Nice buns honey!

Oh.My.Goodness...I know I said I was on a quest to find HEALTHY recipes, but allow me to splurge just one more time! (Okay, nevermind, I won't make promises I can't keep) But this WILL be the last one for a while because my big bootie is feeling the effects of my cooking this weekend!
May I present to you, THE BEST CINNAMON ROLLS IN THE WORLD!

I have to admit I was pretty proud of myself to make these completely from scratch! The recipe takes a while, but oh man, well worth it!
Thank you Pioneer Woman for this fabulous recipe:
1 quart of whole milk
1 cup of vegetable oil
1 cup of sugar
2 packages Active Dry Yeast
8+1 cups of all-purpose flour
1 heaping tsp baking powder
1 "scant" tsp baking soda
1 heaping Tbsp of salt
1 1/2 to 2 cups melted butter
1 cup of sugar
generous sprinkling of cinnamon
Mix the milk, vegetable oil, and sugar in a pan. "Scald" the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point.) Turn off heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but not hot, sprinkle in both packages of Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute. Then add 8 cups of all purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.

Add 1 more cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. (At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it-overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to splurge out of the pan, just punch it down.)

Sprinkle surface generously with flour. Take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape. Drizzle melted butter over the dough. Now sprinkle sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.

Now, starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Next, pinch the seam to the roll to seal it. Spread 1 Tbsp of melted butter in seven round, foil cake or pie pans. Then begin cutting rolls approximately 3/4 to 1 inch thick and laying them in the buttered pans. Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. Let the rolls rise for 20-30 minutes, then bake at 400 degrees until light golden brown, about 15-18 minutes.

Maple Frosting

1 bag of powdered sugar
2 tsp maple flavoring
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup brewed coffee
1/8 tsp salt

Mix together all ingredients listed and stir well until smooth. It should be thick but pourable. Taste and adjust as needed. Generously drizzle over the warm rolls. Go crazy and don't skimp on the frosting! :)
Okay, I promise, it's back to healthy...at least until I get my next crazy craving!!

On a different note, my little buddy Cooper Holloman (Kelli's youngest boy) was taken to the ER at the end of last week and his appendix ruptured! Poor baby! He's doing good and may be coming home today...fingers crossed! Kelli has been STIR CRAZY up at the hospital and has missed 4 days of training, which means MISTY has trained the last four days ALONE! YUCK-O! I didn't realize how much I needed my workout buddy until the last four days! I know you can't even talk during a 60 minute swim anyway, but just knowing she's in the lane next door somehow makes it easier! I can't wait for her to be back!!

Well, I hear kids screaming wild in the gym, so I'm off! :) I leave you with this...just a glimpse of the fun days of Summer 2010...which I'm sad to say is slowly coming to an end...

Randomness

Not that my "semesters" don't all blend together right now, so like it makes a difference, but I had the huge urge to do ONE LAST fun trip before "summer ended"! So Linda Lu and I packed up to head out to a wedding that we were supposed to be going to...but plans quickly changed! We were headed to the river! We threw a tent in the car, packed one small bag each and hit the road! It was so much fun to not overthink it, not overplan it, ...just DO IT! :) We found an amazing little camping spot that was far enough away from other campsites that we only had one drunk guy run directly into our tent in the middle of the night while we were asleep (yeah, THAT was fun), but not so far away that we were those stupid girls that get killed in every horror movie!

We ate a yummy dinner at Adobe Verde, caught a couple hours of sleep, and hit the river bright and early the next morning for a 6+ hour float!


OH we laughed SOOOOOOOOOO hard on this trip!




It was a quick trip, but we had sooooo much fun and I came back refreshed and ready to tackle things at work!
I had to tweak our training schedule just for one day, but don't worry we made it up on Sunday morning and didn't miss a beat! Speaking of training, we are officially in our "light" week after our PEAK week last week! I laugh that we now consider a 1200 meter swim a light swim day, but after many 2000+ meter swims, this feels like cake! My body is definitely starting to feel the effects of the rigorous schedule as I'm having a lot more aches and pains starting to pop up everywhere! Nothing a quick ice bath in the morning and HOT baths every night can't fix! ...and don't forget the ibuprofen!
For weeks I've been SO excited because my appetite just WENT AWAY! So, burning more calories than ever paired up with no appetite= good results for Misty! :) But don't you worry, it came back this week and it came back with a vengeance! I seriously CANNOT eat enough to be satisfied...I am INSATIABLY hungry! I wonder if a "healthy snack" of a spoonful of Peanut Butter or a small handful of almonds is still healthy when you eat 7 spoonfuls of PB and 2 lbs of almonds...because that's the kind of day I had yesterday!!
I'm walking a little funny today because of a KILLER crossfit workout from Monday!
Here it is:

Part A. Three rounds for time of:
30 Push-ups, release hands from floor at the bottom
12' Wall climb
95 pound Overhead squat, 21 reps
12' Wall climb
Seven minute time cap. Score time of completion or reps completed within the cap.

