Day 19 and Recipe #51...

No, you didn't read that wrong. I took on quite a task this weekend, and I came out rather victorious, if I do say so myself. I traveled to Provo, Utah to visit my sweetheart, and if you know me well at all, you know the two things I crave most about Utah (other than Mr. Baird, of course) is their superior shopping AND... the food. SO MUCH FOOD. Seriously, whenever people ask me how I could EVER like visiting that state, my reply is always, "Oh man, you gotta try the food." There are so many stinkin' choices, I plan my vacation around the places Stephen and I are going to eat at. Which explains the weight gain.

Needless to say, I was pretty nervous about heading down there. We were both still on the Cruise stage of the Dukan, which clearly states we are only allowed to eat protein and vegetables, so curbing our "foodie" side was going to be a challenge. Not only that, but I had also told Paul, Stephen's wonderful roommate, that I was going to bake in honor of his 24th birthday.

The end result? As of today I am- 140.4 pounds. Quite an accomplishment, if I do say so myself! The only downside was on the Thursday morning before my trip, I was at 139.6... so I did manage to gain a little back. It COULDN'T have been that trip to Zupa's that I swore up and down to Stephen that I would never mention to anyone... but we couldn't help ourselves. We were SO GOOD all weekend though, sticking to strictly grilled meats, steamed veggies, and salads, so the GIANT bowl of lobster bisque I had was well earned... right? Either way, I don't regret it. That soup is my anti-drug. Let's look at my goals-

Initial goal weight- 135 pounds
Starting weight- 146.6 pounds
Weight loss since 12/29/2011- 6.2 pounds
Weight loss to go- 5.4 pounds

WAHOO! Half way there in less than three weeks... not bad. Now, let's enjoy looking at my biggest vice-

... miss you already

Now, I did manage to ALSO create an epic dessert for Paul, without really eating any of it. That was scary, serving the birthday boy a treat I hadn't been able to taste check before placing it in front of him. I had originally wanted to make him a GIGANTIC, really delicious looking cake I had found on Pinterest, since I was DYING to make something HUGE... but Stephen quickly reminded me that if there was a ton of food lying around, we'd be more tempted to eat it. I went ahead and created another quick recipe off of Pinterest, and it is crack in dessert form. I only had one bite, but that is what I was able to figure out from it, THAT GOOD. Ladies and gents, I bring to you not only a weight loss update, but a dessert...

#51: Baked S'mores (as found on theaprongal.com)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla 
1 1/3 cups flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (approximately 7 full graham crackers)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 or 3 super-sized (5 oz.) chocolate bars (e.g. Hershey’s)
1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff (not melted marshmallows)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease bottom of **8 by 8 or 11 by 7. 

     - Boys will be boys, and naturally their apartment did not have either of these things. I ended up using a round 9-inch bake pan, and greased it up with a little canola oil. You do what you can with what you have, right?

2. In a large bowl or stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined. 

4. Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Place chocolate bars over dough. Two 5 oz. Hershey’s bars should fit perfectly [for 8 by 8] side by side, but break the chocolate (if necessary) to get it to fit in a single layer. [use 3 Hershey's for 11 by 7 pan]

    - Lovely lady, but she is wordy. I ended up using two and a half bars for my s'mores. The rest were sitting on the kitchen table, mockingly starring at me. Daring me to eat them. Curse you, Hershey's.

5. Spread marshmallow fluff evenly over the chocolate layer.

6. Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the creme. This is most easily done by putting the second half of the dough in a gallon size freezer bag. Use your palms or rolling pin to flatten it out, and then use scissors to cut down both long sides of the bag, so it will open up book-style. Open it up carefully, and the dough will stick on one side of the bag. Then place the bag, dough side down, on the other three layers. From there peel the bag up and carefully spread the dough where it is uneven.

    - Completely unnecessary step. I just rolled my sleeves up, gathered the rest of the dough in the bowl, and spread it across the s'mores. Yes, it was sticky, but I put my big girl panties on and dealt with it, you know? 

7. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely or almost completely for the melty factor before cutting into bars. 

Hard to watch people eat multiple pieces of this. Even harder to look at this picture now.