#MadMarch Slow Start

Last week’s workouts?  Hmmm…a little off. 

At the end of the previous week my lower back ended up being really tender.  Sadly I have to blame yoga.  No matter how careful I am not to push myself too much I always seem to end up reactivating an injury. 

Yoga and I just aren’t meant to be and it makes me sad.

Looks like it’s back to the chiropractor for me just to make sure I haven’t thrown anything out of serious alignment. 

Last year I spent over $1000 trying to fix a hip and back issue, which was eventually solved with two sessions of ART and a $6 shoe insert.  Considering I was at chiro, physio or massage at least once a week for months it’s been a delight to not have to do any of that for the last five months.  My bank account has been seriously happy, but if one or two visits means I don’t go through another year of pain and recovery I shall do it!

I took the weekend and Monday off, then got back into the swing of things. I kept it simple and easier than previous weeks and it seems like my body is on the mend.

Tuesday – 45 minute walk with the dog along the Galloping Goose…

Wednesday – I created a simple upper body workout and tackled a short but sweaty cardio session…

Thursday – off to make sure not to overdo it.

Friday – An on-the-fly lower body workout and sweaty cardio blast…

Saturday – Michael and I loaded the dogs into the car for a late afternoon hike.  We ended up out there for almost 2 hours and came home muddy and hungry.  Good times.

{and I managed to fit in one of my March goals too – photo day!}

So, a bit of a slow start to March Madness but this week I’ll aim to make up for it.  Strength training for the win!!

Witty’s Lagoon

Metchosin time.

Beautiful British Columbia.

West Coast Living.

Island Life.

Spring has sprung.

Baking Whoopie

What do you call a holiday that isn’t really a holiday?  You know, the days like St. Patrick’s Day.  We call them holidays but we don’t get a day off work or anything so isn’t it just an extra fun special day or something like that? 

Whatever you call it, it’s next Saturday.  And St. Paddy’s on a Saturday is really just an excuse to buy a cute green t-shirt, head to the local Irish bar and drink Guinness (or in my case, Crown Floats) now isn’t it?

Gotta love an extra fun special day that encourages you to drink! ;)

To get in the mood I thought it would be fun to bake something green.  Which really sounds disgusting doesn’t it?  But if we can make cute red baked treats for Valentine’s Day I figured I could find a way to make green cute too.

It seemed to me that if a box of chocolate cake mix can be turned into Red Velvet cupcakes, then why couldn’t vanilla cake mix be turned into Green Velvet?  So I surfed the internet, found a basic Red Velvet Whoopie Pie recipe and got to work turning it into Green Velvet Whoopie Cakes!

Mini Green Velvet Whoopie Cakes with Bailey’s Cream Cheese Icing

adapted from Betty Crocker

yields 36 mini cupcakes

Ingredients:

cupcakes

• 1 box French Vanilla Cake Mix
• 1 box vanilla instant pudding mix (99 gram box)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs
• 1.5 tablespoons green food colouring

icing

• 1 1/4 cups cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups icing sugar
• 2 tsp Bailey’s Irish Cream

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly spray mini muffin tins with non-stick baking spray.
2. In large bowl, beat cupcake ingredients with electric mixer on low speed until moistened; beat 1 minute longer on high speed until fluffy.  The batter will be thicker than usual cake batter.
3. Using two teaspoons fill each mini muffin cup about half full with batter.
4. Bake approximately 7-9 minutes depending on your oven.  As soon as you see a speck of brown around the edges they are done.  Cool in pan just until cool enough to handle, then transfer cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.
5. While cupcakes are baking, prepare the icing.  In large bowl, beat icing ingredients with electric mixer on low speed until combined and smooth.  Refrigerate until ready to use.
6. When cupcakes are completely cooled (I let mine sit overnight) add icing and serve.  Might I suggest a hot chocolate with Bailey’s on the side.  :)

The resulting cupcake is springy and slightly dense.  Super fun and easier to work with in mini form than regular cake batter.  The Irish Cream Icing has a nice kick and goes really well next to hot coffee, or dark stout.  Just don’t let the little kiddies think these mini-bites are for them.  These little bites of whoopie are following the adults to the pub next Saturday. 

Of course, you can indeed make actual Whoopie Pies by spooning tablespoons of the batter onto a prepared cookie sheet and baking a wee bit longer.  I found the edges turned brown though so the end product wasn’t as cute as the mini cupcakes.  Whatever floats your green boat!

Happy {early} St. Paddy’s Day everyone!

How do you get your green on?