Cleaning Counts, Right?

We were supposed to have family pictures taken today but had to reschedule due to the weather. Boo! We haven't had a professional picture taken since Big Boy was 3 months old. I'd say it's high time we have another! The siblings and I had some taken for Mother's Day in 2008, I think? I really would like one with The Lover, the boys and me. They make good gifts for the grandmothers too. They love that stuff - as do I!

Instead of working out today, I decided I would clean, clean, clean. I wish I could say I have a totally spotless house but I don't. I hate cleaning and although I do the laundry often, sometimes I will fold it and it will hang out on the dining room table for a week. Cleaning is one thing I let slide in the whole work/life balance thing. The dishes and laundry are done regularly but seriously, things like mopping, vacuuming . . . they are last on the list. Even when I was a stay-at-home mom, I sucked at cleaning! In the midst of mopping the floor and holding the abs tight, I got hungry so I made a Green Monster. Like how it's in a pint glass?

To balance out the sweetness of the vanilla almond milk, I added more spinach and ice. It was perfect! Once the kitchen was finished, I got an itch to bake something and have been wanting to try my hand at pumpkin bread. I love pumpkin! Instead of pumpkin bread, I made Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread. Holy yum!

I seriously love my bread loaf pan. I based it loosely on a receipe I found on Health.com. Their recipe supposed to be a "healthy" version but it didn't seem healthy at all. Half a cup of canola oil? Yeesh! So I did it Retta Style. To make this Retta's Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread, you need:

• 1 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 cups canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1/2 cup non-fat plain yogurt
• 2 tablespoons vanilla almond milk
• 4 large egg whites
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1.25 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring well well. When measuring flour, do not pack and level with a knife. Combine flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda in a separate bowl. Mix well. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture, stirring just until moist. Stir in chocolate chips.

Spoon batter into 2 loaf pans lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for an hour and 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean (from center). Cool about 10 minutes on wire rack, then remove from pans. Cool completely on rack.

I didn't have two loaf pans. I filled my loaf pan (I think 9x5?) and made 6 muffins. The muffins took about 30 minutes or so to bake and they were fantastic. A hit with both boys! And it smells so good in the house when baking. Mmmmmm . . .

Before resuming my cleaning, I had an early dinner. I know, I'm eating AGAIN.

My last half of a baguette! I toasted the baguette, smeared it with a wedge of Laughing Cow Swiss cheese, added tomatoes and two slices of deli turkey. YUM. Back to cleaning I go!