Week One

I've been on a pretty healthy diet and back exercising again for a week now, but in true Caz fashion I faltered slightly. It might have something to do with the two batches of brownies and caramel shortbread I made *lol* or the Chinese I had last night. In my defence the Chinese was inevitable - you see, our mate Dave had been up from Wales for a bit and we always have a takeout when he's here. We even had to scour the district to find one that was open on a Monday! This raises the question: why are Chinese takeaways closed on a Monday? I read somewhere it goes back to ye olde trading laws but I don't know if that's true.

I've not made it to the gym yet, but I've been on the Wii Fit quite a bit. Loving the hula hooping (though I get the giggles every time I do it) and the step aerobics. I was using it last night to burn off my Chinese *lol* and when I got to my target 30 minutes I accidentally ran over to 31 minutes. In true Caz fashion I had to round up to 45 after that, but as I did I opened a new balance game that I had to try and so in the end I did 50 minutes. I'm kinda skeptical as to how much benefit exercising on the Wii Fit actually gives you but the fact I was sweating and am sore the next day makes me think it's a lot higher than I originally thought. Now I just need to get some ankle and wrist weights for resistance and I'll be tonight everything in no time! =D I actually considered getting a real hula hoop so the Wii hula-ing wasn't quite so virtual.

Anyway, I weighed myself tonight and since last Tuesday I've lost..... 2 lbs!!! =D

The Joy of Baking

I baked again! It's like I've found this new hobby and I can't get enough! This time I made another batch of gingerbread (but it didn't come out as nice as before - either the oven was a little too hot or the self-raising flour wasn't quite right.) I also made chocolate brownies and Rice Krispies Squares and OMG they're fab!!! I have the ingredients to make millionaire's shortbread but I think I'll make that later on.

The recipe I used for the brownies came from Joy of Baking, a great recipe website I came across just the other day. Here it is:

Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients:

• 140g bittersweet chocolate
• 115g unsalted butter
• 15g cocoa powder
• 200g granulated white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 95g all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 125g semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175*C and place the rack in the center of the oven.
2. Butter an 20 cm square pan.
3. Melt the chocolate and butter in a large bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water.
4. Remove from heat and stir in the cocoa powder and sugar.
5. Whisk in the vanilla extract and eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
6. Stir in the flour, salt and chocolate chips.
7. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a little batter and a few moist clumps clinging to it. Do not over bake.
8. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. Serve at room temperature or chilled.