Busy!

Last week was one of the busiest weeks of the year so far!

I've been leading a book club studying the book "Strong Women, Soft Hearts" by Paula Rinehart each Wednesday through the summer... and it's been so great to get together with a group of girls and talk about life's deepest moments. I've been so impressed with the amount of depth in our discussions (you never know how it's going to be!) and the amount of support I feel from each of these ladies. I'm so thankful for each of them. It's crazy to me that just a couple months ago I was thinking (and complaining a little...) that I didn't have very many girlfriends... and now every Wednesday I get to hang out with 12 great girlfriends! God is so good.

Thursday night I had leader training for our new small groups at church called Engage Groups. I'm excited to feel like God has been calling me to lead small groups the last few months and I can't wait to see where this one goes. It starts in September... now I just have to choose curriculum! If anyone knows of awesome small group curriculum (possibly for newly married couples), I'd love your input!

Friday I only worked a half day and took the rest of the day to prepare for a new 20-30-somethings ministry we're starting at church called The Gathering. We spent the evening with about 25 people (most of whom I'm never seen at church.... which is why this ministry has been started!) eating good food and discussing our identity - comparing the secular idea of identity to the concept of an identity in Christ. It was really fun to hear everyone's ideas and experiences and to hear how God's been working in the lives of people at Crossroads. We're having a second Gathering on July 9th to delve deeper into this idea of "identity in Christ".

Saturday night I had a few girls over because Jordan was at rehearsal for church, then a bachelor party for our good friend, Bernie, who's getting married to Jessica this Saturday. We can hardly wait to celebrate with them!!!

Sunday I went to church, then went out to lunch with some people from our small group. Jordan and I grabbed some quick groceries (for an amazing blueberry crisp), then headed home for a quick nap. For Father's Day, my mother-in-law rented a pontoon on the St. Croix River for the evening, so we headed to Stillwater to spend a few hours on the river. It was such gorgeous weather, really great food for dinner, and just a relaxing night spent with family.

We're excited to have my parents coming to visit this week for a few days. We haven't seen them since Easter (time flies!), so it will be fun to spend time with them celebrating their 28th wedding anniversary and Father's Day. Jordan and I have really been blessed by incredible families.

Tonight we've got some cleaning to do to make sure our house is suitable for Mom and Dad, then we're going to relax! (Oh, and probably do the Shred, too!)

The Great Lindstedt Slimdown

It's time...

Time to shed some pounds and get in better overall shape.

Jordan and I have been talking about getting in shape for months now and we're finally feeling the motivation to actually do it.

We've started a new "slimdown" blog, but I'm keeping it private until I decide I want you all to know all the nitty gritty about my weight. It's nice to have a place to be able to keep track of our progress and not have to worry about all of you knowing my numbers. I'll tell you this much...

My Goal:
Lose 23 pounds by September 15th by working out (hello, Jillian's 30 Day Shred!) and eating a healthy diet. By losing that amount of weight, I'll be in the healthy zone for my height and I'll feel SOOO much better about myself. I'm allowing myself until September because that equals about 2 pounds a week... which is a more healthy pace to lose the weight than attempting to do it all in 6 weeks.

I do feel like it's risky for me to put this out there because, quite frankly, I'm terrified of failure. I've wanted to do this for so long now, and I just find myself reverting to my old (bad) behaviors. So, keep me accountable, okay? (All 3 of you who read this!)

Jordan and I are doing this together, so he'll be a big help with motivation and accountability, but I'm going to keep blogging on here about progress, too... as another way to hold myself responsible. Who wants to write, "Well... I tried, but I didn't succeed"?! Not me!!!

So, here goes nothin.........

Recipes!

I'm back from my blogging hiatus (unintentional, but more on that later...)

This weekend I had the honor of baking cupcakes and cake balls for my friend, Jena's baby shower. She's due August 15th, but is on bed rest (and has been since May!), so we celebrated at her house. It was so fun to get lots of ladies together and listen to all the moms give advice about raising children. Someday, I'll have a lot to learn! Jena is such a CUTE pregnant lady and her spirits seem so great, even though she's getting to know her couch really well. Can't wait to meet little Gianna in August!

Some people were asking for recipes for the cupcakes, so here you go!

*I saw a tip on another website that said if you want to keep your cupcakes nice and moist (no one likes dry cupcakes!), put them in the freezer for about 30 minutes right after they're baked. It's supposed to help retain moisture. It seemed to work, because mine didn't seem dry!

Red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting were up first. I got the recipe from i.am.baker. She's an incredible baker, so I tend to try her recipes pretty often. I made the frosting without the cinnamon and it was great. Makes a good amount, so don't be shy with your cupcakes! The only thing I might change to make these a true "red velvet" is to put a bit less cocoa powder in... red velvet's not supposed to be too chocolatey (Paula Deen's recipe only uses 2 tsp!). Otherwise, great cupcakes!

My Favorite Red Velvet Cupcakes

recipe from Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook

makes one dozen cupcakes, double recipe to make 2 9-inch layer cakes

4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

2 1/2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

3 Tablespoons red food coloring (I using a dash less)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about three minutes.  Turn mixer to high and add  the egg.  Scrape down the bowl and beat until well incorporated.

In a separate bowl mix together cocoa, vanilla and red food coloring to make a thick paste.  Add to the batter, mixing thoroughly until completely combined.  You may need to stop the mixer to scrape the bottom of the bowl, making sure that all the batter gets color.

Turn mixer to low and slowly add half of the buttermilk.  Add half of the flour and mix until combined.  Scrape the bowl and repeat the process with the remaining milk and flour.  Beat on high until smooth.

