Breakfast/ Dessert/ Dinner/ Exercise/ Fitness/ Lunch

Workin’ Hard For The Money

Hi guys!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Thursday. I had another busy one, as Adam and I started wedding cake production for the wedding on Saturday. It’s going to be crazy—I can’t wait til its all done and I can take pictures and share it with yall.

Anyways, back to my food recap! This morning I started my day with the last drop of my almond butter (SO sad!). I had it smeared on a toasted Ezekiel English muffin with preserves and had a yogurt and a banana as well. I’m super sad about no more almond butter….there’s no Whole Foods anywhere near here so I’m kinda out of luck. Oh well, at least Publix sells their amazing freshly ground peanut butter! A fine substitute, I’ll say.

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For lunch, I switched it up a little and had salmon salad instead of my usual hummus on protein bread. I used a can of skinless, boneless salmon that I mixed with sweet relish and a few globs of miracle whip. I also packed cottage cheese, almonds and an apple (and this morning I threw carrots in as well but didn’t have time for a picture, sorry!).

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I had the cottage cheese (1/2 cup whipped) and the almonds mid-morning and saved the rest for lunch. I actually like canned salmon a lot more than I like tuna. It fills me up more and I like the taste better, even though it’s not a ton more different. I got my protein in for sure with this lunch though between the salmon and the protein bread! I was ready to rock this afternoon! 😉

After I got off work I came home to make a filling pre-run snack. Actually it was a little too filling though because I felt stuffed after I ate it and wasn’t even hungry for dinner tonight! I made one of Sammie’s “messes” (which I love by the way, Sammie!) with a fage, 1/2 cup of H2H and a spoonful of peanut butter. Love it.

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I relaxed and did some stuff online for about an hour before hitting the road for a 40 minute run. I took two ibprofen before I left work today in hopes it would help out my sore shin and it did! I was on fire for some reason during my run today—my total mileage was about 4.25 miles. Like seriously, I was hauling butt. I have had a lot on my mind today and for some reason, that always fuels me to run faster and harder. After my run I iced my shin (I need to be better about this, I know!) and Betty prepared me a deliciously fresh salad for dinner since it was about that time.

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My dinner salad included a HUGE pile of romaine and baby spinach with dried cherries, goat cheese, chicken breast, tomato and red onion (drizzled with some of Betty’s homemade dressing….the best!). On the side, I had a couple small slices of sourdough bread (I actually had another piece not shown in the picture), some raspberries and a piece of smoked salmon.

I still wasn’t all that hungry due to my earlier snack, but it was still refreshing and I ate it all anyways. No wine for me tonight though—-I needed to rehydrate with water instead!

And for a light dessert I had one of my lovely rice krispie bars.

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And now for my daily work recap!

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Yep—-that’s yours truly folding in egg whites the wedding cake batter! There was too much batter to use a spoon so I had to literally roll up my sleeves and get in there. And that was only half the batter! The cake is going to be back & white so we are doing half yellow chiffon and half chocolate chiffon. This was the yellow chiffon and right after I finished doing this, I had to repeat the entire process for the chocolate chiffon! It took all morning long!

I worked on these cakes, which we baked in sheet pans and are cutting the tiers out of it, from 7:00-9:30. I broke for a snack and then started on a huge vat of Italian buttercream. When I say HUGE, I mean it involved 16 lbs of butter. This will be the icing for the wedding cake and it tasted amazing! I LOVE me some icing!

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Then I started on some pies. I baked another key lime:

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Followed by a pumpkin:

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And another apple oat tart (my fav because I can’t stop eating the streusel!):

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I also made another batch of pastry cream for a fruit tart. For the fruit tart, I parbaked a pie shell, smeared a thin layer of raspberry preserves on it, placed a layer of lemon olive oil cake on the bottom (for a little somethin’ extra) and then filled it with thick, creamy vanilla pastry cream. I let that sit for about 20 minutes in the fridge before covering it with thinly sliced plums and berries and brushing hot apricot jam on for shine.

