Victory is mine!

Hey, remember that time the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series?

That was pretty neat. We can talk about it again if you’d like…?

No? Well… ok… But can we at least talk about the bet I won with Kace when they played the Phillies for the NLCS title? Because my winnings came in the mail yesterday:

Cue the angels singing and a spotlight coming down from the heavens.

Please understand- I’ve heard ramblings of the amazing Tastykake from some of the east coast girls for QUITE some time now. So when I had a chance to try some out? Count me IN.

My head was buzzing with excitement. Or from inhaling the smell of sugary goodness. Either/or.I shared with my friend at work (I’m SO nice) and we both dug into the Peanut Buttery Kandy Kakes first (we each had our own package- none of that splitting business). Because great minds think alike. And peanut butter and chocolate rock.The “cake” part was spongy and light and the thin layer of peanut butter on top confirmed what I already knew in my heart…

… I’d almost consider moving to Philly. Just for these babies.Good thing I can order them online and don’t have to. Whew…

Now the question is how long will they last? I offered to take some with me to St. Louis next week for the man friend. This will hopefully keep me from face planting in the tin they came in.

He gets me a massage… I bring him a tastykake. That’s fair, right?

If you say “no”, that just means you’ve never had a tastykake before.

Either way- a big thanks goes out to Kace. And the St. Louis Cardinals for winning. But mostly Kace.

Must be a week of new things (heeeeyyyy really awkward transition!). Or sorta new. Or “I haven’t done this in over a year” new.

I’m talking about yoga, people.

Yes, I dusted off the good ol’ Jillian Michaels Yoga Meltdown dvd (literally- it was  in the back of my media table that my dusting routine never reaches). After the same mix of cardio and weights for quite some time, it seemed appropriate to throw something new into the mix.

Plus I was sore from also breaking out Jillian’s Shred workout earlier in the week and running/ellipticalling sounded a little daunting.

My thighs are now burning thanks to both The Shred and Meltdown. It’s also embarrassing how few chatarunga push ups actually happened.

To be honest, even when doing the yoga dvd regularly (once or twice a week), I couldn’t do those stupid push ups.  Sooooo weak…

So that’s that- my meager attempt to make a few changes. Because I’m a big subscriber to the idea that “you can’t expect change when you’re not changing anything”. And let’s face it. I was in a rut. All cardio and the only action my weights were getting was when I was stubbing my toe on them as I walked by. Not cool.

So let’s do this, shall we? Happy Thursday!

What’s a Fluffernutter?

When I was little, I was NOT a very healthy eater.

Not that I’m the epitome of healthy eating now. But I still like to think I’m pretty good about keeping myself balanced and in check for the most part (you may question this statement by the end of the post).

But not when I was little. To be specific, it’s the school lunch that killed it for me.

My teachers had to have been concerned when all I’d eat was bread every day and the cinnamon rolls they’d serve once every few weeks. Every once in a while I’d eat the peanut butter they’d set out on occasion for the bread.

Snack time was no better. Pretty sure if there were a lactose intolerant kid in my class, even they would have gotten more stars for finishing their milk than me.

Even as a young tyke, I was a defiant little booger.

Point of my story is that I hated school lunches. I grew out of it a little, but was so frustrated that I wasn’t allowed to bring lunch from home. In my school, not many people did. But I wanted to. Maybe for the food. Maybe for the cool lunch box (I heart Lisa Frank). Whatever reason, I wanted to bring my own lunch.

So you can see how I’d also feel a little jipped about missing out on the classics. Snack packs with the fake cheese. Pudding cups. Juice boxes (even though I hated juice, it irked me).

And the fluffernutter sandwich.

Bread + Peanut Butter + Marshmallow Fluff.

I actually didn’t know this combination existed until much later in life. And, quite frankly, am not sure if children should be allowed to eat such massive quantities of sugar and call it their lunch for the day.

But that’s a debate for another day.

Either way, it exists and it sounds like a lovely thing. So when browsing recipes for the BBQ I went to on Monday, this was one of the options I sent to Mon (she was the final vote).

I think she ended up picking the fluffernutter cake bars because of the name. Pretty sure she won’t deny it if you asked.

The recipe for the fluffernutter cake bars came from Picky Palate’s website. She’s pretty much a genius in taking desserts one step further to make them over-the-top delicious. My kind of gal.

Anyway, what’s nice about this recipe is the ingredient list is short and as often as I bake, most things are kept on hand.What? You don’t keep marshmallow fluff on hand?

What is wrong with you?

*And yes, I do love my natural peanut butter from Trader Joe’s, but when it comes to baking, I buy the processed stuff with sugar in it. I think it tastes better in most baking. And I’ll stand by that statement.

One thing I will suggest- do not bake these early in the morning after a night out. You’ll swipe way more “batter” than normal. Oops.This leads to sugar coma by 9:30 in the morning if you’re not careful. Again- oops.Man I really need to polish my tea pot. That’s just shameful.This is the point where I always get nervous. And also why I’m much better at/more comfortable with cookies. Is it done? Is it good? Will the grocery store be open for me to buy a cookie cake if they’re awful?Turns out I was quite safe. My favorite part was the yellow cake mix crust- kind of like the ooey gooey butter cake I made earlier in the year.

The marshmallow/peanut butter “cream” party was very rich- but not overly sweet. Good for if you decide to mass consume.

In all honesty, I think the ooey gooey butter cake edges these out in the dessert bar category, but these are a good alternative. Promise!

Now I don’t feel so left out from getting the cool school lunches anymore…

How was the school lunch program in your part of the world?

I eventually expanded my tastes to include the big slices of square pizza and burritos that were quite suspect. Um- yum?