I hadn't fed the starter in about a week, so I had to do that. It took me three days! Three days! But it was so worth it. My boyfriend had made dinner, but I had to babysit the bread. Knead it for 15 minutes. So my dinner was cold, but again, the bread was worth it. One more obstacle was the final proofing before putting it in the oven. It needed to proof on the counter for two hours. Well, it was already 10p on Sunday, and we were both exhausted. I set a timer to wake myself at midnight. Of course, I did not hear this timer, but my body and mind woke me up at 4a. The bread had proofed for a little longer than specified, but I bolted up and quickly finished the recipe. I caught an episode of The Twilight Zone that I hadn't seen yet.
An hour later, I got two beautiful, bouncing baby loaves.
I also made another version of Red Velvet Cupcakes. I was using Paula Deen's recipe, and it called for too much oil making a very dense cupcake. I really didn't care for it, but I found another recipe that I like much more. I wanted to put a strawberry syrup into them. So I made this strawberry syrup. Of course, I stepped away for just a second and it spilled all over my stovetop. So that was fun cleaning up strawberry goo. And the irony? I forgot to put the syrup in the cupcakes. The next batch.
I made a peppermint ice cream. I have told myself before to not use a particular recipe site before, and sure enough, I did and didn't like the ice cream. It called for eight egg yolks. The ice cream tasted very eggy. I didn't care for it. The girls at the office liked it, so that's what matters. I will try another one this weekend.
I also made a Toasted Almond Cherry Chocolate Ice Cream. Now that one, I knocked it out of the park. It was incredible. I was almost sad to take it into the office, but glad because I would have eaten all of it. It's I'm sure gone at the office.
Well, because of these ice creams, I had a ton of left over egg whites. So I made three dozen meringue cookies. My boyfriend took a dozen, and I took a dozen to the office. I'm hoping the other dozen makes it through the week so I can take them to my boyfriend's family next weekend.
The last venture I did last weekend was a large quantity of applesauce. I peeled apples for hours! At least Mr. Don Draper kept my company, but I made a very nice sugar-free applesauce and canned them.
Well, rule #3 of canning is to make sure you have no air bubbles. I ran my knife through the applesauce, and somehow I still got a ton of little champagne air bubbles. They are all in my fridge waiting for my consumption. I will not give it away. It sure is yummy though. :) I do love me some applesauce. I wish I had taken more pictures.
But on a healthier note, I took some fitness tests at my gym. The first was to test my AT or Anaerobic Threshold. I get on a bike or treadmill and work out for 20 minutes. Then the personal trainer records where I switch over from burning fat to burning carbs. Well, honestly, I'm pretty normal. I definitely could be better, but I'm about normal for my age. So, he told me how to improve it to make my workout work better for me in the long term.
What you need to do is to find that AT number (mine is 156) and make sure to stay below it while you do a cardio workout. If you can sustain that heart rate, your number will get higher.
I also had my RMR test (resting metabolic rate). When I sit and do absolutely nothing all day, I burn 2000 calories. I guess this is about normal since the government thinks you need to eat 2000 calories a day. Since I work out everyday (sometimes twice a day), I burn on average 2600 calories a day. Therefore, I need to eat 1800-2000 calories a day. I've been eating 1200-1500 so I'm not eating enough. Sadly I know this. All day yesterday, all I did was eat. I felt like a cow just shoveling food in my mouth. Always something in my mouth. But the scale went down half a pound. It may be connected.
These tests did mean I had to skip two weeks of Mr. Prom King, but you know what? I'm going to make up for it tomorrow. He (and his wife) is hosting a two hour spin class. I'm so excited. I'll keep you posted on that one.
I will also let you know how the ice creams, chocolate-coconut macaroons, and pie work out. :)
Happy Saturday.