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Adam had to go to a meeting this afternoon and told me I could finish the tart for tonight and decorate it however I wanted but (and I quote), “it has to be really good”. Yeah, I felt a little pressure!!! I was pleased with it and went home before Adam saw it, so hopefully he liked it as well!

After I finished the fruit tart, I finished off my day by test baking another batch of cookies. Now, I played with this recipe a little and, let me warn you, these are NOT for the faint of heart. They are incredibly chocolatey with a capital C. They are ooey, gooey and nutty and don’t contain much flour so they are more like a rich, flourless chocolate cake instead of a cookie.

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I tried a bite of one at work and was pleased with the result and brought a couple home to my “parents” and they got the stamp of approval. Here’s the recipe:

Chocolate Melties

Makes about a dozen

6 oz semisweet chocolate chips……the best quality you can find! I like 60% or more.
6 oz unsalted butter
1/4 cup dutch process cocoa powder
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp instant coffee or espresso powder
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups chopped walnuts
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (separate from the previous amount of chocolate chips)

1. Preheat the oven to 325. In a medium sized bowl, SIFT together the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
2. On a double boiler, melt the 6 oz of chocolate. Add the butter and stir until the butter has melted completely. Set aside.
3. Beat together the eggs and coffee powder until very thick (about 5 minutes). Add the sugar and beat until the mixture has reached the “ribbon stage”—-about 5 more minutes, until it is very very thick and fluffy and when you pull the beater out of the bowl, the mixture falls in “ribbons”.
4. With the mixer on low, drizzle in the chocolate and butter mixture. Beat until just combined.
5. Fold in gently the flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder. Then, fold in the nuts and additional cup of chocolate chips.
6. Scoop out onto parchment paper lined sheet trays and bake for about 10 minutes. They will look slightly underdone but still pull them out anyway when the tops begin to look “crackly”. Let cool COMPLETELY (about 20-30 minutes) before digging in. They will be very soft but will firm up as they cool.

So, that was work today! Tomorrow we will work more on the wedding cakes AND do the horrendous weekly deep clean, since Saturday will be crazy as we finish up the cake and deliver it to the site.

I hope yall have a great night and I’ll see you tomorrow!

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  • VeggieGirl
    October 17, 2008 at 12:24 am

    WOWZA, what a delectable day at work – I cannot WAIT to see photographs of the wedding cake production for the wedding on Saturday. So fun!! 🙂

    Have a wonderful evening!!

  • Lauren
    October 17, 2008 at 12:51 am

    You could order almond butter online. Your job looks like such fun, but I’d gain so much weight.

  • Amy
    October 17, 2008 at 12:51 am

    how fun–dunking your hands in a big vat of batter! seems like a cool job in my opinion 😀 beautiful work on the fruit tarte as well.

    and i completely know what you mean about having a powerful run when you have things on your mind. it just makes the time fly.
    good evening 🙂

  • gina (fitnessista)
    October 17, 2008 at 12:56 am

    oh JENNA.
    you may have created my new favorite cookie. ever.
    i’m so making these for girls’ night this weekend- i’ll let you know how they turn out, but i’m sure they’ll be scrumptious!
    have a great night!

  • Meghann
    October 17, 2008 at 1:00 am

    Your job looks like so much fun! Want to switch career paths?!?!

  • Sammie
    October 17, 2008 at 1:08 am

    I so want your job – it looks like such a blast. I am glad you made a “mess”, as you know it is a staple to my well being. Have a great night. I can’t wait to see what yummys you create tomorrow.

  • bobbi
    October 17, 2008 at 1:10 am

    fud yummy day! Your salad looks just like mine from today:)

  • Julz
    October 17, 2008 at 1:14 am

    EXHAUSTING DAY! But what a RUN! My goodness…. Haha, that hunger’ll SURELY hit tomorrow 🙂 What a divine breakfast that will be! I love eating breakfast when I’m hungry for it! And that fruit tart looks BEAUTIFUL! I lerve seeing the fruit tarts at WF. Since I work there, I always see the pastry chefs decorating everything and everything is just SO exquisite… Our fruit tarts are SO colorful and exquisite. *Sigh, I loooove me some foodyart! (-PS- I had to recheck that to make sure I didn’t write “foodyfart”… Dork.)

