A Beautiful Weekend in Words and Pictures

Hello and happy Monday. May the 4th be with you!

I’m actually not a huge Star Wars person but I figured I would roll with it because its trending and I am #basic.

This is going to be a fun week with lots of interesting first time things going on but before we get to that, let’s throw it back to the weekend.

Although the weekend didn’t officially start until Friday after work, I wanted to share this amazing turkey burger I had for lunch with a few of my favorite co-workers.

turkey burger
(Turkey burger with arugula, sautéed mushrooms, sautéed onions, chimichurri with a side of fries and a pickle)

The weekend started with a cleaning frenzy in out house in preparation for having people over on Sunday. We ordered pizza and watched the Red Sox lose to the Yankees 😦

Saturday started with a trip to Tendercrop Farm. I am a big fan of shopping local ad have been making an effort to eat more locally sourced organic meat.

tendercrop farm

Before shopping I said hello to a goat, two llamas and a chicken.

farm animals

After shopping, my wallet cried but it was all worth it.

We celebrated the glorious spring weather outside and the Derby.

Outside

Sunday was glorious. I treated myself to a massage. #yolo #treatyoself And it was the first shorts day of the year!

shorts

Then SL and I got use out of our resident beach pass and spent an hour or so walking the beach. Toes in sand = happy girl!

crane beach

Post-walk I was HUNGRY. I whipped up a veggie-filled orzo salad and SL manned the grill and cooked up a ton of buffalo chicken wings that I bought from the farm.

Orzo salad and chicken wings
(Orzo salad – arugula, red bell pepper, orange bell pepper, radicchio, radishes seasoned with garlic powder, olive oil and cracked black pepper)

My nearly non-existant sweet tooth kicked in after dinner and I whipped up some Nutella cookies. They came out square. I suck at baking.

Nutella cookies

But they were delicious and I ate 2 while watching Game of Thrones. Is anyone else watching GOT? I feel like its jsut starting to get good!

Here is the recipe if you want to try your hand at being a shitty baker like me.

Ingredients

  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup almond butter
  • 3/4 cup Nutella
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • pinch of sea salt (optional)
  • 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1/2 dark chocolate chunks

Directions

  1. Mix first egg, almond butter, Nutella, brown sugar and vanilla in a mixer until smooth.
  2. Mix in flour, baking soda and salt until a large dough ball forms.
  3. Stir in white chocolate chip and dark chocolate chunks until incorporated.
  4. Scoop tablespoon sized balls on to parchment lined baking sheet.
  5. Bake at 350 degrees for 9 minutes, turning baking sheet after 5 minutes.

If your cookies miraculous don’t come out square, let me know your secret!


Hope you all have a great Monday!

Emily Signature

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Loaded Oreo Bars (sans M&Ms)

Last night was cold and snowy in my neck of the woods so when I got home from work I felt the urge to bake something. I decided on these Loaded M&M Oreo cookie bars. I found them on Pinterest and it led me to Averie’s blog.

Oreo Cookie Bars

(Source: Averie Cooks – Mine came out really ugly so I am sharing Averie’s picture)

When writing about these bars she mentioned shopping in your own pantry to add whatever you want to these bars. I am a huge fan of pantry shopping and refrigerator shopping for dinners on the weekends. During the week I am anal about planning and pre-preparing meals but on the weekends I almost always go with the flow. I really liked hearing (reading) that other “shop” around in their own kitchens.

I don’t often bake but when old man winter comes into town I like to turn the oven on for any reason. I always have butter, eggs, brown sugar and flour in the house (odd for a non-baker) and I happened to have a package of Oreos (the Birthday Cake kind) in the house due to an impulse buy on Sunday. I didn’t have M&Ms on hand so I omitted them.

I followed Averie’s directions and my bars came out AMAZING!! I swear I could have eaten all of them last night but I refrained.

NOTE: These bars are amazing but by no means healthy.

After my yummy and well-worth-the-calories binge last night I hit up the gym this morning. I am working from home today due to the weather so I didn’t have to get up before the sun to go to the gym. How I love being able to work from home!

I v’e been in a bit of a running slump this week and I remembered a treadmill workout I had seen on Julie’s blog for days just like this.

feelin lazy treadmill workout

(Source: pbfingers.com)

The Feelin’ Lazy Treadmill workout was perfect for today. I covered just over 2.5 miles (2.63 to be exact) and I sweat my butt off. It wasn’t easy but it was a nice break from straight up running.

Now it’s time for lunch and back to work until class tonight. I have my first Operations Management class. I have heard mixed reviews about this class from fellow MBA candidates so I am hoping for the best!

Happy hump day!