Cookies!! & Wardrobe Challenge Day 3

Hey y’all!  I’m not Southern but I really wish I was, just so I could get away with saying y’all.  Anyway.  I’m so stoked that tomorrow is Friday!  I have a busy weekend planned, with lots of running, yoga and friend time.  Good stuff 😀  Yesterday I got in a two mile training run in 18:39.  That is REALLY fast for me!  Granted it is two miles but if I can keep up that pace I should be able to shatter my 5k PR (30:35 I think) next Tuesday.  Woop! 

Hot yoga challenge last night was bombtastic, as always.  I think I’m really getting used to bikram (room is heated to 105 degrees) versus the hot yoga challenge (95 degrees) because yesterday the temperature of the room was quite bearable.  I’ll take it!

Today marks day three of the challenge.  Oy.  It is going to be a lonnnng month.  On the bright side, I am wearing shoes and jewelery that has just been sitting there unused.  Today’s clothing and accessories:

Closeup of the detailing on the top/pearls:

Let’s be honest though- I don’t wear my suit jacket around the office.  Unless I have a meeting or something.  In the mix:

• Wool blend suit jacket- Banana Republic (purchased 2005)
• Black wool blend suit pants- Express (purchased 2004)- yes, the same ones as yesterday.  Repeat!
• Teal-ish cotton dressy tee- Banana Republic (purchased Spring 2010)
• Pearls- gift from my mother and grandmother
• Black pearl bracelet- gift from Brian
• Peep toe pumps- Aldo (purchased sometime in 2006?)- I love these shoes.  Unlike the other peep toes, they are actually quite comfortable.  I’m still not sold on peep toes with long pants but hey, that’s what the challenge is for, right?  Mixing it up yo!

Okay, on to more delicious items.  Specifically, Peanut Butter Cheesecake Cookies, courtesy of Sweet Tooth Court! Seriously, this girl is my go-to recipe person for sweets.  I’ve met her in real life and she’s just as “sweet” (ha) in person as she is on her blog.   I’ve been sending Bri care packages but hadn’t yet baked him anything.  After perusing Courtney’s recipes, I settled on her Chocolate Butterscotch Cheesecake Cookie recipe, which I adjusted to Peanut Butter Cheesecake Cookies (I didn’t want the chocolate to melt when being shipped!)  Don’t worry, I altered the recipe on Tuesday to make chocolate chip cheesecake cookies too 😉  The beauty of this recipe is that you can alter it to make tons of flavors!  Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 + 1/2 sticks of butter
• 1/4 apple sauce
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup regular sugar
• 1 package of jello cheesecake pie filling (or any other flavor- customize to your heart’s content!)
• 1 t vanilla
• 4 egg whites
• 2 & 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 12 oz peanut butter chips (or chocolate chips, or butterscotch chips…)

• Preheat the oven to 375
• In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, sugars, dry pudding mix and vanilla with an electric mixer until well blended
• Add the egg whites and applesauce, mix until well blended.
• Add in flour, baking soda, baking powder.  Mix until completely blended.
• Stir in chips!
• Using an ice cream scooper, place on baking sheet and bake for around fifteen minutes (I like my cookies large!) or until they turn a goldish brown. 
• Let cool, and enjoy!

These are the finished peanut butter cheesecake cookies.  Note that I individually wrapped some of them- my friend Melissa sent me a link on how to keep cookies for soldiers overseas fresh, and apparently the key is individually wrapping them.  I placed the individually wrapped cookies into a larger tupperware container.  Here’s to hoping they arrive in Afghanistan fresh and delicious!

The reason I love this recipe is that there are so many combinations of cookies you could come up with.  Why not combine lemon jello pie filling mix with white chocolate chips?  I made chocolate chip cheesecake cookies for my family and they were huge fans.  So, Courtney, thanks for the recipe! 😀

Have a great Thursday!