Happy St. Patrick's Day

May love and laughter light your days,

and warm your heart and home.

May good and faithful friends be yours, 

wherever you may roam.

May peace and plenty bless your world

with joy that long endures.

May all life's passing seasons

bring the best to you and yours.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Today I am spending it with my family as I do most weekends.  The difference this weekend we will be doing green crafts.  On the roster for today is Green cookies, homemade shamrock shakes, nail painting and some other crafts pulled from my obsession Pinterest.

To make your own shamrock shake

In your blender add 3 scoops vanilla ice cream, cover with milk, add 1 tsp mint extract and finally add desired amount of green food coloring.  Blend well and enjoy.  You can adjust the amounts to your personal taste.  More milk for thinner shakes, add more ice cream if you mix it too thin.  You can also substitute some of the ice cream for yogurt for a healthier version.

As a kid I love McDonald's Shamrock shake.  As an adult.. I must have gotten some horrible batches.  The mint is so overpowering it gags me.  The shake is more of a nasty milky runny drink.  Yet another thing the wisdom that comes with age has ruined.  I know what  real milk shake is supposed to taste like and the Franken shakes at McD's is so far off it's scary. 

Weight Loss Sabotage

I was doing great on my workouts. Julian Michaels was thoroughly kicking my sorry hide into shape. A shape I was beginning to really enjoy seeing. Then it happened...

Aunt Flo finally reared her ugly head after 6 months of no Postpartum visits. She arrived with all the evil excess baggage of migraines, bloating, cramping, sleeplessness, mood swings and feeling perpetually tired. I really did try to stick with working out, but after the first day I thought I was going to need some sort of hospitalization just to recover.

Then once I finally got Aunt flo and all her extra baggage out, I got sick. Not just a little sick either, no.. I am an overachiever and get a lingering chest cold that made me want to drag myself to the doctors for. Which was understandable since I ended up having my first asthma attack in years, but thankfully we still keep a rescue inhaler for that type of emergency. I hate the doctors though, they always want to poke me with needles and rarely do they only stab me once. All that poking and prodding would be for nothing, because I am breast-feeding and couldn't take most medications to help ease any of the symptoms without affecting my milk supply or flat-out being dangerous for my son. A visit to the doctors would be pointless and just be atrocious on top of me already feeling miserable. Instead I drank my orange juice, stayed hydrated, and tried to take it easy.

Back to the weight-loss saboteur sidekick, my dear sweet loving husband who isn't the most helpful when trying to lose weight. Sure he is a great workout buddy, but when it comes to healthy snacking it's a disaster. During this past month he has brought home ice cream sandwiches for me. (He's Lactose intolerant so none of them are for him.) Sure, they are the Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches but that is a slippery sugary slope for me. Then next it was the Twix ice cream bar and more ice cream sandwiches. Which turned into a daily iced coffee instead of it being a weekly treat. Sweets are my weakness. Maybe he's being sneaky and vindictive after I silently giggled at him for never again attempting the 30 day shred after that first workout. Nah, he's not that spiteful and he is enjoying the results of my workouts too.

So, back to the 30 day shred I go. Maybe I'll switch it up a few days with the Zumba workout my mother's group has talked about. Back to the grind! Those goal jeans have been taunting me from the bottom of my dresser. No more self sabotage.

I love you honey, but no more ice cream sandwiches to say you love me, a hug and the real words are better for my waistline.

Adding to the Joy of Baking

There are many things I can't live without bake without. The one thing most important to me for baking is my can of Baker's Joy cooking spray.  I can't say enough about how much I love that baking spray.  Even some of the stickiest and most troublesome recipes will always slide right out of the pan when using Baker's Joy.  Unlike when you oil then flour dust a pan separately, when using Baker's joy it uses only a fine mist of oil and flour.  Leaving much less chance for a simple mistake like too much or too little ruin your sweet treat.

My all time favorite packaged brownie mix is easily the Ghirardelli triple chocolate brownie. I buy mine in bulk at Sam's Club. 4 batches of this gooey brownie come in one box.  When we eat the last batch it is truly a bittersweet day.

My favorite use for brownies if they make it beyond the warm gooey treat fresh from the oven is turning them into hot fudge brownie sundaes.  Even with a lactose intolerant husband I can't live without my standard french vanilla ice cream to dress up with yummy treats like these brownies or even a favorite cookie.  It is the one ice cream you can always count on in my freezer.  Dress it up or mix something in, vanilla ice cream is a good base to start many delicious treats.  French vanilla is even more yummy with its vanilla bean speckles and custard-like base.

Here is a delicious hot fudge sauce recipe.

Hot Fudge Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter
• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 3 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 - 13 ounce can evaporated milk

Directions

1. In top of a double boiler over hot water, melt butter and chocolate.
2. Gradually add sugar and half the milk alternately.
3. Stir well after each addition
4. Add remaining milk, stirring constantly.
5. Cook until mixture is thick and sugar dissolves.

Notes

May store in a glass jar in the refrigerator.