Brandi Crocker

Despite being super sore, I was able (with a lot of Nick’s help) to get everything done we needed to this weekend, including cleaning the house, finishing the laundry, mowing the grass (that one was all Nick), prepping for this week, and completing our baking projects.

I finally finished the laundry a little bit ago and finished cleaning up the kitchen from baking while Nick vacuumed for me – I just couldn’t lift/move it, so he helped out a lot with that. Love him :)

Dinner tonight was pretty easy. Since I had the oven on already for baking, I threw 2 sweet potatoes in the oven for us and Nick grilled some strip steaks that I got on special and some romaine for a quick, chargrilled salad.

steak

I love grilled romaine – we just slice an entire romaine heart in half, lengthwise, drizzle a little oil on it and some salt and pepper and grill for 2-3 minutes. you don’t want it to get soggy, but it heats it up and gives a nice smoky, grilled flavor.

steak

My new thing with sweet potatoes is just a little salt and some cinnamon – I can’t get enough! I’m always sad when I take the last bite of my sweet potatoes. I would just about put cinnamon on anything, though. I love it.

 

Baking Projects:

The first baking project I made today is actually a recipe I saw on 101 Cookbooks and I’ve been dreaming about it ever since.

carrotbread

Carrot Cake

I’m not sure how….but I haven’t even sliced into this yet. I think I was just so focused on getting all the laundry done that I forgot about this once I took it out of the oven and started on the other baking project and dinner.

This hasn’t been iced yet, and I think I may just wait and ice each slice so we can add however much icing we want  :) This bread smelled amazing while it was baking. 

I did make a few modifications:

  • I cut out the butter – I wanted to see how it would be without. I just soaked the dates in a little hot water instead.
  • I added a splash (1 Tbsp? or s0) of orange juice

I’ll make sure to post more pictures and a real review once I try it  – as good as it smelled, I’m sure it will taste even better.

 

Baking project #2 will have to remain a bit of a mytery – I’m working on a cookie recipe for a contest, so I can’t tell you exactly what is in them, but they turned out much better than I thought they would!

cookie

Nick and I both tried them, and I think they need a bit of tweaking on the sweetness factor, but the texture is amazing and I love everything else. I think once we figure out the sweetness, these will be perfect  :)  And they’re super healthy, which makes me happy.

 

Well…for having pain meds in my system, this post didn’t turn out too bad! Sorry for any typos there might be or weird stuff I might not have noticed  :)  I’m going to let the pain meds kick in while I finish watching Iron Chef and call it a night.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your comments, thoughts, and emails – I appreciate every one.

I hope you all had a great weekend – and hopefully ones without accidents!  :)

9 comments

  1. I have NEVER heard of grilled romaine, but I can’t imagine how it could taste bad since romaine has that great natural sweetness already that would totally be complemented by a smoky flavor. :)

    I really really wanted to try that carrot cake on Heidi’s blog!! Gah, it looked SO good, but I had (and still have) no dates. :( Can’t wait to hear your review of the cake, and to hear about this cookie experiment! Is that a green speck of zucchini I see in the cookie picture?

    Hope you get a thorough (and painless) rest! :)

  2. you’ve really been so productive despite your “compromised” state! i’ve never grilled romaine, but that is an excellent idea.

    both of your baked goods look delicious, and i am especially curious to find out the deal on those cookies!

  3. Hope you continue to feel better!! Those baked goods are sure to help :)

  4. wow! you’ve sure been productive!
    you should also try putting a bit of cracked black pepper on your sweet potato…the contrast between sweet and spicy is amazing!

  5. Oh wow, such great baking! I totally love the carrot cake!

  6. Your baking projects look so exciting!

  7. Wow, grilled romaine? I’ve never heard of that before, but it looks delicious! That carrot cake looks really good, too.
    Take it easy! :)

  8. Wow girl you are doing really well in spite of the accident!!

    We are going to definitely try the grilled romaine! I looks great!!

  9. feel better! and what’s that green speck in teh cookie? EH?!

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