Brownie, Pudding and Cool Whip Trifle Dessert- Holy Yum!

January 10, 2014January 9, 20146 Comments

Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you’ve had a great week. I feel like I’m battling the onset of a potential cold, but I’m trying to load up on Emergen-C and other things to nip it in the bud. We’ll see how it goes!

Anyway, I had to share this splurge-worthy dessert with you. Back in November, I hosted a Pampered Chef party as a way to get my friends together, while also growing my kitchen “inventory”. Having it before Christmas was an added bonus since most of my friends bought their family Christmas gifts! Not only did I get $140 of FREE stuff from the Pampered Chef catalog, I also got a free Trifle Bowl. When it came in, I have to admit that I thought it was a little silly; why would I waste space in my already limited cupboard space for something impractical like a Trifle Bowl? Well, my friends, I take those thoughts back! I can actually find a lot of uses for the Trifle Bowl, such as desserts, fruit & yogurt parfaits, layered dips and even a table centerpiece/vase.

For Christmas, though, I decided I would use the Trifle Bowl to make a layered dessert (they always look so pretty!).

What I love about Trifle Bowl desserts is that you don’t really need a recipe; just pick some ingredients that you want to layer with and get layering! I was running short on time, so I totally copped out and bought mini containers of pudding which works when you’re in a pinch, but I would’ve preferred to have made a big batch of pudding. Next time 🙂

Ingredients

1 Box of brownie mix- any kind you want. I chose one with peanut butter chips, which I wouldn’t do next time since it was too much crunch.
Pudding- either pre-made pudding containers or you could make 1 or 2 boxes of pudding per the directions on the back of the box. I chose fat-free/sugar-free to save on calories and you couldn’t even tell because there were so many other tastes going on!
1 big container of Cool Whip
Chocolate Chips and White Chocolate Chips

Directions

1. Bake the brownies according to the back of the box. If you are using box pudding mix, too, make that according to the directions on the back of the box.

2. Once everything is cooked, begin your layering! I did brownies, pudding (both vanilla and chocolate) and Cool Whip and then repeated that until I used everything up.

At the end, throw on some chocolate chips and white chocolate chips and voila! you have a quick, easy, delicious and pretty dessert to bring to a party 🙂

I got so many compliments on this dish and can’t wait to experiment more. I think for a brunch, I would do a fruit, yogurt and granola parfait in this- doesn’t that sound delicious? If you don’t have a Trifle Bowl, no worries- you can make this in any sort of big bowl/dish.

Questions for you: Do you have a Trifle Bowl? What is a dessert/appetizer/breakfast dish you would make in this? I need suggestions!

This Week: Workouts, Schedule, Things I Am Looking Forward To

November 18, 2013November 17, 20138 Comments

Hey there! Did you notice anything different today? Instead of my Monday “Weekly Workouts” post, I have decided to change it up a bit. I still want to post my workouts (to hold myself accountable and to hopefully provide motivation for you) and my teaching schedule, but I thought I’d make my Monday posts a little different by adding in my schedule/plans for the week and things I am looking forward to. I encourage you to comment and tell me what you’re looking forward to as well! Makes Monday seem a little better when we can think of the positive things we are excited about in the week ahead, right?!

Let’s get to it, shall we? Last week was probably the most physically intense week I have ever had. Even though I took it easy on Tuesday (did yoga at home), my workouts Monday-Thursday were pretty intense and my fitness-filled weekend consisting of 2 days at MANIA and the Spartan race were even more intense. I loved every second of it (well, except for the last session on Sunday at MANIA… I was so sore/tired/hungry and did not want to work out as hard as we did), but am definitely ready for a few days of rest this week!

Last Week’s Workouts

Monday- I ran a mile and did a strength workout at the Sheraton gym in Chicago and then taught kickboxing. Way more of an intense day than I was planning for!

Tuesday- I worked from home and had a million things to do after work (unpack, laundry, blogging, cooking dinner, etc.), so I just did a 45 minute at-home yoga workout. I started off with an On-Demand workout, but got bored after about 5 minutes so I just did my own practice. It felt great, but left me even more sore on Wednesday!

Wednesday- I worked from home again (I was so tired from my previous week of travel, it was still really cold and I knew I had a big weekend of fitness events so I thought it would be best for me to take it easy during the week) and did my Work From Home workout 10 times through (that’s 100 reps of each exercise), did 15 minutes on the elliptical before class (had extra time) and taught a fun UXF Burn class.
Thursday- Taught SHRED and Kickboxing. SHRED had a good crowd, but Kickboxing was a little quiet. Womp!
Friday- Attended my first day of MANIA. I did a Kettlebell workout, R.I.P.P.E.D workout, Sports Conditioning Workout and a Boot Camp workout. Needless to say, I was exhausted by the end!

Saturday- Ran the Fenway Spartan Sprint, which was amazinggggg. Omg I was so nervous, but ended up doing way better than I had thought I would do and had a blast doing it. I’ll do a full recap later this week (hopefully!).

