When It Rains

It pours... and wow has it poured buckets as of late. See, in my head, I am Holly Homemaker, Ms. Perfect and Martha Stewart all rolled into one (minus the insider trading part). Oh, did I mention, I am also super lawyer, best friend and devout too? Well, somewhere in there, the universe decided to rain on my parade.

So, let's go back.... I had been craving a nice roast for dinner for a couple weeks. It happened after lunch with my brother and nephew a couple weeks back at Cotton Patch Café. I love their post roast and decided I needed to give it a whirl again. So, I got all the stuff during my Sunday shopping and put it all in the crock pot Tuesday morning and set about my day. I could just smell it on my way home last night. And then I stepped into the house to the aroma of... stale dog and air. I rushed to my crock pot only to see it had turned off. I had no idea how long it cooked or didn't cook. There goes dinner! I set it on high for 2 hours hoping it would cook. I did my HIIT workout, which I was so excited to share with you all today and then decided to do some laundry.

I put in the towels and sat down to watch a little SVU until the roast was ready and le guy arrived. That's when it happened. I heard this strange sound coming from my washing machine. Darn thing must have gotten unbalanced. Nope, no sir. It was leaking and by leaking I mean gushing gallons of water onto my floor. I turned it off and set to mopping up the water with the one towel I  had since yeah I was washing towels... Meanwhile le guy arrives and we survey the damage. We turn it back on so we can see where the water is coming from and then it gushes again. But this time, can't get it off. Water is just  hoover damming it way all over my laundry room and into my kitchen. Finally le guy pulls the plug. water.... water... water.... we set to mopping up water and ringing out towels for the next 30 minutes or so. When we finally got it mopped up, the roast.... still not done.

I was done. I lost it. I mean all out 2 year old tears of a temper tantrum. Between work, holidays, the house trying to kill me and dinner imploding I had enough! Now I was pouring.

So, my Christmas list, well it now consists of one plumber, one roofer, one drywall hanger and oh did I mention the cracks in my wall?

I turned the roast to low and let it cook a couple more hours. It appears done this morning and I guess I'll have roast for lunch and dinner. What I won't be doing, is shopping any.time.soon.

Here's to the grown up world... and to the roast!

What's Cookin Wednesday

I am so excited to link up with Jenn today to share this awesome recipe with you all! I have been on the cooking and baking mood as of late and well what more could you want this time of year than pumpkin anything! Here is my healthier twist on pumpkin bread!

 

What You Need:

 

- 3.5 cups flour ( I used spelt, but plain ole All-Purpose will work)

- 1.5 teaspoons salt

- 2 teaspoons baking soda

- 3 cups sugar ( I used Splenda for a sugar-free option)

- 1 teaspoon nutmeg

- 1 teaspoon cinnamon

- 1 can (16 oz) pumpkin

- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce for lower fat (or 1 cup oil)

- 1/3 - 2/3 cup water

- 4 eggs

 

 - 2/3 cup chocolate morsels

 

What You Do:

 

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (I did 325 on my convection oven)

 

2) Grease 2 loaf pans (or you will have one giant loaf)

 

3) Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl until combined.

 

4) Add remaining wet ingredients and mix until well blended. (I beat the eggs separately first and then added them). *start with 1/3 cup water to see how wet/dry your batter is, add a lil more if you feel like the batter is too dry

 

5) Fold in the chocolate chips

6) Place batter in prepared pans (approximately half full) and bake for 1 hour. 

 

Voila! Enjoy the smell and taste of pumpkin and chocolate!