s just say Sketchie has been my baking partner ever since. :D

My first time using my new cake dome that I received as a wedding gift:

I also set the  table:

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Now it is time to hit the treadmill for an easy 3 mile run. Surprisingly, I am not sore from yesterday’s 8 miler! The stretching must have helped. :)

The bad news? MY ipod Shuffle is KAPUT! :( I can’t load any songs on it anymore and I made  the mistake of deleting all the songs off it yesterday. I am hoping to use my $50 Wal-Mart gift card to buy a new one. I guess I will be blaring the music from Eric’s computer again, lol.

I guess I can’t complain though, I got a good 2 months out of it since that disasterous day it went through the washing machine!

See you this afternoon!!

PS- If you haven’t seen it already, go check out Jenna’s video of Caitlin from See Bride Run getting hitched!!!

“Health, happiness and success depend upon the fighting spirit of each person. The big thing is not what happens to us in life – but what we do about what happens to us.” ~George Allen

Whooooa tonight has been a whirlwind!

I have been so busy prepping the food since we got home from Crate & Barrel, William Sonoma, and Pottery Barn.

We had gift cards for all three- wedding gifts that had not been used yet. To my dismay, we actually had a really hard time spending them! The stores just weren’t well stocked. C & B said they weren’t expecting new Spring stuff for another 2 weeks. :(

At Crate & Barrel we returned some placemats and napkins because we discovered they didn’t look good on our table. We couldn’t find anything that matched our color scheme, so I settled with this blue metallic plate on sale for $2.50. Not bad!

At Pottery Barn, we found these great bright yellow placemats on sale for just $4.99 each. We got a set of 6. I also got 4 Chocolate-cinnamon candles on sale half price, as well as some deep red cloth cocktail napkins half off (not shown).

And at William Sonoma, I got a citrus zester! Something I have been wanting for ages now.

We looked and looked for some cloth napkins to go with our placemats, but the ones we liked were all sold out.

So as you can see, we didn’t leave with much even though we had lots of money on the gift cards- that’s always the way, isn’t it!?

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For dessert tomorrow night, I decided to make Smitten Kitchen’s Carrot Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting. How could I not make this after such a drool-worthy post?

In pictures:

If this cake tastes anywhere’s close to as good as the batter did, we have a winner!!!!

The Maple Cream Cheese Frosting:

Do not be fooled, this is not a healthy cake!

Sure, I could have doctored with Deb’s recipe, but that would have been a injustice to the amazingness that is this cake! lol.

When I cook for guests, I typically don’t mess with recipes for fear that they won’t turn out. Maybe next time I will try to use the applesauce method and see how it turns out.

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Next was prepping the Burgundy Pork Tenderloin from All Recipes:

I am marinating it overnight in garlic, sea salt, crushed pepper, and Yellow Tail Shiraz.

Shiraz is supposed to go wonderfully with Pork.

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And now for the worst cliffhanger of all….you will have to wait until tomorrow to see the finished product(s)!!! I still have much more to cook tomorrow, but thankfully I could at least get this stuff done tonight.

What I know is, is that if you do work that you love, and the work fulfills you, the rest will come. ~Oprah

Evening everyone!

As I hinted to in my previous post, I registered for the big race today! :D

I will be running the Mississauga Half Marathon on May 10, 2009! I am officially registered! Yawhoo! :D

151 days to go!!

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Now for some Women & Weight gossip in the news today:

1. Oprah admits to gaining 40 pounds and falling off the weight loss wagon and hits 200 pounds.

She says, “I’m embarrassed. I can’t believe that after all these years, all the things I know how to do, I’m still talking about my weight. I look at my thinner self and think, ‘How did I let this happen again?’”

2. Already perfect looking Jessica Alba was still airbrushed for her recent post-baby Campari photoshoot

Maybe it’s just me but I think she looked better in the before pictures….! What the heck.

I think it is so sad the way magazines airbrush everything these days! To me, the natural and real look will always be in style. Not some fake, plastic looking carton character.

3. Jennifer Lopez looks great thanks in part to her triathalon training.

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Now for my yummy, work pot-luck  baking post!

I decided to make Brown Sugar Banana Nut Bread

Although I took out the nuts (and added chocolate chips) because someone in my workplace is allergic to nuts.

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition. Stir in vanilla and banana. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. Blend the banana mixture into the flour mixture; stir just to combine. Fold in walnuts. Pour batter into prepared pan.

In the loaf pan

A mini loaf for Eric and I to taste test

4. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted into center of loaf comes out clean.

Our mini loaf to share :)

So delicious!!

I prefer this recipe with the nuts, but it was still really good!

I rate this recipe a 4.5/5 stars.

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Night everyone!!

Stay tuned tomorrow for the inspiration and significance behind the name ‘Oh She Glows’

Oh yes…there is one! :D

A friend is one who knows us, but loves us anyway.     
       - Fr. Jerome Cummings

Hi everyone! I hope you all are having a fun and relaxing weekend :D

My day was great! My workout at the gym was good today:

• 45 mins treadmill @ incline 15, speed 4.0 mph
• 24 flights of stairs
• crunches on stability ball (25)
• 20 lunges with 30 pounds of dumbbells

Eric and I went grocery shopping in the afternoon (one of my favourite things to do- sad, but true!) and then I came home and decorated the birthday cake and got ready to leave.

The Birthday dinner with family was wonderful! The food was delicious and my cake was a big hit.

The romantic and cozy candlelit spread….

Salad, chicken vegetable pasta, and the softest bread I have ever tasted!

My plate (balsamic mustard salad, chicken pasta, bread):

I also had a yummy slice of birthday cake! My BIL with the cake:

Beautiful fall flowers…

Such a fun night- I love my new family :D

Tomorrow my mom flys in from Calgary, we are picking her up from the airport at noon and spending the day with her. I will try my best to squeeze in a post when I can!

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I leave you tonight with a video of inspirational quotes…this is really neat! I love this song too.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bcxwhzyh7c]

Peace out lovies!