Carb-o-loading!!!!

Ok...so I have to admit that I have fallen off the healthy eating wagon for about 2 weeks now. I have been craving baked goods and pasta's and all sorts of yummy bad for you foods! Tomorrow though I am back on the low carb hard core lose some weight mode!  It is almost March 1st which means my race is 8 weeks away + bathing suit season is right behind that = BIG MOTIVATION!!!!! :)
But before I swear off all heavy duty carbs again I thought I'd share with you all a few things I have made or eaten while on my "carb binge". :)

Last weekend Brock took me to Dallas for the weekend. We left Thursday after he got off work and drove down and stayed with some friends. Friday morning we went to brunch with my dear friend Bethanie Skipper. Her parents were missionaries to Argentina when my family lived in Uruguay. I have know her since I was 5 and she is very much like a sister to me. She took us to eat at Bread Winners. A must eat if you are ever in Dallas. Amazing food and very cool atmosphere. Bethanie got the fresh made granola with yogurt and fresh fruit...healthy and amazingly delicious choice! Brock ordered the Monterey Enchiladas, which were 2 flour tortillas stuffed with eggs, beans, queso, pico de gallo, and ranchero sauce, with a side of breakfast potatoes. Of course when on vacation you might as well live it up so I ordered the Normandy French Toast. Which is sourdough bread stuffed with cream cheese and raspberry jam topped with whipped cream and fresh berries! Oh my goodness gracious! There were no words to describe the taste of that this fantastic creation!

Me and Bethanie outside of Bread Winners.

Plate of Pastries they give you while you wait on your food....Yummy!

Brock's Monterey Enchiladas.

Bethanie's healthy granola breakfast.

My stuffed french toast! Scrumptious!!!

 That afternoon we went to Sprinkles Cupcakes.....I have to say I was slightly disappointed. The cupcakes looked great and were very well decorated and looked amazing but they were dry and not very flavorful. Definitely not worth $7.00 for two cupcakes! We also went to IKEA!!! Best place in the world! We spent all afternoon there and bought lots of fun things for our new home. When we get everything in place I will post pictures of all our IKEA stuff. :)

Cupcakes from Sprinkles...Cinnamon Sugar and Peanut Butter Chocolate.

Brock....playing at IKEA

That evening we went to dinner at Victor Tangos. Very cool place and the food was tasty.....the only downfall was that you order your meal for everyone in your party to share. So basically we spent $40 to get one bite of each item we ordered. We were still hungry when we left. Not a place to go if you are super hungry but a great place to go for finger foods and cocktails. Since we were still hungry when we left we decided to go to The Cheesecake Factory. You can never go wrong there. I ordered just cheesecake...of course it was the Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake Cheesecake....to die for!!!!! Brock ordered the Cuban Sandwich with Sweet Potato fries. We were both completely satisfied and completely happy with our choices!

On Saturday we spend the day mall hopping. I must say that is one thing Brock and I both love doing...SHOPPING! I know ladies...I am a lucky woman to have a husband who loves going shopping and loves planning a day going from mall to mall in order to go to all the stores we wanted to hit up. We also went to The Container Store...I'm in love! I had never been to an actual store. I had only made purchases online. I could have spend hours in there picking out all sorts of organizational things for the house and my classroom! Fantastic store! A must shop if in Dallas and you have never been to one. We ate at El Fenix, Brock's favorite Mexican place ever! It was good. I ordered chicken nachos and he got enchiladas. No pics of this meal due to the fact I didn't have my camera. So sad! We also end up eating Mexican food for dinner and lunch the next day. All of our friends were in the mood for Mexican. Needless to say we were Mexicaned out! No more Mexican for a long time for us!

So now that I have bored you with my trip to Dallas lets move on to the baked goods I've made during this so called "carb-o-feast"!  I made Blueberry Scones with a Lemon Drizzle (no pics this time), Blackberry Upside Down Cake, and my version of Cranberry Bliss Bars from Starbucks! They all turn out incredible!
Due to time...I will post my favorite recipe tonight and this week post the rest. So tonight's recipe is my version of Starbucks amazingly delicious Christmas treat.....

Cranberry Bliss Bar

(adapted from Food.com)

Ingredients:

Cake:

2 sticks of butter 

1 1/4 cups of Splenda brown sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon of orange extract

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 1/2 all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cups of dried diced cranberries

6 ounces of white chocolate chunks

Frosting:

4 ounces of cream cheese (room temperature) 

3 cups powdered sugar

2 teaspoons of orange extract

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Drizzled Icing:

1/2 cup of powdered sugar

1 tablespoon of milk

2 teaspoons of vegetable shortening

orange zest (optional)

Sprinkle extra white chocolate chunks and dried cranberries on top to make it look pretty! :)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 baking dish. I used nonstick spray.
Beat butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Add eggs, ginger, and salt; beat well. Gradually mix in flour until smooth. Stir in (by hand) dried cranberries and white chocolate chunks. Pour batter in prepared dish. Bake for 35 minutes.

Once the cake part has cooled prepare the frosting. Combine all ingredients for frosting with an electric mixer until smooth. This is going to be real thick, so be careful when you are icing the cake since it will be very moist it will tear easily if you press too hard when spreading the icing. 

When you are finished icing the cookie combine frosting drizzle ingredients together in a bowl and whisk together until smooth. I put this in a ziplock baggie and cut off the tip for an easy drizzle look. Topped it with extra cranberries and white chocolate chunks. 

This is a super sweet dessert! I cut them in small squares because most people can only eat a few bites.

I am stuffed and feeling gross after the crazy amount of carbs that I have consumed throughout the last 10 days. I am ready to get back on the healthy low-carb wagon and stay for a while! :) I am off to bed for the night and will be posting healthy dinner recipes and the rest of my crazy yummy carb filled treats this week.