Turn mixer to low and add baking soda and white vinegar.  Turn to high and beat a few more minutes.

Spoon batter into a paper lined cupcake baking pan and bake at 325 F for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center cupcake comes out clean.

Let rest in the pan for 10 minutes, then place them of a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

adapted from Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook

double recipe to frost a 2 layer 9-inch cake

2 1/3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

3 Tablespoons butter, room temperature

4 ounces cream cheese, cold (I used room temperature)

scant 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Beat the powdered sugar, cinnamon, and butter together in the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment.  Mix on medium-slow speed until it comes together and is well mixed.

Add the cream cheese all at once and beat on medium to medium-high until incorporated.

Turn the mixer to medium-high and beat for 5 minutes, or until the frosting becomes light and fluffy.

These cupcakes had some of the most perfect domed tops I've ever seen. I almost didn't want to frost them... but, who am I kidding, the frosting's usually my favorite part!

Next, I made some dark chocolate turtle cupcakes. I found this recipe at Bakerella. I only needed a dozen, so I did just one-third of the recipe. Thank goodness my husband is good at math! :-)

Chocolate Cupcakes

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup cocoa (I used Hershey's dark chocolate cocoa powder)

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

3 eggs, room temperature

1 1/4 c milk, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Prepare cupcake pans with 36 baking cups.
• With a wire whisk, sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl and set aside.
• In a mixer, cream sugar and butter.
• Add eggs one at a time, scraping down sides with each addition. Add vanilla. Mix until fluffy (a few minutes).
• Add flour mixture to the creamed butter in three additions, alternating with the milk in two additions. (flour, milk, flour, milk, flour)
• Bake for about 15 minutes or until done.
• Cool and frost.

These turned out a little too flat (not the perfect dome tops that the red velvet cupcakes had), and I wanted them to look really pretty, so I decided to dip them in chocolate ganache, then drizzle them with homemade caramel and put some crushed pecans on top. Turtle cupcakes... that were SO good. You couldn't even tell they were flat because I put the pecans right where they dipped a little. Brilliant (if I may say so myself). :-)

Dark chocolate cake balls rounded off the baby shower. This recipe is also from Bakerella and is SO easy and impressive. My suggestions are in this great purple/pink color.

1 box dark chocolate cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)

1 can cream cheese frosting (16 oz.) (or any flavor you'd like)

1 package chocolate bark (regular or white chocolate)

wax paper 1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl. I put mine in my Kitchen Aid mixer with the paddle attachment and it was soooo easy.

2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.) I just dumped the can in the mixer with the crumbled cake and continued to mix. SIMPLE!

3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50. You can get even more if you use a mini ice cream scooper.)

4. Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.) Make sure you do this step! I was in a hurry and didn't let them chill long enough, which led to some cake crumbs in the white chocolate.

5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.

6. Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.) I stuck the completed cake balls in the freezer overnight because I think they're better cold. Just an idea. ;-)

Hopefully you're inspired to make some of your own fun cupcakes! I'll try to remember to put up some pictures tonight so you can see just how great they were!

Spill the Beans

In a previous post, I mentioned that Jordan is planning a surprise first anniversary trip. Well, last night we went to dinner with a bunch of people and two guys (who will remain nameless...Terry and Stephen) spilled the beans.

So, we'll be heading to........ NEW YORK CITY in October!!!

We were a little bummed that the surprise didn't last longer, but I'm super excited to know where we're going! Now, the surprise will be what we're doing, where we're staying, etc. I can hardly wait!!! Neither of us have been to NYC before, and we've both always wanted to go, so this trip will be awesome.Yay!

Roots

I had a root canal on Tuesday. I can honestly say I haven't been that scared in a long time. Even despite my mom's and mother-in-law's best attempts to tell me that it won't be any big deal, I sat in the chair with shaking hands as the doctor pumped me full of Novacane. Four (or five... I lost count) shots later, and I was numb from my chin to my ear and felt much better about the procedure. Now, two days later, I'm sore, but it really is no worse than a filling... as long as I don't attempt to eat on it or open my mouth very wide (you were right, Mom... there, I said it.) :-)

Besides getting my teeth drilled, I've been feeling drawn back to my roots lately. After a great phone call with my mom on Sunday, it reminded me about how important family is. As we're (and by we I mean my parents) working on finding a good new place for my grandma, it brings up so many emotions. The one I was most struck by with my mom was compassion. When I asked her why she can't just go to school during the day and be with my grandma at night, she said something along the lines of "Because she's my mom and has been so good to me and taken such good care of me. Now it's my turn to do the same for her. I won't just leave her alone." Well said. What goes around comes around, and I can't imagine how hard it is to make some of the decisions they've had to make lately... especially when you care so much about your mother. Thankfully, they were able to find a good place about 15 minutes from their house that has 24-hour care and a lot of nice amenities. The bonus is that it shouldn't cost an arm and a leg to live there (just an arm...). It'll be nice to see Grandma get the care she needs and my parents able to sleep at night.

We were lucky enough to spend Memorial Day weekend with Jordan's extended family. We spent Sunday with his dad's side of the family (which boasts incredible closeness, faith, and humor) and Monday with his mom's family (which boasts great food, lots of fun, and pretty impressive softball skills). It's a lot of fun for me to spend time with a large family (ahem, I have no brothers, sisters, grandpas, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc...). The dynamics are so much different from what I grew up with, but it's so much fun. We got some much needed time in the sun and time to relax, plus a fun excuse to bust out my first baseman's softball glove from way back when.

Hoping to post some pictures from this last weekend. Jordan is still loving our Canon Rebel XS, so there were tons of pictures taken!