Sunday- I went back to MANIA for the last day of sessions. I took a stretching type of class first, followed by a Cardio, Cutz and Core class and ended with a Muscle Mashup class. Few. By the end, I was SO tired and sore (but was so glad I went because I learned so much from both classes!).

This Week’s Workouts

Monday & Tuesday- Nothing! My body is so sore from last week that I know I need some serious rest. I can’t wait!
Wednesday- I’ll ease back into workout out with some light cardio before teaching UXF Burn
Thursday- Teaching SHRED and Kickboxing. I have some awesome new workout ideas for SHRED… I can’t wait to teach them!!!
Friday- Not sure.. maybe a rest day? I’ll see how I feel.
Saturday- Teaching kickboxing at the Oak Square YMCA- Please come!
Sunday- I might workout in the morning pending on how I feel.

Schedule/Plans for the Week

I have a full week of work in the office (except for Friday when I WFH), which will be a change up from the past couple of weeks! I am going out to dinner in the city on Tuesday after work and I think that’s all I have planned this week besides my Pampered Chef party on Sunday.

Things I Am Looking Forward To

A quiet week!!! And some rest days. The month of November has been absolutely insane for me, so I am really excited to have a week where I’m just around with no plans. I’m also looking forward to going out for drinks and dinner in the city after work; I always see people doing this and get jealous because I never do! Lastly, I am happy to be hosting a Pampered Chef party on Sunday. I hope a lot of my girlfriends can come!

Your Turn! What was something fun you did over the weekend? What are you looking forward to this week?

Pampered Chef Party in NH, Apartment Hunting, Poolside, Lakeside

June 18, 2013June 18, 20136 Comments

Hey there! I am currently en route to NYC for a quick work trip (I’ll be back tonight). How is your Tuesday looking?

Last Friday night, I got together with most of my St. Michael’s girls at our friend Nikia’s new house in New Hampshire. She and her boyfriend recently bought a brand new home in the country and WOW was it beautiful. Seriously, I couldn’t even believe it! I am so proud of all that they have done to make it “theirs”.

We got together both to see the house and to attend a Pampered Chef party. Has anyone been to one of those parties? I love Pampered Chef kitchen stuff SO much. You’ve seen the stones on my blog quite often.

The host created these delicious, healthy pepper strips that were a huge hit. They were so easy, too. She combined some ingredients, mixed them with a Pampered Chef seasoning, placed a scoop on each pepper strip and baked for 7 minutes.

I ordered a few things, but told the host to get in contact with me in Sept/Oct so I could host a party at my new place!

It’s always a fun time getting together with my SMC girls, but we missed you Kelly and Jessi! These girls are my rock- seriously we all just “get” each other, even though we are all pretty different. That’s what makes it so fun, though!

Thanks for an awesome party, Kia!

On Saturday, I woke up, packed up and headed out to see an apartment at 9 before teaching my 10am kickboxing class. Even though the apartment is a basement level, I really liked it! The ground goes at an angle so the back of the apartment is not underground at all and there is a door from the bedroom that leads out to a back patio. Everything has been recently renovated and the landlord is awesome. I have a few questions, but I think I might take it- eeek!!

After my class, I headed north and met mom and Danielle at the Mahoney’s pool. Pure bliss, if you ask me!

Mom had a whole cooler full of goodies, which I quickly dug into when I got there since I was starving!

Shortly after we finished, the other Jean and Colleen and Emma showed up! Look how stinkin’ cute she is in her little bathing suit!

We even brought her in the pool. She was loving the water and splashing her hands around!

We left there around 4 so we could head over to Sara’s house on the lake to get some Zeke snuggle time. Boy are we lucky to have so many friends with access to water!

Zeke gets cuter and cuter every time I see him!!! And he is so GOOD. Literally just sleeps and eats… barely ever cries.

Sara looks phenomenal. Seriously. A beaming mom for sure! I got my mommy multitasking practice in

Haha. It’s easier than you may think 😉

We took the boat out for a nice stroll before heading home.

Dad had hamburgers, hot dogs and corn on the cob ready for us upon our arrival. How’s that for fantastic service? Per usual, we had a blast laughing and joking and drinking wine!

Questions for you: Ever been to a Pampered Chef party? What’s your favorite kitchen tool? Do you prefer a pool or the lake?

Scenes from {Friday and} Saturday

June 15, 20132 Comments

Hey there! I hope you’ve all had a nice weekend thus far! Mine has been so busy, but good! Last night, I was in NH at my friend, Nikia’s, new home with all of my St. Michael’s girlfriends. Her home was BEAUTIFUL. Seriously, I couldn’t believe how BIG and how NICE it was. And, it was so much fun being with most of my college girlfriends. Today, I saw and apartment at 9am, taught Kickboxing at 10am, and then drove north where I met my mom and sister at the Mahoney’s pool and then went to visit Sara and baby Zeke. Enjoy!