Eighteen B: Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins

This weekend was filled with a whole lot of nothing. I had a really busy work week last week and I’m pretty sure I had the flu so I slept through about half of the weekend. I hate doing that because I hate wasting away my free time, but I definitely think I needed it.

Friday night was made up of Z Burger, some champagne, and a marathon of Modern Family. Z Burger is a relatively new fast food restaurant that obviously serves burgers, fries, milkshakes, etc. The burgers aren’t bad – pretty standard if you ask me – as well as their fries. Their milkshakes are so great and they have a wall full of options from strawberry cheesecake to PB&J. If you want a quick burger meal that’s better than McDonald’s, this is the spot for you.

On Saturday I attended the morning spin and stretching class. I like going out on Fridays, but I think I love waking up on Saturday energized and ready to go a little bit more. That morning I received an email from Ann Taylor (and you know I am recently loving) stating that everything in the store is 50% off, SOOOO since Ann Taylor is pretty much next door to the gym, I decided to pop over just to take a little looksy. Now, as I previously mentioned, I had a long week of work so I felt like I needed to buy myself a little treat in order to boost my spirits, but when the sales associate told me that I could get an extra 30% off by opening an Ann Taylor rewards card I went a little cray. BUT I left that store on a high – never felt better! Some people turn to drugs or alcohol to boost their moods, I turn to shopping. (okay extreme statement I know, but it justifies my purchases)

The rest of the afternoon was made up of watching football, eating an entire jar of salsa, candy corn and leftover candy and then ordering pizza (it was half off so we had to)! I fell asleep on the couch three different times during everything – only waking up because I was hungry again. Oddly enough, one time I woke up asking PR if Panera won the game. Clearly the only thing on my mind was food.

Sunday was a pretty active day for me – at least compared to Saturday. I watched the NYC Marathon – the girl that won ran it in 2 ½ hours…THAT’S INSANE, but she inspired me, so I decided to go for a little jog myself. After7 miles, I was dead and started to drag my leg because my knee hurt so badly. I enjoy running but some people are just not made to run long distances! After the run I headed to the store to pick up some groceries for the week. I am that person that packs her lunch every day, so I like to prepare everything on Sunday’s. I also went into cleaning mode – vacuumed, whipped down the cabinets, cleaned the inside of the fridge and the microwave, swiffered the kitchen, etc. I love the smell of a clean apartment, especially when it’s chilly outside.

After cleaning, I decided to make dinner and some treats. For dinner I made sweet potato shepherd’s pie. Shepherd’s pie is basically veggies and ground meat layerd at the bottom of a casserole dish and then you add mashed regular or sweet potatoes on top. The recipe I found called for mashed sweet potatoes. The recipe calls for just veggies, but I decided to add Boca ground crumbles to it. I also added other veggies that I like to bulk it up a little more. I often feel bad for PR because most of my girlfriends are great cooks and make their boyfriends delicious and hearty meals – I starve PR by serving him a vegetarian casserole filled with fake meat. Thankfully there was leftover pizza in the fridge!

My treats on the other hand were not low fat or lacking in flavor! One blog I’m in love with is Sally’s Baking Addiction. She recently posted a recipe for Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins. The recipe looked amazing and her pictures made my mouth water. I’ve wanted to try these, so this weekend I finally did. They turned out really great and I would definitely recommend them. I took photos using my IPhone, so the quality is not great. If you want to see what they really look like, head over to Sally’s Baking Addiction and see for yourself!