This may look like a regular package of greek yogurt to you, but trust me. It’s not

It’s a mixture of chocolately goodness. And it’s going to make some damn good frozen yogurt.

Did I mention that this frozen yogurt is 4 points + per 4 oz serving? That is kind of important to some people. Also, it’s made of whole foods. Which is always important to me.

chimes’s dark chocolate frozen yogurt

Ingredients

32 oz 0% plain Greek yogurt (I like Chobani or Fage, but couldn’t find either this day — Greek Gods was fine)
1/4 c (or a bit more) cocoa powder
3/4 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 c coffee

Directions

Mix together and put in your ice cream maker. We got an immersion blender for Christmas, so I used this and it made the yogurt super creamy. Follow ice cream maker’s directions.

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I found this recipe for Skinny Chicken Parmesan from Feeding My Temple on pinterest a while back. It annoys me when I see “skinny” in the title of recipes, but it’s a fast way to know that somebody’s made an attempt at making a healthy dish.

As per usual, I made some modifications.

The recipe is simple: Bread your meat, pour sauce over it, top with cheese and bake. And for you people counting points, it’s 7 points + per serving — her recipe makes 8 servings.

Since I can’t eat gluten, I used our trusty food processor to crush up some corn flakes and rice krispies to use instead of bread crumbs.

Also, I don’t use fat free cheese. When they make fat free and reduced fat things, they add filler. Usually filler is something you don’t want to eat. Unless there is a MAJOR difference in fat or calories, I always choose the real deal.

I also recommend buying the bricks of cheese and making your own shredded cheese. Why? Two reasons: It’s cheaper and there’s less preservatives and salt in it that way. When they prepackage shredded cheese, all sorts of junk goes into the cheese to keep it from clumping together or drying out.

Okay, now that I’ve preached to you about the dangers of reduced fat, fat free and fake stuff, I’ll share a secret with you. The real reason we shred our own cheese (well Mark’s real reason anyway): We add a clove of garlic to it. Adding a clove to the cheese while shredding it pretty much infuses the cheese with the garlic.

He might kick my butt for sharing this secret … he seems to think it was HIS idea. But I bet there are other garlic lovers out there who’ve been doing this or something similar for years.

Ah, yes. Garlic cheese.

Bread your meat … put it in the oven with some sauce and cheese over it, and bake.

YUM.

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I came across this little finished object when cleaning my craft room the other day. I can’t believe I hadn’t listed this adorable zippy pouch on etsy. It’s there now.

It’s made out of several of my favorite fabrics … gray polka dots, some echino, habitat and some of what’s left of my mendocino from blocks I made back in 2010.

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Hi guys. It’s been a while since I posted those awkward in-my-undies photos to show that I’m making progress with LiveFit.

I just have to say … I fucking rock. I feel awesome. I feel great about all the choices I’ve made (except that horrible decision to drink my weight in Grainbelt last Friday night). I am owning it.

For reference … here’s Week 2 and here is Week 5.

I think adding the diet component really added to my progress. I mentioned I joined WeightWatchers, right? I eat a TON of fruits and veggies. I’m eating way more food than before, and I’ve gained weight (YES GAINED muscle … and water weight, but that’s a different story and I fixed that — I was drinking almost 200 oz of water a day. no joke.).

And here I am now. Week 9ish? I have no idea what I weigh. It’s close to the same as in the first two progress reports. Which means I’ve lost fat and gained muscle.

Time for awkward underwearness! I even wore heart panties JUST for added awkwardness. Maybe next time I will wear an actual bikini. Still don’t feel comfortable in one of those.

And um, excuse the ginormous pile of laundry in the mirror. Let’s hope my mother doesn’t see this post.

[ everything tends to stick around my hips ... i'm working on lower back stuff ... it's a slow process ]

[ look ma, obliques! ]

So it looks like my abs went away. WRONG. I lost belly fat so the part in the front doesn’t poof out so much … so they don’t look as awesome as before. which I know sounds weird? But it was total shadow play. FLAT TUMMY.

Mostly I noticed that I lost a lot from my sides around my waist and hips. I feel like I’m finally seeing my  hard work I’ve put into my body. GO ME!

