Chocolate chip cookie Cake

This is going to look nice after my clean eating post yesterday! BUT you can't deny a woman her dream cake on her birthday can you?
I made this for my mom's b-day. She is a cookie FreAk! She is going to love this! (i hope! I somehow managed to control my inner beat-licking beast and didn't taste a thing!)

 Look at that deliciousness! 

Preheat oven to 350°F.

-Cream together:

     1 cup shortening

     3/4 cup granulated sugar

     3/4 cup packed brown sugar

-Add 1 teaspoon vanilla, 2 eggs and the 1 tsp baking soda

-Gradually beat in 2 1/4 cup flour and 1 teaspoon salt. 

 

-mix in 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips.

-Divide the mixture between 3 greased 9 inch cake pans and spread out. (I used the    disposable kind partly because I'm lazy, and partly because right after i made these i packed up half my kitchen!)

-Bake at 350°F for about 15 minutes until golden brown
-Let cool completely

-Flip the pans over and hit the bottom to release the giant cookie.
-Put it on a plate or what have you and spread slightly softened vanilla ice cream over it. 
-Do the same with the middle layer (but try to be quick so it doesn't get all melty and soggy)

-Slap the remaining chocolate chip cookie and a scoop of ice cream on top, drizzle with chocolate syrup and throw it in the freezer til you are ready to chow down.

clean eater

A few weeks ago i was chasing the kids around the back yard and my son stops and says "Mommy i can't get my tummy to shake like yours!?"
HA!
After i stopped sobbing, I decided it was time to get off my duff and do something about it. Mostly because I'm afraid he's going to draw attention to my jiggly chub in public. and also because I have nothing to wear.
SO... i started working out. REGULARLY, even. and I have taken up clean eating. I am and all or nothing kind of gal. If i try to limit my consumption of crap, after 4 days i will end up devouring an entire bag of sour cream and cheddar chips. In one sitting. That's super bad for jiggly tummies. so i decided to just cut it ALL out. All the 'dirty' stuff :)
I'm happy to report that i am doing pretty well. Im kind of proud of myself! I haven't allowed myself to step on the scale as of yet but I did toss out a giant pair of jeans that i was wearing a few weeks ago, and broke out a few pair of capris that I couldn't fit into last month! Woot!
I keep getting off track. my main point was supposed to be about this neato BLOG I found while researching clean eating. It is chuck full of recipes and substitution ideas. I even found shopping lists and suggestions on what to do when you are eating out, blah blah. Anyway, I made a list of the recipes I want to try next week. I'll probably post pictures etc.
Eww I also took some before pictures! Ones that I stashed in a super secret hidden file on my computer. Im looking forward to the day i can [proudly] display them next to my foxy new pictures.

you wash your hair with what??

I've had a lot of questions [and strange looks] about my hair washing methods. So im going to lay it all out.
My sister is actually the one that told me about it. and honestly when i started this i didn't think it was going to be something i could commit to. Im a bit crazy when it comes to my hair. Ok wait- before i had kids, i was a bit crazy when it came to my hair! I would sometimes wash my hair several times a day because i couldn't stand that gross oily feeling.
 BUT...
and after doing a ton of research and reading other people's experience I decided to give it a try.

 Here's what you do:
1 Tbsp. baking soda dissolved into 1 cup of water. scrub it into scalp and let it sit for a few. rinse well.
1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar (I use Bragg's) into 1 cup water. rinse hair with this as you would a conditioner. let sit for a few min and then rinse. *I do not put this directly on the roots or scalp, it can make your scalp a bit oily so i mainly focus on the ends.*

Here are a few things you should know:

•  there is absolutely no lather because there is NO SOAP!  Nevertheless,give your scalp a good rubbin'  for a few minutes, then let it sit a few minutes before fully and carefully rinsing.
• After your hair has been washed and rinsed it does NOT feel like it does when it has been washed with shampoo and conditioned. This has been the biggest adjustment for me. I like that super squeaky, naked feeling your hair gets after washing stripping it with regular shampoo. and it definitely doesn't have that smooth waxy feeling from the conditioner.And don't worry. You WILL be able to comb through it when its wet. I was a bit concerned about that at first. But [for me] it is WAY easier to comb through it  now than it was doused with half a bottle of conditioner!
• Wait til its dry before you judge. I'm going to say that again just in case. Wait until it is dry before you judge. I was a bit worried about running around smelling like i soak in vinegar but after my hair dries it smells like nothing! absolutely nothing.
• When you use shampoo, all those nasty chemicals strip all of the natural oils out of your hair. So your scalp has to work over time producing extra oil to make up for it.  Baking soda dosen't do that. It cleans your head without getting rid of all the good stuff. SO YOU WILL HAVE AN 'ADJUSTMENT' PERIOD. You kind of have to retrain your body to stop producing all that excess oil. My advise: for the first few weeks wash your hair as often as you would normally. After a few weeks then you can go a day in between washes. Please don't expect your hair to magically look fuller and healthier over night. it is going to take some time. 
• Every one is different. You may have to adjust the amount of baking soda in your mixture.

 I also want to say that i don't blow dry my hair anymore (but that's more of a personal decision; it has nothing to do with the baking soda stuff). It dries faster and is SO SOFT.. My hair is wavy. Its not curly, just wavy, and since switching to baking soda, it takes me just a few minutes to straighten it. I no longer have to stand in front of the mirror for 15 minutes yelling at the kids to get out of the fridge!

I was going to take a picture and have a nice comparison for you but I was having issues taking a picture of the back of my own head... So I'll get one up when the hubs gets home.

here we go again...

 i've decided to give this blogging thing another whack. However, I'm making NO promises this time. Im not a writer, or a speller. I don't use proper punctuation 60% of the time. but Im kind of creative in the kitchen and i do neat-o stuff with my kids every now and again that I like to brag about.
So, since we got that out of the way, i have a ton of things to go wipe. Hopefully i'll make it back to blog about something inspiring and awesome soon. Or... well, probably not. Im sure it will actually be about boogers or poop or something goofy my son said. but you'll read it and you'll like it.