Rest 30 seconds.

Part B. Three rounds for time of:
30 Toes to bar
95 pound Ground to overhead, 21 reps
Seven minute time cap. Score time of completion or reps completed within the cap.

Rest 30 seconds.

Part C. Three rounds for time of:
6 foot Wall jumps with burpee, 5 reps
20 ft Rope Climb, 3 ascents
Twelve minute time cap. Score time of completion or reps completed within the cap.

UUUGGGGHHHHH!! I should have known it would be bad.... it's hard to even read!

I just cannot explain what it is about CROSSFIT that makes it so amazing! Seriously, if you haven't before, go to Crossfit.com and check it out! I've seen the results in people around me! I'm working on a video that I like to call "Ode to Crossfit"...watch for it coming soon!

I need a weekend to recover from the weekend...

If there was a time to be a fly on the wall in my house, yesterday morning would have been it. I was home alone (Brinkley wasn’t even there) so the house was silent. Perfect opportunity for a long, hot shower to sooth my always-aching muscles (it’s getting to where I’m not sure what muscle hurts more than the other). Halfway through, the water turned scalding hot. After I screamed like a little girl and flattened myself into the far corner, I finally dove to the handle and turned it off. Apparently all of the crime scene investigative shows that I watch affect me more than I thought because my mind immediately went into freak out mode. You see, in my lovely 35 year-old house the water temp changes drastically when someone turns on another faucet or flushes a toilet in the house. So in my mind I instantly had a serial killer in the guest bathroom filling up the tub that he would drown me in. Naked ,dripping, and armed with my Glock, I proceeded to “clear” every room in the house taking corners Ninja-style only to be reminded in the last room that I cleared that I had started the washing machine before getting in the shower. I still have one leg shaved better than the other, but oh well, I was off to start my day!

This weekend has been action packed and so much fun, but exhausting! The Crossfit games in California were going on all weekend and if you ever need a picture of a healthy strong body, check out these athletes! I’ve attached a picture below that is actually my screen saver….i thought I’d share it because this picture motivates me every day and, well, so that if you don’t read this blog but just see the pics you may just assume it’s me in the picture...

Ummmm...I wish.

In honor of the games we had to do some killer crossfit this weekend! I decided this was the weekend that I would be able to do a Muscle Up. A muscle up is on the rings and is a pullup followed by a dip. First attempt...

2 questions, what’s up with my face, and where exactly is my BROTHER’S hand? I know I just looked crazy and spastic but I would not let it conquer me, which I am regretting today! I feel like I did a million and found new muscles in my body that I didn't know existed...and every single one of them hurt.

After a ridiculous amount of attempts at this stupid thing and with arms like noodles, it was time to start the actual W.O.D (workout of the day). I LOVE when people get into Crossfit and it becomes a social event!



And then with the little bit of muscle control I had left, I had to "play" a little with some gymnastics!

But here's the usual look of death when you are done with Crossfit...but it's such a rewarding moment to lay there with your heart racing and face pounding and leave that wonderful Crossfit Sweat Angel on the ground! Aaahhh no better feeling!

And don't worry, you don't have to be embarrassed for me...I'm FULLY aware of how barf I look in that picture, but don't really care! I LOVE the dying feeling after a good workout!
We also worked in plenty of fun and play time this weekend too

Anyway, I’m pretty proud because no matter how far away I was or how little sleep I got, I stuck to our Tri Training schedule! Kelli and I were discussing how when you have a race coming up everything is SO different! No excuses, No whining, just (wo)man up and do it!! Now that’s not exactly true, there is PLENTY of whining, but we do it anyway and whichever one of us is more rested or in a better mood that particular day just laughs at the other!
I got to end this hard, exhausting, but FUN weekend by FLOATING THE RIVER which is one of my most FAVORITE things to do!!

That's actually a picture from last year...I haven't gotten my water camera developed from this weekend yet! But all that to just say I LOOOOOOOVE the river! I'm trying to talk my girl Linda Lu into going with me just ONE more time before the summer is over!
Well back to working on Tumbling Stars Fall Schedule…which by the way I have HUGE commitment issues with scheduling…it’s just so permanent! I don’t know yet what I want to do tomorrow, I hate the idea of my schedule being set for months at a time ☺ Welcome to being a big girl Misty!