Also, I got up at 5 AM today to do a bootcamp with a bunch of tweeps I know from twitter. Let’s hope I made it.

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I finally got around to replacing the mittens I knit in 2007 and had sadly lost [ in 2009 ]. These aren’t as fancy, but they’re a fast knit and are really warm. Let’s just say they get the job done. I want to make another pair of the Corazon mittens sometime, but haven’t really had that much time to devote to knitting. And I really wanted a pair while it was still cold. Those mitts took me several weeks to finish.

These mittens are made from the leftover yarn I had from Steph’s leg warmers and a bit of scrap yarn. I used the Nordic Mittens pattern from Ravelry. These took about 3 hours total to knit. I also modified the pattern to fit my tiny hands by reducing to 27 stitches cast on instead of 33.

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I’m taking a trip all by myself to Boulder, CO in May. I’m headed to the Blend Retreat to hang out, workout and eat with some of “my people” — fitness fanatics and foodies. Most of which are bloggers. All of which I currently follow.

This event is hosted at Chautauqua Park. It’s put together by Janetha, who writes “meals&moves”, Katie, of “Yes I Want Cake”, and Lindsay, author of Lindsay’s List. They corralled some pretty sweet sponsors, including Chobani.

It’s 2 days of bootcamps, hiking, running, yoga and of course, FOOD. It’s like summer camp for bloggers. We’ll be staying in cabins at the park.

I cannot WAIT for this!

Also, I’d like to thank my friend Kelly for attending Bloggers in Sin City last year. She had a few qualms about going, which were the same as what mine were for this — the cost, traveling alone is scary, and what if I don’t make friends? She had a blast. And she made a ton of friends. AND? She’s going again this year. I thought about going, but by the time I remembered about it, they were sold out.

So instead, I’m going to a weekend workout summer camp and having a fun road trip by myself. I’m staying at a great bed and breakfast in Nebraska on the way there and I’ll stay at a hotel on the way back (since I can’t drive 10-11 hours straight).

WOO. Count down to May!

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Meet my latest obsession: Quinoa.

[ look how pretty it looks with some black and white mixed together! ]

It’s nutty. It’s different. It’s filling. It’s awesome.

Mostly eaten with savory foods, quinoa is often overlooked for breakfast.

But look at this? Doesn’t this look yummy? Trust me. It does.

And it’s gluten free. Which is a bonus. I have an issue with gluten and sometimes oatmeal bugs me, and I was REALLY missing oatmeal this winter.

I found this great recipe on pinterest [ of course ] from Martha Stewart [ who else? ]. But of course I added some extra flair.

chimes’s Breakfast Quinoa [ modified from Martha Stewart's recipe  — 7 points + per serving ]
Ingredients:
2 c unsweetened almond milk [ or milk of your choice — moo works too ]
1/2 c white quinoa, rinsed
1/2 c black quinoa, rinsed
2 T honey [ or sweetener of your choice ]
1/4 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t ground nutmeg
1 c frozen blueberries

Directions:
Bring milk to a boil in a small saucepan. Add quinoa, and return to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and simmer, covered, until three-quarters of the milk has been absorbed, about 15 minutes. Stir in honey and spices. Cook, covered, until almost all the milk has been absorbed, about 8 minutes. Stir in blueberries, and cook until most of their water has been absorbed. Serve.

Makes 4 servings.

Of course, you can mix things up. If you don’t like cinnamon or nutmeg, use cocoa [ cocoa and blueberries go together really well ], add peanut butter, use all black or all white quinoa. Go nuts! Add nuts? It’s really good cold over greek yogurt too.

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Recently I started WeightWatchers. I know, sounds crazy right? I am fit. Why would I want to join a group that’s focused on weight loss.

Well, two reasons: Because it’s easier to do WW when you have a partner-in-crime who’s “pointing” with you and Mark is doing WeightWatchers. And because I severely needed a sugar detox after this Christmas / New Year’s bingefest.

So the goal isn’t to lose weight [ I wouldn't argue with a 3-5 pound loss after December's gain though ]. It’s to be smarter about food, eat more fruits and veggies and help Mark reach his goal of being healthier.