  • Becca A
    October 17, 2008 at 1:22 am

    The tart looks beautiful!

  • Megan
    October 17, 2008 at 1:26 am

    16 lbs of butter! WOW! Fun pics!

  • jenn
    October 17, 2008 at 1:30 am

    jenna, you did mean dutch process cocoa POWDER right?
    thanks so much for sharing all of these amazing recipes with us…!!

  • Heather
    October 17, 2008 at 1:30 am

    OMG, that fruit tart looks so good! Does your Publix down there not have almond butter? Every Publix I’ve been to around here (in Seminole & Orange County) have almond butter, but their PB is soo good so it doesn’t even matter.

  • Sarah
    October 17, 2008 at 2:00 am

    What a day! I would want to try everything I was making! You mentioned that you weren’t very hungry for dinner…in cases like these, do you just eat your regular, planned meal knowing your appetite will catch up or do you wait till your stomach is growling? I’m learning how to eat intuitively and think you do a great job at it!

  • Justy2003
    October 17, 2008 at 2:18 am

    Wow, you were literally covered in cake batter! I think I would’ve licked my arm afterward 🙂

    Oh, and I’ve always heard that you shouldn’t take pain meds before running. You want to make sure that you can feel the pain in case it’s too intense and you need to stop…taking the pain meds before running might end up causing you more trouble. Don’t want you to hurt yourself!

  • Jenny
    October 17, 2008 at 2:22 am

    Goodness gracious that is a huge tub of cake batter!! Awesome.

    That is really sad about your almond butter though, surely you can find it somewhere? Have a great Friday 😉

  • Bridget
    October 17, 2008 at 2:27 am

    I just have to say how much I love reading all your daily recaps at your externship!! ITs soo interesting to see all you do, especially being that I hope to be doing the same thing in the enxt couple years.

    All that cake batter is crazy!!! Mmmmm batter 🙂

  • Jenny
    October 17, 2008 at 2:27 am

    HEY JENNA!!!

    What do you think of the new Weight Watchers frozen treats. I really like their bars . . . they’re low-cal and taste pretty good. As a dessert fiend, they seemed like the perfect solution for eating dessert w/o all the calories. I know they’re not all natural =( but do you think they’re “OKAY”????
    here’s the web page:
    http://www.weightwatchers.com/shop/categoryshowcase.aspx?pageid=1056551&navid=moreww

    THNX =D

  • AshleyH
    October 17, 2008 at 2:56 am

    Hi jenna I love looking at the picture and hearing the insight for your new “job.” I almost went to culinary school to become a pastry chef before deciding I wanted to go to school to be a teacher. Although I have to admit I am a tad bit jealous!!
    But what I really wanted to comment about was that I have made vegan chocolate chocolate chip cookies that were a lot like this that I found on the internet and they were fabulous. Maybe you could give them a try.

  • abomb
    October 17, 2008 at 3:31 am

    Hi Jenna, I’ve been reading your blog for a while now and I must give props to your overnight oatmeal. Before I never ate oatmeal or yogurt, and now I think I eat greek yogurt almost everyday, well I consume half servings so I can afford it! Similar to Sammie’s ‘messes’, I often forgo the oatmeal and mix greek yogurt, sliced banana, publix peanut butter, splash of maple and sprinkle some hershey’s special dark cocoa powder. Sometimes I add other stuff like raspberries or sliced almonds. Tis delish and thanks for blogging.

  • Erin
    October 17, 2008 at 7:07 am

    A pasty chef!! baking such mouthwatering cakes and pastries and still you manage to keep your shape! bravo! i would have bloated by now, eating my own pastries;) and your fruit tart looks so yummy.. my mouth is literally watering while i type. You have given me a craving for a fruit tart now… i am off to sate my sweet tooth while you keep up at your job! it is great fun to red your posts. I’ll give your chocolate melties recipe a try very soon!! thanks!!

