Winning the Lottery

Ok, so I didn't really win the lottery, but I DID get an entry into the Nike Women's Half Marathon.  They do it raffle style, so you give them your information and then they randomly pick a few weeks later.  They say it's because so many people want to enter that it's more fair to do it this way, but I have a feeling it's more to add some drama than anything else.  I found it rather amusing that they picked the "winners" on 12/12/12.  Why not add just a touch more drama? ;-)

Random picture of Maddux and me to show how happy we are about this race.

Today I embarked on an epic kitchen journey.  The other day Julie from Peanut Butter Fingers had a recipe round-up and peppermint bark was one of them!  (PS have you seen her gift guide?  I found so many things I want!  If you need any last minute gift ideas, I'd definitely check it out).  

This recipe came together much faster than I expected.  Who knew chocolate hardened so fast?  Also, it's a really easy clean up.  I melted the chocolate in the microwave in bowls that could be put in the dishwasher.  The only thing you really have to hand wash are the rubber spatulas to spread the chocolate and the pan itself.  My kind of cooking!

The link to the recipe I used is here.  I made a few changes (instead of two pounds of bark I only used enough chocolate to make 1.5 pounds.  Darn.  I also used 1.5 tsp of peppermint abstract).  This stuff is so. good.  I only wish I had a chocolate sledge hammer because breaking chocolate is hard work!

My next project will be finding ways to use pumpkin butter.

Happy Thursday! :-)