Anywho, my mom made this really great chili over break and it’s actually a WeightWatcher’s recipe. It’s Cincinnati Chicken Chili.  I realized after reading the recipe myself that it’s actually Cincinnati-style: POUR THE CHILI OVER NOODLES [ gross ... anybody I know actually do this? ].

[ this chili uses a LOT of canned ingredients ... it ended up being pretty salty for me, but I try to eat low-sodium ]

[ chop up your veggies ]

[ we used 1.5 whole chicken breasts ]

[ cook your veggies, then add the spices — there is a LOT of spice in this recipe ] 

[ cover and cook for a while longer — I pretty much included this shot to show off Mark's new pretty dutch oven he got for Christmas ] 

[ eventually you'll have chili ... and it will be pretty tasty ]

So the recipe says it’s 5 points + , but really, it’s more like 4 when you take into account the fact that you’re probably eating a bigger portion because you’re not eating noodles, and well, you’re not eating noodles. This is assuming that you’re not eating noodles. I did not [ gross ].

Other than the noodles, we followed the recipe. I added a can of [ rinsed ] black beans. And we used HOT salsa. Next time I’m going to omit the chiles — they don’t really add anything to the mix, except extra salt.

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So a long long time ago, I had a birthday party. Yes. In October.

Regardless, you’re getting a recipe, so ignore the un-timeliness of this post. As you may know, I’ve been obsessed with everything spicy. Including chocolate. Chipotle chocolate to be precise. So for my birthday I made a spicy chocolate flourless cake. Because, as you may also know, I quit eating gluten in hopes of fixing my tummy troubles [ it worked ].

I used the Chipotle Flourless Chocolate Cake recipe from Simply Recipes. But there was one major problem: I couldn’t find chipotle anywhere. Apparently WalMart has it [ for future reference ]. So instead, I ground up about a teaspoon of crushed red pepper in the coffee grinder and added that.

Also, this is the easiest recipe ever. It’s basically 1 bag of chocolate chips [ semi-sweet or darker ] + sugar + butter + 5 eggs + any spices you want to add. And the end product? It’s like a slice of chocolate that’s the consistency of cheesecake.

[ melt the chocolate and butter together ]

[ stir up the eggs and sugar ]

Did I mention Danielle helped me bake? She’s my favorite baking partner-in-crime and we live so far apart we hardly ever get to do this anymore. My yearly birthday get-togethers are usually when we do such things. Last year we made Guinness Cupcakes.

[ grind up the spices ... or use chipotle ]

[ mix all together ]

[ bake in a springform pan ]

<

[ serve! ]

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It’s about time.

I follow a LOT of crafty / quilty / foody blogs. In case you haven’t noticed via my Pinterest stream.

I’ve seen a little badge on a lot of the really good blogs I follow. It looks like this:

What is the process pledge? And why is it important?

Well … it applies to quilt blogs apparently, according to the originator, r0ssie blog, but I think that it should apply to everything when you post a tutorial or a recipe.

Here’s what she says about the process pledge:
“The goal of the process pledge is to create a new sensibility in quilting blogs where we don’t just show finishes or occasionally confess about our moments of indecision, but chat openly and often about our works in progress, our inspirations, and our moments of decision. I know that many of us are already posting about our thinking on quilts and the processes involved from start to finish, let’s do more! And let’s post about quilts as we work on them. I want to see more half-done quilts, not just the finished thing with a journal entry about the process.”

This is the pledge:
“I, ________________, pledge to talk more about my processes, even when I can’t quite put them in the in words or be sure I’m being totally clear. I’m going to put my thinking and my gut feelings out there. ”

Okay, so I already do this because I never finish a damn quilt.

Tee. Hee.

But seriously. There’s more.

I think it’s important to show where your inspiration came from, and if you’re making something that somebody else made that inspired you, then you damn well better credit the source. Even if it was from a free tutorial.

My mind has been spinning on how I credit things on my blog, and I think I’m going to make a change. No more posting recipes or instructions for things that aren’t MINE unless they are modified. If I made something using exactly the directions given elsewhere, then give the link for crying out loud (and save myself some work).

Anywho … that’s it. I’m wanting to show more works in progress in hopes of finishing some stuff. And maybe some sketches. Sketches are always cool.

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