1. I got hit in the face at soccer last night. Three times.
2. I slipped going down the stairs at the train station this morning and broke the bottom of my heel off.
3. I have a sore throat, which is normally the first indicator that a cold is brewing somewhere inside of me and is going to knock me out for a few days.
Ok, so the last one is totally minor in comparison, but bad things happen in threes and I needed something to round out the trio so that the bad occurrences would stop. Right?
I know that in the New Year everyone starts it off really healthily, and there are all these posts about oatmeal, and granola, and running. I get it, we all ate a lot over the holidays. Well, actually I didn't. I was able to keep it together, which is totally unlike me. I think I have seriously freaked myself out with my butter/fat/sugar/fat/everything-that-tastes-good and I have no self-control so I eat the whole batch/fat-phobia. Woosaaaaa.
Not quite over the phobia, but I'm dealing with it.
Last night I was a crazy lady. I have had this itch lately to bake something, but have been suppressing it out of pure fear of the amount that I would eat. Inhale, exhale. My night last night consisted of me getting home from work, meeting friends for dinner, coming home at 830, and turning crazy. I had a soccer game that started at 1030 (who seriously schedules exercise that late at night!) so figured that it was time to kick it into high gear. Enter cabbage role casserole and the pineapple carrot spice cake masterpiece theatre.
Deconstructed cabbage roll casserole
I found the recipe from the Skinny Taste blog called kalyns stuffed cabbage casserole and when I tasted it last night it tasted just like a cabbage roll! Delicious. From 830-915pm I cooked brown rice, browned the beef, sauteed the onions and the tomatoes, and wilted the spinach and cabbage (I didn't have any napa cabbage, I had purple cabbage and substituted that in the casserole, and then to keep it green I added a bit of spinach to "green" it up a bit), grate the cheese, constructed it, and effortlessly (and slightly sweatily) carefully popped it into the oven for 40 minutes.
However, I forgot the tomato sauce, so it isn't as saucy as I would have liked. I found the flavours are super well-balanced, and the casserole tastes exactly the way you expect your cabbage rolls to taste. I felt like a little whirling-Martha-Stewart-dervish.
This is when the real crazy came out to play. I then proceeded to whip up (no biggie) the pineapple carrot spice cake. I found a Canadian Living Carrot Cake recipe I like and gawked at the requirement for 3/4 cup of oil and 1.5 cups sugar. Whoa. I panicked and could feel my pants tightening.
Inhale, exhale. I persevered and naturally, substituted.
Recipe:
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 scant cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 can crushed (or diced) pineapple
1/4 cup canola oil
2 eggs
2 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup raisins (or walnuts if you prefer, or just leave it out all together)
Combine the dry ingredients, and then separately combine the wet ingredients (except the carrot and raisin/walnuts). Begin to mix all together with the carrots and raisins until combined and then spread into a 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.
That little cake treat was whipped up and in the oven within nine minutes of putting in the casserole.
Time the casserole came out of the oven? 9:55pm. Time the cake came out of the oven? 10:00pm. Drive to my soccer game? Five minutes. Did I make it on time with my hair smelling of the deliciousness waiting and patiently cooling for me at home? You bet.
And then I got hit in the face with the soccer ball. Three times.
There you go.
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