  • jenna
    October 17, 2008 at 10:13 am

    Sarah,

    No I never skip meals. I just eat anyways and usually when I’m eating my hunger catches up to me….or the food just tastes so good I don’t care anymore. haha

    Jenny,

    I’d say they aren’t going to kill you so enjoy a couple if you want. They do have some ingredients that are more processed than others though so I wouldn’t, like, eat five everyday! I don’t really go for diet desserts though because I’ve learned the thing they really do the most is make you crave more. New research on sugar substitutes shows that it leads us to actually eating MORE later because, as we can “trick” our body with fake foods, it finds out sooner or later and just gets hungry again! If we eat a little bit of the REAL THING, we can satisfy our cravings with less and feel better about it. Thats just my two cents!!

  • Beadie
    October 17, 2008 at 12:26 pm

    Thanks for the awesome cookie recipe, I have been craving a chocolate chocolate cookie for a couple days now!

  • arielle
    October 17, 2008 at 12:44 pm

    Those cookies look amazing.

  • Lauren
    October 17, 2008 at 12:47 pm

    Do you have a Trader Joes near you? They have amazing almond butter!

  • Teddy
    October 17, 2008 at 1:57 pm

    I love the “in action” cooking shots. I cant imagine being elbow deep in batter!

    Teddy

  • runjess
    October 17, 2008 at 2:17 pm

    Those cookies look a lot like the Outrageous Chocolate cookies I made last night! It’s a Martha Stewart recipe and a little different than the one you used, but the cookies look very similar with the crackly outsides/gooey centers. So rich.

  • Kelly
    October 17, 2008 at 2:19 pm

    Hi Jenna,

    I just wanted to tell you, I love your blog!! I read it every morning….I love your work photos and your healthy approach to moderation. You inspire me!

  • zenfreckle
    October 17, 2008 at 2:21 pm

    Your day looks so FUN! I really wish I could spend a day baking with you!

  • Allison
    October 17, 2008 at 3:37 pm

    Holy cow that is a lot of cake batter and icing. I can’t wait to see the finished product!

  • Andrea
    October 17, 2008 at 3:47 pm

    Any of you runners out there ever suffered a stress fracture? If so, what did you find most helpful to speed up your recovery asap and get back to running?

  • ModelBehavior
    October 17, 2008 at 4:23 pm

    Hey Jenna, thanks for answering me about the shin strengthening move, I was trying them at work today and the girl next to me asked me if I needed to pee or something because I was being so figidy lol

  • michelle
    October 17, 2008 at 4:40 pm

    Wow Jenna, getting to stick your hand in a big vat of cake batter is a dream come true because you get to lick the batter, literally!!! :O)

    Terrific!!

  • Calley
    October 17, 2008 at 8:25 pm

    Hi Jenna-this is the first time i have left a comment, but have followed your blog for the last month or so. I just wanted to let you know i made your pumpkin cookies yesterday…and they are EVIL 🙂 Here i am trying to lose this last few pounds and i have never had a better pumpkin cookie in my life!!

    Thanks for sharing the recipe, Calley

  • jenna
    October 17, 2008 at 10:35 pm

    Lauren,

    I don’t think we have Trader Joes in Florida, sadly. I have never seen one before!!! 🙁

  • Jenny
    October 18, 2008 at 12:07 am

    No surprise your whoopie pies are selling like hotcakes . . . b/c u know they actually ARE hotcakes =D Plus they look so GOOOOOD!!!!!!!!

  • Heather
    October 18, 2008 at 2:14 pm

    Hi Jenna –
    I’ve been reading your blog for a few months now, and I love it. Thanks for writing. I wanted to let you know that you might be able to get almond butter mailed to you. Barney Butter (http://www.barneybutter.com/) has a website and they will ship their almond butter to you. I’m sure you already know this, but thought it would be worth a try to let you know! I don’t know what I would do without a Whole Foods in my neighborhood!!
    Heather