More Goods than Bads

So, today has been up and down so far.  But, I'm going to go ahead and choose optimism, so we'll say that the goods out weigh the bads.

The Bads:

• Thomas is out-running me this week.  (I'm proud of him for taking the initiative, but it's also annoying that I run pretty regularly and he doesn't, but he's run farther than me in the past two days.)  But, I'm not changing my plan for this week; I set a goal, and I'm going to stick to it.
• The single serving cheesecake I tried today turned out horribly.  *Super sad face*  It could have been a personal error rather than a problem with the recipe, but I was sorely disappointed.
• My face-to-face human interaction today has consisted of two "good morning"s and one "excuse me" at the park today during my work out.  

The Goods:

• I have run two days in a row so far this week and am a little ahead of my mileage goal for the week.
• I made a mug cake that turned out pretty good (recipe below).
• I got to talk to my mom on the phone.  I always enjoy that.
• I am highly enjoying my Netflix marathon.
• I have a crazy good idea for tomorrow's recipe.
• And last but not least, an item that I'm childishly excited about... today, I french-braided my hair for the very first time!!  Woop woop!  I have never been able to french braid, and I've really been wanting to "learn" how.  And by learn, I just mean that I magically want to be able to do it.  I was so darn excited that I even took a picture to show you!  Obviously, it's not great, and the end is crooked because I had to pull it over my shoulder to finish, but I did it!  Yay me!  (Yes, I know that it's ridiculous how excited I am about this... but maybe it gives you better insight as to how my day has been.)

 So, here's today's single serving recipe.

Chocolate Cake for One
Adapted from: Chocolate Covered Katie 

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon and 2 teaspoons cocoa powder
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar or zero calorie sugar substitute
• 2 teaspoons applesauce (or oil)
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Mix the dry ingredients very well in a small bowl.
2. Add the liquid ingredients and stir well.
3. Pour batter into a ramekin or mug.  (If you're planning on turning the cake out before eating it, lightly grease your baking dish first.)
4. Microwave on high for 30-60 seconds.  (Mine was not done after the recommended 30 seconds, so I continued at 10 second increments until the middle started to look set.  But don't microwave too long or it will become tough.)
5. Let cool for 10 minutes or so before turning out onto a plate or eating.

Also, the icing was delicious on the cake too!  You could use your favorite store bought icing or a homemade version.  I iced my cake while it was still a little warm so that the icing softened and ran down the sides.  Yummy yummy!  Beware though, with the icing, this cake was extremely rich.  I had to grab a glass of milk to drink with it!

I'm super excited about tomorrow's recipe too!  But this one requires some extra prep, so I think I'm going to go start on it right now!!!