Colorful Food

For an appetizer last night I decided to whip up some Vietnamese spring rolls. I didn't follow a recipe, just kind of made it up as I went. Thought I would share it with the world because it was ABSOLUTELY delicious and healthy.

Ingredients

• Rice based spring roll wrappers
• Purple Cabbage
• Carrots
• Cilantro
• Radishes
• Olive Oil

 Instructions

First chop up the cabbage, carrots, cilantro, and radishes. Mix them together in a bowl with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Soften the rice based spring roll wrappers as directed on the package. For mine it meant soaking them in water for about 20 seconds. Put the softened wrapper on a tea towel and then add a scoop of the mixed ingredients to the center of the wrapper. Form the mix into a long oval shape. Then fold the sides of the wrapper closest to the ends of the mix in. Then roll the wrapper from one non-folded end to the other.

I served mine with some spicy peanut sauce that I found in the Asian section of my supermarket. I highly recommend coming up with your own spring roll with whatever veggies you have in your fridge. I also added a bit of leftover chopped up chicken breast in mine as well. Get CREATIVE!

Don't they colorful and scrumptious!

Ombre Cake

Over the weekend we celebrated two of our friends birthdays at a combined party. I had the esteemed honor of doing the cake. For a while now I have wanted to make an ombre cake for someone. I love to bake because I find it so relaxing and controlled. I spent all Friday afternoon and Saturday working on my masterpiece while watching reruns of Greys Anatomy on my ipad. I'll let you judge for yourself the cake outcome. It wasn't perfect but seeing as I am not a professional baker with professional tools, I think it was pretty awesome. And of course the birthday boy and girl loved it.

Since I was making a lot of cake I went with the box. YA YA I know...reminder not a professional baker and I don't have time to pretend to be one either.

I bought three boxes of vanilla cake mix. I made each of them on their own and then separated the batter into two equal parts. Once I had six bowls of equal batter I lined them up on the counter. Sorry I don't have a picture so you will have to use your imagination.

Once I had all six bowls I added green food coloring to each of them.

First bowl :10 Drops
Second bowl : 20 Drops
Third bowl : 30 Drops
Fourth bowl : 40 Drops
Fifth bowl : 50 Drops
Sixth bowl : 60 Drops

I took turns baking each one in my two cake pans. Once they were all cooled, I stacked them in the reverse order I had planned on for the final cake and put plastic wrap in between each layer. The deconstructed cake sat in the refrigerator over night.

In the morning I took the cake out of the fridge so it would be room temperature by the time it was served later that night. I made some home made butter cream frosting...3 full rations.

Frosting
2 sticks of butter
3 to 4 cups of powdered sugar
1 tablespoon of vanilla
3 tablespoons of heavy cream


I then started taking the cake apart from the top down and putting them onto a different plate one at a time frosting in between each of them.Once that was finished I frosted the entire outside.

Overall the cake was a huge success, even if it had its flaws. Here is a picture of the inside. It's a little sloppy but let's be honest cutting a cake always is.

Off to XCountry ski now! Gotta keep up with that fitness goal.

Sunday Funday Fitness Goals

Another weekend gone. Boo hoo back to work.  On the bright side, apparently we may get a snow storm on Wednesday which would be amazing because I could spend the day on the slopes.

For some time now I've been telling myself that I really need to start a regimented exercise plan. It's not just about losing some weight but also I've been feeling really out of shape lately. Since we are still actively trying for baby Cadman, shedding a few pounds could really help our chances too. Some of my future posts will be about some of the new changes I will be making to make a healthier lifestyle for myself.

Problem...
The hubs and I want a treadmill because we both love to run. However with the mortgage due we don't really have money right now to buy one that would last.

Solution...
Ever since I tried cross country skiing a couple of years ago I've wanted a set up for myself. I love  down hill but nothing beats a nordic workout. I went to our local sports consignment store and the awesome woman who owns the place got me all set up with a nice vintage pair of skis, boots, and poles for 47 bucks! They're aren't anything special but they work like a dream. Since the pond we live on is super frozen and attracts snowmobilers I have plenty of nice trails all carved out for me. I went out for a little while this afternoon and boy did I work up a sweat! I can't wait for tomorrow when I can really go out and cruise for a good hour.

I HIGHLY recommend this for anyone who lives around snow and is looking for a new workout. Especially since it was cheap, 47 smacks!  

...Oh and did I mention it's about 350 calories burned for every half an hour!

Funky socks felt appropriate.